Author's Note: Thank you to the guest who pointed out that this chapter posted wonky with HTML. Not sure what happened but here is a fresh readable chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 6 What Happened After: Mikey

I feel like Pinocchio before he became a real boy—all strings attached. I can't see anything but I feel the strings slowly pulling at every inch of my body. I used to hear my family clearly, but now their voices sound muffled and somewhere below me as the strings continue to pull me up. I try to fight against the strings, but it hurts. Everything hurts. The more I fight, the harder it is to breathe as my body painfully rebels against my will. Tired of the torment, I stop struggling and allow the strings to pull me out of the sea of agony I was drowning in. Is this the end? Am I dying?

"Mikey…."

Raph? …I want to see, touch, scream for my brother but the invisible strings bind me and I can't see past the nothingness around me.

"Come on, little brother. Stay with us."

Raph's voice grows faint as the strings keep pulling me up, further and further away from the aches and pains below.

"Michelangelo. You must fight this. I… I cannot lose you as well."

Sensei sounds worried, but maybe the strings aren't so bad after all. A numbness drapes over my body as the strings keep pulling.

"Mike, please…."

It's the final plea in Raph's voice that makes me sigh. As much as I want to rest in this suspended space of the unknown, I know I can't stay here. I've never heard Raph sound so small… so scared. How can a place that feels so good feel so wrong at the same time? I don't think I belong here…. not yet anyway.

Like fighting against a giant magnet, I rip away from the strings that kept me floating in a state of peacefulness and sink back into a world of pain. The throbbing in my chest knocks the wind out of me, and I struggle to make my lungs work again.

"Raph?" I can barely speak as I try to breathe through the soreness in my ribs. Everything hurts again but my right arm feels like there's fire boiling beneath my skin. My eyes open to blurry and bright lights.

"Mikey! Man, am I glad to see those sappy blue eyes of yours!"

I squeeze my eyes shut again, the sudden brightness giving me a headache.

"Shell, the lights! Sorry."

After some loud shuffling, the lights dim from behind my eyelids and I feel comfortable enough to open my eyes again.

"Is that better?"

"Hurts." It's the only word I can breathe out at the moment. Everything feels rough and uncomfortable. I want the strings to take me away again to the place where it doesn't hurt.

"Nonono, stay awake, buddy."

I whine as a hand pats my cheek, forcing me to open my eyes again. Things are more in focus now as Raph's face fills my view. His smile is so wide I wonder if his face will split in two.

I groan as my head pulses with a worsening headache. I reach my hand to my temple.

"Careful, you got a goose egg there."

I wince as my fingers touch the tender bump on my forehead.

"Michelangelo. Welcome back, my son." Sensei's voice is soft and relieved.

Was I gone that long? A sharp pain in my chest makes me grasp at my plastron as each breath fills like my lungs are shrinking.

"He's hurt… I didn't mean to-"

"It was necessary to bring him back."

"Chest…. Hurts," I manage to say between short breaths.

"Raphael performed necessary chest compressions. Your ribs are probably bruised. They will heal with time and rest."

Well, that explains why breathing hurts. I rub my plastron, too afraid to think about the weight of understanding behind Sensei's words. Turning my head toward my right arm, which is bent and wrapped in white gauze with a wooden board splinting it against my plastron, I imagine my arm bursting into flames as the heat beneath the wrappings grows from uncomfortable to unbearable.

"My arm…"

Something's wrong. The gauze is snuggly wrapped from my bicep to my knuckles. My fingers look like swollen sausages. My stomach drops when I see the Frankenstein stitches zigzagged around my thumb and fingers that disappears underneath the rest of my bandages.

"….change your bandages, Michelangelo… quickly as possible." I nod absently as Sensei says something I can't hear over the pounding of my heart in my ears. My eyes are fixed on Sensei's hands as they quickly begin to unwrap my arm.

My fingers are nothing compared to the horror beneath the wrappings. A highway of stitches trails up my arm just past my elbow. There are three puncture wounds that don't have stitches and I feel my stomach twist into a hard, heavy knot. Why didn't they stitch these holes in my arm? I can't stop myself from leaning in closer as fearful curiosity draws me to the open wounds.

"Mike, lay back. Splinter's trying to work," Raph says on the other side of me as his rough hands push my body against the pillows behind me. I ignore him as I lean forward again staring at the nasty palette of red, brown, and green inside my wounds. Is that what my insides look like? With gloved fingers, Master Splinter pinches the inside of the wound, pulling out a long strip of soiled gauze. I'm not sure which made me gag first, the sight of gauze being pulled out of like a roll of toilet paper or the putrid smell. I want to look away, but I can't. Even as nausea swells in my stomach and my lungs struggle to take in air, I can't stop staring at the monstrosity attached to my body.

"Hey! Look. At. Me." Raph demands my attention and I'm thankful for the distraction as his hands grip the sides of my face like a vice. "You're okay. Splinter's just gettin' your arm cleaned up. You're okay." I don't feel okay as I feel something being pushed inside my arm. My eyes betray me as they start to drift back to my arm. "Nonono. Eyes on me." He taps my cheek until I blink and refocus my teary vision on his face. "That's it. You're doing great, little brother. He's almost done."

"Raph, what… what…." My questions are stuck on my tongue as snapshots of blood, massive teeth, and screams fill my head. I gag again and this time a wastebasket is shoved in my face just before I hurl. Raph rubs circles on my shell as my stomach starts to spasm with dry heaves.

Totally spent, I flop back against the pillows. I glance down to see my right arm once again bandaged and resting in a splint against my plastron.

"All finished," Master Splinter says in a way that makes me feel younger than sixteen as he wipes residual vomit from my beak.

My arm still throbs. The heat from my wounds spreads to the rest of my body, making me feel hot and sticky all over.

"What… happened to my… arm?" I say between breaths.

"You have a fever, you must rest."

"No… what… happened?" My protest to Sensei sounds weaker than I intended so I emphasize my demand with a frown.

With a sigh he continues, "There was an… accident. What do you remember, Michelangelo?"

I close my eyes, sifting through my memories like scattered cards, pushing the darker ones to the bottom of the deck of my mind. "Donnie…. I… I found him but they took him." Raph places a damp cloth on my forehead and I lean into it, grateful for its coolness. "What happened… April, Casey…. Leo?"

"April and Casey have returned to their homes. Leonardo is…. here." I force my tired eyes to scan the room but Leo's not in here. Before I can question it further, Sensei continues, "What else do you remember… before finding Donatello in the spirit realm?" Sensei asks again. Did I do something wrong? I look at Raph but he's waiting for me to answer too.

"I remember…."

Teeth. Blood. Pain

"I re…. member…."

Teeth. Blood. Pain

"I…. I…. remem—"

Donnie.

The images from before flood my brain again, this time faster and more vicious than before. Something in my heart cries out, afraid of the horror flashing behind my eyes. So, I shove those nightmarish visions all the way down into the pit of my soul, refusing to question why they feel so familiar. "I don't remember."

"Mike, you sure that's all you remember?"

I nod quickly, not trusting my voice to speak.

Master Splinter and Raph share a look before turning back to me.

"My arm?" I ask again as sleep pulls at my eyelids.

"We will talk more once you are more alert."

I want to know now but everything's fuzzy again and fades to black.

More to come. Thanks for reading!

~Poetique