Happy Boxing Day everyone, I hope you had a good Christmas yesterday!
Chapter Ten
The mutants and Jake looked at Lacey wondering if any of their words had sunk in.
They knew that the choice was hers at the end of the day and if she wished to mutate that they had to give her the chance, but they hoped that she wouldn't consider it, seeing how her family loved her and how she had her whole life ahead of her, she would be a fool to give it up.
"Do you need a moment to think more on it honey?" Dahlia asked making Lacey look up.
"Huh? Think?" she asked "uh...sure." she said.
"The cycle on the washing machine is finished." Jake reported who had taken everyone's mugs back to the kitchen counter so he could wash them in the sink.
"I'll just put them in the dryer."
"Thanks." Lacey called over "I can't tell you how grateful I am, for what you've done for me."
"We just don't want to see anyone suffer." Monalisa said "We're not just crime fighters, but we do try and help those lost."
Lacey smiled.
"Anyway, if you want some time with your thoughts, we'll leave you to it?" Dahlia suggested "And we'll be in the hallway."
"Thank you." Lacey said as she lay back on the bed and curled into a ball.
Dahlia stood up with Jun's help and they along with Sarah, Monalisa, Percy and Jake walked out of the apartment and into the hallway before closing the door.
After checking the coast was clear they started to whisper to each other about Lacey and her situation.
"Poor kid." Percy said "She's been through a lot."
"For sure." Jake said "It mustn't have been easy, she's been through more than I'd imagine."
"I knew a couple of people at High School who went through big changes but not as much as she's been through." Jun chimed in "I knew one guy in my first year who had lost his parents during the first term in a car accident, in the third year I met a girl who found herself the older sister to twin boys after her mother re-married."
"And she's gone through both a death of a parent, then gaining a stepdad, then a new sibling." Dahlia said "I wonder what else could be added to the list."
"I getcha She-Wolf." Sarah said "But in all honesty, I think she hasn't got it bad, she might have gone through a lot, but she does have a family who love her, even if she doesn't think it, and a lot to live for, she loves her dancing, and math, and if she puts her mind to it, she could be a big success."
"Yeah!" Percy said "I can see her regretting it if she decided to throw it away to mutate."
"I agree." Jun said "And no disrespect to you guys, but there are times I wish I was human again, only because I still miss my family, and my old life."
"Feelings mutual hun." Dahlia replied.
"Don't sweat it Tiger man." Percy said "A lot of new arrivals say the same thing, those who had no choice when they mutated."
"I was the same." Monalisa said "When I mutated and I spent two years alone before I met the turtles."
Jake looked at Lacey through a crack in the door and he saw her looking at the albums she had with her as well as look at her cell phone.
"In the end the choice is hers." he said "We can't tell her what to do at the end of the day."
The mutants sighed.
"I just hope she makes the right choice." Monalisa said.
"Me too Lizard Lady." Dahlia agreed.
Back in the room, Lacey lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling as she thought about her situation and about the people, or rather mutants she had met.
She was grateful they had helped her, and that she was still alive, yet she was curious about how they truly lived their lives, they spoke about a sanctuary they lived in, or in the Lizard Lady Monalisa's case, she lived in New York, and they didn't speak about where their home was.
She understood why, because being what they were, they didn't dare give their location to strangers in case anyone were to tell, they would be hunted.
"They seem to live a more free life that the humans, not having to follow laws and can stop crimes and cross the red tape the police cannot, yet it must be difficult not being able to do what I take for granted, they can't walk the street, go to a restaurant, the cinema, or go on holiday."
She thought about the things she loved to do and the dreams she had, she loved her dancing, going to the cinema or having pizza with her friends.
The more she thought about it, the more she thought about what she would be throwing away if she did make the choice to mutate.
She then thought about school, and how good she was at math and how if she didn't make it as a dancer, she could use her math skills to pursue accounting and a future in finance as something to fall back on and how she could do well in that sector.
She thought about what dreams the mutants may have had and how they had to give them up when they mutated and after what the tiger had said, he wished he could see his family and speak to them again.
Lacey reached for her phone and saw the many missed calls and text messages.
Many said 'Where R U?' 'Please call me!' 'Come Home'
then there were lengthy ones from her friends saying that her parents had called them and were asking on her welfare.
Lacey sighed, she still had the unsure thoughts of whether to return home, mainly because she still believed that they cared more for Timmy than her and that she had to come home so they wouldn't be seen as bad parents.
With a beating heart Lacey started to listen to the voice messages.
At first they sounded angry and demanding and she started to delete them one by one, she would listen to the first few seconds then get rid of it.
But then after a few more voice messages they started to sound less angry and more upset and tearful, almost begging.
"Lacey, please come home, we love you, please..."
"Lacey, I know you think we don't care, but we do, please, come home, we miss you..."
"My baby girl, I wish you could have spoken to us, or maybe we should have been more open to you about your feelings, then maybe we wouldn't be here, but please, my darling, please come home!"
The more she listened to the messages, Lacey began to feel several emotions come to her as well as memories.
She remembered her mother's words to her not long after they had her father's funeral.
"No matter what Princess, I'll always be here, I'll never leave you, I promise, you are my number one, my first born, my beautiful girl..."
Then she remembered the words of her stepfather, and how honest he had been with her when she had been told by her mother than she was letting him move in.
Lacey had been a little taken aback, but Ralph had given her a few honest words.
"I know I can never replace your father, but Lacey, if you let me, I can be your friend, and the first rule about friends is that they trust each other? Okay?"
Tears came to Lacey's eyes as she remembered just how kind and honest Ralph was to her.
"And trust me when I say, I'll always be there for you, and I'll never get in-between you and your mother as you are her priority."
It was true, Ralph had never in the months since meeting her mother had gotten between her and Emily, making sure they still had the same relationship and he had tried to be involved in making sure Lacey was happy, as she had said to the mutants, he had taken her to her dance classes and seen her perform, they had gone on bonding trips like Ice Skating, Swimming, bowling or to the cinema.
The more Lacey thought about it, she thought about how her family really did care, and as the memories came back, she began to think about how much she would miss them if she decided to go with the mutants.
"Some of them had a choice, but many didn't." she thought "If I had died when I fell through the ice, mum would be so sad, so would Ralph, and Aunt Maggie and Uncle Barry and my grandparents..."
She then looked at one of her photo albums and at the picture of her and her her father.
"Dad...you really were looking over me tonight." she whispered as she stroked the photograph.
She then thought of Timmy and how she had behaved towards him, how she had refused to acknowledge him or form a bond with him.
She remembered when he was first born and she met him that even though she got a chance to hold him she hadn't felt anything towards him, just that this new baby was in her life and she didn't know how to handle it.
"I've been a fool." she thought "I've been such a brat..." she put her head in her hands.
As she sat there, the timer on the dryer went off on the other side of the room signaling her clothes were dry.
At the same time, there was a knock at the door.
"Hey!" Lacey called.
Jake then put his head around the door.
"Hey Lacey." he said "I think your clothes are dry now."
"Is it okay to come in?" Jun asked "Now you've had a think?"
"Sure yeah!" Lacey confirmed and Jake and the mutants came into the room.
Whilst Jake went to the dryer to check on the clothes, the mutants went to Lacey.
"How are you feeling?" Dahlia asked.
Lacey sighed.
"I've been doing a lot of thinking, both on what you guys told me and I looked at the messages on my phone."
"You have?" Dahlia asked hopefully.
Lacey looked at the wolf.
"I feel dreadful." she said "I guess I never really thought about it or even cared to, but my family do truly care, and I should be lucky they are there for me, and I have the choice to see them again, but you..."
"We don't." Dahlia said sadly "But you have a choice, and you can join us and mutate if you wish, or you can go home, face the music and make amends, and continue to live your life."
"She's right kid." Jun said "You're young, you're a pretty girl and you got so much potential, don't throw it away."
Lacey chewed her lip and looked at her phone and at her photo albums.
"You have a valid point." she said "And I feel I can see where I went wrong, and how I've behaved."
Sarah and Percy looked hopeful as they listened and Jake as he arranged Lacey's clothes felt hope rise in his stomach.
"You understand what you've been feeling?" Dahlia asked.
Lacey nodded.
"I have, and I feel grateful, not just because you saved me, but there is a reason I didn't die when I fell through the ice."
"And what is that?" Jun asked.
"I'm still needed in this world." Lacey said "And that is I need to face the music, take back everything bad I said, and be a good daughter and a sister." she said.
As she said that, the Mutants eyes lit up.
"You mean?" Monalisa asked.
"I want to go home!" Lacey said "I want to go back to my family, the ones who love me, and want me back!"
Jun and Dahlia wanted to cheer yet they didn't and they smiled.
"By all means Lacey." Jun said "If thats what you want, we'll take you home."
"You can?" Sarah asked.
"We still got the van." Dahlia said "We can get her home safe."
"Great!" Jake said "And her clothes are dry so when you're ready Lacey, you can change and we'll get you home."
"Thanks!" Lacey said then looked at her phone.
"I'm so sorry mum, Ralph, Timmy, I'm coming home!"
Looks like Lacey after some thinking has made the right choice! Yet how many of you wondered if she wanted to mutate?