Mikey ran through the downpour towards the barn. Lightning flashed overhead, followed by a loud boom of thunder, making the small turtle jump. Thunderstorms in New York were nothing compared to what they were in the country. Donny said it had something to do with the open fields allowing the clouds to get closer.
Mikey didn’t care to know the science behind it. All he knew was that the storm was right on top of them and intensifying by the minute.
As he rushed into the barn, Mikey hoped that Raph was awake. It would be an added level of difficulty if Raph was in a drug induced slumber. Mikey didn’t doubt his ability to lift his larger brother. It was just something he didn’t want to do. He could imagine Raph waking up halfway to the house and being all pissy about it.
“Raph?” Mikey called out, wiping the water from his arms. “I know you don’t really want any visitors but this is really important.”
“What?” Raph called down from the loft. Good, at least he was awake.
“There is a severe storm warning,” Mikey said as he walked over to stand under the loft door. “This mild drizzle that’s going on now will get worse. A lot worse. We gotta get to the storm cellar.” To emphasize his point the wind rattled the windows followed by another boom of thunder.
“I can’t stay here?” Raph looked down at him.
Mikey shrugged, “If you don’t mind risking your life. I mean, it’s not like you wanna die…. Right?”
“I don’t wanna die, Mikey,” Raph replied, sounding a little annoyed as he disappeared over the edge. “Let me grab a few things.”
“Take your time,” Mikey quipped. “I’m sure the storm will wait.”
“You know what,” Raph said as he made his way down the ladder with a bag slung over his back. “I think you have used sarcasm so often you are unable to use any other form of communication. If this was such a big fucking deal, why did you wait so long to come and get me?”
They both paused and looked up as the barn groaned. The thunder popped and cracked before ending with a loud boom that Mikey could feel.
“We only just got the warning,” Mikey explained, looking at Raph. “You don’t get a lot of time with these things. And I’m not always sarcastic. It’s a coping mechanism.”
“Yeah,” Raph sighed, hopping down from the last step. “We’ve all got a lot to cope with.”
There wasn’t a hint of sarcasm in Raph’s voice. Mikey wasn’t expecting that. Mouth agape, he watched Raph make his way towards the door. He was sure Raph was going to snap at him and it took him a moment to recover from the shock. “Thanks.”
Stopping to look back at Mikey, Raph lifted an eye ridge and tilted his head, “For what?”
Mikey shook his head and let out a sad chuckle. His hand came up to rub the back of his neck. “For not…. How can I put this…? For not saying that I have nothing to complain about or making my troubles seem insignificant compared to yours. You know…? For not making it into a competition.”
“I get it,” Raph nodded. “I know you’ve been struggling with a few things for a while now, long before this happened to me. I’m not the only one with problems and I’m not going to make light of yours.”
Struggling was an understatement. Their situation with being the only ones of their kind left Mikey feeling lonely. He would hide in the park at night to watch the couples as they strolled by, wishing he could have that kind of connection to someone. Then he would see the families and it would break his heart to know that he could never have that.
He envied Donatello. True, what Bishop had done to him was horrible, but at least he has little Snow to make up for it. Then there was Donny’s relationship with Leatherhead.
After learning about Donny and Leatherhead, Michelangelo tried to get a relationship started with each of his brothers but none of them connected beyond platonic. Raphael understood what Mikey was going through. To be honest, he was going through the same thing, more or less. They all wanted the one thing that they knew they could never have; someone to love and a family. When they died, that would be it.
Mikey snorted, unsure how to respond to Raph. It wasn’t like Raph to be so understanding when he had his own set of problems. “Who are you and what happened to my brother?”
“He got the shit beat out of him.” Raph turned and continued on his way out of the barn.
“There you are,” Mikey said as he followed.
Raph pushed the door open just as a flash of lightning lit up the sky followed by earth shaking thunder. Mikey screamed and grabbed hold of Raph. He never liked storms. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that their home used to flood all the time when it stormed. The fear of drowning was a silly thing for a turtle to have but Mikey had experienced strong undertows and nearly drowned enough times to feel justified in it.
The winds had picked up in the short period of time they were in the barn. Fortunately the storm cellar wasn’t far away and Leo was standing by, waiting for them. Mikey wasn’t too fond of the idea of going underground. What if there was flooding and the house fell on the cellar door, trapping them inside? He had to stop watching disaster movies. Like that was going to happen.
Raph grabbed hold of Mikey’s hand and ran from the barn, pulling Mikey behind him. The cold rain stung Mikey’s flesh and seemed to be raining sideways. As they approached, Leo yelled something but the wind carried it away.
They entered the cellar and Leo closed the door behind them, locking it against the storm. “What the hell took you so long?”
“I was up in the loft,” Raph shot back. “I had just woken up. I’m still a little groggy.”
Casey moved up beside Raph and placed his hand on Raph’s shoulder. He started to say something but he ended up flinching and cursing as Raph turned to look at him. “You gotta do that thing with your eyes? It freaks me out. You look like zombies when you do that.”
“What?” Raph looked up at his friend in confusion and then it dawned on him. “It’s raining hard and we had to protect our eyes. So it suddenly freaks you out despite the fact that when you met me my membranes were closed. You’ve just been watching too much of The Walking Dead.” Shaking his head, Raph looked away. “Besides, we both know it’s not the membrane alone that freaks you out. It’s that coupled with the way I look that reminds you of zombies.”
“I never said that,” Casey grabbed Raph and forced him to turn. “You know as well as I do that you were always ugly. I barely notice any change.”
Mikey’s heart was in his throat and they all waited in silence for Raph reaction. Was Raph ready for something like that? A year ago, a comment like that would have had Raph laughing and he would have cracked a joke back at Casey. But now?
Dropping his bag, Raph scoffed and swatted Casey’s hand away. “Look in a mirror lately? Your face could frighten children. You don’t gotta dress up for Halloween.” He looked around at everyone looking at him. “You all can stop staring. The scars don’t bother me. Who do I got to impress anyway? Snow ain’t afraid of me, so I’m good.”
He walked over and sat in the corner, pulling his legs up to his chest.
“There’s still something bothering you though, Raph,” Leo pressed, sitting across from Raph. “If there is anything you want to get off your chest, you might as well do it now. We’re gonna be here a while.”
Raph sighed, “I don’t wanna be stuck in the lair all the time.”
“You’re not,” Donny said as he bounced Snow in his arms. She had been crying the whole time with her hands covering her ear slits. The pressure in the room had changed so it was the likely reason for her discomfort. “We have the tunnel to April’s apartment and we can come here every summer. Don’t make assumptions about the future. There is a possibility that you will be able to get yourself back to fighting form. Even if you can’t, you won’t be kept a prisoner in the lair.”
“The only thing I require,” Splinter interjected, “is that you heal enough so that you no longer need the pain medication. I do not want your mind in a fog when you are out of the lair.”
“Thanks to the mutagen in our system,” Donny said, “you are healing quickly and better than I had originally thought you would. I give it a few more months and you should be able to go out again.”
“But none of us will go out alone,” Leo added, having to yell to be heard over the rain as it intensified. “We go out in at least pairs. We cannot conduct ourselves the way we used to. Hun and Bishop have stepped up their game.”
All other conversation was stopped due to the howling wind. Even little Snow’s cries were drowned out by the storm. April pressed into Casey’s arms and Leatherhead curled around Donatello. Mikey couldn’t help the swell of envy that overcame him. He wanted that kind of connection. He looked over at Leo then to Raph, finally deciding to simply wrap his arms around himself.
Mikey sighed. He could feel their brief fling with freedom recoiling back on them to make their lives worse. They got themselves involved in too many things and made too many enemies. Their life was dangerous before but it had been elevated to deadly. It seemed like they had more freedoms when they were children.
Leo liked his morning runs through the city, right before sunrise. It was a chance for him to be alone and clear his mind. He would have to have someone go with him if he ever wanted to do it again but that kind of defeated the purpose.
Donny liked to tinker with his projects at all hours of the day and night and enjoyed the freedom to go to the dump whenever he needed anything. The new restrictions were going to set him back do to the fact that he wasn’t the type to wake someone up so that he would have someone to go with him.
Raph wouldn’t be able to go out for a joy ride or run out of the lair whenever he was upset. Fortunately he had his room that he used to store all of his trinkets. Mikey had only managed a peek into the forbidden room. It was full of all the things Raph had collected over the years, dolls, dresses and jewelry.
Then there was Mikey. He loved to go out on his own as much as any of his brothers. He had discovered the wonderful world of Furries and frequented the conventions. He would show up naked and everyone there thought that he had an awesome costume, mostly since he spoke with his mouth closed. And Raph thought that Mikey’s interest in ventriloquism was a pointless waste of time.
But all of that was over, for now. At least until they were able to get things back under control, if they ever could. No matter how much Mikey wanted a normal life, they were mutants, and it just wasn’t in the cards for them.
Like most hard storms, the one over the farm didn’t last long and was soon down to a light drizzle. Mikey’s ears were ringing as the noise faded to silence.
Leo made his way up the stairs to open the cellar doors. As Leo reached up to unlock them, Raph declared, “I’m ready to go home.” He was still sitting with his legs pulled up to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. His eye was staring off at nothing.
Leo stopped and turned to look at him. “Are you sure?”
With a slight nod, Raph answered without looking up, “I’m ready to get back to training. I wanna go home. And when we do, there is someone I need to visit.”
“Who?” Splinter asked in such a way, it was clear that Raph was expected to answer.
“There’s this old blind lady I visit,” Raph said, looking at Splinter. “I met her years ago, after the Triceratons attacked.” He looked up at Mikey. “She’s the one I gave all that money to. I help her out around her place. She’s probably worried about me by now.”
“I’ll go with you,” Mikey offered, interested in meeting this old woman.
“I’ll go as well,” Leo said. “As soon as we get back to New York. We’ll make this one exception but after that, you are not going out until you are off the pain pills. Understand?”
“Yeah,” Raph agreed. “I don’t think I need them anymore, anyway.”
“Good,” Donny smiled. “That’s a good sign.”
Leo turned back to the door, “Let’s see if the house is still standing.” He pushed the doors open and was met with a light drizzle. Climbing the remaining steps, Leo looked around. “It’s a good thing Mikey went to get Raph out of the barn.” He ducked down so he could look back down in the cellar. “Two walls fell. I don’t think it will take much to get the other two down as well. On the plus side, the house looks to be in good condition. There are a few shingles in the yard but that is easily fixed.”
“You take the guys back to New York,” Casey said to April. “Ma and I will fix up the farm.”
“We can stay for that,” Raph argued. “No need for you and your mom to do it all on your own.”
“You don’t have to.”
“We’ll help clean up. We’re not gonna build you a new barn or nothing but at least we can help pull the old one down and patch the roof.”
“Anyone object?” Leo looked around at the others. When no one said anything, Leo nodded. “Alright then. We’ll stay to help clean up before we head back to New York.”
Raph got up and grabbed his bag from the floor then headed for the door. Mikey rushed up next to him. “I guess this means that you’re gonna be staying in the house with us.”
Raph chuckled, “I guess so.”
“I’m glad you’re doing better, Raph.”
“Yeah.” Raph climbed up the stairs in into the rain. “I’m getting there.” He stepped out into the open field and lifted his head to let the rain wash over his face. His eye was open but his membrane was closed, protecting it.
Mikey stood watching him. Casey was right. The membrane, coupled with the scars, did add a death like look to Raph. But the rise and fall of his chest told Mikey that his brother was very much alive. Mikey walked over and grabbed Raph’s hand, pulling his attention back down to earth. “Will you sleep next to me tonight?”
“Yeah,” Raph answered and kissed the top of Mikey’s head. “I will.”
Their moment was shattered when a flash of lightning tore across the sky. Mikey pulled away from Raph and bolted for the house as fast as his legs could carry him.
