“Mikey!” Raph bellowed from the dojo. “I’m gonna beat the green off of you!”
Mikey paused the movie he was watching. Try as he might, Mikey couldn’t think of what he could have done to make Raph so upset. He hadn’t done anything recently so he had to think hard to remember if he had done anything a long time ago that was not found. Nothing came to mind so he sat on the sofa and waited for Raph to come to him.
“What,” Raph sneered, cracking his knuckles as he walked towards Mikey, “Ya ain’t runnin’?”
Looking over the back of the sofa, Mikey shook his head. “I didn’t do anything.”
“There’s butter all over my weights,” Raph said and planted his hands on the back of the sofa. Leaning in close to Mikey, Raph growled, “Who else would do that?”
Without flinching, Mikey shrugged. “I don’t know but it wasn’t me.” Then a sly smile spread across his face as he chuckled. “That is funny though.”
“No it’s not,” Raph shouted, backing up. “I nearly dropped one on my foot. And injury like that could damage me for life.”
“Well, I didn’t do it,” Mikey insisted.
Pointing his finger at Mikey, Raph glared down at him. “If I find out you did this, I’m gonna pound your ass.”
“Promise?” Mikey teased, batting his eyes.
With a scoff, Raph turned and headed back into the dojo. “It’s gonna take hours to get that shit off my weights.”
Turning back to the television array, Mikey pressed the play button. He curled in on himself as he watched the screen. After what felt like hours of teasing the paranormal, they were finally getting to the good stuff.
“Mikey!” Leo called out from his room, making Mikey have to pause the movie once again.
“What!” Mikey yelled back, a little annoyed that he kept getting interrupted. It was hard to get scared when the movie was constantly paused.
“Did you mess with my candles and incense?” Leo asked, looking down from the upper level.
“No,” Mikey answered. “I haven’t been in your room since the other night when we….”
“I got it,” Leo cut him off. “It’s just that, the incense is broken and the candles aren’t where I put them last.”
“Well, I didn’t touch them,” Mikey insisted.
Leo looked down at Mikey with his penetrating gaze. The one that usually got Mikey to confess if he was ever lying but Mikey was telling the truth. He hadn’t touched Leo’s things. With a grunt of displeasure, Leo turned and disappeared back into his room.
Mikey rolled his eyes and went back to his movie. He only got to enjoy a few more minutes and just as a particularly scary part was coming to peak, Donny stepped out of his lab. “Mikey did you take the batteries out of my devices to replace the ones in your game controller again?”
Moaning, Mikey once again paused the movie. Why didn’t they bother him during the boring parts? Of course they had to make their inquiries during the best parts. “Why is everyone blaming everything on me?”
“Maybe because you like to pull pranks,” Donny stated as a matter of fact, “and take things that don’t belong to you.”
“Well I didn’t do them,” Mikey complained.
“I put fresh batteries in these this morning and now they have no power,” Donny explained, holding up his gadgets. “If you didn’t switch them out then what happened?”
“I don’t know,” Mikey snorted, waving Donny off. “You left them on?”
“I didn’t leave them on,” Donny argued.
“Whatever,” Mikey mumbled. He was losing his good humor. He turned back to the television but before he was able to start the movie up again, Splinter came out of his room.
“That was not funny, Michelangelo.”
Mikey’s eyes went wide as he looked at his father. “You too, Master Splinter? I haven’t left the sofa in over an hour. I’ve been watching my show.”
“Someone came into my room while I was meditating and blew out my candles,” Splinter said, looking over at Donatello.
Holding up his hands, Donny backed off. “I didn’t do it.”
Splinter stroked his beard. “Whoever did it was able to enter my room without my noticing.”
“To get past your masterful senses, Sensei, they must have been a skilled ninja,” Mikey replied. “Maybe Leo did it.”
“Leonardo wouldn’t do something like that,” Splinter countered, waving his hand to dismiss the idea.
Looking over his shoulder at the screen, Mikey had an idea. “Maybe we have a ghost.”
Donny snorted out a laugh, “That’s rich. You’re blaming ghosts now?”
“What else could it be?” Mikey asked, standing up on the sofa and spreading his arms. “You know that they are real. We’ve fought as dragons against a demon. The idea of being haunted by a ghost isn’t that farfetched.”
“How would we have a ghost?” Donny asked, crossing his arms.
“How is it that we have gone this long without a ghost?” Mikey countered, dropping his arms to his sides. “You and your experiments. Splinter and Leo venturing into the spirit world several times a day. Raph…. I’m sure he does something. His bad attitude maybe.”
“Mikey, you’ve watched too many horror movies,” Donny laughed, shaking his head.
Splinter placed his hand on Donatello’s arm, his eyes lost in deep thought. “It is possible, my son.”
“Yes,” Mikey jumped over the back of the sofa. “I’ve got Splinter on my side.”
“You can’t be serious,” Donny said, looking down at their father.
Splinter nodded his head. “I have felt a level of unease these past few days that has been growing stronger.”
“Spirits can draw energy from electronics,” Mikey said pointing to Don’s devices. “They also like to move things.” Stroking his chin, Mikey thought out loud, “I wonder how the ghost put butter on Raph’s weights. I mean, wouldn’t we have seen the butter floating across the lair into the dojo?”
“Maybe it’s not butter,” Donny offered as he started to walk towards the dojo. “Maybe that’s where the spirit entered.”
Glad that Donny was starting to come around, Mikey followed after him. “You think it’s that plasma stuff. Right?”
“Ectoplasm,” Donny corrected.
They entered the dojo to find Raph sitting on the floor cleaning his weights. He looked up and scowled at Mikey. “I don’t know what this is but it ain’t coming off.”
“Let me see,” Don said, stepping forward.
“Careful,” Raph warned, standing up. “They’re slippery and heavy, not a good combination.”
“I can think of a few situations where that combination is good,” Mikey chimed in, earning himself a stern look from Splinter and a slap on the back of the head from Raph. Hissing in pain, Mikey rubbed the sore spot and stuck his tongue out at Raph.
“Watch it,” Raph warned. “You’re on thin ice as it is.”
“Mikey didn’t do this,” Donny stated as he rubbed the slimy stuff between his finger and thumb. “I think we have a poltergeist.”
To make sure, Donatello spent a few hours studying the substance. His conclusion stood. There was a ghost in the lair.
Splinter called a family meeting in the dojo to discuss their options.
“So what do we do about it?” Mikey asked as soon as they were all present. “I don’t think I could stand living with a ghost. What if it starts shaking my bed in the middle of the night?” He looked up at Raph with pleading eyes. “Can I sleep with you tonight?”
“But you’re supposed to sleep in my room tonight,” Donny stated, without thinking and then, blushing, looked down. “But you can do what you want.” Splinter didn’t mind his sons’ open relationship with each other. He just preferred not to hear about it.
“Maybe we can contact it,” Leo offered.
“Like a séance?” Mikey asked.
Leo nodded, “Yes. We can sit together and meditate, focusing our energy on the spirit. Maybe we will be able to ask it what it wants.”
“But what if Mikey’s right and it was because you guys enter the spirit realm so often that the ghost is here in the first place,” Raph argued. “What if, in the process of trying to contact this one, we bring more in?”
“Then what would you suggest?” Donny quipped, “We call the Ghost Busters?”
“Yes,” Mikey replied in a small voice.
“They don’t exist, Mikey,” Donny said. “At least not in this dimension.”
“The séance is our best option,” Leo stated.
Splinter turned to head for his room. “I will get everything we will need.”
Full of excitement, Donny turned to rush off to his lab. “I’m going to grab some equipment. I want to see what kind of readings I can get.” He continued mumbling to himself as he left the dojo. “Maybe a camera and an audio recorder. I’m sure I have something that will be able to record video on a different spectrum.”
Once Donatello and Splinter were done setting up, the Turtles sat in a circle with their father. Michelangelo closed his eyes and tried to focus on entering the spirit realm. He was finding it difficult. He had no desire to come face to face with a ghost or worse, another demon.
Mikey was the last to join his family in the spirit realm and his connection was weak at best. He was ready to pull out at a moment’s notice. “I just had a thought,” Mikey said as he approached his family. “What if the ghost is really that demon that possessed April last year when Casey gave her that ring? What if it stayed behind?”
“It’s too playful to be an evil entity,” Donny replied.
“Maybe we should call Angel, Casey’s sister and their friends,” Raph offered. “Ain’t they some amateur ghost hunters?”
“That would require us exposing ourselves and the location of the lair to their friends,” Leo answered. “That wouldn’t be a good idea. I trust Casey’s cousin and sister but I don’t know their friends. We can do this.”
Mikey shuddered. “I just don’t want to be possessed.” Things had finally settled down since they met our counterparts from another dimension and killed the Shredder. He had hoped that they could enter into an early retirement and relax. “I don’t wanna chase monsters anymore.”
“This isn’t a monster,” Donny sighed. “It’s a ghost. A harmless, prankster, ghost.”
“All we need to do is see what it wants and maybe help it on its way,” Leo added. “Maybe it’s the spirit of a child who had been lost in the sewers somehow. If we find out where they are we can help them find closure so they can move on.”
“Leave it to you to come up with the saddest possibility to counter Mikey’s fear filled ones,” Raph said, rolling his eyes.
“I’m not feeling anyone else here,” Splinter stated. “Maybe it has already moved on.”
“Does anyone else hear a ringing?” Mikey asked, looking around.
“That’s a shell-cell, numb nuts,” Raph replied. “Someone’s trying to call us.”
“I’m gonna go answer it,” Mikey said and pulled himself out of the spirit world. He was glad to be out of there. It had always given him the heebie jeebies. He reached his phone before the others were able to come out of their meditative state. “Talk to me,” Mikey answered.
“Mikey,” April’s voice replied. “You’re not going to believe this but I think we have a ghost.”
“Really?” Mikey couldn’t believe it. “It is pulling pranks?”
“Um… yes,” April said. “How would you know that?”
“Is it safe for us to come over?” Mikey answered with a question of his own. “I’ll explain when we get there.”
“Yeah,” April answered a little annoyed. “Angel and the others have just left with their research. I can’t believe that Casey called them first. Please come over. I haven’t been feeling well and this isn’t helping.”
“We’ll be over right away,” Mikey said before hanging up. “It looks like our ghost moved to April’s,” he said as the others came out of the dojo. “She wants us there to see if we can do anything about it.”
“I’ll get my things,” Donny said and headed back into the dojo.
Splinter turned and followed in after him. “As will I.”
When Don came back out of the dojo he looked a little confused. “That’s strange. I had the recording devices plugged in so the ghost wouldn’t be able to drain them.”
“Yeah,” Raph shrugged, “so what?”
“They ran out of memory,” Donny explained.
Again Raph shrugged.
“The memory was blank when we went in and they each had over forty-eight hours of memory available.” Donny held up the camera. “The memory is now full.”
“So… we were in the spirit realm for two days?” Mikey said with a frightened squeal, placing his hands on his head. “Now you know why I don’t like to meditate.” He turned to Leo. “How do you enjoy that?”
“Let me replace the memory and we can head over to April’s house,” Donny said as he walked towards his lab, ignoring Mikey’s statement.
“Why is no one else bothered by this?” Mikey whimpered.
“After all we’ve been through,” Raph said, placing his hand on Mikey’s head, “there ain’t much that surprises me anymore.”
They left for April and Casey’s apartment once Donatello and Splinter returned with their supplies. When they got to the apartment, Casey answered the door. “Hey guys. Thanks for coming. This ghost is becoming a nascence.” He looked past the guys at Splinter. “Bringing in the big guns I see.”
Leo smiled, “It would be best to have him with us. He has the most experience with things like this.”
Casey stepped aside to let them in. “Well, do what you gotta do.”
Donny set up his recording devices while Splinter set up the space for their meditation circle. “Will you be joining us?” he asked Casey and April.
Casey rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t think I would do too good, Master Splinter. So I’ll just stay out of the way.”
“I would love to sit in on the séance,” April said with a huge grin on her face. “I have been eager to test my skills with you guys. I have been meditating every day.”
“Good,” Splinter smiled. “Now help me move the coffee table.”
“I’ll get that,” Casey stepped forward. “It’s the least I can do.”
With everything set up, April sat in the circle with Splinter and the Turtles. Reluctantly, Mikey closed his eyes and entered into a meditative trance once again.
This time when he stepped into the spirit realm, there was another presence there. The giggles from the ghost were almost infectious.
“Why are you here?” April asked.
“I’m not sure,” the ghost answered as it flew around. Though Mikey was looking directly at it, he couldn’t tell if it was a boy or a girl. It looked like a puff of cloud. “I was drawn towards you when you were with them,” it said, indicating the Turtles. “They looked like they were having a lot of fun so I decided to stay with them. I liked that they loved each other so much and wanted to be part of it. But then I was drawn away from them and towards you again.”
“Why,” Donny asked. “Why are you drawn towards April?”
“I just am,” the ghost answered. “But, I want to be with you. I want you they have.”
“You messed with our stuff,” Raph accused.
“I was only looking,” the ghost answered shyly. “I didn’t mean to make you upset.”
“If we can’t figure out why you are here then we can’t help you move on,” Splinter stated with a hint of concern in his voice.
“Move on?” the ghost asked, constantly on the move.
“You know,” Mikey said, “cross over to the other side.”
“But I came from the other side,” the ghost replied.
“You did?” April said, a little awestruck. “What was it like?”
“I don’t remember,” the ghost answered. “All I know is that I need to be near you.” The ghost stopped moving and stood in front of April. “It’s very important.”
April smiled as she looked down at the ghost. “You’re a little girl.” Though it had no real form, April lifted her hand as if to cup the ghost’s face. Tears filed her eyes as she whispered, “You are so beautiful.”
Mikey didn’t understand what was going on. “I don’t see anything.”
“I think April’s pregnant,” Leo whispered. “I’ve heard of women saying that they were visited by the soul of their child in the early weeks of their pregnancy. Those mothers usually know at that time if they are having a boy or a girl. Our experiences with the supernatural must have made us more sensitive to the soul as it waits for the right time. Or this one is unique somehow, drawn to April because of her experiences.”
“The right time?” Mikey asked his brother.
“My guess,” Leo said, looking down at Mikey, “the moment of the first heartbeat.”
April wrapped her arms around the spirit and it faded into her body. With a soft smile and tears in her eyes, April placed her hands on her stomach. “I’m going to have a little girl.”
