Trouble five
Leo trudged through the dank tunnels on his way home, his head spun with thoughts emotions and questions. It seemed every time he answered one question, ten would fill its place. It wasn’t long until Leo reached his destination, he took a deep breath, readying himself for the barrage of questions his brothers were likely to throw at him. As he walked in Leo was glad that Raphael was nowhere in sight, he really wasn’t in the mood to deal with the pig headed self-assured git.
Michaelangelo and Donatello were sat at the kitchen table. On the table lay an open moneybox with pennies strewn around.
“12 dollars and 93 cents, must you collect it all in pennies Mikey” moaned Donatello. “But that’s not enough” Michaelangelo whined.
“Why don’t you look in that junk heap you call a bedroom, I’m sure there’s a few bottles in there you can cash in.”
“What are you doing” quizzed Leo.
“Hey Leo, I’m saving to buy Carrie’s baby a huge teddy bear”, answered Michaelangelo.
“Am I the only one not excited about this”, Leo asked.
“No Raphael’s just as miserable as you”, interjected Donatello.
Leo sloped off to his room, collapsed onto his bed and closed his eyes. Sleep came quickly. Leo found himself in a dark trash strewn alley. How did he get here? Something wasn’t right. He looked up to see a figure standing over him, there was something strange about the figure; its dead eyes seemed to look through him. Where the figure’s chest should have been was a gaping oozing hole. The figure lifted a gun and stepped into the light. “See you in hell!” Carrie spat. There was a sound like thunder.
Leo sat bolt upright out of his sleep. He was breathing heavily, drenched in sweat and his heart was racing. Staring blankly into the darkness it took him a few minutes to realise where he was. He looked at the small clock on his desk – 5:30 am – he may as well get up.
“Is everything okay my son?” Splinters voice made Leo jump. How long had he been there?
“Yes Master, it was just a bad dream.” Leo tried to reassure Splinter as he walked to the kitchen. He could tell by Splinter’s face that he didn’t believe him.
Jon emerged from the hospital entrance.
“Any luck?” asked the elder gentleman taking a long drag on his cigarette.
“They’ve never even heard of her,” sighed Jon.
“Well you’d better get moving, there are loads more hospitals to check in this cesspit of a city, and once you’ve done that you can set about getting us some hired help”.
“How will I do that?”
“Use your winning personally. I don’t care!” The elder man yelled as he dropped the cigarette to the floor and stamped on it.
Fweep, fweep, fweep.
April’s alarm shattered the silence of her apartment. She hit the snooze button and rolled back over and dozed a while.
“Hey, are you getting up sometime today?” Carrie’s voice broke into April’s dream.
“In a minute” moaned April “how long have you been up?”
“Since 5:30 – I find it very hard to get comfortable at night”.
“Yeah I suppose”. “Tell you what you get the coffees started and I’ll think about getting out of bed” yawned April wearily.
Yawning and squinting against the glare of the day April pulled on her dressing gown. She walked to the kitchen, slumped down in the chair and took a long sip of her coffee.
“Have you got work today” enquired Carrie between sips of her freshly percolated coffee.
“Yeah and if I don’t move it I’ll be late” said April leaving the kitchen. “Do you have any plans for the day?”
“Yeah I thought I’d run a marathon but then again I might just crash out on the couch.” Carrie quipped sarcastically.
“Very funny, Leo should be round to keep you company soon”.
“Wonderful” Carrie sighed rolling her eyes.
Feeling depressed and dejected, on bidding April goodbye Carrie decided to drown her sorrows by drinking any alcohol she could. After a little time searching she found an opened bottle of Bourbon and set about downing it.
Meanwhile Leonardo, having prepared himself for the day, was heading for the door only to be barred by Raphael.
“And where are you off to?” Raphael demanded folding his arms across his chest.
“You know full well.” Leo growled.
“Hiding something are you?” Taunted Raphael.
“If you want to stop breathing, keep talking!” Leo sneered as he pushed past.
Leo hurried off not wanting to waste any additional time arguing with Raphael. Spending the day with an aggravating pregnant women just has the edge on spending the day with Raphael, Leo mused as he walked through the sewers to April’s place.