Note: Guess who finally figured out how Tumblr's "Read under the cut" system works!!!
When the woman brought the bell-bird in, April knew it was time to go, screw the rain. April scrolled down to the band’s store on ITunes, finally conceding and purchasing DIGG’s most recent album. She plugged in her earbuds and let the rapid beat of drums replace the screeching call of whatever was happening in the vet clinic as she opened her umbrella and walked out. Without a carrier, April had to carry Mayhem out of the clinic in her arms, not that either of them were complaining. She walked a few paces until she was on the outside of the clinics gate, just on the outskirts of the street.
Looking back, April noted that this place didn’t look anything like a human veterinarian clinic, it was comparable to a theme park. What April had gotten from the pamphlet was that “Squaker’s Creature Clinic” was a 6 acre property that provided care for any exotic creature (everything was exotic down here, April had a hard time telling the difference between pet and owner.) Sunita had been able to get her Dad, Exploding Frankie, to drop April off in front of the clinic a few minutes before the appointment, but April had had no idea what she was getting into. It was easy enough to find a seat, but while she was waiting in the clinic, the clerk had mistaken April for Mayhem’s pet, and had spent the first 10 minutes making baby noises at her. The doctor had made the same mistake, but they were eventually able to get down to business and take care of the appointment.
She tried getting into the beat of the music, closing her eyes for a moment as she tried to ignore the cold that was crawling up her ankle. She started pacing to try and get the blood flowing. When she felt the warm brush of Mayhem’s tongue against her face she reopened her eyes to see his worried expression. “I know buddy, i’m cold too.” She heard a gargling screech come from inside the clinic and cringed, “better out here than in there though, huh?”
April and Mayhem both sighed in tandem. Mayhem curled back up in her arm, breathing gently as he settled in for warmth. “Leo, where are you…” she muttered under her breath. At the thought of Leo she was reminded of Donnie, and with that she felt her blood pressure rise.
‘Why didn’t he come, he’s never not come.’ The fact that he hasn’t messaged her since last week was one thing, ignoring her six calls was another, and leaving her waiting for an hour was the tipping point. She tried to “zen out” to DIGG, but she kept thinking.
“Why would he ignore me?!” She looked to Mayhem who was startled by her abrupt start of conversation, “Sure, I kept calling him today before and after your appointment, but that was because we had made plans about this like five days ago…” She should have gotten Mayhem to the clinic sooner but there was such a long wait time. She held Mayhem a little tighter, “I haven’t done anything… right?” when he shook his head ‘no’, April continued: “Yeah! Donnie would have told me if something was up, it’s not like he’s one to mince words.” She scoffed at that and groaned, the cold was crawling back up her legs again. She picked up the pace, bouncing a little with the steps. She landed in a puddle large enough to soak into her socks and she made a noise of disgust.
When April turned a blur of blue rammed into her, knocking the umbrella out of her hand as the form tightly enclosed her. She wanted to shout, but her call was cut off by the guttural sob that bled into her shoulder.
“Leo?” He responded by fixing his grasp to hold onto her tighter. Mayhem chittered in complaint as he was squished between their two bodies, teleporting to the ground behind April to escape Leo’s hold. April wrapped her arms around Leo, feeling him shiver uncontrollably at her touch. “Leo what’s wrong?”
When he didn’t respond April pulled him away from her by his shoulders. She kept him close but now she could see a redness under his eyes. A purple mark was swelling on his left cheek and there was redness forming on his throat. He looked away from her before rubbing his face with both hands. April saw the charred cloth of his sleeve and gasped, “Leo, what-”
He spoke in a low tone of voice that April was not familiar with, it was shaky and it fought back a choke as he uttered, “can I please hang out at your place for a bit?” he removed his hands from his face and looked pleadingly, “please.”
She wanted to ask, now and here, but he didn’t look up for it. He was soaked from head to toe and even at their close proximity April could see that his legs were shaking.
She hugged him again, putting on a strained smile as she tried to stay calm. “Yeah, Leo… Of course.”
He broke the hug first and stepped away, rubbing at his eyes before pulling out his Odachi. He stood stationary as he tried to concentrate, taking a deep breath and stabilizing before swinging his sword to form an electric blue portal. Wow. First try. April picked up Mayhem and her umbrella, closing it as she walked up to Leo.
“It’s going to be okay, Leo,” She felt the cold rain speckle her hair and her cheeks, slowly soaking into her jacket as she put a hand on his arm. “You’re okay.”
April’s apartment was (thankfully) empty. Her parents were out and she knew that they wouldn’t be back until late evening, so her and Leo could hang out at least until then.
“How do you feel about a pizza,” April pushed Leo towards the couch as she pulled out her phone, “because I am famished.” She watched as he flopped down onto the sofa, he rubbed his eyes with a stiff sigh. She typed in the familiar number and paced into the kitchen to open the fridge. The number only rang twice before being answered with a familiar voice.
“Run of the Mill, this is Hueso speaking.”
“Hi,” she pushed over the carton of milk to get to the soda’s and juice. “Do you guys deliver?”
“Yes we do, what would you like.”
“Can you do a half cheese, half creepy-special, I got a friend who really likes that kind of stuff.” April squirmed at the thought of the creepy special, it was all of the boys favorite though.
“Brown, blue, or black?”
“Uhhh~” April drew out the sound in confusion, “you mean like… olives?”
“No.”
A chill shot up her spine but she choked it down, “... A- a mix, then?”
“Of course, would you like to add on an order of Garlic knots with that order?”
That sounded more up her human-palette-alley. “You know what, sure.”
“Muy bien, what is your address?”
She relayed her address information and her card number from memory and was given an approximate time of 30 minutes for delivery. With the pizza on the way she shouted from the kitchen, “Leo! What do you want to drink!”
“I’m not thirsty.” This was worse than she thought. She sighed and pushed a hand through her hair, 30 minutes until pizza, what was she going to do for 30 minutes? April usually did this for Donnie (and the occasional Mikey), but the procedure always went like this: A Jupiter Jim movie, weighted blanket, pizza, soda, and then she would ask if Donnie (or Mikey) would want to talk about it. Donnie opening up about something was a good 75%-25%, Mikey was 100% going to talk about it before she even started the movie. Leo though, April had never seen him this upset before.
She walked into her bedroom and grabbed a thick blanket off of the foot of her bed, pulling it off messily before making her way back to the living room.
Leo snapped out of a distant stare when April sat next to him on the couch.
She spoke softly as to not startle him any further. “You wanna get out of that soaked jacket?”
He looked down, as if noticing his wet demeanor for the first time. “Oh, uh…” he put on a grin, “what, don’t like the way I sparkle?”
She rolled her eyes, “C’mon, Leo,” if he was cracking jokes maybe he was feeling better, “you’re turning my sofa a whole different shade of brown.”
She watched him chuckle as he began to peel the hoodie off of his but he stopped with a jerk. He was frozen as a darkness passed through his eyes.
She reached a hand out to gently rest on his shoulder, “Leo?”
He snapped, “I need to use your bathroom.” He jumped up from the sofa and stumbled through the hallways before April heard the bathroom door shut with a click.
She had the notion to follow him, but took his place on the couch instead. April looked to Mayhem who likewise looked at her with confusion. She threw the blanket on the chairs arm before getting up again, going to the cabinet below the TV as she started flipping through her collection of old dvds and (ugh) vcr’s. She heard her phone buzz and pulled it from her pocket, a text notification buzzed with Donnie’s name on the screen. She huffed and threw her phone behind her onto the couch. “You ghost me, I ghost you,” she muttered under her breath as she kept flipping through the video’s. Mayhem came up next to her and looked into the drawer.
April heard her phone vibrate again, “I’m trying to pick a movie to watch with Leo,” She pulled out two, “do you think he would like ‘Jitsu for Justice,’, or… ‘Punch Chowder, Directors cut’?” She looked to Mayhem who squinted at the weathered disks before pointing to ‘Jitsu for Justice’. “Yeah, you’re right,” April tossed Punch Chowder back into the drawer, “only criminals like ‘Punch Chowder’.”
She heard her phone vibrate a few more times but ignored it again with a huff. Mayhem teleported onto the sofa where he flipped over the phone to look at the screen, it vibrated again and again and he cringed. April turned on the television and powered up the vcr player, should she let the previews play now or wait until Leo came back into the room. Nah, only Splinter likes the previews. She loaded up the timely tape and let it start playing. Her phone started buzzing again and she groaned in annoyance. April went back to the sofa to snatch up her cell, “ugh, what?”
She opened her messages and was sent the first unchecked message. They kept coming in as she began to read:
Donnie 12:23 pm:
Hey April, did Leo come get you
Donnie 12:28:
Did Leo come get you
Is Leonardo with you
April are you back home safe
Sorry I couldn’t make it something came up.
Txt me back
Have you seen Leonardo
This felt… wrong. April looked to Mayhem who eyed her with mutual discomfort as he watched her from the sofa, she looked back to her messages as she scrolled down farther.
Donnie 12:29
Was Leo able to come get you
Leo’s not at home, have you seen him
Is Leo at your apartment
Text me when you see this
Donnie 12:30
Are you ignoring me
I need to know if Leo’s with you
*we
We need to know if Leo’s with you
We’re really worried pls respond
Donnie 12:32
Text me
Are you mad
April, Something’s up with Leo
Can you call me, Leo’s not picking up his phone
April was pulled out of the trance when she heard the clatter of falling objects and a frantic curse coming from the bathroom.
The excuse to drop her phone back onto the couch was welcome. She moved out of the living room to the start of the hallway. “Leo?” Silence.
She could hear the sink running as she walked further. “Leo,” she tapped on the bathroom door, “are you okay?”
“I-” A shaky breath bled through the thin wood. There was a pause laced with shaky breaths that April could hear despite the flowing sink. “No.”
Her heart sunk and she gripped the door handle, “can I come in?”
When he didn’t answer, a wave of dread washed over her. Should she go in now? Would breaking into the bathroom startle him? Would it make whatever was happening worse? Was he doing something bad?
“Yeah.”
April didn’t hesitate.
Leo stood over the vanity with his arm under the running faucet. She gasped when she saw the pale blistering skin under all the white bubbles. April nearly tripped as her foot kicked a bottle of some beauty product across the bathroom floor, sending it flying into the side of the tub. The cabinet under the sink had been opened and emptied, piles of bottles and scrubs organized frantically in search for something. She barely noticed his hoodie and sword, discarded into a messy pile in the bath. She covered her mouth with one hand while the other went to gently touch the top of his arm. He turned his head away from the sink with a forced smile, “I can’t find your med kit.”
She ran to her room where she slid a small green backpack out from the underside of her bed, a piece of worn and slightly peeling piece of scotch tape with a red sharpied cross adorning its front (she’s known the boys long enough to have one of these). She returned to the bathroom and turned the sink off. She gripped Leonardo firmly as she forced him onto the toilet, she took her place sitting on the side of the tub as she practically ripped open the bag.
“Leo, what did you do?” The burn was on the side of his forearm, starting an inch below the wrist and stretching all the way to his elbow. The skin was a dull and ashy green, distant from his healthy neon shade and covered in small, broken blisters. She reached for the towel hanging on the wall and dabbed at the skin gently to dry the sink water, Leo noticeably flinched at the contact but said nothing. She dived into her bag, retrieving a gauze, a roll of bandages and a burn spray that she sat next to her on the tub ledge. “Leo, what did you do?!” she repeated again. She applied the spray first, an antibiotic burn spray laced with lidocaine, spraying libberaly before applying the gauze loosely to the face of the burn.
“I- I don’t know.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?!” her sudden shout made him flinch, “this is a second degree burn and you don’t know?!.” She started to loosely apply the bandage, too tight and it would cause more harm than good. Mayhem appeared in the bathroom on top of the sink, curiously looking down on the wound as April applied her first aid. She heard Leo suck a breath in and looked away from his arm to see him holding his face in his hand.
“I don’t know what he- what to-” Leo rubbed his hand down his face, a few tears falling down his cheeks as he spoke, “I don’t know what to do.” He choked and hiccuped with every word. Mayhem trilled quietly with concern, leaning closer to Leo as he watched the two of them interact.
“Leo...” April switched from restraining his hand to holding it, softening her tone as she looked him in the eyes. “Leo, take a deep breath. Can you breathe with me?” He nodded.
“In-” She inhaled deeply through her nose and he copied her, “out.” She exhaled through her mouth, and although his breathing was ragged he replicated the motion. April repeated this with him until his breathing was calmer. She finished wrapping his arm and hugged him, holding him tightly in the dim lighted bathroom.
“I’m sorry,” Leo hesitated, sniffling quietly into her shoulder as he considered what to apologize for, “about the mess, about you being left there in the rain, about Donnie not...”
April took a deep breath, “it’s okay, Leo.” She sat on the lip of the bathtub and swept him over with her eyes, “is there any other injury I should know about?”
He did a little shimmy on the toilet seat, “not that I can feel,” he said blankly. “I didn’t…” Leo looked at his bandaged arm, turning it over slightly before feeling the bandages with his other hand, “I didn’t even feel this, the burn.”
April tilted her head in concern and placed her hands awkwardly in her lap, she didn’t know where else to put them right now. “Were you in shock?” With how upset he looked in front of the vet, it wasn’t unlikely, but the boys usually nursed their own injuries together. April could feel her heart rate pick up as her mind started thinking the worst “Leo… Where are your brothers?”
He straightened and shook his head, “no… No, April they’re fine, this was…” he pulled his arm up to rub at the back of his neck, his hands ghosting over the formed bruise on his throat before moving away again, “Dad, Raph and Mikey are fine, they weren’t even there when it...” Leo paused and his eyes focussed on something distant.
“What about Donnie?” Leo shifted uncomfortably. April took his face in her hands, forcing Leo to make eye contact with her, “Leo, what. About. Donnie.”
“I think he’s… okay?”
“What?” Mayhem hopped onto the back of Leo’s shell, rubbing against his head as Mayhem took a closer look at Leo’s arm, going over the medical work with narrowed eyes. “What is that supposed to mean!”
Leonardo leaned back out of her hands. “April, I don’t even know how to explain it, he-” Leo groaned in frustration and grabbed Mayhem quickly to place him back on the floor, “It. It wasn’t even... It wasn’t even Donnie.”
April felt a wave of confusion roll over her. She balked, “what are you talking about?”
Leo laughed pitifully as he brought his hand up to his face, “ah-ha-ha~” he sputtered out, “I don’t even know where to start…” He rubbed over his eyes and leaned back in defeat on the tank of the toilet. He sighed deeply before quietly saying, almost to himself, “I think I'm going crazy, April.”
April said nothing, examining Leo as he laid back in defeat, not looking at her, not looking at anything really. She finally noticed the dark bags under his slightly bloodshot eyes, he looked utterly exhausted and she wasn’t sure what to do. Keep pushing for an answer? No. No not yet. She sighed and looked away towards Mayhem, who was circling the bathroom floor. Mayhem was still disgruntled from being placed on the floor but walked up to Leo’s leg, sniffing at his ankles and narrowing his eyes.
In the uncomfortable silence April could finally hear the TV going, the previews were coming close to an end. “Leo, do you want to go sit in the living room?” He looked uncertain at the question, looking over April as they both hesitated. She turned to a softer tone. “Go get comfortable on the couch, I’ll clean up here and I’ll be with you in a second.” He opened his mouth to say something but closed it again. “Okay?”
After another moment, Leo simply nodded and stood. Mayhem staggered back from the sudden movement and stumbled backwards as Leo moved out of the bathroom, Mayhem quickly followed, close behind his heels.
April breathed out with a sigh of relief, loosely running her hand through her hair as she leaned over her knees. What was going on? She took a deep breath in and tossed the burn spray back into the bag, zipping it up quickly and placing it on top of the toilet. April took to the floor as she began to place the miscellaneous beauty products back into the bottom of the sink. While looking for her medical kit, Leo had tried to place the cabinets contents in neat rows on the floor and counter, but somewhere along the way something must have fallen, causing a domino collapse and causing the noise that brought April to the door.She finished placing everything back into the cabinet and closed the door quietly before standing and approaching the bathtub.
Leo’s hoodie was soaked in her hands, would he even still want it with the massive burn on the sleeve? She considered hanging it on the curtains tension-rod to dry but reconsidered. Wouldn’t want to forget it's there and have her mom find it and asked questions. April reopened the med bag and stuffed it in there, she’d hang it up to dry later and ask if Leo would still want it. She bent down and clasped his sword, freezing as she got a closer look at the blade. Along the sharp edge was a thin stretch of red. His sword had blood. Was that normal? It was a sword so blood shouldn’t be unbelievable, but it was blood. Leo had never really cut people before though so what blood- whose blood was this? He was burnt, not cut. It wasn’t his, but it was blood so who…
April’s head ran around in circles. It was blood. On Leo’s sword. April turned the bath’s faucet on and quickly ran over the edge with a hanging washcloth, quickly removing the red and going it over a few more times for good measure. She took the hanging towel and dried it before setting the Odachi on top of the towel rack. Why did she do that? Should she have asked first? Asked what, if he wanted to keep it on it? If he wanted to keep blood on his sword?! April groaned and rubbed her hands over her face. They felt cold from the bathwater, it felt nice against her flushed cheeks.
April inhaled deeply and held it, holding her breath and counting to thirty before releasing it in a long, deep sigh.
“Okay.” She repeated the breath again as she held her hands together in front of her lips, holding for thirty before releasing another long, deep sigh. “Alright, April. You are going to go in there, and you are going to be there for your friend.” She paused and picked up the med bag, starting her trek back to her room where she returned her bag to the bottom of her bed, “he’ll tell you when he’s ready, it’s okay, he’s okay…” She felt calmer from talking to herself, she didn’t do it often, but it helped, and she could feel it helping her now as her nerves subsided, “it’s all going to be okay.”
-
April called from the kitchen, “water or soda?”
He wasn’t thirsty earlier, but he could feel the stripping dryness in his throat now. “Just water, please.” Leo could hear the refrigerator open and close with a clap.
Mayhem returned to Leo’s lap the moment he sat down, curling back into a ball and purring softly as Leo stroked his fur. For the first time in days Leo felt relief wash over him, and he gave a heavy yawn.
Leo snapped his mouth closed, he didn’t want to sleep just yet. April walked into the room carrying a bottle of water and a can of soda. Once she handed the water to Leo she plopped down onto the opposite side of the couch and cracked the can open.
Why did he say all that in the bathroom? Leo was filled with embarrassment and fear, did April think he was crazy now?
Might as well make small talk. “Why did Mayhem need to go to the vet?”
April swallowed the soda with a sigh, “poor little guy wasn’t eating, turns out he had some yucky stuff in his guts and now he’s gotta go on a “delicate tummy” diet and take some pills.”
“Yucky stuff as in…”
April took a sip, pushing out an audible sigh afterwards. “Some intestinal parasite, I think?”
Leo cringed. “Ugh,” it just had to be that. Leo brushed off the chill and sipped at his water, “how was the vet?”
“Oh don’t even get me started,” April sat her can on the coffee table with a hard tap. “I couldn’t get Mayhem to a vet up here for obvious reasons, so I call Sunita about it and she recommended this vet clinic,” her phone vibrates but she ignores it as she starts her tangent, “so I get there and it looks like a prison, I get Mayhem inside and the receptionist doesn’t take me seriously until I show her the appointment on my phone. I end up waiting an hour longer than I need to before the doctor finally sees me and Mayhem bites him!”
“He bit someone?” Leo carefully moves his hand off of Mayhem’s back, eyeing the comfortable yokai cat-dog who grumbles at the loss of the touch. “I thought he reserved that kind of stuff for Raph.” Leo chuckles dryly.
April gives a ‘Ha’, but continues “I know right! Anyway, after he pins Mayhem down with some ‘magic hands,’” April makes jazzy hands at those words, “he prods and pokes mayhem for like twenty minutes before putting like three shots in his tummy.” She leans over and picks Mayhem off of Leo’s lap to set him down on her own, gently petting his head until he was comfortable again. “Mayhem throws up like two times his body weight all over the doc’s shoes and that’s when the guy finally tells me that Mayhem was sick with some weird stuff before shoving me out the door with a bill.” April huff’s. In hearing April retell his traumatizing tale, Mayhem stands gruffly and hops back off of her lap onto the floor to start licking his fur.
Leo watched Mayhem tentatively and shifted his legs to be a bit farther away from the weird dog. “Sounds… awful.” Mayhem noticed Leo’s movement and started sniffing again, getting closer to his ankles as he inspected.
“Yeah, now he’s gotta take pills for like a whole month to make sure it all gets out of his system, apparently it’s some super persistent variety.” April sighed and leaned back. “For a doctor, he didn’t talk much and I barely understood anything he was saying when he did.” She moved her eyes to the screen of the T.V.. ‘Jitsu for Justice’ was starting now, the opening shot starting with Lou Jitsu (like most of his movies.) “But… I’m glad that it's over. This little guy was acting all kinds of weird, he’s acting way more like himself now.” She sighed.
‘Wish I could feel the same way,’ Leo thought. Leo tried doing the same, staring at the screen as he tried to zone out. He was suddenly aware of the blanket next to him as he pulled it off the arm and wrapped himself in it. A wave of heat shot through his arm up to his shoulder, making him wince just as he settled in for comfort. He ignored it and tried to focus on the screen... The fight with It… A visual of himself on the ground, with Donnie’s body hovering over him settled in his brain like a transparent filter. The rocketsetting on Donnie’s tech bo after he pushed the button. When the purple flames started and he felt the heat on his arm. Leo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. That must have been it. When the rocket setting started and he was so panicked that he hadn’t registered the pain.
Leo suddenly felt queasy as the burn on his arm visualized in his head. He leaned back until his shell was flush with the sofa, keeping his eyes shut as he took a deep breath. Painful heat went up his arm again. The hand on his neck. The choke hold he was forced into. Calling Raph. Being dragged away by the throat…. Donnie’s hand. His eyes snapped open, but not before the visceral picture of his twins gaping palm flashed through his mind. Oh no oh no nono. It was so deep and there was white. It was bone. Leo lurched forward into his hand. He cut someone. Hurt someone. Donnie. He sucked in a harsh breath. ‘It wasn’t Donnie. It’s not Donnie,’ the small voice - maybe it was Leo’s conscience, which, funny enough, took the form of Raph - tried to reason. Oh but it was a body. Maybe not Donnie’s but maybe it was Donnie’s and he just hurt him.
“Leo?” He heard April but he didn’t want to respond. He felt like he couldn’t respond without breaking down. He now realized that he still had the water bottle in his hands. Not wanting to crush it with his vice grip, he set it onto the coffee table between them, staring at the water as it quaked.
He exhaled shakily as he tried to get a grip on himself. ‘Don’t do this, not here,’ he tried repeating the words in his head. What if it was Donnie. What if it wasn’t? If it was? Then his brother is being puppet controlled by a worm the size of a python from the inside out. If it wasn’t, then Donatello might be dead already and there was nothing he could do about it.
“Leo.” A hand on his shoulder snapped him out of it. Her voice was so soft it was almost a whisper. “Do you want to talk about it?”
He opened his mouth and then closed it again as the words caught in his throat. He tried again, only a gargle coming out the second time before he snapped it shut again. April moved to hold his hand, patiently looking him in the eyes as she listened. He blinked the tremor out of his vision as he focused on her. “It started two days ago,” Leo started, “I didn’t think much of it… but then it started getting worse.”
She squeezed his hand when he hesitated and he swallowed. Closing his eyes as everything revisualized at once. He had already started, ‘keep it as “on-track” as you can, man’ the voice in his head - which he now knew was mind Raph - chastised gently.
“It’s Donnie.” He felt a sting in his throat again but he swallowed it down, “or maybe it was Donnie at some point... but isn’t any more. But I don’t want to think that because that would mean that…” that he’s dead. “I-” that Donnie’s dead. That he’s dead and something did it, and they didn’t stop it, that he didn’t stop it and Donatello, his twin, his brother their brother was dead. Leonardo tilted his head back as he fought tears. “I just knew that something was wrong, nothing was wrong, but…” He should have said something to Raphael, maybe he would have believed him more than Mikey did and none of this would have escalated like it had, but then again, “he wasn’t even acting weird!” April shifted back uncomfortably at the sudden outburst. “And the stupid milk!”
“Slow down Leo,” April kept her hand on his, squeezing it comfortably as she brought her other hand up defensively. “Can you start from the beginning?” She watched as Mayhem jumped onto the sofa and curled up in his lap. Leo looked down in surprise but hummed softly as he started to pet his fur.
He thought he was starting from the beginning. He breathed in and out, picking a better place in the story to start with. “It didn’t start getting odd until breakfast, the other day, when I asked him about why he was putting milk in his coffee, not a big deal.” April nodded, “But then he got uncomfortable with my questioning, so I tried leaving it alone. Then it got weirder… like,” Leonardo looked to April as he hesitated, she was paying attention to him as he spoke, taking in everything as he said it as she tried to understand, “he started trying to spend more time with me. He intentionally lost a game to me, which he would never do, and he didn’t care when Mikey broke the turtle tank!” Leo’s voice had risen again.
“Whoa whoa whoa, wait.” April briefly interrupted with a shocked tone. “Mikey broke the tank?”
“Well, no… just the soft-serve machine.” Leo trailed off, “but he wasn’t even annoyed!"
Mayhem rolled over on Leo’s lap but seemed to be bothered again, hopping up on all fours to jump off the couch.
April hummed, “he didn’t say anything?”
“Nothing! And I-” Leo stumbled over his words, “and I know that that’s so small! It’s like I said, nothing was bad, nothing was wrong. Just… off, and there was no reason for me to be suspicious, no real reason for me to be paranoid. And then, right after you called…” he forced himself to stop when he heard the quiver in his voice.
“It’s okay, Leo,” She took his hand again, rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand as she held it tightly. She gave a small, understanding smile. “It’s okay. Take your time.”
“There’s something inside of him.” Leo’s voice broke. “It crawled back inside of him and it’s not him, I think it’s his body but it’s not him who’s moving and talking,” Leo brought his hands up as he accentuated his words, breaking contact with April’s hand as he continued. “I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that there’s some monster impersonating him, or that nobody knows, or that I have no idea how long he- It has been like that.” Mayhem sniffed at Leo’s ankles again, squinting before poking at Leo’s shin guards (ankle warmers? socks?)
“What do you mean?” April felt unease at what Leo was insinuating, a similar feeling to when she had read those texts.
“It was like… a snake, or a worm, it was black and it came out of his mouth before Donnie- It attacked me.” He has it in his head that it’s not Donnie, but his mouth can't get it right. “It’s like...”
April hesitantly finished for him. “Like… like a parasite?”
Mayhem screeched.
Both Leo and April jumped at the sudden noise and Mayhem ripped off Leo’s shin guard with his (surprisingly strong) tiny hands. Leo jumped back farther into the couch with a yelp at the motion as April tried to grab the little yokai.
“Mayhem, stop!” She tried grabbing him but he dodged April’s hands as he jumped onto the coffee table between them, shaking Leo’s shin guard roughly.
Something struck the table, sticking stationary to the hard surface with a tap. Mayhem threw the guard over his shoulder - which flew over April’s head - and inspected the small item. He squinted his eyes as he took it between his tiny fingers and sniffed it once before growling. With a huff, mayhem showed it to them both, holding the small bead in the air for Leo and April to see. Mayhem held a black bead the size of a pinky nail between his tiny claws, it shined dully in the light of the T.V. Leo flinched in recognition. It was one of the beads that Donnie had pulled from behind his shell.
“Uh, Mayhem?” April asked, “what’s up buddy?”
Mayhem reached it towards her and April took it between her fingers, tapping it between her finger pads. “It’s… kinda sticky?” She offered the observation as she handed the bead to Leo, who did the same. Mayhem rolled his eyes as he watched her pass it off to him. It was sticky. As Leo rolled it between his fingers he could feel it’s pull on his skin, it was also kinda squishy under the pressure.
Mayhem pulled Leo’s water bottle over to the center of the table and quickly unscrewed the lid. He hopped onto Leo’s lap, snatching the bead from his fingers before turning back to the table. Popping the bead in quickly, he recapped the bottle before shaking the container vigorously with both hands. Both Leo and April watched silently (although definitely confused) as Mayhem performed the task with shut eyes. After what felt like minutes, Mayhem set the bottle back down with an tired sigh, keeping his tiny hand on the lid to hold it down. The bead was now three times its size.
April looked towards Leo. He was transfixed, his lips pressed tightly together as he stared with wide eyes. He gasped. April snapped her head back towards the coffee table. The bead squirmed and twitched before cracking open. A black, rounded point shot out from the crack, extending and expanding as it breached what they now knew as an egg. The thin tubular worm escaped its egg as it circled its environment, slowly expanding.
“What the-” April gasped. Leo was silent as he watched, unconsciously gripping the arms of the chair until the fabric squeaked. Horrified, they both watched over a span of minutes as the creature grew longer and thicker, soaking up the water until it filled the space of the entire bottle. Even when there was no space to grow, they could still see it slithering around and into itself, turning the water into a murky black.
Mayhem broke the silence with a chirp. Looking expectantly at them both.
“Mayhem, i’m going to assume that you…” April tried her best to avoid looking at the bottle, trying instead to focus on her pet/friend to fight the nausea. “Know what that is?”
Mayhem nodded.
“That’s…” April and Mayhem both looked towards Leo, who forced his words out with bated breath, “that’s the thing.”
Mayhem pushed the bottle to the side, getting back up onto all fours as he looked towards Leo pitifully. April jumped as the bottle shook on it’s own, she felt her skin crawl and shifted in her seat. Looking towards Leo she could see what only could be described as despair and disgust.
Paper School, a normal school that just so happened to have murderous teachers and a demon living inside. This was every day: For students, get an A or never see your family again, for the staff: deal with the failing students or just not get involved. However, after Lana, Abbie, and Claire's deaths, the students began to notice something.....off.
Terrifying clones of themselves, staff, and dead students. In the first few weeks of this, students started to blame Δlice, until she said that it was not her doing, which has led some to believe that this is another entity in itself.
They essentially haunt the school.
(Δlice is lying by the way she did that.)
Current as far as I remember:
An all black Zip with no mouth and bloodshot eyes.
Engel but with an extremely long waist, arms, and no face.
A Claire with no legs and no eyes.
A headless Bloomie with extremely long legs. Fen is 10'ft tall, for example, so...
An all black Chip with 4 arms and unnaturally dilated eyes.
>Yes, the Zip and Chip ones are related. Shhh.
>Chip one appears in the pool room and Miss Sasha's room.
>Can't decide on the Zip one.
>The Bloomie one is found everywhere but the pool room and inside classrooms(excluding Miss Bloomie's for obvious reasons.)
>The Claire one appears infront of the exit and makes her way through the whole school in a loop.
>The Engel one appears infront of the exit as well, stays in the hallways though.
It's actually a pretty interesting concept, and I might actually get back into drawing it. Especially the Engel one, I love him. That one is my son now.
