Broken Mind

Chapter 9

The glowing ethereal woman stared straight at Leo. Her face looked so familiar but Leo couldn't pinpoint where he knew her from. "W-who are you?" Leo stuttered. The woman's face looked almost sad. "I am Tang Shen." She said her voice sounding echoed. Tang Shen? Where had Leo heard that name before? "Why are you here?" Leo asked trying to keep his voice steady. Tang Shen reached a blue foggy hand over to caress Leo's face. Leo felt only a slight tickle on his cheek as she ran her hand down. Leo fought the urge to melt into her comforting touch. "You are lost." Tang Shen said softly. "What? What do you mean?" Leo asked. "Your mind is hurting, it is breaking." Tang Shen continued. Leo just stared at her quizzically. What was this ghostly woman going on about? Leo felt fine! At least he thought he did. "You can not repair yourself alone." Tang Shen echoed. "I'm perfectly fine alone!" Leo yelled at the spirit. His patience was beginning to ware thin. "You need your family." Tang Shen said. She hooked her finger under Leo's chin and forced his face to look at her. "Family? What family?" Leo asked trying to wretch himself free from the spirit's grip. The only family he could remember was Master Shredder and the Foot Clan. "Have faith in your family." Tang Shen stated. Leo just stared at her not understanding her words. Why did spirits always have to be so cryptic? "Be safe Leonardo." Tang Shen said somberly. "Wait how do you know-" Leo was cut off by Tang Shen placing her glowing blue finger on his forehead. He felt himself fall into blissful unconsciousness. When he awoke, he found himself back on his bed in the same position before the spirit woman showed up. Leo rubbed his dry eyes as he sat back up. "What the heck was that? A dream?" Leo wondered out loud. It had to be a dream, ghosts or spirits weren't real. But again, it felt so real. Leo let out a dejected sigh. These days his mind felt like it wasn't really his anymore. It felt like a toy people were playing with for their own entertainment. Leo was shaken from his thoughts by Tiger Claw throwing open his door. The cat mutant carried a small stainless steel tray. "Don't you know how to knock!" Leo said glaring at him. "Dinner." Tiger Claw said simply, ignoring the turtle's comment. He set the tray on the dresser wordlessly before leaving the room. Leo's stomach gave a growl at the thought of food. He stared at the bowl of colorless slop on the tray. It was like some type of flavorless porridge that Leo had grown accustomed to. Leo thought back on the spirit woman's words as he ate. One word sticking out above the rest, family. The Hamato family was sitting down for an attempt at a family dinner. Although one family member was missing and things around the sewers had grown rather tense. Mikey plopped a stack of pizza boxes in the center of the table. Nobody would tell him what they wanted so he settled on just getting a variety of pizzas. There was meat covered, veggie, and plain cheese. Mikey hoped everyone would have at least something they'd like to eat. He'd noticed most of his family hadn't been eating much lately. He wasn't sure about Splinter but Donnie seemed to be running solely on coffee and he wasn't sure the last time he'd seen Raph eat something more than a couple slices of deli meat or so. Mikey looked over at the door to the dojo. It had yet to open for Splinter to come out. "You think Sensei is gonna come out and eat with us?" He asked his brothers. "I'm sure he'll be out soon Mikey." Donnie said encouragingly. "Doubtful." Raph muttered lowly. Donnie gave his red brother a hard shove. He refused to let his little brother's light be doused by Raph's pessimism. Raph didn't react like he normally would, instead opting to staring at the meaty slice of pizza on his paper plate. Nobody mentioned the bandaids that covered his kneecaps now. Raph's pessimism was proven wrong by the sliding dojo door opening. "Sensei!" Mikey said cheerfully. Splinter clutched a scroll of worn out paper in his hands. "My sons, I believe I may have a solution." He said with slight triumph present in his voice. His three children immediately stopped what they were doing and stared up at him, mouths agape.