The Words That Hurt Me

Fifteen Hundred Miles From You

"I must say, I am quite worried, Michelangelo," Leatherhead rumbled quietly, gently placing his hand on Mikey's.

The turtle nodded, knowing exactly why.

That night, after the fight with his brothers, he and Goo had a long talk. It had lasted for hours, going well into the afternoon, despite his exhaustion. It was a bit awkward at first, Goo having been extremely frightened by his message, Mikey having to explain that, no, he wasn't thinking of jumping off a building.

After that, he told them everything that happened that night after they hung up. From his talk with Casey to the fight when he got home. It was an especially emotional moment for him, after his anger ran its run.

He expressed to Goo that he needed a break from all of it. The fighting, the teasing, his brothers, even New York. His line of thought had lead him to asking for permission for an incredibly bad idea.

"...Can I come over?" He had asked in a quiet moment. His voice was so small, so uncertain, and so, so tired. For awhile, silence had answered him. He was certain the answer was no.

"...Three weeks," Goo had said, "I'm graduating early in about a week or so, and the rest of my family are going on vacation two weeks after that. I was thinking of staying home to work, so we can make this work,"

The turtle was crying then, trembling at their words.

"Once they're gone, we have about two weeks to chill. Three weeks...should be enough time to prepare, especially you. It also gives you plenty of time to back out," They added.

After a hysterical crying bout, he thanked them, and that was that. Goo adamantly insisted that he get some sleep after that whole debacle, and once rested, the two started planning.

First, he needed some way to communicate without his shell cell. Goo suggested that he get a burner phone.

"Yeah, tons of kids at my school get burners 'cause their parents took their phones," They paused, "Ah, but where would you even get one?"

"Don't worry about that," Mikey responded, "I think I've got a guy,"

And sure enough, he did have a guy.

"Yoooo! Mikey, what's up my dude?" Casey slapped the back of his shell, initiating their secret handshake. It was a complicated series of bumps and pulls ending with the two whooping and hollering up into the sky.

"How's it goin, Case? You got the thing?" Mikey happily returned.

The two had met on a roof near Casey's place, a building with a billboard that said 'Fear the Wrath of God, He who Made us in his Image!' The group liked to joke about it because Donny had once lost his mind ranting about how creationism made no sense. You had to be there, it was hilarious.

Casey took a step back from the turtle, slipping a device from his pocket, presenting it to him. Mikey grinned reaching for the phone, only to have it held back from his grasp.

"Ah-ah-ah! Payment first,"

Rolling his eyes at the human, the turtle pulled out about thirty dollars and handful of photos, all featuring the turtles, mainly Donny, in varying ages, doing various idiotic things. There were a couple of the current Donny sleeping at his desk that Mikey threw in just for a tip.

After Casey laid his eyes on his payment, mainly concerned about the pictures, he happily handed over the device, eagerly grabbing at the pictures.

"Yes! This is gonna make such good black mail!"

"Oh, black mail, sure~" Mikey ducked away from Casey's swipe, giggling at the way Casey's face lit up. "Dude, chillax! I know you just wanna use those to get closer to April!"