Daylight

Who Are You, In The Mirror?

- Warning, there's death. - 

Donnie makes his way down the sidewalk, keeping his bag and his arms close to him as people push by. So many people are speeding their way to their jobs, or home from school, or wherever they're going. But it feels like all of them are trying to step on Donnie's feet, or shove him into the walls of stores and apartments. Teens and younger kids push each other, playing on the already full sidewalk. 

He might as well walk on the street. As Donnie wades through the waves of people, he realizes it's hard to blend in when there's a crazy dead person yapping away in his head. 

"Who's April, anyway?" J asks.

My human friend, Donnie answers. J had helped him figure out that he could talk to them through his thoughts while they were in the sewers. So now the turtle could answer their seemingly endless questions. Lucky him.

"So you guys can hang out with humans? I thought you had to keep it a secret, or something. This other guy told me-" 

While Donnie is extremely invested in what J's talking about, (he isn't,) it's hard to listen to them when there are people yelling at each other from across the street. And it's hard to focus when people are pushing by and laughing and yelling and whining and it feels like someone is breathing down his neck, and no, I don't want to pet your dog, little girl, I can see you're struggling to keep him on the leash. He'd probably rip my hoodie clean off, and then I'd be outed in front of these endless groups of people. 

When Donnie gets pushed into another building for the millionth time, he notices with his face pressed uncomfortably close to the window, which building it is. It's the library. Looking inside, he notices very few people sitting down and reading, and a lot sitting at computers or hanging out with their friends. Nothing surprising. Before he rips his face off of the glass, he notices a familiar face sitting at the front, waiting to check out people's books.

It's the librarian. What was her name? While Donnie keeps racking his brain for an answer, he notices the lady's name tag. Katherine. The crazy woman who'd chased him across the rooftops over a book he hadn't even stolen in the first place. The turtle pulls his face off the window as Katherine looks up at him. Her eyes widen for a second, then she smiles and waves at him. Apparently Katherine's forgiven him for "robbing" her library.

Pulling on his strings and closing his hood tighter to his head, he turns away from the library and crosses the absolute massive street, that, despite its size, is still absolutely packed with people. When he makes it to the other side, he dashes into an alley, ducking behind a dumpster. While it smells like absolute garbage, (probably because that's what's in it,) it still gives Donnie time to slow down and breathe. Gosh, he thinks he might have been holding his breath the entire time considering how much air he was gulping in.  

When he gets himself together, he looks up at the ladder leading to a metal platform near April's window. He rubs his arm and heads up, struggling with his bag.  When he reaches the window, he looks inside to find his friend, spinning in her chair, waiting for him. Donnie had texted her, asking if he could come over. She told him that nobody was home, and that, sure, why not?

He raps on the glass, April giving him a hand in prying the window open. The turtle falls very gracefully onto her carpet, face first. "Hey D."

Donnie responds, with a very muffled "Hello." He sits down on the floor, hugging his bag close to him and resting his head on it. "What's all that?" April waves her finger at the stuff he's holding. "Uhhh..." The turtle looks down at it, then back up at her. "Nothing important."

His friend sighs, sitting down on the edge of her bed. Donnie looks around, noticing the pictures of April's family hanging on the wall, (the pictures of her friends hidden safely on her phone,) bookshelves filled with books, trinkets, and notes about different stories she's been trying to investigate. A desk filled with even more notes and a charging laptop was tucked into the corner of the room, an office chair parked in front of it. 

Donnie's eyes make their way back over to his friend, who's looking at him with her arms crossed. Not in an angry way, Donnie guesses, judging by the look on her face. It's hard for him to read her expression. Sad, maybe? But why would she be sad, that doesn't make any sense. Maybe-

"I know about what's been going on at the lair." Donnie frowns, looking up at her. When he feels like she's about to go off on him for sneaking out and almost getting caught, or hurting Mikey, April surprises him instead. 

"Are you okay, Donnie?" The turtle looks back down, suddenly finding interest in the stitching of his bag. Instead of answering her question, he asks one of his own. "Who told you?" Donnie keeps picking at his bag while waiting for a response. April pinches the bridge of her nose, sighing as she looks down at her phone beside her. 

"Raph told me." Because of course he did. April notices the look on Donnie's face. "You can talk to me, y'know." Donnie doesn't listen. The turtle's vision starts to fill with green as he gets up and slings his bag over his shoulder. He doesn't want to get mad at April and at like he did at the botanical garden. "I should get going," Donnie says as he makes his way to the window. He just came here to take a breather, like S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. had said. April can tell that he's annoyed. "We don't have to talk about it! We could just watch TV, or-" 

The sound of a door opening from downstairs interrupts her. April turns around to see if anyone has entered the room. When she sees that nobody's there, she turns back to see the Donnie's already gone. The turtle ducks behind a pile of trash bags, and when April looks out the window, she doesn't see him. 

Donnie doesn't have time to start heading home, because the Daylight's already messing with him. He tries to get up, but realizes the attempt is pointless as he falls back down, his knee landing on something kind of sharp. The turtle hisses through his teeth, closing his eyes shut.

Except when he opens them, he's not in the alley anymore. 

- - - - 

Looking in the mirror, there's a tall, thin guy, fixing his tie, staring right back at him. What the- 

The room is dark, the only light coming from a candle lit on a small table beneath the mirror. To the left, instead of a wall, there's a big window showing the endless amount of buildings below. Lights blink and shine outside, cars honking at lights and each other. To the right of the mirror, there's a thick black blanket pulled over a sleeping stranger on a massive bed. Where am I? Why can't I move?

The guy has stopped messing with his tie now, looking shocked at something in the mirror. Behind him, there's an even taller figure, standing in the doorway. Donnie can't make out the features. Apparently, the stranger's holding something in his hand, because almost immediately the tie guy (that's what Donnie's decided to call him now,) reaches for a gun on the table below him, whipping around to face the man. 

Except the man isn't there. Tie guy still holds the gun, looking around the room. He reaches for the woman to wake her up, then snaps his hand back. She's cold. The guy checks the woman's pulse, finding that she's dead. Before he has time to react, to wonder how the man got to her without him noticing, he remembers something. "Sasha." Tie guy whispers to himself. He panics, running out of the room and through the house. 

He spins around a corner, then yanks a door open, nearly pulling it off his hinges,. Inside, he finds the hooded figure standing over who Donnie can only assume is his daughter. Before he can take the room in, the hooded figure has spun around, gun in hand. Tie guy lifts up his own weapon, then-

Bang. 

Both men fall to the floor, blood spilling from their wounds, Tie guy's head rolls to the side. Looking over at the other man, Tie guy can see he's dead. His eyes flicker shut as the little girl hops off the bed and starts pushing him. "Dad?"