The Words That Hurt Me

Thirty More Days

They were all gathered around the kitchen table, sipping on some Kashmiri Chai that Mikey had decided to make. He'd been craving it lately.

It was almost normal, watching his brothers and friends make different faces while they tasted it. No one touched it the first time he made it, which he understood. His tastes were very different from his family's. They wouldn't have tried it if it weren't for Goo, who somehow hadn't yet been scarred by Mikey's monstrous creations. 

After a few moments of processing the flavorful tea, Leo decided to break the silence and finally start the meeting.

"Um, ahem, interesting tea, Mikey, thanks," Leo stuttered, "Anyhow, Raph, you wanted to call this meeting?"

"Yeah," Raph grunted, firmly setting down his empty cup, "I have a couple of questions for the runaway duo over there," 

He motioned toward Mikey and Goo, causing them to sit up straighter. Mikey was taken aback, biting his lip in surprise at the unexpected attention.

"That thing this morning, what was it? Who's Deja?"

Mikey felt some tension release from his shoulders, shifting his train of thought. Glancing over at Goo, he saw that they were looking at him, offering their phone to the turtle. He took it gratefully, giving them a reassuring smile.

"So, over in Wisconsin," Mikey started, tapping through Goo's device, "When we went to a mall-" 

"You went to a mall?" Donny interrupted, wincing when Casey punched his shoulder.

"Yeah, we did," Goo answered quietly, nodding to Mikey.

"Right, anyway," Mikey continued, "When we were at the mall, Kit stole Goo's wallet and slipped a note in it, telling us to go to an abandoned roller rink," 

"Kit?" Leo asked, suspicion weaved in his expression.

"I'm getting there!" Mikey huffed, glaring over at Leo, who lifted his hand in apology. "Anyway, when we got there, we found a Yokai village,"

Mikey clicked on the video he was looking for and set the phone in the middle of the table. Everyone leaned forward to try and get a view of the video on the small screen, Deja's laughter filling the space.

"That's Deja," Mikey said quietly, "She's six. She was mutated around a year ago,"

The group was silent, the laughter echoing eerily around the room, suddenly being cut off when the video ended.

"She lives there with her brother," Goo spoke up, looking sadly down at their device, "He wasn't mutated, he works and goes to school and he's fiercely protective of his baby sister,"

"There's...there's a lot of Yokai kids living there," Mikey added, "Most of them are teens, but there are some really young, like, toddler age,"

"And Lunito and Estrella..."

"Oh yeah! Lunito and Estrella!" Mikey looked up, glancing between his brothers, "Their mother was mutated before she got pregnant!"

"What!?" All heads whipped over to him, shocked and confused expressions all over their faces.

"No, you're lying!" Donny looked down at the table, "That shouldn't be possible! Even if the egg could get fertilized, the body itself wouldn't find it viable-"

"There were a few kids there who were born Yokai," Goo spoke up, "None of them are older than three, and god, they're adorable!"

Goo grabbed their phone, and pulled up some more pictures, proudly presenting them to the group. Several of them were pictures of the twins, earning some quiet coos from the group.