I Need Courage

Chapter Eight

A giant thank you to TurtlePower1234 , Trocks252 and Ninja_Taffy_12 for being such amazing readers! I'm now not only going to pick two commenters but my favorite ones no matter how many there are! Thanks again! Now back to Chapter Eight:

Edit: Sorry forgot to mention, next chapter will be up Saturday!

My head hurts in a way that I've never felt before, a constant thudding against my temple like someone is trying to nail me back together. I try to open my eyes but can't find the energy to do it and instead the weird misfit song from Rudolph pops into my head. Almost against my will I began to hum the chorus, staying as still as possible with my eyes squeezed shut.

"What are you doing?" A rich male voice calls from the darkness and my humming stops abruptly. I cautiously open one eye and find it surprisingly dim compared to my last assessment. 

I look toward the corner where the voice had came from. Raph was slumped over his right hand clutching his left arm where he got hurt yesterday. Well hopefully that was yesterday it could have been ages since I last woke up and that thought scared me (mom was going to be so mad). I pull myself up off the concrete ground and into a sitting position, the only light being a green beam coming from the small window on the only door. A bench of more concrete sprouts from the back wall, but the rest of the room is empty. 

I move over to the corner where Raph, who was still looking at me strangely, was sitting. "Are you okay?" I ask gesturing to his arm, where the bandages I put on him where now gone.

"It's fine." He says in a way that makes me feel like he's hurting. I try to keep the tears out of my eyes but they spill out over my cheeks before I can rub them away.

"I... I'm so sorry," I say and he looks up scowling. "This is... it's all my fault. All of it. If I just was so stupid-"

He interrupts my self-loathing with a slow pat on my small back, and I realize once again how small I was compared to him, even sitting down I still had to look up at him. He acts like he was going to give me a hug and then decides against it, which makes me smile. "You're kinda bad at this." I sniffle at him which earns me a scowl and his hand retreats. I give him a watery smile and lean back against the wall, not realizing just how close we are. 

"Tell me about your friend." He demands and I look up at him confused. "I need to be distracted." He answers my unspoken question.

"Rose is... well she is practically my sister." I start and can't help smiling when I think of her. "She acts really protective most of time because my dad isn't around to keep me from doing all the stupid things I get myself into and my mom is busy with the bakery. Her dad can be mean sometimes but he really only wants the best of her, Rose doesn't see it that way. She's really close with her little sister Skipper who is an incredible artist, but she doesn't do it very much anymore, and her twin brothers, Logan and Luke. Rose is indescribably smart. It's like she knows everything, but she still hangs out with me even though I'm really dumb..." I shrug and look over to Raph who seems to have fallen asleep. I lean my head against the wall as well and close my eyes.

"I've only really had my brothers and Sensei." Raph says and I look at him, his eyes still closed. "Casey is my only human friend and I barely tolerate him. Leo is the oldest and ever since Sensei made him leader he has been obnoxiously bossy, but I trust him with my life. Donnie is the smart one, I think your friend would have some competition with him around. He always is making some crazy invention and blowing things up in his lab." He gives me a solid grin, and I like how his cheeks bunch over the folds of the red bandana tied around his head. "Mikey is an idiot."