About a week after Susan's death, I was taking a flying break in the late evening. I was really stressed out and needed to be alone, so I left Frankie in charge and took off. My arms still got a bit sore when I flew, but all that lifting really paid off in the long run. Sighing aloud, I ran my fingers through my blowing hair. I gazed down at the city. It wasn't much to look at in the daytime, but it shined brilliantly in the dark. The setting sun was shining a reddish light over the sparkling windows on sides of the sky-reaching buildings. I was getting hardly any sleep, running the hotel and I suddenly felt tired. Instead of turning back, I decided to walk around the shadowy streets to catch my breath.
Landing hard, I fell to my knees and scraped my knees so bad that holes were worn into my pants. Swearing, I pulled myself up. Shoving my hands into my pockets, I limped around the empty streets, trying to hide my wings and bleeding kneecaps in case someone happened to turn a corner. I knew I wasn't inconspicuous, but I was too tired to care much. I spotted an old dumpster and wiggled through a labyrinth of trashcans to stand beside it. I opened the lid and started sifting.
Finding a box of half-eaten Chinese food, I smiled, but quickly dropped it when I heard voices behind me. Turning and seeing people there, I drop to the ground behind the trashcans. Peeking between two cans, I see a group of guys surround a girl with long dark hair, who is wearing a grey formal dress and carrying one of those little purse things. They rip her clutch from her hands and begin emptying it, naming off the contents. I back up slowly and watch as they yell their disappointment for lack of big cash in her purse. One of them shouts for her to give them her jewelry and she takes her necklace and bracelets off. I feel guilty for just sitting there, but I am exhausted and in pain.
Suddenly, a large, bulky form drops from the roof of a nearby building and knocks half of the guys down. The shadow moves towards the others and I don't stick around to see what happened next. In the noisy ruckus, I hop onto the dumpster and leap into the air, getting as much air as I can in order to escape excess painful wing movement. I grunt and my shoulders scream as I fly up the side of the building. I reach the top and force my wings downwards to heave myself onto the roof.
Instead of a flat, concrete space, my body slams into a tough shape and I hear a voice cry out in surprise as I fall over onto someone. I fell on someone. Rude. I scold myself for not paying attention and wince in pain as I roll off my poor victim. "Oof!" I land on the roof. Groaning, I curled into a ball and rubbed my burning shoulders.
"O-oh my gosh, are you okay? D-did I hurt you, Miss?" I feel hands on my shoulder and head.
"N-no. Groan. I was hurting before I smacked into you... sorry about that, by the-" I roll over to see a green face and big, green eyes staring nervously back at me. "...way..." He was a mutant. Obviously. He looked like some sort of turtle and he had ninja armor and tech duct-taped all over him. He pushed his round glasses up his sloped nose and stammered.
"I-I'm sorry I got in your way..." He chuckled slightly. He was pretty cute, for a turtle. "I'm Donatello." We both stood up and he stuck out his hand. It had three fingers on it and I shook it. "Ow!" He shouted and he rubbed his hand. Idiot. Manners. I apologized before replying.
"I'm Angel." He smiled.
"Nice grip." We both chuckled. Then it got awkward.
Hands in my pockets, I tried to strike up a conversation. "So... Um. You're a turtle mutant? You live around here? Er. You're a ninja or something?" Ugh! Rude again! Be polite!
"Uh. Yeah. I'm a turtle mutant ninja, and I do live around here... You look like a mutant, too. You live here? Heh." He scratched the back of his neck. "You a ninja or something?" After laughing again, we talked about our mutations, our homes, he talked about his karate training, and I talked about my amnesia. He proved to be a bookworm like me. We were in the middle of talking about the mutant hotel when I realized the time.
"Oh, my God! What time is it? I've got to go home... Sorry!"
He looked disappointed when he asked me; "Maybe I could visit you sometime? You said your hotel was three blocks east from the old bridge? I'd like to see you again"
"Well of course! I got to go... Bye!" I waved goodbye and I leaped off the tall building. Air filled my wings and I had a moment of freedom before I remembered my shoulder pain. Screaming obscenities all the way home, I completely forgot about my new acquaintance as I returned to my stressful home life.
