I hear the door shut at roughly midnight that night. I'm still on the couch. I haven't done anything since Gin left except take a shower. I didn't even eat, I'm not hungry.
"Someone's up late." Vern chuckles. There's something about his tone that is unlike himself. I turn to face him and see that he's walking funny too.
"Are you drunk?" I ask. Unbelievable. He waves his hand in the air.
"I'm not drunk, Jules. You're underaged." he slurs, confirming my suspicion. I lean my head in my hands and groan.
"Oh my gosh, Vern!" I'm irritated now. He just chuckles, and I stand up.
"Well, since the do say drunk mind, sober heart, please tell me why you kept something as big as the turtles from me." I cross my hands across my chest and examine how his expression changes.
"You found out?" he asks in disbelief before he makes his way around the couch so that he's in front of me. He holds each hand on the side of my face. "I'm sorry, Jules, I wanted to, but-"
"Yo, I hope they got pizza-" Mikey's voice says by the fire escape, but stops when he sees that I'm engaged in a serious talk with Vern.
"It doesn't matter, Vern. Secrets are exactly what tore our family apart." I purse my lips into a line, and roughly pry his hands from the sides of my face. "I can't believe this!"
"They asked me not to tell you!" he says pleadingly, and I can smell the off putting scent of liquor on his breath.
"That's exactly what you told me on October 4th!" I laugh humorlessly. Mikey speaks.
"What's October 4th-" he's silenced by an elbow to his ribs and lets out a groan. "Ouch! Raph!"
Vern's eyes soften. "Yeah, but, you can't blame me for this."
"Yes, I can. A heads up would have been swell."
"Hey Jules, I kind of have 4 mutant friends, and I basically forced one to be your guardian for all eternity, or at least until you leave New York. Oh, they're freaks from the sewers, and you might run for your life when you see them." Vern illustrates rudely. I swear I hear Raph growl.
"I think we should go." Raphael says through clenched teeth.
"Stay." I clench my fists. For some reason him talking bad about the turtles, about Raph, makes me upset.
"They're not freaks." I spit. "And by the way, they're the ones that saved me from the shooting, Raphael is the one that was there when I couldn't sleep. They were here when you weren't."
Vern simply glares at me. I continue.
"But you know what the worst part is? I'm the one that was in the car with mom and dad. I was there when mom took her last breath. I was the one that planned the funeral, you didn't even show! Yet you're still the hero of the story." my voice cracks.
"Where is this coming from? And you know I was working the day of the funeral." Vern says.
"Do you even care?"
"You know, Jules, I don't. They're terrible people. What they did to you," he shakes his head.
"Stop it." I warn desperately, to no avail.
"It's pathetic. I hated them. But you won't remember why, of course you won't." he steps closer to me.
"Stop it, Vern, it's not true." I plead by now, but he doesn't listen.
"They deserved this. And on top of it all, even though I wasn't there, they still loved me more than they could ever love you."
"Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" I yell and punch his chest over and over again. My eyes are shut and I feel my eyes warm.
