Faceless Fear (TMNT FANFICTION)

Chapter 2

The lair was quiet, no sound passing, nothing. Nothing but the small ticking of the clock on the wall. Raphael was seated on the couch, looking out to the wall with the clock and counting each second. For the past few hours, Donnie and Leo have been in Master Splinter's room trying to keep him stable. Raphael was left outside to watch Mikey which he found irritating. He understood he wouldn't be much help with all the medical stuff but he hated being left as the baby sitter. Looking around, he noticed that Mikey wasn't in the living room anymore. Where did he go?

Thinking about his little brother made his skin crawl. When their father had his attack, Mikey just...sat there. He didn't react or anything. Raph stood up and looked back towards the bedrooms to only guess where his little brother was.

Raphael flinched when he heard the sound of the ticking stop. He looked back up to the clock to see it has ceased, stopping at the time '3:24'. Raphael narrowed his eyes at the clock. Did the batteries die? He stood in the middle of the living room, feeling the silence around them. Something was off. The silence was thick, pounding and controlling. Raphael looked around and saw nothing but...felt something. It was a crawling sensation, a stalking of prey.

He jumped violently when the door opened to Master Splinter's door. Leo walked out looking tired but was alert enough to notice Raphael's actions.

"What's wrong Raph?" he asked. Raph looked around once more, the sudden feel of a presence gone.

"Nothing." He turned back. "How's Splinter?" He asked. Leo looked away.

"He's alright for the time being. But, he asked us to take him to the Daimyo. He wants to stay there for awhile and recover." Leo explained. Raphael was a little taken back by the request.

"Why? Don's better than any of those healers." Raphael snarled.

"It doesn't matter. Sensei wants to go so Donnie and I are gonna take him."

"The hell am I suppose to do? Play nanny some more for a kid who can take care of himself?" Raphael shot.

"Michelangelo is a bit..Off right now. We're just dropping him off. He made it specifically clear that we leave him there. He says we need to stay home." Leo told him. "It won't take long Raph. Just relax and wait for us to get back." Leo tried to be as leveled as he could. Raph threw his hand up in the air and grumbled to himself before disappearing into the dojo. Leo stood there for a moment more and looked up at the clock, it ticking away. He sighed before going back into the room to help Donatello with their father.

In a moments notice they were gone. Raphael spent his time in the dojo, practicing and mostly letting off steam. He felt useless at the moment and very agitated because he had no clue what happened to Master Splinter in the first place. All done so quickly and so random with nothing explained. The jitteriness from Donnie and the absent mind of Leo wasn't helping either. And worst of all, the sudden disconnect coming from Michelangelo. He knew his little brother. The second their father fell, it should have been Mikey next to his side with Leo; just as worried.

Raphael stopped his attacks on the punching bag and took a hold of it. He was so caught up with being angry, he didn't think twice about the strangeness of his brother. He looked out to the door, and getting the same unease he got earlier. He sighed and walked to the door and opened it. When he walked out to the living room, he saw it just as empty as he left it.

"Mikey!" he called out. He got nothing in response. He ran a hand over his head and started walking towards the bedrooms. Just as he was approaching Mikey's, a sound caught his attention. It was a thump coming from the closet. He stopped in front of the door just as it grew quiet.

"Mike?" He said towards the closet. He heard nothing. He reached out and turned the nob and opened it quickly.

The moment that he did, the boxes that were piled on top of each other came crashing down. He yelped and fell to the floor with whatever the boxes were filled with. He sat up slightly, groaning from the fall. He felt something, something crawling. He looked down to see multiple hissing roaches crawling on his legs and plastron.