Breathe

Breathe, Mikey!

Mikey felt that all too familiar feeling in his chest. That horrible feeling of his throat closing. He gasped for air, trying to get himself to breath again.

He was terrified. This had been happening for months. He hadn't even told his family, he didn't want to worry them too much.

Besides, it was probably nothing. Sometimes though, he found it hard to catch his breath when running or doing something that required a lot of movement.

He was surprised that his brothers hadn't yet noticed. Probably because he hid it well. Whenever he got that feeling, he'd leave the room immediately and go to his own room.

It was getting harder and harder to hide it though. They probably wondered why he left the room in a hurry so frequently.

That's what Mikey was doing now, sitting on his bed, trying to keep from passing out and just breathe. He couldn't breathe.

"Hey Mikey, it's time for patrol." Leo called from the opposite end of the door, annoyance in his voice.

Mikey coughed, trying to gasp out a simple 'ok'. "O-Ok Leo, be right *cough* there!" He said quickly.

Leo's brow rised when he heard that cough. Was Mikey getting sick? Why was he talking like that? Was he ok?

"Mikey? You ok?" He asked worriedly. Mikey finally took a deep breath, feeling a bit better.

"Y-Yeah!" He said weakly. "I'm fine Leo, I'll be right there!" He promised. Leo hummed and walked away.

Mikey took a breath of relief, feeling the sensation of choking leave him. He was weak though. These attacks take a lot out of him.

Mikey wasted no time getting ready for patrol. He didn't want to annoy his brothers by making them all late.

He ran out of his room and met his brothers in the lair. "What's wrong with you? You look like you just ran a marathon." Raph commented.

It was true. Mikey was panting pretty heavily and he'd only ran a few feet. What was wrong with him? Hopefully nothing.

"I'm...I'm fine dudes, I promise!" He finally said, catching his breath. "I um forgot something and I ran to get it." He lied.

They all looked at him unconvinced but let it go. "Um, ok well if you're ready let's go on patrol." Donnie replied.

Mikey nodded following his brothers topside. It was a quiet night, surprisingly. There wasn't much action for a few hours.

However, just as they were heading back to the lair, the foot appeared and they started battling them.

Mikey frowned as he fought, feeling that dreadful sensation of his throat closing for the second time that morning.

It was happening more and more every day and was just getting worse. He was scared, but he still couldn't tell his family.

"Mikey! Hurry up! You're being so slow today!" Raph scolded in annoyance as they fought the foot.

Mikey nodded and ran to keep up, suddenly feeling like his throat was about to seal shut. He let out little coughs.

Mikey coughed violently, feeling like he was about cough up a lung or something. It really, really hurt. Bad.

"Mikey?" Raph said when he didn't hear a reply. He turned around to see his little brother gasping for air and slowly turning purple.

"Mikey!" He gasped. "Leo, Don!" He shouted, making the two stop battling and look beyond annoyed.

"Raph, wha-Mikey!" Leo suddenly realized what was going on and dropped his katana.

Donnie took one look at Mikey's face and hurried over. "Mikey, you need to breath!" He said frantically.