“One… Two…I love you. Three… Four… Stop a war. Five… Six… Find a cure -”
“Who’s there?” Freezing mid-skip I slid against the sewer wall. Even though the fact that there were voices scared me I knew better. I trained for this.
“Hello?” The voice was suprisingly young and soft. Perhaps a boy my age? Why would a boy be here except-?!
“Who are you?” I kept my voice strong and threw it so he heard it in front of him.
“Donatello. Who are you?” So this is where I am.
“Donny! Where are we? Do you know how to get back? It’s pizza night.” A childish voice whined. Undoubtably Michael-Angolo.
“Tobias Atticus Arcadius. Who’s with you, Donny?” Mikey stared at the air with large eyes.
“Duuude! D-” Mikey started only for Donny to interrupt.
“My brother Michael-Angolo. We call him Mikey. Where are you?” Donny’s question made me shrink into the wall and climb the sewer wrungs so I was upside down.
“We? There are more people down here?” I could not know everything upon first meeting them could I?
“Yes. Raph, Mikey, Leo, our father and I. Where are you, Tobias?”
“You guys can call me Tobi. If I come out you have to promise to not be afraid.” Even in my world I was odd-looking. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not deformed or ugly. Just… different. Before they gave a response I dropped from the ceiling onto Mikey’s back.
“Hello.”
“AHHHHHH! IT’S ON ME! SOMETHING IS ON ME!” Mikey shrieked as Donny screamed then laughed.
“Mikey! Mikey! It’s Tobias!” Donny giggled, practicly rolling out of his shell.
“ Man don’t do that! You just gave me a heart attack!”
“Sorry!” I giggled causing them to freeze. “What?” They didn’t say anything but Mikey had me slide down his shell. The two turtles studied me closely and stared at me with a flattering wonder. Flattering if I didn’t feel like I did something wrong. “Did I do something?” Just to be sure they were honest I made my eyes water.
“Are you an Angel?” Mikey whispered in awe.
“A-angel? No. Are you?” They both laughed then.
“Let’s be friends!”
“Okay. So where do you live?” Donny and Mikey looked at each other before deciding something.
“Wanna meet our dad?” Relief and joy swept through me.
“Sure! I’d take you home but my parents died. I live where ever I want now! The world is so big and pretty!” I grinned at my accomplishment.
“They died?” Donny inquired gently.
“Yeah. But that’s okay. I can be who ever I wanna be now! So where are we going? Is it long?” I did not want to talk about them. Then again who wants to talk about abusive people that they escaped three-hundred years ago?
“I-”
“Mikey! Donny! Where’d yo- Who’s dis?” Raph questioned with Leo and Splinter in toe.
“Hi, I’m Tobias Atticus Arcadius. Are you Raph and Leo?”
“We found him! Can we keep him? Oh, dad say we can keep ‘im!?” Mikey begged as he thrusted my face toward Splinter.
“You found him?” Splinter questioned.
“I was walking in the sewer. Looking for something. I know four languages, I read, I write, I took college classes and got a degree too! I’ll clean! I’m really good at cleaning! Besides, since I work you will have a steady revenue of $60,000 a year. Money means that you’ll have a better quality of life like healthy food that tastes good. I can contribute.” My adult bussiness-like tone surprised, even scared, the boys.
“Well then!” Splinter laughed which eased the boys tension.
“Yahoo! You get to stay!” Mikey cheered, lifting me onto his shoulders and taking off. “Kalibunga!” The other turtles shouted after us and gave chase, following my giggles.
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