Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Please Speak Mikey

Chapter 17

Does this darkness have a name? This cruelty that consumes every living thing until they are just sitting alone in the dark, on a book shelf, forgotten? How do these shadows find us? The only choice given is that you can either walk willingly or be dragged down that last tunnel, only to find out that it isn't the end and the peace we all hope it will be, but is in fact just more waiting... If you had the chance, would you run back where you came from, or would you continue to wait and hope that one day you'll reach the end of the tunnel and come out the other side somewhere better?

At this particular moment in time April O Neil was running as fast as she could back to where she had come from. After the turtles had broken her free, they went on ahead to search for their youngest brother, leaving her to run back through the distorted library alone. The fear and exhaustion squeezing her lungs as she raced through the ominous space of an endless limbo. She was neither dead nor dying, she wasn't supposed to be here at all and the Life Stories lingering around seemed to be picking up on that too... She didn't need to touch them. She could feel them. The pressure was almost crushing her skull.

The whispering she heard, she was sure that the books were talking to one another, about her and her living breathing friends that had passed through this way.

Suddenly April felt like a rabbit being chased by a wolf. Was something following her? Was it a Raven again? No. They were too busy with the turtles and this felt different... she had to get out of here and back to the land of the living. The library was gone, now she was running through the one way tunnel that seemed to stretch. There just ahead, if she wasn't seeing things, she was sure there was something that looked like a large black door. Her limbs spreading widely, each step ferociously slamming against the void as she sprinted to escape towards the finished line...but... were her steps echoing, or was there something running behind her? She didn't dare stop to look. Her breathing was parch, her mouth rapidly releasing groans when she finally gasp in relief as she pushed and a crack of a light appeared. Almost there, another push and then jump! The girl's ninja skills took control as she leapt forward, expanding her hand to touch the white, bright warmth bringing her back to the present day, not daring to look back.

Casey Jones was just dozing off next to April's bed side when suddenly he felt her body give a jump. The teen shrieked, but Master Splinter remained from looking startled although his eyes gave away the impression when the young girl opened her eyes. Casey put a hand over his heart to check that it was still beating.

"Red!" He smiled in relief. "Seriously you scared the heck out of me!" but April just continued to blink registering the fact she had made it back. Quickly sitting up and pushing off the blue quilt to one side as she sat up. "Whoa there red. Take it easy. You had a fall." The girl gave a moan as her head started throbbing. She was sure she was going to vomit. Turning and placing her feet onto the floor but a furry palm stopped her.

"April are you alright?" Splinter not failing to notice the wave of apprehension poorly masking her draining skin. As the red head started calming down her own trauma, the frightening gaze left the father figure shouldering a trepidation and cold feeling inside his own soul. What news did April have on his boys? April looked over the rats shoulder to see Mikey on the next bed, not moving but still breathing. She could see the strings so clearly on him now that she wondered how she could have missed them before. Deep in meditation, his three brothers seated on the floor crossed legged surrounding them. They too were frozen in time.

"I-I been better sensei. That place... oh god it was horrible" She muttered in a shaky voice. Casey sat down on the bed putting an arm around her sympathetically as the moist tears filled her eyes, the dark images replaying in her head. The whispering of all the waiting trapped souls, growling and crying out for a life that had long since finished or been taken. But mostly what made her tears fall was the horrific noise of Michelangelo being dragged away by the strings from beyond. Pulling him faster as his nails scraped across the ground. The shadows hovering just ahead, pulling him further into the darkness. At first she seemed afraid to speak about it, looking around her as though the Raven was about to jump out again. But Splinter reached out, his own features showing signs of incompetent wishing he could aid his boys, only the red-head had the sources to explain where they were. "April no harm will come to you anymore, you are safe. Take your time and tell us what you have endured?"