Shorts | Book Of ROTTMNT

Anxietea

You and Leo share some tea.

-

You wake from your dreams with a sharp gasp. A cold sweat dampens your back and tears spill from your eyes. Despite being exhausted, your body refuses to rest.

You rise from your sleeping bag and peer around the room. April and the guys are soundly snoozing, unconscious that you had stirred. You quietly tip-toe out of the room and go for a walk around the lair.

Lately, you've been having recurring nightmares—a mixture of past memories and present day anxieties. They always left you with a deep-seated feeling of dread that you couldn't shake off even long after waking up.

Tonight is especially terrible, but you can't pinpoint exactly why. You thought having a fun slumber party with everyone would stop them, but it might have made it worse.

After strolling around the lair, you take a detour to the kitchen instead of returning to the projector room where everyone slept. Fragments of your nightmare were still cycling through your mind. You thought a glass of milk would help dull the senses a bit.

Ambling inside, you notice you weren't the only one looking for a midnight drink.

"Leo?"

You were unused to seeing Leo without his bandana, so your sleep-deprived brain took a couple seconds longer to register his face.

"Why are you up so late?" you wonder.

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I couldn't go back to sleep."

"Insomnia?"

"Nightmare."

Leo nods in understanding. Standing by the kettle in his blue-striped pyjamas, he makes two cups of tea, and hands one to you.

You take it and join him by the kitchen counters, leaning next to him. You blow the tea to cool it before taking a sip. The honey-like sweetness immediately relaxes you.

"What is it?"

"Chamomile."

"It's good."

With that, silence returns. You two stand there quietly sipping your tea, until Leo speaks up.

"So, what was the nightmare about?"

You glance at him with exhausted eyes then turn back to your cup. "You probably wouldn't get it."

"Hey, I get bad dreams too."

"I doubt we have similar experiences."

"Try me. "

You take one final sip before sighing, reluctant to tell him, but you try to anyways.

"So, I was in school, and... there were all these desks that were lined up funky-like, because, you know, it's a dream."

You pause to check if Leo was listening before resuming.