Chapter 3- Now the Story
<Michelangelo>
She was really here, sitting in that
chair, and eating my chicken noodle soup. Wow, she was really here. Wow,
wow, wow,wo-
"Michelangelo!"
Splinter's stern voice brought me out
of my daze. Apparently she had asked for some more soup. I felt myself
blush and quickly got up to get her more. She looked really
good. I mean, really hott! In the dreams I never really
paid much attention, but now that she was here, she just looked
amazing! I couldn't believe she was real.
Man...
<Donatello>
She looked so scared. Ok well maybe
not scared. Shy? She was being very quiet and withdrawn. It could have
been the fact that she hadn't had much to eat in a long period
of time. I gave her a quick look over, or tried to at
least. She kept wincing and shying away from my touch. It got
kind of frustrating after 10 minutes, so I just gave
up. But I prompted her to take a vitamin C and to take a hot
shower. Then Mikey could fix her something to eat.
Now an hour later we all sat around the table and waited. Splinter
said she was the key to why we were
dreaming of her. Just wish she'd hurry it along.
<Rain>
The whole place looked like a house.
Only under ground in a sewer system. But it had real furniture, more than
I had. In the living room there was an old worn couch that looked
like it had been through many owners, and
had had many face lifts over a long period of time. Sitting
next to it was a worn recliner, obviously found
somewhere at the city dump. Actually, come to think of it, all
the furniture looked like it had been. The coffee
table sitting in front of the patched up couch looked as if
it had been through WW III with all its chipped pieces
and missing leg. A few books were stacked underneath it to compensate
for the unevenness. I really liked it
though. It felt comfortable and charming. Homey, hah! Was that
even a word? Well, it was now. I couldn't help
but let a small smile slip out. For the first time in a while,
I felt at home. The shower felt refreshing too. I hadn't
been able to take one in a long time, so running my fingers
through my long and now clean hair felt like heaven!
I leaned against the cool tile of the wall, letting the warm
water wash over me, cleansing not only my body but
also my soul. It had been a long time since I felt anything
like this. Safe. Something I had taken for granted until
that night when life ended for me. I didn't want to think of
that now. Not until I had to talk about it, if I could even
do that. A knock at the door startled me enough that I almost
hit my head on the showerhead.
"Rain?"
"Yea?"
"You ok in there?"
"Umm...yea, I'm fine."
"Alright, well dinner will be ready
when you get out."
"Ok, thanks."
I relaxed after he left. I wasn't sure
but it sounded like Donatello. He was a very interesting man- er turtle.
But
none-the-less he was interesting. Extremely intelligent, and
distant from the living. Computer geek, that's what I
wanted to call him. At any rate, he was a good guy, although
him trying to give me a doctor's "checkup" was
something I didn't want to go through again. I only hope that
I won't get hurt in the near future. I have a feeling
I'm going to be here for a good amount of time.
As soon as the water started running
cold I shut it off and stepped out to grab a towel. In the process I was
blasted with a rush of cool air. I needed to remember to lock
the bathroom door.
"Jesus! Raph!"
He froze, just staring at me blankly.
Luckily I was quick enough to grab the towel and cover myself before he
saw anything. At least I hope he didn't see anything.
"Uh..."
"Get the fuck out!"
He continued to look at me with a dumbfounded
expression.
"Raph...get...out...NOW!"
I walked over and shoved him out the
door, locking it behind him. Jesus. Stupid turtle.
<Raphael>
I had completely forgotten that she
was in the shower. So storming in there and catching her stark naked by
surprise was definitely not winning me her trust. I really hadn't
seen much. But it was enough to get me excited,
and I don't mean in the active way. Oh boy it was gonna take
a nice cold shower to get this turtle sobered up.
She was beautiful though. The soft curves of her body were dangerous
in so many ways and on so many
levels. I know I have self control but if this happens again
I'm not so sure if I could keep my hands off her. Wait,
did I just think that? I have a girlfriend, I need to keep my
hands off of her. I will not be unfaithful to Jasmine.
Besides Rain is just a friend, no, she's a sister, she's a part
of this family now, well hopefully, so it would be
wrong for me to think about her like that. Right, now, for that
cold shower.
She stepped into the kitchen carefully
not really wanting to have attention drawn to her. But she was
unsuccessful, all eyes turned to her, watching her take a seat
and waiting for her to finish eating. When she
was finished. The bowl was cleared away and everyone sat, waiting
patiently for the story to start and the
answers to their questions about the dreams solved. Splinter
folded his hands on the table and looked over at
the young girl.
"How old are you child?"
"I'm 18."
Murmurs started to drift across the
table but were immediately silenced by Splinter's old gnarled hand.
"Tell us your story child."
Rain sighed deeply. This was an old
wound she didn't want to re-open, but it looked like she had no real
choice. So with a deep breath she began her story.
"When I was younger my parents and I
lived on this small farm about 2 hours from Manhattan. I used to play in
the big meadow behind the house. I think those were my happiest
memories, chasing the butterflies and
sleeping in the tall grass in the sun. It was perfect. My parents
loved and cherished me more than anything. It
was just…normal. Anyways, as I got older
I got interested in dancing. So I took Irish step dancing classes
twice a week in the evenings. For a while it was going pretty
good, I was making a lot of friends and I was in a
lot of dance competitions. But you know that saying 'All good
things must come to an end'? Well, my dad lost
his job so we had to cut back on a great deal of things since
he was our main source of income. Then he
started drinking. He'd come home late at night sometimes, after
being at the bar most of the day. Eventually it
became an everyday routine, and each night he became more violent
with us. He'd yell at mom for the smallest
mistakes. Like maybe she hadn't gotten the dishes done or dinner
was cold. He never hit her. I was his
punching bag. My room was kind of messy, but teenagers are like
that. He didn't want me like that so after a day
of being out drinking, he'd come home, yell at mom and then
come up to my room to check if it was clean or
not. It was never good enough for him so he beat me into making
it cleaner the next time. Dance lessons
eventually had to be cut out because lack of money and too many
bruises to hide."
"Your mother never did anything about your
father beating you?" Don interrupted.
"Uh no, she didn't. She still loved
him so she wouldn't leave him. She just kept telling me that it would get
better. That it was only temporary. And I believed her. That
was a huge mistake."
She wiped away a few stray tears that
were trailing down the sides of her face. Leonardo reached over and took
one of her hands in his; and squeezed it reassuringly. She gave
him a weak smile and continued.
"We were coming home from my last lesson, my mother and I, that
is, and umm... it had been raining so the
roads were kind of slick." She paused, taking a deep breath.
" She uh, we never saw the other car coming, not
until it was too late. There was this bend in the road and it
all just happened so fast, ya know?" She gave a
harsh chuckle, tears falling freely now. " When it hit she went
flying through the windshield. Killed her instantly."
Don grimaced, not wanting to imagine what Rain must have seen.
He took a quick glance around the table.
Mike had tears rolling down his cheeks, Raphael had his head
bowed low and his eyes shut tightly, Leo was
still holding Rain's hand, his eyes unreadable. And Master Splinter
watched quietly, waiting for her to regain her
composure.
"Sorry, this is just...really hard for
me. I haven't talked about this to anyone."
"Take your time child, we understand
the pain you must be feeling and respect that it is hard for you to
remember such hurtful memories."
His wise and soothing voice calmed her
down enough so that she could finish her story.
"Well, I remember hearing voices coming
towards our car, someone came around to my side and reassured
me that I was fine and that help was on the way. They didn't
mention anything about my mom, which I was
grateful for. If they had I would have lost it, well no, I would
have realized that it was real and that she was really
dead. At the time I didn't want to think about it. I didn't
want to admit she was gone forever. That hope was gone
forever. The ambulance finally arrived but they had to wait
for the fire department because I was wedged
between the car door and the dashboard. "
"How is that possible?" Raphael interrupted.
"Well when he hit us he had rammed us
in the front and our car went spinning out of control and slammed into
a tree, which was on my side."
"When he hit you?"
"Um...yea...my dad was the one who hit
us."
A heavy silence fell upon the kitchen.
Leo's voice barely came out as a whisper when he was finally able to
speak.
"Your father was the one to kill you
mother and almost kill you?"
Rain nodded silently.
"And your father is the one who beat
you on a daily basis?"
"Yes but it didn't start until he got
out of prison."
"How long was he in there?"
"He didn't get out till about a year
or so ago."
"And they never checked to see if he
abused you?"
"He never told them, and I never said
anything. He's the only family I have Leo."
"Rain that's still not a good reason
to just let him get away with something like that."
"But being put away in foster care and
losing the only father I have and all the memories of my mother would be
a good idea?"
"Rain that's not what I meant..."
"Well it sure as hell sounded like it
did."
"Rain..."
"I'm done talking about this. You know
the story now. I sure hope you're satisfied with it."
With that she stood up and stormed out
of the kitchen, leaving the turtles with gaping mouths and their father
more troubled than before.