Raph's Nightmares

The attack

I'm not fully aware that he's leaving. My eyes remain fixed in the sun, until I see sparkles. It's getting warmer and the realization of human beings walking on the streets far below makes me move a little, and I feel my body totally numb. I stretch and get going. I have nowhere to go but the lair, and my mind isn't as clear as I'd like it to be.

The sewers are silent but for a couple of drops that splash on the accumulated water at my feet. I avoid the narrow stream that is taking exactly the same way I'm walking. I concentrate only on my steps, the sound they make and how it echoes in the tunnel. At some point I start to count them until my brain hastily registers an increasing sound that comes from my back. Ninja mode is automatically activated and I blend in the shadows, my back against the solid and cold rock and I hold my breathe. Now I realize the sound of someone running towards me, or following me. The footsteps are light and the person must be really in a hurry. As the sound draws nearer and nearer I also hear that whoever it is, it's panting. I think I only know one person who would run like that, panting like crazy and not getting out of breath.

At the very same moment I come out from my hiding place I realize I have my sais in a defending position, so I put them back where they belong, before I'm too close. She might have psychic powers but she is really clumsy when she is agitated. I don't have time to yell a warning, and she has already bumped into me, screamed, and I'm forced to grab her wrists and soothe her.

"April, April, chill out! It's me, Raph!"

It took her a couple of minutes to take in what I was telling her.

"Raph?"

"Heck, yeah. Are you all right?"

"Oh, my God, Raph!" She flings her arms around me and presses herself to me. I can't help blushing, I don't know why, but human contact makes me flinch in a regular basis. It's not like I'm used to hugging, not only humans, but also turtles, rats, any being. I take her by the arms and put her aside. She looks beside herself, jumpy and scared; so unlike her.

"Jeez, what's happened?"

I help her to keep walking, I don't like being stuck in the tunnels for too long. She stills takes some minutes to recover, holding her hands folded and close to her chest, as if trying to calm her heartbeat down. I give her all the time she needs, but by the time we are reaching the entrance to the lair, I get a bit queasy, as if the place was closing in on me. I hep her to the couch and sit next to her, about to run out of patience. She closes her eyes and leans back, taking deep breaths.

"April...? Care to tell me what happened yet?"

Her eyes flutter open, and she looks at me, as if just realizing I'm with her.

"Leo was following me, wielding his blades. He wanted to kill me Raph".

I raise an eyebrow at her. I know perfectly well where Leo is, and not precisely chasing April down the streets. He's sick, and unable to move. So either she is lying or there is an impostor running around in Leo's appearance, but the last idea just makes me chuckle. Not the time for that, though; she immediately glares at me, frowning, clearly thinking she scares me or something.

"I'm not kidding, Raph. It was Leo. He called my name, and I was really surprised to see him - I mean, I was walking to school! And he just - attacked me".

I sigh.

"April, Leo is in his room, passed out. He's not attacking anyone. He can't".

She looks at me again, this time a bit concerned... perhaps about her mental condition?

"I know what I saw". She rolls her sleeve up to reveal a small scrape, shallow, but still bleeding. "He did this to me"