The Words That Hurt Me

Fifty-Two: Running out of Time

"Abby, wha..." Summer trembled, "What happened? Why are you like this?"

She glanced at Mikey, giving him a pointed look.

"Did he do this-"

"No," Goo said firmly, stepping in front of Mikey, "It is not his fault! It was an accident, and I will not let you blame him. It was something that happened because of my own decisions, I'm the only one to blame,"

Summer looked taken aback, apparently not expecting Goo to so aggressively defend Mikey. Goo had steeled their self, acting in a way he had never seen. 

"W-what- huff! Okay, yeah, you are to blame!" Summer recovered, crossing her arms, "What I just want to know is, why? Why did you do this? Why go this far a-and turn yourself into- this!"

The siblings glared at each other. Mikey remembered feeling this kind of tension before when he had run off and had fun with Casey. He didn't regret that night, but when he came home to face his brothers, he had just been so tired, so done with everything, that conflict felt like it was the only option for him.

"Honestly, I don't know!" Goo admitted, throwing their arms up, "I wanted to get away, and going to New York seemed like a good idea! And sure, this happened, but you know what? I don't regret it!"

Summer continued to glare, but remained silent, so Goo continued.

"My time in New York has been the greatest and best thing I've ever decided to do!" Goo barked, "Even my mutation has been great! I'm having a blast being a fucking turtle!  I finally feel like a person!"

Summer's face shifted from angry to concerned as Goo continued to rant.

"Do you know how awful it's been for me!?" They spat, "I've been trying to move on for years! I've been trying to be a new person, I've been trying to get better, but hearing you guys completely undermine me and call me by the name of a dead girl, it-it, it sucks!"

Goo's voice started to tremble, but they kept going anyway.

"When I got mutated, I finally felt like I could be the person I wanted to be! I finally feel free!" Goo cried, "Don't you miss that? Don't you miss feeling okay just existing? We were fine when we were kids, but now it just feels like we're strangers who happened to grow up in the same house!"

Goo locked eyes with Summer.

"I miss when we were a family,"

"Abby-"

"No, just- go," Goo sighed, "I have to go back to New York. To undo, this, and to save our stupid parents-"

Goo started tearing up again, and rushed back into the building, leaving the three behind in the foyer.

"Um, can I..." Summer mumbled, "Can I come back? I need to talk to our siblings..."

Kit and Mikey glanced at each other, sharing an unsure look.

"You can come back," Mikey said after a while, "But it has to be for Goody. If you can't do that, you should just stay away,"

Mikey met Summer's gaze, hoping she understood the importance of his statement, but only time would tell. Eventually, she nodded and quietly exited the building. 

Twisted knots of anxiety lay heavy in Mikey's stomach.

 .

Kids were incredibly messy. Leo already knew this, but not to the full extent. 

Turns out the Other Turtles were just as flaky when it came to cleaning up after themselves as his brothers were, so that left Usagi and himself to clean up. Raphie was going to help but got dragged away by the kids. It seemed he had a hard time saying no to them.