Before (Part 1)

Chapter Four

Light flooded into Madi's bedroom, a gentle breeze blowing in through her opened window. It was a beautiful Saturday morning. All was silent as the teenage girl slept with her large and loyal dog by her side. After a nice and peaceful moment, her eye lids fluttered open and she looked around, a huge smile on her face. She looked down at her dog, her faithful pet, companion, and friend, as she gently stroked the fur on the top of Sam's head. It had all just been a dream, a scary dream about monsters on the rooftops and pizza.

Madi stood up, stretching, and stepped into her pair of pink fuzzy slippers as she walked towards her bedroom door. She reached for the doorknob, but all her hand felt was thin air. Eyes wide, Madi looked down and saw that her doorknob had been sliced off completely from its spot on the large wooden door. Instead of sitting where it should have been, it was resting on her dresser, next to her MMA trophy she had received three years earlier. Mouth gaping, she slid her fingers in between the door and the wooden door-frame, prying it open and lightly walking down the hallway.

Dreading what she was about to see, Madi entered the kitchen, and noticed the three empty boxes that had had pizza in them a few hours earlier, plus a note from her mother that stated she'd be at work most of the day because of the lack of nurses working at the hospital. Realizing that last night's events weren't a dream, Madi grabbed her cell phone and quickly dialed April's number. Tapping her slippered left foot on the kitchen floor with anticipation and anxiety, Madi waited as she listened to April's phone ring on the other end of the line. After what seemed like an eternity, her best friend finally picked up.

"Hello?"

"So everything that happened last night was real?" Madi asked, a sliver of hope obvious in her voice that maybe April would deny it and ask what Madi was talking about. But, no-matter how much she hoped and prayed, the answer that she received next still gave her quite a shock.

"Yep, all of it. Every last bit. From the guys breaking in, to Mikey shoving his face full of pizza. Every last bit."

Madi wanted to drop her phone, scream in fear, and hide under her bed all at the same time. The fact that there were four crazy mutant turtles roaming the city of New York without anyone knowing just frightened her. And realizing that they had been in her apartment, touching her stuff an getting their gross germs everywhere, just freaked her out even more.

"Actually, I'm hanging out with them right now. Want to come and join us?" April asked.

"Nah, I think I'm going to hide in my closet out of sheer terror. But thanks for offering." Madi replied, a small spark of sarcasm in her voice. She heard April sigh on the other end, and knew that her friend was annoyed and slightly disappointed.

"Please. Come on, you and I both know that it would be good if you got to know them a little better."

"Why?" Madi asked as she walked into her living-room, sitting on her couch and grabbing the TV remote. She turned it on and switched the channel to Good Morning America, lounging back and stretching once again.

"Because I hang out with them a lot. They helped me get my dad back, remember when I told you about that?" April asked. Madi replied with a 'yes' and April continued. "Plus Mikey was really excited when I told him about you this morning. He says that he finally found a 'pizza buddy'.They don't have many human friends beside me, so it would be nice if you stopped by."

"What about Raph? He'll be there, and he isn't exactly the nicest to me." Madi pointed out. She remembered how rude and emotionless he had been last night, and the fact that he had been so inconsiderate of her feelings, even after April had explained things, made her sad and unhappy. How could someone be so mean?