In a clear and crisp sky the stars gleamed defiantly, almost as brightly as the moon that night. For that evening was one of the rare few when the smog and industrial fumes would not mar their light.
Summer was drawing to a close. It's soft warmth lingered in the air, but a cool autumn breeze blew across the city. A promise of what it would bring in a few days time.
The rooftops were quiet, their tenants asleep. Well not all of them, but this was New York. There was always someone up. However, even so, no one noticed the two shadows that leapt from rooftop-to-rooftop, and even if they had they wouldn't have cared. Because… like I said before, this was New York. It'd take more than a pair of shadows to bat an eyelid in that city.
"Getting' a little slow Leo?" Raph teased, taking the lead. This was supposed to be a simple run, not a race, but it turned into one anyway.
"Not a chance Raph." Leo grinned. At the next rooftop he used his brother's shoulders as leverage to vault over the gap. Doing a double flip before landing just to show off a little as he took the lead.
"Alright yer good Leo," Raph shrugged, "but I'm betta."
Raph jumped of the side of the roof. Swung on the end of a light poll, which gave him enough momentum to leap in front of his brother. Not wanting to lose the lead again, Raph turned every leap every jump from one roof to another into an acrobatic stunt. Sometimes he would have to veer of course, but it worked. He was really gaining speed.
Speed that Leo was starting to worry about. They had already gone way off the intended path. They were in an old part of the city. A part were over half of the houses were built before color photographs were invented. A part that they hadn't ran through for quite a while….
"Raph! Slow Down!" Leo yelled.
"So ya can steal the lead? Not a chance! Ha ha!" Raph laughed. He somersaulted backward onto the next ledge. The jump was a little short. So he landed on the ledge, but he's overestimated the strength of the wood.
It shattered under the force of Raph's weight.
"Whoahoa!!!" He shouted as he fell forward. Raph instinctively grabbed his Sais and jabbed one into the wall. It stopped his fall but the rest of his body continued to swing in an arch towards the widow.
The window was as fragile as the wood, so it too shattered. Raining glass fragments as the turtle dropped into the room.
"Raph!" Leo yelled.
Leo practically flew past the rooftops that had separated the two. He jumped through the broken window, being careful to avoid the shatter glass, and bent over his brother.
"Raph are you alright?" Leo asked.
"Yeah. Fine." Raph groaned rubbing his arm. A few glass shards dropped to the floor and his hand came back tinged with blood. It wasn't much, but he could guess that he probably had shallow cuts all over.
After scanning the room and listening for movement, or some sign of alarm, Leo relaxed his protective stance. The house appeared to be abandoned. "Jeez, Raph." Leo sighed, "Your lucky you didn't kill yourself."
"Yeah, sure." Raph shrugged, allowing Leo to help him up.
Normally Raph would want to argue, but…
There was something about that room didn't sit quite right with him. Sure the house was abandoned, one look around the room told you that. I mean, no one allows a room to become that dusty and so full of cobwebs that the whole room looked like it had snowed, if you're living in the house. Even if the room was empty, which this one was.
Even the old fashioned wallpaper didn't want to stay on the walls. It might have been a pink or red at one time, but it was too faded to tell. The little yellow flowers were still visible and the white painted wood made it faintly look like a child's room. Or at least it once was….
It was just… too empty… too quiet…
"Ha. If Mikey ever heard me say that he'd never let me hear da end of it.", Raph thought snickering, but even has they left Raph couldn't shake that uneasy feeling.
……………………………………………………………………….
Inside the empty, quiet house something stirred….