When will this end?
When will the darkness claim me for the last time?
I can't bare the pain. I can't bare it eating away at me, constantly.
I can barely remember anything now, just the coldness that surrounds me.
I haven't seen daylight in ages. The sun is just a distant memory, left to rot in my hunted mind.
It's been a week now, since I've seen any sign of life.
No one has entered this cursed building. I've been left to die. Alone, cold and forgotten.
Death is coming for me, I can feel it. And I welcome him. Let death take my hand and led me away from this dark, cruel place. Let him decide wither I go to hell or heaven. I don't care where I go. Nothing can be worse then this.
Wait…
I hear voices. Voices echoing off the white walls.
But I don't remember voices like these. They're not hallow and empty, or cruel and dark, nor rough and low.
They're kind, and soft, and quiet. It's like a sweet song embracing me.
I try to open my heavy eyes, but they barely move an inch. They refuse to open, fearing what they'll find.
But I force them open, just enough to see a familiar, but at the same time, a completely alien sight.
Green figures.
Are these the angels I have been waiting for?
If so, why must I be mocked, even in death?
I let my eyes close again, as warm, comforting arms surround me.
"What is it?" said a voice, just within Jodi's hearing. She could feel the owner close by, though she was drafting in and out of consciousness.
"Come on, Mikey, even I can tell that she's a turtle" came another voice. This one had a heavy Brooklyn dialect.
"How can you tell she's a she?" asked the first voice, a little bit stupidity.
"Well, the hair gives it away" said a third voice, this one further away.
"Yes, that is weird, it is impossible for turtles to grow hair because of our genes" said a fourth voice, this one kind and knowing.
And Jodi slipped back into darkness again.
Jodi felt something she hadn't felt in ages when she woke up next.
Warmth.
A blanket was wrapped around her cold body and she was lying on a soft bed. The air around her was comfortably warm.
Was it all a dream?
Was everything that had happened in the last year just a horrible dream?
"How's she doing?" asked a voice. Jodi didn't recognise that voice. Maybe she was in hospital. Maybe she had been in a coma. That would explain the unbelievable long nightmare.
Jodi tried to open her heavy eyes, and was met by a blinding light. She blinked several times and looked up into the soft, kind eyes of a giant rat!
Jodi let out a soft scream and draw herself away from him.
"Be calm, my child, everything is ok" he spoke. Jodi tore her eyes away from the over-sized rodent and found another large animal. This time in the form of a turtle.
A turtle!
The Turtles" the beings she had heard so much about! The creatures she had been made in the image of.
They were here! Or was she in their home?
"Hi, I'm Donnie" the turtle smiled, nervously, and stepping forward. He wore a purple bandanna around his eyes, and a stick was positioned on his back.
Jodi didn't say a word, but folded herself up, backing against the wall of the bed.
"We're not going to hurt you" Donnie told her, trying to smile, comfortingly. But still fear filled her eyes.
"Do you understand us?" asked the rat, kindly. That tone hadn't been directed at her for a year, and Jodi did found t heard to understand. The sound was foreign and strange.
So Jodi didn't answer, but burst into tears. Fine tears rolled down her green cheeks, running off her buck.
Donnie placed his hand on her shoulder, and gave it a comforting squeeze.
Jodi longed to envelop herself in this stranger's arms. To feel that connection again. She wanted this turtle to take the pain away.
But all Jodi did was hide herself in her knees, as her whole body shook.
The tears stopped within twenty minutes, but Jodi could still feel the grief gong though her.
The door opened and two more turtles walked into the room.
"You're awake!" the orange clothed turtle smiled, happily. Jodi looked away, down at her hands.
"I'm Mikey" the orange turtle smiled, trying to get Jodi to look up, "And this here is Raphie Boy" Mikey said, pointing to the red clothed turtle, who seem to be lingering in the doorway. Raph growled at Mikey, before saying,
"What's your name?" Jodi didn't answer. Mostly because no one had asked her that question for over a year. She hadn't heard her name uttered in all that time.
"Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael" the rat spoke, looking at the turtles, "Please may you leave us to talk for a while?"
The turtles nodded and slowly left the rom. The rat sat on the edge of the bed, as Jodi slowly begin to cry again.
"My name is Splinter, and you are in the home of me and my son's" he told her, "It was my sons who found you, in the lab of our most hated and feared enemy" Jodi shivered, remembering the cold, dark eyes of who Splinter was talking about.
"The Shredder" he continued. More tears begin to fall.
"Do you understand who this is?" Splinter asked. Jodi nodded, quivering. She closed her eyes, and it came back to her.
She had been in the lab for about a month when she first saw him. She was sitting in the corner of the glass room that kept her captive.
The people working around the room had been more busy then usual, and most had fear in their eyes.
Jodi herself crawled up, with her knees to her chin and her arms wrapped around her legs. She watched the strangers, who she had been watching for a month, hurry around in a panic.
Then He came in, and everything fall silent. All activity stopped as He slowly made his way over to her shoulder.
Jodi's eyes widen in fear as He came closer. He was the most terrifying thing she had ever seen. He wore an armoured suit, with blades on the shoulders, and on the hands. They shone dangerously.
He came to a stop, near the glass wall, and Jodi was unable to look away from his eyes. So un-human, so cold, so evil.
There were two people either side of him. On one side was a woman with black hair. She looked at Jodi with concern and regret in her eyes. And on the other side was a ginger man, who Jodi knew as Doctor Chaplin. He was the head scientist at the lab.
"Is it all ready?" The Shredder asked. His voice sent a shiver down Jodi's spin, and she gasp, shaking like crazy.
"Yes, sir, everything's set to go" Dr Chaplin answered, "We are just waiting for you to give us the go ahead"
"My Lord, please, reconsider" the woman begged the Shredder, "She is just a child"
"Silence, Karai" The Shedder ordered, and the woman fall still. The Shredder studied Jodi, before turning to Chaplin.
"Go ahead with the experiment, I shall return when it is complete" he told him.
"Great Sir, I'll get straight to it" Chaplin grinned.
"I am expecting results, Chaplin, or you will turn out like Stockman" the Shredder warned, before turning and leaving.
Karai looked at Jodi, with sad eyes. Jodi looked back at her, tears spilling from her eyes once again. She tried to plead with this strange woman using only her eyes.
Help me, please
But Karai just walked away.
Nine months later, the Shredder returned.
This time, Jodi was hand cuffed and forced roughly out of her prison. She tried to stay strong as she was made to face the silver demon, but she was shaking badly.
"Perfect" he grinned, bring his claw under her quivering chin. Jodi felt it dig into her skin, as tears of fear glistened in her eyes.
"Can you make more?" the Shredder asked.
"Oh yes, Sir" Chaplin smiled, "Now we know how to do it"
"Good" The Shredder smiled. Jodi whimpered, and closed her eyes as the cold blades dig deeper into her skin.
"How did you get there, my child?" Splinter asked, bring Jodi back to the present. Jodi ducked her head, not wanting to remember. Wanting to forget it all.
Splinter sat beside Jodi, waiting for an answer, for an hour. He placed a paw on her shoulder and Jodi completely broke down.
How many tears must I cry until this is over?
Jodi fall into restless sleep as her tears tired her.
When she woke, the rat was gone, but Donnie was in there, watching her.
"Are you hungry?" he asked, as Jodi sat up. Jodi nodded as her stomach let out a low growl.
Donnie stepped out of the room, and Jodi heard voices.
"How is she?" Raph asked.
"I don't know, physical she is fine, but mentally…" Donnie told them.
"She must have been though a lot" came Mikey's voice.
"Just be careful guys, we don't know anything about her yet" cane a fourth voice.
"Come on, Leo, she was obviously kept captive in that lab" Raph said.
"We don't know that for sure, it all might be a trap" Leo replied.
"Says you" Raph growled in a tone that frightened Jodi, "You were the one that trusted Karai, even when you know she was the Shredder's daughter" Raph continued.
"Yes, and I'm learning from my mistakes" Leo told him.
"Leonardo" Splinter's voice rang out and the younger voices fall silent.
"You are right, my son, we don't know if we can trust this girl, but until we do, she is to be treated like a guest" the rat told them.
"Yes, Sensei" the four turtles said together. Donnie returned with food, and Jodi felt life flicker in her again. He had brought steaming hot pizza, along with garlic bread and a glass of fizzy coke.
After a years of just bread, and the occasionally salad, it was like she had died, and she was now in heaven.
"Is that ok?" Donnie asked, as Katie dig into the food. Katie smiled the best she could, reawakening muscles she forget she had.
Donnie left again, and Jodi was left on her own. She got up, a bit wobbly on her feet, and walked around the room she was now in.
It was quite small, with nothing but a bed and a desk, along with a chair in. On the walls were fabric sheets with symbols on. Jodi was quite sure they were Japanese.
On the desk was a mirror. Jodi picked it up and looked into it.
She saw a sea green turtle staring back. She bore blue eyes, and light green freckles were shattered across her buck. Thick brown hair flowed from her head and down her back. It was messy and greasy.
Tears once again formed in Jodi's eyes as she looked at her hunted reflection.
Why have I been cursed with this body?
What have I done wrong?
She placed the mirror down and cried. She let all the grief out. She let it spill over her, drowning her in tears. She asked so many unanswerable questions. She would never know the reason for her torture.
Once again, she was drawn into a darkness of nightmares.
Jodi woke as a blanket was wrapped around her shoulders, and arms squeezed them warmly. Jodi slowly brought her head up, stretching her arms as she did so.
"I think you were having a nightmare" Mikey told her, as Jodi spun round in her chair. When she didn't reply, Mikey made to leave the room.
"Don't" Jodi begged, her voice croaked and broken. Mikey looked at her, surprised.
"You can talk?" he asked. Jodi nodded.
"Please….I don't want to be on my own again" Katie told Mikey. Mikey smiled slightly and walked back to her side. Jodi looked at the blanket wrapped around her shoulders, and then back up into the blue eyes of Mikey.
"Why are you and your family being so kind to me?" she asked.
"You're one of us," he told her, "We mutants need to stick together" Jodi looked down at her three-fingered hands.
"I wasn't always like this" she whispered, "I use to be….normal"
Mikey sat down on the bed, looking at her.
"What happened?" he asked. Jodi looked at him, and swallowed, nervously. She wasn't ready to open up just yet.
"Can I…I use your bathroom?" she asked, changing the subject. Mikey looked disappointed, but nodded.
"Yeh, follow me" he replied. Jodi wiped her eyes and stood up. She followed, slowly. When they left the room, Jodi was met by a large room. It was circular, with different levels along the walls. They were on the second level, with two more above them. In the middle, there were no floors, except for the ground level, where Jodi could see the living room. In there, there must have been about twenty TVs and three worn sofas. There were no windows, and that made Jodi feel slightly uneasy.
"Where are we?" Jodi asked.
"Underground, this is our Lair" Mikey replied, with a smile. Jodi's eyes widen.
"Really?" she asked, sounding scared. Mikey turned to her.
"Yeh, are you ok?" Jodi nodded.
"Yeh, I just don't like being underground, I could never take the tube, but its better then being in that lab"
"Here we are" Mikey smiled, stopping outside a door "Your chambers await, dear madam"
Katie laughed, very weakly. She enjoyed the feeling going around her. Happiness was slowly letting itself break free, and come alive again.
Jodi went into the bathroom and ran a bath. She slowly sunk unto the bubbly water, and sighed.
This was bliss. This was heaven.
Once Jodi was clean, and smoothed, she dried herself with a towel that Mikey had given her, and emerged from the bathroom. She felt unnatural naked, even though in her form, no one could see anything. However, there was nothing she could so about it. Anyway, the other mutant turtles had no clothes on.
Jodi saw the turtles and the rat sitting, crossed legged, on the floor, on the ground level. They all had their eyes closed. Jodi walked, as silently as she could, down to them. When she was on the same level as they were, she quietly sit down, quite a distant away from them. She could tell Splinter knew she was there, because his ears twitched slightly. Jodi watched them, before gently closing her eyes and trying to relax.
Jodi didn't know how long they sat there, but she was use to sitting without saying anything for a long time. However, this was a more pleasant atmosphere. Jodi felt at ease for the first time in ages.
"My sons" Splinter's voice suddenly rang out. Jodi kept her eyes shut, "You are dismissed"
Jodi heard four pairs of feet stand up and walk off, quietly. She could feel the rat's eyes on her.
"What is your name, my child?" he asked. Jodi opened her eyes and looked into the comforting eyes of Splinter.
"No one has called me by my name for over a year, and I don't want to remember it, as that will bring back memories of the past that I want so much to forget" she told him.
"Well, we need to call you something" Splinter told her, kindly.
"Then you can choose what to" she replied. Splinter thought for a minute, before answering.
"Would the name Keitii suit you?" Jodi smiled.
"Yes…Sensei"
Please review, flames welcome, but nothing too harsh. Nuk xx