(2198 words)

It was a blur.

The second there was a knock on the old couple's door his head started pounding and his heart was racing, though he knew if it was something bad he couldn't fight it off anyways, not in this state. The old man stands from the couch and opens the door quickly. Raph flinches as he does so but relaxes the slightest bit when he sees a police officer walk in through the door.

From there his world swirled again as more and more people rushed into the house, some asking the couple questions, others asking Raph. It was all way too much and he was so tired. The teen blinks and he's in a new place. It was all white and clean, making him feel even worse for being grimy and dirty. He glances around and notices another person next to him.

It was a taller nurse with golden skin and slightly too long hair pulled up in what could only be described as a man-bun. The entire room jumps and the boy realizes he's inside a vehicle- the familiar look of an ambulance finally hits his brain and he shivers. He'd been in a few of these before. Not very fun. The nurse turns around and gives him a small smile. "Hey buddy, it's gonna be okay, just lay back down."

Raph nods automatically but doesn't lay back down. He didn't want to fall asleep. He didn't want to wake up. Another blink and he's somewhere new again. he's being slowly walked through the motions of putting a shirt on over his head. He didn't know what exactly was going on, feeling as if he was walking through a world where the air was made of jell-o.

He's walked over to a bed and helped to lay down, but as soon as his head hits a pillow he feels wide awake again. He remembers, he didn't want to wake up. His eyes shoot open and he looks around frantically, taking in the small single bed hospital room. "It's okay, everything's alright." Someone says. He looks over to whoever was helping him into bed and frowns, ignoring the last few words they said.

Why were they telling him it was alright? It obviously wasn't, he wasn't going to let himself wake up so why were they trying to make him? Raph weakly tries to push himself up from the bed, but realizes his right hand doesn't bend. In fact, it was extremely stiff with a dull throb following suit. He looks down and cringes, seeing a cast all the way up his forearm to his elbow. He didn't think he broke his arm. But the doctors must've.

Raph feels a small pull in his left arm as well and he glances down to see a small IV taped down. Now THAT was the last straw. He takes a sharp inhale of breath and yanks the IV out, causing the nurse beside him to gasp. It was too late though. The drug was already in his system and there was no way around it. He could feel himself falling, deeper and deeper into the dark abyss. He makes a small noise of protest before he collapses back onto the bed, sleep taking over.

Mikey is the first to wake, bouncing anxiously in his seat, knowing full well how it would be shaking the rest of the van's occupants awake. He'd been awake for at least an hour now and had checked his phone a million times. He'd told Kaito exactly what he'd done as soon as he woke up. Mikey wasn't one for keeping guilt ridden secrets.

He glances down again and finally sees a reply. 'Bad-ass dude. Tell me how he's doing once you get inside. Hope you don't get in trouble for that though.' Mikey smiles a little and replies back quickly before he hears stirring from the back seat. He whips around and stares as Leo slowly wakes up, rubbing his face and pushing his hair back. He lets out a slow breath and opens his eyes, immediately realizing that they were not, in fact, in the same place he'd fallen asleep in.

"Mikey-" Leo starts. Mikey shakes his head frantically. "What did you do!?" Leo whisper-shouts. Mikey smiles meekly. "Okay, don't freak out, I couldn't let us just sit there and waste time so I just got us the rest of the way to the hospital." Leo's eyes go so wide it seems like they might pop right out of his head. "Mikey! You can't just drive without a licence!" Leo says, still keeping his voice low.

"It's fine, I wasn't pulled over or anything." Mikey says, trying to calm his older brother down. "That doesn't matter!" Leo says, loosing control over his volume. Donnie jolts awake beside Mikey and immediately takes in the scene. "Are we there yet?" He mumbles, trying to defuse the situation while not knowing what the situation was. All three go silent.

Mikey gives Leo a look, doing his best kicked puppy face and folding his hands low enough that only Leo notices. Leo grimaces and sighs. "Yeah, I got us here late last night." Mikey lets out a short sigh of relief and watches as Donnie's face lightens. "Let's go inside then, we've waited long enough, I looked up the visiting hours of the hospital and even if it weren't more of an argent situation, we're well within the allowed hours."

Donnie rambles a small bit before stopping, realizing the longer he talked, the longer they had to wait to go inside. All three of them glance to their father with tense anxiety. "Who's gonna wake him up?" Mikey says quietly. Donnie shakes his head. "Not me, last time I woke him up I almost lost an arm."

"Last time I tried to wake him up I almost lost my life." Mikey mumbles. "That's because you tried to wake him up with a KNIFE." Donnie replies, folding his arms and turning his gaze towards their eldest brother. "Leo?" the boys say in unison. Leo huffs. "You two've been asking a WHOLE lot from me recently." He says as he climbs over to their father.

"Thank you Leo." The two say together in a sing-song voice. Leo snatches Mikey's phone and pokes their father with it. Mikey's eyes go wide and he shakes his head frantically. "It's fine Mike, I'll give it back." Leo whispers. "He probably won't break it that much." Mikey puts his face in his hands. He knew what his older brother was doing.

He was getting revenge.

They all knew what would happen once the old man woke up. He'd hit and snatch whatever was poking him, either breaking it or keeping it for his own. While he wouldn't necessarily keep Mikey's phone, he sure would take a good long look at the open text screen. "Really Leo?" Mikey says in a hushed, rushed tone. "Revenge? At a time like this?" Leo looks Mikey straight in the eyes and nudges their father again, making him stir a little.

"Leo, Leo, Leo- Stop! I'll tell you both everything if you'll please stop." Mikey whisper shouts. Donnie nods at Leo and the blond tosses the phone back at the youngest boy. He instead takes an empty soda bottle and nudges their father one more time before the old man swats the battle away, flying out the open car window behind Leo.

"Aren't 'cha glad that wasn't my phone." Mikey mumbles towards Leo. Leo shrugs and the boys turn their attention back to their father as he straightens up in his seat. "Can we go inside now?" Donnie says, not giving his father a chance to fully wake up. It takes a moment but the older man nods, sending the car into instant chaos.

All three boys start rushing to grab all they'd need and get out. While they wanted to make sure their brother was okay, they also needed to get out of that van. Road trips were never easy for the very active brothers. Soon enough they were scrambling through the parking lot towards the hospital.

Alone.

He was alone. People kept telling him it wouldn't be for long but he knew he'd never be alone again. He couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not.

Raph picks at the cast on his arm. He was bored and nervous and content all at the same time. He knew they'd be here soon, his family, his brothers, his father. They'd all be there soon. The boy sighs and sits up, hunching over and resting his good arm on his leg. It was a trip getting to this point. They had told him he was in a completely different state from home and that it would take days for his family to reach him.

It was a shock though he didn't mind much. He was out of that house and in a somewhat safe place. He looks at his stiff arm and looks over the couple signatures he had gathered. A couple nurses signed it to give him some comfort while he waited and a couple kids had run into his room at one point and asked to sign it. There was a small dragon doodled on the side from one kid who said he lived in the hospital. Poor kid.

Raph shakes his head and looks out the open door across from him, watching as people passed. "This blows." He mumbles to himself. He sat like that for a long time, eyes lazy and glazed until someone would walk past, watching them until they were gone over and over again. Eventually he stops looking up at the people, knowing each one who came past regularly.

At some point he notices someone at the door but he doesn't look up, assuming it was just a nurse pausing to check on him. The person doesn't leave though, instead walking in closer, more people filing in after them. Raph frowns and looks up, only for his face to soften once more. "Oh, hey guys."

He knew it was a lame hello after all this time and after all that had happened but he was just so emotionally exhausted that it was all he could muster. He had no more tears to shed at the sight of his family, no more words to tell how horrible he'd been feeling. Just numb.

"Raphael..." Yoshi says softly. Raph quickly drops his eyes down to his cast, not wanting to look at any of them just yet. He didn't feel ready, didn't feel worthy. They cared so much.

The brothers encircle the sides of the hospital bed, all wanting to bombard their newly found brother with questions but knowing better. "You... You good bro?" Mikey says awkwardly. "Well besides the apparent broken arm, malnutrition, and dehydration, yeah. I'm good." Raph grumbles. "Thanks."

"At least his personality's in tact." Leo mutters. Donnie jabs Leo in the stomach with his elbow before jumping in on the conversation himself. "I'm glad you're okay." Raph nods. "Yeah, me too."

I think it turned ten o'clock but I don't really know

Then I can't remember caring for an hour or so

Started crying and I couldn't stop myself

I started running but there's no where to run to

I sat down on the street and took a look at myself

Said where you going man you know the world is headed for hell

Say your goodbyes if you've got someone you can say goodbye to

I believe the world is burning to the ground

Oh well, I guess, we're gonna find out

Let's see how far we've come

Let's see how far we've come

"How Far We've Come"

Matchbox Twenty

So wow... It's been a while huh? I've been stuck on this chapter for so so long and I just couldn't figure out how to write it. I finally decided today that A: this chapter sucks, and B: I don't care. I don't care that this chapter is short, I don't care that it sucks, I don't even care if it makes any sense. I just need to get it done so I can continue the story because otherwise it'll never get done. Weather the chapter was good or not, I hope you enjoyed it and get ready for more chapters coming up because I actually cannot wait for this new section of chapters I have planned.

Love you all and thank you all for your support. It means a lot to me.

-Your author, Parker