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they had gone out on a quick mission and left him at home. they knew he had a rough time last night and decided to let him sleep in. mikey wanted to smile at that, he really did. he wanted to be happy with the fact that his brothers were that considerate, but he could only feel fear. it was quiet; uncomfortably quiet, that is.
their father, splinter was still asleep, so he was left standing in the middle of the plaza by himself, his head swarming as he tried to block out his thoughts from consuming his mind. he couldn’t take quiet, he always hated it, he needed noise, he needed to be doing at least one thing. it pained him internally to have nothing to do.
so he simply paced around the plaza, scratching at his hands as they shook, pinching his hand, biting his hand, scratching his arms unnecessarily, hitting his head and hands against walls and pots, at the end of it he was stuck shaking his hands, which were balled up into fists, uncomfortably, even beginning to hit his fists together.
he missed his brothers, he didn’t know how long they’d been gone for, but he feels like crying because he’s alone. no one’s there to look out for him and no one’s there to take care of him. that’s when he freezes, remembering donnie’s words.
“— yeah! apparently, mikey, your species of turtle can easily live over 100 years!” mikey had forgotten everything donnie said after that. he was horrified to find that out, he couldn’t be alone. everyone he knew would be dead then, and he would have to deal with the losses alone in the end. he would have no friends, and no family. he would be living alone in the sewers, occupying one seat in the dining room while another 5 remained unoccupied. after mikey heard donnie say that, he immediately burst into tears, donnie hurrying to reassure them that raph’s species— the alligator snapping turtle— also has a lifespan around the same as his. mikey looked up at raph with teary eyes before latching onto him.
that was yesterday, he had cried for 3 hours until he eventually fell asleep; donnie, leo, and raph didn’t leave his side for the whole night, no matter what. but he had to admit that he did go into a bit of a spiral when he saw that they weren’t there, but he found a note on the table explaining that they had gone on a quick mission and would be back soon.
mikey began to wonder how soon ‘soon’ is. he fidgeted with his fingers, picking at his cuticles and scratching at his knuckles and wrists. he began biting down on his hands and biting his arms in an attempt to contain the energy that he had no clue how to release. mikey felt like crying, it was too quiet, and it was scary. he was only 13, he couldn’t be left alone, not yet; it was too quiet and it was never quiet, tears raced down his face and he started rubbing at his face, causing his orange mask to slip off his face and onto his neck.
he started pulling at the mask, not liking the feeling of it around his neck, but he couldn’t get his fingers to untie the knot keeping it together; he continued to scramble in an attempt to remove it, but they all proved to be futile.
out of instinct, he released a high-pitched whining sound which eventually bled into a cry as he continued pawing at the mask, before giving up and choosing to cover his face with his hands, scratching at his eyes, clawing his nails across his face until the scratches started to bleed and ache.
he hugged himself with his arms, his nails digging into his upper arms. even more tears fell down his face as he sobbed and hick-upped. he just wanted them back, he missed them so much that he would give up everything in his life to have them back, he just wanted his brothers back..
after around 3 minutes of crying, he heard the garage door open, the slam of 3 doors, and multiple yells, “MIKEY?! MIKEY WHERE ARE YOU?!” mikey unwrapped his arms from where they were gripping, looking up in the direction from which the shouts came from.
leo came bouldering into the room, donnie and raph racing in right behind him. they piled around mikey, looks of concern on all of their faces as they took in the scratches and bite marks on mikey’s arms and face.
donnie grabbed his face, turning it from side to side to see the scratches, “are you alright? did something do this to you? a pet, maybe? a cat or dog?” donnie asked, letting go of his face to pick up his right arm to inspect the bites. mikey shook his head, leaning back into the couch with relief. his brothers were back.
raph shook his hands around for a bit before sitting by mikey on the couch, the younger immediately leaned on raph, putting his left arm around raph’s right arm and squeezing it lightly. donnie looked back up at mikey, dropping his arm with a look of worsening concern.
“mikey.. these bites were from you,” he stated, standing up straight to look down at mikey, leo came up near him and looked down at the bites and scratches before looking back up at mikey, who buried his face in raph’s arm, only coming out to say, in a quiet voice that was unusual to him,
“please don’t leave me alone.”