From The Shadows || TMNT 2012 FanFiction (BOOK 1)

Chapter 8. Glow-In-The-Dark Stars

     Leonardo was the only one still up at the time Carrie woke up screaming from her surreal nightmare. He had been meditating in the dojo when he heard her yells. He had immediately left his meditation and dojo, heading straight for Carrie's room.

     He swung the door open, noticing Carrie crying and shouting into her comforter. Leonardo was quick to be at her side.

     Leo pulls the covers from her face. She doesn't fight for them back, but when she realizes it is Leonardo by her side, she screams and shakes her head over and over again.

     "It's not real!" Carrie cries. "It's not real!"

     "Woah, Woah, Woah," Leo whispers. He places a hand on her back, holding her up. "Come on. Calm down."

     "You're dead!" Carrie yells. "You're dead, you're dead, you're dead!"

     Leo shakes his head. "No. I'm alive. It's okay. No one is dead."

     "You are! I killed you!"

     "No, you didn't. I'm alive. You didn't kill anybody."

     "But I saw it," Carrie's voice drops to a whisper. Her breathing becomes irregular and fast. She begins to hyperventilate.

     Leonardo quickly takes Carrie's hands. He cups her hands over her mouth and nose. Leo holds them there gently. "Breathe."

     Carrie shakes her head.

     "Breathe in for four seconds. Breathe out for six."

     Carrie is reluctant to calm down and slow her breathing. But she does anyway, realizing that there is nothing else she can do. She realizes that, even if this is all a part of her nightmare, at least he wasn't dead anymore. At least she had someone with her.

     The three turtle brothers and April slowly walk into the room, rubbing their eyes.

     Donnie yawns. "What is going on?"

     The scene before April becomes more clear to her. She shakes her head and frowns. "What are you doing, Leo?! Suffocating her?!"

     April's yells startle Carrie, and she begins crying again.

     Leo glares at April. "Quiet," he mutters.

     He turns his attention back to Carrie, telling her over and over again to watch her breathing and to count her breaths. It took a couple of minutes, but eventually, Carrie was able to calm herself down, and her breathing returned to its steady pace.

     Leonardo releases her hands. "Are you okay?"

     Carrie nods, glancing down. "I'm sorry."

     "There's nothing to be sorry for," Leo says.

     Raph frowns. "Except for waking all of us up."

     Leo rolls his eyes. "Don't listen to him. Don't be sorry about that either."

     "If you don't mind," Donnie begins, "can you tell us what happened?"

     "It happened again," Carrie whispers.

     "The same thing happened?" April asks.

     Carrie is hesitant to respond. She fears telling them the truth, especially since it was she who had done the killing. Carrie saw herself murder the team's leader after he begged her not to and did everything to prevent her from continuing down that path.

     So instead, she lies. She nods her head. "Exactly the same."

     Leo sighs. He knows Carrie is lying. What she was shouting earlier was certainly not the same. "We'll figure this out later."