The Words That Hurt Me

Eighteen Years Old

Mikey floated amidst his brothers. Each of them seemed to be in a box of sorts, all experiencing their own version of reality.

Raph was punching a punching bag, or rather, beating the life out of it. He landed blow after blow, with little regard where or how they landed.

Donny was hunched over his desk, typing endlessly at his laptop. He wiped his brow, hand shaking. While he seemed to be stressed, he never stopped.

Leo was the calmest by far, simply sitting in place, rocking ever so slightly. His eyes were glazed over, gazing at a far off place.

.

Mikey had slept well last night, mostly due to the fact that he hadn't slept on anything cushioned for the last two days. The sun crept in through the window, landing squarely on his face.

He blinked his eyes open, immediately blinded by the light. Groaning, he rolled to the side to escape, blearily sitting up. He was taken aback for a moment, having woken up in a place he didn't expect.

In a recliner next to the couch sat Goo, holding a controller and wearing a pair of headphones. Mikey followed their gaze to the TV, which displayed Blockcraft on its screen. He observed the game for a moment before Goo noticed he was awake.

"Oh! Mikey, you're up!"

They quickly saved the game and shed their headphones, facing the turtle.

"You want breakfast?"

Mikey blinked, not yet awake enough to be able to process the question, let alone the fact that Goo had spoken at all. When his brain finally did load, he jumped up and turned towards the kitchen.

"I'll make breakfast!" He shouted, rushing towards what he assumed to be the pantry, eager to see what goodies he was working with.

"What!?" Goo shouted after him, following him into the kitchen, "You can cook?"

"Yup!" Mikey answered cheerfully, examining a pack of pasta, "Every since I had my first taste of the awesomeness that is pizza, I wanted to make something that would taste just good the first time!"

The turtle selected a few items, making his way to the fridge. Goo sat on the counter and watched him.

"What's so special about pizza?" Goo asked, watching Mikey gleefully pull out a carton of milk. "I mean, you've pretty much made your personality around pizza,"

Mikey glanced around the kitchen in search of a pot, opening cabinets before Goo tapped their heel on the cabinet below them, Mikey kneeling down to look through it. He soon stood triumphantly, holding a mid-sized pot in his hands.

"Oh shell, it was awesome!" He began to fill the pot under the faucet. "It was our fifteenth mutation day and we finally got Splinter to let us go topside! And, dude! It was so cool! There was this window with a hand, but then it turned into an eye! It was crazy!"

Mikey set the pot on the stove, igniting the burner.

"I was standing in the road, having the time of my life when this guy on scooter almost hits me! We just kinda looked at each other before Raph scared him off, but when he turned around he dropped a box of pizza. We didn't know what it was, so we took it and opened it,"

He dropped the pasta into the pot, cutting up some cheese he found.

"It smelled like heaven and tasted even better! After that, I vowed to never eat algea and worms again."

Goo made a face.

"Algea and worms?"

He nodded.

"Yeah, Splinter couldn't exactly go grocery shopping with-" Mikey gestured to his face, "-this whole situation,"