After All This Time

Chapter 21

Mikeys eyes were met with many bright colors and lights. He got out of the hole fully and slid the cover back. He thought for a second then decided to put an X on the manhole cover just in case. After he painted his landmark, he went off out of the alleyway. He remembered what his father had told him about humans. 'Humans will never except us, they will only ever see us as freaks.' Mikey wasn't sure if what his father said was true but he sure as hell didn't want to risk anything, so he pulled out a black hoodie from his bag and slipped it on. Once he got it on, he pulled his hood up and slipped his bag back on. Once he thought he was ready he set out to the sidewalk. There were so many sights, "tacos, pizza, fish shop, pet shop, even Bobs smoke shop!" Mikey had no clue what any of these shops were, but it was exciting nun the less. He walked down the street and looked at everything he could. There weren't many people around, which was a plus for him. He made his way through the city carefully; he came to a crosswalk that had some people waiting at it. He had no clue why they were just standing there but he followed their lead. After a few minutes they started to walk across the road, he hurried behind them. Mikey was back on the sidewalk and went off in a different direction than the crowd, he was looking at the sights once again until something ran into him and knocked him down. "Ah I'm sorry I didn't see you, but to be fair you were standing there in the middle of the walkway." Mikey sat up to see who ran into him, a girl. She looked around his age, she had long brown hair that was braided in two French braids, and bright hazel eyes. She was wearing some torn jeans and a shirt that said 'I'm the problem' in fancy writing. She had Band-Aids on her knees and some on her hands. "I wasn't standing I was walking" Mikey said in a semi-defensive tone. "Eh same thing" she shrugged her shoulders and stuck a hand out as an offer to help him up. He hesitantly took it, as he grabbed her hand, she hoisted him up. She then looked down at his hand. "Hey man, I don't know if you knew but your hands green, oh and missing like two fingers." She pointed out trying not to be rude. "I'm not missing fingers, you just have extras." Mikey said as he looked at her hands. The girl looked at Mikey with a raised brow. "Na dude you're missing two. Every human I have met has five fingers on each hand." she explained as she pointed to her fingers. "Oh... well I'm not a human maybe that's why?" Mikey said forgetting he was supposed to keep his identity secret. "Well, if you're not a human what are you?" the girl asked confused as she placed a hand on her hip. "Well, im-" before Mikey could say anything he got cut off. "Are you an alien!?" she yelled exited with stars in her eyes. "No I don't think so? I'm a turtle." Mikey said not fully knowing what he was. "Well, you're the biggest turtle I have ever seen." the girl stated. "Well, Mr. turtle it's nice to meet you, my names Maddie." she stuck her hand out again. Mikey shook her hand. "I'm Michelangelo" "wow that's a big name." Maddie said kind of shocked. "You can call me Mikey if it's easier." "Well, Mikey, I'm sneaking out to see the fireworks tonight." she said proud of herself. "Really, I'm sneaking out to!" Mikey was overjoyed that someone else was sneaking out as well. "Are you seeing the fireworks to!?" Maddie yelled excitedly. "I don't know who fireworks is." Mikey said with a clueless smile. Maddie laughed "fireworks aren't a person; they are this big bomb thing that explodes with color in the sky!" Maddie said with much enthusiasm. Mikey had stars in his eyes "they sound so cool! Can I come with you to see them!?" "Yea! Come on let's go!" Maddie grabbed Mikeys hand and pulled him down the street. They went all the way to the park. "Okay, the fireworks are going off close to the park so if we go up to the cherry tree, we should have an amazing view." Maddie rambled about the spot and how perfect it was. Mikey smiled, this was the best night ever, and he hadn't even gotten to the fireworks yet!

They came to a hill, at the top was a huge cherry tree. "Wow! that's even bigger than the one we have in the lair!"

"You have a tree IN your house?"