Stuck in a Never Ending Dream Pt.1(100TC #3- Dark)

“Man, he must’ve been tired,” Raph commented as Mikey drew on Leo’s face with a black marker. My eldest brother had injured his leg during sparring and had come inside to rest.

    “He looks good though,” Said Mikey, stepping away to examine his artwork. “Handsome.”

    “Nice work,” Raph said. “Ya’ know, I’m pretty tired myself,”

    “Ugh, same.” I stretched my arms above my head and yawned.

    “A little shut-eye wouldn’t hurt anything, right?” Raph laid back into an ancient armchair and closed his eyes.

    Mikey yawned. “Me too,” I stifled back laughter as Mikey neared Raph’s face with the open marker. “Don’t even think about it.” Raph said, without opening his heavy eyelids. Mikey slowly backed away from the chair.

    “Naps are nature’s… hugs,” Mikey huddled into the other chair.

    I scoped the room, looking for somewhere to sleep. “You guys are gonna bite me in the butt for this later,” I said to myself as I laid down into a tight corner of the room. Casey’s gonna say I sleep like a dog, I just know it.

    ---

    “What the…” there I stood, overlooking Manhattan. It was night, which confused me because it was only about 2:00p.m. about five minutes ago. “Where am I?”

    “Are you sure you want to know?” A deep, gruff voice bellowed behind me. I quickly spun around and drew my axe. “Who’s there?!”

    “Everything you’ve ever feared.” A powerful blow from behind sent me flying. I crashed into a wall, but quickly bounced to my feet, drawing my axe in front of me. I could make out a huge, furry creature in front of me. It’s long, yellowed buck teeth stuck out of his mouth, probably sharp enough to pierce bone. Its fur was black as night, despite a white skull design in the middle of it’s belly. It’s eyes glowed red. “The name’s Letum Beaver. And I’m here to show ya’ what real fear feels like.”

    Letum means “death” in Latin, by the way… oh boy.

    The scene switched. It was a rather large room, crowded with bees, wasps, and hornets. You know how Raph is around roaches?

    That’s how I am with bees. I screamed, almost immediately at the sound of buzzing wings and the sight of stingers. Luckily, I was only in there for about a minute. Soon enough, I was back in Manhattan, but this time I was at my old orphanage; St. Mary’s.  

    Demon children. Of all things, it’s demon children. All of their faces were dark and disfigured with hollow, yellow eyes. There had to be at least a hundred. I did the first thing my mind told me to do; run. I sprinted, kicking and hitting them out of my way.

    I turned into the same alley that I had the night were I was dodging Purple Dragons and met the turtles.

    Met the turtles! I had climbed through a loose manhole. Sure enough, the same manhole was loose. I quickly climbed through, just barely dodging the demented children. At that moment I realized how hard I had been breathing. “Haf haf haf…”

    I backed into something… furry. “No no no no no no no no no…” I thought to myself. The beaver let out a loud roar, enough for me to hear a continuous ringing. I yelled and bolted away, the beaver at my heels.

    That’s when everything started to spin. I could barely keep my balance as I ran across the rotating tunnel. And then I fell into a hole…  

    ---

    “We’re out takin’ care of business, and what’re they doin’?” Casey complained. “Squat!”
    “Uh, Donnie must be on lookout!” April pointed out. They both headed upstairs to the room that Mikey, Donnie, and Emily shared. Donnie was asleep on his bed, a pair of underwear sat on his face. No doubt Mikey put it there to wake him up. “...Or not.” April sounded disappointed.

    Casey laughed. “Those weird teeth of his make ‘im whistle!” Casey was right, with every snore Donnie took a whistle came through the gap in his teeth.

    “Wait,” April said, concerned. “Something’s not right.” She began to shake the large turtle. “Donnie? Donnie!?” The purple-clad ninja remained asleep. Little did she know, Donnie was enduring unimaginable terrors.

    Casey dragged Donnie out to the den. “Come on dude, wake up already!” He protested, kicking Donnie’s leg.

    “That’s not gonna work!” April shouted.

    “Hehe, it was worth a try,” Casey said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Plus I’ve always kinda wanted to do that.

    “I-I don’t understand it, they won't wake up!” April said, touching Raph’s cheek. “I-It’s like they’re… trapped. Trapped in their dreams.”

    Casey started to laugh. “Look at Em! She sleeps like a dog!” Casey pointed to Emily, who was sleeping in a corner with her arms tucked under her chin and her legs bent.

    “Casey, that’s not the point!” April snarled. They observed each sibling.

    “Mikey actually looks okay,” Casey said as he saw the youngest of the five smile in his sleep.

    “Yeah, but his pulse is getting weaker. They all are!” April directed to the other four.

    “So… they’re sick?” Casey asked.

    “None of them have a fever, but I-I feel something… strange. Like something is draining the life out of them!”

    “Can you get through to them somehow?”

    “I can try.” April said, but she didn’t sound hopeful.

    “Wait…” Casey stroked his chin. “That Bernie guy asked us if we were feeling tired!”
    “And that book he had!” April hugged Donnie’s head to his chest. “Somniorum, i-it’s Latin for… dreams, or, of the dreams, I think.”

    Casey swung his baseball bat over his shoulder. “I’ll go see what’s in that book, you see what you can do here.”

    Again, I was in a different place. I was kneeling down in the middle of Roosevelt High School, a yearbook in my hands. April’s picture caught my eye. It was moving. “You have to wake up!” It shouted. “WAKE UP!”

    I lifted up my head. “T-this is… this is a dream.”

    “I was really wondering when you would figure it out,” Letum beaver said, hovering above me. “My job is to take that away.” He brought down a heavy fist, with me just barely missing it. I ran around the school, doing my best to avoid him. This went on for the next five minutes, with me slashing my axe and dodging behind doors. One door dropped me into an abyss, and I was falling… falling… falling.

    “Oof!” I landed on the cement road. I was relieved to finally see my brothers again.   

    “Woah… what’s goin’ on!” Leo said. I noticed that Donnie had a small puddle of tears in his eyes. I crawled over next to him and grabbed his hand. “I’m having the weirdest dream,” he said.  

    “You can’t be dreaming, I’m here!” Leo protested.

    “‘Cuz I’m dreaming you!” Donnie yelled.

    “Maybe I’m dreaming you, but you’re not dreaming me!”

    I rolled my eyes. “Even in dreamland you guys fight over the stupidest things,” I said, still panting.

    Leo’s eyes grew wide. “Emily, you look like a ghost!”

    “I-I know that, Leo.” I said, trying not to be rude.  

    “Aw! Where’d all the candy go!” Mikey whined. I tried to brush it off, thinking it was normal.  

    “Hang on…” Raph said. “Guys, I think that we’re all in the same dream!”

    “What?” Leo questioned. “That’s impossible!”
    “Nothing’s impossible,” Bellowed a voice, “for the DREAM BEAVERS!” I held back a yelp. A dark red beaver crawled down the side of the building in a spider-like motion. Donnie felt me tense up and gave my hand a squeeze.

    “Hehe,” Donnie said. “Did you just say… Dream Beavers?”

    “Olly olly oxen free!” The beaver yelled out. The ground started to shake, and we could all hear maniacal laughter echoing from… somewhere. Four more beavers burst through walls, manholes, streets, you name it. There was a pinkish one, and orange-brown one, a blue one (It’s eyes were normal, not red), and then the black one that I had been paired with. They bared their claws and teeth and continued their maniacal laughter, leaving us there to stare with wide eyes.

    “You think you are alone in your dreams,” said the pink one. “But no! For years, we have lurked in this dream dimension, stealing the life force of humans! Draining them dry, and-”

    “But dudes!” Mikey cried out. “We’re not even human!”

    The orange-brown beaver slid in front of him. “That is precisely what makes your life force so… delicious.”  

    “Seriously,” The red one continued, “Human life force every meal for thousands of years! Than one day, turtles!”
    “WE’RE NOT ALL TURTLES!” I yelled. The black one came down to me, making me cringe. “But you’re still not human, are you?” Raph pulled me away and chalantly draped his arms over my shoulders, as if saying, “Back off,” to the beaver.

    “I like chocolate chip cookies,” said the blue one as he twiddled his claws.

    ‘SHUT UP DAVE!” The rest of them yelled.

    “WE’RE GONNA DRAIN YOU DRY, AND SPIT OUT YOUR SHELLS!” The pink one howled as he threw us up into the air.

    The next thing I knew, we were all in a comic book.

    Literally.

    We could see our own speech bubbles and the edges of the boxes. “What?” Raph said, poking the side of the paper. “Where are we?”

    “Whew! Back in the real world!” Mikey sighed.

    “This looks real to you?” Donnie asked.

    “More or less,” Mikey shrugged. “Except for those guys…” I followed Mikey’s gaze. The five beavers sat on top of the buildings above us.

    “Oh come on…” I breathed. Mikey grabbed my hand and gave me an assuring look.

    “I spy with my little eye…” Dave said, “Something green!”

    “SHUT UP DAVE!” They all yelled again. The pink one pounced on top of us, ripping through the paper.

    We landed on metal poles. I looked around, realizing we were upside down. Good thing Leo got over his fear of heights.

    Letum Beaver landed in front of me, his teeth bared and a bloodthirsty look in his red eyes. “Time to say goodbye.”

    “Not today.” I lunged at him, sending him flying from the powerful strike of my axe handle. He flew, but got back on his feet and charged at me. He managed to throw me a few feet, and I cried out in pain as my back hit a metal pole and my sharp canines dug into my lip.

    I couldn’t see him. A heavy force struck my head and brought me to my knees. “Ah, hello princess.” He growled.

    “Why does everyone call me that?” I said to myself. I scooted back, not being able to find the strength to stand up.

    Splinter had always told us to never use one specific move on one another. But this wasn’t one of my brothers now, was it? I put all my strength into my right leg and gave him a powerful, harsh kick in between the legs. He toppled over in pain and I quickly stood up. “That’s queen to you, sir.” I said, wiping my bloodied lip.

    The sound of roaring water filled my ears. I tried to run for my brothers but my jacket was stuck on a rusty pole.

    “EMILY!” Leo cried out, right before he was carried out with the water. I was lost in the dark, and I don't know when I’m getting out.

    “So… now we are all… alone.” Letum smiled, clicking his claws. I was breathing heavily and my eyes were probably the size of tennis balls. I carefully reached for my axe and prepared for the fight to come.

    ---

    “You said that wouldn’t work!” Casey protested as he saw April slapping Donnie.

    “I don’t know what else to do!” April yelled, sounding near tears. “I can barely find their pulses anymore! If we can’t wake them up, they’ll die!”

    Casey pulled Bernie through the doorway. The old man gasped, “Oh my gosh! Is that T.V. set an Astroview?”

    “Really?” April asked, surprised. “Not ‘oh my gosh, giant turtles?’”

    “Wait,” Bernie said to Casey. “You see them to?”

    Casey looked enraged. He vigorously grabbed Bernie by the collar of his shirt. “Bernie, the Dream Beavers are sucking out their lives! How do we wake ‘em up?!”

    “Ya’ cant!” Bernie protested. “The obteracculum keeps the beavers trapped in the dream realm! And as long as they're there their dream powers are unbeatable. THAT’S WHY I DON’T SLEEP! Got any coffee by the way?”

    “He’s not breathing…” April said, holding Donnie’s face in her hands. “DONNIE’S NOT BREATHING!”

    Casey harshly pushed Bernie away. “So this is what keeps ‘em in the dream realm?!” Casey asked, picking up the book that was actually a plug.  

    “Yeah!” Bernie said. “Wait, what’re you- NO!”
    Casey threw the plug to the ground and smashed it to pieces with his bat. Gold colored metal flew everywhere.

    ---

    I looked around in confusion as blue sparks flared above me and the beaver. “HA!” The Letum Beaver yelled. “I’M FREE! FREE AT LAST!”

    The lightning-like flashes went on for awhile, but nothing happened.

    “What?!” The beaver said, an infuriated tone in his voice. “NO! THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING!”

    ‘What’s happening!?” I yelled.

    “We’re stuck here!” He yelled at the top of his lungs. “There’s no way out!”

    There’s no way out…

    ---

    “You’re okay!” April cheered as Donnie jolted awake. She gave him a big kiss on the cheek, making him blush and laugh.

    “The obteracculum is broken!” Bernie said, clutching his hands to his head. “The beavers are free! Free to destroy our world! ALL IS LOST! ALL IS LOST!”

    Purple bolts of electricity erupted from the plug in a tornado-like manner. You could hear laughter coming from it. There sat four, mangy, multi-colored beavers. That’s really all they were.

    “Hi, Dave.” Mikey waved his three-fingered hand.

    “Hi Mikey!” Dave said in a bubbly manner.  “SHUT UP DAVE!” The other three yelled.

    “This is it?! This is what I’ve been protecting the earth from for FORTY YEARS?!” Bernie yelled. “PLUSH TOYS?!”

    Casey looked down at the small mammals. “If I were you guys, I’d be…”

    “Leaving,” The pink one finished. “My thoughts exactly. Come, beavers! Let us leave this world for one that is-” Casey poked him with the baseball bat. “Alright, we’re going! Big bully…” The four beavers disappeared into a cloud of smoke.

    “April, Casey, giant talking turtles,” Bernie said. “I’ve been awake for forty years for … no good reason. So… if you’ll excuse me…” He collapsed on the floor and fell asleep. Casey and Donnie picked him up and carried him out to the car.

    “Okay,” said Leo, “I know that was terrifying and we nearly bought it and everything… but my leg feels a lot better!”

    “Hey, guys?” Mikey said. “How many beavers were in the dream.

    “Huh? Five.” Said Raph.

    “And… how many showed up after the portal was destroyed?”

    Leo thought for a moment. “Fo- oh no.”