The lair was quiet, no sound passing, nothing. Nothing but the small ticking of the clock on the wall. Raphael was seated on the couch, looking out to the wall with the clock and counting each second. For the past few hours, Donnie and Leo have been in Master Splinter's room trying to keep him stable. Raphael was left outside to watch Mikey which he found irritating. He understood he wouldn't be much help with all the medical stuff but he hated being left as the baby sitter. Looking around, he noticed that Mikey wasn't in the living room anymore. Where did he go?

Thinking about his little brother made his skin crawl. When their father had his attack, Mikey just...sat there. He didn't react or anything. Raph stood up and looked back towards the bedrooms to only guess where his little brother was.

Raphael flinched when he heard the sound of the ticking stop. He looked back up to the clock to see it has ceased, stopping at the time '3:24'. Raphael narrowed his eyes at the clock. Did the batteries die? He stood in the middle of the living room, feeling the silence around them. Something was off. The silence was thick, pounding and controlling. Raphael looked around and saw nothing but...felt something. It was a crawling sensation, a stalking of prey.

He jumped violently when the door opened to Master Splinter's door. Leo walked out looking tired but was alert enough to notice Raphael's actions.

"What's wrong Raph?" he asked. Raph looked around once more, the sudden feel of a presence gone.

"Nothing." He turned back. "How's Splinter?" He asked. Leo looked away.

"He's alright for the time being. But, he asked us to take him to the Daimyo. He wants to stay there for awhile and recover." Leo explained. Raphael was a little taken back by the request.

"Why? Don's better than any of those healers." Raphael snarled.

"It doesn't matter. Sensei wants to go so Donnie and I are gonna take him."

"The hell am I suppose to do? Play nanny some more for a kid who can take care of himself?" Raphael shot.

"Michelangelo is a bit..Off right now. We're just dropping him off. He made it specifically clear that we leave him there. He says we need to stay home." Leo told him. "It won't take long Raph. Just relax and wait for us to get back." Leo tried to be as leveled as he could. Raph threw his hand up in the air and grumbled to himself before disappearing into the dojo. Leo stood there for a moment more and looked up at the clock, it ticking away. He sighed before going back into the room to help Donatello with their father.

In a moments notice they were gone. Raphael spent his time in the dojo, practicing and mostly letting off steam. He felt useless at the moment and very agitated because he had no clue what happened to Master Splinter in the first place. All done so quickly and so random with nothing explained. The jitteriness from Donnie and the absent mind of Leo wasn't helping either. And worst of all, the sudden disconnect coming from Michelangelo. He knew his little brother. The second their father fell, it should have been Mikey next to his side with Leo; just as worried.

Raphael stopped his attacks on the punching bag and took a hold of it. He was so caught up with being angry, he didn't think twice about the strangeness of his brother. He looked out to the door, and getting the same unease he got earlier. He sighed and walked to the door and opened it. When he walked out to the living room, he saw it just as empty as he left it.

"Mikey!" he called out. He got nothing in response. He ran a hand over his head and started walking towards the bedrooms. Just as he was approaching Mikey's, a sound caught his attention. It was a thump coming from the closet. He stopped in front of the door just as it grew quiet.

"Mike?" He said towards the closet. He heard nothing. He reached out and turned the nob and opened it quickly.

The moment that he did, the boxes that were piled on top of each other came crashing down. He yelped and fell to the floor with whatever the boxes were filled with. He sat up slightly, groaning from the fall. He felt something, something crawling. He looked down to see multiple hissing roaches crawling on his legs and plastron.

"Ack!" He yelled, scrambling away from the boxes. The roaches reacting to Raphael's fear, began to bite on the skin they were latched onto.

"Get offa' me!" He yelled, forcefully trying to remove the latching insects from his flesh. When each was removed, bite marks were left, some that began to bleed. Raphael stood up quickly as he could and ran towards the kitchen to the sink. He ran the water, grabbing a towel and washing off the bites. Now, he was calming down, his stomach began to turn having the bugs on his body.

When he cleaned off the bites, he gripped at the sink and took a few deep breaths, calming his racing heart. Where did those roaches come from. Sewer roaches maybe, but hissing roaches? That wasn't common. He shivered once more before turning his head towards the kitchen table. His eyes falling to the item on it. The doll.

Raphael turned to face it and turned his head slightly, confused where it came from. He was certain Michelangelo had it this entire focus on that dirty thing but he must have forgotten it at one point.

Raphael walked over to it and picked it up. It was probably one of the more creepier things he has seen in his life. It wouldn't be so odd if it just had a face. But it was blank, and yet it still made his skin crawl.

"Tsk." Raph walked over to the trash can and was about to throw it in the can.

"What are you doing?" Raphael jumped and looked to see Mikey standing in the doorway to the kitchen.

"Geez Mikey, use your stealth outside the lair." Raphael told.

"What are you doing with it?" He asked, ignoring Raph's response. Raphael looked down at his hand and back at his brother.

"I don't see why you wanna keep this thing bro. It's nasty and you aint a little kid so what's the point?" Raph told him. Mikey's posture was throwing him off. His shoulders were tight up, as if afraid. His eyes were wide, fearful.

"Give it to me." Mikey demanded. Raphael was fighting the urge to tease his brother, throw the doll around just to watch Mikey squirm; but he couldn't seem to bring himself to do so.

"Mike we need to talk about this."
"No you just need to hand it over." He challenged. They stared at each other for a while.

"No." was all Raphael said. In a sudden turn of events, Michelangelo charged at his brother, knocking him to the side in shock. His hold on the doll loosened enough that Mikey used his own stealth and took the doll out of his brothers hand and dashed for the bedroom. Raphael was stunned for a moment but quickly took chase.

"Dammit Mikey!" He yelled chasing after his brother. Mikey made it to his room and quickly shut the door and locked it. Raphael roughly ran into it, banging his body against the door. As he began to bang against the door, Mikey sat on his bed looking at the doll he placed at the end bored of his bed. He reached down on his sides and gripped at the bedsheets and rocked lightly.

"Please, please not my brothers. Just, please." He begged, his eyes beginning to burn. The doll did nothing. It merely stayed there. It was as if its presence was enough to make Mikey squirm. It layer back against the wood, sitting there and doing nothing, but sat there as Michelangelo cried. Time past in moments and the longer he sat and watched the doll, the harder he cried.

"No please. ..." He cried harder, begging and allowing everything he had ever learned crumble and vaporize into air.
"Saaaa.." The whisper suddenly returned. Michelangelo froze. His crying and wheezing coming to a halt. His body trembled, eyes the size of saucers. A lone, blackened out hand emerged, placing itself on Mikey's cheek, gently rubbing the bony fingers across his sweaty skin.

"please..." His voice small, a single tear falling from his eyes.

***

Raphael continued to bang on the door over and over again.

"Mikey open this damn door!" He yelled. Busy with his own agenda, he didn't realize that the front door opened to show Leonardo and Donatello had returned. Leo was the first to notice the yelling and headed upstairs.

"Raph?" He called coming up from behind him. Raphael ignored him, still trying to open the door.

"Raphael what are you doing?" He asked, quickly grabbed at his brother's arm to turn him around. Raph faced him, breathing heavily from his assault on the door.

What's going on?" he asked again, this time with a little more urgency.

"Mikey. He has that damn doll again!" Raphael yelled. Leo physically relaxed.

"So?"
"So!" Raph yelled. "Leo he-" He cut him off.

"Look Raph. Mikey is probably going through a lot you know, with father and all. The doll probably gives him comfort. Leave him be." He said calmly.

"But-"

"No more Raph. Leave Mikey alone." was all he said left before going back down the hall to meet back up with Donnie. Raphael took one more look at the door and turned around. As he walked down the hall, he noticed that the closest he opened was shut, and the boxes and roaches were no where in site.