5 The Orange Sparkler Pt 1

Chapter 5 - The Orange Sparkler Pt 1

Today marked the first full month that Kamila had started working for Splinter and the boys. By now she had already had been used to doing her chores and cooking the daily meals like she was expected to. Often, as she soon caught herself doing, she would finish early and in her bored and idle time she found herself wandering the island or helping the boys with whatever help they needed in their projects. When she would explore the island she brought with her a small map that she had started to draw out. It was more notes than drawing though. Mikey offered to make her a map but she refused telling him that it would be best for her to do it herself so she would be able to find her way around the island as easy as possible. In turn she managed to scribble out on her small piece of paper a map of her own showing paths she used most and land marks she new well that would help her find her way back home.

Today, however, there was no exploring to be done. Today the sun had decided for her that she would stay indoors and coil herself on the steps in the main house watching as the sun relinquished its hold on the sky's and poured its heart out in the form of a heavy rain shower. Kamila had finished all of her work in the main house and had served lunch just over an hour ago. The boys stuffed themselves silly as she found that she liked pampering the boys, but of course Leo and Donnie kept their modesty while Raph and Mikey pigged out on her cooking. It brought a smile to her face every time she saw how happy they all became at the taste of her food. It made her wonder what Mikey or Splinter had made for them to make them act such a way.

Kamila sat with her feet tucked in under her dress keeping them warm as she watched the rain fall from a window on the first floor of the large house. The puddles forming from the rain reminded her of the many ponds that were scattered across the island. Of course they were not as large as the fish ponds but they were still quite lovely in their own way with out the jumping fish that tried to catch bugs on the water's surface or the shrimp scattering away when a duck landed smack dab in the middle of the pond. As her eyes wandered more around the garden she caught sight of a small bird flying to take shelter under the low branches of a bush. The disturbance exposing a wild flower from it's leafy shelter to be batted by the rain. The flower looked exactly like the wild ones that grew in the field not to far behind her house. It was the perfect place for her to relax in the morning and afternoons before and after she finished her daily routine. The there was the rocks next to the flower. Those brought her to remember the large boulders where Raphael would collect his stone for his beautiful masterpieces. Large boulders lay scattered across a good section on the east side but the land was not barren. Growing between the rocks and some on top of them were very large and old pine trees. They created this whimsical and almost eerie looking forest among the boulders. The trees held long limbed branches that could be easily accessed by the large rocks and after a good exploration she soon found small sheltered spaces between the rocks hiding small animal dens and sheltered nurseries for younger tree saplings. The Island as she came to learn was quite the mesmerizing place.

Kamila gave a sigh out of boredom. It was nice and all watching the rain come down but with nothing to keep her busy she was growing antsy. The only work she had left to do was to clean her own house, albeit did not need much cleaning but at least it gave her something to do. However she did not want to run through the rain just so she could clean. Another sigh escaped her as she placed her head on her hand. Honestly, what on earth could she do?

Don was sitting at the table situated in the library. He to was bored out of his mind as he had just completed his latest experiment that left him at a complete dead end. He wanted to go out and find more items for his experiment however the items in question were cleverly hidden during rainy days. This left him wandering the library. He had already accumulated a large pile of books, most of them he had written, hope into figure out what he could work on next. Basically he wound up with nothing.

Closing the book he set it down on the growing pile on the table. Looking out of the window he pushed his reading glasses up as they had started to travel. It was about that time of the year again that the sky became fickle. Today's rain was an example of that. Honestly if it was not for his experiments he wouldn't mind the rain. In fact it was because of the rain that he had came up with the idea for a shower in their bathroom. Raph obviously couldn't fit in the small metal tub they had acquired from the city a few years back so to accommodate for his size he created the shower. The plumbing was an easy thing to make however placing it in the already finished walls did prove difficult. But because he was resourceful he found a way around it.

Giving a sigh he stood from his chair and began to place all his books back on the bookshelf he took them from. Of course all his books were in alphabetical order and once the last was placed neatly back into its correct spot Don turned and made his way out of the room. Closing the door behind him Donnie was about to go to his room when he caught the sounds of someone sleeping. Thinking it was Mikey he pulled out his pea shooter but instead of loading it with said pea he reached inside the ouch that was tied to his sash and brought out one of his new experimental mosquito darts. These darts were made to collect the blood of animals once they landed on said animal and then fall off to gently land on a branch or object near by once the animal ran away.

Placing the dart into the tube Donnie wet his lips with excitement. Although he was not the joker of the family, which Mikey rightfully claimed to be, he still liked to pull a few pranks here and there and a sleeping Mikey was a perfect target. Sneaking against the wall he inched his way closer and closer until he was at the corner where the stairs met the second floor. Don tried to cover the snicker and calm himself down. Can't have himself accidentally inhaling the darn dart after all. With another wet swipe to his lips Don, with his ninja like speed, spun around the corner and shot the dart out at what he had though had been Mikey.

"Ouch!"

"Oh my goodness!" Donnie whispered as he quickly hid the pea shooter behind the statue next to him before making his way to her. His feet thudded as he ran down the wooden steps. Coming up to her he bent down to check on her. Seeing the dart he quickly removed it just as she turned to look at him.

"What was that?" She asked rubbing the back of her neck. Kamila looked at him and then followed his arm that was still trying to hide the dart.

"Don't mind that, are you ok?"

"Y-yeah I guess." Kamila brought her hand back but the tint of red that stained her fingers brought her attention from the tall turtle practically looming over her to her blood covered fingers. Immediately she felt her stomach churn and her face paled slightly. "Ooor maybe not."

When Don saw her pale his nervousness grew. Before she could faint he caught her but just because he had her did not mean that it stopped his hands from shaking. He needed to look over the spot that the dart had hit and her being a limp noodle was not helping. Maybe if he took her to the library he could lay her on the couch that was there he could check it? Could he even lift her though? She didn't look like she weighed much so maybe he could do it.

Moving his hands to loop around her legs and back he lifted her up expecting her to be heavier but to his surprise she weighed practically nothing. Odd. Given her height and body build she should weigh a good 150 or so. Yet here she weighed somewhere around 100, maybe even 90? Definitely a sign of undernourishment. Was it because of her working to hard? She did make a ton of food for them but always ate very little. Did she think they would reprimand her if she took more? Was she acting like she was when they let her stay in their old house? Questions squirmed and piled one over the other in his brain but he knew at this moment what was more important. So he got to his feet and proceeded to make his way to the library.