I woke up to the feel of a sharp pain in my right leg and coldness on my forehead. When I finally opened my eyes the first thing I saw was a dark green and aquamarine blur. I squinted my eyes to get a better look at the figure. After a few seconds my vision cleared up and I could tell that it was a female turtle in humanoid form with a bandanna on. She had a shell, fingers, toes, and a face of a normal turtle, but she obviously could walk, talk, and think like a normal human being. I guess the sight should have frightened me but for some reason, it didn’t.

The turtle looked down at me and smiled. She then took the bag of ice off my head. "Do not worry, I will be back." I noted that she had a strong Chinese accent. I really didn’t know what to do, or what to say, so I said nothing and just watched her intently until she left the room.

It was now that I had a chance to look around the room I was in; it was no bigger than a subway car, yet it was furnished like a bedroom. I was lying on an old, beat-up bed covered with an even older blanket. As I looked toward the end of the room, I then realized that I still wasn’t alone; another humanoid turtle was bandaging my right leg. This one was a male that wore a violet bandanna that seemed to cover most of his face.

He looked up to me and said in a cheery voice, "Hi! I’m Donatello."

"Hey Donnie!" a male voice called, "Get in here!"

"I, Uhm… will be right back. Don’t worry, okay?" Once he left I slowly sat up on the couch to inspect my leg. This is when I saw my own hands; they too were green, scaly and only had three digits on each. When I took a quick look at my back to see a shell, a sudden realization dawned on me; I wasn’t human, but a turtle instead! I was still too groggy to feel the total impact of this realization, and it was a good thing too.

Just then, Donatello and the Chinese female walked in along with three other turtles—all male—and a humanoid rat. I couldn’t help it; I had to say it, "Oh look, it’s Chucky Cheese…"

The four male turtles stopped to look at the rat and laughed, while the female asked with a rather lost look on her face, "Who is this Chucky Cheese person?"

"…And a girl that doesn’t know a thing about children’s pizza restaurants," I said as I finished my sentence. "Oh wow!" I added, "Four idiots whose only way to communicate is by laughing!" This stopped the four males’ laughter, but started up laughter in the rat and female turtle’s hilarity.

"My name is Venus," the female said finally. "And this," the female motioned to the rat, "…is Splinter. The one in the red is…"

"We can tell her our own names, Venus!" the male turtle in the red replied in a rather violent voice. I couldn’t help noticing the dagger in his right hand. He then turned to me and in a softer tone, he said, "I’m Raphael." He stared at me expecting a reply. After not getting one he then turned to the male turtle in the dark blue bandanna.

"Uhm, I’m Leonardo." He and Raphael then looked at the one in orange.

The one in the orange jumped up suddenly, realizing it was his turn to say his name. "Oh, uhm, I’m…"

"No! No! Let me guess! Uhm, Michelangelo, am I right?" I say with a smirk.

He looked at the others and then back to me. "That’s right! How did you know?"

"Easy: Donatello, Raphael, Leonardo, and Michelangelo were the names of four great High Renaissance artists, and since the other three were taken, you had to be Giovanni or Michelangelo. And since you don’t look like the type that would be named ‘Giovanni’, you had to be the other."

"Now that you know our names, what’s yours?" Raphael asked, jumping into the conversation.

I didn’t know how to answer. I mean I woke up finding out that I wasn’t human, but a turtle instead. My leg was broken and I didn’t even know how that happened. I didn’t know how or when I became a turtle or if I was always one. I couldn’t remember anything of my past or how I got hurt, much less my name! I quickly searched what memory I had, and the name ‘Aeval’ came up.

"Uh... Aeval. Uhm, yeah, that’s right, my name is Aeval. Now that I have answered your question, will someone please tell me how my leg became broken?" I looked around the small room hoping for a reasonable answer. Venus stepped forward.

"Raphael found you like this. You were unconscious." She then turned to Raphael who had stiffened at the sound of his name. "He is the one who brought you here."

"I guess I should thank you, Raphael."

"Yea! Yea! Whatever! Just call me Raph." He turned away from me and began inspecting the dagger he had been holding in his hand.

Michelangelo started to laugh as he said, "Hey guys! He’s blushing! Ha! His face is almost as red as his bandanna!" Michelangelo began to laugh so hard that he had to hold his stomach from the pain.

Suddenly the dagger landed between Michelangelo and me. I looked to the direction it came from. Raph was staring angrily at Michelangelo. After a few seconds of silence, he came over and picked up the dagger, and, without a word, he left.

I was tired; I just wanted to rest. I could feel tears forming behind my eyes, burning them. "I-I-I would like to rest for a while p-please." I guess they could see that I was about to cry, so they quietly left.

Leonardo was the last out. Before he went, he tried to explain for what Raph did. "Uhm, Aeval, don’t worry ‘bout Raph, he gets mad easily."

"I can see that."

"Oh, uhm, would you like the lights off?"

"Please."

He switched off the lights and closed the door. I lay myself back down on the couch and prepared myself for the tears. They never came. Before I drifted off to sleep, I noted the feeling from behind my eyes: the tears that I didn’t shed seemed cold against the back of my eyes; they were so cold, they almost burned.