Part 2: Strangers

Berlin, 21:45 pm, June 28th, 1999

Mike

This is great! I can't believe I sold my stories! Now I can finally afford to travel! Well, at least for a week or so...
Heh. I probably should've picked somewhere else than Germany to travel to. Don't think I can stomach another bratwurst...ueck!
Of course, there's no problem getting ahold of more exciting food than the traditional German cuisine, but it's just...I'm more of a beachy kinda guy...or like, Paris-- Paris has a really great cuisine, plus there's always EuroDisney! I grin to myself, shaking my head over how much I let my inner child get out, especially when I choose how to spend a day...why visit EuroDisney when you're in France? It's like a miniature America, right there...what one should do is go and take a whiff of the blossoming French culture...
What I've seen of Germany so far is just fields, German bars and beer, bratwursts and...cows. But on the other hand, I just got here.
I wonder why I picked Germany in the first place? Aww, I can't sit here and ponder on things like that when I should be out having a good time! Bet there's lots to see!

I get up from the chair in the darkest corner of the restaurant patio, leaving some money behind to pay for my meal.
I tuck my trenchcoat closer around me as I hurry past the other dinner guests.
Soooo, where will I go first? Maybe this way?
Yeah, that's right. According to the map, this is a shortcut to this really gnarly whats-it-name shop where you can buy some great whats-its. I frown at the map and sigh. I really should have learned more of the language before I went here...

But, light-hearted as I am, I just had to blow the whole thing off as a detail, and I just went, didn't I?
Anyway, I guess this is as good a place as anywhere else, this whats-its-name shop, so I'll just go. I have a whole week to figure out the geographics of this city, but tonight I'm just gonna take a chance.

I'll just go down this alley here and up this little hill and...there it is!

There's a beautifully carved wooden sign hanging over the little door. "Der Kleine...kleine, kleine...well, something anyway..."
It looks interesting. Or rather-- judging from the outside-- quaint is the word I would use.

I peer through the large glass window beside the entry. No one's in there? Then no one will see me!
Heh, my first German adventure...
The door hits a bell-- hanging above it-- as I enter the store, and it makes a gentle chiming sound.

I gaze further into the store. There's not even a clerk here, but it appears to be open. The door was, anyway...
Hmm, lot of cool stuff here. I go over to a long tube filled with inscence sticks and smell them. Mmm, gotta buy some of those...
Then I notice an old stack of LP's.
I just love these little stores where they don't sell anything in particular, merely stick a bunch of cool stuff in boxes and such, and just sell those suckers!

I hear someone coming up behind me long before they make that small cough. Must be the clerk. I turn around while I pull the hat a little longer down to hide my face. "May I help you?" the clerk says politely.

She's a-- very-- red-haired, kind of petite little woman with a splash of freckles over her nose, who looks to be in her mid-twenties.
She gives a polite smile and raises her eyebrows questioningly. I notice that she has two thin braids dangling from her head, one of which is purple and the other is green. There something strange about her, but I can't quite place it.

"Uhh, I'm just browsing," I mumble, terrified of that she might see what I really am.

"OK, just tell me if you need anything," she says, this time with a blinding smile.

Then I realize what's strange about her. "I...uh, are those real? I mean, your eyes are...?"
She turns to me again.

"Huh?" then she grins, " So, you noticed? Don't worry, my eyes aren't really yellow-- these are just contact lenses,"

I cock my head to one side. "You're not German, are you?"

Berlin, 21:59 pm

Brioni

I'm looking at my customer, hopefully today's last. I'm really tired and I just wanna go to bed, even if it's only ten o'clock.
We get a lot of tourists in this shop, and therefore a lot of interesting-- or weird-- people. I always talk to everyone who comes in here in English, because we seldom get the local people on visits.
I guess they know Berlin too well to bother. This man appears to be an American like myself, and he keeps hiding his face.
Why, I don't know.
He got impressed by my gimmick, the yellow contact lenses, just like everybody else have.
Nobody ever really notices them right away, and when they do, they always gasp or stare, and that's kind of fun.

"You're right, I'm not German, I just work here." I say and stifle a yawn.

Suddenly I hear footsteps on the gravel path outside, and some dark, well-known voices arguing loudly.
I gasp and quickly pull the customer with me into the big, old wooden closet next to the counter.
I don't care if I don't know this man, because I don't want anybody to get hurt.

Once were in the closet, he begins protesting.

"Hey, what are you doing...?" he whispers, but I place a hand over his mouth just in time as the bell over the door chimes loudly as the door gets flung open.
I frown for a second. This man's face sure feels funny... there's something not right here!

My thoughts are interrupted by a loud, irritated voice. "Bodenburg, where are you?"
I swallow hard. What if they look in the closet?
I hear many feet stomping around, and then something falling on the floor and breaking.

"Otto, you klutz, watch where you're going,"

"Like it matters anyway! I say we just trash this place as a warning. We’ve been too nice for too long!”

”Otto is right, Joseph-- let’s show her that we mean business,”

I hear the sound of a box hitting the floor, and then loud crunching as they step on my old, irreplacible LP records.

But I don’t care. All I worry about is holding my breath so they won’t hear us. Will they trash this closet as well?
I can hear my own breath coming out as tiny gasps, but not a sound is coming from the man beside me. I nearly scream as a heavy object hits the floor just inches from us with a crash.
The man next to me quickly puts his hand over my mouth, just like I did to him moments ago. I’m thankful for that, or I would’ve really been in trouble.

Berlin, 22:05 pm

Mike

What's up with this chick? Who are these guys who just ran into the place and started wrecking it? Maybe I should do something, but it seems like she wants us to hide. If I go out, they will see her too. And I better hide until I know what the hell is going on...
She touched my face...what if she finds out that I'm not human? I can already feel that she's getting uncomfortable.
Scared of the guys in the shop-- and scared of me. At least she can't see my face in this darkness...

I hear the sound of glass shattering and sprinkling across the floor.
Then I feel the floor shaking under my feet as something very heavy hits it.

"Ok, guys, that's enough...for now," I hear the man they called "Otto" say.

There's the sound of stamping feet, followed by another cheerful ring from the bell over the door. Then everything is completely silent, aside from the muffled breathing from the woman next to me.

"Uh...I think they're gone now," I nudge her shoulder carefully. "Hey, I think they're gone,"

"Erhm, yeah-- I think so too..." she carefully opens the door a little, and peeks through the opening.

"Coast's clear," she nods, more to reassure herself than me, it seems.
She steps out of the closet, and instantly lets out a groan. "Oh, no...what am I gonna do?"

The place is a total mess. The large front window is broken, the LP's are all over the place in pieces, smashed boxes everywhere, and the clerk's desk is turned up-side-down.
I pick up a piece of a broken LP and sigh. How could they ruin these? They're probably irreplacible!

"Uh, lady, do you need any help? I mean, what happened just now? Who were those guys?"

She cringes a little, and then goes over to sit on the only box that's not totally broken.
"Well...I guess I kinda owe you an explanation, and yes, I could need some help. But I don't think you could give it to me..."

I forget about myself for a second and put out my hand. "Maybe I can help you, you never know. My name's uh... Mike,"

She stares at my hand and her jaw drops. I quickly put my hand behind my back, but it's too late. She's seen me.
"Uh, pleased to meet you, Mike! My name's Brioni, um, but my full name is actually Anna Brioni. Anna Brioni Sommer-Bodenburg. People call me Boing, though, a really silly nickname--" she babbles nervously, trying to act like nothing out of the ordinary has happened.

"Pleased to meet you too... Brioni," I say and sigh. Now I'm probably gonna have to explain the whole thing...again.

"Look, I'm not gonna hurt you. Please calm down," I put my hands up defensively.

This seems to scare her even more. She starts to back away, and it ends with her and the box she's sitting on tipping over.
She lies there, crawling on the floor, but jumps to her feet before I can get a chance to help her up.

"You're, you're...what are you?"

I sigh again. How many times in my life have I heard that question? But I tell myself that I have to be patient. I would probably also freak out if I were a human and suddenly found out that I had just been hiding in a closet with a giant turtle...

Berlin, 22:15 pm

Brioni

Oh my god. I can't believe this. First the store got trashed, and now there's some kind of alien here.
What is he? What does he want?
He seems quite friendly, but maybe he's just faking it. Maybe he's just making sure I put my guard down, and then he's planning to jump me and eat me ali-- sheesh, looks like someone's been watching way too many horror movies!
I back away to what I figure is a safe distanse and ask him again. "What are you?"

"I'm a turtle," he says simply.

"A turtle?"
I'm puzzled. This is not what I expected. E.T's cousin? Yes. A turtle? No.

"Yeah, you know...those little green guys with shells on their back?" he says, in a somewhat sarcastic tone.

"I know what a turtle is," I say as I snap back to consciousness. "It's just that I didn't know that they talked...and walked...and were so big and wore trenchcoats!"

"I'm a mutant,"

Oh, yeah. Like that explains it all. "And how did you become a... uh, mutant?"

"Well, me and my brothers got dropped in the sewers when we were ordinary baby turtles, where we got in contact with this green ooze, aka mutagen, and we got transformed into mutants. And, oh, a rat got transformed too, and he raised us as his sons," he takes a deep breath, "And that's how I become the guy, um, I mean turtle, I am today,"

He explained it all so easily. Like he had done it a thousand times before...heck, like it was some kind of line he'd been rehersing for a play, or more like he was reciting his homework to a teacher...

"Really? You're not an alien?" Now he's got my interest peaked.

He snorts. "No, I'm not,"

"Could I like...see the rest of you?" I know I'm being extremely rude.

"See the rest of me?"

"Uh...you know, what you look like? I've never seen a mutant turtle before. Is the rest of you...green? If you hadn't stuck your hand out, I would've probably kept mistaking you for a human,"

He blushes a little. Looks like he's ashamed that he let himself be discovered. "Um, sure," he says hesitantly, and slowly removes his hat.

He hasn't got any hair, but what did I expect? He's a turtle! But what strange eyes! They're like...huge! And so...expressive?
Have I ever seen that shade of brown before in my entire life?
I give him a careful smile and urge him to go on. He takes his trenchcoat off, and he folds it over his arm. I just stare at him. He looks so...humanoid. He's only got three fingers on each hand, green skin, and a shell on his back, but still...there's a definite human appearance about him.

He's got some incredible muscles. Must be working out every day. I slowly move over to him and touch his arm.
His skin is rough, but still soft in a way.
My eyes travel up to his face. It's weird to see someone with a beak in stead of a nose...
I'm just so very puzzled by this creature that I've never seen the likes of before! I bet I could look at him all day and not be bored... suddenly he clears his throat.

"Have you finished looking?" he jokes, with a little nervous laugh.

I shake my head appologetically. "I'm sorry, it's just that you're so...what's the word? Fascinating."

"Fascinating? I've never been called fascinating before,"

"I've never called anyone fascinating before,"

"Heh...but back to reality; who were those guys? What were they doing here?"

New York, 21:15 pm, June 28th, 1999

Jade

"There's nothing to get hang about...strawberry fields forever!"

Would you please turn down the radio? Now? Before I blow a fuse?

"Sweetie?" I ask my little nephew, "Could you pretty please turn off the radio? It's giving your auntie a headache..."

"No, auntie,"

Grrr! That little devil...he's been listening to that song for three hours straight! Kids are funny that way.

"Let me take you down, cause I'm going to, strawberry fields..."

"Oh please, Justin? For me? Don't you love your auntie?"

"Yes, but I want to hear," he whines.

He doesn't even like the god damn song...
Here's where I decide to get strategic. "You know...Strawberry Fields is the song your friend Elmo listened to before he stopped growing..." I almost purr.
Justin gasps and runs out of the room screamin, knocking the radio over in his path.

"Strawberry...crackle.. fields... crackle"

I smile over the frightened kid. But I do get a bad conscience. After all, he can't help it if his parents spoiled his brains out all his life. He's really a nice kid, just acts too snotty sometimes...hmmm, but how am I gonna explain the broken radio?
I can almost hear Justin right now...

"Mommy, mommy, auntie Jade said that I'll stop growing if I listen to Strawberry Fields! And I got so scared I knocked the radio over...Will I stop growing, mommy?? Will I? I listened to it a reeeeally long time, must've been for at least ten hours!"

And then I'll be busted. I shake my head and giggle a little. Why am I always in such a dark mood when I babysit Justin?
Makes me feel like the evil stepmother or something...

Maybe it's because of the remark he made when I first met him.
"How come you haven't got any kids, auntie Jade? Is it because you're so old?"

I wanted to strangle him on the spot. Can I help it if his mother, my little sister, married a rich man and had her kid when she was only eighteen?
I'm only twentyseven for gawds sake...it's not like I'm fifty! And when he asked me, I was only twentyfour!
I guess I can't blame him. He's only a kid, and kids are seriously influenced by their parents. Maybe I should rather be angry at that bubblehead sister of mine...I wonder what she's been telling him?

My sister always thought that it was kinda funny that she got married before me, since she's younger than me. I, however, can't seem to find it equally amusing.
Hey, I didn't want to get married so soon! I even warned her about it. Luckily, everything turned out all right for her.
I wanted to just earn money so I could travel the world, and I did!  I even started learning martial arts.
Would I had time for that if I had gotten a kid? No, I wouldn't have. I wanna finish living the life before I get married, sort things out and so on and so on...
Even if my sister can be a snot sometimes, I do love her. She is my sister for cripes sake.
Or else I would never have bothered to babysit her son.

"Ding-a-ding-dong!"

"Who can that be?"

I get up from my chair, go out into the hall and snatch my satchel from Justin who's going through it with the greatest of interest.
He's got my best lipstick smeared all over his face.
But I decide to let him get away with that one, just because of that little "Strawberry Fields" joke I made earlier.

I sigh as I wipe his face. "I'm worried about you, kid,"

"Ding-a-dong!"

The door opens, and in comes Cindy, my sister, Jared, her husband and some neighbour kid.

"Why did you use the doorbell when it's your own house?" I give them a questioning look.

Jared smiles.
"Little George here insisted, since he's really a guest."

George grins at Justin. "Hiya, Justin!"

Oh, great. Another polite little friend who's coming to sleep over.

"OK, see you later, Justin. Bye sis, bye Jared!"

"Bye bye, auntie Jade!"

I wave at Justin, then I hurry out the door.
Some yards down the road I do a cartwheel, and then I start running. I've been sitting inside for too long.
I've been babysitting Justin all day.
After I do another cartwheel and a summer sault, I break into a steady jog.

It's a beautiful night. OK, so it's New York and it's not very smart to run around like this, but it's not like I can't take care of myself...

"Strawberry fields forever..." I begin singing gleefully, with a voice sweet and sticky enough to-- if a voice was a concrete and not an abstract thing-- supply enough candycorn for all of Disney's amusement parks throughout the world.
Aww, geez!! Now it's stuck in my brain!

I jog around a corner, but stop short. What's going on? Somebody's being mugged! Not a very rare sight in New York, but...
I pull out my knife, wishing I'd brought my blades, and sneak up on the muggers without a sound.
I tap one of them on his shoulder and when he turns around, I give him a judo-chop straight to his throat, and he drops to the ground, unconscious.

The others quickly notice what I did, and give up on their victim. She scrambles up from the ground and runs panicking away. The muggers charge towards me, but I throw a high kick which connects with a mugger's chin and makes him fall backwards and into another mugger.
Then I swiftly deliever a low kick that trips a guy who's about to reach for his gun. Unluckily, the rest of the gang decide they've had enough, and suddenly I get a gun pressed against one of my temples.
I swallow hard. Game Over.

The muggers force my hands behind my back, and push me towards an alley where I spot a grate.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

They don't bother to answer me, just open the grate and violently push me into it. I land awkwardly on my arm and squeak in pain. Then I hear a loud "clank!" as the grate falls back into place. Why the hell didn't they kill me? They must be in a hurry...

Got to get out of here. But as I try to stand up, I realize that my leg is stuck. Shit...anything but that! I wanna get out! All I can do is to get up in a sitting position on some old bricks or something.
Who's gonna hear me in New York, where everybody screams?
Suddenly I hear running feet, as if somebody's been reading my thoughts. Whoever it is stomps around for a while, breathing heavily, as if they've been running.
I can hear now that it's a man.

"Hey, I'm down here!" I yell.

I hear the person sitting down on the ground and then he looks down at me. I can't see his face.

"I'm sorry," he says, " I should've been here sooner,"

"No need to be sorry. What's your name?"

"Uh...Leo. It's Leo."

"OK, Leo, you've got to call 911, cause there's no way you're gonna get me out of here alone. I'm very stuck."

"Just a second," he says and I hear him running away.

I sit here in the dark for what seems like ages, and I discover that my elbow is bleeding and I have a big bump on my head. My leg also hurts like hell. My shoe is soaked, because my foot is in a puddle. Great.
When I start to wonder if he's ever going to come back, he pops his head over the grate again.

"Sorry it took so long. They said they'll be here as soon as possible."

Is "sorry" his favorite phrase or something?

"Thank you very much. Can you please do me another favour, Leo?"

"Sure, what is it?" he says politely.

I rub my leg and grimace in pain.

"Please stay here and talk to me?"

New York, 22: 38 pm

Leo

"Stay here and talk to you?"

Dang. Well, I guess it's okay as long as she doesn't see me. Can she see me, by the way? Naah, it's too dark. And I can't leave her...

I scratch my cheek.
"Uh, what do you wanna talk about?"

"Whatever helps to keep my mind off the pain in my leg," she groans.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize...Uh, so what's your name?"

"Oh, my name's Jade. Tell me about yourself."

"Myself?"

Well, I just happen to be a mutant turtle who trains ninjitsu and beats up criminals...

"Yeah, yourself," she repeats, snapping me back to reality.

Jade then groans in pain again, and I decide to do as she asks.

"Uh, well, I live here in New York with my brothers, but right now I have no idea where they are, except for Mikey. He's in Germany..."

"Brothers, huh? Tell me, are you the big brother?"

"Well, yeah--"

"I'm a big sister, and I've always worried about my little sister, and felt responsible for her...you know what I mean?"

"Uh, yeah, I know what you mean. My brother Raph for example-- he plunges into trouble head first, never listening to reason."

"Cindy, my little sister's just like that, too. She got pregnant when she was only seventeen, and she came crying to me.
But then she got married to this rich man, and suddenly she was on top of her world again. She denied that she had ever told me that I was right and that she should've been more careful. She's so stubborn. But it all worked out for the best. She's also lucky. Or she would've been dead by now."

"Yep, that's exactly how Raph is. It's hard to be the oldest," I sigh.

"And they always get away with everything just because they're younger," she exclaims.

I think about Mikey, and I smile when I remember all the times he's used his charm and jokes to pry himself out of trouble.

"Yeah..."

Another painful moan comes from the grate, then silence, and I feel guilty. Again I think that I should've been here sooner.

"Are you all right down there?" I ask worriedly.

But luckily, she starts talking again. At least she hasn't passed out from the pain.

"I'll be fine. But Leo, you have been taking some time for yourself too, right?"

"Whaddaya mean?"

"You know! If you've been worrying about your brothers for so long...and didn't you ever want to leave?"

Sure, but where the hell would a mutant turtle go? And besides, my brothers needed me.
I don't know what to say, so I just say:

"Um, no."
I've never really thought about myself, to tell the truth.

"Well, I did!" she suddenly says, "I started to learn martial arts, I got a great job and I just came back from my world travel. I was lucky."

Sounds wonderful..."Yeah, I saw you beating up those guys," I agree, "If they hadn't had guns, I'm sure you would've defeated them."

"Thanks, Leo. But anyway, now I'm back from my world travel, and of course I felt so guilty I started babysitting her little son at once. I didn't even leave before I was absolutely sure that Cindy was going to be taken care of back when she was pregnant...I worry too much,"

"I know the feeling," I sigh again.

Suddenly I hear sirens and see an ambulance pulling up not far from where I'm standing.
"Shit! Uh, I'm sorry, Jade, but I gotta go. But don't worry, the ambulance is here, " I say anxiously.

"OK. Bye, Leo,"

"Bye, Jade,"

"Leo?"

"What?"
Now I'm starting to get paranoid. Those ambulance people will be here any second.

"Do me a favour?"

"Uh..."

"Think a little more about yourself from now on, huh? You deserve it,"

I smile and hurry into the shadows.
"I'll do that, Jade."

New York, 00:46 am

Jade

OK. Let's sum it up. I got a very damaged leg-- at least it's not broken-- some gravel in my elbow and a fairly large bump on my head.
So it's not so serious. But it still hurts. The doctors say it will heal in no time, and I believe them, cause worse things than this have happened to me...

Only thing that bothers me now is...well, who was that guy, and why did he run away?
If I don't find out, it's gonna haunt me forever...just like that "Strawberry Fields" song! Gaaaawd, I hate that song!

"Strawberry fields forever..."

Maybe I could go look him up or something? Oh, that's right, I don't have his last name...and I never did get to thank him!

"Let me take you down, cause I'm going to..."

Maybe I'll just forget about the whole thing...

"Strawberry fields..."

Oh, do shut up!!

"Strawberry fields forever!"

I said shut up! ...Oh, geez, I'm starting to sound like that crazy Ally McBeal woman...and if that's the case, then what I'll be hearing next will probably be "Tell Him".
I sigh and sink deeper into the hospital sheets as the smell of sickness, medicines and fresh plastic surrounds me.

I hate hospitals too...

"I know something about love, you gotta want it bad...if that guy's got into your blood, go on and tell him..."

Yaarrggh!

New York, 00:47 am

Leo

There she is, though I can barely see her through the crack in these curtains. She made it safely to the hospital.
What am I doing here, anyway? Jade was right, I worry way too much. That's probably why I'm here.
Suddenly someone elses thoughts pours into my mind. Splinter taught me how to do it, but now I wasn't even trying.
What the...?

"Oh, that's right, I don't have his last name...and I never did get to thank him!"

It's Jade! And she's thinking of...me?
My face grows into a deep frown as I try to concentrate on her mind. But all I get is a snippet of a song.

"Strawberry fields..."

Or something like that. Weird...!

So she's wondering who I really am? I've had a lot of that in my life...and nearly always the same reaction: Screaming.
But she probably wouldn't do that. She would probably think she was dreaming or that she hit her head too hard.
And I really can't blame her...or anyone else.
But if she wants to thank me, there are other means of communicating!

I climb down from the window sill and and jump the little reminding distance there is down to the ground.
Landing with a soft thud on the grass, I hurry over the street and towards a pay phone. Luckily, there's still a phone book there, which is kind of a little miracle in itself, here in New York.

Let's see, there's the phone number for the hospital...What was her room number? 206...ah, there it is! The phone rings five times, and I'm about to hang up when I finally hear someone answering the phone.

"Hello? Uh, this is room 206,"

"Jade?" I ask.

"Yeah, I'm Jade. Who are you?" she demands.

"It's uhm, Leo. I don't know if you remember me, but--"

"Leo? How's my rescuer doing?"

"That's why I'm calling, to see if you're okay," I say relieved.

"Really? How nice! I appreciate it. Thank you for helping me, by the way." she says brightly.

"Oh, it was nothing, just my duty,"
And it actually is...

"Heh, you're talking like a real hero," she laughs.

I laugh too, then I clear my throat nervously and look behind me. Nobody's there.Then I suddenly realize that it's the middle of the night.What must she think of me?
"Oh, I'm sorry for calling you so late,"

"There you go again with the sorry," she sighs.

"Excuse me?" I frown.

"You kept saying you were sorry for everything. Don't worry, you didn't wake me up, and I can understand that you're worried. I would've been!"

Do I really say I'm sorry that often?

"I'm sorry, I..."

Suddenly she breaks into a hearty laugh."Do you really have anything to be sorry about, Leo?"

"I, um," I stammer.

"Want to hear a secret?" she asks, "So far you sound like a nice guy, so I wouldn't judge myself so hard if I were you...relax," she whispers.

"Gee, thanks..."

"And remember," she adds cheerfully, "you just saved someone today!"

I chuckle slightly, and pull my hat further down as a group of passer-bys glance curiously at me.

"Hey, wanna meet me some time?" she suggests, " in public," she adds, half-jokingly.

Things like this is what ruins my day. Things I can't do...all because of my appearance! The mind is stronger than the body, but it doesn't help much when you're a mutant turtle...it's when things like this happens that I understand what Raphael is angry about, more than usual...

"Uh, sorry, I can't--" I say hesitantly.

"Oh, it's with the sorry again?" she giggles.

"No, really. I just can't," I say again, more determined this time.

"Oh. OK, it's your decision..." Is that my imagination, or does she sound a little disappointed?

I bite my lip and lean against the plastic wall off the telephone booth. The cold night air blow against my knees through a large crack in the wall, and I shiver slightly.
I sigh heavily and rub my eyes. It's getting late.

"Look, Jade, for the last time-- I promise-- I'm really sorry," I say in desperation," I just can't meet you. I wish I could, and I really can't tell you why either,"

"No problem, Leo. I understand. Have a good life. Bye," she says and hangs up the phone.

"Bye," I say to the phone piece.

New York, 01:09 am

Jade

I can't believe myself! Why did I flirt so much with that guy? That's probably why he said no to meeting me...
Biting my lip, I glance over to the nightstand where there lies a note I wrote down the incoming number on. Thank heavens for "call check".
Even if the guy declined or not-- I'm too curious! Gotta know where that number leads to! I reach over to the phone, snuggling the sheets tightly around me.

"Operator,"

I give him the number I wrote down, and ask him where it leads to.

"Just a moment... It's the number of the pay phone across the street from St. Stephen's Hospital..."

"Thanks," I say hurriedly and slam the phone down.

Oh my God. He called from the phone booth just across the street? He could be watching me right now! He must've been following me if he was to know where I was going-- and he said he couldn't tell me why he couldn't meet me...this is making me paranoid...
I scoot over in my bed towards the window, and pull the curtains fully apart. There's no one in the telephone booth, but I can see something else lying there...I squint my eyes and concentrate to see it...a backpack?

Maybe it's his! Damn me and my curious self...
I pull the curtains together again and quickly get dressed. My leg still hurts bad, in fact that's why I was supposed to spend at least the night here, but I can walk.
It can't be too hard to sneak out of here, cause the security's a joke. I'm about as safe in here as I'm out on the streets.
It's cold, even if it's June, and I'm glad I wore a jacket. I stumble over the street and for the pay phone. The backpack's still there. Good.
I'm halfway over the road when someone steps into the pay phone, snatches the backpack, then starts to leave.

Is that him? Did he forget his backpack?

"Leo?" I yell.

The figure stops, and slowly turns around to see who's there.
I don't know if I should go over to him or not, so I just stumble over to the other side of the road, since I can't stand just very well stand here. Even if it's late, I can still get run over. This is New York.
I stop a few yards from the pay phone and just look at the figure, who's looking back.

"Leo?" I ask again.

He doesn't respond.
"Yes, it's me," he says after a long while, and I almost jump in surprise at the sudden sound of his voice. I would've too, if I hadn't had that bad leg.

"Why did you call from here? Did...did you spy on me?" I ask hesitantly.

"I...there's lots you don't know about me, Jade, and it's better if we keep it that way...I can't tell you."

"So you did spy on me?" I pull my jacket tighter around myself.

"Not exactly spy..." he begins.

"Then what do you call it?" I interrupt him, a little more upset than I planned.

"I wanted to make sure you arrived safely at the hospital..."

"You didn't need to follow after me..."
Something's beginning to dawn on me. Maybe there's something wrong with him. Maybe he didn't want to be seen.

"But why...why are you hiding...your face?" I ask, not even sure I want to hear the answer.

"Like I said, there's much you don't know..." he says evasively. He turns to leave, pauses for a few seconds, but when I say nothing, he walks away.

"Then tell me." I challenge him.

He stops.
"That's not very wise," he mumbles.

I start towards him, put he slowly backs away.

"Leo, please tell me?"

Interlude: The Neutral Spot
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