The Artist and the Doctor

Chapter 4

I must be losing my mind. Of course aliens aren't real. That doctor guy probably thinks I belong in the Looney bin after the way I was carrying on to that alien... No it was not an alien! It was a guy in a costume! I shook my head in exasperation. Why can't my mind just shut up for once?

Suddenly loud screams could be heard and the crowd around me erupted into a panic. People pushed past me in a hurry causing me to be tossed about and almost get trampled on by their sudden stampede. I managed to get out of the crowd and stood off to the side. Everyone was freaking out and trying to get away as quickly as possible.

What are they running from?

I tried peering over the frantic flock of people in hopes of catching a glimpse of what was causing all of the commotion, but there was no way I could see anything from where I was standing.

Ugh, being short really did have its disadvantages.

I scanned the area before spotting a couple of crates stacked on top of each other a few feet away from me. Without hesitation I scrambled to the top of the crates and gazed over the crowd of panicking people. Just down the block over by the witch dungeon I saw a blaze of blue fire.

"It can't be..." I said under my breath.

"CLAIRE!" I startled slightly at the mention of my name before looking down to see Maia, Danae, my roommate Molly and her boyfriend Neil, looking up at me, panic and worry etched on their faces.

"What are you doing here? We thought you went home." Maia asked frantically.

"Well, I was-" I started before Danae cut me off.

"Oh never mind that." She said worry tainting her features. "Claire, you're shaking. Are you okay?"

I jumped off the stack of crates and joined my friends.

"D-did you g-guys see that?" I asked through my chattering teeth.

"What the blue fire? Of course we saw it! Everyone saw it that's why we need to get out of here!" Maia panicked.

I gulped and forced my teeth to stop chattering. "Did you see what was causing the fire?" I asked firmly, taking my friends off guard.

"No, we just started running with the crowd. Now come on we need to get back to the apartment!" Molly begged.

I shook my head slightly. "No, I need to see what's happening." Turning away from my friends I started heading in the direction of the fire. "Go on without me."

"Claire are you out of your mind?"

"This is not like you to run into danger! You're usually the first one running!"

"Claire, please come back!"
Ignoring their pleas I ran into the crowd hoping that I lost them. I pushed my way through until I was a few feet away from where the destruction was taking place. Everyone had already deserted the area, except for a few people lying on the ground injured or worse. A few buildings were glowing blue and the creature that I drew stood in the middle of it. The creature I created. I was the cause of this. My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach and I felt a wave of nausea come over me. Was I a murderer? No, this thing... This monster was the murderer, not me. Mustering up all the courage I could, I called out to it.

"Hey, Oxyopythene!"

It turned around swiftly and set its fiery blue eyes on me. I suddenly felt a lot smaller than I actually was and wanted to run like hell until I was as far away from this thing as possible. No Claire, you can do this...

I gulped before finding my voice again "Why are you here?" I asked with an authority I didn't even know I could posses.

The Oxyopythene eyed me curiously and started to walk towards me. I felt my body stiffen when it was only less than a couple of inches away from me. My heart was beating at a dangerously fast rate and my palms where sweating bullets. Its icy breath blew on my face, causing a shiver to run down my spine. The blue flames tickled at my skin, but they didn't even faze me. Why wasn't my face on fire? The fire merely felt like a cool breeze wiping at my face.

"You brought me here." It rasped out.

I cocked my head to the side in confusion. "But I didn't intend to. I didn't even know that you would come to life, heck I didn't even think that was possible." I laughed nervously.

It opened its mouth to speak again when all of a sudden a loud buzzing sound filled the air.

"Oi, Claire! Quick out of the way!"

I turned around and saw the Doctor come running up to me a glowing green torch of some sort in his hand.

Outraged the Oxyopythene turned away from me and headed for the Doctor. It's eyes blazed with anger as it took in a deep breath, getting ready to blast the Doctor with its blue flames.

I squeaked in surprise when the Doctor suddenly grabbed my hand and dragged me behind a building for shelter.

"What did you do that for?" I heaved trying to catch my breath.

"It was about to shoot blue flames at us, what else was I supposed to do?" He exclaimed putting his hands up in mock defense. He then took the strange glowing green torch out again and started scanning me with it. I arched an eyebrow in confusion at him while he studied it once he was done scanning me.

He frowned slightly causing the crease marks in his forehead to deepen. He glanced at me and pursed his lips in thought.

"What is that thing?" I asked breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Sonic screwdriver." He answered while putting it back in his coat pocket. He started pacing back and forth while running his fingers through his floppy hair in frustration as he mumbled randomly to himself.

"Err, Doctor, don't you think we should try to reason with it... maybe?" I asked wringing my hands shyly.

He quickly spun around on his heal and faced me an unreadable expression on his face. "Tried that before, didn't work out too well." He continued to pace and ramble while I stood off to the side trying to muster up the courage to explain my plan to him.

I took a deep breath and tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around so quickly he nearly knocked me over.

"Oops, sorry. My steering tends to be off quite a bit in this form." He said steadying me so I wouldn't fall over.

"I think I might be able to reason with it." I blurted out.

He eyed me unsteadily.

"Before you came, the Oxyopythene was talking to me and actually answering my questions. He didn't try to hurt me or anything!" I added quickly. "In fact, the blue fire... some of it brushed against my face and it didn't even faze me. It just felt cold..." I said looking ahead in the distance remembering the chill of its breadth. I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered slightly at the memory.

The Doctor placed his hands on my shoulders and gazed into my eyes. I never noticed just how beautiful his eyes were the last time I looked into them. Yes, the light grey-green shade was lovely, but there was something more to them; they had a certain glint to them that I just couldn't put my finger on. They seemed...old, trusting, intelligent and so many other things that I never thought I would see just by looking into a person's eyes. Every cautious thought I had about him in the past suddenly vanished and I felt like I could actually trust him.

"Are you sure about this?" He asked searching my eyes.

I gulped nervously before nodding my head. He smiled slightly and kissed my forehead taking me completely off guard. He pulled away and took my hand in his.

"Let's see what we can find out eh?"