My Cosmical Romance

Chapter 6

"Okay let's blow this joint" said the doctor gesturing them back outside.

The band followed eagerly.

"So you're serious about this Doctor?" Gerard was saying "Travelling time and the universe on an awesome inter dimensional band tour?"

"I am if you are" said the Doctor "not sure about the inter dimensional part but I'm sure you guys will be a universal hit."

"This is gonna be sooo coool!" Frank said elbowing Gerard playfully.

"Hey uhh guys? What's that sound?" Stuttered Mikey.

They all fell silent and turned in the direction of where the sound was coming from. It was a eery tune being whistled by someone slowly approaching them from down the street. As they came closer the dark street around them seemed to light up, making their shadow longer and longer, flickering on the cobblestones.

"Oh don't worry about that" said the Doctor "just a leerie"

"Is that some sort of alien?" Gasped Ray

"No no no" the Doctor said laughing "a leerie is another word for a lamplighter!"

They all breathed a sigh of bemused relief as the whistling figure approached from the shadows and they saw that it was indeed a leerie.

The man had his cap pulled low over his face so you couldn't even see his eyes, he was holding a burning torch in one hand and still whistling a haunting tune.

If you didn't know better you would think he was a bit of a scary fellow but Mikey wasn't scared. He approached him with his best cockney accent

"Top of the mornin to ya"

The others cringed

"Mikey that's Irish"

"You sound like Dick Van Dyke"

But the leerie didn't seem to notice anything amiss and just nodded a hello to Mikey, still whistling his strange melody.

He began lighting the streetlight next to them and Mikey followed him and watched.

"So... whars it going arr me old matey?" Mikey persisted.

Gerard cringed "you're not a pirate Mikey shut up"

The leerie lit the lamp, flooding the surrounding area in a fantastic light. He still didn't answer Mikey or stop his whistling.

But then he turned around to face them with a menacing grin. His cap was still covering his face in shadows, but he looked up and they could see his eyes, glowing red in the darkness.

They looked as though they were made of flames.

"Uhh m- matey?" Stammered Mikey.

"Shit" said the Doctor

They stood facing each other in the darkness, the leerie with its flaming torch and fire eyes and the Doctor with his sonic screwdriver and Americanrockband mates.

"It is an alien isn't it" said Ray

"Yupp" sighed the Doctor

Ray didn't feel it was the time to say "I told you so" but he thought it in his head.

The leerie was still standing directly in front of Mikey menacingly, Mikey took a step backwards.

"Steady there govna" he said, in his phony cockney accent.

The leerie paid him no mind and instead extended his torch towards the bassist, his whistling getting louder.

"Hey!" Frank put out his arm to shield Mikey from the fire.

The Doctor gasped "No, Frank!"

At the same time as the flame, without touching him, seemed to leap away from the torch and somehow inside of Frank.

"Ah Aauaahhh" Moaned Frank, clutching his hands at his face with his eyes screwed shut. He opened them suddenly and the band saw with shock that his eyes had been replaced with flames.

"Frank!" Gerard choked with shock

"What are you?" mumbled the Doctor furiously, scanning the leerie/alien with his screwdriver.

He checked it and gasped

"It's... it's all fire" he stammered.

"What" Mikey ran over to timelord, his face white with fear.

He looked over his shoulder at the sonic screwdriver screen, on which was flashing the sillohette of the leerie, yet inside of him, wasn't any intestines or kidneys or the normal stuff you'd expect, there wasn't even alien stuff like slime or batteries. It was just fire, a wild raging alive fire, contained only by the former lamplighter's empty shell.

He looked up into the manic flaming eyes of the alien, who was once again extending his newly lit torch towards them.

"Run!" Yelled the Doctor, pointing his screwdriver at the thing, dumpfounding it temporarily.

They sprinted urgently the few metres to the tardis, Frank barely made it, before they were in. And slammed the door behind them.