Weird things always happen when I'm not wearing a shirt. The day everything happened I was painting the walls of a room in my relatively new house, looking out a large window to beautiful Ireland as I did so. It was a hot day and painting was a rather lot of hard work so I had stripped off my shirt ages ago and was painting with a large roller in a bra and leggings. This is where I was when I heard the screaming.
It snapped me out of my reverie and I looked out at the window more attentively to see a boy racing across my lawn, chased by what looked like some sort if strange trashcan with an eyestalk, an egg beater for one arm, and a toilet plunger for the other. I dropped my roller, splattering the tarp I was using to cover the floor with pale green paint, my mouth in a wide O,
frozen in shock. That was when I recognized the boy.
"Seamus?!"
Seamus has been my boyfriend since we were seventeen, so four years. I had no clue as to why he was being chased at full speed toward my house. Toward the very window I was standing in front of to be exact. I only had time to open the window before he jumped, one hand holding tight to his large, square frame glasses to his face, his Star Trek t-shirt flapping about him as he soared through the air. Seamus did make it through the window- but barely and he landed directly on me.
"Erin! Ohmigosh!" he was panting as he spoke.
I'm sure we made quite the picture. Me, on the floor with Seamus on top of me, clutching to my waist like I was a lifeboat and he was drowning. Our heads were next to each other, so his bright curly ginger hair tangled in with my dyed dark red locks. Suddenly, I broke my paralysis and scooped him up off the floor (I was small but strong, and he was tall but very skinny) and ran to the far corner of the room where we huddled together. We stared at each other, his blue eyes locked on my green ones. Seamus's mother was Irish but his father was German. The only bit of the German Seamus carried was his bright clear blue eyes. Eyes that I had loved for years. I, on the other hand, was 100% leprochaun, short and Irish. I loved it...the Irish part, I mean, I've always hated being 21 and still under five feet.
"What the hell is that thing?!" I asked breathlessly.
"I dunno. I just tripped over it in the street and it took off chas-"
Seamus was interrupted by the Trashcan-Thing as it burst through my window, shattering the glass.
"INFERIOR RACE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!" the thing shouted. It leveled its egg-beater arm, aiming right at us.
"Oh, exterminate, lovely." I said.
"It is not lovely!" Seamus responded.
"I know that! I'm just trying to keep myself from pan...panic..." I started hyperventilating. I wasn't ready to die, notyetnotyetnotyetno- I slapped myself mentally. I need to he strong for Seamus, I thought. I cannot crack now. "panicking." I finished shakily but calmly...well, calm enough. I drew Seamus closer, and he wrapped his arms around me. I looked up at our soon-to-be killer, directly into it's eye-stalk, hoping that if it looked me in the eye, it would stop. But it showed no signs of doing any such thing.
Shit, I thought, we had so many years. So very many years. We were only 21 for God's sake. Ahead of us there was enagement and marriage. Maybe kids. We would grow old together and we would travel the world, side by side. But none of that would happen now.
And that's when the next strange creature burst through my window. He was a tall lanky man in a pinstriped suit and tie, all topped with a trench coat. He wore beat-up Chuck Taylors. He had spiky brown hair and bright lively brown eyes. But as these eyes locked with mine, I saw years. I saw age and weariness and wisdom. His body was young, but his eyes were old, and I loved them.
I couldn't take my own eyes off him. It wasn't just that he had come out of no where and burst through a window into my home. It wasn't even that he was an attractive man (and he was, wow). I mean, it was both those things to a certain extent. But mostly it was his energy. He was magnetic, emitting waves of intelligence and power. It was hard to look away.
"Guess who." he said in a carrying whisper. The Trashcan-Thing turned to face him. He smiled "That's right" the strange, strange man continued "It's the Oncoming Storm."
At these words, the Trashcan-Thing more or less squealed, sending jets of light in the man's general direction, missing everytime in its excitement. And all this time, the Suit Man stood calmly in this onslaught. After a second of attack, he pulled a longish solver instrument with a blue top out of a pocket. He pointed it at the Trashcan-Thing and a loud ringing filled the room, causing Seamus and I to cover our ears, wincing. It was coupled with a strong vibration that shook us from the inside out.
When I opened my eyes again, I saw Suit-Man bending over tye Trashcan-Thing. The Trashcan-Thing had opened at the top to reveal a small, pink, fleshy creature inside.
"Look at you." said Suit-Man "You're dying."
"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!" the pink thing was squealing, but nothing happened.
"I haven't got to do anything" Suit-Man said and as we watched, the pink thing inside the trashcan flailed and then was still. Then Suit-Man stood up and smiled at us.
"Who the hell are you?!" I shouted suddenly "And what the bloody hell was that?!"
Suit-Man's grin widened. "I am the Doctor" he said "And that charming creature was a dalek."
