Jessica Lynwen: The Light Bringer
Chapter 1- Aliens and Wounds
The café smelt of coffee and stale sweat from the customers. It was dark, dingy and the best I could get at the moment. I scrubbed a stain off the bench top whilst I examined the people inside the café. It was bordering on empty, but a few people remained. We never seemed to get any well-dressed people in here. I sighed and leaned against the bench, my back away from the depressing atmosphere. I'm pretty sure the only reason people came here was for Cassidy. The bright, bubbly, blonde girl who always wore the shortest clothes she could find and allowed everyone a grasp. It's why we never got couples or females.
There was a light tap on my shoulder and I turned around. A guy was standing there, smiling 100watts at me. His brown hair was ruffled and his brown eyes were shining with curiosity at the world. He was dressed in a blue pin stripe suit with a brown overcoat. His hands now thrust deep inside his pockets as he rocked backwards and forwards on his feet.
"Hello." He said cheerfully, looking around at the café.
"Good afternoon, sir. How can I help you?" I said after a moment's hesitation.
"Do you recommend any good coffee?" He asked, squinting at the smudged chalkboard above me. I looked at him and thought. A guy like that…
"For you, I would recommend a caramel latte." He looked back at me.
"Yes, thanks. That'd be brilliant." He pulled out a handful of cash and dropped it on the counter; I stared at it in surprise.
"Is that enough?" He asked, confused. I took a single bill from the pile and put it through.
"The rest is yours." I said with a smile, he brightened up at my smiled and shoved the remaining cash away. I quickly made him the best caramel latte I could make and handed it to him. He took it with a smile like a kid opening a birthday present. His presence here brightened up the whole café, I had to force myself not to stare at the handsome man.
By six o'clock the man was still sitting around, watching everything. His latte had been completely finished and he had even got two more over the past few hours. Cassidy had come into work three hours ago and had been trying to flirt with him for all three of those, strangely, to no avail. Cassidy by the end had wondered off pouting. However, it was now time to shut the café.
"Excuse me, sir, but we are closing." I told him, hands clasped in front of me. He blinked and then looked surprised.
"Oh! Yes, right. Do you have a bathroom?" I pointed him in the direction of the bathrooms and he took off. I noticed he had some strange metal thing in his hand.
I finished cleaning everything and Cassidy had gone home. I sat on one of the tables, no in my casual clothes, waiting for the man to re-emerge. I hear a loud noise out the back. My heart began to loudly, but I decided to go against my uneasiness and follow the sound, it was probably just the man tripping over something…
I saw the back door left wide open; a cold breeze hit my skin, causing goose bumps. Another loud noise and a snarling noise came from outside. I crept towards it, picking up a serving tray on the way. I stepped outside to see the man being strangled up against a wall by a large…thing. I bit back a scream at the monster. It had large spikes on its hunched back and small, razor sharp claws. It had green, lumpy skin that looked like it was snakeskin. Everything in my head was telling me to run, but I just couldn't leave the man there. I crept up behind the monster and smashed it over the head with the tray. It hissed, then collapsed, unconscious. The man dropped to his feet and took a few jagged breaths. He rolled his brown eyes up to look at me, the most serious expression I had seen on his so far.
"Thank you." I blushed and looked down at the monster, no longer feeling the urge to scream and run away, I lowered down to look at it closely. Its reptilian eyes were shut, but its mouth was open, revealing tiny, sharp teeth, rows of them and a fork tounge. I sighed. What a weird day.
"What is it?" I asked him calmly. He crouched down on the opposite side of the body, still wearing his serious expression. I noticed he was badly injured, cuts and bruised and gashes, and he was favouring his right leg.
"It's a Vorician." (Vor-ee-she-an)
"It's a monster?"
"Alien, from the planet Vorici. Bit far from home, must have crash landed somewhere close, they rarely travel far from their crash sites, must have smelt the coffee and wandered over here, they're rather fond of bitter things."
"And by the looks of it, hurting people." I eyed him pointedly. He saw it and looked away.
I stood up and came around to his side. I helped him up and leaned him against me.
"Where do you live? I can take you there." I told him, leaning him against the wall whilst I locked the last door.
"Um, I lost it." He told me sadly.
"Oh, fire?" I asked lowering my eyes.
"Oh, no, no! I mean I literally lost it." I looked at him.
"Like a caravan or something?"
"Or something. My ship." I looked him up and down and nodded.
"You an alien?"
"Yes."
"What kind?"
"Time Lord." I paused.
"Sounds good. You look human though."
"You look Time Lord." He countered. I nodded.
"Okay, I'll go with that. So you lost your ship, does that mean you have no where to stay?"
"Yeah…" He said slowly, as if just realizing this.
"You can stay in my spare room at home, 'til you find your ship. Come on, let's go." I pulled his arm around my shoulder and walked him to my car. He smelt nice, what I imagine the country would smell like, mixed with unfamiliarity and stardust.
On the drive home we talked.
"So, Time Lord, What's your name?"
"I'm The Doctor."
"Just 'The Doctor'?"
"Yes, and, ah, your name?" He asked, shifting in his seat.
"Jessica Lynwen." I told him with a smile.
"Nice name, pretty name."
"Thanks, Doctor." I pulled into the car park and got out and opened the door for him.
"You know, for a human, you don't seem to be very surprised by any of this."
"From what I can see of you Doctor, there are worse human beings around than aliens." I told him sadly. "Besides, no one can brighten up that café the way you did, you'd have to be an alien." I said to get rid of tension, although the statement was true.
"Well, there's always you there to brighten it up." I laughed and shook my head.
"I'm about as brightening as a grey wall." He looked down at me as I walked him up the stairs.
We came to my door and I hesitated, what would Philip think?
"Are you okay, Jessica?" He asked. I nodded solemnly and opened the door. Philip was sitting on the couch, beer in hand and eyes fixed on the TV.
"Philip, I'm home." I called out to him. He shifted his head slightly towards me,
"Hey," He mumbled.
"Phil, I brought home a guest, they're going to be staying in the spare room, is that alright?"
"Yeah." He mumbled again. Philip was plain looking, not fit, not fat, mouse blonde hair and lifeless brown eyes. I brought the Doctor in and showed him to the small bedroom. He looked around smiling.
"Amazing." I laughed.
"Alien." He winked at me. I took him to the kitchen and sat him down. I got the first aid kit from on top of the fridge and set it down on the light wood table.
"Alright, let's see to those wounds, can you take your shirt off and roll your pant leg up?" He blinked but then obliged. I blushed as he took his shirt off, but quickly focused on the medical side of things. He was covered in scratches, bruises and grazes, even a few bite marks.
"Do the Vorician's have venom?" I asked, putting Dettol on a cotton ball.
"Ah, no. Just a nasty bite."
"Does your alien genes react badly to human medicines?"
"Nope."
"Good." I began dabbing at the wounds carefully, cleaning them. We were so close I could feel the heat from his skin and breath. I finished with his upper body. Band-Aids littered him. I crouched down and had a look at his knee. It was slightly disjointed. I looked up at him and gave him a sympathetic smile, then pushed his knee back into place.
"OW!" He yelled. I smiled up at him.
"All better." I bandaged his knee and rolled his pants back down, his shirt and suit jacket had cuts and blood all over them.
"Give me a minute, I'll go get some other clothes." I came back soon with a plain white t-shirt and a pair of black track pants. He looked at them in distaste.
"Deal with it, space boy."
"Thank you, Jessica Lynwen." I smiled at him.
"My pleasure, now go rest up." I told him.