Living in Manhattan – part 2

Grace spent the next few days wondering who the tweed jacket guy was. She checked all her records about Conan-Doyle and checking about the Girl called Grace. They had met when he was young. Seventeen at least. He was training to be a doctor and living in a small apartment. Grace wondered what happened to the girl who had captured the poor man's heart. It was the third day after the article had been published and Grace was disappointed about the results, that her life turned around for good. Everything was falling apart now. She had the horrible task of collecting her stuff from the house where Michael persisted for her to sit at the table and allow him to explain. She told him that she would never love again because of him and left. It was that night, on the way back to her temporary house on Jerseys couch when she saw something in the shadows. It was a figure. Close enough to distinguish but not to see any detail. The shadow noticed her too. The sky was falling into the darkness and the street lamps weren't yet alight. Grace noticed that the figure appeared to be wearing a cloak. A long straight shadow that reached the floor. She was aware that the shadow was staring at her so she moved away and down the nearest alleyway she could find. It was a second after she had turned the corner that she knew it was a bad decision. The alleyway led to a dead-end. Grace spun in one swift move. The dim light from the fading sun was blocked out by a figure of at least six foot tall. Heart racing, Grace made for the wall to the rear of the alleyway. She planned to put as much distance as possible between her and the figure. As she turned she saw that the figure was coming closer. She was cornered with nowhere to go. The figure was a foot away from her and she froze in fear. Long, spindly, green fingers slid from underneath long black sleeves. The fingers moved upwards to the hood that fell over the creatures face. Grace screamed as she saw what lay beneath. The face was… not quite a face. The features were real but they weren't solid. The mouth hung sideways and the eyes were round but hollow. The chin fell far below the neck, it was as if the face was made of jelly. The creature opened its huge lipless mouth and appeared to be about to speak when a sound seemed to radiate from inside the creatures head. It froze, looking from Grace to a door leading into the building beside them. One more scream and the figure left through the door. Like, through the door. Not even opening it. Grace felt for her heart as she was sure it had stopped in the fear. It took over ten minutes before Grace was able to move. She ran from the alleyway like a bullet and shot all the way through the darkened Manhattan to Jersey's house where she remained for the rest of the day.

'We have a historian with some information on your fiction writer.' The boss said over the clutter of his desk.

'Arthur Conan-Doyle.' Grace corrected him.

'Whatever.' He shrugged, sending a wave of fury through Grace's body. 'Your Colum is bringing in more views than we expected so we want you to divulge more information from the historian. Meet him in the café at the bottom of the street this afternoon.'

'Fine.' Grace moved with as much emphasis as she could before slumping in her seat and staring at how useless her life was. At quarter to twelve she made her way to the small cosy café at the end of the street. The door tinkled as she opened it and the cream and burgundy walls were comforting. Grace knew immediately who the historian was. There, sitting at a small table with one leg crossed over the other and a cup of tea in his hand, was the tweed jacket guy from the other day. Grace sat across from him.

'Hello.' He said in that same child-like voice. A playful grin still spread across his face.

'Again.' Grace nodded. The man extended his arm which Grace took and shook it. 'Grace Henderson.' She said.

'John Smith.' He replied shortly.

'Well Mr Smith,' Grace ignored the strange hunch in the back of her mind. 'My boss says you have some information for me?'

'Yes, I do.' His eyebrows raised, making him look surprised. His blue eyes swept the room before leaning in closer and whispering; 'I know you saw it.' Grace felt her brow furrowing in her confusion.

'Saw what?' She asked aloud.

'SHH!' The stranger moved in even closer. 'The Draued.'

'Are you talkin' bullshit or something?' Grace snapped.

'Creature, about six foot, green, gives the impression that it's melting.' He listed.

'How do you-'

'Saw it.' He shrugged, his voice becoming more like a hum. 'Defeated them once with dear old Queen Elizabeth.' He sighed reminiscently.

'Queen Elizabeth the second helped you fight the jelly-guys?' Grace asked.

'Not the second no. Never really met her. I mean the first.' His expression was expectant of something, and by the look of satisfaction that then crossed his face, Grace had done as he had expected.

'Are you pulling my leg?' Grace asked in confusion.

'Why would I want to do that?' The stranger asked. Grace sat bewildered at the stranger. He had often played in the back of her mind over the past few days and now he was here and she was asking all the wrong questions.

'Who are you?' She managed.

'I'm The Doctor.' He said impressively.

'A historian doctor?'

'A Doctor of everything.'

'A scientist?'

'Everything.' He whispered.

'I don't understand? How can you be a Doctor of everything?' Grace questioned pleadingly.

'I'm a time traveller, I've seen all of time and space. Fought monsters of different sizes, loved and lost-' A shadow fell over his face.

'Mr Smith?'

'I had these friends, Amy and Rory, they've gone now.'

'Where have they gone?' Grace wondered. The stranger paused. His eyes filled with un-fallen tears. He blinked them away.

'They've just gone.' He said tonelessly. 'So,' he changed his voice, 'these creatures need to be dealt with.'

'How?' Grace asked. The Doctor paused and sat back.

'We need to find where they live.' He stood up so fast that he gave Grace head-rush even though she remained in her seat. She followed him out of the door and down the busy streets.

'Doctor?' She called after a ten minute walk in several different directions.

'Hmm?' He said, stopping suddenly.

'Where are we going?'

'To find where the creatures live.' He made off again. 'They usually live in cold places, probably with few visitors around. Maybe some…'

'Doctor, I know where they are.' Grace walked into him this time as The Doctor halted too quickly.

'Then why didn't you say so?'

'I wasn't sure where we were going!' Grace defended.

'Blimey.' The Doctor waked past her in the direction they had just come from.

'Dude, it's this way.' Grace pointed to the alleyway where she had been attacked. The Doctor followed her into the alleyway where she stood in front of the door trying the handle.

'Locked.' She said downheartedly.

'Let me through.' The Doctor brushed her aside and pulled out a metallic tube which he pressed. The end lit up a shocking green and the device made a strange whirring sound. With a few seconds the door opened and The Doctor placed the device back into one of his inner pockets.

'What was that?' Grace asked as they entered what appeared to be the back row of a stage.

'It's called a Sonic Screwdriver.' Said The Doctor in an exited voice. He gazed down at the many rows of seats and his boy-ish grin spread wider still. 'I've never been to Broadway before!' He chimed. 'Well this is exciting!'

'Hold the phone…' Grace held her index finger aloft. 'You mean we broke into a Broadway show?'

'Exciting isn't it!' The Doctor bounced on his toes.

'It would be- if there wasn't a show starting right now.' Grace pointed to the bustle of people entering both sides of the bottom rows.

'We should be fine back here.' The Doctor flipped his hand as if to brush the problem out of the air.

'Yeah? Tell that to them.' The pair turned to see two bodyguards standing either side of the row they were ducking behind.

'Don't panic.' The Doctor whispered.

'Don't panic!' Grace exclaimed in an angry whisper. 'Do you know what the punishment is for breaking into a Broadway stage is?'

'Who said anything about breaking in?' The playful grin spread across The Doctors face again. He pushed himself out of his crouch and walked right up to the bodyguard. ''Scuse me, Sir.' The Doctor said.

'May I see your ticket?' The bodyguard said.

'Sure.' The Doctor chirped happily. Grace frowned at him as he went into his pocket and pulled out a wallet-like object. He flashed it in the man's face. He nodded and The Doctor beckoned Grace to follow him. She did with much confusion as they walked to two empty seats and sat down.

'What the hell did you just do to them?' Grace asked in a hushed whisper.

'I showed them our tickets.' The Doctor said in an obvious voice.

'But, what was that paper thing?' Grace's eyebrows were almost one confused lie across her head.

'Oh!' The Doctor said suddenly. 'It's called the psychic paper.' He pulled in out and handed it to Grace. Upon examining it, Grace confirmed that The Doctor was crazy.

'Dude, this papers blank.' She pointed out.

'To the well concentrated mind.' The Doctor said.

'To the what?'

'Well concentrated mind. To those who see things differently. Like that time when I met Shakespeare.' The Doctor shook his head in an impressive way. 'Brilliant man could see right through me.' The Doctor was silent for a moment. His eyes staring in the distance as he reminisced something from the past.

'Doctor?' Grace brought him back to the present.

'Hmm?' He said without moving his head.

'The blank paper?'

'Oh, right. The paper shows a person whatever I want them to see. Like just, I let the security guard see our ticket to the show, when really, the paper was blank.' He let Grace marvel over this for a second.

'So the paper shows a person what you want them to see?' Grace repeated. The Doctor nodded. 'So why can't RI see anything?' She asked.

'Because you see the world from a different perspective.' He said. 'Like Shakespeare for example. He has a brilliant mind, he needs one to write all those beautiful words, he sees the world in a certain way whereas others see the world as work and death. He saw so much potential in life. So do you.' The Doctor linked his fingers and waited for Grace to process the information.

'I think I understand.' She nodded slowly. 'Only slightly.'

'Well, we'll have to discuss it later. For now, we have an alien to send home.' He made for the steps up to the stage but the play had begun and there was no way of getting up there without being noticed.

'What do we do now?' I whispered.

'We go under.' He winked and slid into the gap underneath the stage. The space seemed to be a store cupboard of sorts. There were props covered in thick layers of dust that I recognised from some of the shows Michael had brought me to see. A stab of pain hit me as I remembered the good times.

'You go that way.' The Doctor pointed at a trap door far back to the right. I rolled my eyes and made for the door. Pushing it open caused me to be hit in the face by a blinding light. I made sure the trap door was closed before turning around and stifling a scream.