A/N: Here's the third chapter! Hope you enjoy. Please review and tell me what you think! Also, you can follow me on Tumblr for updates and spoilers and sneak peeks and stuff. My URL is particularly-instantaneous. I follow back more often than not :) Thank you for reading!
Pairing: Rose/Ten
Rose Tyler is an artist. At nineteen years old, she is living with her parents, Pete and Jackie, and has a normal life. But in her dreams, in her imagination, she creates incredible things: new worlds, new creatures, new people. She draws these odd characters and places, recreating her fantasies through art. She dreams up a man who she calls her guardian angel, and keeps him alive in her sketches. Little does she know that all of these things she draws, the things she thought were just figments of her wild imagination, are very, very real, and very, very dangerous.
The Paper Angel
Chapter Three
Rose paced back and forth across her bedroom, the piece of paper from her ceiling in hand. Don't blink. What did that even mean? Was she actually supposed to keep her eyes completely open all the time? That was impossible. Don't blink. Don't blink. Those two words kept staring at her, taunting her. Was this some sort of joke? If this was one of her friends playing a prank on her, she was going to be so angry. But she had a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach that told her this was absolutely real.
Sighing, Rose opened her desk drawer and put this paper on top of the one that the other angel had disappeared from. Wait a second. The angels. Both of the drawings that had disappeared were angels, leaving the same black line across the back. There had to be some sort of connection there. She looked up at the drawings hanging from the ceiling. All normal. None of them had moved from their original positions. Turning towards the wall with the creatures, Rose approached the angels warily. They all had their head in their hands, hiding their faces. Scanning across the couple drawings pinned on top, everything looked fine. All clear, thought Rose.
And then she blinked.
Suddenly, one of the angels did not have their head in their hands. Rose looked closer. Yes, the angel was now standing with its arms down by its sides, looking directly at Rose with a piercing glare. But that was impossible. Drawings did not simply move around once they were drawn! Then again, Rose had seen two of her drawings disappear completely, and people in London were missing, so at this point, it was kind of hard not to believe this.
Blink.
There it was again! A second angel had its hands down now, and the first one looked as if it had moved closer to Rose, reaching out towards her. Both of them were staring into her eyes. So now she understood: don't blink had meant exactly that. She had to keep her eyes on the drawings or the angels would disappear. With her eyes opened as wide as possible, she called her mom. She could hear footsteps coming quickly down the hallway, and then the door handle jiggling. Damn it, she had forgotten that the door was locked. Backing up slowly, still staring at the drawings, she felt for the doorknob, finally grabbing it and unlocking it.
"What is it?" Jackie asked. Rose just kept looking at the wall, motioning for her mother to come with her to stand near the drawings. "Rose, what is it? Why are you staring at those so closely?"
"Mum, I need your help, okay? Is Dad home?" Rose asked, her eyes never leaving the wall.
"Of course. It's a Saturday, he doesn't work Saturdays. Rose, what's wrong?" Jackie was clearly concerned, but how could Rose get her to believe what was happening? It was simply outside of Jackie's imagination, she would never understand.
'It's hard to explain, but I need you to do exactly what I tell you to do, okay? I promise I'll explain later." Jackie murmured her agreement. "I need you to help me take down all of the drawings of the angel statues and take them to the living room. Tell Dad to get the tape. Don't take your eyes off the pictures!" Rose knew here mom thought she was totally insane, but Jackie had no idea how important this was. "Mum, I know it sounds crazy, but please, I'm begging you, just do it!" Rose went to the wall, taking down the picture that had already moved first, then two more. Jackie took the rest—luckily, there were only six of the angel drawings. Slowly they made their way through the house into the living room.
"Pete, would you bring up the tape, please?" Jackie called, eyes trained on the paper in her hands. Rose could read the tone of her voice so easily. It was the same one any parent used with their significant other when they were trying to say, "the kid's just come up with some silly fantasy, honey. Play along." Jackie was just trying to get Pete to play along, this was just a joke. It was just like the first time Rose had come to her parents declaring that the man in the pinstripe suit was an angel. Lots of "sure he is," and "whatever you say, Rose." They never really believed her. Well, when all of London disappeared, maybe then they'd stop thinking it was all a joke. Trying to maintain her anger, Rose kneeled down in front of the wall opposite the couch.
She had heard her father enter the room, but she didn't look away. "Mum, Dad, tape the pictures to the wall, okay? And then sit on this couch and watch the drawings and don't look away. I need to call Mickey to help me. Whatever you do, don't take your eyes off the pictures!"
"Rose?" Pete called, but Rose had already begun to retreat with the one picture in her hands, staring down the angels. "What's going on?"
"I'll explain later, Dad, but it's so, so important that you look at these paintings and do not look away." Rose emphasized each word carefully. "Please believe me!" She pulled out her mobile, speed dialing Mickey without looking up. "Come on, come on," she whispered. "Pick up…"
"Hello?" a voice answered groggily.
"Mickey! Thank god. I need your help." She was trying to sound as urgent as possible.
"Jesus, Rose! It's nine in the morning on a Saturday! Why are you even awake?"
"I'm sorry it's so early, but I really, really need your help. Please?" He sighed on the other end of the line.
"Yeah, alright. What is it?"
Concentrated on the drawing in front of her, Rose said, "Your computer. I need you to research something for me."
Mickey sighed again. "Okay. Give me a second to get it running." Hurry, please, Rose thought, willing him to go faster. "Got it. What am I searching?"
Rose realized she hadn't actually thought about what she needed searched. "Um… something about crying angel statues. I think they have something to do with the disappearances."
"Statues? Making people disappear?" Mickey sounded incredulous, and the laughter in his voice made Rose want to hit something. No one believed her.
"Mickey, please! I know it sounds stupid but please just try!"
"Okay, okay, sorry!" Rose shook her head, still in the midst of the most intense staring contest of her life. "Searching now…" Mickey said.
Rose was tapping her foot impatiently, getting entirely too restless. "Anything?" she asked.
"Not really, no. I've just got a bunch of art websites and pictures of statues."
Damn. "Okay, keep looking."
"Yep." Rose could hear the clacking sound of Mickey typing rapidly on his keyboard. She walked back towards the living room, glancing quickly at her parents. They were still sitting there, obediently looking at the wall with the paintings. Rose gasped as she looked back down. She had forgotten. The angels in the drawing had moved closer, reaching out, teeth bared. No more looking away. "Rose!" she heard Mickey's voice.
"Yeah?" She tried desperately not to get her hopes up.
"I think I've got something."
Rose jumped with excitement. "Yes! Okay, read it to me!"
"I found a link to this article that looked promising, but the file was protected in some database. So I just hacked into some agency called Torchwood… I've got the article now. They're called the Weeping Angels… oh my god."
"What?"
"This says… it says they're aliens… Rose, this is rubbish, I'm sorry-"
"No!" Rose shouted. "Keep reading. Please." She was willing to believe anything at this point.
"Okay… it's an alien species that only exists when you can't see it. Have the ability to send whatever they touch back to any random place in the past, allowing the victim to continue their lives normally in a different time and place—the only deadly species of alien who kill their victims nicely. They let them live to death." Mickey paused. "That's most of the information it gives. Rose, whoever wrote this is completely off his rocker, don't listen to a word of it."
Oh, but Rose was certainly starting to listen to it. This had to be right; this had to be why people were disappearing! "Mickey, can you come over?"
He hesitated. "Well… I was supposed to be going over to Jake's today…"
"Bring him too, then, but I really need you to come help me right now. Please, Mickey?" Actually, having Jake come would be really good. He was the least stupid of Mickey's friends.
Another deep sigh. "Yeah, I'll be over in just a bit."
"Yes! Thank you so much, Mick. Hey, can you print that article off, too? We might need to use it. Okay, see you soon. Bye!" Rose hung up, watching the angels carefully. Time to get her eyes off this piece of paper.
Treading carefully through the apartment to her living room, Rose felt her way over to the wall where her other drawings were, reaching for the scotch tape and getting the picture to hang next to the others. She backed away, her eyes still trained on the paper. "Mum, Dad, you need to watch this one too, okay? Mickey's on his way over with Jake to help us."
"Rose, what's going on?" Jackie said, almost turning her head before Rose stopped her.
"Mum, keep looking! I promise you that I'll explain once Mickey and Jake get here, but you need to understand that this is so important. I know why there are people disappearing. It's gonna sound crazy but I promise you it's true." That struck a chord with Jackie. Now that she knew it was concerning the disappearances, Rose knew Jackie would help. As long as Rose could get her to believe the story.
When Mickey and Jake stumbled into the Tyler's apartment twenty minutes later, Rose was pacing back and forth, having given up looking at the pictures and instead trying to think of what could possibly be causing drawings to come to life and start taking people. It all just seemed so out of this world. "Mickey! Thank god you're here. Hi, Jake. Okay, go sit over there with my mum and dad and look at those pictures. I'll explain soon, I promise. Mick, do you have that article?" Both of them seemed a little scared at her urgency, but Mickey handed over a couple papers.
"There, that's the whole thing on the Weeping Angels from Torchwood and a little blurb on the guy who wrote it, his name's Larry Nightingale." Rose scanned the papers, looking for more information, but there wasn't much more to it. The man who had written the article was rather young, at least from what Rose could tell from his photograph. He owned a video store with his girlfriend, Sally. Apparently the two of them had battled a couple of these angels a couple years ago. Odd. But the thing that stood out to Rose was the section titled 'Weaknesses.' She read it out loud to herself.
"The Weeping Angels exist only when they are being seen. The reason they cover their faces with their hands is to prevent them from looking at each other. If they happen to lock eyes with each other, they remain immobile permanently." She made a mental note to remember this piece of information. It could come in handy if this was really what they were up against.
Rose was still reading when Jake called her name. "Oi! Are you gonna tell us what all this is about?" She turned to see him looking at her from the couch.
She pointed at the wall. "Only if you promise to keep looking at those drawings!" When they had all turned away from her, she began to pace as she talked, explaining to them the whole story. The disappearing drawings, her strange dream and the paper that said "don't blink", the angels that moved when she wasn't looking, the article from Torchwood. Everything,
When she had finally finished, she took a deep breath, but kept pacing. Jackie was the first to speak. "I'm sorry, Rose, but that all just sounds a little crazy. How are we supposed to believe that aliens are coming out of your drawings and taking people?"
"Because I know that's what's happening and I need you to trust me!" Rose was screaming now. She knew they wouldn't believe it. She turned to see all of the eyes in the room on her. They thought she was completely mental, she could see it. She had no proof. "Please. You have to believe me. I'm telling you it's…" Her voice trailed off and she looked over their heads to the wall behind them. "Oh my god," she whispered.
"What is it, Rose?" Pete asked.
Rose shook her head, unsure whether to celebrate her new evidence or yell in terror. "You all looked away from the drawings." Slowly, all the heads turned back to the papers taped against the wall.
The two angels had disappeared.
Rose dashed over to the wall, ripping down the blank sheet of paper. She turned it over and found exactly what she had expected: a thin black line running diagonally from the top left corner to the bottom right. Her jaw set defiantly, she showed it to the four people sitting on the couch. "Look."
They were all shocked. "B-but…" Jackie stammered.
"There were people there just a second ago!" Jake said, pointing to the blank page.
Rose's facial expression remained stoic. "Do you believe me now?" Four heads nodded, with mouths hanging open in surprise. "Good. Because now there are two more of those statues out there killing people!" Rose gave a yell of frustration and crumpled the paper in her hands into a ball. "They're my drawings, so it's up to me to stop it. But I need your help. Can you do that?" Again, they all nodded solemnly. Rose stood up.
"I'm going to go check my room to make sure there's no more angel drawings to worry about. You keep an eye on these. I don't care how you do it, take it in shifts if you have to, but make absolutely sure that someone is watching those pieces of paper at all times. Don't even blink or they'll disappear." She turned on her heel and stormed off to her bedroom.
Finally, she thought, opening the door to her room. Finally they believed her, they understood. Maybe she stood a chance against these aliens.
From where she sat in the living room, eyes focused intently on the remaining drawings, Jackie heard a shout from the direction of her daughter's room. "Rose?" she called tentatively, trying not to look away. "Everything all right back there?" No reply. "All right, that's it," Jackie said, standing up from the couch. "I'm gonna go check on her. You heard what she said, don't stop looking!" She followed the hallway back towards the bedrooms.
"Rose?' Jackie repeated. Still no answer. She got to the door, which was open just a crack, and knocked gently. "Rosie? Can I come in?" Those angels better not have taken her, too, Jackie thought.
Throwing the door wide, she saw something that she hadn't expected. Rose was still there, to her relief, but she was sitting on the floor with her head in her hands. Jackie ran to her, kneeling down and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Rose! What's wrong?" She looked up, tears in her eyes, and pointed to the wall.
"It's not just the angels, mum. They're all gone."
A/N: *gasp* What's happening? :) I'll try to have the next chapter up soon! Although, I'm incredibly busy this coming week as I'll be filming music videos. So I'm not sure how much time I'll have to write. I'll try my hardest to get it done, though. If you want updates and spoilers and stuff like that, follow me on Tumblr :) Thanks for reading!
-bad-wolf-and-her-lonely-angel
