I am so unbelievably sorry for taking so long to update. I know I said last time it was because of SATs and that I would have time after them but that was not the case. I also AP tests I completely forgot about, exams and I had to struggle to get my math grade up. I didn't start writing again until the second week of June. But now that it is summer I will have time for more updates. These next three chapters are all tied together. I'll post chapter 6 either tomorrow or in a few days depending on when it gets edited.
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who but I do own Andy, all other original characters and the plot.
Chapter 5. Happy Halloween
I ruffled up my afro, trying to make it bigger. The Doctor was combing out his fake, 70s mustache, beside me. After the previous week bird disaster, we decided to keep things simple and stay on Earth. I missed trick or treating in America. Even though I was getting too old for it, I liked it more than going to the Halloween parties. I still had to go to the Halloween party with Lauren, Liese, Ryan and Kevin that night but would go trick or treating first with the Doctor.
I convinced him to dress up in matching outfits. I thought Sonny and Cher was a good idea and he went with it.
Tuesday, the Doctor surprised me by finally giving me my own room. It was fairly spacious and later that day, I filled it up with some of my books and clothes. In case, the trips lasted longer than planned.
He hadn't given me my own key though, but I wasn't bothered. I knew he still didn't trust me that much. Truth be told, I didn't trust him all that much either.
"You need a nickname," I said.
The Doctor stopped his combing and raised his eyebrows.
"The Doctor is a nickname", he said
I ignored him, "TD, that's perfect. It's a shorter version of the Doctor."
I almost blinded myself trying to apply fake eyelashes to complete the Cher look.
"TD?"
"It's better than calling you Doc."
"You are not a rabbit. Only rabbits get to call me Doc." He smoothed down his hair to make it look like a bowl cut. It was a little too long for that but whatever.
He continued, "If you get to call me TD then I get to call you something too."
"Andy is a nickname," I mocked him.
"Oh you think you're so clever."
"Not think, know."
He snickered. I shot him an unamused stare.
"Are you ready?" he asked.
"Yeah," I said.
"Great! Come on then."
As you can imagine, the only ones trick or treating were children and their parents. Teenagers were either handing out candy, or scaring the crap out of unsuspecting passer buyers. I was one of the victims. The Doctor just stood and congratulated them as I collected my candy, which had spilled.
The Doctor, uh, TD, was Mr. Cool as we walked though the haunted mazes and houses to get to the candy. I was practically shaking and ran through them as quickly as possible.
We trudged uphill to the richer part of the neighborhood. Our original bags filled up fast. We had to ask for garbage bags to make room for more. We would have stopped and headed back to the TARDIS but everyone knew the rich people handed out the biggest candy bars and when they ran out, they handed out money. Never pass up free money.
As we collected our pounds of candy and wads of cash, sharp screams rippled into the night air. We didn't think much of it until more erupted seconds later. They were different from the screams we had been hearing all night. They were filled with unmasked fear and weren't followed by hounds of laughter. The Doctor and I visibly stiffened the more we heard. Saying hurried thanks, we dashed across the yard and onto the crowded street. We headed towards the screams that were slowly dying out. It was hard to run with our heavy bags, I struggled more than the Doc- TD did. I had to work on that.
Stopping abruptly, I gaped as the child's screams died out completely. A monster or alien had the kid wrapped up in its tentacle-like vines. Flashes of green light emitted from it. The Doctor pointed his sonic at it but nothing happened. A bang spooked us as a blast hit the monster alien thing, killing it. The kid fell to the ground and I checked on him. He was unconscious but thankfully breathing. His skin was white as snow and ice cold. I cradled his head in my lap as the Doctor checked his vitals with the sonic. "That was an Energy Sucker," a voice in front of us said.
We looked up to see a blond woman wielding some type of gun.
The Doctor looked bewildered. "An Energy Sucker? Those aren't supposed to be around for centuries."
The mystery woman smiled putting her gun in her holster.
"Some escaped from captivity. I've been tracking them across the state for weeks. There's only two left. They're somewhere close."
Closer inspections led me to realize how gorgeous she was. And familiar. She reminded me of my stepmother. I hated my stepmother. First time I met her I broke out in tears because she frightened me. I put away those thought as the Doctor stood up, leaving me to sit on the ground with the kid.
"How rude of me, I'm Samantha Green." She stuck out her hand for the Doctor to shake. He accepted.
"I'm the Doct-"
"The Doctor, yes I know. Everyone does where I'm from. Let me say it is such an honor to meet you. I've heard stories of the things you've done since I was a baby. You're brilliant." She was laying it on thick. I rolled my eyes.
The Doctor grinned. "Always nice to meet one of my admirers." Oh please. "And this is Andy. She travels with me."
I waved and gave a half-hearted smile. Samantha smiled and waved back.
"You said there's still two more out there. Do you need help tracking them? Of course, you do and we'll be more than happy to help. We have to get the child back to his mummy and daddy first. We can do that on the way. Hopefully they're close by. Who leaves a child alone on Halloween? This is the perfect time for kidnappers to come and snatch them up. Come on Andy."
I stood with the kid in my arms. He was small enough to carry without effort. The Doctor carried both of our bags of candy. We looked around for any signs of Energy Suckers. The Doctor said they could materialize anywhere and could travel up to 30 miles if they stole enough energy. A bit later, a frantic woman came up to us and tearfully took the kid from my arms. I explained he was found unconscious down the street. The Doctor stepped in and berated the young mother for leaving him unattended. I swiftly dragged him away before he got slapped.
A storm of tentacle vines winded around my ankles out of nowhere. I slammed onto the street. I flung my arms around for something to hang onto. The Doctor gripped my arms and tried to pull me back. Some more vines wrapped around my arms. My shoulders hurt from strain. The vines dragged me over the road and I smashed into the chest of the Energy Sucker. The vines tightened and dug into my skin. I felt the pressure of a thousand needles as the Energy Sucker started flashing green.
The pain was everywhere. Each second that ticked by made it more unbearable. I was growing weaker. I fought to keep me eyelids open. I thought I was screaming but couldn't be sure. I saw Samantha reach for her gun and aim it at the Energy sucker. Anther materialized and knocked it out of her hands, then broke it. Everything was in slow-mo. The Doctor was yelling for me to hang on and fight it. Don't let the pain takeover, he said. It's not really there. Just them using your imagination against you, giving you reason to black out so they can take it without having to fight you back. I think he said all that to distract me, keep me awake.
I saw a streak of light coming closer out the corner of my eye. It hit the Energy Sucker. It howled and its tentacle-vine-arm things unwound and I slid to the ground.
I was half there. My ears were ringing and I felt like I was in a blizzard. The Doctor was talking a mile a minute while he checked my vitals. I think I saw someone familiar walking away into the crowd but Samantha stepped into my view before I could get a good look. She had a stunned expression and looked mildly displeased.
We stayed there while I recuperated. I kept muttering how cold and hungry I was. The Doctor fed me a candy bar and rubbed my arms. Once I had the feeling back in my legs we headed back to the TARDIS. I gulfed down a forth of my candy while the Doctor and Samantha talked.
The other Energy Sucker was shot dozens of times by one of the neighbors. Samantha's mission was complete.
"So why don't you join us?" The Doctor's question surprised us both.
"I have nothing better to do. As long as it's not a problem?"
"Nonsense! There's ways room for more people on the TARDIS. Right Andy?"
I stopped mid bite and swallowed. "Oh, yeah, of course, always" was my pathetic reply. They chalked up my low enthusiasm with low energy.
The Doctor clapped his hands. "Ya see, nothing to worry about. Since you're new on the sexy old girl, why don't you choose where we go next?"
"Well I've always wanted to go to China. Maybe we can see a certain wall being built." Now there was an idea.
"You! I like the way you think."
The atmosphere was broken by the ringing of my phone. I pulled it out and looked at the caller ID. Kevin.
"Hello?"
"Andy! Where are you? The party started an hour ago. Lauren is ready to bite someone's head off."
Oh, right. The Halloween Party.
"I'm sorry. I got held up doing something for my mom. I'll be there in a few minutes. But I don't want to stay that long. I feel tired and have homework to do."
"Alright, just get here fast. It's getting mad in here."
"Okay, bye." I didn't wait for a reply and hung up.
"Who was that?" Samantha asked.
"Kevin… my boyfriend. It seems I'm late for the Halloween party."
"I can drop you off after China. No reason to go so soon and miss the opportunity to see one of the seven wonders of the world."
"Nah. I'm still tired and kinda wanna go. If you don't mind," I added.
"Pssh. I understand. Next stop, party city."
While he set the coordinates, I tried to fluff up my afro again. It was slightly limp but had to do.
The TARDIS landed with its usual wheezing. I gave the Doctor a short hug.
"See you, Andy. Rest up."
"I will. Bye Doctor. Uh, nice meeting you Samantha."
"You too, Andy."
A few days later, my father and stepmother were leaving to go to dinner, without me. My stepmother had made the reservation and my father forgot I was coming to stay that weekend.
I was watching episodes of Friends on my laptop when I heard something landing in the kitchen. When I went to check, I immediately grabbed onto the door as the Energy Sucker tried yanking me towards it. I stomped on the arms until it let go. Scrambling up, I raced across the house with it right behind. Making a split second decision, I ran into the garage. I locked the door and put a desk in front of it. I knew it wouldn't hold forever so I went searching for a way to kill it. I forgot where my father hid the guns but found the next best thing; gasoline and matches.
The Energy Sucker slammed against the door. Steeling myself for the confrontation I pushed the desk out of the way, unlocked the door, held the gasoline, lit a match and opened the door. I doused it with the gasoline then threw the match at it. I watched as it roared in agony. When he was finished cooking I put out the flames with the fire extinguisher.
I called the Doctor.
"Hello, Doctor speaking," he answered.
"Doctor, it's me Andy."
"Hello Andy! How's it going?"
"Not. Well," I gritted my teeth.
"Oh? And why's that. Ran out of candy already? I can always take you for another round. No need for tears."
"I'm not mad about some stupid candy Doctor! One of the Energy Suckers attacked me in my father's house."
"What?! Are you alright?" Concern seeped into his voice.
"Fine, for the most part. Can you pick me up?" I asked.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll be right there." He hung up.
I flung the TARDIS doors open as soon as it materialized. I didn't run into the Doctor though, but Samantha.
"Andy! Slow down. You almost knocked me right over," she said.
"Uh, right. Sorry." I side stepped her and went over to the Doctor, who had his arms open for a hug.
Embracing him, I eyed Samantha as she left the control room.
"She's still here?"
"Of course she's still here, Andy. Why wouldn't she be?'
"I thought she would have left already. I thought China was a onetime thing. Doesn't she have a job?"
"Oh, the Great Wall. Loads of fun that was. You missed an excellent demonstration of an ancient Chinese sword fight. Almost lost a bit of my hair, right here at the top. Well no, we've been off to places for months. Sam has been waiting for her new assignment. "
"Months? You've been off with her for months? That's great." I didn't even try to hide the sarcasm in my voice. "You know what her new assignment can be? Figuring out how that thing got all the way across the sea and into my house when she said she tracked and killed them all." I crossed my arms and left the TARDIS.
The Doctor Followed.
"It's nearly burned to a crisp! What's with you and setting things on fire?" He scanned it.
I shrugged. What was I supposed to do about the giant burn marks?
"Can you drop the body off somewhere else?" I asked.
Samantha emerged from the TARDIS dressed in a bikini and a beach hat. My eyes bulged out.
"We can drop it off before we go to the Virgin Islands. Right Doctor?" She winked at him.
The Doctor started hauling the body on board.
"Come one Andy. You could use a little sun. You're looking a little pale," Doctor said. "Grab your beach towel."
Samantha glared at his back then turned to me.
"Shouldn't you clean that up?" She asked pointing to the burn marks.
"I can't think about that right now. I'll think about that tomorrow."
She looked me up and down. "Come on then. And make sure you bring sunblock. We wouldn't want you to burn, now would we?"
She turned and went back into the TARDIS. I sighed heavily before going to get my beach gear.
There it is! I hope you enjoyed it. What do you think of Samantha so far?
Don't worry I will keep my promise of updating in a few days. Until next time :)