Chapter Text
(Celeste's pov)
The moon was shimmering on the sea, calm and endless. Insects were chirping in the grasses and shrubs along the edge of the water. Trees stood tall behind her, towering in the illuminated night. Celeste picked out grass from where she sat on the ground. There weren’t much of the stars to see, but the moon was doing its job good enough for her.
Celeste had ran away from her house. Her rucksack lied on the grass beside her.
She had ran away from her house, and she had nowhere to go.
A little while later, Celeste got up, threw her rucksack over her shoulders, and turned her back towards the water. She took a thin pathway back to the roads and started walking towards a friend’s house. She could stay there for a while, at least, she thought.
The problem was that to go to her friend’s house, she would have to pass a dark alley, one where she could easily get killed. It was night and the area was deserted except for dogs roaming around.
She started humming a song to herself. I could ask some lady for help, maybe, she thought looking at the houses around. She was two blocks from the alley.
Or she could wait somewhere around, lodge for the night.
A shrill scream came from somewhere around the alley. Dogs started barking. Celeste took a few steps forward, just enough to see what was happening.
She chuckled at the sight.
A group of cats was jumping and climbing on a thin, rather tall man. He was panicking and hyperventilating, all that while maintaining a bitter expression on his face.
Celeste decided to help the poor guy. She easily shooed away the cats, far more easily than she expected with her anxiety.
“Oh- Oh god- thanks-” the man gasped. “That was catnip probably- I hate it!”
He continued his series of oh and ah while brushing cat hairs of his, wow, long, brown coat, an amazing pair of pants, a shirt, and a necktie. And his hair was... wild. All sticking up, all handsome. Finally, he took a final deep breath and turned to face Celeste with an expression of gratitude.
“Thank you, well,” he said.
“Celeste.”
“Thank you, Celeste.” he kept throwing glances around, “I’m the Doctor.”
“Doctor who?” Celeste asked.
“Just the Doctor.” That’s a weird name. “So, where are you going?”
“Oh, I'm just-” Celeste stopped. What was she gonna say? The Doctor raised his eyebrows, waiting for a reply.
“Just going around,” she managed.
“With a rucksack?”
Uh-oh, she thought. She felt it heavy on her shoulders, suddenly feeling the need to take it off. She did so.
The doctor immediately clutched her wrist and slipped up her sleeve, giving her a moment of absolute panic. She tried to break free but then realized the Doctor wasn’t moving. He was just staring at her arm. He was staring at the bruises on her arm.
She thought of a bigger uh-oh.
“What’s this?” he asked Celeste with a dangerously calm voice. She didn’t reply. “What is this, Celeste?”
She tried to speak but wasn’t able to. The Doctor seemed to have noticed her discomfort and invited her to a walk.
“Do you want to come with me? Or a walk? Or somewhere you have to go?”
She told him about the lake. They went back to the lake.