Day Three: Restless (27th of July)

Today, Violet felt very sad.

Her sadness made her feel even sadder, because she knew she wasn't supposed to be sad on Christmas. It wasn't really anybody's fault she was sad. She just was. Her family had not impacted her life greatly, and she had no companion to keep her company, save a grouchy eight-year-old husky whose ferociousness matched somewhat of a teacup terrier’s. 

Violet thought about this as she stared at the crackling fire, gripping her mug of hot cocoa for warmth. The wandering winking out flames of the fire kept her in a pensive mood that Christmas Eve.

Why would they ever stray away from the hearth of the fire?

Why venture out into the cold unknown and shy away from others who might have even cared? 

Why act like me, she thought almost bitterly. 

Violet bought the mug close to her lips and sipped the chocolate slowly-

Crash! Her face twisted in pain as she looked at the mess she's made.  

Now she was feeling even more miserable than ever and was about to bury her face in her pillow when something happened. 

A man, an eccentric looking young man swung the door open wildly and then slammed it, panting heavily.

He pocketed something that looked like a pen with a glowing green light on one tip within his tweed jacket and wiped his hands on his trousers.

The man finally took interest to his surroundings and marched straight towards Violet, whose eyes doubled in size at that very moment. 

"That. That thing. You've broken a thing. A mug! A mug of," he sniffed the air freely, "A mug of hot chocolate! Oh I do love chocolate- but no, I couldn't have some- I do get quite gassy when it comes to hot chocolate... yes." The man smiled wide at Violent, whose eyes were now triple the size they were three minutes ago. 

"Hello Katy! I'm the Do-"

"My name isn't Katy," said Violet sardonically, her eyes never straying away from the strange man.

"Yes- yes of course it isn't because it's Jessica!"

Violet shook her head.

"Good. I was only testing you and you passed, Mandy!"

"It's-It's Violet," she said, "What are you doing in my dorm?"

"Violet ... ?"

"Violet Stormhold."

The man tilted his head to the side and nodded slowly.

"Yes... What a beautiful name ... Like in a fairy tale ... Violet Stormhold."

Violet pointed at the squashy couch and said, "You can sit down-"

The man shook his head politely before gesturing the room around him. "Today is Christmas Eve, am I correct? I usually am but sometimes I do get dates wrong and not right. But not wrong right no ... right?"

Violet looked at the man strangely before nodding slowly.

There's a crazy man in my room. Just get to the phone slowly and dial nine-one-one...

The man smiled sadly at her before saying, "No one should be alone on Christmas Eve, not even you, Violet Stormhold. Come with me."

Violet's eyebrows shot up and hid beneath her dark bangs. "Come with you? Where? You're barking mad. Get out of my dorm!"

The man tutted and shook his head eagerly. "I can take you anywhere you'd like to go. I can show you wonders you'd never have even thought of dreaming of. I can-"

There was a sudden bang-bang-bang against the door and the man looked at her pleadingly. "Hurry! If you want to have the best Christmas Eve then come with me right this second. I can show you adventure, treasure and whatever you'd like. No one should be alone on Christmas Eve!"

The rasping on the door grew louder with each bang and for the first time, Violet felt afraid... yet oddly excited at the same time. 

The door's hinges were about to explode and the man suddenly grabbed Violet's hand before saying, "If you want to have the best Christmas Eve, then come with me-"

"Alright-alright! I'm coming!" said Violet, who felt everything at once, everything except loneliness. The sadness seemed to be going away now.

The strange man laughed victoriously before opening the window latches. The wind barged in the room and whistled in Violet's ears merrily, whipping her dark straight hair wildly. 

"What the hell are you doing!" she screamed over the wind.

The man whirled around and smiled from ear to ear. "Saving you of course!"

"Saving me from what?"

Violet was suddenly jerked out of the way when a huge hairy beast entered her room and growled low and dangerous. It then hurdled itself onto Violet’s bathroom and started howling madly.

"From that! Come on then Stromhold! Just hold on!"

Violet's eyes were tearing from the lashing wind. She held the man's arms securely and looked behind her. The beast was almost upon them now. 

Butter!

Violet hurriedly ran back to her husky, Butter, carried him with forced effort, and grabbed the man's hand one more time.

"You didn't tell me your name!" she yelled, fear suddenly gnawing at her insides. 

"It's the Doctor!" he said, before jumping out of the window, with Violet and the husky following closely behind. 

- left-foot-fowl