Apocalypse Rising (Book Six)

Vincent and the Apocalypse

Guess who is officially a high school graduate, guys! Whoop whoop!

Which means I get this awesome new laptop . . . and of course the first episode I get to write on it is all focused on our protagonists, which means it was super long to write! Which also means that "Turn Left" is going to be a pain in the butt to write. Ah, well. I've got an eight hour flight to London tomorrow night. I'll probably get it done, unless I'm sleeping. Which is entirely possible.

Also, a heads up to everyone - for those of you who do not know, my parents and I are leaving for a four-week trip to Europe tomorrow night. I'm hoping to write while we're traveling from place to place, but don't count on updates. My dad really deserves this opportunity, so I want to be able to experience these countries to the fullest. Thank you all for understanding and bearing with me while I've finished school. Now that it's done, it's summer vacation - for me, anyway. Thank you again.

*coughs* Anyway, on with the show! Our favorite Time Lady and company meet one of the greatest painters of all time. What words of wisdom does she have for Vincent Van Gogh?

Here's "Vincent and the Apocalypse!"

***

"So this is one of the last painting Van Gogh ever painted," the tour guide was explaining as he gestured to one of the painting so n the wall. "Those final months of his life were probably the most astonishing artistic outpouring in history. It was like Shakespeare knocking off Othello, Macbeth, and King Lear over the summer hols. And especially astonishing because Van Gogh did it with no hope of praise or reward. He is now – "

"Thanks for bringing me," Amy told the Apocalypse with a smile.

"You're welcome," the Apocalypse smiled.

"You're being so nice to me," Amy frowned. "Why are you being so nice to me?"

"I'm always nice to you!" the Apocalypse protested.

"Not like this! These places you're taking me. Arcadia, the Trojan Gardens, now this. I think it's suspicious."

"What?" the Apocalypse shook her head. "It's not. There's nothing to be suspicious about."

"OK," Amy frowned, turning to Rose. "I was joking. Why isn't she?"

Rose opened her mouth to respond when the tour guide started again. "Each of these pictures now is worth ten millions of pounds, yet in his lifetime, he was a commercial disaster. Sold only one painting, and that to the sister of a friend. We have here possibly the greatest artist of all time, but when he died, you could have sold his entire body of work and got about enough money to buy a sofa and a couple of chairs. If you follow me now – "

"Who is it?" a child behind them asked.

"It's the doctor." The Apocalypse spun around, eyes wide, but sighed when she realized the children were talking about a portrait on the wall. "He was the doctor who took care of Van Gogh when he started to go mad."

"I knew that."

"Look, there it is!" Amy ran to one of the pictures as Jenny squeezed the Apocalypse's hand. "The actual one!"

"This is brilliant," Rose admitted, looking around. "Mind you, I've never had much of an interest in art before. But Van Gogh . . . "

"Amazing, isn't it?" the Apocalypse asked fondly, she and Jenny walking up. "You can almost feel his hand painting it right in front of you, carving the colors into shapes . . . " She blinked, then leaned closer to the painting of the church. "Wait a minute . . . "

"What?" Amy frowned.

"Well, just look at that!" the Apocalypse gestured to the painting.

"What?"