A River Of Stars [On Hold]

Chapter 1 - The Ruined Cake

"There." Rebecca stepped back, smiling. She put the palette knife on her kitchen counter, smearing it with a little bit of purple frosting . Leaning on the fridge behind her, she wiped her slightly sweaty hands on her jeans, cursing her inability to tie her apron properly. She straightened, and turned to the fridge. Her hands swept through her hair, trying to fix her scattered curls. After her shower, she had spent a good twenty minutes deciding what to wear - she needed to look good for this. Dark eyes stared back at her, much too scared for her liking. Her coffee toned hands shook with nervousness, and she curled them into fists, willing them to stop.

She grabbed her messenger bag from the chair and swung it over her shoulder. After a long, long time, Rebecca finally had the opportunity to do what needed to be done, say what needed to be said.

"YOU THERE" she jabbed a finger at her reflection. "You, my hopeless friend, WILL NOT chicken out. YOU will do what needs to be done."

Turning forward again, she transferred the cake to the carrier with deft hands, and darted out of her kitchen before she could chicken out. The autumn air was crisp as exited the apartment block. This neighborhood was shady - to say the least. But it was close to college, and her apartment was really quite good, even if she did have to share it with the most obnoxious roommate on the surface of the Earth.

The walk along the street was remarkably uneventful. This was a big day for Rebecca - yet, no celebrations. Just an ordinary day. The sun was rising, the wind whipped through the streets, children were tucked away, they would wake up in a few hours and -

A strange whooshing noise.

"Huh." Rebecca turned her head to the side. While using one of her shortcuts, she had entered a narrow alleyway,and the gap between the buildings was minimal. As a result, she normally heard a large number of odd things. But nothing quite like this one. Ever the inquisitive type, she stuck her head into the abandoned building.

"I'm gonna be murdered." She murmured as she surveyed the small flat. The door had swung open on its hinges, and bits of paper fluttered across the concrete floor. Balancing the cake in one hand, she took out her phone and flicked on the torch. The ceiling was low, and sagged a lot - it was an old construction. The whooshing noise had come from inside this flat. Rebecca took a step inside, wincing as her footsteps echoed across the concrete.

She entered doorway to the left cautiously; it looked like it used to be a living room. Dark and empty, basically four walls of concrete. Perfectly ordinary, of course. Except for the blue box tucked into the corner.

"Police public call box?" she wondered to herself.

"They were quite popular in the 1960s" a voice came from behind Rebecca, and she screamed.

"AAAHHH!" she spun around wildly, bag whipping the man in the stomach, and precariously balanced cake hitting the wall. Her phone was still in her hand, though, and she tucked it into her bag before any accidents could happen.

"OOFFF" he hunched over. "What do you even have in there?"

"College textbooks" Rebecca's tone was apologetic "Wait. Why am I apologizing? You terrified me! Hasn't anyone ever told you NOT to sneak up on people like that?"

"Hasn't anyone ever told you that you shouldn't enter abandoned buildings? Hasn't anyone ever told you you shouldn't hold things in one hand? Hasn't anyone ever told you not to talk to mad strangers?" he flapped his arms about wildly, challenging her with his tone.

"Sorry" she shrunk back and looked at him from the shadows. His pants ended just a little bit too short - a little above his ankle. Even so, he was remarkably well dressed. Shirt and tweed jacket ironed, black trousers too. Suspenders attached rightly, and a glorious red bow tie. His hair was the best part, all floppy and brown and fabulous.

"Don't be sorry." He waved his hand genially, grinning broadly. "Let's see what happened to that cake, shall we?" he jumped over childishly, and picked up the carrier where it had fallen on its head. Rebecca cringed - the message would most certainly have been wiped away. The lid has shifted, and her frosting had smeared on the floor. The peculiar man swiped his finger into it and popped it into his mouth, grinning at her with bright eyes.

"D-don't do that." Shy by nature, Rebecca could scarcely believe that that situation was unfurling before her eyes. Met a crazy man in an abandoned house. Actually, now that she pondered it, it sounded like horror movie fodder. Though the man in front of her acted like a child more than anything else."You don't know what's been on that floor."

"Aha" he leaped up, and Rebecca took a cautious step back. All of a sudden, she was aware of how tiny the room was. How easy it would be for him to whirl around, brandishing a knife with murder in his eyes. He looked mostly harmless, though; he was tucked into the corner, with her cake, scarcely a few feet away from her. She gave the room a quick glance, but couldn't see much. The only proper thing she had to defend herself was her rather heavy bag.

"You're absolutely right." He agreed "no telling what's been there. Unless..." he dropped to the floor with a sudden thud, and Rebecca stepped forward, to check if anything was wrong. But - no. He had only stuck his tongue out and gave the concrete a good long lick.

"That's - utterly horrifying" she exclaimed, putting a hand on her chest.

"Hmm.... Yes of course. Mostly dust, hasn't been cleaned out in approximately three years, two months and fifteen days. However" he got up again, starting his incessant arm flapping once more "interesting fact, most dust in human households is dead skin."

"Gee, you're a real charmer" Rebecca murmured under her breath. This man made her want to laugh, which was something she didn't do very often anymore.

"Ah, not much luck with the ladies, I'm afraid. My wife died the first time I met her."

"Oh. I'm sorry. But wait...doesn't that mean you got married on the very first day of your relationship?"

"No, no." his tone was dismissive. "You know what, forget it." He stooped down and picked up the smushed cake. Then lifted up the lid cautiously "Was it supposed to say NSEFLARP?"

"WHAT?" Rebecca was horrified "Let me see." She walked over, and grabbed the cake, feeling the icky frosting coat her fingers. And indeed, it was true.

"Well, I suppose it's quite all right. I can fix it for you, if you want. Just..." he pulled out a green device from the jacket pocket "just reverse the polarity of the neutron flow... and it should go back to what it said before."

"NO!" This was insane! Not even the best cake decorator could fix it now, it was that bad. But if he somehow could.... she really, really, really didn't want him to know what it said.

"OOOOOOH" he gave a fake shiver "sinister cake."

She let out an awkward chuckle.

"Not really..." the shyness kicked back in, and she looked at the floor, avoiding the strange man's intense gaze. She considered bolting while she could make a run for it, but she didn't really want to leave.

"I suppose introductions are in order" he beamed, and stuck out a hand "I'm the Doctor."

"I'm studying to get my degree" she wasn't sure why she shared that "so soon I'll have the same title." A small smile appeared.

"And then you'll be Doctor what?" he then looked away and said softly "not used to being on this side of the sentence."

"Right.... We'll I guess, in six months I'll be Doctor Rebecca Irma Smith"

"Smith?!?! Now that's just not fair." and he bopped her nose. Rebecca recoiled, and covered her face with her hand. She angled away from the doctor, uncomfortable with the contact.

"Sorry. Sorry. I'm so sorry!" he lifted his hands in a placating gesture and stepped away. "Well, Ms. Becca Smith? Are you busy today?" he handed her the cake back.

Rebecca thought about what she had planned to do today. The cake was destroyed now so.... She ignored the little voice in her head that was saying don't make excuses Rebecca and she found herself replying "Don't call me Becca, but no, not really. I was just going to drop by my school and pick up some books I left at college. Why?"

"Would you like to help me find an alien?"