Adventure of a Lifetime

Awake

"Oi! What are you doing down there?" I was abruptly woken by a voice. I rubbed my eyes and squinted. A man was hanging out of the door of the police box, looking down at me. He had hair that was in his eyes, and no eyebrows to speak of; dressed like my grandad, with an old tweed coat, bowtie, and suspenders. He looked much too young to be anyone's grandad (excluding his eyes; his eyes looked ancient), but he kind of made the outfit work.

"Um... Could you help me up, please?" I asked. He hurriedly helped me up, grabbing my arms and lifting me off the ground. I wobbled a bit, as I was still stiff from sleeping on the sidewalk. The man looked at me as if he were worried.

"Why are you sleeping on the ground?" He inquired. I shrugged, unable to explain my current situation. He held onto my arms, steadying me.

"Maybe you'd like some breakfast, eh? There's a little tea shop around here somewhere." He asked me, a hand on my shoulder. I nodded, rubbing my arms.

"That'd be nice." I said. He took off his tweed jacket, and helped me into it. It was warm and comforting.

"Now then, how about you tell me your name? And maybe what you were doing outside my TARDIS." He said, tucking into his breakfast of fish fingers and custard. I looked at my bowl of custard he had ordered for me while I was cleaning up in the loo, and picked up a spoon instead; it seemed more appropriate.

"What's a TARDIS?" I asked. He pointed a fish finger at me, bit of custard dripping off the end. TARDIS...

"Oi! Name first! And you're eating that wrong. You use the fish fingers. It's delicious." He took another bite as if to prove his point. I shook my head.

"Penelope. And that's disgusting. What's a TARDIS?" I asked. He picked up another fish finger and dipped it in some custard, offering it to me. I shook my head.

"Aww, come now, Penny. Take a bite. It isn't bad." He said, his eyes wide. I sighed exasperatedly, leaned forward and took a bite. It tasted strange, but I wasn't entirely opposed to it.

"So who are you, and what's a TARDIS?" I asked. He swallowed audibly, and sat down the other half of his fish finger.

"Call me the Doctor. As for the TARDIS, that means Time And Relative Dimension In Space. It's also my ride. Tell me more about you." The Doctor said.

"I just found out I'm adopted. I'm also dying." I said. He didn't look fazed.

"That's no good. Why are you dying?" He asked. We sipped our tea as I looked out the window. He began to tap his feet. I didn't like it; that was the first time I'd ever admitted that I was dying. It was like admitting defeat. Everything felt too much. Too intense, so overwhelming. I was aware of everything, from the ding of the service bell, to the flush coming from the toilets. My clothes felt too heavy, the jumper I was wearing under my dungarees too itchy.

"Take me somewhere nice please. I need to get away from here." I said, as I began to cry. The Doctor nodded and grabbed my hand. We didn't even bother with the bill.

"What is this thing really?" I asked, as the Doctor unlocked the door of the police box. He chuckled, a noise that I rather liked.

"It's the TARDIS. You'll see." He opened the door, and pulled me in. An overwhelming sense of home hit me as I marveled at the fact that it was bigger on the inside. I would've mentioned my observation, but seeing as he travelled in here often, it would've been all too obvious. The Doctor grinned at me, then spun around and made a great show of flipping a couple of switches on what appeared to be a circular console in the centre of the room. The whole place began to shake and rumble.

"I'd hang on to something if I were you!" He shouted over the din. I laughed as I stumbled forward. There was a noise that sounded like nothing I'd ever heard, but at the same time, familiar. It was comforting. It all stopped very suddenly, the noise, the shaking. There was complete silence. I looked around the room. Random bow ties were draped over pipes and wires, greenish lights under the console. The Doctor offered a hand to me, helping me off the floor.

"Look out the doors. I think you'll like it. Just try not to fall out. That would be a mess." He said, with a chuckle. I began to walk slowly towards the doors, wondering what was so special about what was outside the doors. My hand was on the smooth handle of the door now. I looked over my shoulder; the Doctor nodded and gave me a thumbs up.

"Go ahead, pull 'em open." He said excitedly. I pulled them, swinging them open. All of the air left my body in a rush when I saw what was waiting for me.

"Cool, huh? That's-" He began. I looked at him, tears in my eyes. He hugged me, another thing that I was beginning to grow very fond of. I sobbed into his shoulder, not even sure what I was feeling just then. It was Saturn outside, or rather its rings. It looked like it was made of rocks and dust, but it was really made of ice. The Doctor rubbed my back, trying to get my attention. I looked at him, then to where he was pointing.

"In a moment, the sun will shine through the ice, and it will look like millions of diamonds. They'll really make you cry." He let go of me and sat on the floor, dangling his legs out of the door. I was a little bit wary, but I sat down too, only cross legged. He smiled,then laughed when he saw I had my legs crossed quite firmly.

"You can put your legs out. It won't hurt. Trust me." I did as he said, and found it didn't hurt. It was actually quite nice. We both sat there, swinging our legs back and forth.

"This seems impossible. All of it. We are in a box in space. I'm adopted. Nothing makes sense." I said softly, my voice a whisper. The Doctor just looked at me, as if he were urging me to continue.

"I... I've never been good with people. I've always been a little different... I liked stories about stars instead of stories about princesses. I would ask for telescopes and star maps instead of dolls and dresses. My mum hated it. She would try to force me to be like her, and I just rebelled. She lived so... Small. She never looked at the sky and wondered. There's obviously so much more out there! How could anyone not wonder?" I said passionately. The Doctor held onto the straps of my dungarees, as if he were afraid I'd jump out.

"What's this about dying? You keep avoiding that." He said, eyes fixed on me. I looked down at my trainers, and at the stars and void below them. I don't want to die, I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all...

"I have- I was diagnosed with cancer. A tumor in my brain. It's inoperable, and my body is unresponsive to every medicine they've given me. So I'm just-"

"Waiting. You're waiting to die." We sighed simultaneously, and lay back on the floor in sync. I grabbed his hand; he squeezed back.

"I don't want to die, Doctor. I haven't done anything yet." I said, choking back tears. He got up very suddenly, and went crashing about. I got up and followed him around, curiously listening as he muttered under his breath.

"Doctor? What are you doing?" I asked, as he raced around the console like a nutter, pressing buttons and flipping switches. He looked at me very suddenly, nonexistent eyebrows raised.

"Well, I thought it would be a shame to sit around waiting. Thought maybe you'd like to go somewhere nice. Pick a place. Any place, any time." He said, punctuating all of his sentences with various hand gestures and movements. It was a bit distracting, but I decided to leave it be. I was more focused on the task at hand. Any time and place?

"Is this a one time thing? And any time? You have to be more specif-" I stopped myself suddenly. "Doctor, I think I need to go home. I've been gone for quite a while." I looked down, a little embarrassed that this was my only reason for skipping out on the adventure of a lifetime. I looked down, shuffling my feet a bit. The Doctor laughed, gripping the console as if he were going to fall over from all of his laughter. As he stood back up to his full height, he wiped away a fake tear.

"It's a time machine, Penelope. I could take you back to the exact moment you left, if that's what you wanted. However, before I take you back, there is one place I would really like to take you." He said, pressing another button, which made everything shake again. This time, I latched onto the Doctor, who held onto the console. It only took a moment for everything to settle again, and then the Doctor was swinging open the doors. I inched forward, observing the world outside of the TARDIS doors.

"Penelope, welcome to New Earth!"

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