A Fantasy of a Nightmare (Doctor Who fanfiction)

Chapter 8

I think about the things I've seen in Madame Halton's history books. The beautiful stone castles of the medieval times with their soaring ivory turrets that leap into the sky like Jack and his magical beanstalk. America, the country right across the pond, and their own devastatingly bloody Civil War that if I go back in time I may have the power in my hands to change. The World Fair in Chicago, where according to Madame's old newspapers there would be sights unimaginable. But my mind flicked to one particular location, one that I read about when I was young and have had an infatuation with ever since.

"Ancient Egypt please. The era of Cleopatra the Seventh." I breath with an exhilarated flush.

"Ancient Egypt it is then. Cleo, here we come! Geronimo!" He yelled as he flipped a lever. The machine let out a jolting noise and seemed to lift from under my feet. The Doctor and I were tossed around the control room like toys in a toybox. I let out a shout of joy. This was so much better than being adopted. We spun crazily while the machine whirred and made that strange chiming noise when it landed. When it finally stopped, the Doctor walked over and opened the door. "Welcome to Egypt, Miss Oswald."

I looked out the door. What I saw before my eyes blew me away.

The sky was brilliantly blue, striped with white and orange clouds like wisps of candy floss. The blazing sun beat down on the dry land and made the Nile River sparkle like a flow of diamonds. The people, their skin brown from the sun, were dressed in clothes ranging from plain linen tunics to shimmering silk gowns with jeweled collars. The pyramids loomed in the distance- a blurry shadow of the famed architecture against the hazy skyline. All around there were merchants shouting deals for their wares, but instead of Egyptian, it was in English. "Doctor, we are in Egypt, right?" I asked. He frowned. "Of course."

"Well then why are they shouting in English? And why are the signs all in English? You didn't just bring me to some fair, did you?" I retort with a piercing gaze.

He withers under my leer."It's the TARDIS translation matrix. It'll translate anything for you so it sounds like English. But to them, you're speaking Egyptian."

This all seemed impossible. The time traveling box, the somewhat magical properties of the "TARDIS", and the Doctor, who could bring down monsters with a press of a button and a few witty words. Was it just another dream? I don't know. But at least I was rid of the nightmares that plagued me.