You know, when I woke up that morning, I thought it was going to be a normal, monotonous day at school. I guess no one ever really wakes up thinking that that day is going to change their life forever.
I was normal. Well, if you can really call anyone ‘normal’. Two parents, younger sister, nice house, decent life. I had every person’s routine: Wake up, breakfast, drive to school, sit in school for eight hours, drive home, homework, supper, sleep, repeat. Yep, normal. Except for that one morning.
My phone buzzed obnoxiously alerting me to the fact that it was seven o’clock in the morning, and it was time to get up. I groaned, reached over and clicked the side button to switch it to ‘snooze’. Whoever thought that adding a ‘snooze’ button to any alarm clock pretty much ruins people’s lives on a daily basis. Granted, it’s the people who hit the button in the first place so I guess it’s our fault.
ANYWAYS.
I started in on my usual routine, walk downstairs, get coffee, and fall back asleep on the sofa. Usually, my internal clock will wake me up about thirty minutes later, when I have to start getting ready for school. When I woke up, it was eight fifteen in the morning. That gave me fifteen minutes to get dressed, fix my hair and make the ten minute drive to school before I was late.
I rushed up the stairs, tripping in the process sending me sprawling into the next few stairs. I hopped back up and ran to the bathroom, ignoring the red trails of blood that were running down my shins. My parents should have really thought to put carpet on those stairs, especially with my track record.
With my hair half-way tamed, I bolted out the door with ten minutes to go.
And somehow, by the grace of God, there wasn’t any traffic. I pulled my classic ford into my parking spot, and rushed to my first period, making the bell with seconds to spare.
“With three seconds to go, cutting it a bit close?” my physics teacher said.
“Woke up late.” I said, panting. He nodded and motioned for me to sit down. We started work on Relativity, Time dilation and the fun stuff of physics. At least, I am the only one in the class who thinks so.
The day passed by uneventfully. Two of my friends became a couple, and two of my friends became ex’s. I was walking down the hallway on my way to band when…
WHAM.
I was standing in a large circular room, metal grating covered the floor, showing the wires and fiber optic cables running under the floor, in the center was a console with a multitude of flashing buttons and levers, a glass pipe ran from the center of the console to the ceiling. The floor beneath me vibrated, as if I was on a plane, or a ship. I stepped forward, hand outstretched, not sure if what I was seeing was real or not.
A skinny man in a brown pinstriped suit walked out from behind the console, glasses perched on his nose. He was so intent on his work that he didn’t even seem to notice me.
“Um, Hello. Where am I exactly?” I asked tentatively.
He jumped. “What?!” He looked back at a screen attached to the console and then back at me.
“I asked where I was. Who are you?”
“What?!” He seemed to be in utter shock that I was even standing there. “WHAT?!”
“Will you please stop saying ‘What’ and tell me where I am?”
He looked at me for another second, and said “You’re in the TARDIS.” He flipped a lever, and the glass column in the center of the console lit up with light and a distinctive grating sound rang throughout the room.
“Okay, Ship called the TARDIS. Who are you?” I asked. I stayed where I was. He seemed friendly enough, and judging by his reaction he didn’t bring me onto this ship. Another lever was flipped and the room shuddered. He ran around the console, pushing buttons and flipping switches.
“I’m The Doctor.” He said simply. “How did you get in here? We’re in the middle of nowhere! Deep, DEEP Space! And we’re in flight! A human being can’t just transport itself on to my TARDIS. Especially in flight.” He ran around the circular console, which at this point, I had guessed to be how he flew the TARDIS.
“I don’t know. I was walking to my band class” I indicated to my flute, which was still hanging on my shoulder. I set it down gently, along with my backpack. “And then I ended up here. I didn’t do anything.” I stepped nearer to the screen, circles and lines that looked like the inner workings of a watch littered the screen, probably a language too complex for me to understand. So he wasn’t human.
He looked at me as if I was a bug under a microscope. “Then how did you get in?” He removed a small cylinder with a blue tip from his pocket and pointed it at me. “No huon energy on you. Maybe you have a connection with the inner room of the TARDIS?” He went on, mumbling technical babble, while circling around me with a magnifying glass. I stood there silently. I didn’t want to make him angry. “And who are you?”
“Olivia. Olivia Watson.” I said, looking around the TARDIS. The glass globes on the walls reflected the light from the console. “So, what species are you?” I asked off handedly, hoping that my line of logic was sound.
“That’s an odd question from someone coming from the 21st century.” He went back to looking at the screen. “What makes you think that I’m not human?”
“We’re on a space ship, and unless we’re not in the same century as I was when I was at school, humans haven’t worked out viable space travel yet.”
“Oh, I like you. You’re clever! And to answer your question, I’m a Time Lord. Now, I need to know, who are you? Where did you come from? Judging by your accent, you live in America.” The screen blipped. The Doctor glanced at it and did a double take. “What? This thing has to be broken.” He reached into his pocket and drew out a pair of old 3D glasses, the ones with the blue and red lenses, and looked at me. “Yep, that’s Void radiation.”
“So, what you’re saying is, that I’m in a completely different dimension, with no way back?”
He looked startled. I would have bet one hundred dollars on that he didn’t think I knew what that was. Or even the situation I was in.
“Yes. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. There’s nothing I can do.” He took off his glasses and put them in his pocket.
I looked down at my feet. “So what am I going to do? I can’t just show up at my house. Chances are that I’m already there, or I was never born. I can’t just go to a different country and start my life over again, too many documents to fake, and I’m not even out of high school yet!” I sat down on the floor and put my head in my hands. I would never see my family or my friends ever again.
“Well, you could, come with me.” He said, sitting down next to me. “See the universe, and probably find a bit of trouble.”
“Yes. I’d love to.” I said with a smile. He hopped up, pulling me up with him.
“Alight then!” He said with a flourish. “Allons-y! Next stop, anywhere, any when!”