The Doctor had landed in what appeared to be a girls bedroom, with pink walls and a canopy bed.
"Are you him?" A small voice called out.
"That depends on who you were expecting."
"I don't really know, lots of people come and go from here now." The Doctor saw where the voice was coming from. In the bed and hidden under the stuffed animals was a little girl.
"Who did you want it to be?" He asked.
"Well, call me silly….. but I had hoped you were an Angel, coming to take me away."
"That's not silly at all, because I am in fact an Angel of sorts. But why do you want to be taken away."
The little girl sat up. "Because I'm dying." Then the Doctor saw, there was not a lock of hair on her head, her skin was ashy and her green eyes were dull.''
"Are you sure? You don't even look like you're ill, let alone dying."
"Yes, the doctors said that I only have a few days left to live. They said the disease had gotten too far into my brain… Do you think I'm going to die?"
The Doctor couldn't answer, so they sat in silence for a while until the girl asked, "Angel, can you tell me a story?"
"Yes deary. Once upon a time, there was a sad and lonely man, and maybe he was just a little bit mad. His job was to watch the stars, and so he did. But after a while, he grew tired of his job, as sometimes adults do. So he left his job and went on many grand adventures with some people he had met on the journey… Oh how he loved his friends, but after a while they grew old and left the man and again he was lonely. So he went back to his job, only to discover that the stars had all died. Then the man spent the rest of his years trying to forget his failure. But he never could quite get rid of the guilt."
"That was sad…." The girl observed."
"Yes, I suppose it was." They were silent again.
"Angel," The girl again broke the silence. "Am I the stars?"
"Yes."
"Are you the man?"
"Yes."
"Oh…. You didn't fail me though."
"I didn't?"
"No, you did what you wanted. Besides, it's not your fault got sick is it?"
"Well, no. But I can't help you."
"Neither can the doctors."
"Yes but… What was your name?"
"Lorraine."
"Okay Lorraine, I am going to save you." And he ran to the Tardis. "Scan her." He said. The girl came up on the screen.
Name: Lorraine Euston.
Age: 7
Her body is fighting cancer cells, mainly located in the brain stem. Know cures: None.
"I don't believe that! Try again!"
Known cures: None.
The Doctor slammed his fists on the console. "No! I will save her! We will find a cure, I can't let her die! She's just a child! Only a child…." Then the Doctor wept, his tears flowed into the heart of the Tardis. The familiar whirring of the Tardis pounded in his ears.
"We can't leave her!" He ran to the door trying to pull it open. "Not while she's about to die…" He curled up on the ground defeated
"Hello?" A small, familiar voice echoed through the door.
"Lorraine?"
"Angel? Is that you?" The Doctor ran out of the Tardis to be met with the sight of a hospital.
"Angel? Are you going to take me away now?" There was Lorraine, laying in a Hospital bed, her pulse beginning to drop.
"Yes, very soon." He smiled sadly down at her.
"Okay, we can go… once I wake up." Then, her pulse hit zero. The Doctor adjusted her sheets. And with the monitor screaming in his ears, he left.
The Doctor often found himself thinking of Lorraine. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't forget the sight of the little girl in her bed. So he decided to visit her one last time.
The whirring of the Tardis stopped and the Doctor stepped out among the gravestones.
Lorraine Euston
2009 - 2015
Loving Daughter
"We will miss you forever."
The Doctor kneeled down and placed a bouquet of Star Flowers on her grave.
"Oh the adventures we could've had," He whispered "If I could've just saved you."
"But you couldn't have." A voice from behind him said. The Doctor turned around. Standing behind him was a beautiful young girl with curly black hair and the greenest eyes the Doctor had ever seen.
"It's not your fault….. Goodbye Angel."