CHAPTER 01

STRANGE AND SMALL LITTLE THINGS

Rose Tyler woke up one day, alone in the middle of a double bed, and everything she heard and felt seemed right: her mum, Jackie, shouting on the phone, her dad, Pete, complaining in the kitchen about something he read about in the newspaper, the smell of freshly made coffee. But as she reached for the alarm clock that's been ringing for a few minutes now, she realized she's missing something. Something so very important. Something that she knew has been part of her life, the most important part, for so long. And yet, she could not name what it was. Or who it was. She ignored that feeling, turning off the alarm clock, and getting up, ready to get dressed and not so ready for yet another boring day. She opened her wardrobe's door and saw all her clothes pressed thigh against each other on the hangers, leaving almost half of the wardrobe empty. She overlooked the awkward arrangement, picked the first piece of clothe that her hand touched, changing out of her PJs.

"Good morning everyone…"

"Good morning, sweetheart. Did you sleep well..?" asked her father.

Rose crossed the kitchen, and grabbed a cup of coffee, mumbling a 'uhum' in response to her dad, while her mum walkede in, turning off the phone.

"Look who is all up and dressed already! Try not to be late for work today, all right..?"

"Mum, have you tried to organize my wardrobe one of these days?"

"Why would I do that for? I gave up on trying to clean your room for years now…"

"Is just that all my clothes were pressed in on corner, so I just assumed…"

"Maybe yesterday you were trying to find something in there, couldn't find it, went to sleep and forgot about it..?" suggested her dad.

"Yeah… Is possible… Anyway, I better get going, then. See you guys later…"

After Rose locked the door, she felt something weird in her hand, and when she examined better her key chain, she found an extra key. She started to name what all the other keys were for while she walked out of the building she lived in, and even though she could remember what all the other keys opened, she had no idea what that small silver key was for.

First the wardrobe, now this spare key… I think I might be losing my mind…

The rest of her day went by as dull and boring as usual, and as she knew it would be. Organize the shop, help customers, hear complaints, organize everything again, lunch break, listen to more complaints from customers, talk a little with her friends while the shop was a little calmer, organize everything once more, and finally, go home. But she wasn't going home. Not yet at least. She couldn't remember when she started to do this, but she has done it every single day so far. Even if it was raining, or on those remote days when it snowed in London. She would leave the shop, take the bus with the usual bus driver that got used to seeing her, and always made small talk as she used her Oyster Card, get off two stops before the final one, and walk towards a grassy hill in the middle of a small park. And once she reached the top, she would just lay down on the grass and spend hours stargazing, just imagining and wondering what could possibly exist out there. Sometimes some stars would disappear, and reappear a few moments later, followed side by side with blinking red lights, but unlike her childhood self, she knew that it was only a airship flying way high over her head. Her dad would tell her terrifying stories when she was a kid about how the stars were going out because aliens were stealing them, or that it wasn't a airship, but a replica of the Titanic made to sail through the stars, built years and years in the future. Remembering now all those days and stories, she started to laugh, imagining where he got all those stories from. One time she asked him, she was around 15 years old at the time, and was starting to realize how absurd those stories sounded, he answered that "the mind is a incredible thing", and that "how can you know it's not true?", but when pressed harder, he would just admit he had no idea. They would just pop in his head. Almost as if someone had told them to him and a sound, or a scent, would make him remember.

The bells of a nearby church brought Rose back from her dreaminess, making she realize she'd stayed there longer than usual, which meant that her mum should have phoned her a hundred times already because she was probably being unnecessarily worried. She picked up her mobile only to find nothing less than 15 missed calls from her mum and 1 from her dad. Just brilliant. She would have tons of explanations to do once she got home.

I don't know why I'd have to explain myself though… I mean, I'm a bloody adult now! I'm not a kid anymore.

It was dead on. Her mum started to shout about how irresponsible she was, and how she always makes her worries, etcetera, etcetera… Her dad only asked her not to do this again, simple as that. After a quick supper, and no telly, she took a long shower and went straight to her room. It was only after she had changed into her PJs that she saw the dark blue tie hanging from her lamp. She picked it up, and took it to the living room, where her mum and dad were watching some crappy reality show.

"Dad, why was your tie in my bedroom?" Rose said, showing her father the blue tie.

"That's not mine… I don't even wear ties."

"You do in fancy parties and stuff…"

"Maybe I do, but none of my ties are dark blue… I'm sure of it…"

"Rose Tyler, are you bringing strange man into this house?" Accused her, her mother.

"I'm not even gonna answer that…" she replied tire of all the arguing that that question would lead to. "It is probably Mickey's then. He had to change here to that wedding we went to… He probably forgot… I'll text him about it then… Good Night."

" 'Night" said both of her parents at the same time.

It still fells a little weird to see them together like this. I guess I'm still used to… Wait, how can it fell weird? They have always been together! ... I should probably just go to bed…

With the tie still in her hand, she went back into her room, picked up her mobile and as she threw herself in her bed, she started texting Mickey.

Hey Mickey

How is your trip? I can't wait to hear all about it.

When are you coming back?

Btw, apparently you forgot your tie in my bedroom

Do you know how much crap I almost had to hear about that?

If she started to talk about it I would call you just so you could suffer with me

C ya

She tossed her mobile at her nightstand, and before she could even think about all the little strange things that had happened with her that day: the strange felling of missing something, the emptiness in her wardrobe, the small extra key, or even the blue tie, she was fast asleep, still holding the male fashion accessory tight in her hand, unconsciously not wanting to ever let it go.