There was a knock on the bathroom door. Adrian stood stooped over the bath tub washing black hair, dye running down the drain. "Yeah, what do you want I'm almost done, you know this takes a while" she said, concentrating more on her hair than the conversation at hand. I should really get a hair cut, she thought to her self flipping her long dark hair into a towel.. But first I should go see what she wanted, I really don't need another fight tonight… she opened the door and walked out to the back yard where her mom was always sitting with a cigarette in one hand and a magazine in the other.
"Took ya damn long enough I knocked on the door almost an hour ago!" her mother said in an angry but quiet tone.
"Mom it was literally five minuets. What?" Adrian responded breathing deep to prepare for what was coming next.
"I told you to go shopping today while I was asleep, Rick is coming over later and now there's no food or beer in the house, what the hell am I supposed to feed him? Why do you always do this? It's not a difficult task, you are so lazy all you ever do is sit on your fat ass and watch tv and read your damn books. I don't even know why you bother with them its not like you really understand them anyways, only smart people read. Give it up your not fooling anyone…"
Adrian took another breath. She felt like screaming but she knew that would get her nowhere.
"mom, there's no gas in the car and you didn't leave me any money to go buy anything….besides that I'm not even old enough to buy beer I'm only 17 you know this…your going to have to go get it your self" she turned to walk back in to the house but her mother was close behind her.
"Maybe if you got your fat ass up and got a job money wouldn't be a problem! And it's not my fault you cant flirt with the guy behind the counter, I was smart enough to get beer when I was your age why cant you be? God you really are useless aren't you" her mother looked at her and scoffed.
"Do we really have to have this conversation right now? Your so loud the neighbors can hear you, and you know I had a job but you made me quit remember? This is not my fault! Just calm down I'm sure he's capable of getting his own beer! Just text him and he can pick some up on the way over, that's kind of what cell phones were invented for..."
"Don't you dare sass me young lady, after all I do for you! You should just be grateful I haven't kicked your sorry ass out yet and besides he just pulled in didn't you hear his truck?"
The front door opened and a loud voice boomed "honey I'm home, now what's for dinner?" Rick stumbled into the kitchen where the two were bickering, grabbed Adrian's mom and pulled her into a kiss. God, he's already drunk, I can smell the booze from here…Adrian thought to her self as she tried to sneak out of the kitchen.
"And just where do you think your going? You think your going to sass me like that and just walk off?"
"Mom please, I'll go get…"Rick cut her off before she could even finish her plea for escape.
"Was she giving you trouble again Shauna? Well soon fix that" Rick reached for Adrian, knocking her into the door frame while his large strong hands grabbed her forearm. "Stop it your hurting me!" Adrian shouted while trying to get away, but all that did was make him grab harder. A sick smile spread across his face, he was totally enjoying the control he had over her.
"Now listen here you ungrateful little shit, you will do what your mom asks and you won't give her any trouble about it, is that clear? Now walk your tight little ass in there and get me a beer okay?" the words came spilling out of his mouth, slurred and accompanied by the smell of one too many drinks.
"Let me go rick, even if we had any beer I'd tell you to go get it your fucking self you ass!" Adrian pulled away just in time for rick to smack her across the face. She was hurt but refused to show it, blood gushed from her nose but she just smiled and said "does it make you feel strong, or like a man when you do that? Because your not, all this makes you is a coward" she spit on his boots and started to run, just barely missing being grabbed by him again.
"Adrian you get your ass back here and apologize to him right now do you hear me? He is my boy friend and you need to treat him with respect!" the rest of what ever her mother was saying was lost to Adrian because she was already out the door, it was dark by now and it had began to rain but she didn't care. She ran, wiping blood from her face always looking behind her to make sure he wasn't following.
She ran and ran until she made it downtown; the streets were empty like they always were right after dinner time. All the other families were sitting around the TV or playing games, smiling and laughing. Screw them Adrian thought. Screw them and there happy families, and there perfect freaking lives. It's not fair…it's so not fair at all…
She wondered around town for a bit then decided to head for the park, at least there she could sit on a bench and maybe take refuge from the rain under a tree. While she was walking down the main road in town looking into the windows of the party store and the drug shop she noticed something, not something really but a someone. Some one she had never seen before, but he was definitely seeing her. He was across the street standing in front of the church, there was not funeral or wedding going on and it was Tuesday so there were no services. So what was he doing there? She shoved her hands into the pocket of her old worn out black hoodie and put her head down. Do I really look that bad? She thought that he feels the need to stare me down? She walked by him avoiding eye contact but he followed. Great, just what I need right now a freaking stalker. Seriously though who wears a bow tie? He is kind of cute I guess in a nerdy way and he has nice hair. She stopped her self right there. Are you really so lonely that your thinking about how cute your stalker is? God you need to get out more. She made a mental note to join a club or a sport or some thing as soon as she got home. If she ever even went back at all. She walked over the bridge that lead to the park and kept going until she was down almost under it, but he stayed on the bridge, eyes glued to her. She wasn't really sure what to do with her self so she just stopped and sat down on a bench, there was something about this man that was odd, not malevolent or evil, just odd. She just sat there and watched him for what felt like a life time and waited for him to do something, anything other than just stand there on that bridge and look at her. The bench was wet and she was getting soaked she began to shiver despite having on jeans and her hoodie.
"God I'm sick of this…" she thought "I'm cold, I'm wet, and I've got some creep who cant keep his eyes off me…I cant really say I blame him though I must look like a hot mess right now bloody and wet, he must think I just killed some one and he's waiting for the police or something. " She let out a grunt and put her head in her hands.
"You look like you could use some hot coco" a voice said,
Adrian looked up to see that the strange man was sitting next to her with a mug extended towards her.
"Thanks, I must really look a mess" she took the mug thankful for its warmth but questioned its safety. A strange man just offered her a drink and she took it, wasn't that like safety tip number one? Don't take candy from strangers? Well it wasn't candy, it was hot chocolate she figured, not only that but this night couldn't get much worse so what the hell.
"Nahh, you just look tired, and like you need a friend… Long night?" the man seemed genuinely concerned for Adrian so she opened up to him.
"You could say that" she paused trying to get her thoughts together, she really had no intention of spilling her messed up life story to this man but she was really grateful for the company, and she figured if he was a crazy killer the longer they were talking the longer she stayed alive .
"A lot of fighting but its nothing new, I'll be fine." He smiled at her and waited for her to continue. After a slightly awkward pause all she could think to say was "Thanks again for the coco, I really, really appreciate it. I should probably be heading back soon though…" her eyes dropped to the ground "I'm always trying to run away but I never have the courage to leave, this park is usually as far as I get… I'm Adrian by the way.."
She Turned to look at her strange new friend but he was no where to be seen, it was like he had vanished like batman or something.
Great, You even managed to scared off a nerdy stalker good going… may as well go home, at least its dry there maybe they've already gone to bed it is pretty late" she put the cup back on the bench and started back for her house.
As she walked home she couldn't help but think of the strange man. How did he get there, why was he carrying around coco and more importantly where did he go? Her thoughts of the kind stranger were soon halted as she reached her front door. The living room light was off, usually a good thing at this time of night. It meant they were probably sleeping, or at least out back smoking
"I should have plenty of time to sneak in and not have to see them…hopefully…" she thought, rubbing at her still throbbing arm. As she opened the door just a crack she heard the familiar sound of the back door shutting and foot steps moving toward the living room.
"Shit" she whispered under her breath and shut the door and ran to the side of the house.
It was still raining and she was drenched, " I cant take these wet clothes any longer maybe I could climb up the tree and sneak in the window…"
Grabbing hold of the large old tree she started climbing, slipping a few times but never falling. She finally reached window level, but there was quite a gap between the base of the tree where she was and he open window where she needed to be. "Come on you got this" she told her self, not really believing it. She straddled the branch and just sat there. Looking down she realized she couldn't climb back down, and the window looked so far away.
"Why the hell do I do these things to my self, I'm going to be stuck in this damn tree all night this is just perfect. " She muttered under her breath as Tears started to mix with the rain drops that were sliding down her face. "No…no I will make that fucking jump because at least one thing tonight will go right, I will fucking try this even if it kills me.." She crawled out to the end of the biggest branch that was close to her window, slowly and carefully trying to decide the best way to go about jumping into her attic window. When she finally reached the end of the branch she stood, she was a bit shaky at first but she slowly gained her balance.
"Not to bad for three stories up in the middle of a storm now is it" a small smile broke across her face, something was finally going right…
Just as she went to take a step a large clap of thunder surprised her and threw he off balance.
she began to fall and all she could think was this is how I'm going to die, wet, cold, alone, and pissed off this is just great. She clenched her eyes, said a long strain of swear words and prepared for the nothingness.
She hit the ground a lot sooner than she thought she was going to, but kept her eyes shut just incase.
Why didn't that hurt, and what the hell is that sound?! This is it...I'm dead… and apparently angels make whooshing noises? I suppose that's good to know.
"Now what were you doing up in a tree?" a familiar voice asked, startling Adrian and making her sit up so fast she got dizzy.
Her eyes burst open to see the bowtie guy kneeling before her, and they weren't out side any more, they were in some sort of control room.
"Oh my god, you're god! That's why you came and saw me earlier you knew I was going to fall out of that tree and die…Is this heaven because it feels more like Startreak…why do the angels whoosh? I though they would like sing or something and why is the ground so hard isn't heaven supposed to be on a cloud or something?"
The words spilled out of Adrian's mouth like a damn had burst open. Not sure of what to feel or whether or not she was actually feeling it, she couldn't help it the words just came out.
"Actually, I'm the Doctor!" the strange man said when she finally took a breath.
"The Doctor? Doctor who? And this is the weirdest damn hospital I've ever seen why am I on the floor, and more importantly why am I not dead?"
"First off, it's just the doctor, also this isn't a hospital its my TARDIS, and your not dead because I caught you before you hit the ground"
" Oh" was all she could say, her head was spinning and her thoughts racing at a million miles an hour. What was a TARDIS? What type of doctor was this man? How did he catch her? Why was he even there? Had he followed her home? She was thankful though that he was there though, that was for damn sure, even if she wasn't totally convinced that she was still alive.
"So tell me again why you were in a tree?" the doctor said with a small grin on his face and and slight tilt to his head.
"I was trying to get to my room… I really need something dry to wear.." Adrian responded, not even really thinking about the words or the doctor anymore even. She was too busy taking in the room around her, it was lit with a strange blue light and there was a mushroom shaped control center looking thing in the middle, it went all the way up to the ceiling, and was covered in lights and buttons, and switches, and there was a banana resting on it. It was big and beautiful, strange and wonderful all at once. Also, it seemed as though this machine was making the whooshing noises, it wasn't angels after all. It didn't really matter though because she was so awestruck by this room she was in that angels would have seemed dull. There was just something about this tardis thing that made her hear skip a beat.
"Well I can help with that!" the Doctor said, pulling Adrian out of the daze she was in, and with that he ran to the middle of the control room, flipping switches and pressing buttons until the whole room was filled with the whooshing noise and began to shake. Adrian crouched into a little ball scared out of her mind. She thought the whole thing was going to explode and she was going to die after all but in a short time the shaking stopped.
"All righty then, open the door!" the doctor said patting the tardis and looking at it lovingly. Confused but not really willing to question anything Adrian opened the big blue doors. As she stepped into her bed room she couldn't even speak …"but how..my room…we were…were we? What….. holy hell its small..but…so big but how?!"
"It's a time machine, it can go any where in all of space and time and right now it's in your bed room"
Sat down and took off her hoodie as she let that sink in, A strange man in a bow tie just saved her life then teleported her into her room in a big blue box. Crazier things had happened she figured, she wasn't sure what but there had to be something right?
She stood and walked across her small bed room flipping on a light as made her way to her dresser." I'm going to get changed then can we talk about …this?" she pointed to the TARDIS then started pulling clothes out of her drawers. "Now turn around!"
"Of course! Oops…" just as the doctor went to turn around he noticed a mark on her arm. A hand print bruised into her like some one had grabbed her. It was fresh but there were other bruises that had faded. His two hearts sank. He understood now why she was running and it made him so sad.
"So all of space and time and you show up in this small town in the middle of nowhere…Why? I sure as hell wouldn't! Don't you have better places to be? Better people to be spending your time with than some girl who apparently can't even climb trees?" Adrian said as she sat down. She pat the bed next to her beckoning for the Doctor to sit. As he walked across the room he said "well, I don't always choose where I go, sometimes the TARDIS has a mind of its own, it wanted to come here so it did…I was trying to get to Chicago. I really want some pizza…would you like to go for pizza?"
"What in there? In your magic blue police box thingie?" Adrian let out a small laugh "why the hell not, I'd love too!"
"Excellent!" the doctor yelled as he grabbed her hand and pulled her back into the TARDIS.
Adrian Couldn't stop smiling as the doors closed behind them.