****AUTHOR'S NOTE****
I hope you enjoy this fanfiction. I don't know where I will take it and I'm really bad about having writer's block at some point with every story I write so I often have times where I won't post things for months (and in some cases years). So I hope you don't get too upset with me if that happens here. I am a single mom and will soon me working then once fall comes I will be in classes five days a week on top of work and taking care of my son so I may not have time to write. The fact that I got this written is amazing. I'm supposed to be packing my place up right now but for days my brain has been screaming at me to write something and last night I had the urge to write a Doctor Who fanfic but couldn't think of what to write about until today after getting my nails done in a blue very close to TARDIS blue.
I really had fun writing this bit so I hope I can continue it. Enjoy!
Avery's face twitched in her sleep. Her brown creased and her eyebrows drew together as she groaned and tossed her head.
iCan anyone hear me? Is there someone out there who can help me? Please! Help me!/i
She sat bolt upright, breathing hard. Rubbing her face in her palms, Avery let herself really wake up. The dream started to fade and the adrenaline it caused to course through her body slowly began to ebb. The bed creaked as she tossed the covers aside and threw her feet over the edge, placing them on the cold laminate flooring. The chill spread throughout her body almost instantly, helping her to become more alert.
Standing, Avery turned and threw the covers back over the bed in a somewhat tidy manner then slid her feet into her fuzzy, zebra print slippers and shuffled from the room. In the bathroom she appraised herself in the mirror, trying to forget the dream.
It wasn't the first time she'd had it. Even sometimes during the day when she allowed her mind to drift from the task at hand she could hear the voice calling out to her. The voice was definitely female, of that much she was sure. The problem was that it felt so real. Of course, it couldn't be. She couldn't hear voices.
As she turned the knobs on the sink, the warm water spilled into the basin and began swirling round and round. For a moment Avery forgot what she was doing and simply stared at the draining water. It continued to swirl and Avery could swear she saw flashes of light and images coming from it. Faces. Male faces. Several of them. All of them different but somehow she felt that they were all the same. Just then her cell phone began to ring from the other room, jarring Avery from her thoughts. She ran to get it, answering it just before the voicemail would have picked up.
"This is Avery," she said, speaking into the receiver.
"Hi, Avery, this is Doctor Seward's office calling to remind you of your appointment this afternoon at three."
"All right, got it. Thanks for calling to remind me."
"No problem. Have a good day."
"You too," she said and pressed the end call button. After she hung up she stood in her room staring off into space, trying to remember what she had been doing a moment before.
"Right, I was about to wash my face," she spoke aloud to herself then headed back to the bathroom to finish her morning routine.
Avery Mitchell was only twenty-six and lived alone. She didn't really have any friends or family to speak of and to most that might seem sad but she was okay with it. Her parents had died in a car accident when she was twelve and her grandparents raised her until she turned eighteen and went off to college. They died during her sophomore year, leaving her their modest home and a decent amount of money. Avery used that money to help pay for school and property taxes. She took a job at a local electronics store to pay for utilities and any other expenses she might have. It seemed like a lonely life to outsiders but Avery never felt alone with her gadgets.
She'd always had a knack for high tech toys and machinery. When she was only two she managed to fix an alarm clock she had broken when she had thrown it against the wall while playing with it. It wasn't until she was in high school that she realized she was incredibly different from others. Her knack was actually something more. She supposed you could call her some sort of mutant but that just sounded derogatory. Avery felt that her gift was like pure fantasy. She could communicate with electronics and machines. She felt how they worked in her very bones. With a touch of her hand she could find the problem and will it to correct itself. She'd even tried building things that she saw in science fiction programs. In fact, she had a light saber hidden away in the back of her closet. When she invented that, she'd nearly destroyed the house playing with it.
For the most part she tried to keep her skills under wraps but from time to time she used them to get ahead at work. She worked repairs at the local electronics shop. With her help the little mom and pop store had become the go-to business for anyone with tech problems. The owners loved her so much that she made even more than their store manager. Unfortunately she was growing bored with the job. To her, all the devices brought in were too easy. It took only seconds to diagnose the problem and fix it. She longed for a challenge. Longed to see something different.
With her face freshly washed, Avery pulled the head band from her chestnut colored hair and fixed the flyaways, not bothering to style it, just leaving it in the half-ponytail at the nape of her neck. Real quick she applied mascara, concealer, and powder then brushed her teeth and went to the kitchen in search of breakfast.
A full breakfast sounded best and she had plenty of time to make it considering it was her weekend. She would indulge today in fried potatoes, bacon, eggs, and even some pancakes. She aimed to stuff herself silly then veg out on the couch while she watched the morning talk shows.
Hours later she was asleep on the couch, having fallen back to sleep while sitting up. Her eyes flickered as in her mind she dreamed yet again.
iShe was walking through a dense forest, the ground completely covered in foliage. Something seemed to pull at her, drawing her near. Her heart raced with anticipation. Whatever she was walking towards would be wonderful. It would be like nothing she'd ever seen before.
Hello? Is there someone out there? Can you hear me?
That voice again. The female voice from all those other dreams and daydreams. "Yes! I can hear you! Where are you?" Avery called back aloud, not realizing that the voice she heard she wasn't hearing with her ears.
Hello? Can anyone hear me?
"I can hear you!" Avery said adamantly. "Me! Where are you? I can't see you!"
Help me! Please, someone help me! I'm here. I'm all alone. Please, can anyone hear me?
Avery started running in the direction she thought the voice was coming from, the pulling sensation growing stronger. Someone was in trouble and she had to help them. As she ran she leaped over fallen trees and clumps of small shrubs, her feet seeming to carry her faster and faster.
"I'm coming for you! Just hold on!" she shouted, her legs pumping as hard as they would go.
How long she ran for, she couldn't figure, but suddenly the pulling sensation stopped and so did she. Her knees gave out from exhaustion and she crumpled to the forest floor, breathing hard. Looking around she couldn't see anything but trees, shrubs, and vines. There was nothing here.
Is anyone out there who can hear me?
The voice was alarmingly close. Avery looked around again but still saw nothing. "Please, tell me where you are!"
Help me! I'm all alone.
"Yes, yes! I'll help you just tell me where you are!"/i
Her hazel eyes snapped open as the dream disappeared. She found herself still sitting on the couch, her breakfast dishes on the coffee table in front of her, the TV still blaring. Rubbing her eyes she tried to see the forest from her dream again. It was the first time she'd been anywhere when she dreamed of the voice. Normally that's all the dream was, the voice.
Taking a deep breath she forced herself to get up and get dressed. A long walk would help to clear her head. She was still frightened for the woman. She had to think of something else or she would be stuck with those feelings for the rest of the day and it would just ruin her weekend.
Outside was warm and sunny. For a moment Avery just the let sun soak into her as she turned her face up towards the sky. Summer was only just beginning and there was still a slight chill to the air but, to Avery, it was perfect weather. She breathed deep the fresh scents that wafted through the air on a small breeze then began to walk at a leisurely pace. There wasn't a set destination in mind, just a walk through town.
People she knew passed by going about their usual business. Several waved and said hello and Avery responded in kind. Most of the people who lived there were old enough to be her grandparents. She'd known them most of her life. Often she would be invited over for dinners or sweet, old ladies would stop by with a dish of some thing or the other.
As she thought of a million other things besides the dream, Avery didn't realize she'd walked straight through town and was now treading through pastures, heading straight for the tree line at the back of all the open land.
Before too long she suddenly stopped and blinked, having no idea where she was. There was nothing but trees all around her and her feet ached as if she'd walked for miles. The leaves in the tree clicked as the wind passed through them. Birds chirped all around and somewhere an animal rustled through the underbrush.
Avery began to panic. She was utterly lost. She didn't even remember leaving the sidewalk. She whirled around trying to figure out which way she might have come. By the time she'd turned ten full circles she gave up and slumped to the ground. With a weary sigh she looked up at the tall trees and something struck her as familiar. Getting up, she began to walk in the direction things looked as if she'd seen them before. That's when she felt something in her chest. A strong urge to keep going. Slowly, her feet began to move faster until she was running.
It was her dream. This was the forest in her dream. She let the feeling take her over and she ran for what seemed like an eternity, pushing branches out of the way and jumping over dead trees. On and on she ran until she suddenly stopped, letting out a gasp.
Before her stood a tall blue box. On top was what appeared to have been a light. There were two doors facing her, one with a sign that said to pull. Vines had nearly overtaken the thing, covering up some words over the top of the doors. Reverently, Avery walked up to the box and put her hand on it, then jerked it back as if she'd been burned. She fell to ripping away the vines, clearing the box of everything until it was completely visible.
She stood back to take in what lay beneath all the foliage. It was definitely something she'd never seen before. Then she remembered the voice. Could someone be stuck inside? She tried the door and found it to be locked. Maybe there was a key lying on the ground around it.
Kicking around in the dirt and leaves for several minutes found nothing so she then tried knocking on the door.
"Hello? Is someone in there?" she called out and waited for an answer. Nothing. She knocked again and then held her ear to the door. The box wasn't very big but maybe the person was so weak from having called out so much before that she could barely say anything now. Still nothing.
"Oh, this is frustrating," she said, placing her hands on her hips as she stared at the box. "This has to be what I was meant to find but I can't even get in it." Then she put one hand on the door again, trying to think of how she could get in.
iHello? /i
Avery gasped again and jumped back. It was the voice from her dream. Gingerly she touched a palm to the door again and waited.
iHello? Who are you?/i
"I-" Avery started to reply but then stopped. Who was she talking to?
iYes? You are…?/i
"I'm Avery. Avery Mitchell."
iWell Avery Mitchell, don't just stand there, open the door./i
"I can't. It's locked."
iOh, right, sorry about that. Then the doors swung open revealing an immense inside. /i
Avery just stood there, her mouth agape as what she saw. It was bigger on the inside.
iAre you going to come in or not? I've been waiting too long to wait any longer./i
"Right." Avery closed her mouth and stepped inside. She walked up a ramp and onto what appeared to be the hub of the room. A giant console stood at the center with more buttons and knobs than she'd even seen on anything. From the center of that jutted up a long, clear stack with something in the middle.
Though everything was caked with dust it was all still absolutely gorgeous to her. "Oh you sexy thing you," she said, ignoring the dust as she leaned forward to place her hands on the console. Her whole body hummed as she came into contact with it and she enjoyed the sensation for a moment before standing straight and looking around. She noticed a few doors leading out of the main room.
"How big is this thing?"
iAs big as I need it to be. Was the answer. Now are you going to stand there staring at me all day or are you going to help me?/i
"I'm sorry, but did you just say 'staring at' you? I don't see anyone here."
iYes, I did. And no, then only person here is you, and /iyou iare standing inside /ime.
"Excuse me? I think you've lost me."
iPardon my rudeness. Allow me to introduce myself. I am the TARDIS. That stands for time and relative dimension in space. But you may call me Sexy if you like. I am rather fond of that name, myself./i
"Wait. Space? You mean you're some sort of spaceship?"
iI am actually, though that's not quite what my name means./i
"Why do you look like a big blue box?"
iCloaking device. It went on the fritz ages ago and has never been fixed./i
"I could fix that for you- I think." She put her hand on the console and closed her eyes. So much information began streaming into her brain.
iThank you, but no, I rather like this look./i
Avery removed her hands and shrugged. "As you like, then." She began to walk the circuit around the console, lightly dragging a ringer over it as she went. "So you said something about me helping you. What do you want me to do?"
iWell, you see, I've lost my partner and- the TARDIS paused for a moment, sounding almost sad. And, well, you see I've been without him for so long that I can no longer move. I've been calling out for help for decades and you're the first person to hear me. I need you to fix me./i
"But I've never seen anything like you before. Even with all the information I could take from you, I'm not sure I could be of any help."
iNonsense. I sense something special about you. I think you're just the right person to help. Put your hand on my console again. I'll try and feed you the information you need./i
"Don't you think I should buy you dinner first?" Avery chuckled and was met with silence. "Sorry. Hand, console, got it."