Not really sure how I came up with this idea but its basically - as you'll hopefully read on and find out - Katniss Everdeen as an orphan girl who dreamed of escaping and, as the summary suggests, bumps into a mad man who might just be exactly what she's looking for. Enjoy :D
"Katniss! Stop making a mess with that cardboard box and come and get your dinner!" Mother had shouted. Urgh, stupid adults. They don't understand it's not a cardboard box. It's a time machine. Well it will be when I'm finished. I had to set down the scissors and glue and get up, so I trudged down the stairs noisily to get my dinner. I ate the entire meal without saying a word and left just as quietly. They don't understand me here. They don't understand any of the kids here. Stupid orphanage. Stupid fake parents. Stupid world. They don't even let me escape the harshness of reality.
I didn't realise but it was way into the night when I finished. I was so proud of it though. The front was blue and modelled on an old police box I saw in the museum we were forces to visit last week at school that I told you about. The inside I painted in odd colours, yellows and oranges, the odd tint of blue. It was my safe haven inside that box. I hid it in the wardrobe until the weekend when I spent all my waking hours imagining how I could travel in my box, into other times and better times. Away from the cruel world. I hope life doesn't stay this way forever because adults say that life is harder when you're a grown up.
Nighty night Kitty...
I stared at the words written in my old scribbly handwriting, remembering that blue cardboard box. I ripped the page from my old, tattered, deep blue journal, accidentally flaking more of the deep blue paint off the front of it that I'd painted on the same day as the entry. I folded the entry and slipped it into my inside pocket of my jacket, then stowing the journal safely in my bag. I left my room, closing the door behind me and deciding never to look back.
Slamming the orphanage door, I set off down the street, hitching my bag higher on my shoulder. I just walked and walked, no direction in general. I heard voices whispering and saw their shifty glances as I passed them. I saw a group of my old bullies sneering at me and rolled my eyes at them. God how are they still pricks? Surely they'd have learnt by now. Unfortunately they saw me roll my eyes and started getting all riled up.
"Oi you!" one of them yelled.
'Oh for fuck sake' I thought. I turned on the spot, facing them with a 'well this had better be short' kind of face. They swaggered over, ignoring the glances of the other people in the wide street.
"What do you want now?" I asked, bored already.
"whatcha fink yer lookin at?" the largest, cockiest and thickest one of the gang said. He was the leader and, annoyingly, I was his number one favourite victim.
"Apparently, it's someone who can't speak properly." I said sarcastically.
"Oh ya fink yer funny don't ya."
"Frankly I just think you're a twat." I said. There was a small chorus of oh's from the rest of the group and I just continued to give him a 'really?' kind of look.
"Oh yer really askin for it now ain't cha?" he said, getting all up in my face. I just rolled my eyes and slapped him straight around the face, leaving a large red handprint on his cheek. He stumbled back in shock and pain, clutching his face. Some of his followers rushed to his aid whilst others simply stood in shock.
"You know what you are?" I asked, throwing as much spite and hatred into each syllable as possible and getting up in his face now to give off the same threatening vibe he would always try and give off as he was about to beat the shit of me at school. "You're a lazy, stupid, ignorant looser. And you know what? I only have two words for you."
"What's that?" he asked nervously, cowering into his cronies.
"Fuck. You." I smirked. I gave him the finger and turned, walking away and ignoring the prat. I heard a scuffle behind me and stole a glance over my shoulder to see him and his friends getting pretty angry and starting to run after me. I picked up my pace instantly, sprinting off down the street, taking wild turns down back streets as they followed in my attempts to loose them.
Finally, I smiled to myself as I hid around a corner and watched them sprint past.
"Goodbye," I muttered to myself as they disappeared down yet another backstreet.
"Hello?" came a confused voice from nearby. I started and looked around, finding an oddly dressed man standing about half way down the alleyway.
"Oh, sorry I was just... I yeah." I stumbled over my words.
"Running away from something?" he offered.
"Yeah. That." I chuckled embarrassed.
"Don't worry. Everyone's running from something. Take those bullies, the one with the red face is running from himself." He smiled, walking over as he explained.
"Really? Looks like he's more running after something than from it. Although I'm proud to say I gave him that red face." I said.
"I'm guessing there's a reason why he's seen as a bully. A reason you know too well?" he asked. I nodded.
"I don't think there's a day in my life that I haven't been abused, bullied or hated. I guess this could be a turning point though seeing as I'm finally making a stand after 19 years." I said.
"Good for you." the man smiled at me. This guy was nice, if a bit eccentrically dressed. He seemed to care even though we'd only talked for about 2 minutes.
"Thanks." I smiled back, "I'm Katniss by the way."
"The Doctor." He said.
"That's an odd name. Must be weird being named after a profession."
"Must be odd to be named after a plant." He countered.
"Touché." I laughed. "Well everyone in my orphanage was named after a plant of some sort. So there are kids called Rose and Daisy and Lavender and Primrose and stuff. One thuggish kid is nicknamed Nettles for obvious reasons. They were running out of names by the time I arrived. Annoyingly for me they started reusing names two years after I arrived because all the kids who were originally called something had grown up. Or as I like to call it: escaped from that hellhole."
"Ouch. That place sounds horrible." He said.
"It was like jail." I sighed, sliding down the wall I was still leaning against to sit at the base of it. Surprisingly the man joined me.
"I know someone who spent time in jail," he said absent-mindedly. I had a bit of a double take and was all 'oh god, what have I gotten myself into?' sort of thing. "It's kind of unfair though because she was framed. That's also partly my fault. Although I make up for it by breaking her out a lot of the time." He mused.
"Does that make you a criminal?" I asked confused.
"Oh. Um. I don't know. I always take her back again. It's a little bit complicated though because she's only really gone for around ten minutes local time... Okay it's really complicated." He laughed.
"Can I ask you something?" I said, feeling a little stupid as I just did.
"Why not?" he smiled.
"Why is your name 'The Doctor'?"
"Oh that's easy. I chose it." he laughed, wiping a section of this overhanging fringe out of his eyes and under his Stetson.
"You chose it?" I asked incredulous.
"Yeah. I guess it's an odd concept here because you're given your names when you're young but I chose mine when I was reasonably young, young at least to now anyway. It was lifetimes ago but I guess it's not young in the same why you might call young." He rambled.
"You talk a lot." I said, making him chuckle.
"Yeah. Some people say I talk too quickly but I think they're just being slow to catch up. I prefer to live a faster paced life." He explained.
"That sounds way more fun than my life." I said, leaning my head back against the wall.
"You should try it," he noted. I looked at him, really taking in this odd man in his Stetson, bow tie, tweed jacket, braces, his cowboy bowed legs and well-worn shoes. This man, at face value seemed bonkers. He spoke so fast about god knows what. He dressed like he was going to a fancy dress party but confused as to what he had dressed as. The things he spoke of seemed unreal and complicated beyond belief.
And yet he seemed comforting, trustworthy. I wanted to trust him yet had no idea why I should, his being a strange crazy man who I'd only just met.
"If only I could." I sighed. "It'd be nice to escape."
"Why don't you then? Just escape from all the things you hate." He said.
"Because I can't. Because there's no way I can get to a place that's far away enough from right here." I said, wiping my own fringe from my eyes.
"I can think of a way," he smirked.
"Do share," I smirked back.
"Come with me." he said.
"Where?" I asked, feeling like, even though everything screamed 'trap' and 'REALLY bad idea' I felt like I couldn't find a reason why not to.
"Anywhere. Anywhere you like."
"Like another country?" I asked. That would be far enough away. A new place; a new start.
"Like another world." he smiled, a devious glint in his eyes.
"Nah, you're just playing with me now." I said.
"No really. Another world. Another planet. Another galaxy even. Anywhere you want." He said convincingly.
"Alright then Doctor. If I go with you, where would you take me first? Where would be the best place that you would take me away to?" I said, sure he was kidding me.
"Oohh that's tricky. There's so much to choose from. Okay well there's the lost moon of Poosh! Haven't been there in a while and they've refurbished most of the planet. Or Space Florida! Where they have automatic sand! I remember winning a sandcastle contest there last time I went. Or, or ooh where else! Somewhere new maybe! Maybe Fellspoon where the mountains sway in the breeze! How about that!" he rambled quickly.
"You really are bonkers," I laughed.
"Why?" he asked, a look of confusion on his face similar to a young puppy.
"I'm not even sure those places exist, let alone that there's a means of getting to them."
"I have a means of getting anywhere though," he protested as if a little child. Wow this guy was good at reminding me of cute things.
"Okay then. Prove it." I laughed.
"Alright. Come on then." He said, getting to his feet and holding out a hand to help me up.
"Really? Just like that you'll take me to far off places like lost moons and swaying mountains in far off galaxies?" I asked, letting him pull me to my feet.
"Why? Don't you trust me?" he asked raising his eyebrows.
"Surprisingly yes and that's why I'm not sure I should trust you." I said, eyeing him suspiciously as we stood, face too face, a little closer than I would deem suitable for strangers.
"How about this. Come with me, and if you still don't believe it's real, I can take you to, instead of some other planet, some other country in which you can start afresh. Savvy?"
"I thought only pirates said 'savvy'?" I asked.
"Well. Had a run in with some pace pirates once. Didn't go down too well. Who would have guessed they don't really say 'yo ho ho'? Just wish someone had told be before I'd let the words slip in front of actual pirates. Looked like a right idiot." I couldn't help but laugh now. I shook my head in disbelief.
"Okay. Sure. Why not? If the worst comes to the worst and you're actually just some madman out to kill me at least you'll put me out of my misery."
"I can assure you I'm really not out to kill you, although madman is debateable. Spaceman is more accurate I think, and also a name I've been called many a time." He smiled.
"Alright then spaceman, lead the way to the stars." I said.