When I was a little girl, my mother used to tell me stories about a man in a blue box who took her and father travelling around the universe and to different points in time. I used to believe them, but once I realised it was impossible, mum would stop talking about him. "We haven't even got to the moon yet. There is no way we have go time travelling yet." Mum just rolled her eyes.
"I told you, he was from another planet." She insisted. What rubbish! If any of the planets in our solar system had life, surely they would want to contact us? Mum also liked to read Sci-Fi books. They told me I had an older sister called River Song. She was married to this 'Doctor'. They needed a doctor. That's what I told them. At least I had a sensible name. I was called Ellie. That was before.
I met the Doctor at their funeral. They had died together. One after the other. A woman came up to me. "They really loved each other." she said. I looked at her.
"Of course they did. If they didn't they wouldn't have got married." I told her. She had curly hair, and looked like the River Song mum would describe. She smiled and walked off. I watched her go. As I turned round to leave, I saw something. There was a man. In a bow tie. No one wore bow ties any more. He smiled at me and walked over. "I'm the Doctor. I was a friend of your parents." He held out his hand.
"Is this some kind of joke?" I asked. "Did you find out about the stories they used to tell me about the time travelling doctor and decided to have a laugh about it at their funeral?" I was angry at this man. How dare he make their imaginary time traveller a joke? He looked confused. "Are you their daughter?" he asked. Was this man stupid? I thought. I nodded. "What's your name?" he asked. Ah, we were finally starting to have a normal conversation. "Ellie Pond." I said. He smiled, as if my name was a private joke; something only he could understand. "Anyway," I said "I have to go." I started to walk away. "I have a feeling I will see you very soon, Ellie Pond." he said to my back. I laughed. In your dreams, I thought. Never have I been so wrong.
I saw him again a week later. He was drinking coffee near my work. He had the lady with all the hair with him. River Song, a voice in my head whispered. I shook it off. River Song and the Doctor had been tales my parents had told me when I was a child. I didn't believe them any more.