Once upon a time,
There was a child.
Two children, actually, but first, it was one child.
And she was alone. Alone in every sense of the word.
Her aunt's bedroom was on the other side of the house, the house with too many bedrooms. And she was alone.
Her friends never stayed. She sometimes said the wrong thing or dressed the wrong way and no one came to her birthday parties. And she was alone.
And then, for a split second, her life became a fairytale. A little blue box appeared in her garden, narrowly missing the sunflowers she had begged Aunt Sharon to plant, destroying the moss covered shed. And out of the blue box appeared a man. He didn't look like a man. Sure, he had ten fingers and a nose and two arms and head of hair. But he didn't look like a man. He didn't feel like a man. He was a fairytale.
And that fairytale was written the way all fairytales were. First, a princess, with her hair as red as anger and her face lit with hope. And a warrior, a hero, who called himself "the Doctor", stepped into rescue her. To rescue her from the dragon that guarded her from the outside world.
But then the fairytale ended. And he promised he'd come back. And he left.
And she was alone.
And then she met a boy.
"Rory."
"Amelia."
He was a nice boy. His hair reached past his ears and his dad became her dad.
He slept in her bed with her so she wouldn't have to be all alone at night.
He held her hand when her friends walked away from her, and he bought her two extra presents to make up for the people who never came to her parties.
She dressed him as her warrior, and he didn't complain. He listened when she told him about her Raggedy Doctor and helped her color her drawings. He always kept his promises and he always came back.
And then she wasn't alone.
"Alone?" Rory asked, one day. They were fifteen, laying across Amy's bed, as Mels laid on the floor, squirming. Amy and Rory were comparing their homework, when Amy said something stupid.
"Imagine if I was still alone," she murmured subconsciously. "All my homework would be wrong."
Rory looked up, giving her one of those looks. He always gave her those looks. Their eyes were the tin cans on the end of a wire, reading each other's thoughts and hearing each other's voices.
"Alone?" he asked.
"Yes, stupid," she said, breaking eye contact. "Before you- and Mels- I was alone. So shut up."
Amy saw him look down and smirk, but didn't comment on it.
And then they grew up. She forgot about her warrior, and she watched as the shed rebuilt itself and the sunflowers grew back. The garden was fresh and green and her house didns rays pooling around a snowy face. To Mels, and to Rory, and to Jeff, her current boyfriend, she was beautiful. Jeff was a nice guy, really, and quite handsome- but he pronounced words wrong and once he put eggs in the microwave. He wasnYeah, he Amy murmured as she painted MelodyI haven
the other girl replied, blowing onto her left nails while Amy was decorating the right. Mels jiggled under AmyNot Jeff. ?He Mels snorted.
She was doubled over in laughter.
Amelia asked, with her eyes wide and her mouth curled in a tiny smile.
ve never noticed? And the way he holds your hands and hugs you? Lord, Amy Pond, you are oblivious.I...I have a boyfriend, Melody,Yeah, but he
s got the intelligence of one.I can tell you one thing, Rory Williams is not in love with me.t be manufactured. She noticed how his hands were firm on top of hers when she tried to tickle him. She noticed the compassion and love pouring from his whole body as he hugged her, only moments after she told him shet in love with her. He was gay. No. No, he wasnd ever done) was the night that Amelia Pond was proven so, so wrong.
He had run out of the room so panicked that she was afraid he would just keep running. But she found him sitting on the stoop outside of her house.
m sorry,All is forgiven,Shut up,What was that about?Don Rory responded, looking thoughtfully at the clouds of stars. That was the best (and only good) part about living in Leadworth- the absence of so many street lights and cars and noise gave them the ability to see millions of stars so brilliantly.
She didnIs this going to ruin us?Because youve ever had and I need you.t answer. Instead, with firm hands, she took his chin, and kissed his cheek. It was a slow kiss, pressing into his flushed cheek. She pulled away and shook her head.
But it did change. Everything changed. She changed.
One date- that was all it took. They were dancing at this pub heLet the musician, a younger guy in blue plaid, announced. Amy was expecting perhaps a folk song. Rory was expecting a crappy acoustic cover.
What they got was the Macarena.
They shared a look of disbelief as the guitar played the heart-swelling notes of the Macarena. Amy was the first to laugh, clutching her stomach. Giggles gushed out of her mouth, enveloping Rory in the same hunched over position. And she went for it.
She kissed him. It was a little awkward- they were both out of breath from laughing and Rory had no warning- but it was right. Right in every sense of the word.
And Amy knew she wasnt. Rory always had a hand on her shoulder and a kiss on his lips and hug on his arms.
They shared a bed so she wasnt go back to sleep.
And when her friends ignored her, he told them off and held her hand and made fun of them until the morning hours. And he always got her birthday presents, and they both got birthday presents for Anthony.
And when her imaginary friend disappeared again, her fairytale never ended. Because Amy was the princess, and Rory was her prince.
And she was never alone again.