Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. Or an iPhone 4S, for that matter.
Prologue
The sun was setting in Virginia Beach, Virginia, staining the sky with vibrant reds and oranges. The trees clashed with their darkness. The birds were falling silent, and the cicadas were picking up their song. I had always used to think of cicadas as something magical, insects that all start their refrain at the same time, with no command or preparation.
In fact, a lot of things were magical back when I was little; I would see the church's steeple reflected in a pool of rainwater; I would try to count the tiny squares on a green azalea leaf; I even sat up at night long past bedtime just thinking about time and numbers and how they fit together in this wonderful world. I appreciated Earth's beauty, unlike many children my age, who only saw rain as misery, storms as too loud; towering trees as boring, and flowers just colorful things you put in a vase just for them to wilt within four days. I was embarrassed to admit this was my generation. The small group of friends I had never seemed to recognize just how wonderful life on this planet could be; usually smiling and nodding meant they weren't paying attention when I went off on another speech about clouds that fascinated me or grass that whispered in the wind.
I was always very interested in outer space. I spent hours just staring at the stars and thinking about how they are just balls of compressed gas, big enough that gravity spun them into a sphere, then let them draw in smaller forms as planets. That's all we were. The thought made me giggle with delight and shudder with fear at the same time. We were so tiny in this colossal universe. It was amusing to think that we were not even a speck on a map of the heavens, if such existed. It was also unnerving, though- there simply had to be other living things out there. Otherwise, when the sun expanded in a few billion years and boiled the Earth, what would be left? Would the bodies of the only life forms ever to exist disintegrate in the flames and be gone forever? It would hardly be fair, for the laws of physics to win over all. Then again, as seen from neutral eyes, nothing is fair or unfair; what is…simply is. How do I know what it feels like to be a third party? I've been there: I'll tell you my story.
Let's get back to Virginia Beach, the place where I had lived for nine years. At fifteen years old, I only had a glimpse of the "real world", the world of careers and salaries, of unemployment, of bills and taxes. I was enjoying a somewhat carefree moment outside, right next to the deciduous forest which was part of our backyard, before I had to come in for dinner. Leaning my head against a rough tree, I felt the bark gently tug my strawberry-blonde hair and lift it slightly. I pushed it behind my ear and continued my trance.
Then, as if someone had mixed up two sound tracks, the cicadas fell dead silent. Stillness hung like a thick veil around me, followed by an abrupt gust of wind. Throwing my long arms around the tree, I peered from around the side- a strange noise was issuing from a source possibly one or two hundred yards away. It sounded a little like scraping your fingernail across one of those things where you turn it one way and it's one picture, then another when you turn it the other way. Instinct told me to stay away, and I probably should have, but for some reason, I let curiosity take control instead. The noise dropped in pitch after a few repetitions, and I began to wonder what would make this kind of sound. It certainly wasn't an animal or an insect, and though branches can make quite a din with all their creaking, it definitely wasn't that.
As I got closer, a steadily blinking light filled the path. I shrank back behind a bush, suddenly feeling very frightened, which was uncommon for me. I took a deep breath and smacked myself on the side of the head. "Pull it together, Lee." Whenever I was talking to myself I used my last name. Payton was my first name, Andrea my middle- not that that's very relevant. Anyway, I stood and continued my trek. With nothing to track now that the noise had ceased, I found myself having to rely on memory. To the right… no, left, I think… Slowly I wended my way through the trees. I was skirting a clearing, focused on my path when I stepped on a twig and it gave a particularly loud crack.
"Oi! Who's there?" A voice with a British accent rang out.
I whipped my head around to my left to see the oddest thing: a big, blue box standing in the middle of the clearing. The words POLICE BOX stood out, lining the top. PUBLIC CALL was in smaller print.
I know what you're thinking. A mysterious object magically appeared in the middle of a forest while a mysterious voice is calling out to me. Sounds pathetic, right? But wait, there's more to it. Don't stop reading now. You want to know why?
Your very life may depend on it. So don't stop reading, whatever you do. Otherwise you might be caught unprepared.
Review! Review! Please review! I will hand out...erm...jammy dodgers? :D