The Boring Best Birthday Ever
Alex woke up that morning to the usual annoying sound of his alarm. Every day followed the same routine: wake up at 7:30, eat some cereal, shower, then watch some reruns of Blackadder. Alex walked downstairs, not realizing what day it was until he got to the kitchen.
"SURPRISE!" Alex jumped back at the sight of his parents and older sister, Terry, standing around the table with a stack of pancakes dripping with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. It was Alex's birthday.
"Aw, thanks guys." He sat down and cut off a piece of pancake to eat. "So, what can I expect today?"
Alex's mom was a party planner, so Alex expected something huge and exciting. What he got was less than expected. "Today, we're going to the museum." The pancake fell from Alex's mouth. "I read that they just got a brand new exhibit. They call it 'The Tomb of Time.'"
His mom let that sink in. "The museum?" Alex said incredulously. "Seriously?"
"Well, you enjoyed it so much as a lad…"
"Yeah, but then I was seven years old. I'm 15 now, mum. The museum's just boring now." The doorbell rang. "I'll get it." Alex walked, crestfallen, to the front door of his family's flat. He opened it to find no one there. "Hello?" He stepped out and nearly tripped over a large box set on the welcome mat. "Is anyone out here?" No one responded, so Alex just shrugged, picked up the box, and went back inside.
"Who was it?" His dad asked.
"Don't know. They left this though, whoever they were." Alex set the package on the table. It was large, square-shaped, and wrapped in gift wrap. Alex opened it up to find a smaller box, like one used to hold jewelry. The box was rectangular and colored blue. Who colors a box blue? Alex thought as he opened this one too. Inside was a small silver key and a note. Alex unfolded the note and read what it said.
Happy birthday, sweetie.
…
The museum was a downright bust. Of all the places in London to spend his birthday, the London Eye, the zoo, the Renoir, Alex was spending his day in a boring old museum, on a boring old tour of a boring old exhibit filled with boring really old stuff. As the guide went on Alex kept his headphones on listening to music. The exhibit had some pretty weird things in it, though: weird, rusted robots, something that looked like a giant, bumpy earplug, and even photographs of creatures that looked like humanoid rhinos.
And those weren't even the weirdest things there. In the center of the room, on a raised platform, stood a large, decaying phone booth. It was a dark grayish color with a sign on it's door that was illegible due to extreme amounts of rust. A small light bulb rested on top of it, and a sign above it's doors read "Police Phone Box."
Alex raised his hand. "What's that thing?" He asked, pointing to the phone booth.
"Oh. That's an especially exciting artifact…"
"From your perspective maybe." Alex muttered.
"This box is the subject of many legends. We like to call it 'The Tomb of Time.' Some say that it holds the most powerful weapon in the universe, some say it was a prison built for a dangerous man, and others say that it was actually a vehicle at one point." She let that sink in.
"But it's a phone booth."
"Yes," the guide said, clearly annoyed, "on the outside, but some experts theorize that it's only a clever disguise. Now, since it's been brought up, this box is the subject of a little contest here at the museum. Whoever can open it will be awarded 1 million Pounds." The tour group was getting excited. A million Pounds? That seemed like a huge prize for such a simple challenge.
One guy pushed to the head of the group. He had on a sleeveless shirt which showed that he could probably lift a truck without even straining. He walked up to the door and pushed with all his might. When that didn't work he tried pulling. "What? Is this stupid thing welded shut?" He complained.
All of the people on the tour stepped up to try, and all failed. No one could get it open. Alex shrugged and stepped up too. May as well try, myself, Alex thought. He stepped up and grabbed the handle. He tugged a bit, but nothing happened. He felt something vibrate in his shirt pocket. He let go of the handle and it stopped. When he grabbed it again it kept vibrating. Alex took the key he had gotten out of the pocket.
"Weird." He muttered. He then noticed something on the phone booth. He bent down to take a closer look at it. A keyhole. There was a keyhole in the phone booth.
"Alex." he turned to look at Terry. "We're moving on now. C'mon."
"Just a second. I need to check something." Alex slowly moved the key into the hole. It fit. He turned the key. The door swung open.
"My God," the tour guide whispered, "he got it open. It's open."
Suddenly, a bright light started shining out of the box. "What the-?" Suddenly a wave of energy blasted Alex backwards into the far wall of the exhibit. He heard a sickening crack, which he was pretty sure was his spine. He dropped to the ground as people ran screaming from the exhibit room as bright, golden energy swirled around in the room. Alex began fading out of consciousness. His last sight was the energy swirling in front of him, taking the shape of a man.
"Hello there." The energy man said in an echoing voice. And then there was darkness.
...
23 million light years away, aboard a spaceship, an alarm was going off. An alarm that meant the return of an old enemy, an enemy thought to have been long defeated. The creatures aboard would have been frightened, if they had the emotion to be so.
"Set a course for Earth. We must exterminate the Doctor!"