Chapter 1: Shall We?
I sit behind the cashier desk, my eyelids dropping, getting heavier and heavier. It is another slow Wednesday afternoon at the London Museum.
Through half eyes, I watch through the small door and the big windows of the gift shop. I smile at the old ladies shuffling around, the one mother with her baby who wasn't old enough to be in school yet, and the security guard, George, who is nice, all aimlessly walking. Nowhere to go, nothing to see, just… walking.
Suddenly, my phone alarm beeps. It's time for my too-short lunch break. I always treasure these. My lunch breaks are my time of solstice. These are the times when I can learn. I smile at Stephanie as she walks in to take her shift.
"Hey Steph." I say pleasantly. I have been here longer than she has so, I try to be nice.
"Hey Olive. Taking lunch?"
"Yep. Can't wait. I think I want to check out that new space exhibit!"
"Oh yeah!" replies Steph. "That one's great. You should take me around sometime!" She exclaims much too loudly for such a quiet place.
"Sh… Steph. Keep it down. But, sure. Next time you and I break at the same time, I'll take you." I smile and stand up, patting her on the shoulder. "Good luck this shift." She rolls her eyes and snorts.
"Yeah. I'm gonna need it." Steph was taking what we call the "School Tour" shift. It's about 11:00 so all the school kids are coming in and oohing and aahing over exhibits and then raiding the gift store. It's awfully busy, especially for a newbie. It seems odd to me that Mr. Cartwright would give her this shift with her being so new and all.
But, I'll be back to help after lunch.
I walk down the corridor, my black Mary Jane shoes making a muffled clicking sound which echoes off the walls. I map the way to the exhibit in my head. I walk up the stairs to the second floor; turn right, left, left, and right and then, there it is.
The sky and the moon and the stars and… everything at once. Waiting to be discovered. I ache in my heart and my bones to read every single word and take in all the information. To run around and twirl among the stars. To laugh at the planets and sing with the moon. But, I can't.
Not yet.
I'm not alone.
I am selfish and this is my time. Alone.
But there he is.
To my right staring at a cluster of stars, he just stands there and smiles nostalgically. It's almost as if he is recalling a fond memory.
But what memories could possibly have to do with stars?
This exhibit is brand new so it couldn't have anything to do with this exhibit. And yet, there he is.
Smiling.
Thinking.
Not even noticing me.
His brown hair is parted to one side with his long bangs hanging in his face. He is dressed unusually for the summer weather. He has on a long sleeve shirt with a red stripped pattern on it. There is a jacket hanging on the railing beside him. He's wearing long black pants and worn out leather ankle boots. But strangest of all, is the dark red bow tie, sitting handsomely around his neck.
And to be perfectly honest, HE is handsome. In fact, he's gorgeous.
"Beautiful isn't it?" He says aloud, still looking at the stars.
"What? Your view or mine?" I retort, flirtatiously. He looks at me one eyebrow raised and I wink, flip my long, curly chocolate brown hair over my shoulder and walk around the other side of the huge globe in the center of the room.
Looking around, I notice something out of place. Up against the wall, hidden behind the globe and several other planets, is a blue box. On the top it reads, "POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX." It looks like the one that was in the 1950's exhibit a few months ago. But that one mysteriously disappeared.
And here it is.
Back again from wherever it went.
"Well there you silly thing. Where'd you pop off to? You belong to the museum." The odd man is suddenly beside me and he says, "Oh no she doesn't. She's mine."
"She?" I reply, generally confused. "Its a telephone booth. How could it have a gender? And its not yours. It was part of the '50s exhibit. Are you the one who stole it?" He smiles proudly, straightening up.
"Yes I am, in fact. But really, its more like she stole me. Or so she once told me." He places a hand on the smooth wooden surface, stroking it lovingly.
"God. You really love that thing don't you?" I say, sorta creeped out. He looks at me, confused, realizing I had said something.
"What? Sorry. I got sort of lost in our conversation." He smiles at me and leans up against the blue object. "So, you work here then?"
"Yeah." I say with a sigh. "I don't want to work here. I mean, not as I do anyway. I love history. Anything and everything you want to know, ask me. I'd rather be a historian or a manager but, I couldn't get a degree. After my mum died, I was on my own. Had to take care of myself. Can hardly pay the bills." I scoffed at myself realizing I was sharing my entire life story with this stranger like I had known him my whole life. "Look at me. I don't even know you. Why do I trust you so much?"
"Oh. Ya know. I've just got that... face." He says, not really sure of himself.
"Mmhm. Face. Right." I retort sarcastically. "So, what should I call you?" I ask, curious as to what this man could possibly call himself. "I'm Olive. Olive Griffith."
"And I'm the Doctor. That's capital "D" Doctor mind you."
"Okay then capital D, Doctor. What are you doing here? This exhibit technically doesn't open until 11:30. How did you get in here?" I question. He looks at me mischievously.
"Wanna see?" he says, snapping his fingers. The doors to the box open and he slips inside, the doors closing and locking behind him. The box begins to make this vwooshing noise as it starts to disappear.
"NO! Wait!" I shout, trying to catch his attention. "Come back! Don't leave me!"
Then, he is gone.
And so is his box. In the blink of an eye. If I had snapped my fingers, just like he did, he would've been gone. Just like that.
I solemnly walk away, my hope that I had finally made a real friend gone along with the friend himself.
But then, I here that noise again. That beautiful, beautiful noise. And just as quickly as he left, he's back. But this time, there is someone with him.
She is a young, pale girl with fiery red hair. She can't be more than twenty-four-ish. And, I can tell by the ring on her finger that she's married. The wears a green plaid shirt and skinny jeans with ankle boots much like the Doctor's accept her's are brown.
"Well hello, Olive." She says with a thick Scottish accent. "I'm Amy. I'm the Doctors companion. We travel together." Amy says to me smiling. I shake her hand and she looks at me strangely. It's not quite jealousy. Maybe a bit with a twinge of remorse. But there's something else too. Fierce loyalty. She thinks I might be taking her place. Which wasn't my intention. She obviously misses traveling with this man. She hasn't done it for quite sometime and she thinks-
"Traveling?" I say, cutting myself off and speaking my thoughts aloud. "Traveling where? And how?" The Doctor chuckles.
"The correct question would be when." he replies and then smiles at Amy. She looks at me and begins to explain.
"This," she says, pointing at the box, "Is called a TARDIS. It stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space. It's a spaceship and a time machine. The Doctor uses it to travel through all of time and space and save other people from aliens and stuff. I, travel with him as his... helper." she explains. It's all starting to make sense now. How he was there and now he's here and how the box disappeared.
"But wait. If this is a spaceship... then that means your-" The Doctor cuts me off.
"An alien. Yes."
"But, you look human!"
"No. You look Time Lord." he retorts. I giggle.
"Time Lord? Lord of Time?" He steps back.
"What?! It's cool!" He adjusts his bow tie and says "Like bow ties."
"And fezzes." adds Amy.
"YES!" he exclaims, high-five-ing her. He looks at me again and then looks at Amy. "What'da ya think Pond? Should we introduce them?" He smiles at me again and says, "I think they'll get along well."
"Yes. Elizabeth definitely will LOVE Olive." she says, also smiling at me.
"Well let's go then!" he says, holding the door open for me. "Shall we?"