The cold rain drizzled down my back and made my whole body shiver. My red hair had begun to frizz with the humidity, normally I would be anxiously smoothing it down with my hands, not today though. I watched my mother's casket be lowered in to the crumbling earth. I closed my eyes and sighed, she was gone forever. I had no family anymore, no one that I knew.
"I believe we will now be hearing a few words from Nora's Daughter, Nyx." The church pastor said, gesturing to me, eyes swivelled towards me. I walked towards the front of my Mother's coffin. The casket was closed; apparently she was injured so bad she was unrecognizable. I took a deep breath and started speaking.
"Thank you all for coming here today." I started. I scanned the small crowd of faces. I knew no one; it was all my mother's friends.
"If my mother was here she would tell us all to stop being sad and go into some forest and appreciate the life around us, she was like that." I felt tears roll down my cheeks; I brushed them away and continued.
"My Mum would make you a cup of tea even if you didn't want one and you drank it anyway, she knew exactly what you wanted and what you needed without even trying but most importantly she loved everyone she meet even if she had just accidently bumped into you in the grocery store, that's who was and even if she is gone, that is who she will always be and I am so glad that she was my mother." I had to stop there. I couldn't continue, my throat was closing up and everyone was staring at me, I needed to escape.
"Thank you for coming, there's coffee in the church." I said before I ran towards the woods. A few people turned to watch me run away but none of them new me personally, no one really understood what to do so I watched from my place in the woods as they all drove away or walked into the church for the 100 years old coffee. I sighed and wiped away my tears. I turned away from the church, from the people and my mother's coffin. I walked into the woods and ran my hands along the bark of the different trees. I sat came to a clearing in the woods and sat down. The cold leaves pressing against my skin and the twigs digging in to it.
"That is a weird spot to sit." A voice said behind me. I turned my head towards the voice. It was a man, not a threatening man but an odd man for sure. He was tall and young looking, maybe his early 30's. He was sitting on a fallen log, dressed in a dark purple jacket, a light purple vest and a dark purple bowtie sitting askew at the base of his throat. His dark brown hair was swept the side of his face and was ruffled slightly. I stood up and smoothed by black dress.
"Yes it is a weird spot to sit but it has been a weird and emotional day so I guess anything goes right now." I said. The man smiled and laughed, nodding his head to my comment.
"I suppose you are right. " The man said, grinning from ear to ear.
"I suppose, a question, if I may ask one, is what are doing in the woods…it is kind of creepy." I asked him. His smile fell a little and he hung his head.
"I was going to visit a friend but I got the dates wrong and I came to far into her future, she's dead now." He said. I squinted at him. This man was defiantly insane.
"Well you must of really read the invitation wrong if you came so late that it is now her…"I stopped. There was only one cemetery in my town and there was only one funeral today.
"You came for my mother didn't you!" I said, taking a step towards him.
The man peered at me.
"Nora had no children, we must be thinking of different people." He said, turning away and walking away from me.
"Nora…Nora Jane Kay she's was an English teacher and totally and completely brilliant" I said. The man stopped in his tracks.
"She was brilliant." The man said without turning back.
"Yes she was and now she is gone leaving me, a child, with no one." I said, tears forming in my eyes. I growled and wiped them away. Opening my eyes again I saw that the man had come closer and was looking at me with an interest. I leaned away and looked at, rather judgingly.
"She was a mother was she, yes I do see that, in your eyes and your nose not in your hair though, were did you get your hair?" He said, picking up a frizzy dark orange braid and looking at it. I stared at him, wide-eyed before plucking my hair from his fingers.
"I grew it, it probably came from my father though, red is a recessive gene so it might of come from my Mum." I said, taking a step back and crossing my arms. The man smiled, crossed his arms sand looked at me straight in the eyes.
"You are smart, aren't you?" He asked. I hated being questioned about my knowledge.
"Everyone is smart in their own way, some are more vocal about it, some remember it better, some prefer to bottle it up and let it slip out to surprise everyone and sometimes people knowledge is let out through their empathy towards people." I said, straightening my back and staring right back at him. His face was so serious and stern. He was still watching me carefully but then he broke into a smile and clapped his hands together.
"I like you, you are smart but you don't rub it into people's faces, how nice!" He exclaimed. My mouth fell open; he was so serious one second then a jumping child the next. I furrowed my eyebrows.
"You said you knew my Mum but she never told me about you." His jumping stopped and he looked at me, tilting his head.
"Norah never spoke about me, how odd, we spent a lot of time together…she was my companion."
"Excuse me but my mother was not a prostitute!" I exclaimed, crossing my arms and frowning at him, how dare he. The man bent his knees and leaned back laughing.
"No, no, not like that you see we travelled together." He said, still grinning from his previous laughing episode. I uncrossed my arms feeling stupid.
"Well if you spent so much time together why did she never mention you and your travels?" The man stopped grinning.
"She never spoke about me, are you sure maybe you just forgot?' He questioned.
"Trust me I don't forget anything, she never spoke about you, trust me I would remember you, even if I don't know your name." I told him. He frowned before brightening up again.
"The Doctor, my name is The Doctor!" He excitedly, half-shouted to me, waiting for my response.
"Nope, never mentioned you and your name cannot be The Doctor, that is more of a title than a name." I said. He pouted.
"It's complicated okay but it's like a nickname, I still can't believe Norah never spoke about me!" He said, gazing out into the woods around us. I sighed and pulled the hair that had fallen out of my braids out of my face. The man slumped his shoulder and gazed at the floor, sitting on the log was sitting on before again.
"So Norah really is gone?" He asked not making eye contact with me. I walked towards him and sat next to him.
"Yeah, she is gone." I said, the words barely came out of mouth. I placed my head in my hands.
"How, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Car crash, drunk driver swerved and hit her, apparently it killed her instantly." I told him, knowing that she died instantly hadn't made me feel any better when the police told me but the man, The Doctor, didn't seem fazed. He just nodded and went back to staring. After a few minutes of silence he turned to me and asked. "How old are you?"
"I'm 16." The man nodded.
"You never told me your name either." He said.
"Nyx, Nyx Adrian Kay." I said, turning to him. He smiled at me, sort of sadly.
"Do you have any family?" He asked. I shook my head.
"My Mum was an only child and her parents are dead and I don't know who my Dad is, my Mum never had anyone she was close to, it was really just me and her, we liked it like that but that means instead of going to someone we were close to I have to go into the foster system just to be thrown out of it in two years." I said. I hated the idea of Foster Care, being pulled from one family to the next until someone likes you and adopts you. I didn't want to be adopted by, some family I had no connections to, I just wanted my Mum, real Mum. My face fell into my hands and I cried into them. The Doctor wrapped his arm and my shoulders and rubbed my arm, trying to calm me down. He wasn't very good with comforting, that was easy to tell. I calmed down and wiped my face. I grinned. "I'm sorry about that, it's just been a weird few weeks and today has been the worst of all. " I told him. The Doctor nodded and released me from his awkward hold. The Doctor stood up and swivelled to face me.
"Well Nyx Adrian, I must be off, there a places to see and people to help, I am so glad I met you though, seeing someone so much like Norah was nice, I hope you get your happy on soon." Smiling he started walking off. I stared at him shaking my head.
"Doctor!" I called out; he turned to face me, raising his eyebrows. "You're going the wrong way, the car park is the other way." I told him. He just smiled and reached into his pocket, pulling out a necklace and chucking it to me.
"I hope to see you again Nyx." He said. I nodded and looked at the necklace in my hands. It was simple but pretty. Gold with a small silver disk attached to it, weird symbols were all carved into the disc. I smiled and slipped it over my head and let it rest on my neck.
"Thank you Doctor." I said, looking up to see that there was no sign of The Doctor.
I frowned and made my way back to the church, back to crap but free coffee.
