You pace in your room. You want to open Pesterchum again, but Dave wasn't on the last ten times you checked. You tell yourself not to worry, that he is just doing some cool kid things. But something doesn't feel right. Dave would have told his girlfriend if he was going to be gone longer than a couple hours. He would have left you some kind of note...
Dave liked to use his god tier powers every once in a while, to leave notes for his past or future selves, but nothing on a huge scale. You use your powers far less since the game. You think he could be time traveling, but it was still weird for him to be gone for so long. You sigh and plop down in a pile of stuffed animals.
A few minutes later, as you were contemplating checking your computer, the doorbell rings. You run down the stairs, not really knowing why. It couldn't be Dave of course, he had his own set of keys. On the doormat was a small white envelope. You step outside, looking for the person who left the envelope. But there was sign of anyone, just a faint whirring. You pick up the envelope and carry it to the kitchen. It was addressed to you in red pen. Dave, you think to yourself.
Jade,
Sorry I didn't tell you where I was going. I wasn't expecting to get lost like this. You need to help me get back to Earth – and my right time. There's a man who is going to help. 15 minutes, the blue phone box in the front yard. Bring apple juice. See you soon.
Dave
There was also a confusing string of numbers at the bottom of the note. You smile. You had known all along Dave wouldn't leave you worried for long. You glance at the clock: 12:30. You grab a jacket and a small bottle of apple juice. You weren't about to doubt Dave's instructions, even if some of them could be ironic. He trusts you, and you're going to be the one to help him.
The streets of your neighborhood are quiet at this hour. You sit on the porch steps, wondering where a blue box was going to come from. A loud whirring engine noise makes you look up. Under your oak tree, a police phone box materializes. You stare in surprise for a few seconds before standing up. You step cautiously toward the blue box and raise a hand to knock. Surprisingly, the door is jerked open and a man nearly runs into you.
"Oh hello there!" The man says in a british accent. You look him over, taking in his bowtie and suspenders. Yet to you, he seems kind and trustworthy. "What year is this, exactly?"
"Two thousand and twelve." You say slowly. Why wouldn't he know the year? You start to show him the envelope, but the man turns around, looking puzzled.
"Hm, well, yes, that's a problem." He turns back and looks at you. "Don't you just hate it when you're in the wrong place at the wrong time? Well thanks, anyway!" He gives a cheery wave and steps back into the blue box.
You push open the door and follow him into the strange box. "Excuse me?" You shout. "My boyfriend told me to talk to you. He said you..." You stop talking and actually look around. It takes you only a couple of seconds to get used to the huge space inside the small box. You're used to the shenanigans space can get into. The man turns away from what looks like a very complicated control panel and shrugs at you.
"Yes, it's bigger on the inside than on the outside." He hops down a short flight of stairs and offers you his hand. "Care to have a look around?" Completely mesmerized, you take the man's hand and approach the control panel. This blue box was weird, even by SBURB standards.
"Who are you?" You whisper. You walk slowly around the panel, almost letting your hand brush a lever.
"Don't touch that!" The man yells, diving and catching your arm. "Oh and I'm The Doctor. My friends call me The Doctor." He holds out his hand, beaming.
You smile and shake The Doctor's hand. "My name's Jade Harley, and my friends call me Jade," You say.
The Doctor smirks and turns to the control panel. "Oh, I think I like you." You look over his shoulder, trying to follow what he was doing with the buttons and levers. As he runs around the panel, adjusting several knobs, a lever falls off. The Doctor freezes.
"Is that important to the... blue box?" You ask, realizing you don't really know what you just stepped into.
"No, not really, a little, yes. It's extremely important, actually." The Doctor takes the lever from you and bangs it a few times on the railing of a walkway. "Oh it's definitely broken..." He says to himself. "This is the TARDIS, by the way. Time and relative dimension in space. It's a time and space machine." You raise your eyebrows.
The Doctor hurries down some steps and under the main walkway. You crouch down and watch through the clear floor as he pulls out chunks of wire from under the control panel. "Do you need any help?" You ask, anxious to find Dave. "Because, well, my boyfriend wrote me this note saying you would help me..."
"I can't fix it like this! Where's my fez?" The Doctor shouts over you and runs into a side room. You smile and shake your head. You take a moment to look around more carefully. In the main room of the TARDIS, there's the control panel and the winding walkways. You walk forward carefully and peek down a side corridor. A neatly made bed sits next to a jammed bookcase. "Right then!" You turn at the sound of The Doctor's voice. "We'll need to make a quick detour, it it's all the same to you. The marketplace of Derb, quite an exciting place. Hold on!"
You tuck Dave's letter into your pocket and grab the top of a railing. The Doctor spins dials and pulls levers, causing a load whirring. The whole TARDIS tilts and rocks, almost sending The Doctor to his knees. When the TARDIS finally quiets down, you approach the doors.
"Is it safe to go out?" You ask The Doctor, who was carefully adjusting his fez.
"Oh yes, of course," He opens the door, pushing you outside.
