It was a warm and sunny Saturday morning, and I had decided to spend my time in the house. It was my first-term break and my parents decided to go for a 'honeymoon' in Bali to renew their marriage vows, or something like that. I couldn't be bothered anymore.
Up in my attic bedroom, I was painting. I painted whatever usually comes to mind, and I never planned anything first beforehand. The A1-sized canvas stood on my giant easel before me as I wiped some phtalo blue oil paint on the surface.
I was alone, but I felt completely fine. My parents had always been busy business-people and didn't spend much time with me, although I know that they love me very much.
As I was thinking about this while painting little vintage pink roses at one corner of the canvas, I heard a strange noise. I didn't notice it at first because it was soft, but as the seconds passed, it grew louder and louder. It was an unusual sound; it had whooshing mixed with the sounds of grating metal surfaces and one of my baby toys I had last time. I looked around my room, not really sure where it was coming from.
It got louder and louder, and with an echoing thud, it stopped. It sounded like it was coming from outside. I opened the mini attic window and poked my head out to look at the street below.
Right on the sidewalk next to my house, stood a big, blue wooden crater box, standing upright. What was it doing in front of my house? People, animals and cars passed by without even glancing at it. Didn't anyone hear the strange sound? Didn't anyone notice this strange box?
Feeling annoyed, I snapped the window shut and made my way downstairs to go and check it out. As I was halfway down the carpeted stairs, the doorbell rang. I wonder if it was a delivery? But, I didn't see the post van.
I rushed to the door and opened it. Before me, stood a man in his late-twenties. He had a boyish haircut and was wearing something my grandfather would wear in the 60s. I eyed his red bowtie and his knitted elbow-padded jacket.
"Ah, Audrey! Good to see you! Can i come in?" he exclaimed enthusiastically. Beaming, he pushed past me and entered my home without my consent. What was going on?
"Uh, who are you again?" I asked. Did I forget I met him somewhere?
"Oh, just call me the Doctor, would you? Anyway, I'm supposed to fetch you today to bring you somewhere very important. And we haven't got time to lose," he rambled, glancing at his silver wristwatch. "Come on!" he said.
"Why do I feel like I've seen you before?" I asked, narrowing my eyes in suspicion.
Losing his smile, he looked straight at me and said in a serious tone, "That's because you have. Remember?"
I stood there and stared at him for a moment. Then, memories came flooding back. When I was five years old, disaster struck the town and strange beings from the sky attacked us. No one, except me, truly believed that they were beings from another planet. Then, a man saved us all.
And that man was the one who was standing right before me.
"The Doctor!" I exclaimed, my eyes wide with alarm. He was my hero, eventhough everyone thought that he was against them and was helping their enemies. I knew he wasn't, because I have been in that big blue before. How could I ever forget that happened?
"Yes, that's right," he said, smiling.
Without another word, he walked out of the door. i followed him curiously.
I saw him disappearing into the box.
I walked towards it hesitantly, not wanting to rush things. I was still afraid that something might happen, because he was still a stranger to me. But why do I trust him so much?
I entered the box through the opened door.
I started to remember.
And I definitely remember that the interior of the box was bigger than it looked on the outside. How is that possible? I looked around me. In the middle of the 'room' was what looked like the main control area. Like it was a spaceship or something.
With a snap of his fingers, the door closed shut.
"How is it possible for it to be bigger on the inside?" I asked with wonder. "Timelord science," he answered simply.
"Timelord? I repeated, unfamiliar with the word. "From the planet Gallifrey," he said. "So, wait. You're an alien? But you look human," I said with disbelief. That was impossible.
"No, you look timelord. We came first," he said, fiddling with some dials.
I stood next to him, not sure what to say.
I remembered that I wanted to follow him in his blue box.
"So what does this do, other than time-travel?" I asked casually.
He beamed at me. "So, you DO remember!"
"I'm starting to," I said, smiling back.
"Well, have a look at this, and tell me what you think," he said, searching his pockets and pulling out a picture. He handed it to me. I couldn't fathom what was in that picture for a moment. It was a picture of a painting of a girl. I realized that girl looked exactly like me.
"It was painted by a famous painter named Rembrandt. Heard of him?" he asked, observing the picture with me.
I glared at him with disbelief. "Heard of him? He's my favourite painter! I am a huge fan of his work! But why haven't seen this painting before?"
"That's because he never kept it. It was stolen and never found again. And that is what we are going to find out!"
he danced his way around the control area, pressing buttons and spinning knobs. At the last twirl, he flipped a lever and the whole room started to swerve wildly like a ship in a terrible storm.
And there was that whooshing, groaning sound again.
We grabbed things to hold on to and he threw back his head and laughed. I laughed along with him
This is going to be an adventure of a lifetime.