The sunset was at the peak of the horizon. The sun leaked colours onto the sky like a great big canvas. The point where the day was dying and the night spilled into existence. It's one of the things that made being a human being so amazing, wonderful and magical. Yet the people on the planet below took advantage of it, only saw it as just another thing that happens in a day. After all, most humans believe that there will be plenty more. Only a few truly took notice of the sunset, truly accepting the simplicity of the beauty around them. Jennifer Sweed was one of these few.
She stood outside her office block awaiting her favourite time of day. She looked at the sky with her small glistening brown eyes. Her small lips curled into a smile as the sunset arrived. Her long brown hair moved delicately as the wind brushed it lightly. She shivered a little bit, it was difficult watching this during winter. Especially with her work clothes on which consisted of a black skirt with a matching black sleeveless top. The office was plenty warm but being outside guaranteed a nasty nip.
It was the end of the day so she began to walk home. Jennifer worked for an IT firm where the pay was good but she found it awfully mundane. She began to whistle as she set off down the almost darkened pavement, where all the shops were closing their doors and it was eerily quiet. She took no notice of course; the silence was nothing new. It had always been that way for her, ever since her first day on the job. Her hands slipped into one of her pockets, her walk turned into a bit of a run. Even though Jennifer was used to the silence she couldn't she shake off the feeling something was watching me. Her mind was set on getting home as soon as possible. Her mother would be visiting soon. Jennifer's mum was such a perfectionist that if the house wasn't clean she would have a fit, book herself into a hotel until the house was up to her 'standards.' Sometimes she didn't feel like a 23 year old, rather the 15 year old girl with a messy bedroom. Her mind was so consumed with these thoughts she didn't notice bumping into a rather tall man who subsequently landed on his bum.
"I'm so sorry!" She yelled, startled. She offered the stranger a hand; he took it.
For someone who had just fallen over the expression on his face was cheerful to say the least. He had a mad grin on his face as he gave her a look with his brown eyes. At an initial glance she could deduce that he was in his early thirties at the very least but when the stranger locked his eyes she saw his eyes properly. The man's hazel eyes were old, as if he'd seen a million wars and the burden rested only in his eyes. Worried that Jennifer was looking for too long she diverted her gaze to his clothes. He wore a brown pinstripe suit with a long brown over coat. Strangely he wore red converse with them, not a fashion choice she would have made. Then her eyes rest on his hair which was a dark brown and spiked up at the front like he ran a hand through his hair.
"Ah I wouldn't worry about it," He said, waving a hand at the girl. "I've had worse falls: fell down a pit once – granted I did fall a hell of a long way." He paused, chuckling at his use of his words as if a close friend had told him an inside joke.
She simply raised an eyebrow at the man, not knowing what to make of him. He didn't seem dangerous, in fact he had only spoke one sentence and she liked him already. As if he had made a connection with her.
"Anyway," He said, getting Jennifer's attention once again. "You look like a friendly face." He grinned whilst pointing at her face. "Do you know where the post office is? I'm in urgent need to drop off a letter."
Instantly he withdrew a letter without any writing on the fact, in fact it was just an A4 piece of paper without so much as an envelope attached to it.
"You're not going to get very far without an envelope," Jennifer laughed, trying not to be sceptical about the man's increasing decent into madness. "Luckily they sell them in the post office."
"Ah well then," The man said, his smile increasing. The kind of smile that was too big for someone's face. "I'm in luck. Allon-sy."
"Oh you speak French?" Jennifer asked him, as she started walking. She was very nearly fluent in the language.
"I speak a lot of languages." He put simply, not leaving room for more questions.
They made their way towards the post office. It wasn't too far away from where she worked but Jennifer tried to avoid it as much as she could. It wasn't just because she preferred to communicate with people via email; it was simply because whenever she walked into that building the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Like somebody had just walked over her grave.
They arrived at the post office, almost instantly she got the chills. The building was very unusual. For one it looked completely out of place, you wouldn't be able to tell it was a post office had it not had the sign hanging over it. It was an old Victorian building with ivy running across its face. It consumed the windows, so there was little light emitting from the inside. The door was the most curious thing of all; it was large – large enough to be compared to the entrance of a castle. It had strange wooden markings all around it. Some were circles, others were delicately carved in, and some just look like they had once been scratched by finger nails.
"Thank you," the man said, examining the door as if it were some fascinating museum piece. "I'll just pop in, get an envelope then be on my way. Thanks for the help."
With that he entered the building, the wooden door creaked as it slammed shut behind him. Jennifer at that point should have gone home, cleaned the house up a bit, watched some television then gone to bed but something stopped her. This man had no idea where he was going, he didn't even know where this place was and she was guessing that he'd probably get lost in there. The nice instinct that was within her made Jennifer step inside the post office.
It had been years since she had stepped foot in this place and it hadn't changed a whole lot since. The same dusty booths lined the walls, each one of them vacant and dust lined each window. Other than the booths the room was pretty empty, the walls were stripped of their wall paper. Even the floor beneath my feet had dirty darkened wood covering the floor. It was hardly varnished. It was dark although one widow had sunlight desperately trying to break its way through. The light was barely bright enough to reflect the specks of dust.
She could see neither hide nor hair of the man. He obviously wasn't in this room but she didn't know where else he could be in the building. All the doors were bolted shut this time of evening; she was surprised that the front door was open. She took another scan of the room looking out for his brown hair or a sweep of his long overcoat. Jennifer sighed in resignation and turned towards the door but someone was blocking the way.
For the second time that day, she jumped backwards. The man blocking the doorway looked up at Jennifer; she let out a shiver as he examined her. His face was old – his wrinkles even seemed to have wrinkles. His hair was slicked back but even the grease couldn't dull down the shocking white colour it was. His eyes were a dark black, making Jennifer reminiscent of dark tunnels. His skin was as pale as a sheet of snow that laid thickly on the floor on a cold December morning. His back was hunched however he towered over Jennifer's meagre 5'3. The suit he wore looked about as old as he did however he didn't seem to care about the fine layer of dust that covered it. He was still looking at her when his thin lips began to form words.
"We are closed," His voice was quiet and dry but somehow it was powerful enough to make a shiver run down her spin. "How did you get in here?"
"I was looking for a friend," Jennifer said, trying to remain calm. Maintaining her poker face. "Have you seen him? He was wearing a long overcoat."
"How did you get in here?" The old man repeated, disregarding her question.
"The front door." She said, barely able to stop the sarcasm leaking out.
"But how? It was locked; I don't seem to remember giving you a key." He slithered out.
She didn't know how to answer that question, she only followed the man to be nice but somehow Jennifer was convinced he wasn't going to buy it. She hesitated, a thousand imaginary scenarios ran through her mind but even if I came up with a scenario that would make this man believe her. Jennifer's mouth was getting increasingly drier. Luck must have been on her side because…
"ARGH!" A familiar voice yelled from the other side of the room. It was the man whom I had been searching for. He was yielding a long metallic device and ran straight for the pale man standing guard against the door. The man at the door did nothing but stand there as the other man ran straight towards him. When he collided with the pale guard dog the metallic device fell by her feet. Jennifer picked it up and placed it in her pocket without realising she had done it.
"Damn it!" The man roared on the floor.
"Are you done?" The other man asked bored.
"No I am not!" The man said rotating his shoulder, in a circular motion. He looked like a five year old who had their favourite door plucked away from them. "Okay now I am!"
"Very well," the man said. "Now I suggest you get your little human friend out of here, I know how emotional you can get time lord."
"Fine, spoil all the fun." He said, he then placed both of his hands on her shoulders. "I'm sorry about this, unavoidable. Well almost unavoidable. Go home, and forget all about this okay?"
He brought her to the door, he then opened it, gave her a gentle push then closed the door behind him. Jennifer was still quite shocked so she stood there for a few moments trying to register what just happened. The door opened once again, Jennifer's head spun round to see the man's face grinning at her.
"What's your name?" He asked.
"I'm Jennifer," She replied, looking confused.
"Nice to meet you Jennifer, I'm The Doctor."
The door closed behind him with those words and there was the unmistakable noise of a door locking.
A/N: Reviews are much appreciated :)