The little girl sat angrily on the bench, her arms crossed dramatically across her chest and her hair falling across her face. She had made a solemn vow to herself this morning; No matter what, she wasn't going to be happy today. Beneath her head of shocking orange hair, blue eyes peered out, casting her gaze disapprovingly around the unnatural bright walls surrounding her. Occasionally the other patients and staff milling around the room would cast a curious glance over to the girl, the uncannily bright hair catching their eye. But the only one in the room that was paying any real attention to her was an older woman sitting next to her. She watched the young girl closely, concern etched across her face.
"Amelia", her Aunt started gently, "I know this isn't exactly what you wanted, but I just want you to try it, okay? Maybe you'll like it".
Amelia turned her sharp gaze to her Aunt, "You think I'm mad!", she all but growled in a thick Scottish accent, "Well, I'm not mad! I'll not have people sayin' I'm mad!" Tears threatened to spill onto her face. "Why won't you believe me?"
"It's not that I don't believe you…", her Aunt hesitated, "I-I just think that maybe this lady can help you understand what's going on a bit better"
"I know what's happening", she shot back, "I don't need some woman to tell me what I know!" she paused before adding a final retort, "I'm not stupid".
Before her Aunt could respond, a very polished looking lady with a clipboard entered the room. "Appointment for Ms. Pond?" She announced brightly.
Amelia gave her Aunt one more sullen look before she was whisked quickly out of the room by Mrs. Clipboard. She smiled as she thought of the name, her Raggedy Man would have liked it. With a huge fake smile, Mrs. Clipboard ushered Amelia into an even smaller room. She said nothing as she gazed around. The little room was crammed with way too much furniture. A desk that took up at least a third of the room sat in the far corner and the rest of the space was taken up by two huge sofa chairs as well as the accompanying sofa.
Amelia made sure to provide a show of rolling her eyes as a tall, dark woman welcomed her with a sickeningly sweet smile and steered her into one of the sofa chairs.
"Hello Amelia, it is very nice to meet you! My name is Ann.", the woman outstretched her arm and offered Amelia her hand. She pointedly refused it, instead opting to slouch further into the cushions of her chair. The woman's hand fell awkwardly back to her side before she sat on the sofa facing Amelia. "So, what are we going to talk about, today?" she prompted.
"I'm not mad." Amelia blurted out aggressively.
The woman laughed. Amelia didn't like it. "I never said that you were!" she exclaimed with amusement.
"I don't believe you." Amelia retorted, "Only mad people come here!"
"Now, who told you that?", Ann questioned.
Amelia shrugged. "Everyone knows that!" she explained. "Now they're going to say that I'm mad, well I'm not! I'm not!" she begged, "I'm telling the truth! It's the truth! He was real!" Amelia breathed heavily, furiously trying to control the hot tears spilling down her cheeks. "He was real!"
Ann watched as Amelia sniffled and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. She gave her a soft smile which was met with an angry look. "Amelia, where is he now?" Amelia didn't respond, instead she stared down at the ground.
Sensing the young girl's reluctance to answer, Ann quickly changed directions. "Amelia, This Doctor is very important to you isn't he?" Several silent moments passed before Amelia looked briefly up and gave the tiniest of nods. "Why is he so important?"
Amelia swallowed thickly, "He's my best friend".
"Amelia, you said he was a Doctor?"
"Yeah", she answered defensively, starting to sense the woman's hesitation. "That's his name. He told me so".
Do you think you need a Doctor?" Ann questioned. "Do you feel…. Sick in some way?"
She paused, "Well he's not that kind of Doctor", she elaborated, brightening up slightly as she described him "He doesn't do those things".
"What does he do then?" Ann asked patiently.
"Well", Amelia struggled noticeably. "He… He saves people. And-and he protects people from the monsters" A little bit of a smile snuck onto her face, "And he takes people on adventures."
Ann listened silently. "Did he go on an adventure with you?"
Amelia's smile faltered. "Well, he told me I could go with him. He-he said I could come…" she trailed off, tears gathering again at the edge of her vision.
"Amelia," Ann placed her hand on hers, "Where did he go?"
Amelia started to sob silently, she looked away in shame, "I guess he didn't want me" she said in the tiniest of voices between her sobs. "He said he's be back in five minutes!" She was gulping for breath now.
Ann held the little girl as the sobs racked her body. "He left me", the words spilled out along with a surge of powerful emotions. Shame. Anger. Devastation. Confusion. She couldn't make any sense of it. "He's gone".