Prologue
At night, when the stars shine and the moon lights our way, I hear them. Millions of people, calling out in the sky. Some are happy, some are sad and in so much pain. Others, are terrifying. Great big pepper pots with a eye stalk and laser, and metal men causing so much pain. It's horrifying, but there's a man. He's always there, in my dreams or in my minds eye like the pepper pots and metal men. He stands in a blue box, with a companion at his side. He changes every couple of decades, his face and clothes are different, but I know it's him. It couldn't be anyone else. He reaches out for my hand, while supernovas go off around him, basking him in their light. He calls to me, every night. He calls me his 'Forever Girl'. Maybe I am. I want to be. So much. I want to reach out and hold his hand and never let go.
The Doctor, and his Forever Girl.
I gently closed my diary, and my finger traces the golden wording, an old habit I've yet to break. My mind is going now, so I have to write things down. If I don't I shall forget, and I never want to forget, even in my old age. I chuckled silently to myself. Old age. Such a revolutionary concept for my people. I wasn't even that old. But old I looked, and old I felt, so old I was. At least for now.
I stand up slowly, wincing as my knees crack. I miss being young, it was so much easier to do things. I waddled over to my old cracked mirror. It had been crack for a very long time, but I had yet to replace it. Or maybe I just forgot.
I look into the mirror, and trace the wrinkles that now marked my skin. I had grey hair now. When did that happen? Possibly at the same time my memory started going. Or was that later? I can't tell anymore.
I start coughing. Softly at first, and horribly hard in the end. When it stopped, I looked down at my hands. My old hands. They were glowing gold. I smiled for possibly the first time in weeks. Or minutes. It's getting harder to tell.
Never mind, I'll remember in a minute. I just wish it would hurry up. The end, I mean. I've had a good life. Lived through WW2. That's certainty an achievement. I never got married, no one was ever right, but that didn't mean I wasn't happy. But all good things must come to an end, so that newer, better things may take their place. There's no room in the world for an old women like me, not anymore. But that's okay. My death gives room for life, and without life we wouldn't exist.
My whole body is now glowing. I'm a little scared, to be honest. I've only done this twice before, and both times went wrong. I wonder what sort of person I would be? A good one, preferably.
It's too late now, she's coming. It's time for this old lady to die, so She can take my place. Maybe she can do some more good in this world. I've had my time, and now, I'm at peace.
Goodbye, my companions. It's time for me to sleep once more.
o0o
One of the nurses came up to the door where one Miss Parker was resting. It wouldn't be long now, and as horrible as it was, that kind old women dying, it was nature, and nature was unforgiving.
The nurse opened the door a crack, in case she was just resting. It seemed not, as she was standing in front of the broken mirror. She refused to let anyone fix it, or replace it, and threw a fit when any of the younger nurses tried. But there was something odd about her. She was glowing gold. What on earth?
Suddenly, without warning, she exploded into a fiery gold. The nurse screamed, and ran to call the police. All thoughts of the lovely old women who would let you tell her your woes, and who would console you, was gone, only replaced with fear. She was an alien! Just what they needed. First the alien space ship flying into Big Ben this morning, and now an alien old women. Didn't Judy say something about an alien helpline?
