Serena woke with a jolt, sweat beading down her face as she breathed in and out hard while she laid there, her head re planted onto the pillow behind her. It had all been just a bad nightmare. She was safe and warm inside her own bed, yet the cold feeling that clung to her skin still didn't alleviate the fact that it had felt so real.
She gave a sigh of relief though, letting the tension and the dream slip away like a discarded vale. Her heart, which had sped up in pace, began to slow down again. Closing her eyes momentarily it allowed her to gain her composure before turning onto her side to check the time via her phone. It was only six a.m. as far as her blurry eyes could tell, and she didn't have to be anywhere until at least ten.
Frustrated, she laid the phone back down, face down onto the mattress and rolled back onto her back to try and get back to sleep for at least another hour. She could take a cab if she had to, was the thought she mused. However, after only twenty minutes of just lying there staring up into the dark nothing, she finally decided to get up, having found going back to sleep just to be a fruitless endeavor. Her brain was already ten steps ahead of her body.
Flourishing the covers off with an irritable yank, she turned her body so she could sit up and get off the comfy respite that was her bed. Still weary faced and blurry eyed, she made her way to start the rest of the day. Of course her vision was so bad at the moment she practically stumbled through the dark room just to get to the door. Why she hadn't put a lamp and stand right next to her bed, she didn't know. Though, now that her grumpy mind was thinking about it, she was half way considering it even though it probably would blind her more just turning it on in the mornings.
Finally she made it to the door and opened it, leaving a dark hallway to loom in front of her. Because her mind was still fuzzy, it almost made her jump scare a bit when she saw a shadow that looked out of place just ever so slightly or so she thought. This encouraged her to try and quickly make her way to the bathroom to turn on a light and shut the door at the same time. Once inside she leaned momentarily against the door itself to try and get her nerves to settle.
It's all just in your head. Stop thinking about it, was the thought she tried to convince herself with to re calm herself down. Staring at herself in the mirror, which in her case was not as quite an easy task and one with think, she tried to gauge what sort of day this day was going to bring. Squinting a bit at her image to try and see it more clearly, she could tell that it was going to be one of those days, emphasis on those, which meant probably would turn up bad somehow. Just what she needed, a bad day on top of a bad night's sleep. Clearly she was batting zero at this point.
Walking up to the sink she turned it on and began to cleanse her face and hands. The warm water rolling down her face from a wet wash cloth she had grabbed had felt good on her forehead, eyes, and cheeks; but alas it did nothing for her visual acuity though most days she'd hope it would. No her vision was permanently stuck in a state of slight blur, as well as near sightedness. She could barely see more than twenty to thirty feet in front of her most days, with most things at least halfway decently defined, but what she could see allowed her to get around still quite nicely.
Granted, the lenses she'd put in after washing her face would help with some of that problem, but it still never gave her the acuity she needed to do some things most average humans could do. Luckily she was resourceful and could manage her way around that issue for the most part. There were just some days, like this one, where things were tougher than others.
After putting her contacts in, Serena blinked rapidly a few times at her still disheveled features, her now blue eyes staring back at her. Sadly she could not see the color unless she got really close to the mirror, but at least the sharpness was now there and that was what mattered. She didn't see the world as if swimming in the ocean with one's eyes open. Satisfied with at least that, she managed to work her way into brushing her hair, getting dressed, and eventually getting around to getting food from the kitchen.
By that point it had become eight in the morning. If she wanted to get to where she needed to be by ten, she was going to have to either leave on the go with her food, or just wait and cab it there. One was cheaper, but the other allowed for her to take more time. After checking her funds in a jar she kept for such things, she realized she had enough for a cab only or enough for a bus and maybe a lunch at her location later. Bus it was. So she made a quick bagel as best she could, grabbed her jacket, backpack, and her specialty cane just for people with vision loss like hers, and darted out the door to try and reach the bus just in time.
She had just barely made it with a few minutes to spare. Enough for her to catch her breath before having to board the bus. The moment the bus came and she was on, had paid the bus fare, she had made her way to find a seat. Cane still out to indicate her status she let what vision she did have note right away that the front seats were all taken. Unfortunately she could tell that they were all occupied. As far as she was concerned, by the way they were stare at her, she strongly assumed they were all able bodied lazy loafs, folks that clearly were not going to budge for her whether they could tell she needed the seat or not. Again it was going to be one of those days.
Not wanting to bother to tell any of the blank faced people sitting there in the kindest way possible to shove off, only because she felt a tad self-conscious, to let her sit in a spot purposefully designated for people with a disability, she instead just huffed an irritated sigh and tried to manage her way back to the back of the bus, casually whacking a few folks on either side with her cane, the same motion used to gauge her surroundings, however, in her case a way also to get a silent revenge on the jerks just sitting there like mindless sheep. Sadly as she reached the stairs that led to the second level the driver started to take off before she could sit down somewhere. She even almost stumbled and fell on her face as she clambered up the stairs to the second level.
Frazzled, Serena finally found a seat to plant herself in. It was moments like this that drowning out the world was for the best. Plugging in headphones to her phone she opened up the YouTube app on the screen after unlocking it, picked a song, and put the headphones on to blare away the stupid people, as she saw the situation as it was right at the moment because she was irritated, away. Music to her was like her life track, it pushed her through and past all the bull that she had to deal with on a constant basis. She was strong, she had to be and she knew it.
The ride to her destination from home was luckily a short one. Sadly it had left her to personally pay attention and guess as to when and where her stop would come up. Fortunately this route was one she took almost daily. So knowing the stop was a lot easier than if she hadn't been to a place before. The moment she reached the block of the stop itself, she pulled the line and began to stand before the bus even had stopped. Drivers in her town were not always keen on waiting for anyone, not even someone like herself unless rider was bound to a chair and then it was part of the driver's responsibility to help them get off. Otherwise, one was on their own.
Lurching forward as the bus came to a sharp halt, she vaulted herself forward towards the stairs, holding onto the railings that jutted up to the ceiling for support so she wouldn't go flying down them. Quickly she tried not to fumble down the stairs as she made her way to the back door and out it before the driver could start up the bus again and take off down the street.
Music still playing, she readjusted her bag on her shoulders and began to walk to the building yards away in front of her with purpose. She would have crossed the grass out of convenience instead of wandering around via the sidewalk, which took longer, but canes like hers were never good in grass. Hers had a rolling tip so it wasn't as much a bother, but instead she took the sidewalk just in case to make sure something else couldn't go wrong. Its white reflective surface swayed back and forth as it found its target to either side of her, trailing the grass instead as she took the long route to get to the main doors.
She honestly hated using the damn thing. She'd been raised up without one. It had only been more recently now that she was on her own and her sight was diminishing, that she he had, had to use a cane more often. In some causes though if she was feeling quite trite or self-conscious about it, she'd leave it at home so as not to share with the world that she was the way she was. This was the same case when she got just passed the parking lot. She began to fold it up. Familiar grounds meant she could much more easily navigate without the cumbersome object in hand.
The moment she reached the front door, she finished folding the cane and opened door just like any other student would and strolled inside like there was not a thing wrong with her at all. She was a college undergrad trying to make it in a competitive world. As she wandered through the main lobby, folks said hello to her. Some she could recognize right off the bat, others not so much, but none of them what one would call "close friends". She was on her way to her first class of the day. Monday's were notorious for the eye rolling, mind numbing, vocal groaning hard subjects like math, science, and or history. Sure there were some other classes littered in between as well, but all the same, the major classes on a Monday were usually the most complicated.
Yet she supposed she'd rather have a Monday annoyance than the same sort of classes on a Friday. That would have just ruin ones weekend. Finally though she made her way into the first classroom to await her doom for the next two or so hours. Others walked in right after her, but she paid no mind to them at this point. She was more focus on getting her small space ready. Serena got her things out that she'd need for class and then waited, her headphones and smartphone full of music now put away. Of course once class began, things would started turning into a better day hopefully.
Lecture was long and boring. It was hard to keep up with the professors ramblings and the stuff wrote on the board. To be honest, she didn't even pay attention to the board because she couldn't see it. So instead she'd wait for after class for the hopes that the instructor would have secondary notes she could gather if at all. Sadly the professor did not this day and it left her in a tad bit of a slump. Thankfully she had the memory of an elephant so to say, since an elephant quote unquote never forgets.
By noon after class was over, and she was able to rest her eyes a little, her day had gone from a miserable start to things were looking just a bit more up. Well aside from mounds of homework and lack of notes of course. She had gotten the lunch she wouldn't have been able to get if she had cabbed her way there, and had even had time to sit down and enjoy it before the next class started. She had three this particular day.
While eating the sandwich she'd bough along with a juice drink, she had tuned into watching slash listening to something on her phone. This always seemed to be quite the routine for her most days. Not that it was a bad thing. The time to herself just gave her more of a chance to decompress from a stressful class session, which for her was a good thing. It wasn't like she went out of her way to sit by herself, just no one usually was there that she did know when she was or they just didn't think about sitting with her, try as hard as she might to fit in.
Eventually lunch break was over and she had gone back to her routine of classes again until about four in the afternoon, which was when her third class got over. Again just another normal routine to her day. Of course Serena knew the looming of the return home on the bus was approaching, but she at least realized that was going to be an on the way home trip rather than an on the way out one. It meant she'd be going home and not have to deal with any more antics for the day.
The sheer moment the day was over, she had bolted off out the school campus' front door, pulling back out the cane she had, had earlier that day just long enough to deal with public transportation itself. She still really did not like carrying the thing even though she really needed it. It was like a big red flag saying hey I'm different, strange, weird, or whatever else she could think of. She was the only one at the stop too at least on the side she was looking to go.
Normally this wouldn't be a problem for her, being alone that was, she could easily hear the bus coming and flag it down. However, that feeling of it was going to be one of those sorts of days gut hunches came rolling back into her stomach when she did hear the bus approach. Like usual she walked out to signal down the driver, but either she had misinterpreted the stop, or the driver was being just one of those sorts of drivers. They completely passed her and kept right on going. Her ears even picking up the faintest chance that the driver actually sped up just out of sheer spite to get as far away from her as quick as possible.
"Jerk." She muttered bitterly to herself. Why did she have to live in such a miserable town again? This was the thought in her mind. Oh right, because she couldn't afford to live anywhere else. The town itself wasn't really all that bad, at least not as bad as she believed it to be, in the emotional state she was in right now. it was decent sized, not the greatest of course being something out in the middle of the brown prairie lands of a state that some people believed still rode horse and buggy in, but it at least had more than a one stop light intersection. It was just small enough to have community but large enough that you could easily be forgotten.
She was going to have to walk home at this rate seeing as that same driver was going to be probably on for at least another few hours she was certain. Which meant she wouldn't probably get picked up at all because the driver was being a royal insert colorful metaphor here type of individual. With a sigh, Serena shouldered her backpack and began to walk with her cane still out. It was going to be quite a trek from the college to where she lived a few miles away. Each mile could take her between a half hour to an hour or so.
Her mood had been so bruised. She normally could listen to music while walking, but today was just not one of those days. Besides her phone would have been dead before she got there. Instead she let the sounds of the city fill her ears. The real heartbeat of the universe. It some ways it was soothing, in others it was strange and kind of awkward. The only tones being that of car wheels rolling by in the distance and of course the wind whipping through still dead trees and grass.
Of course she could also hear her cane rolling along the ground in a gliding whoosh sort of fashion, she was going to need that sound with how cruddy her vision was being today. She had decided to stay off the main avenue through town, a three lane that went both directions making it a total of six hectic lanes. Less traffic made for easier audio cues to cross with. However, going the back residential roads meant for easier targeting by trouble makers, and for a girl walking alone, impaired in vison or not, that was a bad thing.
Sadly she got turned around a bit while figuring out her way home, finding herself going down a street she wasn't quite as familiar with as most. It was starting to fade in daylight too, the sun still starting to set around six p.m. or so. The bus that had passed her earlier had not helped what so ever. Sadly, unable to see as far ahead of herself as she would like to have, she began to feel uneasy again. Her dream creeping back into her mind once more. It had still felt so real, but why? Thinking about it made her pick up her pace anyway to try and reach home faster. Unfortunately it made her trip up more just trying to reach her safe haven.
Luckily she had some great skill at keeping balance mostly when she wanted to, even if she found herself connecting a foot or two on a gigantic crack in the sidewalk as she sped along. She could have face planted and still kept going, damning whatever consequences may have come. What really sucked was she almost got hit by a car because of how fast she was trying to get home and the fact the driver had not stopped to let her pass. She swore under her breathe at that, wondering if the person was not paying attention or was just rude.
She inevitably found herself completely lost and had to stop for a few moments. Serena had to get her bearings. Yet the moment she stopped moving she felt more like almost breaking down. Biting her lower lip lightly to try and stop a flood of emotion from welling up inside her she frantically looked around. She had no idea where she had ended up and it frightened her.
Serena knew though no one was going to help her, she was all alone, so she had to gather in what her surroundings were. Even as the dark was starting to settle in. She closed her eyes for a moment to try and calm herself down, letting her ears do all the searching for her. If she could maybe hear the sounds of the main avenue, she could figure out how to get back there maybe. Sadly the sounds of the cars in the distance were all the same. The rest of the sound was all wind blowing through the tress.
That was not helpful at all. She stood there trying to think. She couldn't afford a cab, there were no buses now. There had to be some way she could get home. Just as she was trying to figure that out a sudden pressure change happened and the wind began to pick up in a slightly different direction. It forced her to have to close her eyes again to keep flying dirt from the street to billow up into them and make it so she really couldn't see. It was while she was doing this that she began to hear another sound, one that sort of sounded like a flag scrapping and beating against a metal pole a bit, but a tad more distorted than that, and maybe just a little too rhythmical. What did she know though, for all she knew the wind could have been fluttering a flag somewhere and in rhythm.
If that was the case though, she might actually know where she had gone wrong and got lost. Parks had flags and she'd been plenty of times to a park before. Turning with a swell of hope inside. She started her way in search of the sound as it seemed to get louder and louder until finally she did stumble out onto a street corner where ironically park ended up lying. The sound had stopped of course, but now at least she was able to find her bearings much better.
It wasn't safe to pass through the park, but she at least was able to wander around its border to its other side. Seeing something familiar in the darkness, she was able to get back onto the right street and continue the rest of the trek home, the sound that had saved her now only a stored memory in the back of her mind.
Disclaimer: I do not claim to own Doctor Who or its canon. Only the original characters and original content are mine.
A/N: I felt the need to write this type of scene because ironically I believe on some level all people can relate to life struggles. I wanted to show also a world that most don't get to explore, which is a relate able topic we can see everywhere in today's media. Also as you can probably guess this scene is part of the foundation of what is to come for our 12th Doctor. Please read and review!