Chapter 1

It was a bright, sunny May afternoon in Southern California when I first met him. I was driving around town doing errands when I heard what sounded like an engine in the sky. Looking out my front window, I saw a blue box flying through the sky. I noticed the word "Police" on it and it looked like it was out of control. Without a second thought, I made my way through traffic and began to follow this box. I wasn't the only one who noticed it. While driving, I noticed people in the cars around me commenting on this strange sight. As I attempted to focus on both the box and the road, I noticed the box begin to lose altitude. I changed lanes and turned right so that I was right behind the box. About a minute later, I saw it crash land in a parking lot. I pulled into the parking lot, parked the car and rushed over to the blue box. A crowd was already starting to gather and I pushed my way through to the front. The door opened and a man about 6' tall with brown hair and wearing a brown coat over a blue suit steps out. But what I noticed first was his eyes. He has brown eyes...eyes that look like he has seen things no one should see...eyes that are compassionate, but determined. I notice a bump on his head and begin to approach him. He's about to speak when all of a sudden, his eyes roll back and he falls down.

"Step away! Let him breathe!" I call out as I kneel down next to this stranger.

Placing two fingers on his neck, I feel not one but two heart beats. How is this possible? He looks human, but just from this I can tell he isn't. I decide to keep this information to myself and tell the crowd to go on their way saying he'll be fine. Because he is still unconscious, I ask someone to help me walk him to my car. A man steps forward and I indicate where my car is. With one of us on each side of the stranger, we walk him over to the car. When we're close enough, I take out my key and unlock the car. We lay the strange man across the back seat as I thank the man for his help. Getting into the driver's seat, I put the car in drive and begin to make my way home. At the red lights, I would look back quickly to see if there was any change, but every time, there wasn't. My thoughts were racing at a million miles an hour.

Who is he? He looks human, but the two heartbeats make it pretty obvious that he isn't. How did he get here? What is that blue box he came out of? Where is he from? How can I possibly help him? I don't know much about aliens.

A few minutes later, we arrived at my house and I went to unlock the door.

"Julian!" I called out as I stepped inside.

Footsteps sounded as my brown haired, brown-eyed younger brother Julian came down the stairs.

"Hey, Makayla! What's up?" he asked.

I lowered my voice to a whisper.

"Ok. You have to promise you won't freak out and you won't tell mom and dad."

"What's going on? You're acting weird and it's scaring me."

"There is an unconscious man in the back of my car. He was in a crash and collapsed in the parking lot at the store. Help me carry him up to the guest room."

Julian nodded as he and I exited the house and walked back to my car.

"Ok. You take the right hand. I'll take the left."

Together we gently pulled the unconscious man out of the car. When we had pulled him out far enough, Julian went to grab his feet and placed them outside the car. After handing him my keys, he closed the door and locked the car for me. Together, we made our way back up the driveway and into the house. Somehow we managed to get up the stairs and into the guest room without our parents noticing. Once there, we quickly turned down the bed, placed the man on the bed and covered him up.

"Whew! Ok. Now all we have to do is make sure that mom and dad don't come in here. If they do, we're screwed!" I said.

"No problem! Give me two minutes and they'll be gone for the rest of the day." Julian said.

He bounded out of the room as he made his way back downstairs. While I waited, I brought a chair in from the hallway so that I could be in the room in case the man woke up. As promised, Julian came back two minutes later grinning from ear to ear.

"I've convinced them to go on a date night. They're leaving in about ten minutes. All we have to do is make sure to lock this door before we go to bed or that one of us is up at all times."

"Sounds easy enough."

But it seems I spoke to soon because at just that moment, Julian's eyes went wide and he pointed behind me. I turned to see the man starting to come to. In an instant, Julian closed the door as the man's brown eyes fluttered open. As he took in his surroundings, his eyes grew wider and he attempted to sit up.

"Hey, hey, hey! Take it easy. No need to rush." I said as I helped him lie back down.

"W…where am I? Who are you?" he asked. I was surprised to hear an English accent come from him.

"I'm Makayla Anderson. This is my brother, Julian. You're in California." I replied with a smile.

"California?"

"That's right. Do you remember what happened?" I asked him.

"I…I was in my ship and she began spinning out of control. I tried everything but I couldn't stop her. We landed, but I was thrown against one of the metal bars. That's about it."

"You were coming out of a blue box. I saw it falling from the sky and followed it. It's a good thing I did because it wasn't long after that when you stepped out and collapsed. My guess is that when you hit the metal bar, it wasn't enough to knock you out right away, but between that and the force of the landing, your body just couldn't handle it. I brought you here to recover a little. What's your name?"

"The Doctor."

"Doctor who?"

"Just the Doctor."

I was confused by this, but figured it was better not to ask any more questions of him. I had a feeling that if I did, I would only end up more confused. Julian's voice broke the silence.

"How did you end up in the blue box that you were found coming out of?"

"That's my space ship. Well, it's not just a space ship, it's also a time machine."

"A time machine? You travel through time?"

"And space. Did I forget to mention that?"

Julian pulled me aside and we walked out into the hall.

"This guy is crazy! A ship, shaped like a blue box that can travel through both time and space? This just isn't possible?" he whispered.

"I know that, but he obviously believes it to be real. The best thing we can do is just go with it. It's obvious he hit his head harder than we thought. Maybe as he recovers, he'll start to make more sense." I whispered in response.

I nodded towards the door and we walked back into the room, making sure to close the door behind us. A smile came across the Doctor's face as we walked over to him. A sudden sound from below met our ears and caught the Doctor by surprise.

"What's that noise?" the Doctor asked.

"That's just the garage door. Our parents are heading out for the evening." I replied.

The sound of a car engine starting up met my ears and that was when I knew we were in the clear. For a few hours at least.

"Are you hungry, Doctor?"

"Actually, yes, I am. Do you have any fruit?"

"Yeah. We have some apples, pears, peaches, grapes."

"No pears. I hate pears. I guess grapes will work."

I made my way down to the kitchen, put some grapes in a bowl and carried it upstairs. The Doctor wasn't kidding when he said he was hungry. He practically inhaled the grapes as soon as I put the bowl in his hands. While he ate, I made Julian and me some chicken noodle soup. After carrying two bowls up to the room, I saw that the Doctor had finished the last of the grapes.

"There's some more soup downstairs. I can bring you some if you're still hungry."

"That would be lovely." He replied with a smile.

I set the two bowls I was carrying on the table and returned downstairs to scoop up another bowl. I carried the bowl upstairs and watched as the Doctor looked at the soup as if he were inspecting it. Then he took a small bite before quickly devouring the rest. You'd think he'd never had soup before!

"This is absolutely delicious. What is this?"

"Chicken noodle soup. It's one of my favorite kinds of soup."

"Well it's delicious. Thank you."

Looking out the window, I saw what looked like a man in a suit of armor coming towards us.

"Hey, Julian? None of your friends are coming over to play games today, right?"

"Not that I'm aware of. They usually call or text first."

"Then who's that?" I asked, pointing out the window.

"What's out there?" the Doctor asked, sitting up.

"There's someone wearing some kind of suit of armor. There's something on his chest."

"Is it circular?"

"Yeah, it is."

There was a brief pause before the Doctor answered and when he did, his voice had a worried, but determined tone to it. It was only one word, but it was enough to send a shiver down my spine.

"Cybermen."