This next installment in my tale takes place six months after I met the strange man I now know as the Doctor. I recently came back to school from Christmas break and, as per usual, I tried to distract myself from my loneliness. You see, every one of my friends chatted about how wonderful their holidays were with their boyfriends and their apparently loving families. No one asked me about my holidays. 'How was your Christmas, Tori?' 'I was left alone in my room, opened presents and then I was left for longer.' 'I gave Josh my New Year kiss this year, Tori, who did you give yours to?' 'The same thing as last year. My dog.' Some how this conversation never seemed appealing to me either.
You see, most of my friends were either going out with someone. What about my love life? Well, I'm sure you can tell by the would-be conversation above I'm not very active in that. Not a very proud thing for a now eighteen year old to say is it? Well, I'm not the most popular person in the world. My high school years were filled with rejection, hatred and awkwardness. So much for it being the best four years of my life right?
Anyway, none of that really matters, so where does the Doctor come in this time? Well, to put it simply, the sky turned purple and he was there to fix it.
I was in math class when it happened. I was staring out the window (what else is there to do in math class?) when I thought I saw a little violet spot on the sun. I blinked and it had engulfed the entire sky. Surprised, I jumped out of my seat and looked around. Everyone in my class had risen as one in a robotic unison motion. I spoke, not noticing they were all acting like robots.
"Hey guys, did you see the sky was actually purple?!" I said. Before I could blink they were advancing on me, a blank look in their eyes.
Later on I found out the Doctor had stayed around this area since the summer (turns out he had a very difficult parting with his last companion). He had sensed something wrong and it was a way to distract himself. At the point when this happened, he was looking around the bottom floor of my school near the pit. Right outside my math room, in fact.
The Doctor had been muttering to himself, "They're all the same. All just standing there… hello!" he had come across my room. "What do we have here?"
He saw them ganging up on me and forced his way through the door. "You there!" he said, talking to me. I looked at him. I was shocked to see the crazy guy from the summer standing in my classroom. "Come with me!" he said
"I'm being mobbed here, I can't really move. Plus, why would I come with a crazy guy?!" I said back to him.
"I'll explain later, Just move!"
"I can't!"
I ducked under all my classmates as a last resort. Unfortunately this meant darting in between people's legs. O, the many things I did not need to know about my female classmates! Anyway, I fought my way to the Doctor.
"Nice job, ehr, what did you say your name was?"
"Nice try. So, why are you crazy?"
"I'm… not from here."
"Oh really? I never knew," I said sarcastically.
"Now what's your name?"
"Why's that important? My classmates are attacking me and all you can think to do is ask me my name!"
"Fine. Let's run."
We ran through the pit and up a set of orange stairs. "So what's going on?"
"It was just a normal day before the sky turned purple," I panted. "I don't understand!" An idea struck me. "What YOUR name?"
"John Smith."
"Liar," I panted, "Your right eye twitched. What's your name?"
"Now I'll tell you that when you tell me yours." We had stopped in the library. Oddly, there was no one there. At the time I didn't realize how odd it was, but the library's usually one of the most populated rooms in the school.
I sighed. "Convince me you're not crazy and I'll tell you my name."
"I'm part of an alien race called the Time Lords. I'm the last of my kind and I wonder around space and time. That's why I didn't know I was in America round six months ago."
"You lied about your name, how do I know you haven't lied about that?" of course, I already knew the answer.
"Did my eye twitch?"
"My name is Victoria Vervia," I said reluctantly.
"I'm the Doctor."
"Nice to meet you. Now, what's going on?!"
"Well, judging by the stale air, the Stepford Town around here and the purple sky, I'd say your entire little world is in a bubble. But why aren't you affected, Victoria?"
"I dunno. I've never really been like my classmates…"
"Yeah… I noticed," he said distractedly.
"What are you thinking about?"
"I'm not thinking about anything."
"There you go with lying again!"
"I saw a tower outside. But there's no way to get up there. What's up there?"
"I know there's a bell. It's never rung before but…"
"It rang a couple minutes ago."
"When the sky was purple? I didn't hear anything."
"Hmmm….. That's interesting."
"What?"
"We have to get up to that bell tower."
"What?! How do you suppose we do that?"
"The same way everyone else does when they turned the sky purple."
He got up and walked to the middle of the library with much protest from me.
"Hey! Where you goin'! Hey! Doctor!" I followed him.
"That's odd…no indentation, no evidence there's a bell tower above us…"
I pointed up to a small scuff on the ceiling where he was looking. "There's that little mark up there."
"Hmm… Maybe…" he reached into his pocket and retrieved what looked like a silver pen with a blue lighted eraser on top.
"What's tha-?"
He pointed the blue end up at the ceiling and a large ladder burst from the plaster, along with opening a door.
"Right then. Up we go." He started to climb the ladder and I followed him. As we climbed the sky outside turned orange. Although we didn't know it, all my class mates had started to move. To start to climb the stairs. To start to get in the library. To find us.
When we got in the little room with the bell, we noticed the change in the sky. "Oh, no," the Doctor said.
"What? What's wrong?"
"The sky's orange."
"Is it dusk already?"
"Ehr, not quite." He looked down. "Some of your classmates are climbing the ladder."
I looked down to see the choir director and all the chorus students in period three climbing the ladder. It was funny. I didn't think the fat man could climb a ladder.
The Doctor was darting around the small bell room when I finally looked back. "Look in the bell!" I said frantically, even though I felt quite calm.
The Doctor looked at me, "Are you okay Victoria?"
"It's Tori," I said dazedly. I still felt completely normal. I was confused. It was like my body was passing out, but my mind was perfectly lucid. My body wouldn't do what I told it to do.
As the Doctor tinkered in the bell, it swung. I saw my own reflection. My lips were white, my eyes going blank and I was paler than I normally am. However, I felt like I should be helping the Doctor.
"Tori, this might hurt your ears!" He activated his silver pen thingy and the bell swung even more. I felt myself fall. I stared out my open eyes and saw the orange sky start to burn like a film reel. It took all my strength, but I rolled over to see the same thing happen to all my teachers and classmates.
"C'mon, Tori," the Doctor said cheerfully, picking me up. "You still in there?"
He shook me a little and I blinked several times. "Right-oh." He carried me over to an odd blue box where he set me on the ground. I blinked more times. I could see the well concealed concern on the Doctor's face as he looked at me. After several more minutes of silence my back arched and I took an enormous gasping breath.
Spluttering, I said, "What just happened?!"
"Well, turns out you were the only real person in your community. How do you feel?"
"Never better," I said, annoyed. "So all my friends were fake? My whole swim team?"
"Yes, well…"
"All my friends?! I'm alone now…"
"You can travel with me," the Doctor said hopefully, of course, very well concealed.
I looked at him with my eyes narrowed. "Why do you want me to come with you? Did you put me there? Where's my real home?"
"I think they might have died off…"
"What planet is this? I could have sworn it was Earth, am I mistaken?"
The Doctor opened his blue box and looked around. It was ashen and desolate. There was a humanoid skull exposed in the dirt. "This can't be…" the Doctor muttered. He looked around more. There were bits of sheet metal everywhere. He darted back in the blue box where I was.
"This is Gallifrey. Tell me, do you have two hearts?"
"Two hearts? Ha! No!"
He pulled out a stethoscope and examined my chest. He found this accurate.
"Well, well, well, well, well… I'm not the last child of Gallifrey. You are. But you're not a Time Lord. What are you?"
