Friday couldn't come quickly enough for Amelia. It had been three days since the Doctor had disappeared. But he had only gone physically- he was still firmly there mentally. He seemed to be appearing in all her thoughts. It didn't matter whether she was working out if 262 was divisible by three or where she had left her PE kit. He was always there saying things like 'It's going to be fine' or 'Do I even look like people?'. Really, Amelia thought, finally remembering where she'd left her PE kit, it would be so much more helpful if he told her what she wanted to know… like whether she'd left her Maths book at Aunt Sharon's or not.
Amelia, despite five years of living with her aunt, had never been able to call the large-ish house in Leadworthe 'home'. 'Home' was the house in Inverness with its creaky stairs and slightly cold mornings. Aunt Sharon's house just wasn't the same. It was warm, and the stairs didn't creak, and everything was always clean… maybe that was the problem. The place was like a temporary lodging- not a place anyone really expected a child to grow up in.
Driving home- Amelia's Friday luxury- Amelia finally found the courage to tell Aunt Sharon about the Doctor.
"Aunt Sharon?" she started nervously.
Aunt Sharon sighed exasperately. "Not now, Amelia. I'm trying to concentrate on the road- and you jabbering on isn't helping!"
"But, Aunt Sharon!" It's important!"
Aunt Sharon sighed again, as she pulled into the space outside the house. "Amelia. I know this may be hard for you to understand. You don't have to believe me- and I'm sure you won't- but in perspective, tiny arguments with your friends are not that important." She started to get out of the car, but Amelia caught her arm.
"No! Not that. Please, listen! On Tuesday, a man came in a time machine called… well, he called it a TARDIS. And he landed in the garden, but the TARDIS was broken, so it smashed into the garden shed…" Amelia trailed off at the half-angry, half resigned look on Aunt Sharon's face.
"Now, Amelia. I don't mind that you broke the garden shed- we all get a little excited sometimes, and it was old anyway. But you cannot create someone to blame it on! It is a bad habit!"
"But I didn't-" The slamming of the car door cut Amelia off. "… make it up…" she finished in a whisper. Amelia slowly climbed out of the car and closed the door.
Aunt Sharon stopped her just before they went into the house. "Now, Amelia, this hurts me as much as it hurts you, but you're nine now. At your age, you really must stop this fairy story telling. Please go to your room for thirty minutes to reflect on what you've done."
Amelia walked up the 15 stairs to her bedroom. She wouldn't have minded the 'punishment' so much if she had homework. But Miss Reed had been generous and let them off on weekend homework.
Sinking onto her bed, Amelia silently cursed Miss Reed's kindness. Banished here for half an hour. The peace would be nice on a normal day- thirty minutes all to herself. No Aunt Sharon barging in every five minutes to check if Amelia wanted a drink or a snack, or some help.
When Aunt Sharon did do that, Amelia so wanted to snap at her, 'All I want is for you to LEAVE ME ALONE!'
But of course, Amelia didn't. Despite what she seemed, Aunt Sharon did care and wanted Amelia to be happy. She groaned. Twenty five minutes with nothing to do. She'd read all the books on her bookshelf so many times, and had no schoolthings to tear pages out and doodle.
Doodle… wait… drawing… what if? Amelia grabbed a pencil from the pile on her desk and a piece of paper from another pile and started to draw. First she started with a body like shape, and then moved to the top right area of the page, and started drawing a big rectangle, which evolved into a large box with a light on top. Amelia then pulled the pile of coloured pencils towards her, sifting through it for a dark blue, light blue, black, brown and a flesh colour.
Half an hour later, Aunt Sharon allowed herself to come into Amelia's room. "You've been busy!" she said, coming to the desk. "What's this?"
"The Doctor!" Amelia told her earnestly. "And his TARDIS!"
Aunt Sharon sighed. "Oh, Amelia." She took one look at the girl's enthusiastic face, and all the will to scold her again went out of her. "Very well. You can draw your pictures of the Doctor without my intervention. Dinner will be ready in an hour. Please finish all homework before then."
Aunt Sharon walked out of the room, closing the door gently behind her.
A/N: Well? Pretty pwease, press that little button? It won't take much out of your day! Pwease?
