Chapter 6 - A Star Again
I passed my exams, every last one of them. Even with that stupid locket on my mind, I passed everything and Maths to boot. Mum and dad couldn't come in to get the locket, that last day. They had work, and it was my fault that I'd lost it. School was over, and there wasn't time to go into the office. I was a little frustrated. The rules applied to cell phones and iPods more than jewelry.
"Silly of you, really, Seren. You're so careless, and that's all you have left of your real parents," mum said. She never said anything jealous or harsh about my or Justin's birth parents and adoptions, except then.
That night, mum was working the late shift at the hospital and dad was on a business trip. I laid in bed, unable to sleep yet too tired to stay up.
At midnight I heard a knock on the door. I cursed my parents for not being home. Now was not the right time for a burglar. (But wait...burglars don't knock, do they?) I stuck my head into Justin's room, but he was sound asleep.
No one was at the door, not even a shadow when I turned on the porch light. I opened the door a crack, then all the way. No one was there, but an envelope had been taped to the outer door. 'Seren' had been written in slanted, messy handwriting. Oh, not this letter nonsense again. I'd have a collection soon.
The envelope was heavy, it probably had a bomb in it, I thought sarcastically. I rolled my eyes. Who would want to kill a random teenager? I could think of a few people. I quickly closed and bolted the door. I ran into my room, turning on all the lights as I went. As if that could protect me from the monsters...I almost chuckled. Monsters? No such thing as monsters. Only bad people, evil teachers, and the occasional alien in a shopping mall. Still, I locked the door to my room. That was what they did on TV before the evil thing got them, wasn't it? Great, my life had been turned into one big TV Show.
I felt safer sitting down, so I sat on my bed with my back to the wall. I was getting paranoid. My fingers fumbled with opening the envelope, then I turned it upside down the way I'd seen people do dramatically in movies.
All that fell out was my locket. Wait - my locket? Didn't Mr. Trellers have it? Why had he taped it to my door? How did he know where I lived?
I shook the envelope, but there wasn't - no, wait, it just hadn't slid out of the envelope when I'd dramatically turned it upside down. I pulled it out and sighed at my stupidity. Some things did only happen in movies.
It wasn't much of a letter, just a piece of paper with strange symbols, circles, and lines on it. That definitely came from a Maths teacher, it looked like some strange Geometry problem. They seemed strangely scribbled, like an abbreviated message. On the bottom, six words had been printed in the same untidy and tilted style as the outside of the envelope.
Have you ever wondered what's inside?
I set the letter next to the one from Trainer Man, on my dresser. I held the locket up to the light. Open me, it whispered. You aren't alone now, it said.
Have you ever wondered what's inside?
My fingers twitched. It had etchings on one side, ones I hadn't noticed before.
Have you ever wondered what's inside?
I turned the locket over in my hands, ran my thumb over the strange inscriptions. Could I open it? Should I wait? Why had it been given back to me? What part did Mr. Trellers play in this? What would happen when it was opened? This letter is not to be opened until it is opened, I remembered. But what did Mr. Trellers and Trainer Man have in common?
Have you ever wondered what's inside?
So many questions, but only one answer was in sight. I wedged my nail underneath the catch, and the locket sprung open on its hinges.
A bright golden light came from inside the locket. It's open, I thought.
I was blinded by the light, engulfed into its brilliance. I could feel something stop, something start ticking like clockwork. I felt my consciousness being tucked away, silly teenage human thoughts being stored into a part of my newly vast mind. One heart became two. I stared at the light. It was all I could see. I felt as if I were on fire. The fire felt...cold. Alone. Desolate. Desperate.
A fraction of a second had passed, and I could see again, and what I saw was more than I ever had before.
Smiling, I snapped the locket shut. My last memories as a Time Lord were missing, but I could solve that very quickly. It was open, I knew that now. I reached for one of the letters on my dresser.
I was back.