When she'd been a little girl she'd wanted a nice house, a garden, a Mum and a Dad and maybe a baby brother or sister. She's wished so hard. Every birthday as she had blown out the candles on the pretty pink cake Jackie had bought her... she'd made her wish. The same one every year. Jackie had always asked "What did you wish for sweetheart?" but wise little Rose knew better than to tell. She knew the rules. Wishes don't come true if you tell.
She'd grown up quickly, too quickly Jackie said more than once. But little girls always run before they can walk. Rose liked to run, she wanted to run to the stars... so she added it to her wish list and told no one.
She grew a little older and when the boys chased her, sometimes she let them catch her. Sometimes she'd let them kiss her.
She'd been raised on bedtime stories of Princes and Princesses, of fairy godmothers and happy ever afters. There was some part of her that believed the stories. She wished for a Prince of her very own.
Only a little older and already her heart is broken. She'd thought she'd found her Prince, but she'd been wrong. He had been a little boy, and little boys tell lies. They say the words -- magic words -- to get what they want. He had taken his fill of Rose, then gone.
She'd cried on her bed, curled up in a ball, wishing she was dead. Her mother had soothed her and scolded her in equal measure. "You can't trust them Rose sweetheart. Men are all the same.
In the blink of an eye -- or so Jackie would have her believe, Rose was nineteen.
She had stared out of her bedroom window at the stars. No more tears left to cry. She didn't believe in them anymore -- nothing was worth her tears now. She'd been a fool. Wishing her life away. Wishing for things that didn't exist. She wanted to let go of her dreams, but they were all she had left.
She watched a shooting star cross the night sky. She wondered why it shone so blue. Maybe it was special? Shooting stars were made for wishing, it would be silly to waste it. She closed her eyes and wished with all heart, all her soul.
She wished for love that would last forever.
When she opened her eyes, the blue star was gone.
xxxxx
She stood on a beach, the wind in her hair, tears falling down her cheeks and her heart breaking.
She'd told him that she loved him.
He'd looked at her and she'd known, just from his smile and the heartbreak in his eyes.
He loved her too.
He tried to tell her... but time was not their friend, not anymore.
He drifted away before her very eyes. Not a ghost, not a shadow, not anything but a memory.
Her Doctor.
Forever.
xxxxx
No one had told her the dangers of wishing. No one had said "Be careful what you wish for... it might come true."
THE END
