Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Doctor Who and any of its characters except Faye and some of my original scenes.
Chapter Two: A Strange Conversation
A few hours earlier…
I was sitting on my bed, a worn out copy of The Fault In Our Stars in my hands as I read the book for the 11th time.
My semester was over so I was almost relaxed. I let my mind get away from the nasty, tensed thoughts about the upcoming semester and let myself drift into the fictional world. That's what I always did. The fictional, fantasy world was more precious to me than the real one.
There was too much on my mind those days. But at that particular moment, I was Hazel Grace Lancaster falling in love with Augustus Waters.
It was a bright November afternoon. My favourite time of the year. I could hear all the usual sounds of car horns, railway tracks, the pigeons, and crows. All those sounds that made me feel like home.
Apart from that, I could hear the faint noise of my little stepsister from the room next door. It didn't bother me much as my door was closed shut.
Here comes the weird part now.
I was turning over to the next chapter when I heard it.
At first, it was like a low whisper and I thought I was just daydreaming too much.
But then it was loud and clear. The wheezing noise I only ever heard in my fantasies and daydreams or on the TV.
But it was there. The noise. It was loud. Really loud. I thought I must be going mad. I thought that my ears aren't in the real world right now. But I could make out the outline of something big and blue that started appearing beside my bed.
Finally, the wheezing and groaning stopped. My heart was beating so loud, I could almost hear it.
It was there. The object of my fantasies that I've grown to love so dearly. And I just kept staring at it, wide-eyed and mouth hanging open.
After a few moments, it was still there and did not disappear rendering my madness. I glanced at the door of my room, waiting for someone to come barging in to find out what that noise was about.
But no one did. I realised that my stepmom's sleeping in the room next door. My stepsister is up to something I don't know and my sister is with my grandma in the room located on the other side of the house. Hence, no one might have noticed the sounds.
I looked at the beautiful object again, standing tall and quite in my bedroom and blinked.
I closed my eyes. Slapped my both cheeks. I pinched myself on various places wincing all the way and looked at "it" again.
I'd been trying to lucid dream since a year and I'd also had a few successful ones that month. So I thought that I might be lucid dreaming at that moment. I did like a dozen reality checks to ensure myself that I certainly wasn't dreaming.
I got up from the bed and walked towards the huge box in slow motion. When I was near it, I raised my hand to touch it. And when I did, I felt faint vibrations as I expected. Pulling my arm back, I stared at it finally losing my cool.
I was on the verge of screaming but I quickly covered my mouth with my hands. I was shaking and my heart was beating a million times faster.
My conscience screamed in my head the same thing over and over:
"The TARDIS is in your fuckin' bedroom!"
I stood there for a while, waiting for the dream to get over but I knew well that it wasn't a dream.
I also considered the idea that I had completely lost it after watching too much of the show and thinking too much about it.
But it seemed so real.
I hesitantly reached for the door handles and pushed them open.
It was completely dark. I wasn't able to see anything. But as I took my first step inside, it lit up like a Christmas tree.
I took in the breath-taking view in front of me. As expected, IT WAS BIGGER ON THE INSIDE!
I felt dizzy. I grasped the door hard to keep me from falling down because all this was making me dizzy.
My mind wasn't accepting this. The voice in my head kept saying that this certainly CAN'T be real.
But it felt so real. Unlike the dreams. Unlike my fantasies. It was bigger on the inside as I had always imagined it. But now that I was "really" seeing it, everything seemed surreal.
It was the bluest blue than I've ever imagined it. And I was standing there, at the door of the time machine that travelled in time and space.
But something was wrong.
The control room had gone all red making the emergency wheezing...if you get what I mean.
But she only did this when the Doctor was in tremendous amount of danger.
My heart skipped a beat as the thought of the Doctor being real too, crossed my mind.
The man who was just a fictional character meant more to me than any other fictional characters. I fell in love with him the first time I saw him...on TV obviously. Not romantically, but I loved the man the most and it sucked that he wasn't real.
But now, when I stood there, half in my room and half in the TARDIS, I just had one big question inside my head:
"Where is The Doctor?"
I looked back at my room once more before stepping further into the box as I closed the doors behind me.
I looked around, everything so familiar and yet so strange.
I stopped near the control panel, grazing the buttons and levers lightly with my fingers.
I thought in my head; "What must have happened?"
I was surprised to get a reply. A soft voice was speaking into my ears. It was a female voice and I knew that it didn't belong to any of the female companions of the Doctor's.
It...she was saying something but it was faint at first and I couldn't understand.
But it became clearer after a couple seconds.
"The Doctor is in danger."
"He needs help. He's stuck somewhere terrible."
"Who are you? And why are you telling this to me? H-how can all of this be real?" I struggled to stop myself from asking more questions.
"I am the TARDIS. And you are the only person that can help the Doctor right now," she answered.
"What?! Wait! First of all, the TARDIS can't speak. Is this a prank or something? And why am I 'the only person' in this entire universe that can save the Doctor?"
"We are not of this world. We got pulled here. This is a parallel world. Your world, where we might not exist. The Dream Lord pulled us here. He has sent the Doctor and his companions to a dream world which is very deadly. And unlike the last time he did it, it's only a single dream this time. They aren't given a choice of two different worlds. They have no way out. And I can't go in there because I don't have that amount of energy to enter into the dream."
My head was spinning as I took the time to process this information. Dream Lord? I remember I made up a short story about that particular episode after watching it. I completely changed its plot where there won't be Amy's choice. It would all be a single dream world and they had to find a way out before they die. Quite a story I made up which was completely different than the real one but I never got a chance to really finish it.
"O-okaaaay but where do I come in? Why me?" I managed to ask as I was trembling with fear.
"Because you built it. The dream world. It's your daydream, Faye. The Dream Lord has access to all the dreams in the universe, even your daydreams. You created this fantasy and you never finished it. The Doctor is still stuck in it. And I need energy to get there which only you could provide. After all, it was your imagination that got him stuck there in the first place."
My eyes were wide with horror. This was a lot to take in.
Instead of answering her, I started laughing. Maniacally. Because I knew I had completely lost it this time. I had gone insane. Finally gone insane due to my own fantasy. Finally drowned myself in my own daydreams losing grasp.
"Why are you laughing?" She innocently asked me. But I kept laughing, clutching my stomach as it started to pain.
"This...can't...be real!" I said between my laughter.
"I know you think this as another one of your daydreams Faye, but I can assure you that this is real. You knew there was a chance that there existed parallel worlds. You've yourself made many fantasies in your head about it. That's because you believe. You believe that this is possible. And weren't you wishing so hard last year on your birthday to let the Doctor come for you? You admitted to yourself that he existed and was out there saving everyone's ass, didn't you?" Oh, she kinda sounds like him!
"How do you know all this about me?" I asked, my laughter long gone.
"I looked you up." She replied as a matter of fact. "Now, are you willing to help out and let me use up your imaginative energy to get to the Doctor?"
"What would happen to me if you soak out my energy? And what about my family?" I had gone mental. I was actually thinking of doing this.
"It would drain out your energy. Make you really weak. It would be extremely painful, I must warn you. But I could ensure that you won't die."
"How reassuring!" I sarcastic exclaimed.
"It's all your choice. I'm not forcing you," she stated calmly.
"I...I..need to think." I massaged my forehead with my fingers, my eyes closed shut as I considered the request.
"You have to take a decision fast Faye. We don't have much time left." I scoffed at her last statement.
"Alright. But if I do this, how will I come back? I mean, I have to be back at this exact moment." I was actually planning to do this.
Why? Because it was my fantasy. I know where he is. I know what they're going through right now and I have to get them out. And I did say that if saving the Doctor was the reason for my death, I would willingly accept it.
"I really don't know how to get you back here as this is a parallel world. But maybe the Doctor would know a way out for you."
"So you're saying that you want me to go through tremendous amount of pain as you soak up my energy to get to the Doctor with no guarantee of getting me safe back home?" I asked, my heart beating fast, not with fear but with determination.
"Pretty much, yes."
I sighed heavily and close my eyes before opening them a couple seconds later.
"Ok. I'll do it. But I need to get some things with me." I was gonna regret this.
"Thank you, Faye."
I got out of the TARDIS and into my room. The door was still closed and no one had noticed this big blue police box.
I wore my jacket and scarf and quickly stuffing my phone and earphones in my satchel, I entered the blue box again. I went near the control panel and hung my satchel onto one onto one of the levers.
"Okay. I'm ready. What do you want me to do?" I asked as I prepared for the oncoming pain.
