IV
Runaway
21st Century
Planet Earth
England
London
As night turns to morning, April shuts herself in her room. She doesn't want to risk trying to leave the house in case the high pitched sound is heard again and this doctor to make another appearance. Each time she has seen him, running away or in his hologram appearance, Bruce always finds a way to beat her each time. She is always caught. However there is a slight change in Bruce tonight. When he catches April making breakfast in the kitchen, he ignores her. Instead of yelling at her or attacking her, he brushes past her to fry up some bacon. April cowers in the corner, wanting to run out and hide in her bedroom but she is intrigued on the fact that Bruce doesn't acknowledge her apart from an occasional slide glance. Yet he turns his head away once he catches her eye, almost as if he is trying to avoid her. His face seems paler than normal.
Four days later and an idea comes to April's mind, one that makes her want to laugh but she can't. The Doctor's voice asking her to run away with him in five days has been ringing in her ears. Technically she is an adult now so Bruce won't have the right to go after her. Even her therapist told her that now she is eighteen, Bruce no longer has right to look after her. Where will she go she doesn't know seeing as there is no one else in the Hollerford family that is still alive for her to turn to. The observatory is the only place to go, although it is a place she can't stay in. The astronomers will know and will send her back home.
April sits in her room, thinking about where she could go and what she is going to do to build her life up again. Never has she ever felt this much hope in starting again.
Then close to midnight, while Bruce is fast asleep, April packs her bags. Packing the remaining clothes she owns, all her astronomy books and a photo frame with a photo of her parents, standing in the snow with their arms wrapped round each other as they smile at the camera.
By the fifth day since seeing the Doctor, Bruce leaves the house for work, warning her that he wants to see that the rubbish bags have been taken out by the time he comes back. An hour after Bruce leaves, April grabs onto her bag and fleas the house for good. Along the way, she picks up the rubbish bags and carries it outside.
The cold spring air blows in the wind and April quickly surveys the cul-de-sac. She is thankful to see no one in sight. She takes in a deep breath as she picks up the heavy rubbish bag and carries it over to their dustbin which is propped up by the brick wall along with other dustbins.
Without further ado, April opens the dustbin lid and throws the bag in, ignoring the bright yellow glow at the bottom of the bin. As she drops the lid and turns to leave, she finds herself stopping in her tracks and turning to face the bin again; noticing that she never heard the rubbish bag hit the bottom. She isn't sure if the yellow glow was a fragment of her imagination, but the more she thinks about it, the more she becomes aware of the sound of muffled jazz music playing.
Putting her rucksack down on the gravel, April places both her hands on the lid, feeling it vibrate under her palms.
"What the...?" April mutters under her breath in confusion as she opens the lid and looks inside.
Instead of seeing the bottom of the bin where the rubbish bags should have landed, she sees a bright yellow glow that covers the whole of the bottom. Glenn Miller music blares out and the sound of laughter and glasses clinking together is also heard.
April slowly leans forward into the bin and reaches her hand towards the glow, feeling warm air blowing towards her. Nearly losing her balance, April leans back out of the bin and closes the lid, muffling the sound of music and laughter. She turns around to see that still there is no one around to witness this. She is alone in the cul-de-sac.
Wanting to shrug off this strange happening, desperate to get away, April then goes to pick up her bags. But no matter how hard she tries to move, all of a sudden she can't take her feet off the ground.
April starts to panic as she looks down at her feet. When she lifts her leg, the ground beneath her seems to stretch wherever her foot goes, almost as if the gravel is stuck to the soles of her trainers like chewing gum. She then feels the warm air on her back and a strong force that seems to be pulling her towards the bin.
"What the actual fuck?" Is all April can think of.
April manages to grip hold of one of the other bins but the force pushing her is too strong. April's grip slips as she is pulled back into the bin. The yellow glow sucks her in and she falls through a never ending tunnel. The first thing that April thinks when she falls is a line from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: "So many out-of-the-way things had happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible."
The dustbin lid slams shut. The music and laughter ceases and the glow vanishes. The only trace of April left is her rucksack that is left lying on the gravel.
