After telling the whole story to the Doctor, all he did was nod. He seemed to need a few minutes to say anything at all in reply.
"I would say you've been lucky." he said, "Not too many people see Weeping Angels and... well, live."
I didn't understand what the Doctor meant by that, which he could tell from my face, so he explained: "We call them Weeping Angels because, as you've noticed, they can't move unless nobody is looking. They can't even look at each other, so they cover their own eyes most of the time. So to the observer, it would look like they're weeping."
"I see." I replied, "And what do you mean about killing? You mean they would have ripped us to shreds if they caught us?"
The Doctor laughed: "Goodness, no. They would have sent you into the past. In so doing, you'd be dead by the time you're born."
This I still didn't understand: "Why would they do that?"
"It's because they live off of potential energy." the Doctor explained, "Think of it as living your life if you weren't caught. That's the energy they live on."
"Oh." I said, although I'm still not sure I fully understand how that's supposed to work. Still, hearing this meant that Rose wasn't making her story up, and that the Angels indeed did send them back into the past. This also made me question something else: "Makes me wonder how they fed themselves on Wallace and Gromit."
"If what your friend said is true and they did travel back to their own time, then there wasn't enough for those Angels to feed themselves on." the Doctor replied, "Maybe that's why they didn't follow you. They were too weak."
"Must be." I said, although him mentioning my friend (i.e. Rose) made me remember something else, which made me sigh deeply.
"Are you sad you survived?" the Doctor asked.
Should I tell the Doctor this much, I wondered? Why not? I had shared him everything else so far: "You remember Rose and I exchanging our addresses?"
"Yes." the Doctor did indeed, "How did that go?"
"Well... almost as soon as I got home from that fieldtrip, I ended up in an argument with my mother."
"What about?" the Doctor asked.
"Something stupid, really." I answered, "But that's not important. What it comes down to is that she was angry with me for days on in."
"That long?" the Doctor was genuinely surprised, "And I thought only the Daleks could hold such a grudge."
I vaguely remember him mentioning the word "Dalek" before, but I still didn't know what that meant. But to be sure I wouldn't lose my train of thought, I didn't ask him, and continued the story: "It was long enough for a letter from Rose to arrive in my mailbox. In order to punish me, my mother tore up that letter and threw it away."
The Doctor then understood: "So you did end up telling her your name after all."
Was the Doctor such a champion at completely missing the point, I asked myself? Anyway, I continued: "Since I never knew what she wrote in that letter, I couldn't reply to her. Not to mention that if I called her, it would end up on our phone bill, so my parents would find out... I think you see the problem now."
"Ah yes." the Doctor replied, "You couldn't risk getting yourself into any more trouble."
"But..." I continued, "... this way I never really stayed in contact with Rose, so... who knows what she thinks of me now. Maybe she hates me now, because I didn't stay in touch with her."
"So you finally had a friend, but it couldn't last." the Doctor now fully understood my problem.
Suddenly, a solution came to me: "Say... since I now have a time machine at my disposal..."
"Oh no!" the Doctor exclaimed, "If you're thinking what I think you are..."
"Doc." I interrupted, "I've read enough books about time traveling to know about paradoxes. What I want is to go back, find the letter, so I can reply to Rose. But in that same reply, I would explain my situation to her, telling her to not send me anything, or even call me. Not until she hears from me again, anyway. Which she obviously won't, but at least she'll have an idea as to why."
The Doctor was thinking about that: "Sounds reasonable enough. Very well, I'll send you back. What day was this?"
I didn't remember the exact date. However, I did remember the year, and that it was a week where we had the Thursdays and Friday's off, so that narrowed it down a little. Also, since the Tardis would be unnoticeable for my family, we could stake out for as long as necessary, until I saw my mother throw the letter away. All we had to do next was wait for everyone to leave that room, quickly take the letter out of the garbage, puzzle the pieces back together so I could read the letter. Then I could write my reply. I told the Doctor to take me to a few days later, so it would make sense if the letter arrived late (as I would have to have had the perfect opportunity to post this letter). So now I have this one unfinished business... well, finished.
THE END