The Doctors Note: Chapter I
Dear Me,
I've finally done it, I found the Doctor. However it wasn't everything we'd pictured. I understand now, the T.A.R.D.I.S. is a disease and The Doctor a trap. Everything you thought about disrupting your future/past was true, those who fiddle with time will be punished. The reason I'm writing this is to stop you from going down the road I did. I know that if you get this and follow my warnings I will no longer exist...That thought is worth dying for. I cannot enclose my adventures with him as that could be dangerous. I can only tell you to stay away from the man with the purple tie. You will know him when you meet him. I was never supposed to become his companion, because I did an innocent life was taken. A life more suited to be his companion. As a result of my actions there is blood on my hands. The guilt I must live with will kill you, should you choose the wrong path.
The Doctor says this note will never reach you and even if it does, you will not give up the life we'd always dreamt of. However I know myself, and if I'm right even though I may always end up on this path perhaps one day the note you read will be enough to stop you from making this decision. I remember receiving this note when I was much younger. I ignored my own words then, I thought to myself The Doctor is not a trap, he saves lives. Never have I been so wrong. The fact I was given this note in my youth means I've gone down this path before. I cannot be sure of how many times I've made this decision as you know the laws of time. Must we keep making this decision over and over again. Must we stay on this endless circle of madness.
I understand your frustration, to meet him yet be forbidden to join him...I'm sorry it had to be like this but nothing I do will ever make these mistakes right. Hoping and praying you will have the sense enough to change our future is the only thing that keeps me going.
If I die tomorrow I know it will be because you have made the right decision... Heed my words, The Doctor is a poison, every day that comes I will wait for your decision.
~Evangeline A. Claire
Please do not keep this endless cycle going. Stop the madness and save yourself, no matter the temptation.
The letter is gone through time yet its been weeks since any activity. Perhaps the letter was lost...perhaps I ignored it...again. Waiting like this is torture. I want to know the truth however I am stuck here, lost without a way back. Every day that passes I only grow to loathe him more. Waiting is killing me.
I stare into the hearth, the crackling fire brings me back to New York, so many people died that day. The Doctor and I were there for one mission only, to prevent a fixed point in time from being erased. Though fixed points in time are protected by all things how can it be protected by the forces of time and nature colliding.
The Doctor was forewarned of this point in time by a prophetic Ood. He was ordered to protect a life who was needed in another point in time. The triangle shirtwaist factory was aloft with fire, it raged out of the windows and high above the fifteen story building. People everywhere were frantic, trying to catch those who choose to jump from the fire. The fire exits were blocked by so many bodies who had tried to escape to quickly. The Doctor and I only had minutes before a young girl name Aurodella was going to die.
He parked the T.A.R.D.I.S. inside the factory. The smell of burning wood and smoke filled my lungs quickly. "How are we going to find her in this! Couldn't we go farther back in time? You know some time when she isn't surrounded by fire!" I yell to him, coughing.
"Sorry, time and forces of nature colliding. Something called a space/time rift can't be helped." The Doctor replied while pointing his sonic screwdriver at a fallen piece of wood, now burning to a crisp on the ground.
I groaned and turned away to find an opening in the raging fire. A few feet away I saw a doorway not completely burned away, but it was still obstructed by fire. "Doctor!" I screamed for him, within seconds he came up behind me. He quickly pointed his screwdriver at the fire, it whizzed and buzzed soon the fire died down. I turned to him, "What can't your sonic screwdriver do?"
"I don't know, I've never encountered a problem like that." He scowled at the tip of his screwdriver as if looking at it would provide some sort of answer.
The Doctor put away his screwdriver and stepped through the all but fallen doorway. I followed his lead. Looking around I couldn't see how this building was still standing. Rafters rained from the ceiling, fire licked the walls and worked its way into every crack expanding and breaking the architecture.
The Doctor led us to a stairwell where the fire raged less violently. Running up three steps at a time we hurried to the thirteenth floor. The girls who were working at the factory when it caught fire littered the ground now. A few girls were trying to claw their way around the dead bodies to get to the fire escape. A few had opened up one fire escape and jumped one by one. Even thirteen floors up I could still hear the thud their dead bodies made on the ground. I cringed and turned away to look for our quarry.
There were so many girls here I didn't know where she could be, smoke choked me. "How are we going to find her in this?" I rasped in The Doctor's direction. The Doctor paused, looked around the room and took off like a racehorse. I barely had enough time to follow him over the dead bodies. When I caught up to him he was moving bodies away from a closed door. It was faint but over the falling building and fire I could hear someone yelling for help.
I quickly aided The Doctor to get to the closed door. When we finally opened it we found who was screaming. Inside a mostly intact broom closet was a young girl about twenty. She had beautiful golden blonde hair that went past her shoulders. I recognized her instantly.
There wasn't much time, the minute we opened the door a rafter fell from the ceiling, it crashed in front of the doorway. "Aurodella! Take my hand!" I shouted, extending my hand to her.
"How do you know my name?" She asked as she grabbed my hand and i lifted her over the rafter.
"I think there are more important things we should be thinking about right now!" The Doctor shouted to us, slightly coughing against the smoke. I squeezed Aurodella's hand and we took off running. Surprisingly we made back down the stairs to the T.A.R.D.I.S.
The Doctor opened the door and rushed us inside. We all fell in coughing the smoke out of our lungs. I looked back at The Doctor who had regained himself and now was starting up the T.A.R.I.S. for flight. I smacked Aurodella's back to get the smoke out of her lungs. She slowly stopped coughing and looked around her.
There was an audible gasp as Aurodella perceived where she was. "What is this place?" She asked breathless. I helped her up and walked over to The Doctor, now pulling some whatzits on a keyboard.
"Time and relative dimension in space, or T.A.R.D.I.S. if you prefer." The Doctor answered, looking up and smiling at her.
"It's not of this century is it?" Aurodella asked while walking around and exploring everything.
"She catches on quickly." I mumbled to The Doctor, he replied with a joke.
"Much faster than you." I hit his arm, we both laughed and turned back to Aurodella.
"How do you know my name? And why did you save me?" She asked.
"Well…" The Doctor shrugged while thinking of an answer she would understand.
"Future intuition!" I improvised. "Not an uncommon thing where we come from. Long story short this is a time machine and we were sent here to save your life."
"A bit Terminator but she gets the point." The Doctor whispered to me.
Aurodella stopped looking around and turned to face us, as if she didn't quite believe me. "Where are we going then?"
"Somewhere safe. Where you can continue living." Said The Doctor.
My mind came out of its daydream when a knock came on the door. In the eighteenth century not many people come to visit. I hiked up my maids dress and walked over to the door. Before I even reached it someone kicked it in. I heard a voice shout, "Thats her! She's the witch!"
Hands grabbed me and forced me to the ground. A million thoughts ran through my head at the same time. Witch? This blasted town I'm no witch! They're going to kill me if they think I'm a witch. However the fact this is occurring must mean this is the universes way of destroying a life that shouldn't have existed. Which means my letter got through to myself and I never met The Doctor! Finally! After agonizingly long weeks I took my advice and never became The Doctor's companion. Now it's as if my suffering never happened.
I tried to hide my smile as the men of the town lifted me to my feet and walked me outside. Hiding my smile didn't work very well, the men saw it and it only convinced them further I was insane. There was no point hiding it, as I was forced through an angry mob to the stake I realized just what this meant.
It meant I was free, the guilt and remorse which so heavily weighed me down before will no longer be there. I'll be erased and my suffering along with it. I started to laugh, my laugh grew larger and eventually I was laughing so hard I couldn't stand. I stood still as they tied me to the stake.
Looking out at the crowd I never felt more free...Until I noticed a familiar face. He was looking at me like I knew why he was here, and like I knew what I should do next...I did know what to do if he was here. Blasted Doctor! He's not going to let me die in peace is he? I gritted my teeth and for a moment thought about ignoring him. But I couldn't I looked at him again and this time he stepped forward.
"Damn you!" I shouted. I bit my lip and before I was completely tied to the stake I pulled my hands away knocking the ropes to the ground. The men surrounded me and tried to hold me down. I dodged them with adept precision. My skills from being a trained assassin paid off in the worst of times. A few of the men had weapons, I immediately spotted a knife and made the most of it. The man parried his knife, I turned sideways and used my momentum to grab a hold of the man's arm and force the knife out of his hand. Once I had the knife getting away was easy.
I fought of the men one by one, the other citizens didn't dare challenge me after seeing my skills at work. I quickly ran to the risers and jumped onto a roof where I disappeared behind the buildings. When I came down The Doctor was waiting for me.
"You couldn't just leave me alone to die could you?" I say to him tossing the knife to the ground.
"You know I can't do that."
"Why you!" I rounded on The Doctor with all the hatred I'd harbored for four years without him. But I stopped short, it wasn't worth it and it would accomplish nothing. I turned away in disgust. "Why are you here?"
"I know that you think the letter went through but it never did. I'm here to tell you, you can't let yourself be killed. Eva I thought you knew better than that…"
"Yeah, well four years of being trapped in eighteenth century Europe will do that to you. I'm not like you! I don't get a light at the end of the tunnel! The only thing I can do is try to stop the mess I made from happening again…"
The Doctor looked at me with sympathetic eyes. I was beginning to loathe that look of his. "You can't stop it. It's a fixed point in time." The Doctor trailed off, he couldn't face me.
"Fixed point in time!" I blew up, he never told me this! How am I supposed to stop the disaster I'll create with The Doctor if it's a fixed point in time? "Why didn't I know this sooner! Do you know how many times I must have sent that letter to myself in the past? I can't even count the number of days I wished I could take back everything that happened! Why are you coming to tell me this now? Why not just let me die here? It's not like I'm needed anywhere!" The Doctor didn't reply, he just looked to the ground, as if I knew the answer. After a while it came to me. Quietly I mumbled one of the first things I heard him say. "900 years of time and space and you've never met anyone who wasn't important…"
"I'm sorry I couldn't get to you, I'll show you new worlds again. So you can see the universe through happy eyes like you used to." He extended his hand toward me and snapped his fingers. I noticed that behind him the T.A.R.I.S. doors swung open. As much as I resented what happened because of The Doctor I just couldn't hate him for it. He tried everything he could to save them, but it wasn't enough.
I know I'd hate myself for it later but I reached for his hand anyway.