There were times when I would sit and aimlessly watch the stars, contemplating the possibilities of life on other planets, and hope to one day learn for myself that humans weren’t the only ones out there. That’s when I heard it. The sound that changed my life.
I had been sitting in the park, well past curfew, in a tree watching the stars in the sky. I came out here every night, much to the displeasure of my now ex-boyfriend. He told me I spent too much time contemplating the stars, and not enough time grounded in reality. What did he know? I knew there was something more out there. I had met one once—an alien. When I was a young girl, my family moved to London. Late on Christmas Eve of my seventh year, I heard a noise from downstairs, and clamored out of bed. I was going to catch Santa in my house. Quietly, I crept down the stairs, stopping before I reached the last step. I held my breath as I peeked around the corner to look at the tree, and there standing in front of it was a man. Not robust and white-haired like I had pictured Santa from all of the pictures, no this man was tall and skinny with wild brown hair. As if he knew I were there, he turned to look at me, fixed his small red bowtie and smiled.
“’Ello,” he said quietly.
“You’re not Santa,” I told him, glaring up at him.
“And you’re not English. We’re even,” he smiled, bending down to look me in the eye. “I’m the Doctor.”
“I’m not sick, I don’t need a doctor.”
He smiled again. “You will someday,”
Patting me on the head, he smiled again, the way grownups do when they know something important, and turned away. Stopping in front of an enormous blue box, he turned and said very quietly,
“We’ll meet again someday, Lilith Mason.”
He closed the door, and the noise began. The noise I’d never forget.
And now, here I was, thirteen years later hearing the noise of my childhood. My heart started pounding; where was it coming from? Twisting myself around on the branch I sat on, I nearly toppled out of the tree. There on the far end of the park I could faintly see a glowing blue light, fading in and out of view with the sound. Quickly I scrambled out of the tree, gathering my bag I had left at the base of the trunk and threw it over my shoulder. The crisp mid-autumn air burned my lungs as I raced across the park toward the box.
Standing at the edge of the park, quite out of place was the huge blue police box I remembered. The memories of that night never left me, and his words hadn’t either. Often I had asked myself what he meant by telling me that one day I would need a doctor. What was going to happen to me? So far as I knew he was the only non-human I had ever encountered, and thus, the only one in existence, right? My legs locked up, halting me in mid run. What was I doing? I didn’t know this stranger. How had he gotten into my house so many years ago with this blue box, and only I knew he was there? The box was still a good thirty yards away, when a bright light filtered through the doorway, and the silhouette of a man appeared.
“Lilith Mason, we meet again,” it said. It was the same voice. The same man from all those years ago. “Although, I hadn’t planned on meeting you in a park at three am.”
“I hadn’t planned on meeting you at all.” I replied.
“Always positive, that’s what I like about you. Although, your sarcasm has improved quite a bit.”
He stepped out of the box, approaching me slowly. At first I was tempted to run, to get away, but something inside of me longed to stay, to experience the unfamiliar. When he was close enough, my jaw dropped. He hadn’t aged a day in thirteen years.
No comments:
Post a Comment