SIGNAL ~ Doctor Who fanfiction

Chapter 13

Flashback

She decided to head outside for a stroll in the neighborhood. It wasn't that dark outside yet, and there were still people roaming about the streets. She breathed in the fresh air as she opened the front door. She jogged along the pavement for a while, then walking across the street to the park.

Somehow she didn't realise the speeding white car that drove towards her direction. She only looked up when she heard the honking sounds, but it was too late. Her eyes widened. The bright flashes of light blinded her sight before she had any chance to react.

And she screamed as the car hit, without a hand to hold her back.

*****

Chapter 13 - Why Can't They Catch a Break?

Joltea woke up to find herself tucked in bed. The pink bedsheets were unbelievably comfortable and the pillows were so soft it almost felt like she was lying down on a drifting cloud. She sighed, wiping the sweat that dripped from her forehead. She looked around the room and her eyes landed on the wooden table beside her. There was a glass of water on it.

She shut her eyes when the visions came swarming at her. She's been like this since she was born. The never-ending ticking... She found the supposed 'blessing' to be more of a curse. A vision of an Olivia Watson laying unconscious on a hospital bed came into mind.

... How was she going to tell the Doctor?

Answer is: she couldn't. It would disrupt the timeline and create a paradox.

She shook her head and put down the glass causing the image disappear from her mind, then glanced up to find a beautiful galaxy painted on the ceiling wall to distract her. Twinkling stars and supernovas floating through space along with milky ways and colourful planets. The scene was majestic and otherworldly gorgeous.

There was one planet that caught her eye though — that orange planet that grew as brightly as the sun and the stars that blazed through space. Her home planet.

Gallifrey.

The drawing calmed her a bit, but not enough for the horrors about to come. She headed towards the wooden closet that conveniently placed a few inches away from the bed. She looked in awe at the vast collections of dresses and clothes all from traditional to fashionable. Those dresses must have costed a fortune and they were just tossed carelessly into an old closet.

The Tardis definitely has more dress sense than the Doctor. And just like that, Joltea was in love with the Tardis already. "Bigger on the inside," she exclaimed. The Tardis never cease to amaze.

She gazed through the dresses and grinned when she found the most stunning dress ever. It was a sleeveless dark blue dress covered in tiny diamond sequins that almost looked like stars in the night sky. The dark blue faded into a shade of light blue at the tip of the dress... And it was perfectly her size.

"You have seriously outdone yourself, the Doctor has no idea how lucky he is to have you." Joltea said as she bumped her head lightly against the wall. "Thank you," she murmured softly to the Tardis. "Take care of Theta when I'm gone, yeah? Good girl." She smiled as the Tardis let out an appreciative hum.

*****

After taking a warm shower and changing into the dress, she picked up the hairdryer and turned the switch on. She grabbed a book from the pocket of the black hoodie she wore earlier amongst other things that were hidden away inside the pocket. There was a hand-made bookmark caught between the last few pages of the thick diary.

The old bookmark was made by Joltea's granddaughter long before the Time War. She kept it all this time to remember all that she experienced, all that she met, all that she was, all that she loved, and all that she lost. To hold the mark. The hot air blew against her hair while she flipped through the pages, the memories flooding back to her.

This definitely wasn't the first diary she had in the thousands of years she has lived... But she knew this was going to be her last one.

The pages were finishing, her life was ending soon, and time was running out. And the scariest thing was — she knows exactly when she's going to die, where she would die and several visions on how she could die. She was a ticking time bomb, just waiting to explode.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the door opened. She switched the hairdryer off and set her diary on the bed. She looked beside to find the Doctor standing outside, leaning against the edge of the wall. This time though, she pulled out her sonic sunglasses and wore it instead of the black hoodie or a mask to cover her eyes.

"Beautiful, isn't it? The Tardis specially made a whole new room for you." The Doctor smirked. "... How are you feeling?"

"Okay, I guess. The shower here is amazing. Never been in a Tardis before and this is definitely a brilliant first impression." She replied and then took up the glass of water that still stood on the table since just now. "How long have I been asleep for?"

He shrugged. "A couple of hours."

She nodded, drinking a gulp of water. She briefly adjusted the sonic glasses and then walked out of the room along with the Doctor. Joltea whispered to herself, counting the seconds that passed by before...

"3, 2, 1..."

Ring! Ring! Ring!

"That's odd," the Doctor said, following the ringing sound into the console room. "I don't get a lot of calls. What's going on?" He turned to Joltea, hoping for a sign on what was happening, but she just turned away and sighed.

He looked at her with an utterly confused expression, then picked up the phone, holding it against his ear. "Who is this? Not many people have this number, y' know. Hello?" He asked, still visibly confused. The unknown caller muttered a line of words after that, but Joltea couldn't make out the exact words he said.

However, she knew exactly what was happening. She pitied him silently, because she understood how he felt. All the losses, all the suffering, all the pain... They were both just tired of losing people.

"A Time Lord is so much more. A sum of knowledge, a code, shared history, shared suffering." - Tenth Doctor

Why can't they ever catch a break?

"... What? No, no, that can't be right... I think you've called the wrong person, she was fine a few hours ago..." The Doctor choked. His eyes widened, his mouth hung open, and he let the phone slip from his hand, dangling on the wire string that was connected to the console. "What?"