The Girl of Time (Doctor Who Fan-fiction)

Chapter 24

When I open my eyes, I'm startled by crowds of people bustling about. "Where is this?" Rose asks.

"This is the place where Alexandra García was last seen. Sorry, I should have told you beforehand. We just need to find her family...which - now that I think about it - is going to be a little harder than I thought," I say, squinting through the florescent lights. "We should have landed relatively close to them."

I scan through the mall. Without really thinking, I turn around, and sitting at a table just a few feet behind us sits the García family. They're talking and laughing, and it makes my hearts ache. It all changes today, for them at least. Everything changes. I wish I could stop her, keep her from walking to the rift. But Rose and I both know that sometimes you just can't mess with time. You have to let what happens, happen.

The young girl - I assume Alexandra - suddenly stands up, and walks away from her family. I follow behind, being careful to keep a safe distance. I glance over my shoulder, making sure Rose is following behind. I give her a second to catch up, then jog ahead, being sure to keep Alexandra in my sight.

"We're not going to...mess up time being here, right?" Rose asks, waving her hands in the air.

"Well...it's not exactly the smartest thing I've ever done, but as long as we don't meddle around too much, I think we'll be okay," I say, never stopping. Alexandra suddenly turns a corner, and I duck behind a display stand, just to be sure she doesn't see me. I don't think it's the end of the world if she does see us, but I don't want to takes chances.

Alexandra suddenly stops, dead in her tracks. No, she didn't just stop, she froze! Mid-step, she's frozen. Before I can wrap my head around what's happening, she's just...gone. Rose and I exchange a confused glance, and I run over to the spot where Alexandra once stood. I glance at the clock on the wall. 8:03pm, interesting.

"Why didn't anyone notice that?" Rose asks, walking over to me. I look at the people bustling about. They didn't seem to notice the girl's strange disappearance.

"Uh...very low level perception filter?" I say, making it sound more like a question. "Hey! Hello there!" I yell, testing my theory. A woman walking by momentarily glares in my direction, but then carries on walking. I take two steps forward. I wave at no one in particular, "How's it going?" Several people stare at me, some awkwardly waving, others rolling their eyes.

"Well then," Rose says. Intrigued, I place my hand on the floor, exactly where Alexandra stood.

"Woah!" I say, pulling away my hand as if I just placed it on a hot stovetop.

"What?" Rose asks, glancing down at me.

"It feels...wrong." It was the only way I could explain it. This time with caution, I take the tip of my index finger and run it across the floor. "It's about four inches...er...or about ten centimeters wide. I'm pretty sure it runs through this mall and quite a ways out."

"So..is that the rift, then?" Rose asks.

"I don't know, I assume so," I say, glancing around, "We need to get back to the Doctor."

"Yes, okay...where is he?"

"Uh...good question," I say, "Doesn't really matter. Let's get out of here."

"How exactly do you do that? Travel through time, I mean," Rose asks.

I laugh, "I still don't know how, or why for that matter, I can. All I have to do is think of a time, or a place, or a person and I will teleport, transport, travel...whatever you want to call it, to that specific time/place/person. I've wasted enough of my time trying to think about how it works, so I just accept it. Shall we go?" I hold out my hand, and she takes it. I take one last look at where Alexandra disappeared before everything momentarily changes to nothingness.