i started writing this and the reality hit me that I had the idea for this story in january of 2016. this story has been a part of my life for almost seven years now and the whole time I have been thinking about this chapter, this moment. hope it doesn't suck, aye.
Peyton Barrett heard about the death of Daniel Pink in the form of an email from Coal Hill Secondary School after several days radio silence from Clara.
Peyton didn't blame her, in fact, it would have been hypocritical if she had been. She called and Clara picked up.
She was heartbroken, of course she was, she had just lost someone she had truly loved. Throughout the short call, Clara had only answered in one or two-word answers, sometimes needing Peyton to repeat what she had said.
She knew she had to go back to London, to see her and do what she could to aid in her grieving process, Peyton was hesitant to leave immediately. Having only recently made the heartbreaking decision to leave her parents on Earth to burn, despite there being no real threat in the end, and her father recently haunting her from the grave, she had recently had a change of heart when it comes to her views on family time,
She also tried to tell them about her true nature, how they really came to adopt her all those years ago. She failed each time, never summoning the courage for the words to leave her throat. Ignorance is bliss, they say.
• • •
Peyton's eyes shoot open as she jolts into consciousness, a thin layer of sweat covering her body and her hand grasping at her sheets in her childhood bedroom. That marks the thirteenth day in a row that she has had the same shadowy nightmare. Never understanding more, only becoming more confused, and dare she say frightened.
She reaches over to her phone, flinching when the bright light hits her eyes.
5:03 AM
Peyton sits up, combing her fingers through the messy blonde hair, pulling it out of her face as she looks around the dark room filled with memories of her childhood spent in Leadworth.
Framed photos of a little blonde girl growing up with friends and relatives are scattered across the lavender walls with spelling bee certificates, math Olympiad medals, and cross country ribbons dotted throughout. It's hard to see in the dark, but Peyton knows each and every one of them by memory.
She gets to her feet and slowly and softly pads out of her bedroom door and down the stairs to the living room, still decorated the same way as it had been her entire life.
She watches the sunrise on the back porch, trying not to think about her dreams or her birth father, simply trying to let her mind go blank. She is going back to London today, she wants to enjoy her last few moments here.
"Peyton, darling, you're up early," Teresa Barrett says, arriving on the porch as the sky marbles with pink and yellow light.
"Just thought I'd enjoy my last morning free of the London smog," Peyton lies with a half-hearted laugh.
"You know you're always welcome here for as long as you like," her mum smiles. "I'll go pop the kettle on and make us some tea before your father fixes us some lovely breakfast. Have you heard from your floppy haired friend recently? The one who is always wearing that silly bow tie?"
Peyton sighs. That's another thing that will be too hard to explain to her parents. Regeneration is already hard enough to wrap her own brain around.
The Doctor had called her once or twice, mainly asking for any updates about her dreams and if she had any new symptoms which was his way of checking up on her
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The Time Lord's Apprentice
Fanfiction"But, you're impossible!" "Yeah, and the world is ending, I don't think now is the time." Peyton is an orphan, taken from her mother as an infant by the Unified Intelligence Taskforce. She is raised separately from other children because she is spec...
