Wonder - Doctor Who

Prologue

Chloe sighed quietly, trying not to make it obvious that she was bored out of her mind. Attending Alcoholics Anonymous was not what she had in store for her Saturday evening but she supposed the last ditch effort at supporting her father was more important than a TV show she can watch on Catch Up later.

Well, when that TV show happened to be Doctor Who, she decided she had earned the right to be annoyed.

Throughout the meeting, Chloe had come to the conclusion that her father will never change so she didn't know why she wasted her time hoping he would. No wonder Mum left, she often thinks to herself. Chloe rarely has the patience to deal with the man she calls father. The man has never been sober for more than two weeks and even then that's rare.

Clearly she was lost in her own world because everyone around her had started to leave. "Come on, Dad" she sighed, again. The man only grunted in response and got to his feet ready to follow her out of the Church Hall. Not even God could help her father so Chloe wasn't going to continue putting up with his shit.

"This is the last time I'm doing this for you." Chloe hissed. She's had enough. She decided here and now: she was not going to another bloody AA meeting. "I have my own life, Dad. I can't keep helping you pull yours together when you're clearly not interested in doing so."

"I am!" He protested. "I'm sober right now, am I not? I can do it, Chloe. Just give me a chance!"

Chloe pushed back tears at the familiar words. She's been hearing them her whole life and had finally reached her breaking point. She argued, "I've been giving you chances my whole life! Making excuses for you when I shouldn't have to. I'm not doing it anymore when it seems to be going nowhere". He looked like he was about to argue but Chloe put her hand up, "I mean it this time, Dad. I'm not putting myself through this over and over again just to meet the same end in hope that things will be different."

He protested, "Chlo, just listen to me! I'm your father for Christ's sake. I know I'm a poor excuse for one but-"

"But! There's always a but! My whole life you've been like this, dad. I'm twenty four years old. How do you feel? Knowing that your daughter has only ever seen you as a drunk idiot her whole life. Do you know how humiliating it is? Growing up, people only ever saw me as the kid with a shitty home life or lack thereof. All I ever wanted was to just be a normal kid. But no! I had to learn everything early. The hard way. I had no parent to teach me anything important. Like cleaning, cooking, money spending, saving. I had to get a job at fourteen years old because you couldn't keep our bloody mortgage going. And no matter how much I try: you still can't manage to leave me alone so I can have a redo!", Chloe fumed.

He fell silent. He even had the nerve to look embarrassed. She took her chance and turned to walk to her car that was in the Church car park. She didn't look back in fear that she would lose her courage. All she wanted to do was go home and curl up in bed with a cup of tea. She started the car and drove off, leaving him standing outside alone with the other drunken fools.

Driving with tears clouding her vision probably wasn't a good idea but she didn't care. She just wanted to be gone. Gone from there. From him.

There was only so much more she could handle and she worried that if she didn't leave her past behind then she'd never get the chance to do something more. Maybe she'd quit her job and find something she's actually interested in doing. Or maybe she would just move out of Brighton all together for a change of scenery. That might do her some good.

As she was driving she started to feel the guilt of leaving her father stood outside in the cold. It's not the first time she's done it. As a teenager she often refused to let him back in the house when he'd come home after one of his drunken escapades and made him sleep on the doorstep. It was cruel but what was she supposed to do? She'd been forced to take care of herself.

The only sort of relationship she'd ever had was when she was 16 and that went tits up not even 4 months in. When people say you attract what you're familiar with, they're right.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't even realise that the traffic light ahead was red and kept driving. She didn't take notice of the lights coming towards her from the side. She didn't hear the frantic beeping of the truck. She did even hear the sound of the large vehicle trying to come to a stop.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion. She looked to the side and realised far too late what was about to happen. Slamming on the brakes, in hindsight, was probably not the best thing she should've done in that situation but she panicked. The truck came towards her at an alarming speed and there was nothing she could do, so she sat there.

All she did was sit and watch as the sparks started to fly. The car flipped, jolting her around, slamming her head against the steering wheel. The last thing she saw was the driver getting out of the truck, talking on the phone before everything changed.

The sparks were coming towards her. Chloe screamed out in pain feeling the electricity absorb her. Her vision started to fade into a cluster of purples and oranges. It was beautiful. All the tension left her and she felt at peace. She should feel worried but she wasn't. She didn't feel anything but calm.

She didn't realise that this would change her life forever. And she most definitely wouldn't be bored anymore.

/\/\/\

A/N-

 I wasn't too sure how I wanted to start this. I've seen many different takes on this kind of story so I didn't want to write it in a way that would come across as me copying someone else's work.

Anyways i hope this was good, feedback is always welcome so let me know!

-Ruby :)