In the Cracks of Light: A Doctor Who Fanfiction

Chapter 1: A Path Diverged

~ "The road less traveled will not be smooth." ~

Megan McCafferty

It wasn't the first time that she could have killed her sister. She was sure that it wouldn't be the last, either.

Spencer Sloane crossed her arms over her chest as she gazed out into the mass of partying college students. Her elbows tucked in tighter against her sides, barely missing the drunken frat guy bouncing off people like he was in a pinball machine. The air reeked of sweaty young adults and too much cheap alcohol. Should a person even consider a drink a cocktail if it was 98% tequila? Did the 2% of soda or juice make that big of a difference? She wouldn't have known.

There were two things Spencer was certain of: that she had absolutely zero interest in finding out if that 2% mattered and that, if she didn't find her sister soon and leave this party, someone would die. Likely the next person who bumped into her. Getting jostled around like a speck of glitter inside a snow globe, tiny and invisible amongst the crowd, wasn't exactly her idea of a good time. It didn't even rank. If anything, these types of parties fell somewhere down below cleaning the toilet on the list of remotely tolerated activities.

The fraternity brothers were far too loud–why bother turning the music on in the first place if they were just going to shout over it?–and there were always too many people. What was the maximum occupancy for an apartment this size? Whatever it was, they'd surpassed it long ago. Someone could call the landlord, or maybe the police...

Then she could go home, back to the comfort of the dorm that she shared with her sister. Cassie had, yet again, left her stranded in the sea of bumping and grinding, adrift and alone. Cassie was her life preserver. Supposed to be, anyway. But sticking with the sister she'd dragged along was less important than the admittedly cute mathematics major who'd flashed a dimpled smile their way half an hour ago.

Now, five minutes after the final remaining shred of battery life in her cell phone had wasted away, Spencer scanned the room. Cassie had bleached and dyed the tips of her blonde hair purple just the other day. One would think it should be easy to pick out a purple head.

Just another item to add to the growing list of things Spencer had been wrong about recently.

Too busy focusing on the crowd, she almost wound up with someone's drink spilled on her oversized sweater. The guy had the nerve to look inconvenienced, as if she was the one at fault. "Clearly, walking through people isn't one of your superpowers. Watch where you're going," she snapped, scowling at the somewhat recognizable student. Wisely, he chose not to argue and disappeared into the other faces she didn't care to know or remember.

It seemed like a safe bet to fall back to the wall behind her, standing watch from the position least likely to collide with any more people. There were two options: wait there for Cassie to find her or find Cassie herself. The second meant bobbing and weaving around the room, making herself small to avoid bumping against stranger after stranger. The first was the safer choice, but also came with the downside of waiting for her easily distracted and possibly intoxicated sister to realize how late it was getting and seek Spencer out.

She scratched the bridge of her nose–a reminder that it was already after eleven and she would still need to wash her face, take out her contacts, and not to mention take her Ambien before she could fall asleep–before dropping her hands to the hem of her skirt. The black cotton material, stopping just above her knees, slid between her fingers. It was a welcome distraction from the chaos of the party as the desire to leave warred with her anxiety of actually doing so.