Timeless

Hidden Inside

(Hey guys! Just so you know, this is Parish having a flashback while he explains why happened to River and The Doctor. Also, thank you all if you have been reading this far! That makes me happy!!)

"Pennington!"

I pause and clutch my throwing knife in my hand. "Yes, sir?"

"You've done brilliantly today son. You can head on home," My commanding officer barks. I nod and when my commanding officer leaves, I dash to grab my duffel bag and I shoves the throwing knifes inside. For me, going home was the most exciting time of the day. Sure, throwing knifes around and firing a handgun was fun, (Not) but I would much rather be goofing around with my little sister, Luna. Luna wasn't really my sister, but she'd been assigned tome after I'd been released from The Hospital. I had been one of the thousands of people that had been used as human lab rats by the Sisters of Plentitude. I can't quite remember what all had happened at The Hospital, but I knew that being released into the world as a human being was a very lucky break. I'd spent the majority of my life in a cage as I was being fed disease, upon disease, upon disease. I didn't really remember that part because apparently I wasn't "fully formed" yet. No one at The Hospital really remembers what happened, but from news reports and the papers, we had a very clear understand of what had been done to them. Every "New Human" was in an absolute rage, but none of us needed to take violent action because every member of the Sisterhood was placed under arrest. After that, we were cataloged and placed where the Government thought it best fit and for me, that was with Luna. Luna was one of the newer humans to be experimented on, so she was very young when she was let out. Luna and I didn't have any real birth parents, so we had no where to go, but since I was 18 years old, I was assigned as her caretaker. This happened to almost all of the new humans and some people where assigned to families willing to take new humans in. That rarely happened, so we made our own families. It took a while for Luna and I to warm up to each other, but now we love each other as if we were biological siblings.

I dash outside and pull my rusted bike from the bike rack and jump onto it. I speed down the road past office buildings, more training camps, and houses that the rich people lived in. I envied the rich people so much. I wish I had enough money to give Luna everything she could ever want, but for now we are in the lowest social class which means getting a nice mean is a blessing. My heart flutters in my chest as I feel the weight of Luna's birthday present in my bag. I've been working so hard all year to get her exactly what she wanted and I hope that all my hard work pays off. As I pull into the parking lot of the old gas station, I can see Luna's smiling face as she sits on one of the gas pumps waiting for me to get home. After the new humans were cataloged and assigned a new family to live with, the Government set us free like wild dogs and we were left to find our own work and shelter. Luna and I were lucky enough to find an old gas station that was not in very good shape, but good enough to live in. It's been our home for about 3 years now. Luna and I managed to use some spare parts from things around the gas station to make beds and other things and now the gas station is a luxury to us. Especially since we were new humans. I flew off my bike and Luna flew into my arms almost knocking me to the ground. I laughed and kissed the top of her head. Her silky, brown hair smelled like fresh cinnamon and pine. She looked up at me, her eyes as bright as the surface of a lake and I couldn't help, but squeeze her tighter.

"Luna Pennington. I could have sworn that today was important, but I just cannot seem to remember what was so important," I step back and give Luna my best puzzled look and she giggles.

"My birthday! My birthday!" She squeals as she jumps up and down. I shake my head and look down at her.

"Are you sure? I don't think so..."

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes!"

A look of realization crosses my face. "Oh! Blimey! Luna that makes much more since now!

"How come?"

"Well, I found this in my bag today," I pull a small cardboard box out of my bag that's tied with a twine bow. I can't help, but smile. Luna beams up at me and takes the package from my hand and she clutches it to her chest.

"Can I open it?"

"Well, it would be a waste not to," I smile and sling my bag back onto my back.

"But let's go inside first,"

Luna nods and dashes inside and I follow after her, reluctantly. I don't know why I was hesitant to follow after her because I wanted nothing more than to make my little sister happy, but something in the back of my head was telling me that something was going to go wrong. I observed the gas station again for the billionth time. The cracked pavement and faded paint lines for parking spaces, the broken windows and the glass that lay glittered on the ground like stars, and the splitting wood that reminded me of a palm tree. Nothing was different. Nothing had changed, but something was wrong. I decided that all the work I'd done at the training camp had obvious driven me bonkers. I shook my head and walked inside. Luna sat on the floor in our "living room" that we had made out of the main store. Luna sat cross-legged on a mouse eaten couch cushion with the present sitting on her lap. Her smile was beautiful and brilliant. I can't remember the last time I'd seen her smile quite like that before. I knew he was eager, so I tossed my duffel bag to the floor and sat across from her.

"Get on with it then," I said with a smile.

Luna ripped into the package hungrily as she tried to reveal the package's contents. She pulled a small book out of the box and she beamed wider than I've ever seen before.

"A diary!" She squealed. I nodded as she clutched the book to her chest. Luna was just now learning to write and she still had a ways to go, but she was doing better and better. She'd wanted that diary ever since she saw it in the shop window last year. The book had a beautiful picture of a flower on the front and it was clasped by a bronze clasp. I understood why she wanted it so much. Luna stood up still clutching the book and she hugged me tightly. I returned the hug just as passionately, but with twice as much love.

"Happy sixth birthday, Luna," I said softly.

If I had known that was the last thing I was ever going to say to Luna, I would have said something better. Now that I think about it, not saying a proper goodbye is the thing I regret most. Luna screams suddenly as a figure drags her away from me and onto the floor. I can see the look of pure fear in her eyes as the diary is pulled from her hands and thrown on the floor. I can't make out the figure's face, but that didn't matter. Anyone who'd lay a finger on Luna would regret it. I turned quickly for my duffel bag trying to get my throwing knifes before it's too late, but there is more than one person in the room. As I reach for my bag, Luna shouts bloody murder and points at something behind me. I spin around, but it was too late. I feel the pinch of a syringe as it enters my neck and I immediately know that I've failed Luna. I lash out, but the two figures are too quick. I go to stand up but fall drunkly to the ground. The world seems to be spinning and spinning and slowly growing darker. I feel like I may be sick. I can faintly hear Luna as she shouts my name, but her voice sounds like she's screaming through a tunnel. My breathing slows and I know that this is the end. Everything I've done for Luna was for nothing and I was about to loose the only thing I ever cared about. I choked down a sob. I wouldn't let Luna see me cry. And as the world finally plunged into darkness, I knew that me dying was a fair price to pay for causing Luna pain.