"I thought I told you not to wander off," the Doctor reminds her but she ignores him.
"I changed my mind," Cherry muses, a small smile playing on her lips.
"You want to go home?" The Doctor assumes and she shakes her head.
"No, of course I don't,"...
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1996
Cherry and Amelia Pond sit across from their Aunt Sharon and Christine, their family psychiatrist with bored looks on their face. Cherry crosses her arms over her chest and stares out the nearest window at the black night sky, and Amelia rests her chin on her hand and sighs loudly. Aunt Sharon and Christine are examining one of Cherry's paintings closely, their eyebrows drawn together in concern. It's a beautiful painting of the night sky, with wonderful hues of blue and big swirls of yellow brightening the canvas. It's the first picture she's painted since her parents went missing. It took days, and she kept getting frustrated and giving up because she found it much too difficult to work with her tremor. And then she found a book of paintings Aunt Sharon had bought, but never read, and found a stunning image of Vincent Van Gogh's most famous painting, the Starry Night. It's the only painting she's ever seen with stars in it, and she ignores the rude description of the painting underneath, which talks about how the painter was mad and the stars in the picture only reflect his delusion.
So, when she recreated it, she added the swirls of yellow stars. It took her a long time, but the shorter brush strokes made her tremor easier to manage, and it is a painting she is actually proud of, even if it's not the best.
"It's a lovely painting, Charlotte," Christine says, and Cherry rolls her eyes.
"Cherry," she mutters rudely.
"What are all these?" Christine points to the swirls of yellow, ignoring Cherry's attitude.
"The stars, obviously," Amelia butts in, her tone just as standoffish as Cherry's.
"Oh, you two," Aunt Sharon scoffs, losing her temper with her two nieces already. Christine tries to calm down the conversation, smiling warmly at all of them.
"Tell you what, shall we go outside?" Christine suggests. Neither of the girls is particularly interested in going outside, but Aunt Sharon forces them to. They stand in the overgrown garden and stare up at the inky black sky. It's barren apart from a crescent moon, and Cherry sighs. "What do you see girls?"
"The moon," Amelia answers.
"And what else?" Christine presses.
"The sky," Cherry remarks sarcastically, knowing that that's not the answer the psychiatrist is looking for. Aunt Sharon grumbles frustratedly, but Christine keeps the smile on her face.
"But no stars?" Christine asks her, and she frowns.
"No," Cherry says. "No stars."
"If there were stars up there, we'd be able to see them, wouldn't we?" Christine says. "Amelia, Charlotte, look at me. You know this is all just a story, don't you? You know there's no such thing as stars."
"Whatever," Cherry retorts, and Amelia laughs at her side, nodding her head.
"Charlotte! Stop it!" Aunt Sharon scolds her, and anger ripples through Cherry's eyes.
