The Parallel Companion

Chapter One • The Parellel Universe

It was a cold night and Amaya was wrapped within a quilt and laid upon her twin-sized bed. Everyone else living in her home, which included her younger brother and roommate, had slinked off to bed.
Amaya curled on her bed with Netflix playing a classic cartoon and a thick book in her weak hand. The time was 2:00AM on a Saturday night. She felt her eyelids sag under the weight of sleepy desire and she let lose a long, wavering yawn that echoed through the room illuminated with fairy lights.
The television was soon turned off as well as her book light. She set her book on the silver nightstand and turned over, covering herself with the quilt, and closed her eyes.

How much time had passed Amaya did not know. Whether it had been five minutes, five seconds, or two hours, it did not matter, for she was woken up by a very familiar sound. It was the sound of wheezing, groaning, and maybe what seemed the torture of piano keys. Amaya dared not to move, she held her breath and waited for the noise to fade, for it was so shockingly familiar she could not believe it. Had she really just heard what she thought she did, inside her room, no less?
The sound faded and stopped, but this was accompanied by the creaking of an opening door that did not sound like her own bedroom door.
"What? Why did you bring me here?" An English male voice asked. She heard the patting of a hand on wood and then the creaking of that same door once again, suggesting that the man retreated behind the other side of the door.
She sat bolt upright and guided her unbelieving eyes to a large mass within her room. Since Amaya's room was illuminated by various lights (she was scared of the dark), she instantly could make out the sight before her.
There was a large rectangular box in the middle of her already small room and the door was ajar, allowing light from the inside to spill into her room. The man, however, was not in sight. She concluded that he must have retreated into his box.
Amaya swung her legs over the edge of her bed and stood up, draped in a shaggy shirt and pants. She padded her way to the box, holding her breath. Was it actually real? Was this actually happening?
"Doctor?" She whispered as her hand made contact with the smooth wood of the police box. Her voice came out quiet and was drowned out by the winter wind ravaging the outside. "Doctor?" She called again, a bit louder but hoarse. No answer came, so she proceeded in placing a solitary hand on the door and pulled it.
It was real.

The inside was strange looking and larger within the inside. The room she had just entered was lit with orange and yellow lights and a console was roughly in the middle of the room. A man was bent low, fiddling with something underneath the console. Even though he was crouching, you could tell he was tall. A tweed jacket hung off the side of the console, having been discarded there, and his pants were fairly fitted and black, ending well above his ankles due to his bending knees. The man's pants were supported by thin, almost burgundy suspenders.
  "Time Lord technology," Amaya whispered as she stepped inside and the box's door creaked- causing the man to shoot up in surprise, banging his head on the console. The man groaned in pain and stood up properly, holding the place where a bump would most definitely develop.
"Oh, hello there," He smiled, "I'm the-"
"Doctor?" She rasped.
"Ah, so we've met before. Please remind me who you are again- living over 900 years doesn't make remembering names and faces any easier." The Doctor smiled kindly, and oh, what a smile he had. He had a floppy, brown mop of hair that could stand a but of ruffling and a prominent brow structure.
"I-I no. You, ah-" Amaya stuttered, thoroughly shocked.
The Doctor chuckled and gracefully stepped closer to her. "We must've met before, you look at me as though we were best friends." He was now close enough to touch.
"I- no. We've never... met," Amaya said barely above a whisper.
The Doctor looked bemused and said, "If we've never met, how do you know me?"
Amaya raised her hand up to her mouth and used the other to touch the Doctor's arm. Sure enough, it was solid. "Are you... real?" Her voice shook with every word and so did her knees, threatening to give out at any second.
"Is that a trick question?" Said the Doctor and slightly chuckled.
Amaya's body shook and her eyes burned, "You-you are real. Oh my god, you're real. Really, really, rea-" Her sentence was broken by a sob that issued from her trembling lips. She could not help it, the Doctor, her hero, was here. He was real and he was here. She could travel the stars and all through time just as she's always dreamt.
The Doctor looked startled when her sob echoed through the console room. He swept her into a tight hug, holding her shaking form. Amaya backed away slightly after a few minutes and said, "I-I'm sorry-y. I just c-can't believe you-'re here."
"Where do you know me from?"
She took a deep breath and explained how there's a popular television show called "Doctor Who".
"You even look exactly like the actors who've played the Doctor! I know so much about you," Amaya explained, "your past and maybe even your future... But they have 9 seasons of the NewWho and this was never mentioned once.... how is that possible?" She trailed off, talking mostly to herself rather than the Doctor.
"How much do you know about me?" He raised a faint eyebrow.
"Well, you're a Time Lord, the last of your kind, since the Master died...  You're from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. You ended the Time War with a great sacrifice..
"I know about your travels with all of your companions and all about the Medusa Cascade. I guess you could say I know almost everything you've done up to this point in time... Who was your last companion?"
In one moment, a shadow spread across the Doctor's face and he gazed behind Amaya as if he saw a dead loved one behind her. "Amelia Pond and Rory Williams," He said, his voice was saturated in regret.
Tears stung Amaya's eyes and she slowly nodded, "I'm sorry- about what happened."
The Doctor cleared his throat and smiled again, "My guess is, I must've fallen through a rip in our neighbouring universes. It's harmless, though. It probably won't close, it's been here for years... but where's the source?"
The next moment, the Doctor had swept passed Amaya and was on his way out. He spun around the darkened room with a Sonic Screwdriver in hand, flitting about from wall to wall. After a few minuets he proceeded to crawl on his hands and knees, prodding about in odd places with his screwdriver.
"Doctor, what are you doing?" She questioned.
The Doctor grunted in frustration and fell back onto her bed, "It's like you live on a black hole! I can't find anything."
Not knowing how to calm the perplexed Doctor, Amaya'swall beside her bed became very interesting. "Do you- do you want to watch the show?"
"What show?" The Doctor grumbled, not sitting up.
"The one about you. You could... see Rose Tyler again and Amy and all your past companions and you can see some adventures you've had-"
The Doctor sat up slowly, a frown played on his normally cheerful face and he sighed, "No, no thanks. I prefer to live in the moment." He smiled, but his green eyes were still sad, "There's no place like now, eh?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Amaya chuckled dryly.
With no warning, the Doctor jumped up off the bed, startling Amaya so she leapt back and hit her flailing elbow on a nearby bookshelf, and said, "So, where do you want to go?"
"I'm sorry?" A bemused Amaya said, cradling her assaulted elbow.
"You said you've always wanted to travel the stars," the Doctor grinned, "and, well, now you can."
"I-I-I, what?" She stuttered, not daring to believe a second of this.
"You do want to, right? You-you don't have to if you don't wan-"
"I can be a companion? I can travel with you?" Her voice wavered. She put a hand to her mouth and willed the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes to retreat. Was this real? Really, really real?
The Doctor smiled a childish smile and grabbed Amaya's hand, whisking her away from her dark room and mundane life into the TARDIS.