Beyond The Void || doctor who

Chapter Eighteen: Richard and Mayra Walden

Everyone stopped in their tracks. Jess, with the letter still in her hand, looked across the room for some sort of assurance that whomever was at the door wasn't dangerous.

"You don't think ..." Elaine began, pulling herself up from her spot on the carpet. 

"I don't believe anyone who'd want to harm us would knock," the Doctor interjected, his eyes locked on the faded white door to his right. 

There was another chorus of four knocks. 

Oh no, not this again. Jess swallowed the lump in her throat that formed without her permission. The last time there were a series of four knocks around the time of the Doctor's regeneration, well, they were somewhat the reason for it.

"Aren't you going to get it?" Elaine said, facing Melissa. 

Her eyes widened in realization. "Oh! Yes, right."

She made her way to the door begrudgingly. Jess watched her crack it open, stare at the person behind the wooden frame, and promptly slam the door in their face.

"Who is it?"

Melissa turned to Jess, an emotion in her eyes that Jess couldn't quite place.

"It's your father."

And the lump returned in Jess's throat.

"Hold up," Elaine interrupted, her manicured hand raised. "You mean the asshole that walked out on you two?"

"That's the one."

Jess didn't know how to feel. All she could register was the ever-growing ball of worry stopping her from saying anything. The last memory she had of her father was one she hoped she could push from her mind: 

Jessica rushed to close her door, her bare feet making too much noise as she scuttled across the hardwood floor to the safety of her bedroom.

All she heard were the screams and yells of her mother, the deep booms of her father. She'd grown used to the fighting, of course. Her parents had been in a never-ending argument for as long as she could remember. 

That didn't make it any easier to hear, however.

She hopped onto her lilac-covered mattress, pulling the comforter over her head and blocking her ears with her chubby fingers. Please make them stop, please make them stop, please please please please.

But no matter how much she tried to ignore the battle from below her and drift into a peaceful sleep, her mind wouldn't quiet.

"Jessie, sweetie," she heard from her door. It cracked open, the light of the hallway pouring into her pitch-black walls.

"Mhm," she mumbled from her nest of blankets. She felt the soft weight lift from her face and was met by a pair of blue eyes that usually were a sign of comfort to her. Now, however, she was just scared. Scared of the fighting, scared of the hate, scared of what could happen.

"Hey, sweetie, have you been crying?" He sits down on her mattress, a finger brushing away the partially-dried tears on her cheeks.

She nodded her head.

"Did you hear me and Mommy?" He brushed his hands through her mess of chestnut curls. She nodded again.

"Oh, Jessie." He held her tear-stained face in his hands. "You know I love you, right?"

Eyes closed, head nuzzled into the palm of her father, she nodded.

Jess's moment of nostalgia was interrupted by the Doctor's fingers lacing between hers. His touch sent something boiling through her veins. What it was, she didn't know. The closest word she could come up with to describe it was courage.