A small girl with pale blonde hair wakes to the sound of a fist knocking gently against mental, the sound that heralds the start of every new day.
"Mhmm," she groans, still groggy with sleep as she is torn from her strange and vivid dreams.
The sleepy six-year-old stretches under her sheets, shaking off the comfort of sleep and her fantastical dreams. Visions of galaxies dancing before her eyes, her small hands always reaching toward them but never quite reaching them.
"Good morning, Miss Peyton," a friendly voice calls as the heavy door is pushed open. The girl sits up to see the familiar face of Mr Donovan, her favourite adult at the facility holding her breakfast tray. He serves as her primary carer and teacher, and perhaps the only person who truly listens to her.
"Did you get Lucky Charms?" Peyton asks hopefully, quickly scrambling out of the little bed and across the room to sit at the small table under the windowsill, granting a view of the courtyard of the Tower of London with the men and women in suits milling about in the morning light.
"Lucky Charms aren't good for a growing lady like you," he smiles as he places the plastic tray of food onto the Winnie the Pooh placemat.
Peyton frowns at the egg and bacon smiley-face beaming up at her accompanied by a glass of orange juice sitting beside the plate. Six years old and never has she tasted the sugary goodness of Lucky Charms despite her frequent requests. Well, she assumes they are good. Anything with that many colours should taste brilliant.
She picks up the fork grumpily and pokes at her meal, careful not to spill any on her new pink pyjamas as Mr Donovan brushes and twists her hair into two straight braids.
As the fork clatters onto the plate, Mr Donovan picks it up and dabs at the girl's mouth with a cloth. "Alrighty, you get yourself dressed. I'll be back soon to take you for your lessons."
Peyton nods obediently and slides off the chair and heads in the direction of her closet as she listens to the sound of the door opening and closing again. Once alone, she pulls out a pale green dress, one of her favourites. She admires the pretty lace collar and swishes the dress in front of her to see the fabric dance.
Just faintly, Peyton can hear the morning bustle of London beyond her stone tower. The cars and busses rumble and honk along the busy streets beyond the perimeters of U.N.I.T headquarters. The sound ignites her imagination. What would it be like to be out there? Going to school with other kids, playing in a real park?
She had asked Mr Donovan once if she could go to a proper school, it was all she had ever wanted. He had shaken his head with a soft smile and told her that she was very special, so much smarter than the other children her age. This place was what was best for her.
• • •
Her feet swing, shoes just brushing against the grass as she sits at the wooden desk in the garden, not quite paying attention to the lesson at hand. She is far too busy watching patches of blue sky fight their way through the grey blanket of clouds above.
It's Saturday. Kids don't have lessons on Saturdays. Peyton rather thinks that she should be at a park with swings, a climbing wall, and a big curly slide. Not here learning about boring things.
"Peyton? Peyton!"
Mr Donovan's irritated voice draws her back to reality. She looks down at the textbook he has just placed on the desk in front of her with the incredibly riveting title of 'A-Level Physics'.
"Look, we are breaking protocol by letting you have lessons outside, but you need to pay attention."
"Why can't I just go to a park like a real kid? There's one not far from here, isn't there? I saw it when you were showing me the maps on the computer. Just for an hour or two please," she begs.
YOU ARE READING
The Time Lord's Apprentice
Fanfiction"But, you're impossible!" "Yeah, and the world is ending, I don't think now is the time." Peyton is an orphan, taken from her mother as an infant by the Unified Intelligence Taskforce. She is raised separately from other children because she is spec...
