Chapter One:

Dreams of Memories

Crashing waves echoed. There was no signs of life. No cackling seagulls, no crabs pinching, not one person in sight. She was all alone on this vast, empty beach. She looked around.“Back here again. Why?” she wondered.

“Piper…”

She whirled around. “Hello? Who’s there?” Then, far in the distance, she could see someone. A man. She could just barely see him. He was very tall, one of the tallest she had ever seen. He had brown hair, long, and floofing up into the air, long side-burns down the sides of his face. He had brown eyes, and thick eyebrows. He wore a blue suit, a polo white shirt underneath, with a bright, red tie, with a billowing, tan overcoat on, and red sneakers sinking in the sand. Far, far away, she saw him. He appeared so sad. He looked straight into her soul. His eyes were yearning, begging for his legs to run. But he didn’t move. He just…stared. She picked up her pace and started to walk towards him. Just then, as if they were angered by her actions, the waves suddenly rose up. She tried to scream for help, but nothing came out. The waves took over her. She wasn’t choking on the water. She could still breathe, but she couldn’t go forward. She just…sank like a rock…Down…Down…Into the darkness.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

“Piper! Get up! You’re going to be late for school!”

Piper groaned. She reached for her star-filled, dark blue comforter, and pulled it over her head, irritated. “Five more minutes, Mum” she mumbled. “Come on! You’re going to be late!” the loud, grinding sound of her mother rang out in her room. Piper groaned again. She wanted nothing more than to grab something and smash it. She turned onto her back and opened her eyes. Her mother, Mrs. Dominique, had raised the blinds, letting the peaks of sunlight into the midnight-blue room, and reflect on the astronomy posters, blueprints, and drawings on the wall. Piper sat up, smacking her lips, and pulling her dyed blue hair out of her face. She sighed. “And…turn…” As soon as the words left her mouth, the sun outside, had gone away as the clouds moved in the way, making her room much more gloomy than before. “Right on cue” Piper muttered to herself. She finally got off the bed and shuffled through the various balled up paper, used up pencils, metal shavings, and even a few pieces of various clothing on the worn, dark-grey carpet. She walked over to a wooden dresser, and leaned over to the side. There was a small, plastic bag of a hamster food sitting on the floor beside it. She took a small handful of the food, and stood back up. The dresser had a small cage sitting on the right, where a little hamster with beautiful golden and white fur suddenly scurried up to the front, twitching his nose. Piper couldn’t help but giggle. “Good morning, Squiggles! Did you get a good sleep ole boy?” She opened the top of the cage, and sprinkled food into the dish on the left side of the cage. She then lowered her hand further to stroke Squiggles chubby little cheeks. She then closed the cage and rushed to her closet, grabbing her school uniform, before casually walking to the bathroom to shower.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Piper straightened her hair, and her skirt before walking down the stairs, and into the kitchen. Mrs. Dominique was already there, and had set out a bowl of fruit, porridge, and a lunch bag with a sandwich and apple inside. “Good morning” Mrs. Dominique announced. “Good morning” Piper responded, not half as enthusiastic as her mother. The television echoed from the living room. On the screen was the weatherman, rambling on about the weather: mostly rain again. Piper sat down in the head seat crookedly, picked up her spoon, and started nibbling on the porridge.

“You know, I’m not sure the Headmaster will approve of your hair” Mrs. Dominique stated, unsure.

Piper sighed, irritably. “What of it? It’s not gonna kill anyone. Blue is the color of trust and responsibility, not…death and destruction!”

“I know that but…” Her mother implied, “It shows a sign of rebellion, and I would most certainly hope that you’re not rebellious in school…”

“I’m not, Mum” Piper muttered, through her teeth, “Believe me, it’s not worth it.”

Carla Dominique frowned. She almost looked as if she wanted to say something. Something of comfort to her beloved daughter. But alas, she sighed deeply, and turned back to her cooking pot.

As Piper looked back to the television, she saw a reporter standing on a lawn, with trees and a busy street behind them. However, behind one of the large trees, Piper swore she could see a blue box parked ominously behind it. Then, Piper rose from her seat, grabbed the remote from the couch in the living room, and switched the channel. “What did you do that for?” Mrs. Dominique inquired. “It’s rubbish, the news,” Piper lied, “No use getting upset over something that’s out of your control.”

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

She felt a warm embrace around her. An overwhelming sensation of joy washed over. “I’m so proud of you ****** ****” said a voice, “You earned it!” She giggled. “I couldn’t have done it without you **** ******.”

“Honk, honk, hoooonnnkkk!!!”

Piper’s heart jumped as she swerved back into the bike lane. A cargo truck managed to get behind her, causing the driver to slow down tremendously. The truck picked up speed as it moved around her. Piper sighed as she could see her school over the horizon. This wasn’t the first time she had been daydreaming like this. Well, it wasn’t daydreaming, more like recalling memories. Only, it was memories she couldn’t remember creating. They were so bizarre too. The most peculiar thing of all, was that in every single one of those strange memories, there was always one man. One man, and one 1920 blue police box. Piper shook her head, pushing the thought out of her head, as she pulled into Queen Anne High School’s parking lot. She parked her bicycle near a tree and locked it tight. Then, she felt huge, wet water drops fall on her as it began to rain. She secured her backpack on her back, and ran as fast as she could inside the building, navigating around the active school buses and other cars dropping children off.

When Piper got inside, she ran to her locker and scrambled to empty her bag from all the heavy books. “Good morning!” called a cheerful voice. She turned around, and smiled a small smile. “Good morning, Raiden” she greeted back. Raiden was a skinny, American boy whom Piper had known since she was six. He had slightly overgrown brown hair, that nearly completely covered his fleshy pink forehead, crawling towards his solid green eyes. His navy blue uniform was slightly unbuttoned, and his white shoes were scuffed. “So, em, I was wondering…” said Raiden, scratching the back of his head, “You busy tonight?” Piper closed her locker with a slam, catching Raiden off guard. She swung her bag over her shoulders and sighed. “Can’t. Have studies” she replied bluntly, with a tone of hopeless disappointment. “W-well, do you wanna do homework…together?” Raiden tried again. “Raiden…” Piper started. “We can do it at your house, and I promise I’ll be out of the house by eight o’clock!” Raiden interrupted. Piper pulled her hair out of her face. She smiled, slightly mischievous. “I’ll ask Mum. She and Dad are going to a party tonight, so I’ll be home alone” she replied, then added, “and I’ll see if I can’t make you some dinner as well.” Raiden grinned. Piper smiled back. They stared at each other for a long moment before the school bell rang, and they snapped back to reality. “I-I gotta go,” Piper stammered, as she started running towards the literary classroom, waving, “I’ll see you at lunch!” Raiden waved back, then turned to the science class.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

She suddenly felt a hand around her mouth. Her eyes flew open and she wanted to scream. Then, she felt a familiar presence. She gently removed the hand. She was surprised. “***** ******?” she asked. “Piper, I’m so glad to see you” said a much older, and rougher voice. “What’s wrong? What’s happening? Where were you?” she asked. “There’s not much time to explain-” they started. Just then, they were interrupted by a violent rumble. Piper started to get scared. “***** ******!” she cried. “Come on, make haste!” they ordered as they took her hand, and they ran.

The math teacher’s voice droned on, talking equations and fractions. Piper’s eyelids grew heavy. Her head bobbed up and down. They were as heavy as bricks, as it was so hard to keep a straight posture. Piper wanted nothing more than to leave. How she hated these classes! Piper leaned forward, and looked down at her scratch paper. She realized she had been doodling. Most of it looked like clockwork, only it consisted mostly of circles and lines, not necessarily numbers and hands. She noticed something else. There was a blue police box etched down next to them. Piper sighed, irritably, and raised her head back up. It was then she noticed something. “Um, Mr. Brown?” She called, interrupting him. Mr. Brown stopped, and turned around, irritably.

“Can it wait, Ms. Dominique?” He asked.

“Sorry sir, it can’t. You got the equation wrong.”

Mr. Brown huffed. “Excuse me?”

“The equation: that’s not how it works.”

Mr. Brown sighed, agitated. “Enlighten me, Ms. Dominique.”

Piper rose from her desk, and marched over to the chalkboard. She picked up the eraser, and with one fell swoop, erased the entire board of the equation. Mr. Brown retorted. Piper ignored him. She took the chalk, and casually began writing. All the students looked at each other. Half of them were baffled at Piper’s bluntness, half of them weren’t surprised in the least. Piper did that occasionally. Most believed she was just showing off. Others wondered why she was still in their class if she was displaying such high levels of intelligence. Piper finished the equation, handed Mr. Brown the piece of chalk with a raising the eyebrow and nodding in sarcasm, before walking back to her seat. Mr. Brown looked over her work, and started back his lecture again. Piper looked outside. The rain started pouring down once again outside. In the distance, she could swear, through the water stains on the glass, behind one of the trees, she could see the blue box again. Piper turned away, and back at the teacher, a bit angrily, sighing deeply and rubbing her eyes. The blue box…she couldn’t stop. No matter how hard she tried.

She had spoken to her mother countless times about the mysterious man and the blue box. It started back in preschool. Piper loved to draw the blue box, and told stories of who the strange man may be. At first, the teachers around her found it charming. Then, when she turned six, and she was still drawing that same ole police box, they began to get worried. They went to her mother and recommended psychiatric help. They were concerned about this seemingly fictional obsession. Her mother refused. Years went by. Piper continuously asked her mother about these dreams she had, which happened once or twice a week, about the man. She wanted answers. Sadly, her mother went deathly quiet when Piper asked. She would go pale, and quickly changed the topic. Piper grew tired of asking. She was tired of people calling her mad, she was tired of being unanswered. Finally, she locked herself up tight, and vowed to never say a word about it again.

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