Chapter 1 - Common People
My first encounter with the one they call the Doctor was nearly five years ago. I had stopped on my way home from school at the local pet shop. It was the one with the golden LED lights above it that read "COMMON PET SUPPLIES HERE." I'd been looking for a place that sold cat food, and this place caught my eye thanks to the aforementioned sign.
As I opened the maroon door, I heard the faint sound of a bell chime. I recognized it as coming from the bell system above the door to note when someone enters or leaves. Hearing it made me think of when I used to continuously make those systems ring when I was young, as it always did. Eventually, I got off of this thought and began walking to the back of the pet store.
I heard a song playing from a radio, one by somebody I couldn't think of. It was "Starman," I knew that much, but I could never remember the artist's name. I hummed the tune to the song as I went down each aisle, searching for cat food. The song eventually ended, as did my search.
I found a short, round tin can with a photo of a tabby cat on it. The label on it explained that it was tuna, which Johnny, my eight month old kitten, loved. I picked up three cans that were at the top of one of the many stacks. "Perfect for him," I noted quietly.
While I was distracted by my search for the cat food, a short blast of light and sound occurred twenty feet behind me, behind the store. It wasn't a very extraordinary blast, and it didn't even last long. For the longest time, I didn't notice anything had changed. But then there was a noise I could hear. The faint sound of a bell chime.
I turned around 180 degrees and saw a man. Unlike most things in the pet store, he was very noticeable, what with the smooth brown hair and the beige suit to match. He turned left and right, yet the expression on his face made it seem as if he wasn't looking for anything specific. I pondered for a moment whether I should go over and say something. That argument was over in a second, as I began walking in his direction.
Fighting the urge to be shy, I spoke up. "Hello, mister," I opened, a slight stutter in my voice. "Do you need help with anything?" The tall gentleman looked at me, a bit confused. He raised his eyes to show enlightenment.
He answered in a casual tone, "Oh, yes, of course. I was looking for something that could stop a leak. Would that be found here?" I took notice of his accent very quickly. He was British, and I felt I could melt from how wonderful his voice sounded thanks to this small fact.
For a while, I just stood there, lost in my thoughts. The Brit eventually found it probably a good idea to speak up. He cleared his throat and asked, "Are you okay there, Miss?"
I snapped out of my daydreaming and began talking rapidly to end the awkwardness. "Uh, yes! You can call me Derpy by the way!" I immediately wanted to die inside, as I'd only made it worse. To calm myself down, I began taking soft breaths.
Thinking back to what he had asked me previously, I was curious. "Wait a minute. You do realize this is a pet shop, correct?"
The man seemed a bit taken back by this. "What do you mean?"
"This is a pet store, sir. You're probably looking for a hardware store, such as the one a couple blocks away. Would you like the address?" I immediately realized that I had said this in a way that made me look like I worked there. Meanwhile, he was passing a smirk in my direction.
"No, I'm pretty sure this is the right place to go to get a leak fixed. That's how it was where I'm from." He was hellbent on confusing me, it seemed.
"Sir, that makes no sense."
The man opened his mouth to say something, but he quickly closed it to seemingly stop being very perplexing. He turned around and began walking towards the door. I did what was probably the most sensible thing I had done all day and followed him.
"Wait!" I shouted to get his attention. When he turned around, I started into his eyes and continued, "I, uh, don't believe I caught your name." It seemed like a simple comment that warranted a similarly simple answer. However, for a reason that would make no sense to me for the longest time, the Brit stood there, thinking, for what seemed like the longest time. Finally, he answered.
"Just call me the Doctor."
With that, he turned back towards the doors and left, the faint sound of a bell chime ringing as he did so. With his exit, he left me so many questions unanswered. For example: Who is he? Why does he go by "the Doctor"? Why was he in such a place? Why did he act so strange?
I absolutely had to meet him again to get these questions resolved, I knew that much. But how? How could I find someone who has such a mysterious aura? This idea of meeting him seemed impossible, so I'd have to make it possible.
-[:]-
Hours later, in a living room miles away, a receiver beeped.
"Hey! It's me, Derpy. Meet me at that bistro downtown at eleven, tomorrow morning. You know the place, the one with the green and blue striped awnings? Yeah, I have to tell you about this weird guy I met at a pet shop a little while ago. Bye!"
The receiver beeped again.
-[:]-
"I'm glad to have met you here, Derpy. So what seems to be the problem?"
The purple-haired woman in front of me took a sip of her coffee between the two sentences that she spoke. She put down the mug that her beverage was served in and looked up at me.
I thought back to the previous evening and replied, "Well, I was at this pet store on the way home when this man came in, dressed in a fancy brown suit. He had this really nice haircut and..." My sentence trailed off as I realized how far off-topic I had become. "Anyways, he was British and told me that he was looking for something to 'fix a leak' as he put it."
The woman in front of me, meanwhile, was in the middle of holding her mug when she heard this. She set it down. "That's a bit strange, to say the least. Anything else to note?"
"Um... Not that I can think of." I sat there for a minute in silence before remembering something. "Oh, and he said to call him the Doctor. I really don't know what to think about this, which is why I came to you, Rarity, for help."
"Well, what can I do?"
"You own one of the most expensive clothing stores in all of Manhattan. If this Doctor guy went to somewhere, it might be to your store."
Rarity held up a finger. "First off, I only own the store. I don't see everyone that enters it, and I definitely can't remember names of people." She held up a second finger. "Next, the chance of him going to my store over any other store in the city is small, not to mention he might not even be from around here." Finger number three went up. "Third and definitely the most important point, you're obsessing over someone you barely spoke to."
"It's not an obsession, Rarity. He's really leaving me curious, and you know how I get when I'm curious about something."
The fashionista sighed and put her chin upon her hand to signal thinking. She stood there, looking down at her coffee without saying a word, for a full minute. Finally, she looked back up at me and said four small words.
"Fine. I'll help you."
Author's Note
You'll never live like common people
You'll never do what common people do
You'll never fail like common people
You'll never watch your life slide out of view
And dance and drink and screw
Because there's nothing else to do.
Welcome, everyone to my first story. If you find it terrible, well there's a reason I usually stick to depressing poetry. But tell me what you think anyway, and if you can, please correct any grammar mistakes and give me tips on how to be a better writer (I could really use it). Thanks! 