*Few hours earlier….*

I was sitting on my bed, a worn out copy of The Fault In Our Stars in my hands as I read the book for the 11th time. 

My semester was over so I was almost relaxed. I let my mind get away from the nasty, tensed thoughts about the upcoming results and let myself drown into the fictional world. 

That's what I always did. The fictional, fantasy world was more precious to me than the real one.

There was too much on my mind those days but at this particular moment, I was Hazel Grace Lancaster falling in love with Augustus Waters.

It was a bright November afternoon. My favourite time of the year. I could hear all the usual sounds of car horns, railway tracks, the pigeons and crows…...sounds that made me feel like home. 

Apart from those usual sounds, I couldhear the faint noise of my little stepsister from ther room next door but it didn't bother me much as my door was closed shut.

Here comes the weird part now.

I was turning over to the next chapter when I heard it.

At first it was like a low whisper and I thought I am just daydreaming too much. 

But then it was loud and clear. The whoozing noise I only ever heard in my fantasies and daydreams or on the TV. 

But it was there. The noise. It was loud. Really loud. I thought I must be going mad and my ears aren't in the real world right now but I could make out the outline of something big and blue that started appearing beside my bed. 

Finally the whoozing and groaning stopped. My heart was beating so loud, I could practically hear it. 

It was there. The object from my fantasies I've grown to love so dearly. And I just kept starring at it, wide eyed and mouth hanging open. 

After a few minutes, when it was still there and did not disappear rendering my madness, I glanced at the door of my room, waiting for someone to come barging in to find out what that noise was about. 

But no one did as I realised that my stepmom's sleeping in the room next door, my stepsister is upto something I don't really know and my sister is with my grandma in the room located on the other side of the house, and no one might have noticed the sounds.

I looked at the beautiful object again, standing tall and quite in my bedroom and blinked. 

I closed my eyes hard, slapped myself on both cheeks, pinched myself on various places wincing all the way and looked at "it"  again. 

I've been  trying to lucid dream since a year now  and I've had a few successful ones that month and I thought that I might be lucid dreaming right now. So I did like a dozen reality checks to ensure myself that I certainly wasn't dreaming. 

I got up from the bed and slowly walked towards the huge box. When I was completely near it, I raised my hand to touch it. And when I did, I felt faint vibrations as I expected. Retreating my arm back, I stared at it finally losing my cool.

I was on the verge of screaming but I quickly covered my mouth with my hands. I was shaking and my heart was beating a million times faster.

My conscience screamed loudly in my head the same thing over and over:

"The TARDIS is in your fuckin bedroom!"

I stood there for a while, waiting for the dream to get over but I very well knew that it wasn't a dream.

I also considered the idea that I had completely lost it after watching too much of the show and thinking too much about it. 

But it was so real and the reality checks proved it. 

I hesitantly reached for the door handles and slowly, pushed them open, stepping inside.

It was completely dark. I wasn’t able to see anything. But as I took my first step inside, it lit up like a Christmas tree.

I took in the breathtaking view in front of me. As expected…….IT WAS BIGGER ON THE INSIDE!!!!

I felt dizzy. I grasped the door hard so that I didn't faint.

My mind wasn't accepting this. The voice in my head kept saying that this certainly CAN'T be real.

But it felt so real. Unlike the dreams. Unlike my fantasies. It was bigger on the inside as I had always seen it but now that I was "really" seeing it, my heart was literally trying not to jump out.

It was the bluest blue than I've ever imagined it. And I was standing there, at the door of the time machine that travelled in time and space.

But something was wrong.

The control room had gone all red making the emergency whoozing….if you get what I mean.

But she only did this when the Doctor was in tremendous amount of danger.

My heart skipped a beat as the thought of the Doctor being real too, crossed my mind. 

The man who was just a fictional character, meant more to me than any other fictional characters. I fell in love with him the first time I saw him….on TV obviously. Not romantically, but I loved the man the most and it sucked that he wasn't real.

But now, when I stood there, half in my room and half in the TARDIS, I just had one big question inside my head:

“Where is The Doctor?"

I looked back at my room once more before stepping further inside the box as I closed the doors behind me. 

I looked around, everything so familiar and yet so strange. 

I stopped near the contol panel, grazing the buttons and leavers lightly with my fingers.

I thought in my head…"What must have happened?"

And I was surprised to get a reply. A soft voice was speaking into my ears. It was a female voice and I knew that it didn't belong to any of the female companions of the Doctor’s. 

It….she was saying something but it was very faint at first, I couldn't understand. 

But it became more clear after a couple seconds.

"The Doctor is in danger."

"He needs help. He's stuck somewhere terrible."

"Who are you? And why are you telling this to me? And how can all of this be real?" I struggled to stop myself from asking more questions. 

"I am the TARDIS. And you are the only person that can help the Doctor right now," she answered. 

"What?!?!? Wait! First of all, the TARDIS can't speak. Is this a prank or something? And why am I 'the only person' in this entire universe that can save the Doctor?"

"We are not of this world. We got pulled here. This is a parallel world. Your world, where we might not exist. The Dream Lord pulled us here. He has sent the Doctor and his companions to a dreamworld which is very deadly. And unlike the last time he did it, this time it's only a single dream. They aren't given a choice of two different worlds. They have no way out. And I can’t go in there because I don’t have that amount of energy to enter into the dream."

My head was spinning as I took time to process this information. Dream Lord? I remember I made up a short story about that particular episode after watching it. I completely changed its plot where there won't be Amy's choice and it would all be a single dream world and they had to find a way out before they die. Quite a story I made up which was completely different than the real one but I never got a chance to really finish it.

"O-okaaaay….but where do I come in? Why me?" I managed to ask as I was trembling with fear.

"Because you built it. The dream world. It's your daydream, Amber. The Dream Lord has access to all the dreams in the universe, even your daydreams. You created this fantasy and you never finished it. The Doctor is still stuck in it. And I need energy to get there which only you could provide because it was your imagination that got him stuck there at the first place."

My eyes were wide with horror. This was a lot to take in.

Instead of answering her, I started laughing. Maniacally. Because I knew I had completely lost it this time. I was completely gone insane. Finally gone insane due to my own fantasy. Finally completely drowned myself in my own dreamworld. 

"Why are you laughing?" She innocently asked me. But I kept laughing, clutching my stomach as it started to pain.

"This……really……can’t……be real!" I said between my laughter. 

"I know you think this as another one of your daydreams Amber, but I can assure you that this is real. You knew there was a chance that there existed parallel worlds. You've yourself made a number of fantasies in your head about it. That's because you believe. You believe that this is possible. And weren't you wishing so hard last year on your birthday to let the Doctor come for you because you admitted to yourself that he existed and was out there saving everyone's ass?" Oh she kinda sounds like him! 

"How do you know all this about me?" I asked, my laughter long gone.

"I looked you up." She replied as a matter of fact. "Now, are you willing to help out and let me use up your imaginative energy to get to the Doctor?"

"What would happen to me if you soak out my energy? And what about my family?" I was gone mental. I was actually thinking of doing this.  

"It would drain out your energy. Make you really weak. It would be really painful, I must warn you but I could ensure that you won't die."

"How reassuring!" I sarcastic exclaimed.

"It's all your choice. I'm not forcing you," she stated calmly. 

"I…..need to think." I massaged my forehead with my fingers, my eyes closed shut as I cosidered the request. 

"You have to take a decision fast Amber. We really don't have time." I scoffed at her last statement. 

"Alright. But if I do this, how will I come back? I mean, I have to be back at this same moment." I was really planning to do this.

Why, you ask? Because it was my fantasy. I know where he is. I know what they're going through right now and I have to get them out. And I did say that if saving the Doctor was the reason for my death, I would willingly accept it.

"I really don’t know how to get you back here as this is a parallel world. But maybe the Doctor would know a way out for you…." 

"So you’re saying that you want me to go through tremendous amount of pain as you soak up my energy to get to the Doctor with no guarantee of getting me safe back home?" I asked, my heart

beating fast, not with fear, but with determination. 

"Pretty much, yes."

I sighed heavily and close my eyes before opening them a couple seconds later. 

"Ok. I'll do it. But I need to get some things with me." I was really gonna regret this. 

"Thank you, Amber Richardson."

I got out of the TARDIS and into my room. The door was still closed and no one had noticed this big blue police box in my room.

I wore my jacket and scarf and quickly stuffing my phone and earphones in my satchel, I entered the blue box again. I went near the contol panel and hung my satchel onto one onto one of the leavers. 

"Okay. I'm ready. What do you want me to do?" I asked as I prepared for the oncoming pain.