Mash up of Jane Eyre and Doctor Who
(David Tennant and Billie Piper)
By: Samantha Morrell
Cries of protest rang out through the great halls of Gateshead, as I was being forcedly pulled up the stairs to a room dreaded by the inhabitants of the house: The red room, a punishment only suitable for such a naughty child in the eyes of one Mrs. Reed. I struggled much but it was no use against two grown women and I was thus restrained to a stool. Locked inside until Mrs. Reed seemed it fit for me to return. I could do nothing but weep. Time passed and it began to grow dark and dreary. The rain poured, and the room was eerily lit by the slim gleam of the moon through the window. I began to grow frightful as the air seemed to grow colder. Shadows began to dance and the room began to spin. I let out a scream, only to be received, shunned and then thrust back inside. My knees wobbled as my breathe grew shallower. I began to feel faint. Lightning flashed and I spun around, half expecting to see what I had feared: The ghost of Mr. Reed. I couldn't bear it, I began to go under. Before I fell, I managed to grab a quick glance out the window of an image most peculiar: a little blue box.
WOOOOCCCRRRWOOOSH. Rose stabled herself as they began to land. This was a sound that had become very familiar to her, almost comforting. She raised her eyes and cast them around the spacecraft. She then shut them, remembering the first day she had stepped into the unusual craft. At this moment her thoughts shifted to the stranger she had first fled with. The wonderful, incredible, mad man with a magic box: The Doctor. She opened her eyes again and there he was, smiling at her as the craft shook and threw them both to the floor. They had landed.
"Well, that is something that I will surely never get use to!" Rose exclaimed as she picked herself up off the ground.
The Doctor laughed as he retrieved himself from the metal bottom. "Come, Rose Tyler, Venice awaits!"
He flung open the TARDIS doors and they stepped outside. They were standing on the front lawn of a large house, and it was pouring down rain.
"Hmmm, Venice has changed slightly since the last time I was here..." spoke the Doctor.
"Where are we? Or rather when are we?" said Rose through the loud pitter patter of the rain.
"Judging by the looks of it we're still in England. Victorian age, 1840's would be my guess. But why? Why has it brought us here?" Rose knew that that was more of a self question, directed to him rather than to her. She kept silent.
He brought out his sonic screwdriver and started surveying the TARDIS (it was his most beloved tool, a quite impressive one too. Rose never could understood how it worked or why, but it seemed capable to do just about anything). Suddenly a loud scream broke the silence. It sounded like that of a child. Rose looked up to see what actions the Doctor would pursue next, but found him already running across the walk to the house. Before she could think of anything else she too, found herself running after the Doctor towards the house.
The next thing I remember is waking up with a feeling as if I had a terrible nightmare, and seeing before me a blurry haze of red. I could hear the sounds of people talking, all which were muffled and inaudible to my ears. The next thing I became aware of was that I was being lifted and carried tenderly away. When I came to, I found myself in my own room, in my own bed. A sense of relief passed through me. It was then that I noticed a stranger was in the room, a gentleman I couldn't recognize. He was not alone. A young woman stood with him. But alas! What strange attire they both appeared in! The woman had hair the colour of daffodils which fell straight down and rested upon her shoulders. Her eyes were a soft brown, her skin an ivory shade. She was quite a handsome girl apart from her attire. She was clad in a long sleeve jacket of sorts, of which the material was unknown to me. And upon her legs were a pair of dusty blue pants. Why, she was wearing man's clothes! I then turned my attention towards the gentleman. He had a rather slender face with matching features. His hair was a rich dark oak colour, with locks of hair carelessly tossed upon his forehead. His mouth was thin and his nose seemed to excel quite some distance from his face, but not enough to make it appear too large. I moved my eyes up to his. Beautiful were they: dark brown and piercing, with a touch of gentleness about them. Yet there was more to them. They showed experience, sorrow, pain, and joy. They seemed to have encountered ages long past that of any other man, yet by his look he could have not been over three and thirty years old! How odd they both were, yet I did not fear them. I actually felt a sense of security around them. The lady noticed me starring and nudged the man, and he spoke:
"Ah! She is awake then! Good, good! Could you tell us your name sweetheart?"
"My name is Eyre sir, Jane Eyre."
"Well Miss Eyre, nice to meet you. This here is Rose Tyler, and I am the Doctor."
"You're a doctor, am I ill?"
"That's what if am here to find out. Can you tell us what happened to you last night? What did you see? What made you scream?"
The Doctor brought up his face close to the little girl's and set his eyes to hers. Rose could tell he was searching her as she had done to him when she had awoken. That Jane girl was such a small, plain, pale child, but Rose had never felt more sorrow towards a child before as she did to this one. She seemed all alone in this household. The Doctor knew what it was like to be alone. Rose thought back to when they had first encountered Jane. When they heard the scream, they had raced to the front doors and pounded wildly. They were welcomed by a servant-Bessie was her name, Rose remembered. She was quite huffy and asked what it was they wished for. A quick glance from the psychic paper and they were admitted inside, where they had found the girl lying unconscious in an upstairs room. The Doctor had gently lifted her up and brought her to her room. It was there that they had met her guardian: Mrs. Reed. Rose could feel herself heating up at the thought of that vile woman. First she demanded to know why they had come (once again, the psychic paper proved useful). After that she did not stop bickering about how she could not stand the child which was so unfortunately bestowed upon her. She smiled and remembered what the Doctor had said to Mrs. Reed. "There are two things I can't stand in this world, children cry and people that make them cry. I am a very powerful man; I've got a box and a screwdriver and I have saved this world more times than you could ever imagine. And now, I challenge you Mrs. Reed, I dare you to say one more bad thing about that child!" The old lady never said another word to them. The Doctor leaned in closer and repeated the question.
"Please, this is very important. Tell me what you saw last night."
"A ghost sir, I saw a ghost. It was up in the red room, I screamed for them to let me out, but they just ignored me."
The Doctor turned around and looked at Rose as she stood up.
"Rose sit back down, and keep her company. I will only be gone a minute. Let's see about this Red Room." he brought out his sonic and raced upstairs, leaving her with the small child.
Many a time, I've thought back to that day; the day I met the Doctor and his companion Rose. It was quite a weird acquaintance, one that I could not help questioning.
"That man, why is he here?" asked I.
"He is here to help you, just like he helped me. He is a good man Jane, one of the best. Trust him, he won't let you down."
At that moment the man called the Doctor came running back downstairs.
"Rose! Quick to the TARDIS! We need to leave here now!"
"Why must you go sir? And why in such a hurry? Is there something amiss?"
He placed his hands on my shoulders. They were warm. "Don't worry Miss Eyre, there is nothing to fear. Okay? Listen to me! I need you to trust me now; I won't let anything harm you."
I nodded but could not help asking "Who are you?"
He was now standing in the doorway.
"I'm the Doctor."
And with that he was gone. Eight long years past by and I never saw them since that day. A month after their visit I was sent to school. Mrs. Reed could no longer handle me and sent me away. I didn't mind, I was happier at school, though not to say I still wasn't miserable. Eight years I stayed at Lowood School for Orphans. Six of the eight years were spent as a student and the other two as a teacher. Still my want of servitude was not fulfilled. I decided to advertise, so I composed a letter and gained a reply to be a governess for a single pupil in Thornfield, a place some many miles off. I accepted. Ere long, my wish to see the Doctor and Rose again was pushed to the back of my memory.
"Doctor, what's wrong?" said Rose when they were finally back within the TARDIS doors.
"Nothing to worry about Rose Tyler, we are just going for a quick spin in the TARDIS to re-circuit its functions. They must have been a bit dodgy before, and that's why it brought us here."
He ran around the base of the craft flicking switches and pressing buttons. Rose stood back and watched. There was only one person who knew how to fly the TARDIS, and that was the Doctor.
"Doctor, there is something you're not telling me. What happened back there, in the Red Room?"
The Doctor sighed and began his explanation.
"There was something else in that room, something that shouldn't have been there. I was scanning the room when I found this." He held up a small metal cylinder. "This is a molecular byronium cell spectomodulater."
"Well someone could have just dropped it, or left it by mistake."
"Think Rose! This technology isn't available to anyone in the twenty-first century let alone in 1840, No! Someone was there before us, and someone left this."
"Well, we should go back then shouldn't we? They could be in trouble!"
"That's what I am doing, I am just quickly setting the time separator -"
The doctor was interrupted by an abrupt jolt. They had landed once again. They rushed out and found one of the servants working about the yard. It was Bessie.
"Tell me, where is Jane."
"Jane?"
"Yeah, little girl, nine years old, about this high. She used to live here. Where is she?"
"I know who she is." Snorted Bessie "She hasn't lived here in eight years"
"No, no, no, no, no, no! She has to; we were only gone five minutes!"
"I'm sorry, you look familiar. What did you say your name was again?"
"I didn't, I'm the Doctor, but not important. Actually, very important, remember that name. Now tell me, what happened to the girl that used to live here?"
"Well, she moved away, went to Thornfield in Milcote to become a governess. She was a good friend of mine she was. I miss her so, even though she was rather plain..."
"Thank you, good day. Back to the TARDIS Rose, we're going to Milcote!"
They ran back inside once again, but this time nothing happened.
"No! Don't do this! Come on girl, get going. What? Someone must've jammed the time gauge. The circuits are all mashed. But how? This doesn't make any sense" He brought out his sonic once again. After a couple minutes of frustration and repair, the TARDIS began to stir and took off.
"Aha, I love being clever!" shouted the Doctor, and with that they were on their way to Thornfield.
Thornfield was a wonderful place. My pupil was a young French girl named Adele. Luckily I had learned substantial amounts of French which made our communication and my teaching easier. There was also an elderly lady who inhabited the house and kept things running. Her name was Mrs. Fairfax. She was a gentle woman who provided me with late night conversations. Yet there was one more person, the master of Thornfield: Mr. Rochester. He was not the most handsome figure. He had a large forehead and big piercing eyes hidden beneath bushy eyebrows. However, he deemed upon me as attractive and mysterious. He seemed to hide a deep past secret, one that I was keen on knowing but never thought to ask. He too provided me with conversation as I provided him. I had become very fond of him; I began to feel as if I even loved him. Though all seemed well, some strange events happened. One night as I was lying in bed I heard a strange voice, one of which I had never heard anything alike before. I grew scared and went outside to fetch Mrs. Fairfax when I smelled smoke. It was coming from Mr. Rochester's room. I ran there as quickly as I could. His bed was on fire. I looked around the room for a solution. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I caught a glimpse of something faded. Almost ghost-like, but I rendered it my imagination. I finally thought of a way to help. I rushed to his basin and ewer and retrieved enough water to douse his bed of flames efficiently. Luckily he was not harmed. I asked him what caused the fire, and he told me that he must've just fallen asleep with his candle lit. I wanted to believe him, but part of me blamed the strange voice. That was not all. A visitor had come last month. His name was Mason and he said he was a friend of Mr. Rochester. One night I was in a deep slumber having forgotten the previous event when I heard the most horrific scream along with the same voice. I cautiously left my chamber and saw Mr. Rochester descending the steps from the third story. I asked him what the matter, and he just replied that a servant had a bad dream and that all was well again. Once again, I found it hard to believe him, for the next morning, Mason was gone.
It was hardly any time before the Doctor and Rose had arrived outside of Thornfield. Rose was worried what they would see, she desperately hoped to find that the young lonely girl was alright and safe. When they were admitted inside Rose was glad to find that she was, and that she had remembered them both.
"Doctor! Rose! You both are back! Eight years (coming on nine) and you have at last returned to me. And you haven't aged a bit! How very strange, yet things haven't been very normal at Thornfield lately..."
"How so?" asked the Doctor
Jane raised her hand and pointed toward the third story stair case.
"Up there" she said. "Things aren't right, oh, but I suppose that I am overreacting, or that's what Mr. Rochester says at least."
"Rochester? Who is Mr. Rochester?"
"I am here."Rose turned around to face the person who the voice belonged to. He had a long black cloak. "What brings you to my home, Doctor?"
"Ah, nothing much, just catching up with a friend of mine here. Say, what a lovely house you have here. Do you mind giving me a tour? I love tours. Now, where's a good place to start? Hmmm... ah, how about the third floor?"
"So be it." Replied Mr. Rochester and he led them up the stairs to the third story. Rose felt nervous, she didn't know what it was she expected to see up there. She was relieved to find it an empty room.
"Merely an attic. Does that satisfy you Doctor? Now, if you please, I will show you to your rooms, for you will be staying here tonight wont you?"
"Yes, if that's alright with you, we would love to stay the night."
How happy I was to hear that my friends would be staying the night. I had so many stories to tell them and so many questions to ask! Later that evening I proposed that they meet with me in the library. I would also have like Mr. Rochester to be there, but he had to be out somewhere.
"How glad am I to see you two once again! It feels as if our meeting the first time had been a mere dream."
"Yes it is quite good to see that you are doing well for yourself Jane. Isn't that right Doctor?" said Rose.
"Yes, it is all very well, but what about those strange events? You said there had been some weird things about lately, that have to do with the third story."
I told them about the fire and the disappearance of Mr. Mason. They seemed very intrigued although I assured them it was probably just nothing.
"Wait, you said you heard a voice, the night of the fire. It scared you did it? What did it sound like?"
"I heard it twice, once from the third story and once just outside my door. I also heard it the night Mason disappeared. It was slightly muffled the first and last time, but I heard it almost perfectly the second time. I didn't know what to make of it, but it frightened me. It said: "Exterminate"."
The Doctor and Rose stood up and shot each other looks of fear. They both knew what it was right away, but each was too frightened to say its name. It was a Dalek, the Doctor's greatest enemy. The Doctor could suffer through loss but the Daleks would always find a way to survive. The Doctor took to pacing the room.
"But how? It doesn't make sense! Unless..."
"Unless what Doctor?"
"...unless one happened to escape through the void and land in this time period. Ahhh! No, but that's impossible! But even if it did, why? Why now, why here? I am going to have to go up there."
"Doctor please! If the Dalek sees you he will vaporize you right away!" it was times like these that Rose wished the Doctor were less stubborn.
"No he won't, because I've got a plan. And you know why I've got a plan? Because I'm clever! And also I eat a lot of fish, and fish are brain food! I love fish."
He held up the byronium cell spectomodulater and some scraps he had taken from the TARDIS previously and began to sonic away.
"What is he doing?" asked Jane. "What's a Dalek?"
"The Daleks are extraterrestrial beings in a suit of armour. They are extremely intelligent and they work primarily in logical reasoning. Like Spock, but in evil metal form. As for what I am doing... I am using this spectomodulater to form some kind of weapon. If I can get into that secret room in the attic I will be able to press this button here, separating each and every cell within that room dissolving everything in it completely."
"But that would mean you as well."
"Yes... Listen Rose," he wiped away a tear from her cheek. "Take this." He handed her the sonic, it was cold on her hand. "I need you to take this back to the TARDIS. Place it into the co-ordinate settings; it will take you home to good old 21rst century England. Rose, I need you to do this for me. Please."
Let me tell you reader, I barely knew these people I called friends. We had met only twice, but I could not start to tell you the sorrow I had building up in my bosom when I heard what the Doctor said. Even though I couldn't make sense of most he said, I still understood what it was that he had to do. I couldn't let him do it.
"Let me go, in your place! Please, I have no family and no friends, no one to miss me, except for maybe Mr. Rochester. Show me which button I should press, and maybe I-"
"No! No one is going in my place! I am doing this alone."
"Goodbye Doctor" whispered Rose through her tears. "Will you at least let us go with you; we will stay outside the room."
The Doctor nodded and they took each other's hand, slowing ascending the third story stairs. I was following close behind them. I don't know what went through my mind before but when they were embracing I had silently switch the bomb with one similar that I had found the night Rochester's bed went up in flames. It looked the same, however I hoped that the one I had given would be simply a dud. We had reached the third story. Once inside we heard voices. They seemed to be coming from inside one of the walls. The Doctor searched around and found a door hidden beneath some tapestry. He motioned for us to stay down behind some old trunks. He opened the door and stepped inside.
"Doctor, you have arrived at last" said the Dalek.
"Yes, and not for a tea party either. I want to know why you're here. What do you want?"
"I want the void reopened and my colony returned. And you will help me Doctor, or you will perish."
"The void reopened? What? So that your army could take over the world?"
"No, don't you see Doctor?" The voice belonged to Mr. Rochester. "The world needs a new leader, we can rule with them. They promised me all of Europe. They will promise you something too."
"And you believed them! These aliens are programmed to do whatever it takes to make them stronger, what do they care about a measly human? They were using you Rochester, to get to me."
"ENOUGH! It is true; you are worthless to us human. Doctor, you will help, or else."
"Or else what? Do you see this? Aha, you know what this is, don't you? A byronium cell spectomodulater, re-wired to vaporize every cell within this room."
"You wouldn't, it would mean costing your life as well."
"Try me." The Doctor raised his hand over the button.
"Stop!" cried Mr. Rochester. "I didn't mean for it to end this way, Dalek you promised not to hurt this man."
"I lied" said the Dalek as it shot Mr. Rochester square in the chest comprising him to dust.
The Doctor then laid his hand upon the button. Nothing happened.
"EXTERMINATE!" shouted the Dalek. It raised its gun to fire when someone else ran into the room. A plain, petite girl; It was Jane. She ran toward the Doctor and pushed him back out the door locking it behind him. She had the real bomb.
"EXTERMINATE!" shouted the Dalek once more, but it was too late. Jane pressed the button on the contraption and the entire room was blown out of existence.
The Doctor and Rose walked gravely back to the TARDIS. It was sometime before Rose spoke:
"That girl, Jane, she saved our life. Complete stranger, only met us twice and she sacrificed herself to save us."
"And possibly saved the whole world as well." added the Doctor.
They grieved for a couple moments. If there was anything the Doctor hated more than seeing children cry, it was seeing innocent people die. As last the Doctor spoke once more:
"To Venice?"
"To Venice" said Rose, and with that, they were off once again.
THE END