I sprinted down the hallway, following the sounds of screaming. I heard a girl's voice yelling for the Doctor—probably one of his previous companions. But I had to focus. I had to make things feel right again in 40 years. I had to get rid of that ominous feeling in my gut.

I reached a corner, stopped running, and pulled out my gun. The technology was a bit advanced… the Doctor would probably notice. His companion probably wouldn't, and the Doctor would know not to attempt to find out about the weapon, hopefully. Better not create any paradoxes. I would run in there, save his life, and run out before he could remember my face. I'm here to fix the future, not change it any further.

I took a breath and rounded the corner, shooting the aliens as I ran past. I didn't recognize the species, but I recognized the expression on the Doctor's face. I'd seen this expression only twice before, at the defeat and extinction of two alien species that we encountered… or rather, would encounter. The Doctor could be so stupid sometimes, wanting to save everybody, even when it could cost the life of himself or of the people that he loved. I knew this species was the last of its kind, both from his face and from the fact that I'd heard of them before I departed for the year 2011. It was during my time, 3055, when I started getting the feeling that something would not be right. The feeling, as usual, came along with a cause—this species, which I knew not by name nor by appearance, just by the feeling they gave me due to my gift, would come from its time more than a thousand years in the future to the date of November 28, 2011, and kill the Doctor before he could lead to the end of the rest of their species. I couldn't imagine the Doctor ever doing such a thing, but that would be a while away. Who knows what kind of a man he'll be by then…

The aliens had fallen, and now I had to run and leave. I got one glimpse of the people in the room— a red-headed woman with a man and another woman with curly hair. I saw the Doctor, and I had to suppress the urge to run at him and maybe say something, just to hear the sound of that voice… maybe I would criticize his bow-tie just to hear him assure me that they are cool, something he hasn't done in over a year…

But I had to run. I heard footsteps behind me. I dared a peek over my shoulder and saw the Doctor, sprinting after me…

Damn it. He's definitely seen me, but he might not have seen my face… I need to get away while I still can…

I heard the familiar sound of him fumbling in his coat for his sonic screwdriver.

What the hell's he gonna do with that?

But then I saw—a metal door about 10 yards ahead of me. He was going to lock me in.

Of course, he must hate me… even though he doesn't know that it's me… all he knows is that I just randomly killed tons of aliens… he must at least want to know what I was doing there…

I realized that there was no way I could make it to the door faster than he could pull out his screwdriver and push a couple buttons. I had to do something… something that would make the future not quite right? No, no. I felt that this was meant to happen, the Doctor remembered this the whole time that I knew him. But I still could feel that anything causing a total change in the future would be so bad, so so bad. It could lead to the end of the world. No exaggeration. It was essential that I not meet the Doctor in 2011, I could feel that.

I pulled out the Doctor's screwdriver, the one I took from his coat before high-jacking the TARDIS earlier that day. Rather, earlier on April 23rd 3055. I held it above my head… I knew that the Doctor must've seen it, but he locked the door ahead of me anyway. Jeez, I guess he didn't get the message. I pushed a couple buttons on the screwdriver, reopening the door and I sprinted through it. I ran down the hallway, and had reached the end when I doubled over in pain. No, no, no… this was all going wrong, so wrong… Through the painful haze I could see the Doctor's feet approaching… I fumbled in my pockets for my perception filter necklace and managed to pull it over my neck…. But the Doctor had seen me putting it on and he knew what it was, so he still knew I was there…

I pulled myself into the corner… the Doctor stared directly at me, but with great difficulty due to the filter… still, he saw me. He focused and was about to say something when the red-head came running after him, followed by the man and curly-haired woman.

"Doctor! What's going on? Come on now, answer me! What were you chasing after?" The ginger said.

"Didn't you see her, Amy? That girl… who killed all the aliens…"

"What girl?"

"The girl who-" He turned around, but something cut him off.

"Um, Doctor?" Amy said.

"I- Sorry, what was I talking about?"

How could he not remember me? He just saw me…

"You- you can't remember?" said Amy.

"Remember what?"

"Seems like the Silence," said the woman with curly hair. "But Doctor, how could you remember when you were facing that corner? Amy and I have been watching it the whole time, and there isn't a Silence there. Unless…"

But she couldn't be able to see me, she'd never seen me in her life… rather, she hadn't seen me yet. But the Doctor… if he turned around and tried really hard to see me… could he do it? He had forgotten me, after all… it would be difficult for even someone like him to focus on something that they couldn't remember. She was right, though, this did sound a hell of a lot like the Silence. The Doctor told me that he'd met them once before on that day that he and I were faced with them again. He must've known them during this time, but why would I possess the same ability as them?

"River… I can't see anything…" The Doctor was staring at my corner, but his eyes always seemed to skip over me. I wanted so badly to know what was going on, to know why people were forgetting me all of a sudden… and I knew that the Doctor could find out why… What if I were to take off my perception filter? I closed my eyes and concentrated on the part of me that seemed to send those feelings… this time, that particular feeling that that the future could not be altered, the same feeling that had made me collapse earlier as the Doctor saw me… but now that he's looked away, the pain is gone. I'm left with the feeling of the despair in my gut that I will feel if the future is to be altered so dramatically… if the Doctor is to see me… but what if he doesn't even remember it later? I closed my eyes and focused really hard… I pictured myself and the Doctor, talking and looking at each other in 2011… the feeling reacted like a beast, instinctively causing a pain in my gut. Then I pictured him turning away, and not remembering a thing… and the normal potential despair returned.

I'm sometimes too curious for my own good, and now I had just used my gift to determine that it would be safe to do so, so I pulled off the perception filter just as the Doctor was turning way. He caught a glimpse of me in the corner of his eye and snapped back around to see me.

The pain was unbearable… it felt as if I was being crushed from all sides, and the pain was hot, so hot. A fire consumed me from the inside… it hurt too badly for me to scream, I just sat there in a shocked silence, with what I imagine to be a terrified and grotesque expression on my face. The worst part of having this gift—whenever I defied it, even temporarily, it punished me. The Doctor promised to end its control over my life… rather, he would promise this in the future…. But the Doctor of 2011 would have to do something. He would have to look away… the fact that I had let them see me had caused all this, and as soon as he forgot me the pain would go away. I reached desperately, with jerky hand movements for my perception filter.

"Oh no you don't-" said the Doctor, snatching it out of my reach. "Don't worry, you don't need to hide… I'm here to help. Hi, I'm the Doctor. What's your name? Why did you shoot all those aliens back there?" He had crouched down to my level, as I sat cowering in the corner, trying to keep the pain from exploding from me in the form of a scream. I couldn't talk… But what if the Doctor decided to try and see into my mind? I didn't have the energy to set up any doors… I'd better just say my name.

"I- I'm Sarah—"

That was all I was able to mumble before I screamed and fell to the floor, the pain finally over-taking me.

…

When I woke up, I was inside the TARDIS. I was sitting with my arms tied to the arms of a chair. The ginger, Amy, was leaning against the controls of the TARDIS and staring at me.

"Oh, hello there. I've been told to keep a watch on you, to be sure that at least one of the three of us remembers you at a time."

The pain was gone, but had been replaced by a strange numbness… almost an aftershock. It was as if my gift had been tired out from its latest attack on me. I raised my wrists questioningly—tying people up didn't really seem to be the Doctor's style.

"The Doctor was against us tying you up, but River insisted… we can't have you trying to escape, yeah?" she smiled light-heartedly.

"Ha ha, yea…" I looked around. "But I really must be going… we're not travelling, are we?"

"No, we're still in the skyscraper that we found you in… the Doctor's investigating the aliens. Alien bodies, rather…"

"Hey, they were going to kill you three,"

"You haven't seen the Doctor when he's reasoning with something. He could stop any army."

"Believe me, I have. He's already tried on these aliens… rather, he will have already tried."

"You have? When did you meet the Doctor?"

"Well, I will… and… it's complicated,"

"You will? From the future or something, eh?"

"I- I shouldn't tell you, wouldn't want to mess with the future or anything…" I checked with that feeling- would it be okay to tell Amy? "Well, actually, it's really only key that the Doctor never finds out who I am… and none of you will remember me when you turn around, anyway…."

"Alright, well, then tell me. Who are you?"

"I- My name's Sarah Lenson. I'm from the future… more than a thousand years in the future, actually, and… I know the Doctor then. Well, I technically met him in about 30 years when I was only 13, but I guess I technically I hadn't been born yet… it's… complicated…" I smiled.

"Alright, well, nice to meet you Sarah. I'm Amy Pond. And… you travel with the Doctor? Like, as his companion?"

"Well, that's complicated too… but yea, I travel with him."

"Why were you here? I mean, why did you come and shoot all those aliens?"

"I, well, I sorta have what you might call a sixth sense. Something inside of me alerts me when something's going to go wrong, or when something's going to need fixing… it's rarely helpful, though. Usually it just tries to get me to fix things in ways I don't want to fix them, and it causes me extreme pain if I do anything else."

"Is that why you collapsed out there?"

"Yea, my gift is what's telling me that I musn't see the Doctor. I think I'll have a similar reaction if I see him again..."