The explosions go off in almost every direction, the deafening sounds clashing with the cries of mothers and fathers begging for mercy for their children and screams of those who tried to run away but were struck down in the invasion. Darkness was everywhere and all consuming, and it only seemed to make the sounds of death and destruction much more louder and frightening. But throughout the chaos, there was one sound that could be heard more clearly than any other, that one distorted, mutated voice that made the blood curdle in anyone caught in the way.
"EXTERMINATE!"
"EXTERMINATE!"
"EXTERMINATE!"
1111
'Never gonna give you up... never gonna let you down... never gonna run around and desert you...'
Damn it, Mickey. I groan and shuffle in my bed, rolling to the side so that I can grab my cell phone off the bedside table and turn off my alarm clock, stopping that embarrassing song. He must've changed it yesterday when I wasn't looking. I make a mental note to wallop him next time I see him. Oh well, it's not like I had any real sleep, anyway. It's always like this every single time I have this dream. I can hear the screams in my mind even after I've woken up, and there's nothing that I can do to block it out. It's just so exhausting.
I look over at my clock on the table, seeing that it's 7:00 a.m., and with a groan, I get myself out of bed and into the shower. I've got a test today at 10. I dress in my maroon nurse scrubs and twist my still damp hair into a bun, and after three cups of coffee and toast, I'm out the door at 9.
By noon, I'm feeling better. I meet up with my best mates Rose and Mickey at the fountain in Trafalgar Square for lunch, and they can always put a smile on my face.
"Annie, darling!" Rose greets me, pulling me into a warm hug and giving me a paper cone filled with chips, making me roll my eyes fondly. Mickey smiles at me and I pinched him on the arm for changing my alarm clock, making him flinch. I've been friends with both Rose and Mickey since I was a kid in primary school; we've always been there for each other. Rose Tyler has always been very beautiful, with lovely blonde hair, brown eyes and curvy body, with such an outgoing personality. She's never short of any admirers.
I've always been the wallflower. Five foot one, dark brown wavy hair and hazel eyes, and always too skinny for my own good as my foster mother used to say. I don't have any admirers, don't have any time for make-up and pearls, and I certainly don't have any sanity for it all. The only thing I can focus on now is becoming a nurse; it's all I've ever wanted to be since I was eight years old.
"Annie," Rose began after the three of us catch up, "Mum's wanting you over for dinner tonight, says she'll make that ham and potato soup you like." Rose's mother, Jackie Tyler, has always been sweet to me ever since I first met her, sometimes a little... high in the sky, one could say. Some people would think of 'airhead', but she always does the absolute best she can. I'd always say yes to Jackie.
"Of course, haven't seen her in a few days. Want me to meet you when you get off work?"
"Yeah, if only it'll come quicker," Rose grumbled. She's working at Henrik's department store as a store clerk, and complains about it every chance she gets.
"What am I, chopped liver?" Mickey Smith scoffed playfully beside me. Like me, Mickey's going to school for computers. He's tall and dark skinned and he's always been the definition of the 'lovable nice guy'. Get him as a friend, and he'll be the most loyal friend one could ask for.
I wrap my arm around his shoulders. "Yes, but you're my chopped liver," I reply, and he playfully elbows me. We finish lunch and part ways, and I head to my next class. The rest of the day pretty much becomes a blur, and when 6 p.m. comes around, I'm the first out the door. I take a quick bus to Henrik's, where I see it's already preparing to close. Rose is slinging her purse over her shoulder when I approach.
"Thank God it's finally over," she sighs, taking my hand. "Let's get out of here, I'm starving." But as we turn towards the door, a guard stops up, holding a bag of money in Rose's face. Her shoulders slump and she scoffs in aggravation.
"You need me to wait here?" I ask.
She snatches the bag of money out of the guard's hand and pulls me towards the elevator. "No, it'll just be a minute." We step inside and Rose presses the button for the basement. "I hate when they do this right at the last second." The ding of the elevator sounds and the doors open, and we step into an empty, rather dimly-lit corridor. "Wilson?" Rose calls, the two of us walking towards a rather heavy blue office door with the sign 'H.P. Wilson, C.E.O.' Lovely. "Wilson, I've got the lottery money! Wilson?" She knocks and yanks on the door handle, but it's locked and no reply. "You there?" Again, no answer. "I can't hang about 'cause they're closing the shop! Wilson!?" There was still no answer from anyone. "Oh, come on," she whispered.
"Is he always down here?" I ask.
"Yeah, he's usually the last one to leave," Suddenly, there was a sharp noise behind her, like something had been dropped, making us both jump and make my hair stand up. "Hello?" Rose voiced, but no one answered her. "Hello, Wilson, it's Rose."
"Rose, let's go, there's obviously no one down here," I urged, now getting a weird creeping sense of doom forming in the pit of my stomach, telling me to get out of here now. "Just give it to him tomorrow."
"I can't, I'll get in trouble!" She continued down the hall, taking me with her, as we approached a set of double doors; with a careful hand, she swung the door open only to find the room pitch black. With my free hand, I scale the wall beside me to find the light switch and when I did, I only saw a huge storage room filled with boxes and old signs and mannequins strewn about. There's nothing out of the ordinary in here, no one in sight.
"Wilson?" Rose tried again. "Hello?" Still no answer. "Where is he? I don't want to be doing this all night!" She huffed.
"Just give it to him in the morning, I'll vouch for you if they say something about it tomo-" I say, but I was cut off but a sudden, echoing bang behind me when the door slammed shut, like someone had locked us in. The feeling of dread intensified as both Rose and I raced towards it, pulling on the handle with all our might, trying to get it open, but wouldn't budge an inch.
"You're kidding me," Rose whimpered.
"What the hell is going on in here!?" My voice is starting to shake as I try not to get myself worked up into a panic attack. Another sound, like someone is banging on something, makes us stop.
"Who the hell is there?" I yell angrily, having just about enough of this. This has got to be some kind of elaborate prank, someone's hiding down here, and if I find this person, they're going home with a black eye.
"Is that someone mucking about?" Rose called, both of us slowly creeping our way down the storage room, looking to see if anyone was hiding behind the boxes. I caught a faint creak behind me, and turned to see, in my absolute horror, a mannequin very plainly turn it's head to face me and slowly come to life, moving it's arms stiffly.
"Bloody hell!" I gasp, making Rose turn and her eyes widened when she saw the plastic dummy coming towards us, and I saw behind it, that the other mannequins were moving stiffly as well, turning towards us.
"You've got us, very funny," Rose said, trembling as we backed away as they converged closer. They didn't speak or give any notice that they heard her.
"Alright, we've got the joke!" I yell louder. "Who had this idea, then? Huh?" They still didn't say a word, and now I'm starting to get really frightened.
"Is it Derek's? Is it!? Derek, is this you!?" Rose called out as they continued to move closer, making us retreat until we finally back into a wall, where they mannequins surrounded us. The closest ones started to raise their arms over our heads, like they were going to karate chop us. Rose cringed and shut her eyes, waiting for the blow, and I was balling my fist about to punch the closest one just like I had been taught in my self-defense class when I felt a large, strong hand take my left hand and I turn to see a man with the bluest eyes I had ever seen in my life.
"Run," he said, yanking me and Rose out of the way just as the mannequin struck, hitting a pipe on the wall and snapping it in two effortlessly, and we raced down a nearby corridor. Over my shoulder I see the mannequins chase after us and we speed up as they gain on us. The man rushes through the doors at the end of the corridor and spots an elevator and quickly ushers us inside just as the mannequins bursts through. He slams the button and the doors close just as one of them reaches an arm through the door, and the man grabs the arm with both hands and with four strong tugs, the arm comes off with a sickening pop and the doors mercifully close, leaving Rose panting heavily and I sag with relief.
"You pulled his arm off!" Rose said to the stranger, who was examining the arm.
"Yep," he said simply, tossing the arm at me and making me cry out as I catch it. "Plastic." He crossed his arms and stood like nothing had just happened.
"What the hell...?" I murmur as I examine the arm; this was the same arm that had tried to attack me just a few moments ago, that had tried to grab us just now... and it really was a plastic arm. This isn't possible! I look at him, taking in his man's appearance: He was quite tall, at least a foot taller than me, with short, dark hair. He was dressed almost entirely in black except for a red jumper under his large black leather jacket.
"Very clever, nice trick," Rose piped up, sounding fiercely annoyed but still with the slight tremor. "Who are they then, students? Is this a student thing or what?"
"Yeah, is this the bleeding theatre department?" I asked, my nerves on the verge of shattering. "Was that one of their real-time acting projects?"
"Why would they be students?" He asked us.
"I don't know," Rose replied.
"Well you both said it, why students?"
"Cause..." She began, looking at me for a better explanation.
"Well, the theatre students at University like to do some of those public improv shows to get people's reactions and posts them on the internet, they're always doing stuff like that."
"Yeah, to get that many people dressed up and being silly, they've gotta be students," Rose supplied.
The man looked back at us with a smile, like he was impressed. "That makes sense, well done."
"Oh, thanks," I deadpan.
"They're not students," he said.
"Whoever they are, when Wilson finds them he's gonna call the police," Rose said.
"Who's Wilson?"
"Chief electrician."
"Wilson's dead," the man replied emotionlessly, the doors finally opening and he stepped out, leaving us totally stunned momentarily before we followed him.
"That's a sick joke, mate-" I started but the stranger grabbed my arms to stop me.
"Hold on, mind your eyes," he warned, releasing me and turning to the elevator panel on the wall and aiming a silver and blue device, making the tip glow and sound a high-pitched buzz.
"We've had enough of this now!" Rose exclaimed angrily just as the panel suddenly shorted out and sparked, making both Rose and I jump while the stranger just rushed past. "Who are you, then? Who's that lot down there?"
We rush after the man, not letting him out of our sights for a minute. "Oi! Who are they!?" I asked, a little breathless as I caught up with him. "Why were they attacking us?"
"They're made of plastic, living plastic creatures," the stranger answered as he continued ahead of us, weaving through another corridor. "And they're being controlled by a relay device on the roof, which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this." He held up a small square device that was beeping rapidly, and I paled when I recognized it. Holy shit, it's a bomb. "So, I'm gonna go upstairs and blow it up!" We reached an emergency exit, and the man swung the doors open, "And I might well die in the process but don't worry about me, no, you two go on." He then practically shoved us out onto the street right behind the building. "Go on! Go and have our lovely beans on toast!" I couldn't help but make a face; I hated beans on toast. "Don't tell anyone about this, cause if you do you'll get them killed." And with that, he shut the door, leaving us startled on the quiet street.
"What just happened?" I asked incredulously. Before Rose could answer, the door swung open again revealing the stranger who saved us.
"I'm the Doctor, by the way, what's your names?" he asked, looking pointedly at us.
"Rose."
"Annie."
"Nice to meet you, Rose and Annie, run for your lives!" and again, he slammed the door shut, and this time I sprang into action, taking Rose's hand and dragging her as far away from the building as quickly as I could, weaving past cars to make it across the street when Rose started to resist.
"Annie wait," she gasped, slightly heaving as she tried to catch her breath; I'll admit that I was a little short of breath too. "You don't think he's gonna actually blow it up, do you?"
"All I know is I don't want to wait to find out." I answered.
"But come on, living plastic creatures? That can't be-"
BOOM! The ground shook as the top part of Henrik's department store suddenly burst into flames, the shockwave of it causing all the windows to shatter simultaneously. Cars came to a screeching halt as pedestrians began to run in all directions to get away from the explosion. I pulled Rose even harder to get her to run, and we sped off as fast as we could.
1111
"I know, it's on the telly! It's everywhere!" Jackie babbled excitedly to her friend on the phone as she came into the living room with two cups of tea for us. We sat on the sofa quietly as we watched the news coverage of the explosion. I still had the plastic arm right next to me, a reminder of what had happened earlier, and as reassurance that I didn't imagine the mannequins or the Doctor. "They're both lucky to be alive! Honestly, it's aged them, especially Rose. Skin like an old bible. Walking in now you think I was her daughter!" Rose shot her mother a look who completely ignored her, and suddenly we heard the door open. "Oh, and here's himself..." Jackie continued in the kitchen as Mickey came in, looking frantic.
"I've been phoning both your mobiles, you could've been dead, it's on the news and everything! I can't believe that your shop went up!" He knelt in front of Rose and hugged her, while she tried to gently wiggle out of his embrace.
"I'm alright, I'm fine! Don't make a fuss!" She said tiredly.
"You called me?" I asked, surprised. My phone hasn't been ringing, has it?
"Yes, and would it kill you to pick it up, Annie?"
"Get off my case, Mickey, we're both fine!"
"Well, what happened?"
"We don't know," both Rose and I said together; we had already been grilled by Jackie about what had happened as soon as we got to Rose's flat, and we agreed earlier to keep the Doctor a secret until we figured out what to do if an inquiry comes knocking. Who is honestly going to believe us when we say that killer mannequins chased after us and some bloke blew it up?
"What was it though, what happened?" Mickey continues to press.
"We weren't even in the shop, we were outside, we didn't see anything," Rose explained.
"It's Debbie on the end," Jackie announced as she came back into the living room, the phone in the nook of her shoulder. "She knows a man on The Mirror, five hundred quid for an interview!"
"Oh that's brilliant, give it here!" Rose snatched the phone from her mother and hung up on poor Debbie, slamming the phone on the coffee table. Jackie rolled her eyes at her daughter and crossed her arms sternly.
"Well you've gotta find some way of making money! Your job's kaput and I'm not bailing you out!" The phone rang and Jackie answered it in a flash. "Beth! She's alive!" And again, Jackie Tyler was immersed in another one of her gossip tales with her snooping friends, retreating to the kitchen. I sigh, getting lost in my thoughts for a moment, unable to think of anything else but the Doctor. Did he make it out? Is he alright? Am I ever going to see him again? He only gave me more questions instead of answers, and there was the quite high possibility that I was never going to get the answers. I just hope he's okay...
"What are you two drinking, tea?" Mickey cried in disbelief, taking Rose's cup out of her hands and setting it on the coffee table. "Nah, that's no good, that's no good, you're in shock; you need something stronger." He grabbed both of our arms and tried to pull us to our feet.
"No thanks, Mickey," I protested weakly; I was not in the mood for drinking.
"Now come on, you both deserve a proper drink," Mickey insisted. "We're going down to the pub, the three of us, how about it?" Both Rose and I smirked; there was only one time he would insist on going down to the pub.
"Is there a match on?" Rose asked.
Mickey looked so shocked, like he couldn't believe she asked that. "No, I'm just thinking about you, babe!"
"Oh Mickey, come off it!" I groaned. "There's a match on tonight, isn't there?"
Mickey pouted at me. "That's not the point, but we could catch the last five minutes!"
"Knew it," I whispered conspiratorially, but I shot him a wink. "You should go ahead, I'm probably gonna go home. You and Rose can go."
"Nah, I'm fine," Rose replied. "Really, you go ahead Mickey. Get rid of that." She pointed to the mannequin arm beside me, but I grabbed hold of it.
"It's okay, I'll get rid of it later," I said quickly. Rose eyed me for a moment but Mickey smirked flirtatiously at Rose, motioning for a kiss. Rose relented, giving him a quick smooch before he stood. I rolled my eyes fondly at the PDA. Mickey snatched the arm out of my grip and waved it at us.
"Bye bye!" He teased in a falsetto voice
"Bye!" We cried, our voices just as high, and Mickey took the hand to his neck, pretending to choke himself with it. I reached out and grabbed it back.
"Get out of here, Mick!" I warned gently, watching him laugh as he finally left the flat. I sighed, reveling in the quiet as the Doctor dominated my thoughts once again, my grip on the arm tightening. I really wanted to see him again; I was almost to the point of going out to look for him. But I knew absolutely nothing about him! How was I even going to know where to start?
"Girls, are you hungry?" Jackie called from the kitchen. Rose and I looked at each other for a moment.
"Will you still stay for dinner?" She whispered to me.
"Of course."
1111
An hour and a half later, I left Rose and Jackie's apartment building, called The Powell Estate, and walked home by myself after dinner, despite Rose's protests. I needed this time to think, to be by myself. Today was probably the weirdest day I've ever experienced in my life, but instead of being worried for myself and how I or Rose could've died, my worry went back to that strange man, the Doctor. Always back to the Doctor, no matter how hard I tried to forget him, he always came back to the forefront of my mind. Did he really die in the explosion? Is he safe? I look down at the plastic arm I took with me and examined it; it really was just an arm. But this arm... this arm almost chopped it's hand right into the top of my skull. This arm chopped through a pipe like it was a piece of taffy. Who's to say that the other mannequins didn't kill him, and I won't find out why they came to life?
When I reached the corner of Providence street, I saw a streetlamp and under it, a waste bin. And in my despair, I threw the arm in the bin and continued home.
1111
Never gonna give you up... never gonna let you down... never gonna run around and desert you...
I turn over in my bed and turned off my phone alarm, ready to go back to sleep. There were no classes today, and for the first time in a VERY long time, I slept through the entire night with a dreamless sleep. I was finally able to get some decent rest. How in the world I was able to do that especially after a day like yesterday was, I'll never figure out. I cough, and after realizing that I was probably not going back to sleep, I got myself out of bed, showered myself and dressed in a long sleeved shirt and jeans and tennis shoes. I sat by myself in the kitchen, having coffee and toast, trying to decide whether I should to Rose's today. I knew that she was probably wanting to talk about what happened last night, and honestly I really wanted to forget it. I've already worried myself to death over the killer mannequins and the Doctor and having to talk about it just makes it even worse. I just need to put this behind me. Pretend like it never even happened-
A rustle in my bushes from the garden pulled me out of my thoughts, and at first I thought it was some bird or stray cat, until I heard a soft pained groan from outside, making me freeze. Is someone peeking at me? Slowly, I stood and made my way to the sliding doors on the far right of my kitchen, grabbing a cricket bat that I kept nearby for instances like this. I slid the door open and peered out; there was no one in sight. With my bat tight, I turn on my foot to my right, and instantly met head on with someone, smacking my forehead right into them. The two of us cried out, and I looked up to see who I would be swinging by bat at, and my eyes widened at the sight of the Doctor, who was rubbing his own forehead and looked just as surprised to see me.
"What are you doing here?" He asked.
"I live here!"
"Well, what'd you do that for?"
"What does that mean? Cause I do!" I shot back, watching him reach into his pocket. "What the hell are you doing peeping around in my garden!?" I demanded; he pulled out that silver laser he had last night, making the blue tip flash and buzz.
"Must've got the wrong signal," he muttered mostly to himself, and reached out to knock on my forehead like a door. "You're not plastic, are you? Nope, bonehead, bye then!" He shot me a cheery grin before making a turn to walk away.
"Oh no you don't!" I said, grabbing a fistful of his leather jacket and yanked him inside my house. "Inside now, don't argue." I slid the glass door shut. "Make yourself comfortable," I add, remembering Mrs. McGuiness and how she insisted on proper manners with guests. The Doctor eyed my house carefully and curiously. "Would you like a cup of coffee?" I asked him.
"Might as well, thanks." The Doctor replied. "Just milk."
"Right." I took a cup from the cabinet, and I watched him carefully as he paced through my kitchen, casually peering at some magazines on the table. I studied as much of his appearance as possible, searching for any sign of injury. But he looked perfectly fine, not a scratch anywhere. I then decided to take a good hard look at his face: he looked to be about late-thirties, maybe forty with very short dark hair. His ears stuck out just a bit, making them look larger, but it wasn't detracting; one would say that he was handsome. But there were so many questions that I wanted to ask him, but I found myself getting really nervous. I had been worrying myself to death with the thought of never seeing this man again, and now that he's actually here in my kitchen, I'm starting to clam up? Get over yourself, Annie. I steel myself, and I began with the biggest question that had been plaguing me since last night. "Are you alright?" I asked, my voice sounding almost timid.
"Hmm?" He looked up from the magazine at me.
"Are you alright?" I repeated.
"Yeah I'm fine, why do you ask?" He said casually.
"Well, after what happened last night, I was..." I could feel myself floundering under his inquisitive gaze, and I cursed myself for being so awkward. Why am I acting like such a loser? "I was worried that something had happened, that you were injured..."
"Oh, don't worry about me," he replied with a smile, dropping the magazine and picking up another one. "I do this all the time." He opened it to a page with an article about the newest celebrity couple. "That won't last, he's gay and she's an alien."
What? I stop and stare at him, wondering where those last two comments of his came from. He does this all the time? Alien? But he acted so calm and comfortable as he dropped the magazine and sauntered into my living room, picking up Rose's copy of The Lovely Bones and flipped through it for a total of two seconds before setting it down again.
"Sad ending," he commented.
"Oh, so you've read it before?" I asked.
"Yeah, just now."
"You're telling me you read that entire book in two seconds?" I asked cynically.
"Yep." He now picked up an envelope. "Anais Wilkes..." He murmured.
"Hello!" I chimed and gave a wave; he shot me a wide, cheery grin. "And it's Annie, please. Now if you don't mind, would you please stop reading my mail?" He looks down the envelope in his hands and sets it down, looking slightly sheepish.
"Sorry," he says before turning his attention to a small mirror on the wall to his right. "Eh, could've been worse," he commented to himself as he seemed to take in his appearance, like he'd never even seen his face before. He scrunched his face lightly. "Look at the ears..."
"They're not that bad," I said, not realizing what I'd said until after I'd said it, and I could feel my cheeks getting hot. The Doctor looked back at me for a moment before returning to the mirror.
"You think?" I only shrugged in response, but I could see him smirking at his reflection, making me roll my eyes. Vain, much?
"Anyway," I say to get back his attention, there were obviously more things at hand to be worried about than ears. "I have some questions about last night, and I need you to answer them for me."
"Oh I do, do I?" He replied, almost challenging, standing straight with his arms behind his back and looking coolly at me.
"Oh yes you do." I replied; I am not backing down from this. "Especially after-" But I was suddenly cut off when a noise, sounding like a scurrying animal, sounded in my living room, right behind a nearby sofa. The Doctor and I froze.
"What's that, then?" He asked, heading towards it and leaning over it to look behind it. "You got a cat?"
"No," I answer just as he looks closer, but suddenly he jumps back like he's just been electrocuted and when he turns toward me, I see a plastic arm gripping his neck and choking him within an inch of his life. "Oh my God!" I cried and rushed over to him, both of us falling on the sofa as I struggled to pry the arm off his neck, watching his face slowly turn red as the arm choked him harder. With one more yank, I finally jerked the arm away from his neck, my grip loosening on it, making me fall backwards and crash through Mrs. McGuinness' glass coffee table. I saw the Doctor gasping for breath while the arm itself hovered in the air for a moment, it's hand flexing the fingers before it swooped down and smothered my mouth and nose in it's palm, cutting off my breathing. I fought the arm, doing everything I possibly could to get it off while the Doctor knelt above me and started wrenching off the arm. It's grip tightened, squeezing my jaw almost to the point of cracking it; my lungs were starting to burn from lack of oxygen and tears were pouring down my face. Finally, the Doctor grabbed the arm's wrist and twisted, making the hand release my face, and I coughed and spluttered and backed away frantically while I watched the Doctor take out his silver tube device, clicking it several times before pressing the blue tip onto the arm. Immediately, the arm ceased and stilled, leaving the two of us panting and me with a bloody painful jaw and tears still streaming.
"It's alright, I've stopped it," the Doctor breathed, his lips curling into a relieved smile. "There you go, see?" He tossed the arm to me, making me shriek, but I caught it. "Armless." He widened his goofy smile, as though he was laughing internally at his own joke.
He didn't think it was so funny when, in a sudden flash of rage, I whacked him across the head with the arm. The Doctor looked so scandalized, his blue eyes glaring as he touched the spot on his head where I hit him.
"OW!" he shouted. "What was that for!?"
"You think this is funny!?" I fired back. "This freaky, possessed arm suddenly comes into my house and tries to kill both you and me, and you're sitting here making jokes! This arm," I hold it out between us, "THIS almost killed me and my best friend last night, and then you come in with a bomb and blow up a department store in the middle of town, and you act like it's such an average day on the job!" I panted as I finished short tirade; the Doctor at least had enough decency to look ashamed of himself. I looked at him straight in the eyes. "I want answers, and I want them now."
The man chuckled nervously and very gently took the arm way from me, probably so that I wouldn't attack him with it again. "Listen, I'm very sorry this has happened, but it's honestly best that you forget this. The less you know, the safer you'll be." With that, he rose to his feet and started walking out the door. I scrambled to my feet and raced to follow him; he made it to the end of my driveway before I caught up with him.
"Wait, please!" I urged him; he only looked back at me over his shoulder while he continued on. I almost had to jog to keep up with him. "You can't just swan off like that!"
"Yes I can, here I am, this is me swanning off, see ya!" he answered
"The arm tried to kill the both of us back there!"
"Ten out of ten for observation."
"You've gotta tell me what's going on!"
"No, I don't."
I let out a long sigh, trying to keep myself from getting flustered and doing something I'll regret. "Will you please tell me?"
"No I won't," the Doctor simply replied.
"Alright then," I challenged, darting in front of him so that he'd have no choice but to look at me. I probably looked very ridiculous since I still had to keep a steady jog. "If you won't tell me, then I'll go to the police. I will tell everyone, and remember, you said last night if I did that, I'll get people killed. I don't want to do that, mind you, but you'll make me. So your choice: tell me or I'll start talking."
The Doctor just chuckled at my bluff. "Is that supposed to sound tough?" he asked.
"Maybe."
"Doesn't work." We made a right turn onto another street and he just walked right past me. Okay, let's try something else.
"Who are you?" I asked him.
"Told you," he answered, exasperated. "The Doctor."
"Yeah I got that bit, but Doctor what? What's your surname?"
"Just the Doctor."
"The Doctor!?"
"Hello?" he shot me a cheeky wink and waved at me, just like I did back in my kitchen. That made me chuckle.
"Is that supposed to impress me?" I tease.
"Sort of, yeah," The Doctor teased back, giving me a dopey grin.
"Are you some kind of police?"
"No! I was just passing through. I'm a long way from home."
"So what is all this for? Why does the plastic keep coming to life and attacking me?"
"Oh, suddenly the entire world revolves around you!" The Doctor replied condescendingly. "You were just an accident; you got in the way, that's all."
"Um, excuse me!?" I spat angrily at this guy's tone. "Did you forget what just happened five minutes ago?"
"It was after me, not you! Last night in the shop, I was there, you and your friend blundered in, almost ruined the whole thing! This morning, I was tracking it down, it was tracking me down. The only reason it fixed on is cause you met me."
"So let me get this straight," I began, "The world is supposed to revolve around you, right?" I asked sarcastically.
"Sort of, yeah." The Doctor smiled cheekily at me.
"Your ego is astonishing," I replied, and the Doctor shot me a look. "So this 'living plastic' stuff, does anyone else know about it?"
"Nope," he answered.
"No one?" I asked, kind of shocked that no one else had seen killer plastic running around. "You're doing this by yourself?"
The Doctor looked at me, a sudden expression on his face that I couldn't recognize but was gone as soon as it appeared. "Well, who else is there?" he asked. "I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly. While all the time underneath you, there's a war going on!" I let his words process in my brain for a moment, and it got me to really wonder: is he really telling the truth? Was there something going on that was bigger than I ever thought possible?
I reach out and grab the arm from his grip, making him look at me as we turn onto another street. "Please tell me," I said softly. "Start from the very beginning. I mean, if this living plastic stuff is real, how did you stop it?"
"The thing controlling it projects life into the arm," The Doctor explained. "I cut off the signal. Dead."
"What, like radio control?"
"Thought control." Thought control? How does someone make that work?Sounds like something from Star Trek. "You alright?" he asked me; I must have been silent.
"Yeah," I assured him. "So who's behind it all, then?"
"Long story," he answered, once again evading the question.
"But why, though? And why use window shop dummies?"
He looked back at me with his expressionless blue eyes. "You really want to know?"
"Yes," I answered immediately, and his response made me wish I hadn't.
"They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you." I stopped in my tracks, letting it sink into my brain. The Doctor stopped his walk a few feet from me when he noticed I had stopped following. "Do you believe me?"
"No," I replied, even though a deep sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach proved otherwise. He raised an eyebrow at me, as though he could see the internal struggle inside of me.
"But you're still listening." He turned again, about to walk away from me, to leave me hanging, again.
"Doctor, please!" I cried, pleading with him. "Who are you, really?" He stopped, turning towards me sharply, looking at me inquisitively but his face growing soft.
"You know like we were saying, about the Earth revolving?" He asked after a moment, and I nodded. "It's like when you're a kid," he continued as he started to walk back towards me, until he stood right next to me, making me suddenly aware of how he towered over me. "The first time they tell you that the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it 'cause everything looks like it's standing still… I can feel it." He gripped my hand suddenly, and his eyes had a startling thousand year stare. "The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go…" He let go of my hand, and I released a breath that I hadn't realized I'd been holding. His eyes came back to the present and he gazed at me sadly. "That's who I am. Now forget me, Anais Wilkes." He took the plastic arm out of my hand and I let him, reeling from what he just said. "Please… go home." And with that, the Doctor turned on his heel and I watched him walk away from me, going further down the street; I watched him until, in sudden despair I couldn't anymore, and I turned and walked in the opposite direction, our entire encounter replaying in my head over and over again, trying desperately to piece some kind of answer to these insane events. But most of all, trying to decipher the enigma that was the Doctor. Why was he going through the trouble of being so secretive and solitary? Why wouldn't he just tell me?
I just need to know… I just want to help…
"Annie!" a voice called out, shaking me out of my reverie, and I saw Rose running towards me, looking pink in the face as though she ran all the way from her house. "Where'd you go, I've been calling you all morning! Why are you crying?"
"What?" I touched my cheeks and indeed found the tears that were streaming. But before I could answer her, a noise that I'd never heard before filled the air, a grinding warble that seemed so quiet, yet so loud and seemed to echo in the morning air. I found myself running back down the street, back to where the Doctor had left me, somehow hoping that he'd still be there, but as the warble quieted, he was nowhere to be seen. Nothing looked out of the ordinary.
"Annie! What is going on?" Rose pressed me urgently. "You're starting to frighten me."
I'm starting to frighten myself, I thought wearily.
"Come on," I said, grabbing her hand, leading her back towards my house with sudden determination. There was no way I can let this go, not after being almost killed twice in twelve hours. I couldn't just sit back and forget everything, not now. And if the Doctor wasn't going to tell me, then I was going to figure it out on my own.
Well, Annie's sure gonna find out soon, huh? ;)
If you guys are reading this, thank you and welcome to my story! This is my very first story that I've posted on here and I am very nervous, to say the least. I'm so nervous right now my hands are shaking! It's either that or I'm having a sugar crash right now, I can't tell.
Now I know what you may be thinking: "Oh God, not another companion story, we've already read this premise, blah blah blah…" But stick with me, okay? I've been developing this story for a better part of two years and there's more to Annie than meets the eye. You will not be disappointed. At least, I hope not. I know the chapter followed the episode closely, and I really tried to do my best to work around it, but I will be changing it up for Annie as we progress into this story. Annie's not going to be just the "typical" companion, IF she even becomes one. And I'll update soon, hopefully in the next week or so, so if you liked it or if you have any suggestions or ideas leave me a review!
And as for Annie herself, I envision her as the actress Emily Browning. If you're not familiar with her, she plays Babydoll in "Sucker Punch" and Violet Baudelaire in "A Series of Unfortunate Events". I think she's a cutie. ;)
Thank you so much for reading!
EDIT: I'm sorry if this looks kinda weird, I posted this earlier and it didn't add my scene breaks and the text didn't look right so I've spent a better part of half an hour trying to fix it. I hope this looks better and not confusing. Sorry for any inconvenience!