(Disclaimer: I do not own Dr Who, if I did, I would alway be the assistant and Jack would feature in it waaaay more. Only Danielle Yates and the plot are mine along with the creatures created for the storyline.)
Chapter 1 – The Dropped Wallet
Danielle Yates hurried through the rain, her massive golf umbrella giving warning to others walking by that they should get out of her way. She was rather on the short side, at least that was what she'd been told, and the umbrella on her shoulder on came up to most people's necks.
She pulled her coat about her all the tighter, wishing she'd done it up like her mother had told her to. Not that the coat would protect her much, it was a thin faux leather jacket, with sleeves that only came past her elbows and no further.
She stopped in the shelter of an overhang in front of a shop to check her phone. 10. 17 Am. She rushed on towards the library, passing by the bus station, and giggling at the people getting soaked. The impressive building loomed up in front of her, massive Romanesque pillars holding up the solid stone roof. The two open green doors were tiny in comparison, but just enough for the little lady to fling herself into.
Danielle, or Dani as she preferred to be called, was a tom-boy and enjoyed paintball, playing rugby with the boys and spending all night playing Xbox shooter games. However today was different, she was studying instead, learning about fruit carving…
Her mother's birthday was coming up and had decided to take up another ridiculous hobby. So in order to not look bad in front of her older brother who had bought an expensive round-the-world cruise for the day, she would fuel the chaos.
In the library, Dani looked up the history of fruit carving, the tools used, and how to use them. Then she ordered everything online and left the building.
It was still raining…
It wasn't as bad now though, and Dani walked through the drizzle, sidestepping the puddles or leaping over them daintily.
She came round the corner of the bus station and crashed into someone hidden deep inside their hood.
"I'm sorry!" Dani called out. But they were already gone.
Looking down, Dani spotted something small and dark on the ground, a wallet.
She picked it up and dashed after the person who'd dropped it. She saw them entering the building site next to the library, and followed them in.
"Hello? You dropped your wallet! Hello!"
Calling out for a few minutes, Dani started to feel stupid. She'd blindly followed a complete stranger into a building site in the rain. And they weren't even here anymore. They'd probably been using the site as a shortcut to get to the shopping centre on the other side.
Turning she looked at the wallet once more, perhaps they'd have some kind of ID so the police could contact them when she handed it in. Opening it, Dani was shocked to find nothing in the wallet, nothing but a blank bit of paper that is…
Looking around, Dani felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, like she was being watched, and she looked around the dark of the clutter about her.
Finding nothing she chided herself and looked back at the wallet, perhaps there would be a name in the lining?
The paper had writing on it, it said, 'Duck!'
Dani crouched down, having heard a sound behind her. A cement mixer flew over her head, it could have killed her!
She looked back and saw nothing, and didn't really want to stick around to find out, she went to stand up, and realised that the paper had changed again…
'Don't move.' It said.
Dani frowned… first it was blank, then it told her to duck and now she froze at its command.
Something slithered behind her and she glared at the paper, shoving questions at it in her head, not wanting to speak in case of alerting the… something… behind her.
The words shifted and said, 'Trust me. When I tell you to run, you'd better do it.'
She agreed in her head and stared at the paper still. The noise behind her stopped, and she was tempted to turn and look, but managed to resist.
Numbers appeared on the paper, counting down…
3…
2…
1…
'RUN!'
Dani shot off out of the dim yard and into the street, turning left to go down the workmen's alley to the quieter streets at the back. She heard nothing behind her, no screaming from other passers-by seeing something scary, so she slowed and hid in the doorway to some falling-apart flats.
She was breathing hard, but stopped huffing quickly, so as not to attract attention to herself.
She spoke aloud to the paper now.
"What on Earth are you?" came her exasperated voice.
'Psychic Paper. You need to take a left here.'
"What?"
'Take a left. You want to find out what's going on, don't you?'
She turned left and walked down the nearly empty road, following it to the end and turning right at the paper's direction.
The paper lead Dani to the river, where she followed it into the local shipyard and up to a large metal crate.
"What's in there then?"
'Open it and find out.'
She opened the door with a bit of a struggle, and squeezed inside, dragging her bag with her. She wondered for a moment if her friends were waiting for her… she'd text them in a bit, once she'd found out what was going on.
Turning and peering into the crate, it was too dark to see and Dani went to open the door, and saw it slam shut behind her.
"Hey! Letmeout!" She screamed.
There was a noise behind her… a sort of distant echoing dong, it almost sounded like it came from underwater.
Turning to face the darkness again, she saw it wasn't all that dark after all; in fact it was just bright enough because of a weak light coming from the top of a large box.
Dani approached cautiously, wondering what she should make of this new situation.
Reaching out to the box, it made the same 'dong' again. She found a handle on the front, and pushed against it, opening the door.
It creaked with an age not betrayed by its deep blue paint, and revealed a youth inside far beyond comprehension.
Bigger… on the inside…
Dani stepped inside and looked in awe at the place before her. How could this even be possible?
"Is this what you wanted me to find?" she asked the paper.
She looked down for the answer and got none, it had returned to being blank.
She shut the door and walked up the steps to the console, shimmering lights and buttons winking at her. In the large tube in the centre of the console, a strangely shaped object started to move, up and down, in time to the rhythm of the screeching noise coming from all round.
The floor lurched to one side and then the other, throwing Dani to the floor. She clung to the base of a… car seat? The lurching and screeching came to a halt as suddenly as it had begun, and the lights came back on to a normal level.
Scared, Dani stood and fled the room, back out the door she'd come through, and found herself in a totally different location…
