1. Abandoned
Thinking that one week had passed, the Doctor landed outside Clara's flat to pick her up as always, but he noticed at once that something was not right. The mailbox was overflowing with news papers and advertisement. He frowned and rang the door bell. No answer. He pushed the bell again, still no sign of any life. He then took out his sonic screwdriver and soniced the door open. Everything was at it's usual place, a bit dusty maybe, but everything was as it should be, except - when he came to her bedroom and the bathroom he noticed that her wardrobe and also her cupboard in the bathroom had been emptied, in a hurry as it seemed. His frown grew wider and he went back to the TARDIS to phone her. Instead of Clara's familiar voice a man was speaking at the other end.
"Hello, this is Dave Oswald speakin'."
Why on Earth was Clara's father answering her mobile phone.
"Oh..Hello. Isn't Clara there?"
"Excuse me, but who am I talkin' to?" Dave asked at the other end.
"Sorry. It's the Doctor. A friend of Clara's."
"Sorry /who/?!"
"The Doctor. I'm a close friend of hers, we've known eachother for ages. I came to meet her like every week, but she isn't at her flat, everything looks..well, different somehow. And now I can't phone her."
"I'll be at her flat in a minute!" Dave seemed out of breath and hung up.
Looking confused as ever the Doctor put the phone down. Very soon Dave Oswald arrives, walking up to the door of his daughter's flat, frowning deeply. He spots the Doctor and heads for him.
"Now tell me who you are!"
"I told you, I'm the Doctor, Clara's friend. Now where is she and why are /you/ answering her phone?"
"You can't be the Doctor! Please, tell me that you're lyin'!" Dave's eyes were widened and he looked stunned. "The Doctor and his adventures, they're made up by my daughter. That's why she's-"
"Made up?! No, no it's all true." The Doctor slightly panicked, but tried to stay calm and asked sternly. "The reason she's what?"
"She's not here!" Dave now bursted out. "She- She is in northern England. At the..Denbigh Asylum.." Dave looked down, muttering.
"Asylum?! I've only been gone for a week and she ends up in an asylum. Blimey.."
Dave frowned at what he said. "She's been up there for at least three years now."
The Doctor's eyes widened in shock and soon so much pain and sorrow could be read in his eyes.
"Three years?! Oh god..I have to go and get her out! They made a mistake. She's not mad, I just didn't turn up again in the right time."
"I can't believe it. I..I put my sweet girl in there for no reason." He burried his face in his hands, not able to take the news.
The Doctor bit his lip, guiltily. "I'm going to get her out and she'll be fine. Probably annoyed with me, but still..at least she'll be free."
"You can't just take her away. She might not've been mad when she got there, but now.. She spent three years in there.."
"Well, I have to try. I'll talk to her, see if I can make her any better. I promise, I'll get her back."
"Tell her that I'm sorry. And I will come and pay her a visit tomorrow."
"I will." The Doctor ran to the TARDIS and setted the coordinates. As soon as he landed he rushed into the entrance hall of the asylum and right up to the receptionist.
"I'm here to see Clara Oswald!"
"Ah yes, you're the friend Mr. Oswald has just told me about. He called. John Smith, is it?"
"Yes, yes." The Doctor nodded impatiently. "Now get me to Clara."
"Follow me, please," The woman lead the Doctor up some huge staircases and through corridors until they arrived in front of the room with the number eleven. She unlocked Clara's room.
"Here we are. If you need help, do not hesitate and call for me."
"Okay, thank you." He nodded, then slowly walked inside, speaking in a soft tone. "Clara?"
Clara sat on the carpet in front of the lightened fireplace, her back turned towards the door. It was a quite big room, but cold and dark. The Doctor bit his bottom lip as he slowly walked over to her and gently placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Clara, it's me. The Doctor."
She gasped and spinned at the sound of his voice and the name. Her eyes soon widened when she recognized him.
"Hey..It's okay, keep calm. I'm here. I'm here.. I'm so..so sorry about all of this." He sighed. "The TARDIS must've messed up the time zones.." He gently cupped her cheek and moved some strains of her hair out of her eyes.
She whimpered and pulled back, shuffling away from him as quickly as possible.
"Hey..Come on. I'm really sorry, but..I'm here now. I'm going to get you out, I promise." He said so, still keeping his voice gentle.
She was breathing in heavily, as she stared at him, almost terrified. Feeling very guilty and worried as he saw her in that condition he whispered sadly.
"Clara..Say something, please."
"Wh-Why?" She looked down at the floor.
"I'm so sorry. I never wanted this to happen, of course not. Clara.." He sighed. "My Clara..If I knew.. I thought I was gone for a week, as usually. As always."
She started to cry very silently and trembled.
"Oh no, don't cry..Come on don't do that." He hugged her tightly, but she just gasped and pulled away once again, tears still streaming down her face.
"Please stop crying. Talk to me, c'mon, it's me. You know me.."
She screamed all of a sudden and hit him, before running off and quickly hiding in a dark corner of the room. He jumped back and held his hands up at her reaction.
"Okay, okay, it's fine. Please, just talk to me."
She backed away more and more into the corner, breathing unusually heavy.
"I'm not going to hurt you. I'd never hurt you, Clara, you know that. Please..I know you're not insane."
She watched him quietly, didn't answer though. He slowly reached into the pocket of his jacket and took out a photo of the two of them holding eachother.
"Look at this. Do you remember this? This is who we used to be."
Very slowly and very carefully she started to get closer, step by step.
"There we go." He put the image in front of her. "You kept complaining about how hot it was, remember? And that you'd end up looking like a tomato, do you remember that?"
She took a careful look at the photograph and nodded. "Hmmh.. I remember that.."
He smiled kindly. "And then I kept calling you tomato face, remember?" His kind smile turned into a loving grin and she nodded again. "I know."
"And you know that I'm sorry about what happened, Clara. My lovely Clara.."
"I thought you didn't want to travel with me anymore."
"No, of course not! It's just that I..or the TARDIS, we messed up the time zones." He sighed. "Do you want to get out of here?" He asked her softly.
"M-Maybe.." She carefully approached him and snuggled into him.
He instantly placed his arms around her and pulled her close. "I'll go and have a word with someone, alright?"
Clara looked down. "It won't be that easy.."
"Yes, it will. Because you weren't lying, so that means you're not mad, are you?"
"But-..I..mmh.. They won't let me go even if they believe me now."
"Why not? They'll know that you've been telling the truth."
"Because this place..It changed me."
"Well, the sooner we get you out, the sooner you can recover and get back to your normal self."
"Uhm..Maybe.."
"I'll go and talk to someone. See if we can get you home. I'll be right back afterwards, promise."
She gasped slightly when he left, hesitating to let go of his hand in fear that he once again wouldn't come back.