Ch 2: A Short Trip
"Doctor, where the hell are we?" Rory asked.
"Yeah..." Amy agreed, surveying their surroundings. The TARDIS had landed in a clearing in a small forest. She could tell it was autumn, because the trees were bare and the air had that certain crispness to it. The Doctor turned on his heel to face them.
"Once again, no clue. But when we were in the TARDIS it was reportedly inhabited by humanoid beings. Presuming they aren't violent or hostile, I expect we'll find out soon enough. So! Each of you choose a direction, and walk." Amy turned in agreement, while Rory furrowed his brow with hesitation. But, seeing no other option, he too turned and went forth into the brush. The Doctor straightened up his bowtie and went slightly to the right.
Hands in her pockets, Amy strolled through the branches and leaves at a leisurely pace. Although the sky was grey and cloudy, it had a strange sort of beauty to it. She gazed up and let her mind wander; she never really had any time to just walk on a normal planet.
It could have been a few hours; it could have been a few minutes. In her experience with the doctor, it was usually the former. Either way, it was inevitable that without watching where she was going, at some point she'll trip on a tree root. And, as inevitably as the inevitable, she did. She also happened to still have her hands in her pockets.
Amy went down hard and without warning. To her surprise, there was a small shriek of alarm. To her astonishment, it hadn't come from her. It couldn't have come from her; the trip down had landed her with a mouthful of dirt. So after spitting it out and checking for fractures, she sat up and brushed herself off.
What she saw was strange. And she had run off with a time traveler in the middle of the night before her wedding, so that's saying something. That is to say, what she saw wasn't wholly remarkable in itself. What was off about it was the sheer normalcy of it. 'It' was a young girl sitting by herself on tree stump.
"Are you all right?" The lonely girl said.
"Erm... Yeah. Yes, I'm fine. Did I scare you?" She responded in confusion, wincing as she brushed some pebbles out of a scratch.
"Well evidently, yes. Just a bit." She murmured.
"Um... What are you doing out here?" Amy asked with a twinge of concern in her voice.
"Well that depends on who's asking."
"As in?"
"You aren't going to kidnap me are you?" Amy looked at her puzzled, noting the girl's strange accent.
"Not likely... Forgive me if this is ignorant, but what planet are we on?"
"Earth..." She replied cautiously, clearly regarding Amy as a possible psycho.
"Well that is a relief. What country is this?"
"America... New England, to be specifically vague." She said, with all looks of nervousness and doubt leaving her face. Something about the way she talked reminded Amy of the Doctor somehow.
"Do you need help getting up?" She asked, making Amy realize that she was still sprawled on the ground. Snapping back into the moment, she attempted to rise to her feet. Upon putting pressure on her right foot, she gasped with pain and collapsed.
"I think that'd be good." The girl took off the strap of the bag she was carrying and tried to move it onto another stump, but it snagged on a rogue tree branch and ripped open; spilling the contents onto the forest floor.
"Crap!" She exclaimed with extreme annoyance. "That was my favorite bag! Whatever, I'll patch it up later. Here, let me give you a hand." Amy took her hand and lurched onto the stump that the girl had formerly been sitting on. The girl began to gather up her bag from the leaves when a small blue notebook fell out. Amy recognized it right away, her eyes growing wide with curiosity.
"Doctor! I think you should see this!" She shouted. She was reassured by the sound of leaves crunching and branches breaking. But the lonely girl looked confused again. Amy sighed and thought, 'One thing at a time.'
