#15
Run For Your Life- Chapter 3
Rose was running. Running as fast as her legs could take her, if not faster as this man dragged her through the grassy verges of the park, towards a shadowy clump of trees. She wasn't really aware of a lot of things; Jack the dog was running alongside them without question, people were screaming and panicking around them and there was a giant spaceship in the sky, but apart from those few factors everything else was a blur.
They sprinted in the opposite direction of everyone else in the park; most people running towards the car park and the exit, desperate to get as far away from the destruction the ship was causing to the city around them; Rose and the man were going further into the wooded area. Rose was focused on simply putting one foot in front of the other and keeping her breathing regulated as her throat and legs started to burn. It was a horrible, and yet, somewhat familiar sensation which made the corners of her mouth twitch.
Her arm was nearly pulled out of the socket as the mental man lunged in the opposite direction to avoid a stray laser. The red light shot past Rose's ear, missing her by inches, and hitting a tree behind them. The tree burst into flames and Jack barked. She could feel the heat of the laser on her ear; though it hadn't hit her, her ear would probably blister.
"You okay?" the man asked breathlessly, looking at her with green eyes drowning in concern.
Rose nodded, unable to do anything else as her lungs refused to cooperate. The man smiled weakly, a small frown just visible to her before he took off again towards the far end of the park.
Gasping for more air, Rose thought she was about pass out. Over the years of being with the Doctor, then John and then working for Torchwood, Rose had done her fair share of spontaneous running and thought she was rather fit, but this excursion was beginning to prove her wrong. Not only could she hardly breathe and thought her legs were about to burst into flame at any second, but a horrible buzzing noise was getting louder and louder the more she ran. At first she though it was lack of oxygen causing her body to do weird things, however, a particularly loud buzzing vibrating right through her making her teeth hurt and causing Jack to whine loudly, convinced her this was not in her head.
The man stopped so suddenly that Rose almost fell over as she dug her heels into the ground, mentally congratulating herself on deciding to wear her old faithful pair of trainers; perfect for running. She coughed slightly, catching her breath, grateful for the opportunity to slightly compose herself, and noticed Jack was no longer at her side. Quickly looking around, she saw the dog near the clump of trees they had been heading towards. Rose whistled and he obediently trotted over, making nervous glances at the now near-black sky. The man was looking at the sky too, well, everyone was, there was a spaceship in it.
"We have to go" the man stated, never taking his eyes off the sky.
Rose said nothing, her lungs still not wanted to allow unnecessary oxygen out. She was also quickly becoming more aware of the burning sensation on her left ear. The man looked down at her fondly, still holding her sweaty hand. He smiled, actually it was more of a smirk, and his eyes glittered cheekily.
"Oh Rose Tyler, don't tell me you're out of breath" he teased. Rose looked at him with utter confusion. "I remember when you ran three miles in bare feet across a desert with four suns in Cross-Nebula-Four and didn't even bat an eyelash" he winked.
Rose gasped but was pulled into the sheltered woods before she could do anything more. "Y-you-you?" she coughed out as they weaved between trees, her eyes glued to the tweed-clad man.
He stopped them again abruptly and turned to her with those green eyes. Those green eyes which held so much, which had seen so much in their lifetime. Those green eyes that she could almost…almost, imagine were once…brown. "Yes" he spoke quietly and let go of her hand, answering a question which had never asked. He stared into her glazed chocolate orbs and put the hand which had held her's on the small of her back, carefully pushing Rose forward.
She couldn't find the cognition to do anything other than to walk where he was pushing her. Rose could still hear the horrendous buzzing which was getting louder and more painful by the second, could still hear the barks and whines of her dog, could still hear distant screams of innocent civilians, but ignored it all. She simply stared at him, terrified he was going to disappear.
"Look" he could have whispered it or screamed the word at her and Rose wouldn't have known the difference. Reading the request from the movement of his lips, Rose pealed her eyes away from him and saw the most beautiful sight she had ever seen.
When Rose was fifteen she was given an essay to write for English: 'The Most Beautiful Thing I Have Ever Seen'. The class had been briefed and told that they had to write four pages on the topic and say why they had chosen that particular thing. At the time, a week had seemed plenty of time to do the homework, but three days before she was due to hand it in, Rose realised she couldn't think of anything. She had called Shareen and asked for advice, but given the girl was not in her class and apparently didn't particularly care, she had simply said "Dunno, call Kelsi". Rose had called Kelsi, who was in her English lesson, and had listened as the girl read out all four pages of her essay, detailing how beautiful each member of the band '5ive' was on her poster which was taped creepily to her bedroom ceiling. Rose had never really liked 5ive all that much.
In the end, Rose had decided to make something up. The only time Rose had ever been abroad before that point was when she had gone on a school trip to France when she was thirteen. That hadn't exactly gone to plan, and after sneaking off with Shareen, the two had been sent home early. Though that was the only first-hand experience Rose had had outside of England, she had read plenty of books and seen enough films to be able to describe 'white beaches' and 'turquoise seas which danced around her feet when the tide came in'. Using as many metaphors and as much alliteration as she could, Rose had come out with a high B and a comment scrawled on the bottom in red saying "Perhaps you would have received an A, Miss Tyler if what you had written was true" Rose felt slightly humiliated at that and quickly stuffed the paper back into her bag before any of her friends could see it. Kelsi got an E and Rose couldn't help but smile.
Since then, Rose had seen many things which she could have written about in that essay. Many things which would have been true, though she was sure her teacher wouldn't have believed her and that red biro would come out again to push her self-confidence back into the gutter. Rose could have written about white beaches and turquoise seas, or glittering galaxies in the shape of music notes in colours which she couldn't describe in words, or even grass greener than any green on planet earth which smelled of apples; she could have written about any of that, but she wouldn't have. Rose would have written about the sight before her, the sight which was slightly distorted by the tears which filled her eyes and the shadows of the trees and darkness caused by the spaceship overhead, the sight of a blue box and the man in tweed who had moved in front of her to open it. Rose would have written about the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Rose would have written about the TARDIS and the Doctor.
A/N: Sorry the gaps between posting these chapters are so long, but I'm doing my A2 exams at the minute so it's a bit hectic. My exams finish in June though so after then I should have a lot more time to write and post. Thank you for reading Reviews are very much appreciated.