"Oh my g-d," Martha muttered, jumping off the bed. She tore through the drawers of her nightstand, looking for the important object. Her heart pounded so loud that it felt as if it were going to explode.
"Oh my g-d," she whispered again, getting on her hands and knees and feeling for it under the bed. She stood up and started pulling the covers off the bed, followed by the sheets. She reached in the pillowcases before flinging the pillows across the room. She felt on the windowsill for it. Her heart hammered as she felt in the pockets of her maid dress, and then her coat pockets. She dug through a large chest at the foot of her bed, which held clothes from the school, then felt along the floor under the table.
"Oh my g-d," she bit her lip, getting to her feet. She glanced at the clock which had just struck midnight before pushing her door open and shutting it hastily.
She hurried about as quietly as she could, searching everywhere she could think of around the school, without disturbing anyone. She occasionally passed someone in the corridors, and they threw her dirty looks as she hurried by.
She went back to her room, the clock just striking 1AM. She breathed heavily as she grabbed her coat and slipped it on. She felt under her mattress for the watch one more time before barging out of her room.
She nearly collided with a couple of women in the hallway.
"Blimey, Martha!" Oswin exclaimed. "Be careful!"
Jenny steadied herself and saw her face. "Martha, are you alright?"
Martha, nearly in tears, pushed past them without saying anything, ignoring them saying her name. Martha rubbed her eyes as she hurried down the stairs and out the school entrance. Tears beginning to fall, she ran off into the woods.
The key had been around her neck as it always was when she pushed into the small shack hiding the TARDIS. She slipped the thread over her head, and used the key attached to it to unlock the TARDIS doors. They opened easily and she ran inside. Her heart lurched in sadness as she saw the Doctor's trench coat hanging off a column of the console room. She hurried to it, and stuck her hand in the pockets, searching for the watch. When she didn't find it, she hurried about the console room, checking every nook and cranny she could think of. She burst into her TARDIS bedroom, and starting throwing things around, as if hoping the watch had teleported to the TARDIS.
"Oh my g-d!" She cried, throwing her hands up in the air and collapsing onto her bed. Her heart hammered and tears slipped down her cheek.
She was exhausted and wanted nothing more than for the Doctor to come back.
Martha blinked tiredly, pulling her pillow out from under her head. She rubbed her eyes as she sat up, taking in some of her surroundings. She was in her bedroom on the TARDIS. Something about that fact made her stomach drop.
Why was waking up on the TARDIS weird? And why was she fully clothed?
All at once, the events from the past few days came rushing back to her. Her heart hammering, she threw herself off the bed.
How could she had fallen asleep?! Especially with the watch missing?!
She breathed heavily, all the panic from the night before weighing on her as she burst out the TARDIS. The doors automatically locked behind her as she pushed the door to the shack open.
She was blinded with light as the door opened. She covered her eyes, walking blindly. She stumbled forward.
"Ouch!" she cried, stumbling backwards, rubbing her nose. She opened her eyes, seeing the tree in front of her.
"I hate 1913," Martha murmured. She was suddenly aware of how cold she was, despite the fact that she still wore her large overcoat from the night before. Rubbing her nose, she started half walking, half running back into the direction of the school.
"Martha!"
Martha spun around, her eyes falling on two young women, rushing towards her.
"Martha!" Jenny exclaimed. "What happened to you last night?"
Martha shook her head.
"What time is it?" she asked. Oswin shrugged.
"I dunno, sometime after nine?"
"Nine?" Martha repeated. It was that late?
"But what happened to you?" Oswin questioned. "You ran out in the middle of the night and disappeared off into the woods!"
"I lost something," she said after a moment, not sure how to explain it. "I've gotta find it." She spun on her heals and tried to stalk off in the other direction, but Jenny grabbed her arm.
"What could be so important that you ran off like that?"
Martha shook her head. "I can't explain it."
"Martha, what was it?" Oswin asked.
Martha shook her head, worried that the tears would start flowing again.
"It was a fob watch."
"A fob watch?" Jenny repeated. "All this over a fob watch?" Martha nodded solumly. Jenny shook her head. "Why are you so upset over a fob watch? You can go into town for another one."
"It's special!" Martha said, tearing her arm from Jenny's grasp. "It's the most important thing I own, and it was taken from my room!"
The mouths of the two women fell open.
"You understand why I've got to find it," Martha asked. Jenny nodded.
"We'll help you," Oswin confirmed. "What did it look like?"
For the rest of the day, in every moment of free time, Jenny and Oswin helped Martha search for the missing watch. Their help didn't help, because as Martha went to sleep that night, the watch was missing from its place on her nightstand.