Author's Note: Gah short chapter, sorry about that!


Chapter 10

"Now, listen." The Doctor leaned against the rafters, one eyebrow raised, his hands shoved in his pockets. "You told me it was 1943. Why would you tell me it was 1943? And you obviously believe it, too."

"Because it is 1943," she said hotly. "I mean—it was. I'm not some—"

"So you came here, somehow, and didn't realize it. You're obviously not lying. Besides the fact that I trust you—and I'm fairly good at knowing who to trust, you know—you've obviously stepped out of the past. I mean…" He gestured towards her. "The hair, the clothes, you look like a perfect picture. So somehow, you've gone through some sort of—oh. Ooooh." He grinned. "A time slip! Some kind of time slip. Tell me. Tell me exactly what happened before you found me."

She balanced from one foot to the other, staring hard at the floor. The presence of the strange, mindless bodies made her uncomfortable—she felt as if they might be listening, somehow.

And that calendar. Staring at her out of the shadows. 2018.

"So this is what the future looks like," she murmured. The cars. The odd-looking light switch and lights. The strange device in the living room. "It's not—it's not how I imagined it. How we imagined it." She sighed. "Me and Rob, we used to go through walks through the cemetery and imagine the future. Strange, I know." She smiled a little. "It was us. Is." She cleared her throat. "It is us. Anyway, I, uh—you were asking—"

He smiled a little lopsided smile. "How you got here."

"Uh, Falling Star Lane. I decided to walk down—I got a wild fancy to walk down Falling Star Lane. Rob had dared me to do it years before and—well, that's kind of a long and irrelevant story there. Anyway, it was night when I started. I think I blacked out or something. I don't know what happened. I felt sort of—dizzy. Not dizzy. Not exactly. I'm not sure how to describe it. But when I woke up, I—I was here."

He raised an eyebrow. "Now, what I'm really curious about here is this Falling Star Lane. If it's the kind of place people dare other people to enter—"

"Oh—right. You're not from around here. Everyone here knows—it's kind of a spooky old neighborhood, there's lots of odd rumors about it. Some of the kids say a star fell there years ago. Sometimes they say it can eat people. Of course, that's just a silly rumor…" Her voice trailed off as she realized he was staring at her. "W—what—"

"As far as I'm concerned, nothing's just a silly rumor. I need you to take me to this Falling Star Lane. Now."

"A—alright." She stepped towards the ladder, glad for an excuse to get out of the attic, out of the presence of the strange bodies and the calendar. She set her foot on the first rung—

And she heard the click of a door opening.

She let out a little gasp and stumbled backward, closing the door behind her. "Doctor," she hissed. "Someone's coming." She glanced at the bodies, and then at the Doctor, and their eyes met. And they both understood.

Whatever had happened to these bodies, whoever was keeping them here wouldn't want them discovered.

And the same thing could very well happen to them.

"Quick, lock the door," she hissed. "Now."