Sorry it took so long to update this time around, but as a consolation, two chapters instead of one!
There wasn't a reply like I had expected from the sources I had called a few weeks ago, but then again I remembered that there really wasn't any mention from me for him to call me back, and even if he did I wasn't really sure what I would have told him anyway… so really I didn't have much to complain about. But still, I supposed I just wanted to hear from somebody else after the past month (times flies when you're on a mission), of talking to nobody else, other than her of course, and she mostly just wanted to hear the story than have idle chat, and again what could we talk about without me somehow alarming her to the fact that something was wrong with the environment around her. I was worried of letting that slip because, despite my usual disposition of being able to lie efficiently, I was desperate to talk to someone else about what was going on here, just to make sure I wasn't crazy paranoid or becoming a conspiracy nut.
Meanwhile, as said before I had spent quite a few weeks more after the discovery of the empty files, continuing to tell the story to her whilst trying to find more out about the mysterious Hospital that apparently had no staff, or patients… ever apart from her in particular, and even then she herself apparently didn't have a file. But in any case the story continued on nevertheless, since it was the main order that I had to follow no matter what. The story had to be told, and that was all that mattered. Come hell, hail or shine or any injury that my would be killers will try to inflict on me, I had to survive, because the story had to continue too, otherwise the plan would fail. And the plan could never, ever fail, it was too important to not succeed.
So anyway, there was more tales of the long story to tell, and more invasion attempts of both the galaxy and/or the Earth than one could shake a stick at with Lorraine Sanford and the Master (with the inclusion of the Doctor of course, because there wasn't anyone else that could really foil the Master in his plans much like the Doctor did).
For that reason there was quite a bit to sift through, such as the Doctor foiling the Master yet again on numerous occasions.
It had been just another of those occasions, a 'normal' tryst of dangerous situations and witty repertoire between the Master and the Doctor, (the latter by the way, the teenager was relieved to see was still alive after the events with the Axons) with the Earth of course mostly being right in the middle of all of it, along with Lorrie too of course. And while this was all going on the teen would always try to both stick by the Master so as to remain alive in the situations, but also trying to get away from him to be safe at the same time, but of course it never worked. So it was one of those many times that seemed to be a weekly if not, daily occurrence of being stuck in the Master's company, and Lorrie was expecting it to be the same as ever other time.
The Master would join up with an alien entity that for some reason or another wanted to either take over the Earth, or destroy it. The more this seemed to go on, the more the teen would accept the fact that no matter what alien race the Master joined, no matter what their plan seemed to be, the Doctor would find a way to stop them and make everything alright. Well, almost everything in any case, since she was still without the absolute assurance that tomorrow wasn't going to be the last day of her life or her freedom. It was because of this lack of assurance when he could seemingly make everything else okay expect for her, kept whatever anger she had ever had for the Doctor before, and retained it in her heart to a point where she couldn't let it go.
But that didn't mean she didn't feel anger for the Master either.
So, it was now her chance to see what she would do, when he was injured to the point of unconsciousness.
The most recent run in with the Earth saving, Master defeating expedition occurred in a mine shaft. Not just any mine shaft though, but of course it had to be one that had already had reports of cave ins and because of that was considered too dangerous to use for mining by this point in time, so it was completely abandoned. The alien race of the week that had wanted to destroy/take over the Earth this time was a rather odd looking and of course much too tall race called the Krillitane. Really one wouldn't have totally noticed straight off the bat (unlike every other time) that they were aliens; they looked a lot like humans, but just with very long necks and apparently a very addictive (and in the case of the teen and the alien man she had been stuck with) taste to human and other kinds of animal flesh.
It was easy to say that the Krillitane were not considered one of Lorrie's favorites in the long line (growing longer with every passing situation) of alien races. Especially when they would take a moment to look at her and the Master during the conversations that usually went to pass when they were planning to take over the world, with expressions as if they were both a gourmet meal or at times a well needed sandwich to quench the hunger that they seemed to be endlessly bothered with. It was during this time that Lorraine felt it necessary to stick closer to the only person in the moment she knew was not going to try and eat her, The Master. Though of course at the same time, she knew well enough that just like the Krillitane in some points, he was not going to be above killing her when it suited him.
Nevertheless, the Krillitane were definitely the wrong alien race to combine with the elaborate (always over-elaborate when it came to the Master's plans) plan of using the abandoned and over collapsible mines in order to hide and have a place to plan, mostly because of those long necks of theirs. See, the mines that were picked out for this situation were not a very big, since Lorrie herself, who was a very short person in retrospect of the time, had to crouch in order to get in there in the first place. So all in all it was both a very uncomfortable and very useless plan since not long after the Doctor got involved, the inevitable happened and a cave in started, effectively ruining the Master's plans, saving the Earth, and putting all their lives in immediate danger.
So just the usual, but with a different setting.
The Master became incapacitated while both he and Lorrie were running back to his TARDIS that was waiting for them outside the mines, (The Doctor of course having already escaped to his own safety). One of the many, many rocks that were threatening to fall on their heads managed to actually make its mark on the back of his skull, and he fell just as they managed to escape to the outside world, the Krillitane becoming entrapped on the other side and left to die. Lorrie had only noticed this fact after having run up to the doors of his TARDIS, then looking back to see why the Master hadn't opened them yet so they could escape, or the Krillitane hadn't eaten them yet for failing the plan.
What a strange sight it was, Lorrie had mused to herself as she slowly walked over to him as he laid unconscious on the muddy grass, to see someone who was usually always in complete control of his physical and mental faculties, to be so weakened and defenseless. Of course she only fully mused this when she was completely sure that he was out cold and she wasn't just kidding herself with this thought. And it was while she was absolutely sure that he was not going to get up any time soon, that more thoughts started to spring up that lead to places she had never thought of before meeting the Master.
A rock, not a small one but almost a boulder, was nestled not too far from where the Master had collapsed, and t caught the teen's eye despite herself. She looked back down at him again, and wondered back to the first time she had ever thought about stopping the Master, about trying to kill him. Back then though she still had all of her guilt and other emotions that she felt would have stopped her in the past from doing something like this, and she had to wonder if the circumstances had changed now. The rock might be heavy; it might finish the job the other rock had been trying to do.
Plus, there was still the bottle of pills in one of her hidden pockets, which she had taken the private time she was allowed, to crush them up into powder so it would be easier to use against him if she ever got the chance. And had been biding her time until she had that exact opportunity, but of course the thought of if she could actually do it was holding her back. The teen bit her lip, looking back down at the man that had killed many people, many innocent people that had done nothing but been in the wrong place at the wrong time. And now she was in the right place, at the right time, to stop him completely if she wanted (at least as far as she knew at the time).
But then again, did she have to kill him? Sure she was all for her own self-preservation, but that was also why she also had to wonder, what killing him would do for her? Would she be prosecuted by the courts for murder? Or celebrated for ending a menace to mankind? It seemed like too much a chance to take, and in any case even if she did just get up and walk away from him and find the soldiers of UNIT that could help her, there was also that chance that she would again be prosecuted, but as an accessory for all those attempts to destroy/ take over the world and the deaths that went with it, so she would be considered just as bad as him anyway.
Lorrie felt backed into a corner, as the choices were all to help him and continue to be stuck in the situation she was in, kill him and know herself as a murderer, or walk away and be considered just as bad as him anyway when she was eventually apprehended by UNIT. The first and last choices seemed too similar in comparison to her, since choosing either of those would leave her considered as bad as a murderer or actually a murderer (which wasn't exactly a step up). Lorrie moved her hand to the other hidden pocket of her jacket, where she had been keeping the handkerchief she was given at eight years old, the promise to be a good girl, to do the right thing.
So she decided to do the right thing (despite how much she didn't actually want to), and did her best to carry/drag the Master's prone figure up to the doors of the TARDIS, managed to find the key in his hand, unlocking it and getting them safely inside. Closing the doors behind them was thankfully simple enough, the large red switch on the console told her that much at least. Getting the Master to the Sickbay however, was another whole kettle of fish and she had to take some time to drag and at some moments 'accidentally' drop the Master on the way there.
After managing to do all that and get him in one of the Infirmary cots to rest after being knocked unconscious and then dropped several times because of the teen's lack of upper body strength, Lorrie went looking through the medicine cabinets for something that would help possible Time Lord concussion. Obviously she wasn't sure exactly what medicine she was supposed to use on the Master (Lorrie always having to remind herself that he was an alien) so she decided in the end, a little bit because she didn't know what to do but mostly just for the sake of wit and irony, to make him a cup of tea.
He didn't wake up for some time, but Lorrie waited all the same, drinking the cold cup of tea and making a new one when it became apparent that she was in for a long wait. The teen didn't leave the Infirmary for a good number of reasons, all of them skipping through her mind as she waited by his bedside. One of those reasons was that she wanted to make sure, if it were true, that that rock had made its mark and he might just be dead, though of course she greatly doubted that. Really it came down to curiosity, and a great smidgen of fear. He still scared her, the Master and everything he was capable of. She had been with him for quite some time, more than a year though really Lorrie didn't want to count past that thought since she didn't want to think that it might have actually been two years.
The Master was still dangerous, deadly and someone to watch very carefully, Lorrie wasn't foolish enough to disregard that. So she stayed by his bedside, and waited for him to wake up like she would have someone that needed her support in a weakened time, but instead had her fear. It was such a strange situation, but all the same she stayed where she was and watched him carefully. He still looked so much weaker in sleep than whenever he was awake, and Lorrie was left to wonder, after all the reasoning on why she was staying eventually left her head, on what he might have been like in his youth. It was a bizarre thought to have, especially when she had only admitted not that long before that he was dangerous and evil, but it was a thought she had all the same.
Lorrie had thought to herself, that perhaps he had been miserable and mistreated in this youth like she had been in the orphanage, and had struck back at this neglect against the universe. She didn't realize at the time that she was associating him in a way that she could relate to him, didn't realize that she was making him seem less alien despite her admitting only moments ago that that was exactly what he was. She didn't know what it meant to 'find' (or rather make up) something to feel sorry for him for. But instead of realizing this thought or removing herself from that room, she stood up, and made a fresh cup of tea for him when he woke up.
So she waited, and waited. And eventually he woke up from his enforced unconsciousness, but by that time it was Lorrie that had now fallen asleep, and the fresh tea had gone cold again, despite all the efforts she had done to keep a warm one for him. Whether he drank it when he woke or poured it down the sink, she didn't know, but when Lorrie woke up again the Master was out of the cot, and there was an empty cup on the bedside table where she knew she had left a fresh one before. Lorrie moved the cup back into the kitchen and cleaned it before going back out into the console room, which was the first place she figured he would be.
Not long after that, Lorrie was spending her time where she would otherwise be in the Master's TARDIS when she didn't want to feel trapped in her room, and constantly watched in the Library, which was the TARDIS' Wardrobe room. The teenager of course loved the endless amount of clothing that was in there (what with Lorraine not really owning a lot of her own clothes in the first place,), but there was also other little knick knacks that interested her to no end and often caused her to go into quite the treasure hunt and interest in what times and places these objects had once been in, and to whom they had belonged to.
She never spoke to the Master in this interest of her's, her reasoning in the first place being that he probably wouldn't like the thought of her going through what was essentially his stuff (though why he had things like women's clothes and other such things that Lorrie didn't think he would be interested in was an interesting thought worth pondering, but then again she wasn't going to ask). So she kept this little hobby of her's to herself whenever she went in the wardrobe room, her excuse always being (not that the Master ever asked or was ever interested) that she was looking for more clothes, which was really the only thing in the Wardrobe room that she the Master wouldn't have minded her looking in to and using, especially since he had essentially told her on more than one occasion to find 'proper' clothing in there in the first place.
It was on one of these interesting treasure hunts of her's through the seemingly never ending Wardrobe Room that she came across something that defiantly stayed in her mind for a long time. The object was almost completely hidden by the masses of other things; in fact it was almost like it had been intentionally hidden behind racks of clothes so no one would find it accidentally. It only ever even came to her attention when on this otherwise usual hobby search, she pushed a certain amount of hanged clothes to one side of the rail they were on, to reveal a small area that was otherwise being hidden in the combination of darkness and the clothes she had just moved to the side. The object was not alone behind this rack of clothing that seemingly disguised the corner of the Wardrobe Room that she had never seen before. Other objects like chairs, a table and another, smaller rack of clothing were covered by white sheets and tucked away, obscured from the light by dust and darkness.
Lorrie moved further into the mysteriously hidden corner of the Wardrobe Room, the bright beam of a torch that she had previously found beforehand breaking through the darkness as she approached the object first before anything else. The White sheet that covered it was a slight tinge of yellow from age and neglect, making the teenager wonder exactly how long this had been in the never ending Wardrobe, where everything else that was hidden in the darkness like this corner, looked relatively new and well cared for. Her hand moved to the sheet, feeling the crinkled fabric for a moment, before pulling it away in one fluid motion to see what it was hiding from the torch's light.
The object that made this day stand out in her mind for some time was a painting.
Now normally this wouldn't mean anything really that important to the teen, who didn't consider herself a person interested in art, preferring the written word over the visual medium. And in fact if it were any other painting, Lorrie would have most likely just looked at it for a few seconds before moving on to the other sheet covered objects in the room. This painting however, it was completely different, something that the teenager knew the very moment she looked at it. Her eyes, unlike every other time she had ever looked among artworks, were glued to the picture. Which really wasn't unexplainable to Lorrie, since this painting, wasn't like any other painting she had ever seen before.
In fact it was far too realistic to be brushstrokes, but at the same time there was something about it that was telling Lorrie that it wasn't a photograph. It was almost like she could reach through the barrier of the real world and painting to touch the figure represented in the picture. Though really at the same that she was almost enamored completely by the realism of the painting, there was also a sense of unease in her stomach that wanted nothing more than to look away from the painting and forget that sense of breaking the barrier between real world and painting, and it was all because of the figure represented in the artwork.
The figure in the painting was a woman,
A woman that looked like an older version of Lorrie.
It was defiantly her face, from the color of her hair and eyes, right down to the slight crook in her nose from when she had seriously broken it in a fight at thirteen to the point that the damage had been somewhat permanent. To Lorrie, it was like looking in a mirror from the future, but at the same time it just couldn't be her. The expression on this woman's face that couldn't be her, was almost so cold that it gave the teenager eerie Goosebumps. There was also the clothing the woman in the picture was wearing, which was so strange that it definitely confirmed to her that whoever this person was, no matter the splitting image likeness, it could not be her.
This woman's clothing was a long floor length wine purple dress, which was almost normal enough, but the head wear was certainly a step in the completely different direction. First was the large collar that sat on her shoulders and was taller than the woman's head. After that, sitting on her scalp was must have been a seriously uncomfortable skull cap on her head. It was strange clothing, alien clothing to what she was usual to seeing. It was the same clothing that she later found on the sheet covered clothing rack, the large alien collar and skull cap being under the hanged dress. Along with these clothes was more collars, skull caps and dresses just like that one, but in different colors.
Whatever this was, whoever this woman was, it was something that both made Lorrie curious and very uneasy. She was beginning to feel paranoid, constantly thinking that the Master could walk into the Wardrobe Room, and somehow find the small place that she too had discovered, what would happen next, the paranoid teenager tried not to think about, but it was a little hard not to. Her heartbeat seemed to be continuously mounting as she looked through the other covered items, these objects that had seemingly represented to her, who this woman that looked exactly like her was.
Lorrie flipped through a certain book that was also hidden amongst yellow sheets and long accumulated dust, not being able to read what must have been words on the pages since the writing was a strange pattern of circles and lines. And as much as she found the inability to decipher the writing a little annoying, she still couldn't help, just like the painting, being enamored by it in some way. Her paranoia however, didn't fade against her growing interest in this strange discovery. In fact that unfazed fear only grew when the teenager was sure that she could hear footsteps outside the dust covered corner that she had found.
Panicked, Lorrie ran out of the hidden corner of the Wardrobe Room, dropping and accidentally smashing the torch behind her, the strange book still in her hands as she quickly closed the rack of clothing that had hidden the corner in the first place behind her without looking back or even noticing that the torch was no longer in her possession. As soon as she was sure that it didn't look as though anyone had even been near the damned clothes rack, the teenager childishly ran up the nearby steps of the Wardrobe Room and hid under the closest lounge chair. It was at this time as she was fearfully holding her breath as the footsteps continued, that Lorrie became aware that in her hands wasn't the torch, but actually the book.
The turning in her stomach strengthened into a knot as she was now aware that if the Master ever decided to push that curtain of clothing back, the first thing that would catch his eye in this supposedly hidden room, would be a smashed torch on the ground, and several sheets littering the floor, which would be sign enough that she had found this place, and was beginning to know something (that was now wishing she had never found) that obviously she shouldn't. It was while she was silently freaking out under the lounge upstairs from the hidden room that she became aware of the growing sound of the footsteps, as they were ascending the stairs.
Quickly, the teenager turned herself over so she was facing the bottom of the lounge, and started ripping at the layer of stapled fabric of the lounge as soundlessly as she could, finally managing to peel it away to see the board of wood underneath after a few pain staking, terror filled moments. Remembering back to her times in the Orphanage and how she had to hide things in order to keep them in the rest place, Lorrie moved her hand to the pocket of her jacket, praying that unlike the other times that she looked through the Wardrobe Room, that she hadn't forgotten the roll of strengthened tape that she sometimes took with her whenever she found that some of the books that apparently had been left in the Wardrobe room instead of the Library.
See, the pages of the books that she found in the Wardrobe Room were often torn in places, so she would try to stick the torn places back together with that roll of tape. (She so hated any kind of ruined book, and often lamented her own copies of books that were frayed with time despite much tapings and gluing back together. This was mostly because she had had to make an activity of hiding them from anyone else's sight in the Orphanage, which often led to ruining it in places, just to still have the privilege of keeping them). Her prayers were thankfully answered despite the growing footsteps that were slowly coming towards her, when the tips of her fingers felt the familiar plastic side of the tape. Quickly Lorrie brought it out, taping the book (again as quietly as she could manage) to the wooden panel of the lounge, using her teeth to cut the tape when necessary, before taping the fabric of the lounge back over it, leaving a lump in the shape of a square underneath the fabric.
It was only when she had managed to stuff the roll tape back into her large jacket pockets when the footsteps finally stopped at the lounge. The teenager covered her mouth and nose with her hand, trying to further muffle her quiet breathing as an eternity of seconds passed. Lorrie's mind immediately began to spin out of control with paranoia and fear, thinking that he might have seen her running out of the room or at least up the stairs where she had stupidly hidden away from him like a child. She wondered if he was playing with her, knowing the whole time that she was hiding here, and was freaking her out for his own alien amusement.
He couldn't really see her of course, the lounge that she had hidden under having a little skirt of fabric at the bottom that thankfully kept her from the naked eye. But still, Lorrie was capable of peering through that skirt to see the pair of black shoes that was standing in front of the lounge, her lungs beginning to burn despite the small breathes she was taking. Finally however, the shoes moved from her sight, and she started to hear the sounds of what must have been the Master, walking down the stairs. But Lorrie didn't dare move from her hidden place until she heard the sound of the double doors of the Wardrobe Room shutting.
Slowly, the teenager moved from under the lounge, and moved towards the edge of the upper level, peering down at the floor below, almost relieved to see that there was no one there, she was on her own again. Lorrie finally got completely to her feet, and walked slowly down the stairs, now certain that she was on her own. Immediately Lorrie left the Wardrobe Room, moving quickly back to her own room for the rest of the day, her heart hammering all the way as she wondered what the Master might know about her little discovery, praying despite her usual distance from religion, that he knew nothing. But she wasn't stupid, she had seen his shoes, heard his footsteps and knew that he had intentionally stopped at the lounge for some reason, so he had to know something.
But what that something might be, caused her no sleep that night.
Lorrie blamed herself and her curiosity, saying to herself that she shouldn't have been snooping around in something that was none of her business, that she should have left it alone when she first saw the small dust covered, yellow sheet covering corner in the first place. But at the same time she couldn't help but wonder who this woman was, why she looked so much like her, and why what was essentially anything that might have reminded the Master of this person, was shoved away and hidden from sight by darkness and sheets. Questions of this woman continued to swim through her mind, and with this combined with the worrying of the Master knowing that she knew or the blame that put on herself left her conflicted and constantly thinking the whole night.
The temperature felt a touch cooler that night and Lorrie couldn't help but shiver.
Please review, constructive criticism always welcome.