Hide and Seek
Chapter Fourteen – Breaking Out
As the week progressed Donna tried hard to ingratiate herself with the Master. Today he was still here in the room with her and she wanted to settle down to sleep. He'd told her that this wasn't a problem but Donna threw him an exasperated glance as she sat in the corner of the sofa in the darkened room.
Despite her assertive nature, she had a knot of tension in the pit of her stomach. Eyeing the Master out of the corner of her eye, she sucked in a deep breath and let out a loud sigh.
She wanted to think of easy things, the Doctor, an escape, anything to relax her, but every direction her thoughts took, caused her more stress. Thinking about the Master here in the room with her was definitely a no-no. She'd thought about him endlessly this week and couldn't wait to break out. The other subjects uppermost in her mind were inextricably linked.
It was clear to her now that the Master was going to try something on. He had done nothing but taunt her since he'd brought her down to this room. She wasn't happy being here and was constantly thinking of how she would fight him off, when the time came, as it surely would. She needed to get away before anything happened; that wasn't going to be easy when he spent so much time with her.
And then there was the Doctor. She couldn't stop thinking about him. At quiet moments when her thoughts stopped chasing themselves in endless circles, her mind wandered back to him. Their relationship was as light-hearted as those she had with any of her friends and she preferred it that way. He wasn't exactly great at being able to tell that sort of thing anyway. She just knew that she enjoyed being with him and wanted to make the most of all the time they had together.
To her relief, thinking about him actually eased the tension and she wondered if she might drop off to sleep soon. She felt more relaxed, but was still very aware and inwardly alert at the thought that someone would be very willing to take advantage of her given the chance.
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Eventually Donna's patience paid off. She had remained quiet and yet interested in all that was going on around her. The Master was out and Harry had taken sick. He'd turned a pitiful shade of green and raced for the bathroom. Donna watched him as he dashed off and then tiptoed up to the door and listened intently outside. He was heaving his guts up, so this was her chance. Her only chance and she had to take it.
She'd already planned in her head what she was going to do. She dragged the cream sofa into the middle of the room and balanced herself on the squashy cushions, piling them one on top of the other. Biting her bottom lip, she moaned in frustration that she couldn't reach the glass roof. She needed something to hoist her a little higher. She realised the cameras were filming everything she was doing, but she didn't care. She wouldn't be here to suffer the consequences.
Her eyes searched the room for something else to stand on, to give her that little extra elevation. Dropping back onto the floor, she rolled up the rug, and placed it on top of the sofa. Her fingertips would reach. If she could just…
Stretching to her full height, she studied the intricate layout of the tiles with curiosity. She was quite amazed at the workmanship and found it quite ingenious how the tiles seemed to be balanced so delicately on the metal infrastructure. Smiling she pushed up one of the glass mosaic tiles. They appeared to lift out easily.
She looked quickly over to the bathroom door. There was no sign of Harry coming out. She wished she had something to push up against it, to prevent him catching her mid escape. But there was nothing heavy enough. She needed to just get back on with her task. Reaching up again, she removed a tile, pushing it up and releasing it from the slots that kept it in place. It came away easily. She tested the metallic infrastructure pulling on it, to see if it would hold her weight. It seemed okay, but she wouldn't be able to tell until she stood on it.
Looking up again, she put her head on one side in puzzlement. If she wasn't mistaken, the tiles were moving. Realising what was happening she thrust her hands upwards, aware that the tiles were moving across and likely one by one to fall through the hole she'd just created. She wasn't quick enough, and the speed and force at which the tiles moved, sent them tumbling down. She tried to catch them, and one fell into her open palm, slashing the skin and already red blood was oozing through the cut.
The tiles fell through smashing one by one on the hard floor the sound echoing round the room. Nervous eyes turned to the bathroom. Harry would be out in a jiffy she was sure. Adopting her no nonsense, don't mess with me attitude, she stood there on the rug, on top of the cushions, nursing her cut hand and watched as the bathroom door began to open.