Prologue – The Mysterious and Strange Girl

Cardiff, Wales, Earth

August 19, 2002

Police Constable Andy Davidson fought a yawn and glanced at the clock on his dashboard, 2 A.M. He took a gulp of his now cold coffee and made a note to stop at the nearest Starbucks for a refill; he still had another 2 hours left on his patrol then another hour after that at the station to fill out his paperwork.

Truthfully, he was quite glad that it was a quiet night. There were no strange things happening, no sign of the mysterious Torchwood with the flashy Captain that swoop in on some of their cases and just take over without so much as a 'by your leave', nothing out of the ordinary.

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he slammed the breaks of his patrol car seconds before he hit a girl crossing the road. He swore colorfully in Welsh, absently grateful his mother wasn't anywhere nearby or she would've washed his mouth with lye soap, regardless of how old he was.

He got out of the car and ran to the girl, seeing her looking about in a daze. He noticed that she was dressed in what seemed to be a two-piece lehenga, or at least it was at one point. Now it was more rags than an actual dress, dirty and filled with tears. Her hair was long and may have been loosely curled, but was tangled and filled with leaves and twigs.

The girl herself, for she could not have been any older than 15 or 16, had cuts and bruises covering almost every visible part of her skin, as well as dirt and grime.

Despite the dirt and grime, the leaves and twigs, he could see that she was quite beautiful. She also seemed to have an innocent air about her, expressed by her large eyes.

"Miss, what happened?" He asked her gently, bending so that he was eye-level with her tiny height of 4'9".

She didn't reply, only looked at him with large, misted sapphire blue eyes. She cocked her head to the side and frowned in confusion.

"Miss, what happened?" He repeated the question, this time going on a limb and speaking Welsh.

He prayed she understood him, since he didn't know any other languages aside from English and Welsh, with a little bit of Gaelic.

"I-I don't… remember." The girl replied slowly and haltingly after a few seconds.

At her own words and as if realizing that being unable to remember was not a good thing, tears filled her eyes and fell down her cheeks in mirrored rivers of silver. She absently twiddled with the necklace around her neck, a locket watch pendant that hung on a fine, white gold chain* and rested against her breast. The locket was quite pretty, covered with strange swirling patterns that gave it a rather unique look.

"It's okay, Miss." Andy said hurriedly, making sure to keep his voice pitched in a reassuring tone. "Do you remember your name?"

"Um… Siani. Yes, Siani Gwawr Jones." The girl, Siani, replied with a frown, as though she hadn't been sure for a moment. She looked up at him and smiled sweetly. "Charmed to meet you."

"Charmed to meet you as well, Miss. Siani Jones. My name is Andy Davidson." Andy responded, unable to help the smile that crossed his face at the innocence that seemed to radiate from the girl. "Would you be agreeable to coming with me to a hospital?" Speaking with a gentle tone, he gestured to his patrol car.

"What's a 'hospital'?" Siani asked, cocking her head to the side and looking up at him curiously.

"It is a place of healing." Andy replied, unable to keep a bemused smile off his face though a sharp pang of sorrow shot through his heart.

'What could have happened to this girl that caused her to forget what a hospital was?' He wondered.

He reached out, gently taking her smaller hand in his larger one and leading her to the passenger side of his car. He had a feeling that she couldn't see, judging by the way her eyes never seemed to focus and she only moved after he spoke.

"I need healing?" Siani asked curiously, letting him help her into the passenger seat.

He quickly ran around the front of the car and slid into the driver side before looking at her in confusion once again. She was covered in cuts and bruises, or at least that's what it looked like, so why was she asking if she needed healing?

"That is what we are going to try and find out." Andy replied as he began driving down the road towards the nearest hospital.

The entire time he drove, he kept talking with Siani in Welsh since she seemed unable to speak or understand English, finding out that the first memory she had was of him nearly running her over. She remembered nothing other than her name, certain it was Siani Gwawr Jones, and her age, 15. Other than those two pieces of knowledge, she knew nothing else – not who her parents were, not where she lived, not her family, nothing.

The whole time they spoke, two questions plagued Andy's mind:

Who was this strange girl that seemed to radiate an aura of innocence and mystery? What had happened to her that was so traumatic, it caused her to forget everything?

Links (on Pinterest):

*Siani locket watch - .ca/pin/420805158906236341/