Chapter is out! Say tuned as next chapter will be posted next Sunday! Any feedback would be appreciated (in the review section)
There was a long pause of silence. Morgan could almost hear the seconds going by- like the ticking of an imaginary clock. Tick Tock. tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Maybe the ghost clock was secretly haunting them all. Or maybe Morgan was going insane. Or she was trying to distract herself.
"Well, isn't that why we decided to go underwater camping in the first place?" the Doctor's voice broke Morgan out of her thoughts suddenly. Underwater. Because that's where they were. Morgan froze at the mention again but nodded.
"Yeah," Morgan started, her voice barely above a whisper, "But that's not what I meant, Doctor," Morgan snapped back, trying to cover up her slip up. She lifted her chin a bit and avoided looking at the water. The wall. Look there. The Wonderful beautiful wall. That's all there was. Just a wall. Just a- The Doctor sighed.
"Then what do you mean?" the Doctor asked, slightly exasperated. Morgan paused for a few moments. What did she mean? How could she even explain this? Maybe she should just leave it. Close her eyes and pretend that everything was fine. Everything was fine. Everything was fine. Fine.
"I'm fine," Morgan said aloud but then paused at the Doctor's raised eyebrow, "No sorry, I'm not fine. I mean I can't close my eyes without seeing it again." Morgan finally got out, barely above a whisper. The Doctor froze. He stayed silent for a few minutes so that Morgan could hear the loud pounding of her heart.
"Oh," he swallowed and tension in the air made Morgan shiver. Although that might have also been because of the sound of the water. She shuffled uncomfortably. It was still there. She shouldn't have said anything. It was fine- Morgan was fine. That was a lie. She could deal with it herself. All she had to do was close her eyes and- Morgan let them fall shut for a few moments. The spaces between the seconds grew longer. And all she could hear was her shallow breaths and the water above. Morgan quickly forced them open again. Memories are so much worse in the dark.
"But it's fine," Morgan said, "It's fine," she repeated. Maybe if she repeated it enough she could hammer that stupid message into her dumb brain. The Doctor hesitated for a moment before placing a hand on her shoulder. It was awkward, but it was oddly comforting too. The Doctor seemed to mull over his own thoughts for a while before he spoke. The silence was deafening. Too much silence. Too much time to think. Too much time to remember.
"The time-locked devices will hold up," the Doctor started and Morgan cut him off.
"I know, I know," she paused, "But no matter how much I tell myself that nothing bad is going to happen, it doesn't change anything," she whispered, shaking a bit. Morgan swallowed and took another deep breath in. It was fine, nothing was going to happen. But what if it did? It happened before. There was a tsunami. Almost died. It could easily happen again, why couldn't it? Morgan cringed at her own thoughts, curling up closer into herself. The shadows and the water and cave. All closing in on her. All collapsing. Nowhere to go.
She shivered, All alone. She had almost died all alone. Without having done anything of real significance in the world. Alone and useless. Morgan leaned towards the Doctor. She lay her head a bit tentatively on his shoulder. A reminder that she wasn't here alone. An anchor to the real world.
Something crashed- water, a rock? Morgan couldn't tell where it was or what it was. But it was the last straw. She jumped and shivered again. Why? Again. Again. Again. Again. Why couldn't it just leave her alone? And why couldn't she just stop thinking about it? Why couldn't her idiot self just do something useful for once? Tears almost threatened to spill. Almost. She wouldn't let them. Who gave them permission to show up? It certainly hadn't been Morgan. Morgan was glad she couldn't see whatever horribly distorted look she had on her face at that moment. She probably looked well- like something horrible. Wait. Face- He couldn't see her like this. No. She wouldn't allow that.
Morgan leapt forward burying her face into the Doctor's shoulder. The Doctor jumped and bristled slightly at the unexpected occurrence. He tried to turn his head to face her better but Morgan made sure he couldn't. Why don't you like hugs? Never trust a hug. It's just a way to hide your face.
"I don't do hugs-" the Doctor started but Morgan cut him off.
"I know, I know, just a way to hide your face," Morgan whispered into the silence of the cave. Sometimes, that's exactly what a person needed to do. Hide their face. From the shadows. From the water. From the people.
"How do-" the Doctor continued, suspicion lacing his tone. She froze. A statue. She had slipped up. Morgan's breath shortened. She had slipped up. What could she do? She didn't have time for this right now-
"Yeah, I know. My dad says the same thing," Morgan lied. A sigh of relief. The Doctor relaxed slightly. Morgan was about to pull away again when another loud sound made her freeze. She shivered and tried to stop it again but couldn't. If only the sounds and the water would listen and leave her alone. Morgan pulled her hands away, about to go back to where she had been attempting to sleep. But then there was a hand on her shoulder. Morgan turned around to face the Doctor again. He gestured for her to come closer, well slightly closer. Morgan obliged, scooting to sit beside the Doctor.
She pulled her knees closer hugging them to her stomach. The water wouldn't go away. Maybe if she yelled at it enough it would. Would that work? The sounds came back making Morgan shiver a little again. Go away. Stupid sounds and stupid water stupid everything that wouldn't just leave her alone! There was a shuffling sound, and Morgan turned to see the Doctor walking over to where she had left her blankets by her makeshift sleeping area. He scooped them up and sat back beside Morgan again, throwing the blanket over her shoulder and putting her pillow on his shoulder letting her rest her head there. There was a beat of silence as Morgan settled in.
"So you're scared of the tsunami," the Doctor began matter of factly. What was that supposed to mean? Was he making fun of her- Morgan was about to give an indignant remark to that but was cut off by the Doctor. "Ah but you see, the tsunami may have a lot of things, but you have the upper advantage!"
Morgan raised a skeptical eyebrow and craned her neck to look at the Doctor. "I do?" Morgan paused, as her eyes caught on a bit of purple light filtering through the water dancing along her hand.
"Well yes," he continued as if it were obvious, "you have me," he grinned smugly and Morgan rolled her eyes. "And trust me, no storms have anything on me," his eyes darkened slightly at that remark and Morgan's stomach tightened too. She quickly brushed away the uneasy feeling.
"I'm willing to bet on the tsunami," Morgan joked, a small smile forming on her face. For a moment Morgan could almost keep up the pretense. That they were somewhere else. Just joking around. But then the illusion was shattered. The Doctor gave a small fond smile as well but it quickly turned to a smug grin.
"Nah, trust me, tsunamis are stupid," the Doctor started, "See, I tell them to shut up and they don't understand it," Morgan smiled at that, "See, stupid!" he smirked again. Tsunamis were stupid. He was right, they did not listen to her orders and leave her alone. Morgan gave a large yawn, her eyelids starting to grow heavy. But then another rush of water brought her out of it yet again. It was waiting there on top. Hundreds of meters above them. Would the weight push down, collapsing the ceiling? She shivered, clinging onto the blanket and the Doctor's arm to ground herself. No. Caves didn't suddenly collapse all of a sudden. Right? Morgan quickly attempted to right herself to gain back a little dignity. But it was still there. Waiting. Waiting for her to let her guard down. "And you know what?" the Doctor continued.
"What? You're not gonna say something stup-" Morgan started but was cut off by the Doctor shushing her.
"If anything does happen and you are asleep," he started and Morgan's stomach knotted again at that. Did he really have to bring that u- "I'll make sure to let you know." Morgan relaxed slightly at that. Ok, yeah logically that made sense, she didn't have to be on guard at all times if the Doctor was instead. Morgan's eyelids started to grow heavier again, and she leaned into the pillow on the Doctor's shoulder, muffling the sound of waves or anything really. "And I promise…" the Doctor started, whispering, "That nothing will ever happen to you on my watch," his voice got low-so low that Morgan barely heard it. Barely. But it was enough.
Her thoughts started muddling. A thick haze like fog drifting. Although she still flinched a bit each time there was a noise. But it was easier this time, the sound didn't produce the same mind-numbing wariness as before. She could relax. Her mind barely registered the faint pressure at her temples- warm. Before she drifted off to sleep.
Everything was warm. A strange warmth, alien warmth. Morgan leaned into the warmth. Her eyes fluttered open slowly and she squinted slightly at the overabundance of light. Why was there light? Light… Light meant morning right. Morgan sat up warily and paused. She blinked the grogginess away and stretched wide, yawning loudly. It was a cave. She had been in a cave before right? When she had fallen asleep? Wait! Morgan had fallen asleep? She jumped up knocking down the apparent chair she had been sleeping on. Table. Breakfast?
She turned to face the figure sitting calmly in the chair beside her, reading a book of sorts. Oh, not figure. The Doctor. Morgan squinted and carefully picked back up the chair that she had accidentally knocked down.
"What the hell?" Morgan blurted, rubbing her eyes and sitting back down on her chair. She squinted again. Why was everything so blurry? She went to rub her eyes again. Oh. "Where are my glasses?" The Doctor paused, looking up from his reading.
"Ah, hello to you too," he remarked sarcastically. Morgan sighed. It was a valid question! Where were her glasses? Also, why was she in their makeshift kitchen? She didn't remember falling asleep here! Well, to be honest, she didn't actually properly remember falling asleep in the first palace. "You should probably go get ready or whatever it is you humans do," the Doctor continued waving his hands to shoo her away, "Go cross out another day or something," he finished and Morgan frowned. She was about to leave before she finally caught the words he had said.
"What do you mean? Cross out days," Morgan started a bit defensively. She crossed her arms a bit and frowned. How did he know? And why was he saying it like that?
"I've seen the little calendar you have in your room Morgan. Honestly, what is it with you humans and your obsession with time?" he asked incredulously. Morgan raised an eyebrow.
"You're one to talk," she pointed out, snorting at his absurd statement. Really? He was calling her obsessed with time? Hypocrite much? The Doctor gave a tired sigh and narrowed his eyes, indicating for Morgan to get lost. Ok then. Tired sigh… Honestly? It was a bit too tired. Suspiciously tired. Like how someone would sound if they were pretending- Morgan shook her head, dismissing the thought as she swung into her room.
It was the same as she had left it last night, blankets strewn about messily everything in disorder. She winced. Not exactly ideal. Morgan strode over to her calendar, running her fingers along the days that had already passed. November had been a drag, each day blending into the next. And yet there were still so many months left. To wait. So much more time that Morgan had not wanted or asked for. Sighing, Morgan went to cross off yesterday. But then froze. Yesterday had been the 29th of November which meant today was… Morgan stared at the little inscription she had written on the calendar. My Birthday. Today was the 30th of November. Morgan's birthday. Morgan took a sharp intake of breath.
She was 15. And everything started to actually, properly dawn on her. How long six months actually was. Here she had been complaining but not really properly grasping the amount of time that it really, truly, was. Morgan paused as she stared down her bag of clothes. Should she maybe wear something special today? It was her birthday after all? Nah, it was her birthday and she was currently living in a crappy cave. Comfort should be the priority. Morgan quickly slipped on a hoodie and sweatpants, as usual, brushing her hair out of her face into some semblance of neatness.
Morgan then finally found her glasses, perched neatly on top of her bag. Taking them carefully, as to not break them (it would not be good if she broke her glasses while living in a cave isolated.) She slowly made her way to the main cave, running her fingers along the edges. At first glance, one would think it was just pure, boring, gray and dull all along. But once one looked closer there was really much more. Tiny little cracks, little dark green vines too, snaking along the crevasses. Morgan sighed. Really, what it showed was that she had been in that cave staring at those stupid walls for too damn long!
Morgan finally entered the main kitchen cave again. Only to find the Doctor- Wait. What was the Doctor doing? She knew he was an idiot but- Morgan paused again, watching as the Doctor attempted to heat something up on their makeshift stove, pausing every few seconds to attempt to scan it or who knows what with his screwdriver. Morgan walked forward carefully, standing on her toe to try to see what on earth the Doctor was doing.
"Doctor, what on earth are you trying to do?" she finally asked, poking him in the shoulder. The Doctor jumped, almost dropping everything and making a complete mess. Keyword there: almost. Honestly, if Morgan had a dollar for the amount of times that the Doctor had almost made a complete disaster… well, she'd probably be a googolplexianaire by now (and yes, that was a thing, shut up, your opinion was not asked for).
"Morgan, what are you doing here," the Doctor yelled in surprise. Tensing up, "I thought I sent you to your room to get ready?" he said in an overly defensive tone, pointing his finger at her accusingly. Morgan rolled her eyes and came closer to where the Doctor was standing by the makeshift stove.
"Yeah, you see, there is this incredible phenomenon called, I went and got ready already," Morgan deadpanned, "What did you think I'd just stay in my room staring at the wall for 6 hours?" she continued. The look the Doctor was giving her told her everything she needed to know. Really? Did he actually think-
"Well that's what you've been doing for the past month," the Doctor pointed out and Morgan winced a bit at that before quickly covering it up with a scowl.
Morgan crossed her arms "Yeah, but now I'm not," she leaned forward to try to see what the hell he thought he was doing, again. "What in the actual universe are you trying to accomplish right now because I can tell you for a fact that staring at it and sonicing it is probably not going to accomplish much." Morgan pointed out. The Doctor just gave an annoyed huff.
"I'm making hot chocolate," he explained. Morgan raised an eyebrow at the milk and pieces of chocolate he was heating up. She gave a cautious sniff of it.
"You sure that's how you make hot chocolate?" she asked skeptically. The Doctor rolled his eyes.
"Yes, Morgan, I made it yesterday," the Doctor grumbled, running his hands through his hair in slight frustration. Morgan paused. His hair was now almost at series 10 length since he couldn't exactly cut it properly. Or he was too lazy. Morgan suspected that it was the second one.
"Ok, yeah you did make it yesterday," Morgan agreed, "But you do have a tendency to delete things," Morgan argued again. She was still a tiny bit annoyed that he had deleted her name from his memory the first few times he'd met her.
"I apologized for that!" the Doctor cried, "I didn't mean to delete your name, I just tend to do that whenever I meet random boring humans," the Doctor finished exasperated. Boring humans? Excuse her-
"You calling me a boring human?" Morgan cried in offence. The Doctor sighed a bit at that.
"No, Morgan, you're much too annoying to be boring," he finished. Morgan went to slap his arm at that comment but he moved out of the way just in time. Stupid timelords.
She took a deep breath, "Fine. Why are you making hot chocolate anyway?" she asked. The Doctor frowned again furrowing his eyebrows.
"Because! Why do you always have to ask so many questions? The Doctor asked accusingly. Because what was the fun without asking questions? Seriously, what was his problem? She just wanted to get information efficiently and here he was trying to skirt around it.
"Because I try my hardest to annoy you, it's my goal in life," Morgan deadpanned and the Doctor rolled his eyes bringing his attention back to the pan, "Also I'm curious," Morgan admitted with a shrug. The Doctor ignored her comments and continued staring intently at the pan. Morgan sighed, huffing as she stomped back over to the table. There were a few books scattered about. Morgan squinted inspecting them all. A few on the Flora and Fauna, and everything really, about the planet so Morgan picked one up to start to skim through it.
Skimming through the index, Morgan found the section on dangerous creatures and skipped straight to that section of the book (with the Doctor, it was inevitable that they would probably end up bumping into something dangerous deadly, world ending, universe ending or all of the above). It was always good to be prepared. Morgan started from the first creature and settled down to read.
Silent swallower. Well, it certainly seemed to (probably) be descriptive. Not very creative though. The silent swallower is a part of the Noyade genus of… Morgan skipped the more useless specific details. She didn't need to know the official scientific name. What did it expect her to do? Scream its exact genus while it was trying to eat her? Not likely that that would get much accomplished except for wasting air. It is widely considered by the general populous to be one of the most dangerous carnivorous plants out there. But, it is in fact not a plant at all. It isn't an animal either, it is part of the group called vegetanima a mix of the french words, Jesus what was with this planet's obsession with naming things after french words. Had the french settled here or something? Honestly, Morgan was probably lucky she understood French at all with the unnecessary abundance of french in this planet's books.
Morgan skimmed through the unnecessary details about its name and continued. The silent swallower is composed of what looks to be normal vines. They will be lying around, even fairly far away from the plant. If you see any strange, dark green vines, be warned DO NOT APPROACH. Duly noted. If Morgan saw any spooky carnivorous vines, she would not decide to approach them and be eaten. The silent swallower will start to wrap its arms (vines) around its victim, in a grip that is almost inescapable. If you find yourself being wrapped by it, it is almost certainly too late. Well, wasn't that fun. Yay, we're going to give you this information! But if it does apply to you, you're basically dead. Sorry.
She turned the page. Why was she even reading this again? Boredom. Fair enough. Morgan continued. Fortunately, it does have one natural predator. A cave bug that emits a high pitch noise. It waits for the silent swallower to start to wrap it up and then, once swallowed, starts to devour the plant from the inside using a special enzyme. Blah. blah, blah. Morgan sighed swimming through the exact details. However, the swallower does have a defence mechanism for this. If its receptors pick up any high pitch noises it will immediately release anything it is holding. However, at this point, it will have already released its poison into its victim, so it will be almost impossible to survive this if you try to use this method to escape. Keyword there: almost impossible. There was a very large difference between almost impossible and impossible. Morgan sighed, slamming the book shut. Boring. Slightly useful, but still a bit boring.
"Doctor," Morgan called to the Doctor, who had finished the hot chocolate by now, "You never did explain why you were making hot chocolate in the morning," The Doctor paused while balancing both mugs.
He grinned, "Don't you know?" he exclaimed, Morgan raised an eyebrow. Did she know what? "Honestly, I'd have thought you would have figured this out by now. It's your birthday!" he declared placing her mug carefully in front of her. Morgan froze. Oh. right.
"Oh," she started, "I-didn't even tell you when my birthday was…" she trailed off as the Doctor took a seat beside her.
"I told you already, you'd written it on your calendar," the Doctor explained, "I couldn't really make a cake so I decided to make this instead," he grinned again. Oh.. well, yeah if he had made a cake he probably would've burnt down the cave. And yes. The underwater cave made of rock. Knowing the Doctor, he would have figured out a way to somehow burn it down. It was less unlikely than you would think.
"Yeah, probably would have caused an explosion if you had made a cake," Morgan joked and then Doctor huffed in mock offence, "But thank you," Morgan gave another small smile.
"Yeah, exciting times, you know you're eight now, might be able to properly reach a shelf in some time," he added offhandedly. Morgan elbowed him lightly.
"Doctor! I told you already! Not eight, I'm 15!" she exclaimed. The Doctor just sat there, sipping his hot chocolate, a smug grin plastered all over his face. Morgan scowled. "Fine, but since it's my birthday, I'm in charge today," Morgan decided.
The Doctor scoffed, "Oh of course you are," Morgan narrowed her eyes at that comment. Idiot. She gave another small smile.
"And since I'm in charge, I decree that we need to watch Back to the Future," Morgan declared. A warmth bubbled up inside of her. She hadn't watched Back to the Future in so long. Morgan hopped over to where she had left her laptop bringing it over to the table. Dun dun dun dun dun… gonna go BACK IN TIME. She almost squealed in giddiness as the Doctor set down her laptop in front of them. In fact, she did squeal internally. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Morgan made sure to keep her outwards expression to a minimum A girl would do. Signing into Netflix again, Morgan quickly typed in those magical words. Back to the Future.
It started up, all the clocks ticking. Morgan sucked in a breath in excitement. There it was. She gave a small smile as Marty entered the scene, squeezing the Doctor's hand a little in excitement. A few minutes in though, as Marty accidentally made a huge mess the Doctor decided to comment. Because of course, he did.
"That not how it would work…" he started, "He wouldn't have been able to run it up that and frankly if its pitch was high enough to make that mess then surely his eardr-" Morgan cut him off with a frown.
"Doctor, stop analyzing the movie and just watch it," Morgan said, poking the Doctor angrily in the chest. The Doctor swatted her hand away as he continued.
He scoffed "You do it every single time we watch anything, how come I'm not allowed to now?" he pointed out. Well- because. Arghh why did the Doctor have to- Morgan shot him a glare.
"Shut up and let me be a hypocrite in peace," she retorted, unpausing the movie. The Doctor gave an exasperated sigh but complied.
Throughout the entirety of the movie though, the Doctor did continue making a few remarks. Mostly about how they had gotten the time travel all wrong. (It was a movie Doctor, you're supposed to suspend your disbelief) But still, despite all of that, as the nostalgia intensified, Morgan still managed to enjoy it. In an underwater cave on a different planet. Everything was different but there were still little things. Little things that were the same. Little reminders that there might still be a tiny bit of hope left. And as Morgan fell asleep that night, for the first time in over a month. She wasn't afraid.
Hope everyone enjoyed that! Next chapter comes out next Sunday! Again, feel free to post any feedback in the review section! Hope everyone has a good day :)