It's All In My Head
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Chapter 2
Water is thicker than air, so it gets out of the way more slowly. If you hit it going really fast it is a little like hitting concrete for a split second. That second is plenty of time to shatter the bones in your legs and hips before dumping you into the river, and when you try to scream from the agony of the impact or from the instinctive attempt to use your now-mutilated limbs you will waste what little air you have left. Without being able to swim you won't be able to get back up to the surface; the speed has thrown you deep underwater and it's unlikely you can even see in the darkness. So after a few moments of shattered bones, pitch-black terror, and building panic in your chest, water rushes into your mouth, is pulled into your lungs, and causes you to thrash around, causing grievous suffering in your ruined body, but with your system full of water you can't even scream now; eventually the pain in your limbs and chest subsides as your brain runs out of oxygen, and inevitably you die.
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Alexs eyes flung open and she let out a cry of panic, scrambling to move. Her face was dripping with ice cold water and her wet hair hung in front of her eyes. She wiped the soaking tendrils to the side and out of the way, looking around; finding herself on the sofa of an oddly beige coloured retro living room. Looking up she saw that in front of her stood a huge hulk of a man, wearing a grey suit and a camel coat with a lit cigarette hanging from his lips, floppy blonde hair framing his face as he looked down at her with a now empty cup in his hand.
"See Dorothy, I told you a cold cup of water would work!" the northern man grinned "Right, get this bird down to the station and see if she knows anything"
"Guv she seemed out cold, I highly doubt she'd have heard a bit of fighting in the flat bellow"
Alex immediately recognised the voice of the second man to speak, Sam Tyler. She pushed herself up off the sofa and stumbled towards him, grabbing handfuls of his striped shirt "Please Sam, you've got to help me!"
The man in camel smirked, dropping his almost finished cigarette into the empty cup and setting it down on the coffee table "Do you know this one Tyler?"
Alex cupped his face in her hands, trying to keep his focus on her "Sam, I was trying to save a man and the stupid bastard pulled me with him! I'm in the river Thames!"
"You're a long way from the Thames love, this is Manchester!"
She let go of Sam, spinning around to stare at the Northerner "What? Manchester?! Oh god…"
"Yes Manchester! Where else do you think you live, you daft mare!"
Sam stepped forward towards his senior officer, telling him to go ahead without him, saying that that he would deal with her. The DCI had been reluctant at first, but as soon as Ray's voice could be heard shouting down the hallway that the fight was kicking off again, the blonde Northerner shot out of the front door saying something about giving somebody a good slap. Once the pair were alone Sam took Alex by the hand and led her through to the bedroom, closing the door and sitting her on the edge of the bed, needing their conversation to be as private as possible.
"You need to take a few deep breaths and calm down, talk me through what you're trying to tell me"
"I got a call this morning about a man threatening to commit suicide, I was trying to talk him down and he ended up dragging me down with him" She stood up and moved over to the window, staring out "I was just injured in 2008 London, now I've woken up here in.."
Sam cut her off before she could finish her sentence "1975 Manchester"
Horror spread across her face "1975?! Dear god, this has got to be a nightmare!"
"I'm afraid not!" he shrugged "Come on, we'd best get you over to the station, I've got a feeling you are the new DI that we're expecting"
Alex turned to follow him, but instead stopped and stared at her reflection in the full length mirror propped up against the wall by the window; the green cotton blouse she wore tucked into her blue denim flares, with just a hint of open-toed tan suede shoes peeking out from underneath. She turned on the chunky heels, smiling a little at how utterly dreadful yet amazing she looked. The jeans gave her a waist, something that the black trouser suits never for her even with her shirts tucked in; her usually plain brown hair was wavy and still looked pretty good to say she'd had a cup of water dumped all over her.
"I know, the fashion here takes a little getting used to" Sam chuckled.
"No, I could work with this actually"
"Tyler!"
The Northern voice made Alex jump, even more so when he burst into the bedroom with a huge smirk across his face "Copping off with the witness? How very professional! I wonder what Cartwright would say"
Sam put his hand on Alexs arm reassuringly "Guv, I think this is our new DI, Alex Drake"
"Bloody hell fire! If I'd known I was getting another bird on the team I'd have got out the welcome banners" Gene smirked "Either that or I'd have informed the maintenance man that the tampon machine will probably need restocking, the amount of birds in that station is just getting ridiculous now"
"Is he always this rude?" Alex scoffed, looking at Sam who simply shrugged and nodded in apology.
Alex stayed close by Sam as the three of them left the flat, and she tried to block out the argumentative ranting going on between the two men as they made their way down four flights of steps before coming out onto the street outside the building, a Ford Cortina in a terrible shade of brown parked haphazardly on the kerb.
Hunt stepped forward towards the car, opening the passenger side door and signalling to Alex "After you Lady Drake"
"Why aren't I sitting in the front?" Sam frowned.
"Because she ain't wearing a skirt, so there's no chance of me trying to sneak a peek at her delicates"
Alex shook her head, grimacing with disgust as she slid herself stiffly into the passenger seat "You really are a vile man"
"You'll learn to love it, they all do" he smirked, sauntering around to the drivers side and getting in.
The trio began the relatively quick journey to the station. Alex sat in silence, staring out of the window and watching as various parts of Manchester flashed by. She could hear Sam talking again, and the sound of Gene sighing reluctantly before switching on the radio, the opening bars of some old song that she vaguely recognised began to play, only for static noise and the faint sound of talking to interfere.
"You really should have somebody take a look at that radio" Alex sighed "That sounds like some really bad interference"
"What are you wittering on about woman? It sounds fine to me!"
She frowned at him, glancing in the wing mirror and seeing Sam nod in agreement "Sorry, I must have been hearing things"
"Great, I've got another loon on my team"
After arriving at the station Alex followed Gene and Sam inside, firstly ignoring the comments about her being Hunts bit on the side from a very unladylike looking uniformed female at the front desk, and trying not to notice all the eyes that lingered on her as they walked on by.
"Jesus Christ, are all the men around here not capable of subtlety?" she scoffed, and Sam just chuckled in response.
Stepping into CID, Alex was welcomed by a large incident room, the ceiling barely visible due to the cloud of cigarette smoke. The haphazardly placed desks were piled high with mountains of paperwork, shocking Alex as she felt her inner obsessive compulsive suddenly take over.
"What on earth is this place? I thought I was in a police station, not a recycling plant!"
Hunt rolled his eyes "Recycling? Don't tell me you're one of these hippy-dippy tree huggers?!"
"Why aren't these files put away? Don't you lot have any organisational skills at all?"
"Don't you have any bloody manners?" Gene snapped "Who the hell you do you think you are waltzing into my kingdom and slagging us off? I don't know how you're lot in London do things, but you're up North now love and I'm the sheriff of this town so you can shut your lipstick and follow my rules!"
"Follow your rules? And what exactly would they be, hmm?" she asked, her words laced with sarcasm and attitude "Drink all day, smoke until your lungs give out, drive like a maniac and then off to the pub for a chat with the lads, throw in a bit of sexism and casual racism and that's you're day complete, am I right? No wonder there is no time in the day for something so trivial as paperwork!"
Gene stood with his feet apart, shoulders back and chest puffed out "Listen to you, using your big words like that's meant to impress me!"
"Why would I be trying to impress you? You are petulant, ill-mannered and downright rude!" she snapped, stepping closer to him so that they were almost toe-to-toe "You don't intimidate me, Hunt, you're just a big, overgrown bully"
"Tyler, show DI Drake to her desk" Gene spoke sternly, eyes locked with Alexs "I think everybody has had enough excitement for one day"
She clenched her jaw, pouting and following Sam to the desk furthest across the room from Gene's office. The desk was piled full of files, scrap paper and the odd empty chocolate wrapper, the sight made Alex's stomach churn and with a heavy sigh she began the mammoth task of organising the mess, aware that Gene was still very much watching her.
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Apologies that this chapter has taken so long, I've been busy with work and preparing for a 3 hour exam. Now that's out of the way and work is a little quieter I can write more often! Thanks for reading guys, reviews are greatly appreciated! TPAS x