I sit there staring at John- I mean Jack and try to comprehend what he's saying. When he realises I've blown a fuse he touches my shoulder, I jump. "Jessica?" he says worriedly. "You lied?" I ask frowning. He nods. I sigh. "Year 5000?" I ask. He nods again. "And this," I gesture around me. "Is a 'Time travel machine?'" I hear a loud sound and we both flinch. "That's her saying 'hello'!" the doctor chimes happily. I look around. "Hello?" I say with caution. Another sound fills the room. "She likes you!" I smile. "She's nice..." I say. Jack smiles too. " she's alive," he explains. The smile on my face grows. "Anything this beautiful has to be alive somehow. Even if I don't understand it," I say. The Doctor walks over to us. "Right!" I watch his smile grow into a grin. "NOW! Where to? Forward or back?" He asks putting a hand on her shoulders and leaning in. I shrug. "I guess forward," I say. He laughs. "Forward it is!" He runs over to the console of the TARDIS, Jack explained it to me. "Hold on!" he yells pulling a lever. The room begins to shake and I listen to our laughter.
I land on the floor with the sound of the air leaving my body. The smile still plastered on my face. "Amazing!" I cry pulling myself off of the floor. "Where are we?" He shrugs.
"Forward… I hope," The Doctor says." Oh, great," Jack worries. I laugh. I watch him walk towards the doors. "2014! I did it!" He laughs. I giggle. "What?" Jack says. "Isn't that the year of..?" Jack starts. "EXTERMINATE!" The Doctor slams the door shut. " I forgot about history." He pants. " Nice first visit to the future!" The Doctor smiles. "What? Being Shot, demagnetised and kidnapped!" Jack cries. "Only possibilities!" The Doctor points out. "WAIT!" I yell. "What are they?" The doctor bites his lip. " Daleks," He frowns. " Let me explain. They're human, well, sort of..." My brow furrows. " Sort of?" I ask. " Uh, hmm," I watch him concentrate. " They're made of flesh and have all emotion stripped away... Only hatred and anger remain. But when they see me... they find fear," He sighs. "Cheery," I say. I stand there for a few moments in silence. Flesh isn't dangerous. Is it? "If They're just flesh, why are they so dangerous?" I finally ask. The Doctor tells me to go to the door, I do as he asks. As I peek my head out. I can't see anything. I turn my head to the left and bump my into a black pole. "Ow!" I groan. "Identify!" I pull back and see a monster. A metal monster! "Identify yourself! Failure to identify will lead to extermination!" I look into it's eye. "Doctor!" I cry. "EXTERMINATE!" I get pulled inside as some sort of bullet rushes past my head. Before I know I'm in The Doctors arms. The adrenaline I have fades before he releases me. "That was..." I croak. " A Dalek," Jack says. "When it spoke..." I quietly mutter. "I know off putting." He frowns. " Well! Let's venture out!" The Doctor calls clapping his hands. I jump, Jack rolls his eyes at me and we follow him. Stepping outside The Doctor puts an arm in front of us. " I recognise this place!" he mutters. I look at the different houses, so very different and small compared to My Ladies."Martha's house!" I hear jack giggle. The Doctor and I spin around at the same time. We stare for a few moments. "Let's see if she's home!" he whispers smirking. We all walk towards the door. "Who's Martha?" I ask as Jack knocks. The Doctor shrugs. "A friend. Very old!" He explains. "Knew her in the last regeneration." I look at him confused. He turns to Jack. "Did you tell her I'm an alien?" Jack goes to speak but The Doctor cuts him off. He turns to me. " I'm an alien! Hello!" he says. I nod slowly, I'll believe anything at the moment. "A Time Lord! Two hearts! Oh, and the mind of many!" I smile unsure of what to say. " What's taking her so long?" Jack says frustrated. "I think it's the aliens... Don't you?" I whisper. Jack ushers us away from the door and he takes a step back. Bringing his foot up quickly he kicks the door, grunting as his foot connects. It swings open easily. "I think it was open," The Doctor smiles. "ALL LIFE FORMS REMAINING SHALL SURRENDER!" I hear a rolling and we run inside the house, I hope it didn't see us. "split up," Jack orders in a whisper. The Doctor nods. "But I'm taking her," he points to me. "Why?" I ask. He shrugs. "Jack has a gun."
I make my way towards what I guess would be the kitchen with The Doctor. He must know his way around. The rooms were dark and the floor was wet. "Who's there?" I jump as I hear a woman's voice. She sounds like she's from London. I look around for The Doctor, he must have wandered off. " Someone as scared as you are," I whisper in the same accent to comfort her. " To be honest I don't even belong here!" I sit next to the door and sigh. "I'm not cut out for all these aliens! But my god it's the most amazing thing ever!" I whisper to her. "I'm Jessica. What's your name?" I can hear her shuffling from inside. "Martha, Martha Jones." My head shoots up. "Really? I'm here with jack and..." I can't finish my sentence before she decides to open the door on my knee. " Jack? You're here with jack?" she asks excitedly. I nod through the sharp pain at the young black woman. I watch her run past me and I get up. Great. More running. I follow her keeping close behind, suddenly, The Doctor appears out of no where and runs right into Martha. Her screams are sharp as she hits him over the head with a vase next to her. "Doctor!" I cry watching his nose run with blood. I push her away and hold his face towards mine. "Doctor? Are you alright?" I ask wiping his chin. "I did just get hit in the face by what appears to be an antique vase," he gurgles spitting out blood afterwards. "Doctor?" Martha asks embarrassed. "Hello!" He says politely. She hugs him despite the blood and he smiles at me. His teeth a pinkish colour. She pulls away and looks at me. "where's Jack?" she asks.
I sit at the front door rubbing my bruised knee as they catch up. They're enthusiasm amazes me, we could die at any moment and they're eating biscuits! The Doctor's nose was still a tiny bit swollen, but how can you tell the difference? I can hear yelling outside, have they found us? We didn't really try to hide the bright blue TARDIS sitting right outside. I let them babble as I press my ear against the cool wood. One side of the conversation was human, but the other was Dalek. It was screaming at them to identify, it just screamed, nothing else. Not a normal tone left it's mouth, well, metal. I can't hear they're name over the group behind me. I turn to them and put my finger to my lips, and with one loud "Shhh!'" they were quiet, unhappy, but quiet. I slowly stand and peek outside. It's a man, I can't really see any other features. I can see the monster though, it's the same one as last time. It's voice echoes as it tells him he is unimportant, and a light connects with his skin as he falls with his hands clutching at his chest. I turn around and slide halfway down the door. My eyes must've given away what I had seen because jack lifts me to my feet and we venture outside. The man's screams replay in my head and the image of his body falling to the ground clutching his chest turn into a picture of one of us. His body was left there, not even moved to the side of the path. I don't bother asking if he's dead, there's no need, his eyes are wide with shock, fear and pain. He must be around 40 or so, his face is etched with laugh lines, he was a happy man once. I stand there for a while staring into his eyes as pain begins to grow in my head. A pain I haven't felt since I was a child. My hand come up to my head as I feel myself fall onto my knees, the stones and gravel cutting them. "Jessica?" I hear The Doctor call behind me and I begin to fall. It feels like eternity but I know it's only seconds. When my eyes close I can hear talking, disapproving whispers and judging taunts. Only one speaks directly.
Creeping and crawling
So very appalling
under your skin
I'll kill all your kin
My mind silently screams for me to wake up. Or was that The Doctor? "Hear their cries?" Is that grandmother again? "They think death is sorrow! But death is glory!" I listen to her twisted laughter. "If death is glory why do we bury the dead? Most fear death, but you welcomed it," I say. "You not only welcomed it, you caused it as well! Now let me go! I'm sick of this damned dream already!" I hear cracking. "HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT!" she screams. "You were a monster the moment you killed that first man! You were a devil when you stuck a dagger in my back! And everything evil when you left me!" I forced my eyes to look at her. "You were a child that was found," she growls. " I was just putting you back." I watch her smile. " I will lead my army to you my dear." Her face was suddenly very vacant. " Ask the man you call The Doctor for his name." My eyes open and I see The Doctors worried eyes above me. "I'm fine," I croak sitting up slowly. I was on a bed now, everyone staring at me as if I'd come back from the dead. I rub my head and find my hair had fallen out. Great. "What?" I ask when I notice The Doctor was following my hands. I move my hands slowly down towards my lap. "What?" His eyes move towards my face. "Was that on your hands before?" He asks finally talking. Confused I look down. My hands are covered in what looks like blood, it looks wet but it doesn't drip onto my lap or smear on my wrists when I try to wipe it off. I begin to panic and hobble towards the bathroom. Martha helps me reach the sink to wash my hands. The redness seems to be getting wetter by the second. She turns the tap on and places my hand underneath the cool water. I sigh in relief when I see it draining. When my hands are clean I dry them off on a soft green towel. I pull my hands away and look down at them. I can still see blood on the back of my hand. I vigorously try to rub it off, dry brown flakes float to the ground, I check again. There are words etched into my skin like inflamed pink/red scars. Ask for his name... I try to rub the writing off with my nails until my own blood drips down my wrist. "What are you doing?!" Martha growls pulling my hand away. She begins to sanitise it gently, dabbing around the edges of the cut first. Then inside the cut. When I realise it doesn't hurt I look at it. There's nothing there, only blood covering the end of the sentence. She wipes it away and reads it. "Ask for his name? Whose name?" She asks. I'm glad she can actually see the writing, it means I'm not ill in the head. " HIS name," I say bluntly. " whose name don't you know?" I look at Martha pointedly. "The Doctor?" she asks. I nod. "I dreamt of my grandmother. She was explaining things to me, about how I was found and how she would lead an army to me." I shudder at my own words. " And to ask him for his name." Martha stares at me. "I'll get you a bandage to cover your hand, hide it until then," she explains to me. As she walks away I grab a towel and press it around my hand, since it has blood on it already it will look real. Walking out I press it down harder, my mind is running through every scenario. When I finally make it out I sit on the bed and stare at my hand until the doctor walks in. " Are you ok?" he asks me sitting down. " Pardon? Oh, yes. Just cut it on the way down," I say pressing down harder still. "Here let me," he says beginning to take away the towel. "NO!" I cry pushing his hand. My mind works quickly to think of an excuse. " I'm trying to stop the blood," I say blushing. He apologises and lays on the bed next to me. I decide to lay down too. Our heads on the same pillow nearly touching. What do you think of the future?" he asks me. I shrug and lean my head on his shoulder. " Let me see a good year, then I might decide." I feel him laugh. "Good idea, I promise we'll get a good year next time!" I can hear shuffling behind me, it's heavy and loud. "Am I interrupting something?" I hear jack ask us. My head shoots around and I collide with The Doctor. "Sorry!" I say blushing. I sit up and turn to him, he's holding a bandage. " Martha said you needed it," he says holding it out. I walk to him and hold out my 'injured' hand. He eyes it strangely, I can see his mind trying to work it out. Suddenly his eyes light up. I look at him and he nods, I know he'll want to hear my story behind it. He gently wraps it up and I pass him the towel. "Thanks," I say for both the bandage and him being quiet. He nods again and walks away. I turn to the doctor to find him staring. "Yes?" I say casually rubbing my hand. " so you're an alien? Explain."