"Tell me where I am! I DEMAND YOU TELL ME RIGHT NOW...WHERE AM I!" A woman with red hair yells.
My first thought is that she is wearing wedding dress, how bizarre.
"Inside the Tardis" a voice replies.
A man, yes, it's definitely a man's voice. I can't see him. Slowly, I attempt to sit up from my lying position, trying to get a better grasp of my surroundings. A wave of dizziness hits me, leaving me disoriented and desperate to work out where on Earth I am. I begin to realise quite quickly that this is definitely no hospital. The room is lit with an orange glow, and there is grating along the floor I am lying on. Towards the middle of the room, where the woman is standing, there is some kind of light? A console? It looks like something out of those sci-fi films Dad and Jamie always watch, all buttons, noises and flashing lights. If I didn't know better, I'd say I was in one of those films right now, maybe one with aliens or rockets... something bizarre along those lines.
But I do know better. I know that's not real. So where the hell am I? As I begin to seek a logical explanation the shouting woman startles me out of my thoughts.
"The what?!' She practically screams. I'd feel sorry for the bloke if I could actually see him. I'm glad I'm not the one facing the wrath of this red head bride. Then I realise, perhaps this woman has worked it out, she has clearly been awake longer than me, she thinks he's a kidnapper... which makes me a hostage too... and in danger...
"The Tardis" he responds as if that's an actual word...and I'm good at words... I read a lot... so I am certain that what he just said was made up.
"The what?" She barks back at him, not missing a beat.
"The TARDIS" he repeats... he must be doing this on purpose... what's his motive... his plan? To disorientate us? Play the victim too? Gain our trust. He knows what he is doing, manoeuvring around the console with far too much confidence to be innocent.
"The WHAT!?" She bellows back, clearly demanding a proper answer, and I must admit I'd rather like to know the truth too.
"IT'S CALLED THE TARDIS!" He shouts back, clearly frustrated. Just tell the truth mate.. She's going to skin you alive in a minute.
"Thats not even a proper word! You're just saying things..." she begins to rant. How she is being so in control of the situation I don't understand, personally, I'm freaking out. Somehow I have been drugged, Kidnapped and am being held hostage by a man who uses made-up words! How the hell do I get out? I begin to roam the walls for any sign of an exit. They've not noticed me yet, she's doing a great job of distracting him. Focus Nadine, you have you're whole life ahead of you, just get free and get home safe.
The man moves around the console, I get my first proper look at him. He's skinny, wearing a pinstripe brown suit paired with some converse trainers. Could we could overpower him? The two of us? Perhaps... No, I just need to find an exit. This doesn't have to turn violent. I begin to quietly stand, trying to avoid drawing any attention to myself.
"How did you get in here?" He questions, aha! So he is playing the innocent man... who just happens to have stolen two women. Nice try mate! I need to get out fast, make the most of this opportunity, use the advantage of surprise and get help...
"Well obviously when you kidnapped me! Who was it? Who's paying you? Is it Nerys? OH MY GOD... she's finally gotten me back. This has got Nerys written all over it!" The woman attempts to work it out, but who is Nerys? Is she from the university? Is this an elaborate prank? I wish... But no, it can't be. I don't recognise a Nerys, so why would I be involved? And clearly this red head is dressed for her wedding, so she's not been working at the university. Why us? What does he want with me?
Well, I'm not planning on hanging about long enough to find out. I just want to be safe, somewhere recognisable... my bed would be ideal.
The two bicker some more... I zone them out... focusing my attention on a practical solution. If I could just locate a door... There! At the end of a ramp that leads up to the console is a doorway! An exit! I can survive, escape and get help. That way me and this woman can go back to our lives and this man can't do anything further to harm us. I'm getting us out of here.
Now, focus, I need to reach the door.. but to do that involves drawing attention to myself. I calculate the distance between myself and the door, and figure that I may be able to reach it before the man gets to me if I sprint. Not ideal considering my whole body aches, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I've really got little choice.
"... WE'RE GONNA SUE THE LIVING BACKSIDE OFF OF YOU!" The woman continues to shout at our kidnapper, who I would feel sorry for if the circumstances were different and I wasn't clearly his hostage.
I take this moment to jump up onto the ramp. This is it, my only chance. I startle the woman who lets out a shriek, drawing the attention of our kidnapper.
"Nadine?" He questions.
He knows my name. He's a stalker, not good, very not good, I've never met him before in my life and he knows my name. This is dangerous, time to go.
I sprint over towards the door without a second glance in the direction of the two others. I can hear a pair of feet following behind, trying to catch up. The man is shouting. I push myself to move faster and hit the door, quickly grabbing the latch and swinging the doors open.
I never expected this.
Falling...
...until a pair of arms surround my waist, firmly yanking me backwards.
Space. This is space. I nearly fell into space. SPACE! ACTUAL REAL LIFE SPACE!
The force of him pulling me back through the doors causes us to both fall. Me lying on top of him.
I can't breathe. This is wrong. This is all so wrong. I'm either dead, dying or dreaming... I must be.
My breathing comes out in sharp gasps, I'm more panicked than I have ever felt before. I struggle to free myself from my kidnappers vice-like grip. I begin crying out for help, desperate for something, I don't know what. To feel safe, in control... to be back at university, or at home, in my bed... My entire world is shattering and I don't understand what's happening. This can't be real. But that was space! Real, actual space!
Suddenly the man manoeuvres me so that I am facing him. I still fight him to get free, but he continues to grip hold of the top or my arms as he attempts to catch my eye.
He's speaking, but I can barely make out the words as I spiral deeper into panic.
"Calm down... Nadine, hey! Look at me. That's it... it's ok... just breath... everything is ok... look at me, see? It's me, the Doctor. You're safe... that's it... keep breathing Nadine... deep breaths"
I have little choice but to follow his instructions, and they do help. Why he is helping me? Shouldn't he be angry that I tried to escape? Escape...yes... escape! I have to get free. That's all I know.
"Rassilon Nadine! You just took a good ten decades off of my life! What's happening? Where have you just come from?"
He keeps firing questions at me. I'm so confused and beginning to shake, is this what going into shock feels like?
"Nadine! Talk to me.." He grasps my chin in an attempt to draw my focus back onto his face. Our eyes meet... his are a dark chocolate.. there is something wrong about them. They don't match his face, the rest of him looks young, fresh, no older than 30. Yet those eyes...they tell a different story. Who is this man?
"Who...the hell... are... you?" I manage to get out.
His arms go slack. Shock fills his features and I quickly take advantage of the moment and shuffle out of his hold, pushing myself against the doors. I reach up to grasp the latch. Trying in vain hope to open the doors again and see a street, somewhere I can escape to. But the latch does not move this time. This only scares me more.
I'm trapped. It's over.
The man has gone from looking shocked to devastated in a quick turn of emotions. Then he seems to realise I'm watching him and quickly changes his expression to a more neutral one, masking his emotions, not good, I want him to be an open book.
"Who are you? What do you want from me?" I question again, it's my turn to speak, and I want answers.
Another flicker of grief crosses his face before he quickly seals it away behind a detached mask.
"I'm the Doctor" he states, and looks hopefully towards me as though that should mean something.
What is it with this man and giving ominous, useless answers?
"Doctor who?" I fire back, and for a moment a smirk passes across his face.
"It's not funny" I continue, and he drops the smile and goes back to looking serious and somewhat saddened.
"No. I know, it's not...yet" he mutters, I can't tell if he wanted me to hear that.
It's then that I hear a rustling in the background and a glimpse of white catches my eye. The bride is watching us, she looks over at me with concern.
Our eyes meet and mine begin to fill with tears. She can tell I'm afraid, and I feel guilty for not being able to escape and find us both help. She is stuck with this man too, I suppose at least we aren't alone.
"Ok, so introductions... I'm the Doctor. Just the Doctor. And you are currently onboard my ship, the Tardis, meaning Time And Relative Dimension In Sapace" he pauses and takes in our blank stares.
"In other words, she travels in time and space" he explains.
"What and you're an alien from the planet Zog?" I deadpan. He's mental, I'm stuck with a crazy man. We are so dead, oh God, will my family ever know what happened to me?
"Yes, well, no... oh... I hate having to explain.." he looks stuck for words. Good, he should be struggling, what he is suggesting is absolutely mad. I want to go home, be normal, get out of this nightmare.
Oh... Of course, this is literally a nightmare. The whole situation is ludicrous, meaning it really must be a dream... Things like this just don't happen in real life. And clearly this is the only logical explanation, making it the most likely to be correct. Yes, I'm dreaming, meaning that if I go along with this, it'll be over soon. I hope.
"Its ok, you don't need to explain, I don't want to know" I cut this Doctor man off, what's the point in listening to a made up explanation when this is all clearly a figment of my imagination? No, I'd rather go along with the dream, and hopefully wake up very soon.
The Doctor is looking at me curiously his penetrating gaze seems to look right into my soul. What has he found?
"You think this is a dream?" It sounds more like a statement than a question, and I quickly meet his eyes in shock at how easily he just read me like an open book. That was weird.
"Well, yes, I mean obviously" I shrug him off, I mean, it's pretty obvious that none of this is real.
The 'Doctor' strides towards me, then halts as the last second when he begins to see me shrink away as he intrudes on my space. Again, I catch a glimmer of sadness? Frustration? Disappointment? Then, as soon as it arrives, it is gone from this man's face.
"Nadine, I'm sorry, really, I am truly very sorry. I promise to explain everything to you as soon as I help Donna, she shouldn't have arrived on the Tardis like that... out of thin air." And with that his focus turns to the woman with the red hair, Donna.
Why does he want to help her and not me? What have I done? I mean, randomly experiencing flashes of pain and then blacking out and arriving on a spaceship isn't exactly a regular occurrence for me either.
"Hey! What about me? I just appeared out of nowhere too, that, or you brought me here!" I argue, trying to ensure my own survival as he appears almost unbothered by what feels like a pretty crazy situation for me at least.
He glances in my direction, then does a double take, hesitation flickers across his face.
"No Nadine, it wasn't me, I didn't do this. But I do know that you are safe, so don't panic. Just let me work this all out for Donna and we can drink tea and talk..."
Not bloody likely, as soon as Donna is leaving so am I, I'm certainly not hanging about to have a quick cuppa. Once he helps her and lets her go, I'll be screaming bloody murder and getting on the first bus I see.
This Doctor grabs some spacey device and begins to invade Donna's personal bubble, I've literally known this woman less than two minutes and even I realise that is a bad idea.
Wham! She slaps him...ouch.
"What was that for?!" He shouts in response. Wow he really is out of his depth.
"GET ME TO THE CHURCH" Donna orders... well, more like screams at him.
Then he's springing away from her and wizzing around the console.
"Right, fine! I don't want you here anyway. Where is this wedding?"
Finally! A chance to get away, wherever this church is, I really don't care as long as it's on Earth and there is a phone nearby. Unless this is all a dream. Then I'll have to do something to wake up... Ok, one thing at a time. Let's get somewhere recognisable, then I can work things out from there.
"St. Mary's, Haven road, Chiswick, London... ENGLAND... EARTH... THE SOLAR SYSTEM" She orders despairingly.
As Donna begins to rant again, I take a minute to explore my environment further... I've literally never seen any place like this before. I wander towards a handrail and grasp it. Hoping to gain some strength and balance as my legs being to feel wobbly. There it is again! The humming, I can feel it, inside me... It's like its alive...
Then my attention turns to some clothes splayed lazily across the handrail further along. Wait a second... Thats mine! My hoodie, my red hoodie with my university crest on it, my parents bought it as a gift for being accepted. I wore it constantly over the summer break, excitedly waiting to finally arrive there. But I left it at home! I thought it'd be embarrassing if I actually wore it on campus when I was there, so when mum asked where it was when we unpacked my stuff into my new accommodation, I lied and said I must've forgotten to pack it. In reality, I'd intentionally left it, why do I feel so guilty now? I tie it around my waist, hoping it will provide some comfort.
Back to the real question, how can it possibly be here? Because even for a stalker this is unlikely. It simply doesn't make sense. Unless, well, I suppose now it's clear. This is a dream. So I just need to stay calm and wake up, maybe I will in time anyway.
Oh! And look, that's not mine. Beside my hoodie is a purple top, so who does that belong to then? I pick it up to examine, maybe there's a name in the label, mum was obsessed with labelling all my clothes even past primary school.
Suddenly the top is yanked from my grasp by the ginger, she holds it in a tight fist and turns to the Doctor.
"I knew it! We're not the first are we! Acting all innocent... How many women have you abducted?" She accuses.
As he looked up ready to rebuke her statement, he freezes when he realises what she is holding. Then shifts his eyes to me. Then back to the angry Donna. The doctor sighs... he looks.. heartbroken, desolate and deeply pained. What could change a man's demeanour so quickly?
"Thats my friends" He admits.
And I believe him, I probably shouldn't, but I do. Something about those eyes helps me to see he is telling the truth and greatly suffering, whatever has happened to his friend must have been recent.
"Where is she then? Just popped out for a spacewalk?!" Donna responds scathingly, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Oh god, she can't see it, she doesn't realise that he is truly hurting.
"She's gone" is as much information as we are given.
"Gone where?" We both enquire in unity, my softer voice contrasting with Donna's frustrated bellow. He looks to me, meeting me dead in the eyes.
"Gone" he tells me, and I can't draw my eyes from him.
"I lost her" he continues.
I go to speak, perhaps offer my condolences, or ask for more information... but Donna beats me to speak.
"Well you can hurry up and lose me!" Wow... she is really not reading the room right at all.
Then again, I have to respect her ability to fight her way out of what appears to be dire circumstances. I certainly know I wouldn't want to pick a fight with this particular redhead. I should probably stick with her, focus on getting out of here, can't start getting emotionally attached to a figment of my dream, or worse, a kidnapper... who is apparently an alien.
Then the whole ship makes a shuddering groan and I am thrown to the floor, blindly reaching to grip the handrail that I swear I was just standing next to a minute ago! There is a thump. Then it goes quiet. Donna and I take one look at each other, instantly thinking the same thing. We dash for the door, which opens!
Then we are out on a street. A plain old boring grey street. I don't recognise it, but I almost cry out in relief. One step closer to home and safety of this is all real. And if its not, well, then I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.
Donna and the doctor are chatting, he's busy stroking his ship...Hold up. His ship! Sorry, since when did we all fit inside that! Its a police box, no seriously, this is a blue police box! How the hell does the outside fit in? This is impossible. That's one point towards my dream theory then.
Donna has noticed too, as she starts pacing around the box. The Doctor has rushed back inside, maybe this is it, is he going now? Donna then goes to peer back through the doors. Having had enough she squares her shoulders, grabs my hand and begins marching off. Not that I'm complaining, I mean she clearly knows what she's doing.
"You probably overheard this sweetheart, but I'm Donna, don't worry, I'll look after you. That Martian isn't getting his hands on us again!" She declares.
The fire in her eyes lessen, and she looks at me with a soft expression that helps me to feel slightly safer.
"You're young. How old?" She's clearly trying to distract me from panicking. And I'll take what I can get right now.
"Eighteen, nearly nineteen" I reply shakily, my legs really are hurting now. Maybe adrenaline has been keeping me standing so far, but things feel like they are catching up with me and I am starting to feel sick.
Before I can spiral into more panic the doctor catches up.
"Come back to the Tardis, Nadine, Donna, please" he implores.
"No way that box is too weird!" She cries out, grasping my hand tighter. I am starting to feel worse and I am no longer keeping pace with donna, but despite this she continues to drag me along, keeping me close.
"I just want to go home" I whisper, I don't who I was telling, maybe myself. But my legs are getting lethargic and I really don't feel well.
The doctor glances at me, then grasps my other arm, causing me to stumble and stop as well as Donna, who is forced to go to grinding halt. He twists me towards him, trying to look into my eyes. I feel so dizzy I just let him. I've got no fight left. This is a dream, it has to be. I'm just so tired.
"Nadine, look at me." He speaks in a low, serious tone that somehow has me obeying.
Timidly I meet his eyes, unsure of what he is looking for. Then his hand is resting against my forehead and he is reaching for my pulse along my arm. A wave of nausea hits and I stumble. He quickly reacts as Donna cries out, my other hand still grasping hers and nearly dragging her down with me. The doctor pulls me against him in one swift motion, then gently lowers me to the ground. My head has started pounding as I lie against his chest, curling in on myself, and I cry out. Not again, please God, I can't feel this pain again. But it continues to get more painful, as the burning sensation returns in full force.
"Its ok, hey, Nadine, you're going to be fine" he coos softly in my ear, holding me tightly and rocking me.
Somewhere above me I hear Donna offer to get help, call an ambulance, she leaves desperately calling out for aid. Now it's just us two. I'm glad I'm not alone, and my fear of this stranger is currently being drowned out by this agony in my head and burning throughout my body.
"Listen, I know hurts, but you need to listen. This is important. This will be tough Nadine, so I need you to be brave. You're going somewhere now, and you need to find me, find the Doctor. I may not look the same so get me to tell you the word 'pears' and then you will know its me... Ok? Nadine! Focus, remember to find me. I'll explain everything..."
I am fading in and out of consciousness now, I can't hang on much longer. The pain is roaring, tearing through me. I can barely make sense of the Doctors words.
"I promise, I'll tell you what you need to know, Nadine...Trust me" He speaks
"Help... me" I utter through clenched teeth, looking up at him despite the pain... I can see tears welling in his eyes. I don't understand. What does he know, and why does he care?
"I'll see you soon"
And with that, I am out like a light.