Authors note-
Thank you so much for the likes and feedback.
@savethemadscientist I appreciate you're reviews and the more feedback I receive there easier it is to stay motivated to write!
Please continue to review and I hope you all enjoy this new chapter, part one of two for this episode!
I woke up in a daze. Gasping for air as my body seemed to reboot itself. The most that clouded the edges of my vision began to clear as I took in my new surroundings.
Creaking wood was the first bit of sensory information I processed. Odd. But with the way my day was going, unsurprising. Then I realised I was moving, or to be more specific, the floor seemed to be rocking. There were barrels in this room too. Piled up against a wall.
I moved closer towards them, to investigate, hoping to find a clue as to where I was. I lifted the lid off one of the barrels, peering inside...
Gunpowder.
Ok, that's very not great. Right, so I'm in a wooden room with highly explosive material... and wood is attributed to creating fire. Brilliant, just brilliant!
Deep breaths. Stay calm, assess the situation. At the end of the day I'm still betting on my dream theory, because any other reason for this would be ludicrous!
There's a cough. Albeit muffled, an attempt to keep hidden perhaps. But there is definitely someone else here.
My first instinct is to call out for him.
"Doctor?" I don't know why, I guess at this point I am associating the strange circumstances to this strange man. I don't trust him, no that would be naive, but he said he has answers. And I need answers.
A barrel creaks, interesting, clever I suppose. Whoever is in this room has hidden in that barrel I expect. That can't be comfortable. Unless...
I head towards the creaking barrel. Moving to grasp the top and reveal the hiding person. It stays fixed. I try again, pulling harder to lift the lid this time.
And... A splinter! Ouch..
Just great. I try to pull the small price of wood out. God this is annoying, how on earth is this my situation right now. Surrounded by barrels of gunpowder in a rocking wooden room after transporting onto a spaceship from my uni lecture hall!
Aha...There, got the splinter out! And I'm barely bleeding. Why is it always the smallest cuts hurt the most?
With renewed effort, I pull harder on the barrel lid, this time successfully ripping the top off. To uncover a boy. A small boy, he must be no more than ten. Bless him, his pallor is sickly. And he's so tiny he's hardly a threat.
"Hey" I approach cautiously, trying to seem unthreatening.
"I'm Nadine. I think I'm a little lost. Why don't you come out so we can have a chat?" I implore, going for a friendly approach.
The boy looks up at me with wide eyes.
"I saw you" he accuses.
My face is blank, he saw me? Do what?
"I'm sorry?" I question.
"I saw you appear out of nowhere!" He cries in response.
What. Appear out of nowhere? Impossible.
"How do you mean?"
"There was a light, this bright light. Then you was here"
I hold back on correcting his English. 'Were' not 'was'. God, I'm such a typical English student! Jamie always used to get snappy with me when I corrected his poor English.
Instead of voicing my correction, I focus on this new piece of information.
"What? I just showed up out of nowhere?"
"Yeah. So stay back. I'm warning you, whatever demon you are, stay away!" He firmly bellows at me, which doesn't really come out quite as scary as I expect he wanted to, he does this while struggling his way out of the barrel and moving towards the opposite end of the room. Coughing and wheezing as he does so.
"It's ok! Honestly, I swear, I don't mean any harm! I don't even understand how I did what I did. I promise. Please, could you tell me where I am?" I try to calm the situation down and work out where I am. Maybe I can get help then.
"How can you not know where you are? Are you really a Demon?" He queries
Well that's just plain rude.
"No!" is my sharp and indignant reply.
"Now, please, where am I?" I continue.
"The ship. My Dad's vessel. I'm not supposed to be here, so be quiet." He explains.
"Well I'm not supposed to be here either, so that makes two of us"
Before I can continue to question the boy and asses my circumstances and the best plan of action. The door smashes open. Startling us both.
We let out a shriek as do the intruders. A man in a tweed jacket with floppy brown hair seems to recover the fastest.
"Nadine! Don't do that!" This young, yet tweed- wearing man yells.
What the Hell.
"Do what?" I shriek back.
"Scare me like that!" He cries back.
"Well I didn't plan it mate!" Is my indignant reply. These accusations are starting to get to me now.
"Oh stop bickering you two! Or flirting, are you flirting? I can't tell anymore" a girl with ginger hair butts in.
"I'm sorry? Who are you? Have we met or something?" I ask rather affronted by the woman.
She pauses... looks from me to the doctor then does a double take. Now I am pierced with her glare... and the man with the bow tie begins to glare over too... and some men dressed as costume pirates join in with the observation of me.
Right, so clearly I am missing something here. I'm getting sick of feeling confused now, and I just want to go home. This attention really is starting to get on my nerves.
"Can someone tell me what the Hell is going on." I demand.
The ginger begins to speak then snaps her mouth shut and looks over to bow tie man... expecting him to respond? I look in his direction, raising my eyebrows to show my impatience.
He audibly gulps, eyes going wide... eyes that I feel I should know. He grunts, makes a brief coughing sound, clearing his throat as if preparing to make a speech.
"Hello, I'm the Doctor"
Shut up.
What is he on about! There can't be two of them. Hold up... What was it he said? The same face.. he might not have the same face. Oh God... No... Nope... Impossible!
"I don't understand" I admit, beyond confused and slightly hysterical.
He winces, then sighs and moves towards me. I immediately back away from his advance and he stops abruptly upon realising my discomfort. He begins rocking on the balls of his feet, deliberating what to say? Trying to remember something perhaps?
"Oh! Yes, of course. I'm clever! A genius in fact, the old me, he prepared for this exact moment. Knew you would be surprised you see, God I am just so clever sometimes" The bowtie bloke with the tweed goes off on a self indulgent tangent as the ginger begins to scoff, he then scowls over at her.
"Mate, I really don't have a clue what's going on right now... but to be absolutely honest I just want to go home. I don't mean any trouble and I swear if you can just help me..." I begin pleading for help to find a way home before he butts in.
"Pears!" He shouts, seemingly proud of such a sudden announcement.
Everyone now looks just as confused as I feel, and it's a relief really, now they get to experience how I've been feeling all day.
"I'm sorry?" I respond, truly lost.
"I told you, remember, the Doctor... He told you to trust that I am him if I use the code word 'pears'... come on Nadine, you're a bright girl! And, relatively speaking its been approximately twenty minutes for you... and oh... well... I was going on 903 then... now I think I'm around 909... unless I'm lying... again... must stop that really, you really don't like it when I lie. But it's definitely been longer for me! So if I remember telling you to trust the future me saying pears, you must recall that conversation too" he explains in a roundabout way that leaves me in shock at the entire situation. This feeling of absurdity is starting to get old now, can't I just wake up?
And then it clicks... He did tell me that! Right before I passed out, he told me he would look different and that I could trust that he was the Doctor if he used 'pears' as a codeword to confirm his identity. But surely not... I mean, a new haircut would be fine... but this is an entirely brand new man. Impossible. Then again impossible has been a word used all to frequently today.
"Doctor? You're the man I was with earlier, how?" I exclaim, trying to process everything.
"It's me, yes, I know it's confusing and you've had a long day Nadine. But believe me when I say you're safe, I will look out for you. And you can trust me, I really am the Doctor" He confirms, and the sincerity in his words has me starting to believe him.
"But how can it be? You're a new man, that's literally not possible!" I begin to speculate, challenging this stranger.
"I told you before, alien, remember? I'm not human, limited to one body. I can change every cell in my body, regenerate them, to heal what you would deem a fatal injury. Regeneration, that's what it's called. My people could do it to save ourselves from death" He tries to clarify the reality of him being this Doctor man, but it's hard to accept what he is telling me. If he is telling the truth, then my whole understanding of the world, universe and life has been turned upside down.
Would it really hurt to just go along with him? I mean, realistically, this is all a dream. And either way, what choice do I have. This man seems to care, and he clearly knows me from the way he has been reading me like an open book.
"Right, ok, so you're a face-changing alien from outer space who already knows me and somehow I have jumped from the old you to the new you while passed out?" I clarify, attempting to help him to see the absurdity of this situation.
He sighs again, runs a hand down the side of his face. Then the ginger butts in.
"I know how it sounds, but he really is telling you the truth" she confirms to me.
Before I get the chance to further interrogate this Doctor, a man with a grey beard and pirate hat storms forward, at first I think he's reaching to attack me. Then he swipes at the boy, holding him by the lapels.
"You fool! You fool boy!" He thunders, beginning to shake the poor boy as he shoves him against a wooden beam.
Out of pure instinct I attempt to stand up for my young ally.
"Oi! Put him down, who the Hell do you think you are? You can't just treat..." I begin to shout in anger, hoping to bellow at him enough to distract him from the poor lad.
The Doctor grabs my arm to stop me from pursuing this brutish man as he shields me behind his body and next to the ginger, who I now realise is stood holding a brown haired man.
"Who is he?" One of the other men dressed as a pirate questions.
"What? He's not one of the crew?" The doctor counters.
The white bearded man then seems to sag and relax his hold on the boy, head lowered as he admits to us the truth.
"No...he's my son" and then he releases the boy altogether.
I immediately shove myself out of the doctors grasp, who seems to reluctantly allow me my freedom as the risk of a physical fight diminishes and he deems it safe. I then move to hug the poor boy who seems startled and clearly upset. He too seems lost and unsure of his situation, I have to be brave for him. I want him to feel supported and safe, he reminds me of my brother, Jamie. There can't be much difference in age between them. A pang of sadness hits me at the thought of Jamie, I miss him, and this is the first time I have ever been unsure as to whether I'll make it home to him.
Over the next few minutes the boy begins to explain the death of his mother, Typhoid Fever, bless him. He's just a child. And I learn that this man who is his father is also the captain of a ship. A pirate ship, which at this point doesn't even surprise me anymore, I mean, things can't get much more mad. The poor lad then continues to explain the purpose of his hiding, to join his father's crew. Thats when the conversation takes a different turn altogether. We are warned of some monster aboard who has made this ship a dangerous place to be apparently.
"She leaves a mark on men's skin" the captain explains.
'The black spot" the boy answers and this causes the Doctor to turn to the boy in shock as the captain too appears to be looking at him in horror. The ginger sits up straighter, propped against a barrel, now looking concerned.
I then look over to see the captain grab the boys hand and turn it so that his palm is facing upwards, revealing an inky black spot in its centre. He then begins to cough and splutter. He's sick, a cold maybe? Or a nasty bought of the flu? It is rather cold. And now he's the prey to some dangerous monster?
The Doctor then begins to theorise to us, clearly looking for a solution and way to understand and control this situation.
"It's not just blood, she's coming for all the sick and wounded like a hunter chooses its weakest animal" well, that makes me feel so much better.
The ginger cuts in.
"Ok, look, he's got a fever, the siren knows it" she continues, attempting to comprehend the situation herself.
"So what? It's a fever, he's not exactly dying" I break in, hoping to reassure the boy and direct the conversation into a more positive light, to which which the Doctor replies with and even bleaker response.
"Humans, second rate. Damage too easily, it's only a matter of time before everyone gets... bruised" then it is s if a lightbulb goes off in his head. And somehow I begin to feel hope as I see this Doctor brighten up with the foundations of a plan.
"My ship, it can sail us all away from here, you and me, we fetch it... let's go" he orders the captain, who in return pulls out a gun from his holster. I flinch in reaction.
"You're not the captain here, remember?" He threatens in a low tone.
Suddenly the lad pulls a lid off of a barrel containing water and a green, glowing hand shoots out from the water. There is a scream or a wail from the barrel, I can't make it out properly.
I stagger forwards as the Doctor and captain push past me to grasp the lid and force it back onto the barrel in a desperate rush.
There is some debate following this that I tune out, still recovering from whatever just happened. Then the captain gives his orders. And next thing the Doctor is moving to leave with the captain.
As I begin to focus back in on the action I hear the Doctor speaking to the brown haired man with the nose.
"There are worse ways to go than having your face snogged off by a dodgy mermaid" and again I am faced with how truly bizarre my day has turned out to be. How is this my life?
Then the two men are gone and I am left huddled in the corner of the room.
I begin to pull at a thread in my jumper, distracting myself from my situation. I guess this is what shock feels like, I know I can't deal with the reality of my situation, it's all just too much to process and I'm overloaded, overwhelmed by the sheer and drastic change to my life over the corse of a few hours. The fact that this morning I was at university and have since met a man in converse trainers and a pinstripe suit who is apparently an alien who has changed into a bowtie wearing teenager isn't the most terrifying thing about today is a testament to how bad things are.
Because there is something that scares me more. And that's the fact that I didn't feel worried about my situation for few minutes. I was blissfully at peace. I shouldn't be, and I know that. I know I should be anxious because I don't know how to get home, and that I should feel sad because I miss my family. The other thing I know for sure is that I shouldn't feel so drawn to the sirens call. And that I should be very concerned about the black spot currently residing in the centre of my hand.