(10th Doctor)

I blinked against the bright sunlight streaming through the trees. This wasn't... home. The last thing I remembered was walking through the park, distracted by a notification on my phone, and then—nothing. Now I was standing in the middle of what looked like an entirely different place. Definitely not my park. My head spun, and I looked around, feeling a strange, low hum in the air, almost like a vibration beneath my feet.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any stranger, I heard voices—two, to be exact. A man and a woman.

"Oi! You there!" The man's voice was cheerful but with a sense of urgency. I turned around and saw them: a man in a brown pinstripe suit, coat flapping behind him as he jogged up to me, and a blonde woman at his side. The man's hair was wild, like he hadn't bothered to tame it in days, but his eyes... they sparkled with curiosity and something like excitement. The woman, who looked a bit more grounded but equally curious, smiled at me warmly.

"Are you alright?" she asked, her voice soft but with an accent I couldn't quite place.

"I... I think so," I managed to say, although I wasn't sure if that was true. "Where am I?"

"Ah, great question!" the man said with far too much enthusiasm for my liking. "Right now? You're somewhere you probably didn't expect to be. Earth, sure, but a bit... well, displaced, let's say. Time can be tricky like that. Anyway—I'm the Doctor, by the way." He flashed me a grin, as though that explained everything.

The Doctor? What kind of name was that?

"And I'm Rose," the woman added with a slight nod, clearly more adept at normal human introductions.

I stood there for a moment, trying to process what they'd just told me. The Doctor? Rose? Time? "What... what do you mean by 'displaced'? And where am I really?"

"About that," the Doctor said, pulling out some strange metal device—like a flashlight, but more complicated, with a glowing blue tip. He waved it around me, and it emitted a faint buzzing sound. "Yep! That confirms it. You're from a different time altogether. Fascinating!" His eyes lit up like he'd just discovered something extraordinary.

Rose, noticing my still-dazed expression, stepped forward, her tone softer. "You're in a different part of your future, love. Bit far out, I reckon. We're gonna help you, yeah?"

My future? My legs wobbled slightly, and I took a deep breath. "Wait, wait, wait—how can I be in the future? I was just in my hometown, like, ten minutes ago!"

"Time travel!" the Doctor chirped, almost as if it were the simplest explanation in the world. "Nothing to worry about. Well, not most of the time. In this case, though, I'm afraid something's gone a bit wrong, and you've ended up in the wrong decade."

I rubbed my temples, trying to wrap my head around all of this. "So... you're telling me you're some sort of... time traveler?"

"Not just me," the Doctor said, still beaming. "Rose here too! Well, technically, I'm the one doing the traveling, but she's along for the ride. And now, it seems, so are you."

Rose smiled at me again, though I could tell she was watching me closely, maybe waiting for me to freak out. "It's a lot, I know. But you're not alone."

"I... don't even know your names," I said, shaking my head slightly.

"Already told you, I'm the Doctor," the man said, still scanning around with that device of his.

"Doctor who?" I blurted out before I could stop myself.

Rose laughed, glancing at the Doctor. "Everyone asks that."

"The Doctor's fine," he said with a wink. "Now! Let's get you sorted, shall we?"

"Sorted?" I echoed, still feeling like I'd missed about three steps in this conversation. "What do you mean sorted?"

"Well, I can't very well leave you stuck in the wrong time, can I?" He looked almost offended at the idea. "You'll come with us, figure out what's going on, maybe save the day along the way—could be fun! What's your name, by the way?"

My name. Right. That should've been the easiest part of this conversation, but the shock of everything made me stumble over my words for a second. "It's Camille. Camille Lucas."

"Camille Lucas!" the Doctor repeated with a grin, like it was the most brilliant name he'd ever heard. "Well, Camille, I'm afraid we're right in the middle of a little... mystery."

"Really? What kind of mystery?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, you'll love this," the Doctor said, already moving ahead, with Rose following. "Turns out there's a time anomaly in this area, and you, my dear Camille, may have something to do with it."

My stomach dropped. "Anomaly? Is that why I'm here?"

"Could be," Rose said as we started walking. "You weren't the only strange thing we noticed around here. We were investigating a few other... disruptions, you could say."

The Doctor stopped suddenly and turned to face me, his eyes narrowing, though not in suspicion. It was more like he was solving a puzzle in his head. "What were you doing right before you found yourself here, Camille?"

"I was... just walking through the park," I said, the memory already feeling distant. "It was normal. There wasn't anything strange—at least, I didn't think so."

The Doctor nodded, looking thoughtful. "And then suddenly... poof, here you are."

"Yeah," I said, rubbing the back of my neck. "Poof."

"Well, Camille, it seems we've got a poof to investigate!" he said, waving his arms around as if that would explain everything.

Rose gave me a sympathetic look. "You'll get used to him, promise."

I wasn't so sure about that, but for now, it seemed like I didn't have much of a choice but to follow along. I had no idea how I'd gotten here or what this so-called Doctor and Rose were capable of, but there was something about them that made me feel like... maybe they could help.

Maybe this Doctor really was as brilliant as he seemed.

"Right, Camille," the Doctor said, marching forward, "we've got an adventure ahead of us. Stick close, and try not to wander off. Time travel can get a bit... messy."

I blinked, feeling a strange mixture of excitement and dread bubbling inside me. "Messy? What exactly does that mean?"

"Oh, you'll find out!" he said with a grin over his shoulder.

Somehow, I had the feeling he wasn't joking.

I followed the Doctor and Rose, trying to shake the sense that I was in a dream—or maybe a nightmare. My feet felt heavy, like they were sinking into the ground with every step, and the strange landscape around me only made it harder to focus. The trees were different here, taller, with twisted roots that seemed to reach out of the soil. The air was thick, but not in a bad way—more like it had a hidden energy, something alive and buzzing beneath the surface.

Rose was walking alongside me, her expression soft, like she was trying to be reassuring. "Don't worry, Camille. It's a lot to take in, but we've done this a thousand times, yeah? So, you're in good hands."

I nodded absently, trying to keep up with their fast pace. "So... this happens to you a lot?"

The Doctor shot me a mischievous grin. "You could say that. Time and space are full of surprises. And every now and then, someone like you gets caught up in it." He waved the strange metal device around again, still scanning. "You're not the first person I've met who's been yanked through time, Camille. And trust me, you won't be the last."

Rose chuckled. "He makes it sound like it's normal. It's not. But you'll get used to it. We've got you for now, and we'll figure it out."

The Doctor suddenly stopped in his tracks, causing Rose and I to both stumble slightly. "Ah, there it is! The anomaly. I knew I felt something."

I looked around, trying to see what he meant. "Where?"

"Right here," he said, pointing at the ground in front of us. "This is where the disruption started."

I crouched down, trying to see what he was seeing. There was nothing visibly strange about the ground—just grass and dirt, the same as everywhere else—but the Doctor was staring at it like it held all the answers to a great mystery.

"This is where I first detected the time wave," he explained, his voice a bit softer now, as though he was talking to himself. "It's faint, but it's been growing. If we trace it, we'll probably find the source."

"Source of what?" I asked, feeling a little left behind. "Time travel? Is that why I'm here?"

"Possibly," the Doctor replied, almost dismissively. He stood up and began walking in a slow circle around the spot, his hand twitching, as if he was waiting for something to happen.

Rose bent down beside me, offering a small smile. "You're not alone in this, Camille. You don't have to know everything right away. We'll figure it out together."

I looked at her, grateful for the comfort, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I was more involved than they were letting on. The Doctor seemed... obsessed with something. He always had that kind of look when he was chasing after something elusive.

"What happens if we find the source?" I asked, a bit hesitantly.

"That's the fun part!" the Doctor said brightly, as though this was just another routine day for him. "We figure out who or what caused it, stop it from messing up time, and maybe send you back to where you belong. Simple as that."

Rose gave me a reassuring nod. "We'll take care of it. But I know it's a bit overwhelming right now."

It was overwhelming. My brain was on overload, processing all the things I'd never thought I'd have to deal with. Time travel. A strange, eccentric man who called himself the Doctor. And now, some kind of time anomaly that had dragged me into this mess. I wasn't sure if I wanted to know what else was out there.

But something about the Doctor's enthusiasm—how he faced every new problem with excitement instead of fear—made me want to trust him, even if I didn't fully understand why.

Suddenly, the Doctor held up his hands. "Ah! Look! There it is!"

I jumped slightly. "Where? What is it?"

He was pointing to a ripple in the air, like the faint shimmer of heat on a summer day but much more intense. It was about the size of a basketball, and it hovered a few feet in front of us, pulsing faintly. The Doctor stepped closer, his eyes narrowing, as if studying it from every angle.

Rose stepped up beside me, and we both watched in awe as the shimmer began to move. "That's the source," the Doctor said, his voice low and focused. "That's the time anomaly."

I swallowed hard, my pulse quickening. "What... what does it want?"

"Ah, that's the big question, isn't it?" The Doctor crossed his arms and circled it slowly. "Time anomalies like this usually have a purpose. Sometimes they're harmless, just... little blips. Other times—well, let's just say this one feels a bit more intentional."

"Intentional? As in, someone caused it?" I asked, trying to make sense of the situation.

"That's the plan. Someone, or something, has been messing with time. And when time gets messed with, people like me come in and clean it up."

I watched as the shimmer expanded slightly, growing in intensity. The Doctor stepped forward, his eyes gleaming. "Now, let's see what we can do about you."

I glanced at Rose, who gave me a quick, encouraging smile. "It's going to be fine, Camille. You're with us now. We'll get you back home."

The Doctor pulled a strange-looking tool from his jacket—a small, compact thing with buttons and lights. He started fiddling with it, pressing buttons with intense concentration. The air around the shimmer seemed to ripple in response, like it was responding to the Doctor's movements.

I felt my heart racing as the shimmer began to pulse more rapidly. The Doctor didn't seem worried at all, but I wasn't sure if that was a good thing. Time travel had been the last thing I expected when I'd woken up this morning.

Rose squeezed my shoulder gently. "You're doing great. It's scary, I know. But we'll get through this."

I tried to focus, watching the Doctor work, but I couldn't help the growing sense that this wasn't just about me anymore. Something bigger was happening here. Something that even the Doctor hadn't quite figured out yet.

And if I was going to be part of it, I needed to be ready for anything.