Beautiful Explosions

Seventeen

We came to an abrupt halt, with me once again smashing into the tweed. "Oh."

"Oh," the Doctor said, attempting to take a step back, nearly knocking me over.I peeked over his shoulder, to see a young woman dressed in gold finery glaring at us, but mainly the Doctor. Then there was the harsh sound of a slap, and I raised my hand as if by instinct, but pretended to be fixing my hair instead. "You!" the woman exclaimed. "I am so angry with you!" I came to the Doctor's side, and glanced at his bright red cheeks, and his hand running through his mop of hair. "Um, who are you?" I asked the woman, who looked in her early twenties. She shook her hair grandly, as if composing herself. "I am Elizabeth the First, recently crowned Queen of England, and he," she pointed at the time lord, "left his bow tie under my pillow, and..." she reached into her dress, and pulled out a note, handing it to me sharply.

Bess,

Very well done on being crowned queen of England...and other things.

Won't be so Virgin Queen now, will we?

Doctor x

I stared at the scrawled writing in astonishment. My ears caught the sound of leather boots, attempting to make a guilt-free escape- and failing. Me and the queen grabbed him by the jacket collar, sending his screwdriver flying out of the pocket. I grabbed it just in time, before giving Bess a quick smile and running towards the ballroom as fast as I could down the corridor. I reached the hall, but slipped on the polished floor, and headed straight for the TARDIS. I was going too fast, I couldn't stop...I felt my head hit hard wood and I blacked out.

I was in the TARDIS, sat on the leather seat, and the Doctor was at the console. Then there was a knock at the door. "But we're in the middle of space, aren't we?" I looked over, and he looked just as confused as I did. I got up to open the door, and a bizzare sight met my eyes. A darkened corridor lay ahead, lit only by flickering strip lighting. I stepped out, and I felt cold stone under my feet. Wait? I was barefoot? That didn't matter now; I was in a corridor in the depth of space, I had bigger problems to contend with. I turned round, expecting to see the TARDIS, but all I could see was a seemingly endless stretch of corridor. I felt my heart beat quicken, and my mind raced at the harsh reality of abandonment. "Calm down Lillian Rose Parker. He has to be here somewhere. He always is," I told myself, trying to keep my breathing steady. Left, right, left right. My feet hit the ground in this dull rhythm, over and over, around corners, up and down stairs- but no sign of a blue box, or the comfort of it's flashing bulb. I stopped, gasping for air. When I looked down at my body, I saw a pure white silk nightdress, hanging from my shoulders by skinny straps. Suddenly, there was a voice, loud enough to be audible, but too quiet to understand. As I retraced my steps, it grew louder.

"Ice in his heart,                                                                                                                                                       Blood on his hands,                                                                                                                                               Mister Doctor leaves death wherever he lands.

"Doctor, they say?                                                                                                                                                Mister Doctor Who?                                                                                                                                              He has a nasty secret, but i'm not telling you!"

The twisted poem filled my mind, echoed in my ears.

"Ice in his heart,                                                                                                                                                       Blood on his hands,                                                                                                                                               Mister Doctor leaves DEATH wherever he lands.

"Poor little girl,                                                                                                                                                  Poor Lillian Parker,                                                                                                                                           Afraid of the dark, but he's only getting darker!"

"No! NO!" I screamed, my hands over my ears, tears streaming down my cheeks. Then I was falling, my hair whipping like flames around my face.

I landed with a crash, and when I reached up to my face, I felt thick, hot blood cascading from my nose. I pushed myself up onto my weak legs, unable to stand straight. There was a screen in front of me, and I saw a scene from my past playing. "No daddy! I thought you loved her! I thought you cared!" ten year-old me sobbed, watching as my father slapped my mother, and defenseless to stop, as I barely came up to his waist. The memory stung me, the thought of being unable to help, and the tears were fallling again, now on eighteen year-old me, banging up against the screen. I knew he could no longer touch her, but it still crushed me. I turned away from the scene, racing away from my father and mother, down yet another corridor. But it was different now. This corridor was whte, and it was filled with voices. Voices I knew. Voices of bullies, my mother, my brother. The Doctor. It's a sonic screwdriver, it does lots of things," he'd said that when I'd first met him, when he'd blown up the cherub in my bedroom, without so much as waking the cat. It made me smile, just for a moment, until another voice came. "Let me go Lillian! I need him!" it was my mother screaming at me to let go as I had desperately tried to stop her from running after dad. I once again clamped my hands over my ears, and tried to escape the shouts and taunts that occupied my mind. I was running, until, until-

I opened my eyes, and there was black, but it wasn't consuming this time. It came with the feel of soft tweed on my face, and the smell of sweat and linen. The hugger which I recoginised as the Doctor- my Doctor- pulled away, and that familiar look of relief, tiredness and slight fear was etched on his face, just as when he had saved me from the Cybermen. I looked his eyes, and then broke down into sobs that shook my whole body.