I Didn't Mean It (Doctor Who)

Ch.9: In High Heels

Recap:

I screamed in real terror as I saw a glimpse of the statues again, this time with their mouths open to show sharp fangs and their arms oustretched, pointing razor-edged claws at me. Their small stone eyes stared into mine, hypnotizing, as if they were really alive.

"Doctor...what is that?" I asked shakily.

"Don't blink," Doctor said solemnly, just as we dropped back into the darkness.

~o0o~

I heard the clattering of stone all around me. Screams surrounded me, overwhelming me. I clung on to the seat for dear life as we continued to plummet through the blackness. We soared past open windows, giving quick spurts of light to us to see. The stone creatures were everywhere, with every flash of light they became more disfomed, their claws sharpening and their fangs growing. They got closer and closer with each moment of darkness, when we couldn't see them. Crooked arms reached out towards me like branches on a dead tree.

"We're going to hit the bottom," I breathed, looking through the passing windows to see the ground rushing to meet us.

Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver, it's green light illuminating the angels around us, momentarily paralyzing them. He pointed it toward the ground and the elevator began to rush upwards and came to a hault at the top. I gave myself a moment to breathe, taking a subtle puff of my inhaler.

The elevator shook, the lights flickering.

"The angels are interfering with the power," Doctor said, "Brace yourself.".

"For what?" I sighed painfully.

"This.".

I screamed as we plummeted back towards the ground once again, the elevator squealing against its tracks. Doctor pointed his sonic at the floor of the elevator once again and we jerked to a halt. The lights flickered briefly before we began to plummet once again, the Doctor stopping it with his sonic soon after. It was as if they were children fighting over a toy. We began to drop again, and I got ready for the jerk when we stopped, but we continued to fall. I looked over to see Doctor's sonic slowly floated out of his hand and up to the ceiling. Doctor reached for it desperately, his fingers alomst touching it.

Great, I thought sarcastically.

I grabbed onto the edges of my seat and braced myself for when we would hit. I couldn't believe I was going to die on my own birthday. Suddenly I heard an all too familiar wheezing noise from behind me. I smiled as the I saw the TARDIS materializing, light filling the room.

"But wait, if you're here than who's..." I gestured to the Doctor.

A woman with wild blonde curls swung open the TARDIS doors, shadowed by the yellow/blue light radiating from inside. She held a large space gun in her arms and fired a blast of green at the angel near us. It shattered into pieces, crumbles of stone flying over me. She moved in a swift circle around the room, blasting the angels carelessly until they all lay in piles of pebbles.

"River?" Doctor asked, scrunching up his face in confusion.

"Hello sweetie," She grinned, tossing the gun behind her carelessly.

"H...How did you do that?" Doctor asked, dumbfounded. The elevator had haulted before we hit the ground, the lights slowly flickering on.

"What, save your life? Just these old things," She held up a set of TARDIS keys, jingling them in the air. I would recognize those anywhere; Doctor used them all the time.

"I haven't given you those yet!".

"Oh yeah, might have forgotten about that. You will give them to me, soon," the lady replied simply.

I had never seen someone talk to the Doctor this way, so teasing, so confident. "Doctor, who is this?".

"Alice, this is River. River, this is Alice. River is my...friend," Doctor explained awkwardly.

River crossed her arms, rolling her eyes at him.

"How did you stop the elevator?" Doctor asked.

"With this," River said simply, holding up the Doctor's sonic screwdriver.

Doctor furrowed his eyebrows, picking up his sonic from the floor and looking back and forth from it, and the one that River was holding. They were identical.

"Okay, when did I give you that?".

"Once again, you will.".

I looked behind me, remembering all the poor people on the ride with us. They all stared at me with rounded eyes, mouths hanging open. My heart skipped a beat as I saw a few laying limply in their seats, but sighed with relief as I saw the soft rising and falling of their chests. They must have fainted.

"What are we going to do about..." I gestured to the people, "Them...".

"Oh, them," Doctor said, as if he completely forgot about them.

He stood up and straightened his bowtie, clearing his throat as he said, "So, how did you like the new additions to the ride?!".

I stared at him, raising my eyebrows, giving him a look that read, Really?

"I-I just rode this y-yesterday," a woman stuttered, whole body shaking.

"We changed it...very recently...?" Doctor shrugged.

I put my hand over my face, sighing. "Listen up!" I shouted with a clap of my hands, "Yes, you just saw real alien activity! Yes, I know, wow! Now you can go run off and tell your friends that you saw aliens at Disneyland! Don't ask questions please! You don't need to know anymore! Now bah-bye! And feel free to check out your pictures on the way out!".

The people stared at me, dumbfounded, as the doors to the elevator slowly opened to the giftshop. They got up stiffly, mouths still hanging open, and stepped out without a word.

"I like her," River grinned, gesturing to me.

My legs shook violently as we stepped out of the elevator, weak from all the sudden drops.

"So what are we going to do?" Doctor asked.

"About what?" River replied, looking up from a small blue notebook filled with writing.

"What's that?" I gestured to the book.

"It's her journal. You see, we keep meeting in the wrong order. We're time travelers, it happens. Her past is my future. She uses that to keep track, so she doesn't spoil anything for me," Doctor explained.

"Anyways, we have to find out why the angels were here in the first place, and be sure that there aren't any mo-" Doctor stopped talking abrupltly, staring at something in the distance. I followed his gaze to see the face of an angel peeking out of an empty area between buildings. I glanced away for a moment, and turned back, but it was gone.

"There's more," I said quietly.

"Yes, and I'm not leaving until they're gone, every last one of them.".