What It Is And Isn't

Chapter 11

She felt as though she'd been there for days, like she couldn't be bothered to try and escape because it was all going to be the same no matter where she went anyway. She shifted around as she swam up from sleep. There was no concept of how long she had been that way, because the light never changed. There was none, after all. She let out a low groan of pain when the slightest weight touched her ankle and she felt her face contort into a grimace.

This really wasn't fair. She'd heard of being an 'inside man', maybe she had even done it a few times, but never like this. She wondered if it was possible to go mad lying in the dark all by herself with nothing but the rattling breathing of her captor next to her.

She sat up like a shot and turned her head. The grimy white streak was there, bony elbows over bony knees, like it was struggling for breath. Now, Rose had a fairly good understanding of the Doctor's boney-ness, and it had never reached this sort of magnitude. The Doctor was lanky, tall, dashing. This being, from what she could see, was too thin, too long. It wasn't even tall, she couldn't see it that way. It was like a dry noodle, almost, all elbows and knees. She cringed. This was terrible. It could be worse, of course, she knew that, but it couldn't be much worse.

As much as she wanted to escape, she had a feeling that this monster would come at her even more violently than it had before. That was, if it was the same monster that had spoken into her mind. She was not convinced that it was the same. It had spoken. "We are the rake." We. Why we? A very Doctor-sounding voice niggled in the back of her mind, making her sift through evidence and wonder what, exactly was going on. Was it another monster? How many could there possibly be? She was fairly certain that it was impossible that there was more than three. The forest was not massive, exactly, and she was sure that she would've seen the other ones by 

now. Unless they were taking shifts.

Her head was starting to hurt with how hard she was thinking and she let out a long sigh. There was nothing for it, really. She was going to have to just let it take its course, which was 

something that she never really wanted to do.

She wanted to speak. The monster alerted next to her and took off again, making her furrow her brows in confusion. Now that she was properly awake, she wanted to run more than ever. Her ankle, although awake, was not ready for such a trip. She wondered when the moment arose if she would be able to take off. How long would she be here before the Doctor found her? Or was she going to have to find him? She blew out her cheeks. What a complicated relationship they had.

She was alone now, sitting in her little cage and hoping that she would be offered respite and the thing wouldn't come back for a bit. She supposed she could call it the Rake now, since it had gone on and said that that was what it was. What they were, whatever they was. She wrinkled her nose at the voice inside her own head. It was starting to make a little less sense than it had before this whole thing happened.

After several minutes, she heard footsteps again and shrank back, fearing the worst. And then a flashlight touched her and she knew for certain that it wasn't the Rake. She peered up into the light, right into the Doctor's worried eyes, highlighted by the light spilling over

"Doctor," she breathed, the relief evident in her voice. "You came."

He furrowed his brows at her. "Of course I came, what did you think? Oh, ye of little faith." He circled her enclose and found a little door that she had not spotted before. He looked at her and cocked an eyebrow, sending an ominous shadow over his eye. "Why didn't you just leave?"

"It sits with me, usually, but it just took off. Besides, I can't make it far, I-"

"Why not?"