Earth Grazer || Doctor Who

II. Rude Plastic People

Bold = French

Italics = Thoughts

A shrill ringtone pierced through the otherwise quiet air in Darren's apartment.

"Hello?" Ella answered as she packed her canvas messenger bag that she used for school but now held clothes.

Dread filled Ella's entire body as she immediately recognized the once pleasant and welcome voice on the other side of the phone call, she shook her head in denial, not wanting to believe that he found her.

"You think you can just run away from me!? You forget I used to find people that didn't want to be found." She didn't answer right away which pissed him off even more. "Answer me!!" He shouted causing her to jump, catching Darren's attention from across the kitchen.

"Why do you even care? It's your fault I left." Ella hissed trying to calm her racing heart, but to no avail. "Just leave me alone."

"People were starting to ask questions after what happened." Tears sprung to her eyes as Ella thought about that fateful day. "You will be mine again, Giselle." He threatened in a low voice that used to send sensual shivers down her spine but now made her nauseated. She hung up, which she should have done when she recognized his distinct voice.

"That sounded private. I mean, I understood none of it but the tone seemed ... Are you in trouble?" Ella blinked back her tears before turning to face Darren and his questions.

"I'm not in trouble." Ella decided not to reveal much as she glanced at her watch. "Sorry, I know you must have more questions. But I'm going to be late for work." Ella lied as she rushed out of his apartment; she did not want to tell him about her past.

She didn't trust him enough for that.

On her way to work, she quietly debated telling Rose about the phone call from hell, but ultimately chose not to bother her with her drama right now. What she did need to do though was to put on the mask she spent years perfecting that wouldn't give away anything about her true feelings.

Before she walked into Henrik's she stomped on her phone until it was broken and threw it in the trash, just so he couldn't track it. Although, she felt doubtful since he was still able to find her new number.

"Hey! You alright?" Rose asked her immediately after she got into the building.

"Yeah. It's just been a long day." Ella replied as she rushed towards the back where they had employee lockers for jackets and purses and such. She quickly dumped her stuff in an empty locker before she took her place at her assigned cash register.

"It's barely nine." Rose commented, briefly looking at the clock.

"Exactly." Ella replied with a sigh, hoping this day could be over already. For hours Ella was lost in her head as she vigorously rearranged everything in her workspace repeatedly to calm her screaming mind, when everything finally looked perfect, she blew out a heavy sigh of relief.

Rose kept throwing her brunette friend concerned glances all day that Ella didn't pay attention to, the blonde knew something was wrong with her friend, but she didn't know what.

She has never seen her friend act like this before, sure Ella was tidier than most but now Rose was curious about her mental state, especially after the brunette told her about her ex-boyfriend.

Ella skipped out on lunch with Rose since she wasn't sure if she could stomach food right now, so Rose just called Mickey and they had lunch instead.

"Hold up you two. Rose, you forgot to take the lottery money down to Wilson." One of the security guards stopped the girls from leaving at the end of the day and handed Rose a bag of money that she was supposed to deliver down to the basement before they closed.