The Doctor's Daughter

Chapter 16

CARLS POV (his living nightmare from the dream alien thing)

In the tardis, I felt so tired; like all the livings energy was drained from me. Thinking that I was just worn out from an exhausting day, I thought nothing of going to sleep. I just did. Then a mere second later, here I am, stranded on an island. Funny thing about that is... I have a phobia of the ocean, of even touching it's dark depths with my toe.

Stupid! I think to myself angrily. Falling asleep, being extremely tired all of the sudden! Of course it was a trap, idiot! I sigh to myself, and ignore my own thoughts, shaking my head. Quickly, I scramble up the grainy sand up to the edge of the moist jungle on the island, which is the farthest I can be from the deadly ocean. Dismayed, I squint my eyes at the all-too-green-and-wet trees and bushes, trying to see how I could possibly avoid going in there. Staying with the ocean was not a good option for me, but the jungle is pretty sketchy.

Some weird mutated bird peer at me from the top of the tree with beady, yellow eyes. Other animals, not quite in their usual forms, all stare hungrily in my direction. Even the trees seem menacing, swaying in the bitter cold wind and stretching their claw-like branches at me; if I step in there it seems as though the trees will snatch me up. The wind blows stronger, and I clutch my thin jacket, pulling it closer to me for warmth and protection, though it provides neither. The sun disappears behind dark, rumbling clouds, and the wind is tearing at me with a strength indescribable.

The ocean crashes heavily in the distance, but sounds different, somehow. I turn back towards the waves, then fall backwards, scrambling away in shock. The waves moved way closer then would seem possible, coming out to swallow me in their dark depths of coldness and danger. I push myself to my feet, thinking quietly to myself. Carl, pull yourself together! The waves aren't trying to hurt you, worry about the other things that are a threat to you. I nod to myself, then a thought of mine surprises me, and hurts me so bad that I clutch my heart in pain; where the hell is Emily?

She's probably trapped here, and could be seriously injured, or worse. I can't think about that now, I feel as though my mind just stopped cooperating with the rest of me. I spin in a slow circle, judging my surroundings and options carefully. After great thought, I come to a conclusion; the island wants me to go in the jungle. And in a sense of perspective, that is my only option. Even if I were to swim, the ocean stretches for endless miles on, and doesn't look as though it ends for a long while. Staying on the beach would result in me dying from the terrible oncoming storm, which looks like it will be arriving at any minute.

Plus, Emily is always in the center of the every dangerous situation, always at risk. Yet every time she is able to control everything from where she stands, determined and brave. However, since all sides are pointing at the obvious choice, the jungle, I sit on the beach facing the ocean. It could be a trap, and I should at least wait this out for an hour or so and figure out how I even got here. When I think of this hopeless situation, a famous poem comes to my mind, called The Road Not Taken. It goes like this:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.