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Prologue
Donna sat down on the bed, heedless of wrinkling the already ruined wedding dress, and kicked off her shoes in relief. She was suddenly exhausted, and every bone seemed to ache. She could hear the hum of her parents' voices out in the kitchen. Even without being able to make out their words, she knew what they were talking about. The wedding. The wedding that hadn't happened, because first she had disappeared, and then her fiancé had turned out to be conspiring with a giant spider to kill her. Lance, she thought with a pang of regret. She had been so stupid, so trusting. What had made her believe he had loved her anyway?
She twisted the ring on her finger – the simple gold band the Doctor had placed there to protect her. She hadn't worn her engagement ring, in anticipation of a different gold band taking its place. She was strangely reluctant to remove this one, after all that had happened. She remembered him slipping it onto her finger, his eyes crinkling as they joked, but she had seen the sadness there, thinly veiled.
"Well, she'll never get married now, after all this nonsense!" her mother's voice cut through her as she heard her mother pass by in the hallway. Her father's voice was a softer murmur, but she couldn't hear his response. She sighed and stood, walking over to where her jewellery box sat on her dresser. She lifted the lid and saw the ring Lance had given her sparkling where she had left it this morning. She touched it lightly with a finger, but didn't pick it up. She had been so happy when he had given it to her. She'd been so happy to show it off to her friends. He had lied to her, over and over. She closed the box with a snap, swallowing past the lump in her throat.
She fumbled with her watch, finally getting the clasp to release, and she set it down on the dresser next to the box. She couldn't bring herself to open it again. Her eye was caught by a small mark on the inside of her wrist, where the watch had been. She delicately traced a finger over the mark – a pattern of loops and whorls just barely visible, as though someone had pressed the pattern into her skin. Her fingertips tingled as they brushed over it. She frowned slightly, and walked closer to the lamp to get a better look. There was definitely something there, but it seemed to be fading even as she looked at it. She gave herself a mental shake. Now she was imagining things. Probably something that daft Martian did. Or a residue from those particles he had talked about.
Reaching around, she slid the zipper down on her dress and stepped out of it, leaving it in a puddle on the floor. She'd throw it out in the morning, she decided. She pulled a dressing gown on over her slip and sat down on the bed again. That daft Martian had saved her life, more than once. And he had shown her the beginning of the earth. She closed her eyes, and she could see it all again, as she stood next to him in the doorway of his marvellous ship -the dust and rock gathering to form the planet she stood on. The ship that had protected her when she had just marched down that ramp and flung open the doors, unaware they were in space. In space! She shook her head and opened her eyes.
The skin on her wrist tingled and she absently covered it with her other hand. She could feel the raised pattern against her palm as she cupped her hand over it. She curled up on the bed, pulling the duvet over her. Be magnificent, he had said. She didn't feel very magnificent now. Right now, she just felt worn-out and numb. But when he had said it, with that look in his eye, she had believed him. She had believed anything was possible.
She yawned. She was so tired, she'd just nap for a minute, she thought. She closed her eyes, and dreamed of the stars.
 Selene Shepard · Sat Jun 05, 2010 @ 01:02am · 0 Comments |
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