Was Rose disgusted at herself for having spent the night with him, for ruining their friendly camaraderie irrevocably, for inviting him to her bed?
Was she second-guessing her decision to travel with him now that she’s known him intimately?
The Doctor bit down a whimper and cursed his own weakness when he stretched one of his arms towards Rose instead of giving her space and leaving her alone as she certainly wished to be.
He heaved his body up by leaning onto one arm, making the mattress shift with his weight.
‘Don't look!’ Rose shrieked suddenly. ‘God, Doctor, please, don't look. I'm so sorry! It wasn't supposed to happen today, and not tomorrow, and not for five more days…oh no…’ Rose moaned in a voice laden with tears, alarming the Doctor with non sequiturs. ‘I'll wash and clean everything, I promise!’
What on Earth was she talking about? What wasn’t supposed to happen today? Them having sex? And not for the next five days? Why was she so anxious, hysterical about it, even? Would things be so different if they spent their first night together later?
And just what did Rose mean when she begged him not to look at it? Was she being shy about her body? Maybe she didn’t want him to see it in broad daylight?
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everyone here keeps rotten fruit on window ledges outside their bedrooms. ha-ha, they say if you ask them, ha-ha. sound cracking, barely recognisable as laughter. you know, they say and avoid looking into your eyes. it's just the way it has been as long as anyone can remember. don't forget to let an apple go bad, put it in your window. no, you won't be bothered by the smell. yeah, it'll surprise you. yes, you get used to it. as long as it's there you don't have to worry. it's safe, just the way it should be.
you grew up here, they say. people greet you on the streets and tell you you have your mother's eyes and your father's smile and it's okay that you don't remember. it's soothing, in a way, being known by these strangers. being seen so readily and easily accepted.
you take the rotten fruit they give you, put them outside your bedroom window. it feels weird and you're half expecting someone to jump out of a nearby tree with a gotcha!
but they don't. in the kitchen, the kettle whistles. you don't remember putting it on but you go downstairs and make yourself tea anyway, just like your mother taught you. leave it to steep, there's pie in the fridge, pears and peaches, a neighbourly gift and briefly you wonder if rot has already found its way inside it. you should probably eat, but the air is too dry and too hot, so you run a cold bath and fall asleep in the water.
wake up to the memory itch in the back of your head, the edge of the tub pushing you out into moonlight. it's pretty, in a way wild things are. you catch the thought, turn it round in your mind, wondering where it came from. here, says the wind. here.
the bathroom window is too small but you crawl through anyway. your not sure why, it just feels right.
there are very few ways to trap a marsh witch, and you remember them all, now. this isn't one of them, so you gather the wind and the water around you, and they unravel the spell before your eyes, step by step. it requires precision and beauty, in a way dead things are. it was enough to stun you, not enough to hold you, and you wonder if the spell was meant just for you - briefly, until it clicks.
you walk through the town with your eyes closed, and you feel them. so many, it should be impossible, there are so many and you feel every one of them, snared in, powerful and helpless, and your blood sings their rage and their stolen memories, their time and their will.
soon, you tell them. soon.
precision. the time has to be right, and the moon is yet not full.
you climb back into your house the way you left it, the spell settles again and you let it touch you, let it tell you all the things it's meant to. you put all the false memories on like a second skin, slip into your bedroom, and wait for dawn.
it's easy and you like it, easy is the way it should be. you talk to people the spell tells you you know, play cat's cradle with it, now that you know it inside and out. easy. you look for strays and innocents, but the town doesn't have so many. every one of them is on a bus going elsewhere long before midnight.
the witching hour comes, bringing stillness and the full moon that makes your skin glow. finally. all the good people of this trap town are asleep, basking in their safety, rotten fruit on their windowsills. good people. you spit those words, filled with venom, and the wind catches them, tosses them back and forth. the wind, too, can get angry. it’s raking up a storm, circling every building, every tree - quietly, because you asked it to.
the wind is fast. in the next breath and a half all the rotten fruit in the windows are gone. the wind rushes up in a spiral, plummets down, dumping them all at your feet. you pick up the threads of the spell, feel them stretch and quiver all the way through the town, all the way outside - to an old mill, to a circle of dead grass in a rye field, to a poisoned well. you hold the threads tight, weave them together, in and out and pull through, and repeat, and repeat. they had a very good weaver, these townspeople, all those centuries ago. good, but not good enough. you give the spell one final tug and feel it unravel, its threads dissolving in the moonlight.
the air is still, a breath held. moments stretch thin. you linger on the edge between moonlight and marshwater, razor-thin, double-check your own spellwork, take a step back and let go.
the town still looks the same, picture-pretty-white-picket-fences glowing under the moon. as you walk away, you feel the ancient ones awaken, not your blood, still your kin. they spread out as they reach for their memories, breathe in their freedom.
the good townspeople, held still in their beds, are staring into the darkness with wide eyes, trembling. outside, there’s nothing. no other township or homestead for miles and miles.
nobody to hear them scream.
.
.
.
@nosebleedclub July prompt xi marsh witch
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