The Girl in The Mirror

"The mass of red hair was unmistakeable but the uncharacteristic grin that glimmered from beneath contorted the face and made it almost inhuman. A knife glinted provocatively in the brandished hand, beckoning the victim in wards. So in she went."

"Doctor, I keep having a dream," Amelia Pond mused, casually perched upon the metal railings surrounding the Doctor's immense, gadget-packed control centre with all its colourful beeping and whirring's. The Doctor whisked around in his usual braze manner, flicking switches on and off here and there. She was reluctant to think that he was even listening but in a way preferred the chance that he might not be. She just had to talk about it.

"Do you? Recurrent dreams are wonderful, potentially dangerous things but I'm sure yours is harmless,"

Amy rearranged her position slightly closer to the Doctor as she realised that his attention was actually partially upon her.

"I thought it was, but it's not exactly recurrent,"

"What do you mean by you keep having the dream then?" The Doctor paused to press a luminous button which Amy swore wasn't there moments ago which began a tinny screech amongst the original Tardis noise.

"Well…it's not always same place. Like, the dream would seem normal. I'd be in here or at home or in the supermarket …but I'd. Actually never mind," Amy bit her lip anxiously in regret at even bringing the topic up.

As the tinny sound diminished the Doctor paused in his frenzy, and actually faced the leggy red head. "No, do go on, I'm listening,"

She let out a sigh before commencing, "You'll think I'm silly, but okay," her wide eyes grew serious, "I used to have a friend called Emma when I was younger. She lived a few houses down from me and I used to play round her house almost every day after school. She was a laugh, a bit strange, but a good strange, I think. The thing is, on the night of her tenth birthday she just disappeared and no one ever found her again. They thought she must have been abducted, and all us kids had to stay inside for such a long time in case there was a child kidnapper on the loose. Obviously I still miss her and things, but just since I've travelling with you I keep having dreams that begin normally but I always see her in the distance. Little frame, bright blonde hair, the green trainers she always used to wear. It's definitely her. I try to catch up with her but she just looks me with really sad eyes…and disappears,"

The Doctor had suddenly got really close as Amy rambled out her rapid explanation. His frantic yet oddly wise eyes searched her face for a moment as she waited for his response, certain that he'll reassure her that a dreams just a dream despite the havoc they endured a while ago with the 'dream master' and the games which occurred then.

"You know it could just be that being away from home has caused you to remember things that you miss there, even people who disappeared long ago," His eyes left her face and he returned to the control system, "However…"

He pulled down on the biggest switched of all, starting the churning and rocking of the Tardis as it sets off to land somewhere, Amy knew the feeling all too well already.

"However what?" Amy clung to the rails expectantly.

"However, I say we investigate!"

A bittersweet rush overcame Amy as she stepped out into the familiar back garden she used to run around when she was young. She felt oddly isolated from it now, like this was the fake and the life was the doctor was the reality, almost as though she had imagine she had lived there at all. The garden was still radiant in its homely 'secret-garden-esque' way but before Amy could take being home in , the Doctor was already disappearing out the back gate. She jogged to catch up as he strode along, hands in his jacket, a contemplative thought shadowing his expression.

"So, I've come back to the time when you are approximately nine and a half, thought it could be a good place to start. Of course it could just be a case child abduction, but with our recent experience concerning you and dreams, I thought I wouldn't take any chances,"

"Yes, but what if I see my nine year old self, wouldn't that cause problems with the butterfly effect or whatever it is?"

"I've put a cloaking mechanism upon us, we're invisible basically. At the moment this is nothing more than a recollection of your memory,"

"Ah okay," Amy nodded in mock understanding.

"And so, you said that you used to play around her house after school almost every day, well let's hope this one of the days," He lifted up his arm to inspect his wristwatch, "It is 3.30pm in England at the moment, that would be after school, I assume?"

"Right!"

"So, where does Emma live?"

"Um, just down this street here, I'll show you… this is going to be so weird…you know, seeing her again,"

The Doctor glanced sideways at Amy, noticing in her eyes a deep sense of loss. – a look which appeared to shadow her ever since she lost Rory's memory in the crack. He felt a wave of sadness himself, here was a girl that had lost so many in her short life. He understood completely.