Arcadia's Love (Book TWO)

Burnt and Lost

Seraphina:

Sitting up in bed, I looked around, my hearts pounding in my chest as it felt like they were being glued back together, though half the pieces were being replaced. "Doctor!" I sobbed, realising what had happened, and wondering why I was still here. 

My husband, the man I loved, he was gone, and now I was alone. 

But I had died. I had felt my hearts stop in my chest and the world grow dark as I watched them cast his empty shell out into the water, my daughter staring in horror at the astronaut. 

She took me home. She took me home to the Fall of Arcadia, telling me how sorry she was, and how much she loved me. That one little spark of love left inside me. That mothers love that told me that I needed to be here for her. Melody...

This place...  It wasn't my home any more. I had lived here when I was Alice. Alice bloody Pond, the girl who had been weak, and lost and alone. I hated it.

There was no one else here, it was night outside, meaning that Marcus was probably gone, so I quickly packed a small back, just of the things I needed, money, tooth brush, a few photo's of Amy and Rory, then left. But I didn't want to leave this place standing.

I put a small device in front of Marc's door, meaning that his room would be protected, before throwing oil and lighter fluid everywhere in the building, starting the fire just as I walked out, running desperately through the midnight streets of London, people around me either drunk or half way there as they jeered at me, a few overly drunken guys tripping me as I ran past, making me fall to the ground, landing hard but pushing myself round, seeing red as I glared at the men.

"You want to play rough?" I asked them, purring the words as I clenched my hands into fists, glad that they still worked enough to do that. "I can play rough, because my husband died today, and then my daughter brought me back from the dead. It's safe to say I don't mind a fight." 

My eyes flashed gold and the drunks stared in horror at me, my nails on my feet turning from the pale blue of loss to the burning red of rage. "Guys, she's some sorta demon, run!" They all turned and legged it, stumbling over each other as they ran, leaving me alone in the street again.

I liked that. I liked that feeling of power and respect that I got when they were scared. But right now, I needed to find someone, someone I could talk to. And the only person I could think about was Janie. My Sarah Jane. 

Running again, I managed to keep going at a sprint, running the 20 miles to Ealing in 10 minutes as the sun started to come up, people coming out and getting their papers, walking their dogs, staring in wonder at the girl who was running barefoot through London, a bag on her back and snail trails of tears down her face. Bannerman Road was nearly empty only a few people there as I rounded the corner, seeing Gita, Rani's mum taking out the bins.

"Phina? Oh, my Lord, Rani! Rani, wake up, you need to come out here now!" She shouted, going to cross the road and stop me, but I easily skidded around her, making for the front door of number 13 as Rani herself came out. "Rani, I, I, I don't know, but you need to talk to her, tell her..." I didn't catch the rest, running through the front door at speed as Luke came out, not stopping, just making for the Attic.

"Rani, call Clyde, I can do it!" He shouted, while I just made it up the stairs and through the battered wooden door into... Into a room full of boxes, and covers, everything in a varying state of being packed away, a group photo of us all at the wedding still on the wall, though some others were gone. 

"Janie?" I whispered, my hearts breaking again as it hit me, and I collapsed onto the ground, suddenly not being able to stop the room from spinning.