Light – An irrational fear
A.N.- I did steal a line from the latest Doctor Who episode (the one about the irrational fear of the dark), just because Stephen Moffat is the most incredible writer and I love him lots, and if anyone wants to buy me an awesome present, they could buy me a day with him!! He's awesome!! But anyway…here's the story. That was just a disclaimer.
"Just take a look over there," the Doctor pointed towards one of the brighter stars in the sky. "That isn't even a star. It's a planet. But it's a funny old planet, because there's always an enormous fire burning on each continent. I mean enormous though, as in the-size-of-Belgium-enormous! Actually Belgium's quite small, but in relative size of a fire, it's quite big!" Rose was laughing at him. "What??" he asked, defensively.
"Just shut up!" She exclaimed, still laughing. At this, he looked a little hurt, but she hit him gently to let him know she was only joking. She looked up to the sky in awe. "So these fires…they're always burning?" she asked.
"Yup," answered the Doctor. "You seem confused. There is always a team of people at various points around the fire, and ships that fly over feeding it," he explained.
"But, why?" Rose kept questioning the Doctor.
"Fear. Every species in the universe has an irrational fear of the dark. But they're wrong. It's not irrational. The people of that planet made a wise move and decided that if it was permanently light, they had no shadows to fear. Quite clever really. Drench yourself in light and there's no dark to have a fear of," he explained.
"But, there'll always be shadows. Surely, wherever there's light there's shadow? It's a balance isn't it?" At this point Rose felt small, and alien to the whole universe, a feeling she was used to, travelling with the Doctor.
"Not so stupid as you look then!" he said sarcastically with a smile, as Rose hit him, quite hard! "You're right of course. But this planet has evolved. If someone fears something so much, they'll always find a way to combat it."
Rose shivered slightly, but not from the cold. She stoked the fire that they were lying next to, somewhat more nervous now, and moved closer to the Doctor. He put an arm around her shoulder and they lay in silence, watching all the stars flood the sky with light. Light. The most reassuring thing in the universe whoever you were.