Smoke stained rubble lay in piles across the entrance. The air was thick with damp, suffocating us as we climbed towards what looked like a door.
"I hate you for making me do this. You know I can't protect you from a falling building, Yaz. As brilliant as the sonic is, it isn't a magic wand... that's just given me the best idea."
"Then why come with me?" My foot misplaced as I managed to balance myself. I turned and smirked at you as you also misplaced your foot.
"Because you would have just come any way." Before us was a kingdom of unknown wonder. Wires hanging like nooses from the roof. Discarded bricks, and metal poles making abstract mosaics on the ground. Metal pillars like those gracing the temples of ancient Greece were scattered equally around. The smell was potent. Like the stench of Sunday morning breath. As heavy as warm public toilet.
"And I wanted to make sure you were safe." Your breathless voice barely audible. You turned on the light from the phone I'd gotten you for Christmas last year- a few weeks ago. You asked when I had time to get it, to which I laughed and said we had all the time in the world. The first thing you did was download angry birds- albeit a few years too late. For a few weeks I regretted suggesting that you create a Twitter.
Everything the light covered casted shadows, augmenting with every movement. The squelching under our feet was piercing. Through the darkness we could make out stairs.
"We are so going up there." My pace quickened as my excitement grew. I could feel the fear pulsing out of your body, not fear of the unknown, fear for me. You were hardly ever scared.
"Why do you make me do these things? Daleks, I can handle. Zygons, love 'em. 19th century burned down buildings in the middle of rural 22nd century Germany, not so sure about."
"I don't make you!" Never did I drag you to do anything. You sighed.
"No, but you'd still do things and then I'd have to come because I'd be worried. Why do you want to explore this anyway? We could go to ancient Sparta, or to a planet that is entirely made of gold."
"Yeah, but I love abandoned buildings." Underfoot the stairs seemed stable, even if they were covered in mounds of earth, and God only knew what else.
"You'd still climb those dodgy steps even if they were made of water" I couldn't help but laugh at the image of myself surfing in here.
"It not even funny because what if this falls down! You wouldn't be laughing then. You'd have to get used to my new face. What if I became an old southern woman who hated biscuits and only wanted to live my life on the boiled cabbage smelling planet of Shlaar?"
"You're right I wouldn't be laughing. Because I'd be dead and unable to laugh!" You frowned, the little line between your eyebrows growing deeper. Before us was a long corridor, each side decorated with arches to other rooms. The paint on the walls reminded me of a half peeled orange, underneath showing the veiny translucent skin of the structure. In many of the rooms, there seemed to be nothing but discarded files, and broken tables and chairs furnished with mould.
"It stinks." Your voice mumbled as your t-shirt covered your mouth, and nose.
As the corridor ended, we entered a larger room with a latticed charcoal roof, and missing windows. Glass was shattered over the wet floorboards. Your hand slipped into mine. Normal objects would look minuscule when you held them, and I'd feel like a doll. You grip powerful, but your touch gentle, as if you could rip apart an apple without your thumbs piercing the skin. Your hands weren't even large, they were dainty to look at, as if you played piano for a living, but you emanated strength. Now this room felt unsafe. Usually I'd be the naïve type, going head first into situations, but this needed caution – a trait I'd learned from you. I should be cautious, given my background, but that's probably why I wasn't given the good cases.
"We should turn back". You whispered, as if we were being listened to.
"We don't have to, not if we are careful. Plus, this leads to the exit down there."
"The floor is missing, and look at that" Your hand dropped mine and pointed to the ceiling, or lack of ceiling.
"Just follow me" As I almost hop-scotched to the other side, you followed clumsily. I heard you grunt, knowing it wasn't at the effort, but at me.
"What shall we do afterwards? You know to keep my mind off the fact we have a 66.4% chance of being crushed to death." The metal ladder leading down to the ground floor felt cold in my hands. Like a corpse, like the skeletal remains of this factory.
"Wait until I'm down just in case"
"Wow that fills me with confidence, thanks. What about the safari park? In all my years I have never been. Seeing animals of earth should be fun. Although I'm not sure on bees though. Haven't had a good track record with them."
"One, I don't think they have bees in a safari park. Two, using what car?"
"You have your old one we can pick up!"
"Will we even be allowed in in a police car?" Jumping down I landed in something pulpy. At least it warmed my feet, I thought. It felt like I was breathing moss. Every breath seemed dense, and moist. The novelty was starting to wear off.Your foot hit my chest with a hollow thud as you kicked back. For a second it took my breath, but I was more concerned about my shirt.
"I'm so sorry I didn't know you were there, are you alright? I'm sorry." I flapped away your hands which were brushing my shirt. "Can we go now?" You reaches for your sonic, looking at it before placing it back in your pocket.
"You know I wouldn't have put you down as being afraid of old buildings."
"I travel to them when they are new buildings. Plus they are well creepy." I could only imagine what I looked like covered in mud, but I looked at you and you still looked wonderful.
Walking back I noticed an excited glint in your eyes. You reached for your sonic, surveying the surrounding area. "Knew it. Come on Yaz we need to get back." Was all the explanation I got before you ran, this time I was the one following.
"Temporal disturbance. That building, that area, I knew I felt something. It had a strange smell, like..." she thought for a moment "a cold sausage roll."
"Why didn't you say?"
"See if I'd had mentioned the temporal disturbance in the presence of the disturbance then it would have known that we knew and that could have opened a whole can of worms, snakes, eels, anything slimy." You were fiddling with the console, you always did that, kind of like a child playing with one of those wooden toys that you get in banks. I left you to it, going to have a shower. I remember when you first told me about your sonic shower. I asked whether you had invented one after seeing it mentioned on Star Trek- my dad had made me watch reruns with him after school. You scoffed and said "Gene stole the idea from me." And then told me how he had made the doctor's uniform TARDIS blue after meeting you. You never failed to impress me.
You burst in to the bathroom just as I had wrapped a towel around me. "Is that what your wearing today?" You asked. "You might need a jacket on." I felt myself mouth "what." Before answering "Of course not, it's a towel."
"Why have you got a towel when you don't have to dry off? Is it a fashion thing, like how people wear sunglasses in doors?"
"Or long coats." I smiled back, this time you were frowning. "But I am actually you know not dressed. Did you need anything?"
"So I've managed to determine where the disturbance is coming from, or rather, when. So time is like an onion with layers, but all those layers overlap and are like a ball of...hair gel."
"So not like an onion at all?"
"But something has happened that had pierced through the layers in that spot and it is originating in the early 20th Century."
"20th century Germany? Nazi Germany?"
"I understand if you don't want to come. I can drop you off at a spa that covers the surface of a moon? Or back at your mums for a bit?"
"I'm coming with you." Was all I had to say. You nodded and left. As I put my clothes back on I thought about what had happened back then, back in that dreadful time. We couldn't save anyone, and that was the most painful thought.