A/N - Hi, I dunno if people really bother with this - or if they really care :') um, aye, anyways, I'm Mikeyy and I'm really lazy and I get sidetracked a lot and I'd originally posted four "episodes" of this series, before I realised just how over-complicated I'd made things for myself. I just couldn't get episode five to work - and I just sort of completely forgot about this series - which isn't very professional. But now, I've edited things a little bit and I'm going to be posting another six episodes. Instead of the full 13, there's only going to be 9 - mainly to save me from stressing too much over writing.
Aye, so, this is the original episode: the Stolen Minute, in which Callum Hendrick is introduced to the Doctor and Amy under some very strange circumstances. Reviews would be appreciated? :-)
Callum Hendrick, 15 years old today, tall, brown-haired and broad-shouldered, stretched and got out of bed. He yawned and gazed at the digital clock on his bedside table. Half past one. Which meant he had one hour and forty-one minutes until he was precisely fifteen years old. He smiled to himself, and then got ready.
His mum was already at work by the time he had woke up, but she'd left an envelope with his name on it lying on the table. He tore it open and grinned at the card she'd got him – a large monkey wearing a party hat. He had one from his dad as well – his grin fell slightly. He ripped it open, took the money from it and dropped the card and the envelope in the bin. He wasn't forgiving his dad any time soon – not after the fight at his sister's wedding.
He was halfway through breakfast when his mobile started buzzing in his pocket. He answered it, while attempting to pick up the spoon he'd just dropped.
"Oi, birthday girl," his best friend Keith laughed down the phone. "I'm outside! Fancy coming to the door?"
"Not really," replied Callum, jokingly as he dropped his spoon and bowl into the sink and walked through the kitchen to the hall. He hung up and opened the front door to see his best friend - tall, freckled and sandy-haired – standing on the step. "Ever heard of knocking?"
"Naaah," Keith replied, wrinkling his nose in mock confusion. "Why knock when I have you on speed dial? Right, anyway, town. Train leaves soon."
"Town? Better give me two minutes to get my money then," Callum grinned, running back into the kitchen and grabbing the rest of his birthday money from the envelope his mum had left.
"Ready?" Keith asked as Callum stepped out the house.
"Ready," Callum replied, locking the door and pocketing his keys, grinning widely. "Race you to the station."
The TARDIS rattled violently. Amelia Jessica Pond was thrown across the room, narrowly avoiding smacking her head off of one of the banisters that surrounded the large console. Her best friend in the whole Universe, the Doctor, didn't seem to notice the fact that the room was shaking violently. In fact, it was as if he had his very own gravity, holding him on the spot as he hurriedly operated the different parts of the ancient time machine.
"Right, Pond, here's the dealio! Oh, I like that! Dealio. Dealio! Here's the dealio, Pond! Definitely using that one again," he rambled loudly, over the metallic thumping of the time rotor. "On the 8th of July in 2011, a minute disappears. A whole minute of Time across the Universe disappears! So, we're going to witness that minute!"
"Oh, sounds... wonderful!" Amy replied, sarcastically, frowning slightly.
"I only found out about it a few days ago, but then we had that whole ordeal with the Silurians, so yeah, now we have time. Well, we always have time... But I thought, fly back, see Nasreen, Toby and Eldane for a few minutes, then head back off – rambling again!" he interrupted himself, smacking himself on the forehead with the palm of his hand.
"Whereabouts are we going then?" Amy asked, trying not to laugh.
"Glasgow, Pond! Nice little treat for you! The Scottish girl – in Scotland!" he laughed back.
"Ah, I like it!" she beamed back at him.
"Landing us at lunchtime – nice little car park! Right next to Central station," he smiled, before turning to frown at the scanner.
"Ah... in the train station apparent-" He was interrupted by a large boom, and the entire room shaking uncontrollably. The time rotor got louder and louder, almost angry, before the Doctor jumped around the console, flicking switches and pulling levers. "Slightly misjudged that. We've materialised right in front of a train."
"What?!" Amy shouted, turning to gape at him.
"Ah, yeah, sorry, terrible map-reading on my part. But it's okay, just one more aaaaand, there we go!" He snapped a lever off the console, flourishing as he did, before noticing that he now had the lever in his hand. The time rotor returned to its steady rhythm, before finally stopping. The Doctor however, was not pleased.
He shook his head, and chucked it onto one of the pilot seats at the side of the console, before running down the stairs ahead of her and pulling both doors inwards.
"Glasgow!" he shouted, throwing his arms in the air, excitedly, stepping out onto the car park. Amy followed him out the doors, closing them behind her.
The TARDIS had materialised on the top floor of a large car park. There was no roof, and there was a clear view across the River Clyde.
"Wow! This is great! I mean, I've only ever really been her a couple of times," she beamed.
"Can't go wrong with Scotland," the Doctor grinned back at her, straightening his bow-tie. "Largest city in Scotland, population of 592,820 as of last year, home to iconic structures like the Armadillo, just down the Clyde from us a bit, absolutely, positively teeming with culture! Got to love Glasgow!"
"Oh, someone's been doing his homework! Only thing I really remember about Glasgow's the weather!" Amy laughed, as it began to rain.
"Yeah, like I said," the Doctor said, frowning at the grey clouds. "Got to love Glasgow. Anyway, we have about half an hour until the minute disappears, so let's get out onto the street!" He grabbed her hand and dragged her through the small door that lead onto the staircase.
It was forty-one minutes past two, half an hour until Callum officially turned fifteen. He and Keith were sitting in Pizza Hut, where they'd met a few other of their friends – Bex, Abby and Sean. They had all gave Callum some more money for his birthday, and they planned on heading up to the St. Enoch's shopping centre as they finished off a large stuffed crust pepperoni pizza.
"Yeah, I should probably get some new trainers," Callum said, taking a drink of Pepsi. "These ones are starting to fall apart."
"Oh, great, it's raining!" sighed Abby, gazing out the window. "The weather forecast said it was going to be good today, as well."
"Oh, well that's just great!" Sean laughed. "I've only got a T-shirt. I'm gonna be soaked!"
"It might go off soon?" Callum said, hopefully. Abby turned to him.
"I doubt it, Cal," she said, blowing a strand of ginger hair out her face. "It's really heavy." Callum shrugged for a reply.
"It'll clear," Keith said, pointing up at the sky. "Look, blue sky coming through already. You know what the weather's like - can't make up it's mind."
"Right, anyway. I'll pay for this and then we can all make a run for St. Enoch's?" Callum suggested.
"Don't be stupid," Bex laughed, "we're all paying in for it, dummy! It's your birthday!"
Callum smiled in response, knowing it was best not to argue with the blonde.
They raced down the busy street, rain pouring down above them, but luckily it was a short distance between Pizza Hut and St. Enoch's. They made their way inside and headed up to the toy store upstairs to muck about. Callum checked the time. Fifteen minutes left till he was fifteen. He pointed it out to the others.
"Make the most of it, kiddo!" Keith smiled, picking up a hand puppet shaped like a penguin.
Fifteen minutes till I'm fifteen, Callum thought, looking around the colourful shop.
"You see, Pond, it's not all about the planets and aliens, sometimes it's beneficial to just... wander."
"Like you ever do that, Doctor!" she laughed. They were walking down a busy street, near the Central station. "Wait a sec, why's the TARDIS over there?! We left it in the car park?" She pointed at a large blue police box, just a few feet away. The Doctor began to laugh.
"Oh, no, no, Amy. Think about it, the TARDIS disguises itself as a police box! There used to be loads across Britain. Now there's just a few left, like this one. They use them for coffee stalls sometimes I think..."
"Oh," she replied, feeling stupid. "So, it's got nothing to do with this minute thing?"
"Absolutely nothing," he replied, grinning widely. His smile was infectious. She grinned back. "Anyway, we have a whole fifteen minutes to waste, and I know just the place to go!" He took her by the hand and they ran down the street, in the opposite direction of the police box.
Ten minutes to go, Callum thought as they walked down the stairs, away from the toy store. Deep in conversation with Keith and Sean, he never noticed where he was going, and walked straight into a door. Sean and Keith laughed and patted him on the back as he rubbed his nose.
"Just your luck, mate!" Keith laughed, grinning at him. "Here, get Bex and Abby, and we'll take the lift up to the next floor!"
Sean nodded and walked back up the stairs to find the two girls, who were laughing at their reflections in a distorted mirror. The three of them walked back down the stairs to where Callum and Keith were waiting.
"Lifts then?" Bex smiled, dimples appearing at the corners of her mouth – Callum found them adorable.
"Umm... yeah," he replied, absent-mindedly. The five of them made their way to the large lift doors and Abby pushed on the button.
After what seemed like a small eternity, the lift arrived and the doors opened. Almost immediately, a young man with floppy hair and a bow-tie, and a red-haired girl in a leather jacket and cowboy boots, rushed out the doors. The bow-tie man knocked into Callum by accident as he tried to navigate around him, and shouted an apology, as him and his red-haired friend ran off up the stairs to the toy store.
"She was a babe!" Callum heard Keith say, as they made their way into the lift.
Inside the toy store, the Doctor was in the process of playing with finger puppets, when he felt a strange buzzing in his pocket. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver, but saw nothing out of the ordinary, so checked his other pocket. Pulling out the leather wallet that he kept his psychic paper in, he could tell straight away that it was the cause of the buzzing. It was vibrating furiously, and glowing with an eerie blue light. He flipped it open and read it.
"Amy!" he called her over, pulling her away from a life-size toy giraffe. "Look at this!"
He showed her the psychic paper.
"No way! That has to be a coincidence!"
"I don't think so... The psychic paper must have told me for a reason! It doesn't usually tell me stuff like this. Eleven minutes past three in the afternoon. The minute that goes missing, and the minute that... Callum Hendrick turns fifteen. Maybe we should keep an eye on him..."
"Oh, you mean the boy who's in the lift right now?" she said, looking up. The Doctor turned to look at where she was gazing. The five teenagers were standing in the lift, about six floors up.
"Ah... Well, we'd better make sure we can see him!" he grinned, taking the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and surreptitiously buzzing in the direction of the lift. The lift stopped moving almost immediately. Amy shook her head in mock disappointment, and her and the Doctor sat down on one of the benches outside the shop, looking up at the lift.
Three minutes, Callum thought, miserably. I'm going to turn fifteen in a lift that's stopped moving.
"It'll be fine," Abby was saying. "My dad got stuck in a lift once, they fixed it in about two minutes!" She snapped her fingers for emphasis.
"They better get a move on then!" he murmured, sitting down on the glass floor.
"How long left now?" Amy asked. The Doctor checked his golden wristwatch.
"Forty-six seconds."
"Oh, precise!" she said, wiggling her fingers dramatically.
"Some people appreciate it," he replied, a smile playing on his lips.
"Twenty seconds to go."
The words broke Callum's line of concentration – counting the people he could see in the shopping centre below.
"Hm?" he said, looking up at Bex.
"It's twenty seconds to your birthday. More like ten now!" she laughed.
"Oh..."
"Ten," murmured the Doctor, gazing intently at his watch.
"Nine," Bex smiled, looking at the watch on her wrist. Callum smiled at her.
"Eight," Amy murmured with the Doctor.
"Seven," Keith said, his face pressed against the glass door of the elevator.
"Six," Sean smiled, counting down with his fingers.
"Five," Callum grinned.
"Four," Abby murmured, still holding onto the alert button on the keypad.
"Three," the Doctor and Amy said together, looking at each other.
"Two," Keith, Sean, Abby and Bex said together.
"One," said the two time travellers on the staircase, and the teens in the elevator in unison.
Suddenly, everything seemed to have changed. Something was wrong. The Doctor turned to look for Amy, but she was now standing at the top of the stairs.
"Okay, that's weird," she said, turning to look at him. "What just happened?" The Doctor looked at his watch.
"It's twelve minutes past three. That was the minute, completely taken! Can you remember anything?" he asked.
"No idea," she replied, looking as confused as he did. "Last I remember I was standing next to you when we said 'one'. And then I was over there?"
"We just missed an entire minute of time..."
"Indeed we did," Amy replied, unhelpfully.
"Well, way I see it is this," the Doctor said. "After those ten seconds, the boy in that lift turned fifteen. But why would the psychic paper want me to know that?"
"Doctor," Amy said, frowning slightly. "The lift's gone."
"The lift's gone?" the Doctor cried impatiently, turning around. "Ah."
"The lift's... gone."
"The lift. Is gone. Completely disappeared. Gone AWOL. Went out for a spacewalk. Hither and dither. To and fro. Phrase it how you will," the Doctor rambled, frowning at the now empty glass tube that the lift had been in beforehand. "Keep up, Pond. This is where it gets complicated."
A/N: So, what did you think? I never really took the time to ask that last time :') I've edited over the little bits and pieces that were annoying me about the original draft. It's far from perfect, but it's much better than it was to start with. I've noticed Callum doesn't come across as a particularly strong character in this first part, but there is another three parts to come of his "introduction" story, and that should build up his character a lot more! Thanks for reading :)