Outside it was quiet. A soft breeze blew the crisp red leaves from the silvery branches that caressed the low clouds with thin, tall fingers. The fallen leaves danced and twirled in the chill air, playfully drawing a young girl further along the path, where they then circled a large blue box before drifting away into the clouds.
The girl stopped at looked up at the strange structure in front of her, sweeping her short brown hair away from her eyes. It was all blue, with the words 'police -public call- box' written along the top just above a small set of windows. To one side it had a rectangular white label with small writing, the only bit of which caught her eye was 'free for use of public'. She could hear voices coming from inside, loud voices that seemed to be arguing.
Just then the door swung open, making the girl gasp in surprise. A tall slim man stood at the door, facing inside and yelling something about his box not working. He wore a brown jacket with dark elbow patches and a strange hat. He turned around and stopped suddenly, aware of the young girl staring at him. 'I like your bow.' She pointed to the neat red bow around his neck. The corner of his mouth curled up into a smug smile and he adjusted it proudly. 'I'm glad, bow ties are cool.' He continued to smile at her as he stepped further out of the box and let the door close.
Looking over both of his shoulders at the empty park he lowered himself down onto one knee and ran a hand through his roughly combed hair. One of his eyebrows was raised as if he was examining the girl, like there was something strange about her. 'Are you a policeman?' The girl asked finally, breaking the silence. 'No.' he replied flatly.
'Then why were you in a police box? Are you a criminal?' Her naivety made him chuckle softly as he shook his head. 'I'm not a criminal, although there are a few people who would care to disagree with that, actually quite a lot of them would.'
'Then what's with the blue box?' She asked in the same tone, knowing he hadn't answered her question.
He squinted his eyes and sucked in a breath as if he were about to ask a question, but hesitated. 'You can see my box?' He asked quite slowly, trying to make sense of it himself. The girl nodded, she could see it plain as day. 'How?' The man stood up and looked at the strange blueness with a quizzical look, as if it were the box's fault that he was so confused. Almost in response, the door swung open and a strange noise came from inside.
The girl caught a glance through the open door and gasped. The man shot back into the box with clumsy speed and fiddled with a multitude of brightly flashing switches and buttons, mumbling loudly to himself after he almost tripped over. The girl followed him and stopped in awe of the vastness of the room. 'It's bigger on the inside.' She breathed, her eyes wide with wonder. The door closed abruptly, catching the man's attention, but not for long as a loud warping sound started to echo throughout the room. 'No no no!' She watched him yell at the nothingness around him. 'Not now!'
Everything began to shake and shudder, making the girl loose balance. The man caught her as she was flung sideways and held on tightly to a metal rail to support them both. The box swayed violently back and forth, so much that the young girl screamed as the noise got louder to drown it out. There was a rough jolt before everything stopped shaking, still and solid like it had never moved an inch. The man let her go and leapt over to the control panel with all the buttons and switches. 'Sometimes I wonder if you ever listen to me at all!' He shouted sternly at it. 'What am I going to do about-' He paused mid rant and turned to the girl, his anger had disappeared suddenly and had been replaced by genuine curiosity.
He wiggled the red fabric at his neck. 'What is your name fellow bow tie enthusiast?' His silliness made her laugh. 'Lillian.' She half-whispered. He smiled widely. 'What a beautiful name, Lillian. Never shorten it.' He quickly turned back to the controls, realising he was distracting himself. 'Anyway, what am I going to do about Lillian? Why would you even consider leaving with a young girl? I'm normally alright when it's strangers of an adult age, but I'm pretty sure this counts as kidnapping!' Lillian put two hands on the control panel and a strange pillar protruding out of its centre lit up. 'Oh she likes you, thats the trouble.' He said sourly. Lillian wore a look of utter confusement. 'Who?'
'Oh, right, I haven't introduced you two. Lillian meet the tardis, she seems to know you so that makes life easier for me.' He was gesturing to the whole of the room, and for a moment Lillian thought he was talking about his box. 'You're mad.' She stated plainly to him, but he didn't seem to mind. 'All the best people are mad.'
Finally she asked a question that would have been obvious to ask at the very beginning. 'What is this box?'
'A spaceship.' Lillian blinked and convinced herself that she had heard wrong.
'A what?'
'A spaceship, you know, a ship that goes into space.' She shook her head in disbelief.
'Tardis stands for time and relative dimension in space. This is a box that can travel through space and time. Wonderful isn't it?' He beamed with pride and joy as he walked around gesturing to everything he saw. Lillian just stared back at him blankly.
He brought his hands together in a single clap. 'How old are you by the way?' He realised that she probably had no idea what he was on about. 'Eleven.' She replied with a toneless voice.
'You don't know how that amuses me' He laughed but she didn't seem impressed. 'Oh well then I should get you home.' Lillian stopped him before he could run to the controls.
'Wait. Prove it.'
'What?'
'Prove that you can travel through time and space.'
'Thats not hard.' He began to walk towards the door.
'Wait.' She repeated. The man stopped in his tracks and simply turned his head to face her. 'Who are you?' A grin crept onto his face like no other she'd seen before.
'I am the last of the timelords from the planet gallifrey. I am over 900 years old and I've seen things and done things that would melt your beautifully little child mind.' He was now crouched to her height, but she raised an eyebrow, he still hadn't answered her question. 'But-' he continued seeing she was a stubborn one, 'you can call me Doctor.' Lillian wrinkled her nose, puzzled. The man stood up to his full height and placed one hand on the door, frozen, just waiting for it.
'Doctor who?'