Episode: Return to Byzantium
Scene: 2019 - Istanbul International School (On the grounds of ancient Byzantium)
Players: Audrey Dawn- American High School Senior; The Doctor -Time Lord; Mr. Mckinnel - High School Maths Teacher; Mr. Choi- Teacher; Ms. Charino-Teacher; Mr. Avery-Ex Principal/Schoolmaster- returned to England.
The sun had not yet risen when she arrived at school. It was a typical dark wintery morning and the dreariness of the Istanbul winter was monotonous. Only the individual rain drops seemed a form of randomness as they intermittently spat upon her in the hopes of landing on a portion of exposed skin. Every morning the same darkness; everyday the same cold breeze. Every afternoon the same burning toxic plastic smells coming in from across the street. And every single day the same cold building and same teachers and same schoolmates, most of which she had had since kinder-garden.
She wished she could have stayed in bed today and all the elements of nature reminded her why. When she turned the corner, the wind slapped her cheeks and her ears were blasted by a very poor recording of some Turkish melody playing through the rusty P.A. system which announced the beginning of class. But something different did happen this morning. This morning the audio melody oddly skipped into a version of God Save the Queen before cutting off abruptly as if it were a vinyl record being scratched. She laughed aloud as she climbed the concrete steps and reaching for the metal door. The rain drops were picking up intensity and suddenly she needed to get inside not only to avoid the tardy slip, but to stay dry.
The door tried to open but was restrained as if latched. She tried again, pulling harder this time, but the tug resulted in a loud banging of metal against concrete. She looked to see the bottom edge of the door unable to clear the concrete on the outside. It was very peculiar. How was that possible? Either the concrete had to have been raised, or the door had somehow fallen down an inch or so. She couldn't get in and the rain drops were now pelting her, so she climbed back down the steps, and around through the Lion's Den into the MPR, where she was able to open the door but discovered she couldn't shut it.
"That's weird!" She said.
But she didn't care too much, she had gotten in out of the cold rain. She walked quickly through the MPR and noticed Ms. Charino in the P.E. office with a whistle around her neck and covered mug full of hot steaming tea. The clock on the wall displayed the hour and minute hands point to 8 o'clock, except that all the numbers on the face were 2's. That was definitely weird. Had she never noticed that before? But now her internal clock was telling her to hurry to avoid the tardy bell, and she quickened her pace.
Passing by the Girls restroom and up the steps she bounded in just two strides! She turned the corner and was now in the proper entrance to the school where just a moment ago, she couldn't get in. With time now working against her, she simply glanced at the door from the inside and noticed a silhouette of someone banging from the outside.
"You'll have to go around! It's stuck!" She yelled as she continued upward. She reached the end of the first flight of steps in just one huge leaping bound. It surprised her that she could have jumped that high. In fact she jumped so high, that she barely nicked her head on the ceiling. She turned the corner and leaped up the next set of stairs that lead to the receptionist's desk. But now something was definitely not right.
When she turned to continue to the next flight, she had to duck and squeeze into a narrow and dark passage quite unlike the stairwell she was used to. Leaving the receptionist desk behind she ventured upward and out of view. It was still dark outside, and no light was coming in to help show the way, but she knew it by heart. She had been going there since kindergarten, and now she was a high school senior. From somewhere above, a faint light source glowed anemically toward her and she kept climbing upward. She heard students talking and chairs being drug along the floors, but it seemed that this floor was out of service for some reason. Maybe she just hadn't heard about it, so she kept climbing upward in the dark.
The only light she had was from the top floors at a distance and it was now darker than before. The darkness was thickening like a room of its own. She suddenly could not see anything. She put out her hand along the wall which had becoming increasingly narrow and short so that now she had to take off her back pack to get through the stairway and in order to keep climbing to the next floor. She discarded her backpack and kept going. She felt along the wall and it wasn't smooth, there was a giant crack in it. It seemed to run the entire length of the wall. As long as she kept walking, climbing the stairs, her hand ran along the edges of the crack in the plaster.
What was wrong with the electricity? What was wrong with these stairs? Where was she going?
The tardy bell rang and Mr. Choi began to take role for AP Chemistry class. "Audrey? Audrey Dawn? Anyone seen Audrey?" And because she hadn't missed a single class period in her entire enrollment at IGA, going all the way back to kindergarten, Mr. Choi decided to step out into the hall and look for her.
"Audrey Dawn? Audrey? Are you here?" Mr. Choi looked one way and then the other but there was nobody in the hall. But there was a back pack sitting alone.
Mr. Choi walked over and picked it up. It was Audrey's alright. But where was Audrey?
Meanwhile, Audrey Dawn could see nothing through the pitch dark that had encompassed the now ridiculously small pathway on the staircase. She was on her knees and all sides were closing in on her. She couldn't go ahead any farther. She couldn't fit. She tried to retreat but couldn't find her footing. The only guidance she had was the crack along the wall that she used as a guide rail. It was then that she noticed how much wider and deeper the crack had grown and she reached into it all the way up to her arm.
"That's it.. just a little more now." a voice said to her in a comforting confident British accent.
"What? Who is there?" She cried out.
"It's okay I'm the Doctor! Now just give me your hand. There you go..That's a girl."
And from somewhere within the deep recesses of the crack in the wall she felt another human hand grabbing hers. She didn't know what had happened, but she finally felt safe. (End of Intro-Part1)