Wendy Darling was up late drawing pictures at her desk when she heard it. Something was out of the ordinary. She straightened up and cocked her head, trying to make sense of the noise. It wasn't another earthquake (those had been happening a lot lately). It might've been an automobile, or some new machinery she hadn't heard of yet. But Wendy knew in her deepest heart of hearts this was something new.
Too curious to ignore the sound, she got up to retrieve a candle from the drawer outside of her and her brothers' bedroom. John and Michael were both sound asleep in their beds, snoring with their mouths wide open. Wendy stopped in the doorway a moment and looked tenderly at them before straightening her nightgown and heading downstairs toward the backyard.
She heard Nana's barking and yelling before she even opened the door.
"Oi Oi! Please be quiet, I swear I'm not intruding, it was an accident!" A very tall man wearing a large brown coat was frantically trying to rip the bottom of his coat from Nana's relentless jaws. Seeing Wendy standing perplexed in the doorway, his eyes lit up.
"Oh good!" He exclaimed between breaths, "could you give me a hand?"
Wendy's first thought, or rather, her parents' first thought would've been to question him and then threaten to phone the police if he didn't leave the premises straight away. But Wendy was nothing like her parents, so of course, she rushed over to pry Nana away.
"Oh I'm terribly sorry about Nana." She gently ushered the old dog back towards the doghouse and began stroking her fur. "My father was quite good at training her to become a watchdog, but she can get a bit rough at times."
The man brushed off his coat then cocked his head. "Nana, that's an interesting name for a dog, I feel as though I've heard that somewhere."
"Is Nana a common name for dogs where you're from?" Wendy asked jokingly. "people around here think Nana is a strange name for a dog."
"Ah well she is good at protecting you that's for sure."
He was quite an odd man, and also talked rather funny. It was still English, but it sounded different than what Wendy was used to. Although she tried not to stare at him too much, since her mother told her that was rude, she couldn't help herself. There weren't many adults that were willing to talk to her in such an interesting way. They mostly asked about school and her career ambitions, and other such boring things. This man clearly wasn't from around here.
"Might I ask what you're doing here so late at night?" Wendy tried her best to not sound accusatory.
"You see I've been asking myself that same question." He furrowed his brow and scratched his head. "I was supposed to be in London, 1860 to ask my good friend Charles Dickens about ghost travel but looking around it seems a bit too modern…" He turned to Wendy. "And oh forgive my manners, who might you be?"
"Wendy Moira Angela Darling!" She stood up and curtsied to him, to which he chuckled in amusement.
"Ah yes, Wendy Darling!" His face lit up and he snapped his fingers in triumph. "Peter Pan! Ah I knew Nana sounded familiar, and of course now Wendy. but that's strange…" his brow furrowed. " I don't know how I landed in a story… I'm pretty sure the TARDIS has some limits.. but anyways, that means I must be in London 190.. 19.."
"1904" Wendy responded, eyeing the odd man. He seemed nice, but he kept saying a lot of strange things and also seemed to curiously know a lot about her, and Nana. And who was Peter Pan?
Before she could ponder further, the ground started shaking again, this time more violently than Wendy had ever experienced. Nana started barking again, and the ground shook harder as the wind began picking up, whipping through the leaves of nearby trees and knocking over trash cans as well as Nana's dog house.
"Oh my!" Wendy put her hands down to keep her nightgown from flying up. "I've never seen it like this!"
The man was holding onto the Darling's gate for dear life.
"You get earthquakes like this often??" He shouted over the wind.
A deafening screech cut through the air, Wendy and the man looked up. Suddenly, the sky split, as if it was a bag opening, and from the opening came out an ear-splitting series of shrieks, followed by an endless amount of winged animals.
Wendy, watched, eyes wide open in fascination as the creatures spread out to all corners of the sky and started their descent downwards to the earth. "what are on earth are they?!" She exclaimed.
"Not from earth I'm afraid!" He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the door. "We've got to get inside! It's safer!"
"Nana!!" Wendy called and her huge fluffy form bounded behind.
Nana just barely made it as the man hurriedly slammed the door.
"Sir, did you say those creatures aren't from earth?" Wendy asked.
"Right you are," he kept frantically looking back and forth from Wendy to the window, "they're called Reapers."
"Reapers? What an odd name."
"Yes, they feed off of disturbances in time, mainly anything that concerns fixed points," then he looked at her seriously, "you haven't accidentally gone back in time to visit yourself recently?"
"Gone back in time? How absurd! But it does sound fascinating!"
"No you're right, we would be either in the past or future trying to fix those events, you did meet Peter okay?"
"Who's Peter?"
"Who's Peter?!" He looked almost offended. "How could you not-
Then a thought appeared to have hit him
"Ohhh you probably haven't reached that yet, my apologies, forget what I just said."
"I'll try.''
"But if you're here why have the Reapers come?" He turned around and began pacing around the living room.
"I suppose my brothers have traveled back in time?" Wendy joked.
He stopped pacing and rushed back to her.
"John and Michael right?!" His eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of his head.
"Yes, how do you know-
"Where are they?" He grabbed Wendy by the shoulders.
"Asleep upstairs in our bedroom!"
He was off before she could finish.
What a strange man indeed, and a strange evening. One minute she was spending her last night in the nursery, brooding over how she will survive adult life all alone in her own room and the next, a peculiar man who talked of time travel was protecting her from creatures of another world. Needless to say, she was happy for the small delay.
"So since you seem to know quite a bit about me." She was running up the stairs behind him, keeping at a good pace, "can you tell me who you are?"
"I'm the doctor!" He yelled over his shoulder as they reached the top of the stairs.
"Just the doctor?" She asked.
"Yep!" He was rushing towards the bedroom door.
"Hm I quite like that."
"Good" He said as he opened the door.
Wendy gasped. The window was wide open, the curtain flailing in the wind. All of the toys on the shelves were knocked over and the blankets and pillows were ripped up. Michael and John weren't in their beds.
Wendy frantically rushed around the room, knocking over toys, looking under things, and calling out their names as if there was any chance they were still in the room. All the while, the doctor stood solemnly in the doorway, the heroic energy having disappeared completely from his face.
After coming to terms with the pointlessness of her search, Wendy retreated to their beds, and started to cry. She picked up Michael's teddy bear and held it to her chest.
The Doctor slowly walked towards Wendy and knelt down to her level. "I am so so terribly sorry."
"Oh I shouldn't have left them!" She wiped another puddle of tears on her cheek. "I was supposed to watch them. Who could've done this?!"
"They're long gone now," The doctor said sadly, "I was too late."
A breeze entered the room, causing a chill to run through small frame.
The Doctor looked over to the open window. "Here let me close the window." he started to get up, but Wendy stopped him.
"No, I should do it." She got up quietly.
But right as she was about to flip the latch and pull the window down, she stopped.
"Oh my."
The doctor shot up and went to her side. "What is it?"
Wendy pointed into the sky. "There, do you see it?"
Amidst the creature infested sky, way off in the distance, the doctor could see it. The outline of a ship, a pirate ship, became clear in the light of the moon. They looked at each other.
"I think I know what's got your brothers." The doctor smiled.
