It had wanted him for so long. All about him and through him, in the red red red of his blood, and a thousand times on a thousand worlds it touched him, surrounded him, enveloped him. Strange man from a strange world, and brown brown brown it had known him then, as he walked in the lands of Gallifrey. And the other was with him too then, and it was in them and with them and through them, and when they laughed it looked from their eyes. Come to us, it said, come here and rest, come and sleep.
Not yet, said the strange man, the ancient boy. I am not tired yet. I have so many adventures still to have.
And he took that blue blue blue box and went away, but he took it with him because he loved it, and it lived there alone in that blue blue blue box, and he didn't write and he didn't call. But the other other came and saw it, and she was not afraid, no not of anything. And so it didn't mind her, and it caught her when she fell, but it didn't say come to her either, because it didn't want her, it wanted him, that mad mad man with his many faces.
Sorry, it said when he had to leave the noble one behind and all that she was only in him, not in her anymore. Sorry sorry sorry, and it touched his face and then it touched him all over and it taught him to cry. Come and be done, it said, come and rest, come and forget.
I can't forget, said the man in the silly rubber shoes. Can't forget her, not now, not ever.
And he went in his blue blue blue box and flew away into a dream, and everything changed.
It tried to leave her when she went to change it, the noble one, when she stepped in the silly machine it went woosh! and left her and went away, because it didn't want her to change everything and take its silly man away from it. But the noble one went and changed everything, and all those times were gone
(on mars, when it said knock knock knock but it couldn't come in)
(on earth, when the potato ones changed the air where it lives but the silly man changed it all back again, because he loved it)
(on earth way back when, when it helped him fight the hot things and it felt so so brave and it never loved him more)
and then there was a new thing. Because the silly man, its silly man, he let it in and around and down down down all the way to the bottom it went, all the way to the bottom as far as anything can go, and then there wasn't any more down. And oh, it liked that, because it always liked to go down, and so it was so so so good for him, and it took away all the bad things that were trying to hurt him, and they went down too, down to the very bottom.
And he stood there and it touched his feet in their silly rubber shoes, and it said: this time? this time will you come and live with us? this time will you come and rest?
No, said the silly man, but he didn't really mean it. No, I have so many more important things I must do, but he couldn't remember what they were.
We can do all the important things for you, it said, we are everywhere and always, just like you. All over this place you love, the most important planet and the most important people, and we are all over them and through them. And it touched the fire and the fire went away.
I'm tired, said the silly man, and it swallowed the bad things and it swallowed their screaming so that he could sleep. Come and rest, it said, we have rest enough even for you, come and sleep.
Then the silly man thought about his rose, the hothouse rose it had made for him and shaped for him so that he would not have to be so alone. But it didn't want him to think about the rose now, because the rose was never supposed to keep him away from it, so it went in the air and it went into him and it whispered into his ears from the inside, come away, come away.
It'll hurt, said the silly man, but it sidled up to him and whispered no it won't, and it held him about the knees and said so easy, just come and sleep, we'll make it good for you.
But the silly man didn't want it to be good, so it hurt him, just a little, just enough so he would stop thinking about the rose that was never important anyway, he was supposed to love it not the rose it gave him, doesn't he understand anything?
And the silly man held on to the hurt and he opened his arms and his eyes and his mouth to it, and he said yes, yes I will yes.
And it swallowed him all up.