"A Common Cause"

3. A Box in the Hall

April 2012 – Lima, Ohio – Friday

It had so far been one of those days where he wasn't necessarily bummed out but he wasn't jumping with joy either. He was just… present. As he stood at his locker, seeking out which of his books he'd stuck one small note in, it would have taken something monumental to grab his attention.

A familiar but unexpected faces would do the trick.

He'd been exasperated, and he'd stretched his neck, and that was when he'd caught a glimpse of him. He'd done a proper double take, because as much as he remembered exactly how he knew the man, he didn't think it possible that he would suddenly be in his school, staring right back at Kurt in such a way that made it entirely clear he was looking for him. When the man had been sighted, he'd motioned for Kurt to join him, and in a move that should have been classified as the very beginning of a horror movie, Kurt had hurried away to meet him. He couldn't help himself. His encounter with the man, but particularly with the woman who'd been with him the last time, Donna, had been something of a nagging mystery for him. He had a strong belief that he let the man go this time, he would never know the answer.

"I know you," Kurt stated firmly as he walked into the classroom where the man was standing. Then he stopped.

There was another door at the other end of the classroom, leading into one of the back halls, and as it stood open, Kurt could see through it a tall wooden box. It was blue, and there was something mesmerizing about it that Kurt couldn't explain… but he was drawn to it.

"What's going on?" he turned back to the man. He was smiling, but it didn't reach his eyes, which would have been troubling if Kurt didn't get the feeling like it was sadness down to his soul. "I have seen you before, haven't I? I'm not making it up?"

"You're not," the man assured him. "We never actually properly meet, did we?" he held out his hand, and though he was now debating whether he should be standing here after all, Kurt shook it.

"Kurt Hummel," he stated.

"Hello, Kurt Hummel, I'm the Doctor."

"The D…" he started to repeat, but then the man had moved to the blue box, and before Kurt could ask him what he was doing, he'd opened the door. Kurt forgot how to speak. What he saw didn't seem possible. Outside the hall where the box sat, there was nothing, only the school grounds, grass, trees… This couldn't be a prank, but maybe it was an illusion?

The man had walked into the box. He'd walked in, and he'd kept walking, and how could a box so small make for so much walking? When he came and stood in front of the door, he decided maybe he'd fallen and hit his head, because he looked inside and it looked very real… an entire room, bigger than the classroom he'd been standing in, and it was inside a box he could touch both sides of if he reached out his arms. Because there really didn't seem like anything else to do in response to something like that, he took a tentative step forward, into the box and its large room. It was real, and his knees buckled.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions," the Doctor told him. Kurt stepped back out, shaking his head. It couldn't be real, no… but he'd stepped inside, so how could it not? He turned back, and the man had followed him again.

"I don't understand…"

"She spoke highly of you, you know?" the Doctor chose to ignore this, and Kurt found himself drawn to do the same.

"She…" He knew who had to mean, but he had to be sure.

"Only spoke to you for a minute or so, didn't she? Donna, she did," he nodded. There it was again, the sadness, Kurt thought.

"Where is she?" he asked, casually looking to the box with its open doors.

"She's…" the Doctor searched for words. "Gone home," was all he could say.

"Right," Kurt said, though he still had this feeling like he was missing something big.

"Kurt, I need your help."

"My help? With what?"

"Unfinished business," the Doctor looked back at him.

"I don't even know you," Kurt frowned.

"Might have been we'd never have met, you and I, but as it turns out maybe we were always headed to this. Look, I made a promise to someone. I can't tell you what promise, or to who I made it…"

"And that's supposed to make me want to go with you?"

"Perhaps not," the Doctor admitted. "But it's a start. I can see it right there," he pointed to Kurt's face. "You're starting to wonder." Kurt tried to look down, but it felt strange to do it, so he made himself keep looking at the man.

"Tell me what happened with Donna," he said. The Doctor's eyes ticked to the side. "Because I keep getting this feeling like it's important. Did you two have a fight?"

"I couldn't even begin to explain it to you," the Doctor briefly paced.

"Why not?" Kurt asked.

"Because you're still under the assumption that I'm a human being and that this story is so simple as a person no longer being in another person's life, and then how am I supposed to make you understand?"

"I'm sorry, you lost me after… what do you mean I'm assuming you're human? Are you saying you're…" He looked back to the box, the infinitely impossible box, before turning back to the Doctor. "I think… maybe you should start from the beginning."

The Doctor walked back into the box. There was just one tiny part of Kurt that said he should run, but that was common sense, which apparently had gone right out the window about a minute or two ago. So Kurt once again stepped through the wooden blue door.

TO BE CONTINUED (TOMORROW)