A/N: I do not own anything relating to Doctor Who. I only own the ideas of my OC. The outfit for this chapter can be found on Polyvore (/empty_child/set?id=172225541) I'm sorry my wonderful readers, but I think I'm going to have to take a bit of a hiatus. I'm just having a difficult time sitting myself down and writing. I'm not giving up on this story, I'm just letting you all know it may be a while before I update again. I'm sorry. :-( I hope you all enjoy anyway. Please leave a review and let me know if you liked this chapter or what changes you would like to see.
I sat up suddenly in bed. The room was dark except for the glowing stars and galaxies. My heart was racing and I didn't know why. The Tardis humming gently in my mind helped calm me down. It was a familiar tune but I couldn't place it. It was one I had found myself humming occasionally. There were no words that I could recall. It was a slow and gentle tune. After a couple minutes of the gentle humming, I began to feel relaxed again.
"Thank you dear." I smiled. She really was amazing. For how much I picked on her and called her traitorous, she was exceptionally caring. The Doctor had been right when he told me she was mothering me. For a moment, I wondered if my mother had ever hummed or sang to me when I was small but I quickly shook the thought from my mind.
~You're welcome. Is everything alright?~ I could feel her concern for me. As much as I hated making others worry about me, I couldn't really blame her. For the first time in a while though, I couldn't really remember why I felt so panicked. There was no dream slowly fading from memory, no tears on my face to indicate a nightmare. As far as I could tell, there was no reason at all for me to have woken up the way I did.
"I'm sure it's nothing." I tried to comfort her as I climbed out of bed. She didn't say anything more so I started getting ready. After a hot shower, I wrapped a towel around myself and went back into my room to find an outfit. I went through the dresser but nothing looked comfortable enough. The Tardis must have picked up on this because in the closet there was only one outfit. There was a dress, black with white polka dots. It was a bit vintage looking, from maybe the 1940s or 50s, but I liked it. It was knee length. There was also a pair of flats that matched the dress. I smiled and pulled them out. Once dressed, I started working on my hair. I put it in a high pony tail and curled it a little extra before adding a matching black and white bow. Feeling happy with how I looked, I left my room and started walking toward the console room. Rose came out of her room when I was walking past.
"Wow." She snorted. I looked at her, scrunching my face in confusion. She gestured to my outfit. I looked down at it before looking back at her.
"What?" I asked.
"Just, not used to you in dresses. I mean 1869 was one thing, we sort of needed to wear dresses. This is just, definitely new." She teased. I smoothed out the dress a little while sticking my tongue out at her. "Any special reason for the dress?" She started wiggling her eyebrows at me. I groaned and started walking away. She quickly followed.
"Not going there today. And I didn't pick it out. I couldn't figure out what to wear so the Tardis helped me." I huffed. "Besides, I like the retro look." She started laughing as we walked into the console room. The Doctor was looking at a monitor and pulling levers. As we got closer, the Tardis began to shake violently.
"What's the emergency?" Rose asked as we ran up to the console to hold on. Another shudder went through the Tardis. Rose was able to grab onto the railing but I was tossed back. Luckily I landed in the jump seat. I moved to get up but decided against it.
"It's mauve." The Doctor explained excitedly as he ran around the other side.
"Mauve?" Rose questioned as she ran over to where he was.
"The universally recognized color for danger." He continued piloting the Tardis. I had caught a glimpse of the monitor. There was a cylindrical object that we seemed to be chasing.
"What happened to red?" I called out.
"That's just humans. By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing." He chuckled. I had finally gotten off the jump seat and had made it to the left side of him. Rose was standing on his right. We were watching the object on the monitor. "It's got a very basic flight computer. I've hacked in, slaved the Tardis. Where it goes, we go."
"And that's safe, is it?" Rose questioned nervously. I didn't blame her.
"Totally." He scoffed. I looked over at Rose. We both started laughing. "What?"
"Doctor, with you, nothing is totally safe." I observed. He shook his head and went to mess with some other controls.
"This is totally safe." He moved to my left to do something when there was a large bang and spark from the console. Rose and I ducked to avoid anything that might fly at us. Luckily nothing flew at us and we stood back up. "Okay, reasonably safe. Should have said 'reasonably' there." He ran back between Rose and I. We had started laughing at him again.
"You think?" I teased, shaking my head. He ignored my comment and looked at the monitor. The cylinder was getting away from us.
"No, no, no, no! It's jumping time tracks, getting away from us." He explained while fighting with the controls.
"What exactly is this thing?" Rose questioned.
"No idea."
"Then why are we chasing it?" She continued, voicing my thoughts as well.
"It's mauve and dangerous, and about thirty seconds from the center of London." He explained to us. He continued to pilot.
"Oh lovely." I muttered. The Tardis landed with a large thud. Thankfully we all remained standing. The Doctor made his way to the door. Rose grabbed her coat from the jump seat and I found one of my nice overcoats laying next to hers. I thanked the Tardis and followed Rose out to where the Doctor was standing. We were standing in an alley between two terraces.
"Do you know how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into Earth?" The Doctor mused as he looked around the darkened alley way.
"Five days?" I suggested. Rose looked at me with a smirk.
"Or is that just when we're out of milk?" She added. We started giggling when the Doctor looked at us. His face was scrunched up which made us laugh even more.
"Of all the species in all the Universe and it has to come out of a cow." He huffed. He took a quick look around before leading us down the alley. We quieted our laughing and started after him. "Must have come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month."
"A month? We were right behind it." Rose said as we caught up with the Doctor. The alley was divided by a small wall and was downward sloping.
"It was jumping time tracks all over the place. We're bound to be a little bit out. Do you want to drive?" He scoffed at us, leading us around a corner and down another alley. There were clothes lines draped between the two terraces, over the small wall we had come around. I pulled my coat tighter around me to keep out the chill.
"After your driving the last few trips, I'm starting to think Rose and I should have a go of it." I teased. He looked back at me with a raised eyebrow. I held up my hands in defense. "You're the one who offered."
"You know, one of these days I might just let you try, with the shields up of course, to show you it's not as easy as it looks." He pointed at me. "I doubt you could get even five minutes in the future." He sounded so sure of himself. I started smirking at him, which seemed to make him a little uneasy. His own smirk began to fade slightly.
"Want to bet?" I offered my hand. He looked from my hand back to my smile.
"Best not make a bet with her Doctor. She takes them quite seriously. If you're not careful she'll have you walking around in some kind of costume for losing." Rose shook her head at the memory while I started giggling. Mickey had called me out on my trivia knowledge several months before we met the Doctor. I decided to challenge him to a round of pub trivia. The stakes were the loser wearing a french maid costume over their clothes while going to fetch lunch the next day.
"I thought Mickey wore that dress quite well." I gloated. The Doctor looked thoroughly confused and Rose just rolled her eyes at me. The guys at his shop hadn't let up for weeks after. One of them had seen him and told the others. Mickey never made a bet with me again.
"Right. So Doctor, how much is a 'little'?" Rose questioned, bringing the conversation back to the reason we were there.
"A bit." He offered. I looked over to him.
"Is that exactly a bit?" I teased. Rose was shaking her head at me and laughing quietly. I gave her a smile.
"Ish." He shrugged.
"What's the plan, then? Are you going to do a scan for alien tech or something?" Rose asked excitedly as we continued down the second downward sloping alley. There was a door at the far end that the Doctor seemed to be leading us to. It was marked Deliveries Only. The soft sounds of live music drifted in the air. It sounded like it was coming from behind the door.
"Rose, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm going to ask." He pulled out his small leather wallet and handed it to Rose. She frowned slightly but took the psychic paper from him. I stood on my toes and put my chin on her shoulder to look at the paper with her, desperately hoping I could see something.
"Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids." Rose read it out loud. I could only assume it looked like an identification badge of sorts. To me, it simply had Doctor John Smith and Ministry of Asteroids written across it. She handed it back to him as we came up to the door.
"It's psychic paper. It tells you-" He started explaining, putting the wallet back into his pocket.
"Whatever you want it to tell me, I remember." She quickly interrupted him and waved her hand dismissively.
"Sorry." He muttered. I tried to hold in my laughter. He liked to show off and occasionally forgot what he had and hadn't told us. He always pouted when we told him he had already explained something to us. It was entertaining to say the least.
"Not very Spock, is it, just asking." She pouted. I snorted, not being able to hold in my laugh anymore. "What?" She turned to look at me.
"We travel in space and time and you want more Spock?" I teased. She didn't answer me. I chuckled and looked over to the Doctor. He had his ear against the door, listening. The music had gotten louder the closer we got to the door. It was definitely coming from inside. It was a nice jazzy tune.
"Door, music, people. What do you think?" The Doctor smiled at us.
"I think you should do a scan for alien tech. Give me some Spock, for once. Would it kill you?" Rose continued to pout. I rolled my eyes at her and watched the Doctor as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver to open the door. He started working on the lock when he looked over at Rose.
"Are you sure about that t-shirt?" He asked her. I looked over, wondering why he was asking. She was wearing a Union Flag shirt under a coat. She looked down at her shirt as well and then back to the Doctor.
"Too early to say. I'm taking it out for a spin." She smiled. The Doctor shrugged and finished unlocking the door. It opened slightly and stood up. The music came through clearer. A woman was singing over the live music.
"Come on if you're coming. It won't take a minute." The Doctor said, popping his head around the door and looking inside. After a quick glance, he opened the door further and we walked inside. We walked down the hallway following the music. Rose hadn't followed us but I figured she was just outside waiting. We hung back a little as a waiter walked through a beaded curtain and out to where the music was coming from. Stepping through the curtain, the Doctor leaned against one side of the door frame while I leaned against the other side. We were in a small nightclub. There were several circular tables with lamps on them. Every table was filled with people wearing clothes in the similar style as mine. The Doctor hadn't taken much notice of them though.
He was looking up to the small stage in the corner. There was a small jazz band, complete with a saxophonist. They were playing while a beautiful woman, in an equally beautiful white dress with gloves, sang. It was a lovely song that I found myself humming along with. The woman continued singing. "For nobody else gave me the thrill. When I have uphold silence still, it had to be you, wonderful you. It had to be you." When she finished, the audience began to applaud. The Doctor and I joined them. The Doctor began walking over and when the singer stepped down, he stood in front of the microphone. I stayed off to the side, taking in the sight of the room.
"Excuse me. Excuse me. Could I have everybody's attention just for a mo? Be very quick. Hello!" He waved his hands slightly to get peoples attentions. They were whispering among themselves slightly but turned their attention to him anyway. The Doctor continued addressing the crowd. "Might seem like a stupid question, but has anything fallen from the sky recently?" The crowd had grown silent but burst into laughter. The look of confusion on the Doctor's face mirrored my own. I looked around the room and saw a few posters on the back wall. They were war propaganda posters, and they looked brand new. I looked over to the Doctor. He was watching the crowd with his face scrunched up in confusion. "Sorry, have I said something funny? It's just, there's this thing that I need to find. Would've fallen from the sky a couple of days ago."
"Doctor." I called to him, trying to point out the posters but he ignored me. Then an air raid siren began to sound. The people in the room began to finish their drinks and stand. They were all heading out the same door the Doctor and I had entered through. The Doctor continued talking, oblivious to the signs around him. I moved to stand next to him, to be out of the way of the others quickly leaving.
"Would've landed quite near here. With a very loud-" He paused for a minute. The bartender and one of the waiters were helping the patrons out of the room. They called out for the patrons to go down to a shelter. Without a word I pointed to the posters on the back wall. " Bang." He finished with a huff of defeat.
"Don't think asking is going to be of much help." I teased as the room emptied.
"Not you too." He huffed and looked around. "Where is Rose by the way?" He asked. I looked around as well. She was nowhere in sight. I explained how she hadn't followed us in, or at least how I hadn't seen her come in. He muttered something about people wandering off before walking back through the beaded curtain. We made our way out the back door that we had come through. The alley was empty. "Rose?" The Doctor called out. I looked around and realized she was nowhere to be found. It set an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. We started hurrying down the alley.
"Rose?" I called out, hoping she had just wandered around the corner. There was no response as we continued down the alley. "Maybe she went back to the Tardis?" I suggested, hoping it was that, and not something dangerous. As we rounded the corner on the wall, a cat meowed. We stopped and looked over. There was a black and white cat sitting on a couple stacked boxes. It was a cute and friendly little thing. The Doctor picked it up and started talking to it.
"You know, one day, just one day, maybe, I'm going to meet someone who gets the whole don't wander off thing. Nine hundred years of phone box travel, it's the only thing left to surprise me." I had crossed my arms and was staring at him.
"Really?" I asked, he looked over at me. "I take offense to that." I wasn't really offended, just a bit annoyed. Rose had a habit of wandering off, but not once had I run off without him. In fact, I tended to stay by his side even though Rose seemed to be the one who needed me more. She got into more trouble when left to her own devices. The Doctor did so as well. It was extremely difficult deciding who I should stick with. I didn't really trust either of them on their own.
"You don't count." He huffed. I raised an eyebrow at him, challenging him to try and explain himself. He opened his mouth to say something else but a phone began to ring. We both looked over to the Tardis. The ringing seemed to be coming from her. He handed me the cat and we began walking to the Tardis. The phone continued ringing. He walked over to the telephone door and stared at it quizzically before opening it. There was an antique phone on the inside of the door. "How can you be ringing? What's that about, ringing? What am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?" He questioned out loud, sounding more frazzled with each ring of the phone.
"Answer it? That's what most people do." I suggested. He looked at me before turning back to the phone.
"It shouldn't be ringing." He muttered, pulling his sonic screwdriver out of a pocket in his jacket.
"Don't answer it. It's not for you." We both turned to look down the alley from where we had come. A young girl was standing there watching us. She was about my height, with slightly wavy brown hair. A long wool coat covered her, keeping the cold out. She looked nervous, and shifted on her feet slightly.
"And how do you know that?" The Doctor asked her.
"'Cos I do. And I'm telling you, don't answer it."
"Well, if you know so much, tell me this. How can it be ringing? It's not even a real phone." The cat in my arms began to squirm slightly so I moved to set it on some boxes on the other side of the Tardis. When I came back around, I noticed the girl was gone. The Doctor was still talking though, looking at the phone, not noticing the girl was gone. "It's not connected, it's not-" I tapped him on the arm. He stopped speaking and looked at me expectantly.
"She's gone." I pointed to where the girl had been. He glanced over before looking back at me.
"Where's she gone to?" He asked.
"I don't know. I set the cat down and she was gone." I shrugged. The phone continued ringing in front of him. Carefully he picked up the receiver and put it to his ear.
"Hello? Hello? This is the Doctor speaking. How may I help you?" He scrunched up his face while listening. "Who is this? Who's speaking?" He asked. I stood on my toes, trying to hear what he was hearing from the receiver. He lowered it slightly so that I could listen as well. A young boy's voice came through.
"Are you my mummy?" The quiet voice questioned. I gave the Doctor a confused look.
"Who is this?" He continued. The boy kept repeating the question, asking for his mummy. "How did you ring here? This isn't a real phone. It's not wired up to anything." The Doctor explained. The boy asked for his mummy a couple more times before the phone clicked to a dialing tone. We looked at each other in confusion for a moment before the Doctor hung up the receiver.
"Who was that?" I finally asked. Though he looked confused, I had hoped he would have some kind of idea of who had managed to call the Tardis.
"I don't know. This phone isn't meant to ring. It's not connected to anything." He closed the small door and opened the door to the Tardis. "Rose? Rose, are you in there?" There was no response. I was getting a bit worried. We both turned to face the alley when there was a clatter down at the end. He looked at me with a smile and offered his hand. I chuckled and took it as we started running after the sound. I was thankful the Tardis had given me flats so I could run. We rounded a wall but slowed down when we heard people.
"The planes are coming. Can't you hear them? Into the shelter. None of your nonsense, now move it!" A woman called from the other side of a brick wall. There were a couple metal bins in front of it. I climbed on one with a boost from the Doctor before he climbed on to the other. I was just barely able to see above the wall when standing on my toes. I gripped the wall to keep from slipping or falling over.
On the other side of the wall was a back yard and garden of a house. A woman was hurrying a young boy into a small air raid shelter, adorned with flags. "Come on, hurry up, get in there. Come on." She urged the boy inside the shelter and turned back to face the house. "Arthur! Arthur, Will you hurry up? Didn't you hear the siren?" She yelled out. A man, who I'm assuming was her husband, came out the back door reluctantly.
"Middle of dinner, every night. Blooming Germans. Don't you eat?" He grumbled at the sky. Despite the sound of planes and explosions in the distance, I smiled at the man's comment. I glanced over to see the Doctor smiling as well.
"I can hear the planes!" The woman called out to her husband, sounding frustrated with him.
"Don't you eat?" The man once again yelled at the sky.
"Oh, keep your voice down, will you? It's an air raid! Get in. Look, there's a war on." She lectured him as he walked over to the shelter. She started pushing him to get inside.
"I know there's a war on. Don't push me." He grumbled back at her before they both entered the shelter and closed the door. When the door was fully closed and the family had quieted down, the girl from before slowly made her way out from behind the shelter. She had been hiding in the shadows so I hadn't noticed her before. She hadn't seemed to notice us either because she quickly made her way into the back door of the house. She obviously didn't belong with the family, or she wouldn't have been hiding outside of the shelter.
"What's she doing here?" I asked as the Doctor hopped off the bin he was on. He walked over and helped me off of mine as well.
"Let's find out." He smiled. We quietly unlatched the back gate and made our way into the house the way the girl had gone. Once inside, we could hear the sounds of children talking and laughing in the front. We walked down a hall and found a door into a dining room. There were quite a few children sitting around a table, with the girl from before sitting at the head of it, carving meat.
"All right then, One slice each, and I want to see everyone chewing properly." She told the other children. She started passing around a plate of meat. The children were so preoccupied with the food, they didn't notice me or the Doctor come in and sit at the table with them. Each time someone took a piece of meat, they would thank the girl.
"Thanks, miss!" The Doctor beamed as he placed some meat on his plate, he offered it to me but I declined it. When the children noticed us they began to panic and stand, preparing to run away. They were all so young.
"It's all right. Everybody stay where you are!" The girl at the head of the table explained.
"Good here, innit? Who's got the salt?" He asked, looking around. I shook my head at him.
"Back in your seats. They shouldn't be here either." The girl explained. The children calmed down slightly and sat back down. The Doctor offered me the plate of meat. I didn't take anything and handed the plate to the young girl next to me. She was struggling a bit so I placed a piece of meat on her plate and the platter got passed down the line. The little girl gave me a quiet thanks. She was the youngest of them all. She reminded me of someone but I couldn't place who.
"So, you lot, what's the story?" The Doctor asked the group. Some of the children turned to look at him. The little girl tapped my arm timidly.
"What is it sweetheart?" I whispered to her gently. She pointed to the meat on her plate and the knife next to it. "Do you need help?" She nodded. I smiled and started cutting up her meat while the Doctor spoke to the others. I tried to remember who the girl reminded me of. I was focusing so much on that that I didn't hear the conversation around me. It was slightly muffled. When I was done I handed the plate back to the girl and she began eating. My hands started going numb so I looked at them in my lap. My vision darkened.
I was answering the front door. A young brunette woman was standing on the other side of the door, holding a blonde toddler. They were both smiling at me. I could feel myself smile back at them.
"Cora, what are you doing here?" I asked. The girl in her arms was reaching out for me calling me auntie. I took her into my arms and she giggled.
"Is it a crime to wish to see my sister?" She teased. We both laughed.
"Not at all. Come in." We walked into the house and sat in the living room. The little girl, my niece, sat on my knee.
"Can we color, auntie Phoenix?" She asked excitedly.
"Of course we can sweetheart. Do you remember where everything is?" I asked brightly. She nodded and hopped off my lap running into another room. I looked up at my sister. Her smile had faded slightly. "What's wrong?" I asked quietly.
"Nothing." I stared at her until she caved. "Fine. It's the Doctor. He's off on another 'adventure' of his." She huffed.
"Cora, why don't you go with him? I can handle the kids. Amina is the only one not at the Academy yet." I suggested. I never understood why she never went with him. I had always hoped to meet someone with a sense of adventure like him. It didn't take me long to realize that no one wanted to put up with a woman that hated sitting still.
"You know I don't like doing that. I had hoped he would stop with that nonsense when we had children. He did for a while. Now he's at it again. He asked me to join but I just can't." She explained. The conversation stopped when Amina came back into the room with the paper and art supplies. We started coloring.
I blinked a couple times and my vision returned to normal. I was still seated at the table with the Doctor and all the children. I looked over to the small girl next to me. She looked similar to the young girl that I had seen. I shook the vision from my mind when one of the boys started speaking.
"Why do you want to know that? Are you two coppers?" He questioned nervously. I hadn't been out of it for very long it seemed. Luckily I hadn't done anything to draw any attention to myself.
"Of course we're not coppers. What's a copper going to do with you lot anyway? Arrest you for starving?" The Doctor asked with a smile. The children started laughing. He looked down at his watch before looking at them again. "I make it 1941. You lot shouldn't even be in London. You should've been evacuated to the country by now."
"I was evacuated. Sent me to a farm." A small boy sitting next to the head girl said with a frown.
"Why did you come back?" I asked gently, deciding to finally join in the conversation.
"There was a man there." He looked frightened. My stomach sank at his tone.
"Yeah, same with Ernie. Two homes ago." Another boy pipped up, pointing to the oldest boy. This boy was the one who had asked if we were police.
"Shut up. It's better on the streets anyway. It's better food." Ernie said while shaking his head. It made me wonder just how bad it was where they were evacuated to. They all seemed terrified by the evacuation places.
"Yeah. Nancy always gets the best food for us." The other boy beamed, gesturing to the girl at the head of the table. We turned to her. She wasn't looking at us, almost like she was avoiding our gaze.
"So, that's what you do, is it, Nancy?" The Doctor asked her.
"What is?" She asked briskly. She sounded annoyed and put out at the question. I watched her carefully. There was something deeper than the question that was bothering her but I couldn't figure out what it was. I decided on just watching her while the Doctor questioned her.
"As soon as the sirens go, you find a big fat family meal still warm on the table with everyone down in the air raid shelter and bingo! Feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London Town. Puddings for all, as long as the bombs don't get you." He sounded excited at first, but the last part sounded somber. It was a bit daunting, hearing the planes and bombs in the distance while these children ate. They seemed quite brave given the situation.
"Something wrong with that?" Nancy snapped at him.
"Wrong with it? It's brilliant. I'm not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical." The Doctor mused with a smile. A couple kids gave him blank stares while others paid no attention and kept eating.
"Quite resourceful. A bit dangerous, but resourceful nonetheless." I agreed.
"Why'd you follow me? What do you want?" She asked us nervously.
"I want to know how a phone that isn't a phone gets a phone call. You seem to be the one to ask." He pointed to her.
"I did you a favor. I told you not to answer it, that's all I'm telling you." She huffed and looked down at her plate. She was hiding something and it was starting to bother me even more than before. Whatever it was, it was pretty big.
"Great, thanks. And I want to find a blonde in a Union Jack. I mean a specific one. Her sister." He said pointing to me. "I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving." The children began laughing. All but Nancy. She stood up and started walking over to him. "Anybody seen a girl like that?" She picked up his plate. "What have I done wrong?" He asked as she started walking away.
"You took two slices." She explained. The children started laughing again. I joined them after seeing the look on the Doctor's face. He was pouting. Nancy made her way to the head of the table while talking. "No blondes, no flags. Anything else before you leave?" She set the plate on the table and stared at us, waiting for us to leave. We didn't move though.
"Yeah, there is actually. Thanks for asking. Something we've been looking for." The Doctor explained, pulling a small pad of paper and a pencil out of his pocket. He started sketching while talking. "Would've fallen from the sky about a month ago, but not a bomb. Not the usual kind, anyway. Wouldn't have exploded. Probably would have just buried itself in the ground somewhere, and it would have looked something like this." He held up a rough sketch of the thing we had been following in the Tardis. The children looked at the drawing but no one said anything. I stole a quick glance at Nancy. There was something in her eyes. She kept her face neutral but there was something she knew about it. A sudden knock on the window made everyone jump.
"Mummy? Are you in there, mummy?" It was the same little boy's voice from the Tardis telephone. The Doctor and I jumped up and went to the window. We pulled the curtains open to look out. There was a small boy wearing a gas mask. He put his hand up to the window. "Mummy?" He asked.
"Who was the last one in?" Nancy asked quickly.
"Them." Ernie pointed at us.
"No, they came round the back. Who came in the front?" She explained.
"Me." The boy sitting next to her said nervously.
"Did you close the door?" She asked him.
"I-" He paused.
"Did you close the door?" She demanded. He didn't answer.
"Mummy? Mummy? Mummy?" The small boy in the gas mask called out. Through the window we saw that he had turned to go to the front door. Nancy quickly ran from the room. We followed her as she ran into the hallway and to the door. She quickly closed it and bolted the locks. There was a shadow from the small boy in the door's windows.
"What's this, then? It's never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know." The Doctor questioned her. She had helped all these other children get something to eat, yet here she was locking another child out of the house. It was extremely confusing.
"I suppose you'd know." She snapped at him. I nodded my head. I had known what it was like being alone outside, seeing others safe and warm in their homes.
"I do actually, yes." The Doctor answered her. I glanced at him slightly before speaking my mind.
"It's terrifying being outside all alone. The poor boy is probably frightened out of his wits." I worried about the poor child outside, but Nancy was standing between us and the door and she wasn't letting us through.
"It's not exactly a child." She said cryptically. The boy outside called for his mummy again. Nancy took one last look before going around us. She ran back into the dining room where the others were. I moved to watch her from the doorway. She grabbed her coat and started putting it on. "Right, everybody out. Across the back garden and under the fence. Now! Go! Move!" The children all began to put their own coats on and ran to the back door. One little girl hadn't moved from the table, the one I had helped with her food. "Come on, baby, we've got to go, all right? It's just like a game. Just like chasing. Take your coat, go on. Go!" Nancy handed the little girl a coat and the little girl ran out of the room to join the others out back.
"Mummy? Mummy? Please let me in, mummy. Please let me in, mummy." The little gas mask boy called out. I looked over to see him putting his small hand through the letter box, reaching out to anyone inside. His hand was dirt coated and there was a scar on the back of his hand. The Doctor and I had moved closer to the door.
"Are you alright sweetheart?" I asked softly, crouching down slightly.
"Please let me in." The boy asked quietly. Suddenly a glass flew past me and hit the door, shattering into tiny pieces. The boy quickly removed his hand from the letter box. I quickly turned to see Nancy standing behind the Doctor.
"You mustn't let him touch you!" She explained.
"What happens if he touches me?" I asked her.
"He'll make you like him." She said, once again giving a cryptic answer.
"And what's he like?" The Doctor questioned.
"I've got to go." She said, turning to leave.
"Nancy, what's he like?" The Doctor asked again.
"He's empty." She said flatly. The telephone on the book shelf next to us began to ring. "It's him. He can make phones ring. He can. Just like with that police box you saw." The Doctor looked from the door to the phone and picked it up. Nancy ran over and put it back on the hook. Then the radio in the next room crackled to life.
"Mummy? Please let me in, mummy." The Doctor ran into the Dining room and over to the radio. The boy's voice was coming through it. I followed him with Nancy right behind me. The Doctor turned the dial, trying to switch stations, but it wouldn't change. I quickly spun around when a wind up monkey toy with cymbals started playing on the small table next to me.
"I hate those things." I shuddered. The Doctor walked over and picked it up. He looked it over before setting it down. The small boy's voice kept repeating the word 'mummy' over and over. Nancy seemed to have her fill of the boy calling out.
"You two stay if you want to." She huffed before running out of the room. She ran out the back door to where the other children had gone. The Doctor and I shared a confused glance and walked into the hallway. The letter box opened again and the boy's hand was once again reaching in.
"Mummy? Let me in please, mummy. Please let me in." He called out.
"Your mummy isn't here sweetheart." I told him gently. The Doctor and I walked closer to the door and crouched down to roughly eye level.
"Are you my mummy?" The boy asked.
"No mummies here. Nobody here but us chickens. Well, these two chickens." The Doctor chuckled. I could hear the radio click off from the other room.
"I'm scared." The boy continued.
"It's alright sweetheart. No need to be scared. Why are those other children so frightened of you?" I asked him carefully. He didn't answer me.
"Please let me in, mummy. I'm scared of the bombs." He called out. I looked over at the Doctor.
"We need to do something." I whispered. He looked at me and nodded after a pause.
"Okay. We're opening the door now." He explained as we stood up. The boy pulled his hand back out of the letter box. The Doctor stepped forward and began unbolting the locks. When he opened the door though, the boy was gone. We quickly stepped outside and looked around. The entire street was empty. There was no sign of the little boy ever being there. "Where's he gone?" He mused. "We need to figure out what's going on here."
"Let's go find Nancy again then." I offered. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "She knows something. I could see it in her eyes when you drew the thing we were chasing. She knows something but she's afraid." I explained.
"Right. Let's go find her." We went back through the house and out the back. "Where would she have gone though?" He asked aloud as we walked out the back gate.
"Abandoned part of the railway?" I suggested. Once again he gave me a confused glance. "It was a homeless kind of thing. Railways hold abandoned cars that are good for shelter. It's one of the first things you learn." I explained. He watched me for a minute before nodding and starting off down one alley. I quickly followed him. We walked in silence for a little while. I was a little startled when the Doctor began speaking again.
"How are you holding up?" He asked me as we continued walking.
"What do you mean?" I was more than a little confused as to why he was asking me this.
"You empathize with the children. It can't be easy seeing them living like this. And don't think I didn't notice your sudden silence after helping that girl with her food. You stared at your hands for a while before shaking your head and looking around." He elaborated. I didn't know what to say. I didn't want to lie to him but I didn't exactly want to explain what I had seen. It felt so real, like a memory, but it couldn't be a memory. I was only 24 and the girl whose eyes I had been looking through was roughly that age. After wrestling with what to say, I decided on a half truth.
"The little girl reminded me of someone but I couldn't figure out who. I was trying to remember who she reminded me of." I finally offered. "As for the other children, it is a bit difficult seeing them go through this. They're all so young. It was difficult on me and I was 16. I couldn't imagine going through this at such a young age." It broke my heart seeing those children living meal to meal, hoping that they can find enough food and somewhere safe to stay. I wanted to protect them but didn't know how. The Doctor's hand reached out and grabbed mine, giving me a reassuring squeeze. I looked over to him. He didn't say anything, he just gave me a warm smile. I smiled back and thanked him with a nod of my head. We continued walking until we neared the railway.