II
Maxwell Hollerford
18th Century
Manchester
Max Hollerford's residence
1775
It has been another busy day out in the city for Maxwell Hollerford, and coming back into his home to find a tray of already made tea and sandwiches is just what he needs. The silver tray is placed on top of the round marble coffee table that is placed centre to the large hallway to his house. Taking off his silk gloves, Max walks across the black and white tiles and picks up the little note left beside the plate of cucumber sandwiches. On the note is the woven handwriting of his butler reading: You have visitors later this afternoon. One man going under the name of the Doctor.
Max reads and rereads the note over and over again not entirely sure if his butler means what he thinks he means. There are a fair few doctors in the city and being a biologist, Max knows each and every one of them. Surely the butler is not meaning the Doctor, the last of the Time Lords. Surely he isn't supposed to cross his path?
Max folds the note in half and in half again before hiding it into his waistcoat pocket. He then takes out his golden pocket watch and checks the time. It is only past midday and his butler did not specifically state what time the Doctor will be showing up, but he hopes that he has enough time to busy himself between now and then.
Max then picks up the china teapot and pours himself a steaming hot cup of tea. The oak door to his left opens and one of his maids walks out. She smiles sweetly at her master's appearance before curtseying.
"Good afternoon, sir," She says shyly. "I hope the morning went well."
Max smiles softly before taking a large bite out of his cucumber sandwich. "All went according to plan." He speaks as he chews. However his maid says nothing about this, she merely looks away, embarrassed.
"The dinner preparations for your party are going well and smoothly, sir," The maid continues. "Madame Helena has already started to design to your cake."
Max raises an eyebrow. "Edina, there's another whole week before my party; you have plenty of time to sort everything out. Why don't you take the afternoon off?"
Edina looks surprised at Max's words but she shakes her head. "Master Franklin wouldn't approve, sir."
"Well Master Franklin is on leave for the next couple of weeks so I'm in charge of the house. I know I'm only twenty years old, Edina, but I still own part of this property and I'm ordering you to take this afternoon off," Max pauses for a moment. "After this hallway and the stairs are cleaned. We have a doctor visiting today."
Edina looks hopeful. "Do you know who, sir?"
"I have a bad feeling I do."
There is a pause of silence and Max takes another bite of his sandwich.
"Mister Hollerford," Edina says after a while. "Have you heard back from your sister?"
Max looks up from the silver tray before walking over to Edina. Max is rather tall for his age but he knows that he got it from his father. Edina, only a year younger than himself, is only chest height. She looks up at him. Max thinks that Edina is very beautiful with her grey eyes and chestnut brown hair and he does not care much of what Master Franklin will think of it.
Max looks down at her and smiles before chucking her under her chin. "She's still on her travels."
Edina only nods before shyly looking away from Max. "Thank you for giving me the afternoon off."
"My pleasure," Max says as he turns away to pick up the tray just as a couple of the other maids walk down the stairs. "I'll be in my office if anyone needs me."
Still carrying the tray, Max walks through the archway under the main staircase and follows the long corridor. There are many oak doors on either side of the corridor, all leading to the drawing room, a bathroom and Master Franklin's study, as well as Max's own study. Max has always been curious about what Master Franklin keeps hidden in his study but it is kept locked at all times.
Master Franklin works as a manager of the coal factory and the work he does in his study is under top secrecy. Max, who has known Master Franklin for the past seven years, still doesn't know much about him except that he often goes on leave across the country to work at other coal factories.
Max was only thirteen when he found himself in Manchester during the Industrial Revolution, but even at such a young age, he was able to keep up with the living style. Master Franklin found him lost in the back streets of the city and since he was brought into the house, Max was taught to be a biologist. Max is happy to work like this and often finds himself working alongside other doctors to help sick patients whenever he could. His research with other scientists has given him a high reputation and now at twenty years old, he is well known and successful across the city.
But this is not the life for him. We has born in twenty-first century London. But of course if he told anyone the truth, his friends would think he's drunk or someone would want him locked up in an asylum.
The Doctor first came to visit Max in a holographic form when he was sixteen. It had taken the Doctor a fair few years to hunt down where Max is and although the Doctor found him, he still did not know of his whereabouts. The Doctor explained to Max about the Battle of the Cytracik. All Max could remember was being with his twin sister on their thirteenth birthday and then suddenly finding himself in Manchester, suddenly adapting quickly to his new lifestyle. But the news of his parents death was not easy for Max to handle.
Between the next two years, the Doctor and Rose communicated to Max regularly through their holographic forms but since his eighteenth birthday, Max has not seen the Doctor since. He only received a letter from Jack Gruntler informing him that the Doctor has saved his twin sister, April and will be looking after her until the Battle of the Cytracik is over.
Max will give anything to reunite with his sister. His last memory of her was the morning of their thirteenth birthday. She was smiling and happy and the family were together. But then they were informed of their parent's death and then Max woke up in Manchester.
Wherever April is, he hopes that she is happy and safe.
Max hovers outside Master Franklin's study for a moment, pressing his ear against the oak door, but there is only silence on the other side. He sighs loudly, knowing how silly it is to be so curious about someone's private life. Instead he turns to his own study on the other side of the corridor and opens the door. He is met with the bright light shining through the windows overlooking the street.
He steps forward onto the creaking floorboards and closes the door behind him. He places the silver tray on his green sofa and moves across his study. There are books all over the room and a few left in piles on the floor. There is a lot of paperwork covering nearly every surface in the room and Max makes a mental note that he really ought to sort out all of his junk one day.
In the corner of the room almost hidden by his large bookcase is a large trunk that is locked shut with a padlock. Max rushes over to his bookcase, pulling out one of the books and catching the small silver key that falls out from between the pages of the book. He then clumsily places the book on the edge of the bookcase, ignoring it when it falls back onto the floor, and crouches down beside the trunk to unlock it. The padlock is a little stiff but it eventually clicks open. He opens the lid and brushes away the dust particles that flies up into the air.
The trunk is full of papers, books and other bits and bobs that Max keeps hidden from anyone else in the house. He rifles through his junk desperately, praying that he still has what he is looking for, but the first thing he comes across under a load of certificates he has collected in his childhood years, is a dusty picture frame of his family. It is at the wedding of Bruce Fey and his wife. Both April and Max were six when the photo was taken. April stands with her thumb in her mouth and her other hand is clinging onto their dad's hand. Max however is standing in front of their mother and it looks like Max is just about to run away just as soon as the photo was taken. Suzette stands behind him, smiling at the camera and holding onto Max's shoulders with a tight squeeze.
Holding onto the framed photo, Max shifts on the floorboards until he is sitting comfortably. He looks down at the photo for a long time and smiles to himself at the memory that is still so clear to him; although the event the photo was taken is hundreds of years in the future.
The photo comes with loads of other stray photos Jack Gruntler had sent down to him, just to make sure that he has something left over from his last life. That is why he keeps it all locked away in the trunk. He cannot afford to let his butler, Edina or any of his other maids stumble across his personal life. And especially not Master Franklin.
There is a huge divide between the life he had with his family in London and the life he is living now during the Industrial Revolution, and he cannot imagine what might happen if the two paths crossed. The first time he met the Doctor's holographic form, he begged him to take him back to his sister in the future, but it was not possible. That is why Max feels rather fearful at the prospect of the Doctor coming to visit. But at least Master Franklin won't be there to meet him.
Max places the photo frame down onto the floor beside him and continues to rummage through the trunk. The longer it takes Max to rifle through the trunk, the more agitated he becomes, but after a long while Max finally finds it.
There is a letter hidden under another photo frame. A letter with his name scrawled on the front of the yellowed envelope in black ink. It has remained unopened since Jack Gruntler sent it to him after his first meeting with the Doctor. He was warned not to open the letter until he knew that the time was right, but it has haunted Max over the years. He is fed up with always being told to wait because no one ever knows when the supposed right time is going to be.
Max has noticed that even Master Franklin thinks of this too. There are often moments when he would want to develop his work as part of the Industrial Revolution, but he never knows when the right time would be to change. Most of the time Master Franklin works on a whim and takes the right time as any time.
Max hurries over to his desk and lights the long candle that is sitting in the silver candle holder. He then holds the envelope over the flame and waits for the heat of the flame to loosen the seal. When it does, Max gingerly pulls open the envelope, careful not to rip it in case he has to pretend he never opened it. He then pulls out the wooden desk chair to sit down and reads the letter.
My dearest Maxwell,
What you must understand as you read this is that your father and I loved you and your sister very much with all our hearts and everything that we did during that battle was only to protect you. By the time you start to read this letter, you will understand what the Cytracik is and that it only opens to the one with the most power, like your father. Your father never expected the box to open for him seeing as the whole battle was about the fight for power, but I cannot forgive myself with what that power has done to you and your sister.
I hope that by now, since you are reading this that you have re-joined with your sister – the power of the twins can never be separated for long. You both must stick with each other at all times. Even if April wishes to stay with the Doctor, I want you to stay with her. Your father and I are proud of everything you have achieved and although we're no longer there in person, we can try to guide you to a safe place.
You were taken back in time as part of the Cytracik's punishment the prophecy left you, but April has been given the myth of the Island. She is the only one who has seen the Black Lighthouse flash five times and until she can rid herself from the nightmare, it must stay that way.
April loved and cared for you dearly and always treated you as an equal and as long and you're together, you can unite as one. Nothing can harm you then. You know that as long as the two of you are side by side, you are safe. You have one another against the rest of the world. The Doctor and Jack Gruntler can only do so much. Help her to be wise and she'll help you.
I love you, Maxwell. You deserve a long and happy life. We're always here for you.
Yours forever
Your mother, Suzette.
Max remains sitting at the desk as he looks down at Suzette's handwriting on the page. His vision blurs with tears but he blinks them back. Suzette clearly wrote the letter after her death but he doesn't care how that is even possible or how anyone has been able to get hold of it. All he cares about is that it is the last personal thing he owns from his mother.
But reading over the letter again, Max has hope. He is going to reunite with his twin sister. Even if it isn't any time in the near future, he will be reunited with April and he has never felt happier in his life.
Max jolts in his seat when there is a knock at his door. In frenzy, Max refolds the letter and hides it in the desk drawer before calling for the knocker to enter. The door opens carefully and Edina steps in. Instantly Max feels relaxed by her presence.
"Sorry to disturb you, sir," Edina says softly. "But the Doctor has arrived. He's here."
Max is silent for a long while as he looks at Edina. From reading his mother's letter he has almost forgotten that the Doctor is coming down to visit.
Max then stands up and strides out his study, passing Edina without saying a word. Nervously, Max adjusts his waistcoat as he marches through the corridor and passes under the main staircase and back into the hall.
Facing his back to him is a tall man with dirty blond hair standing in the middle of the hallway. At the sound of Max's footsteps on the black and white tiles, the man turns around and flashes a grin at him. Max holds onto his breath for a moment but lets out a sigh of relief as it is not the Doctor who has come to visit, but Doctor Albert Columbus. Another doctor he has worked alongside a couple of months ago while researching.
"Oh goodness, it's only you!" Max gasps as he clasps his chest.
Albert only chuckles as he takes a few steps towards Max, stretching his hand forward. "You were expecting someone else?" His voice is low but cheerful.
"I just did not know you were coming." Max lies as he shakes Albert's hand. "It's a pleasure to see you again, Albert. What can I do for you?"
"I have come to collect your papers of research. I assume that two months later you would have discovered something more about the damage to the human body from typhoid."
Max can only imagine what Albert's reaction would be if he verbalises all the curse words he is screaming in his mind right now. Max shifts on the spot and lets out a nervous laugh.
Albert's cheerful face drops in an instant and he raises an eyebrow in disappointment.
"My apologies, doctor," Max starts. "What with the situation with the Bellingham family and Master Franklin's leave of absence-"
"Master Franklin works in a coal factory doing his own work which is completely irrelevant to what you are doing. You are a biologist, Mr Hollerford." Albert looks down at his black hat he turns over in his hands as he speaks his words clearly and harshly.
"My apologies."
Albert looks up to Max with his eyes before sighing heavily. "Maybe you are not as good a biologist as they all seem to think you are. Your role is to research living organisms and yet you fail to understand the effect of these diseases," He then lowers his voice. "I bet you will not even find out what's the real cause of cholera."
"Albert, I am afraid to say that I do not have as much time to do all these errands as much as I wish I do."
"A week today I want these papers on my office desk."
Max frowns. "A week today is the date of my party."
Albert looks amused. "Well prove to your admirers that you are the person you have made yourself out to be," With that Albert puts on his black hat, covering his dirty blond hair. "Good afternoon, Maxwell. It has been," He pauses in thought. "A pleasure." His tone is mocking. Albert turns and then leaves the house.
One of the servants who has been standing in the corner of the hallway the whole time rushes to close the door behind Albert. The servant curtseys to Max before leaving the hallway through the door that leads down to the kitchens and the scullery.
Once Max is alone in the hallway, he turns around in frustration and hits the wooden banister to the stairs while letting out an angry roar. He squeezes his eyes shut as he grips tightly onto the rails of the banister with both his hands and bows his head. He remains there for a short while wishing that this strange day will be over soon. But he is disturbed by the scuff of a shoe on the tiles.
Max turns his head only to see Edina hiding in the shadows.
"I thought I told you to take the afternoon off." Max says in a deflated voice.
"Not until I've cleaned the stairs, sir." Edina points an elegant finger upwards and Max suddenly notices the metal bucket sitting on one of the steps.
"Take the afternoon off."
"But-"
"You are dismissed for the day, Edina."
The moment Max has finished speaking, the doorbell rings.
Max spins around and looks at the front door, but Edina passes him in silence. She pulls down the handle and pulls open the large front door. Standing outside is another tall man with two women standing on either side of him.
The man and the blonde woman looks rather delighted to see Edina.
"Hi!" They both chorus together cheerfully. However the other woman with fiery red curly hair remains silent and looks at Edina blankly with a hint of boredom. Judging by their fashion that will not hit the market for another three hundred years, Max knows instantly who his new guests are.
"I hope we're not too late or anything." The Doctor says as he peers through the doorway looking for Max.
"No, Doctor," Max says as he takes a step forward, looking down at his pocket watch he holds tightly in his hand. "I suppose you have come just in the nick of time." Max then looks up and catches the Doctor's eye.
The Doctor frowns for a moment as if he does not recognise Maxwell Hollerford.
"Yes I have grown a couple of years since your last visit." Max then gestures to Edina to let their guests in. She does so, closing the door behind them before curtseying to Max and walking out the room.
Five minutes later Max sits down in his arm chair in the sitting room, his three guests sitting opposite him on the sofa. Between them is an oak coffee table and Max's butler enters with a tray of tea and biscuits. Max lights his cigar and inhales deeply before giving his butler his tobacco pack. However his attention is drawn to the look of recognition on the Doctor's face as he catches his butler's eye. However the butler only looks away before walking out the sitting room and closing the door behind him.
Max rests his arm on the back of the chair as he observes his guests. "What can I do for you, Doctor? And let's skip all the excuses and go straight to the point."
The Doctor hesitates as he looks at Max really noticing the similarities and differences to April. "I just can't believe we have found you here after all this time."
"No, Doctor. What are you really after?"
The Doctor hesitates again. "What happened to the bodies of the Bellingham family after their death?"
There is a pause of silence.
Max frowns. "Taken to the crematorium to be cremated I believe," He says hastily. "It's what I was informed anyway."
"Are you aware of what happened after their death?"
"I am not a funeral director, Doctor; it is not my job to do all that paper work. I had to fill in medical forms and was told to leave. I was not invited to the funeral afterwards," Max then raises an eyebrow. "What is it to you? Trying to look for trouble are you?"
"I just think it's rather suspicious. Especially since the daily newspaper mentioned that the remains of their bodies have mysteriously disappeared."
Max raises his eyebrows as he inhales again. "I am unaware of this so I cannot be of assistance."
There is a longer pause of silence between them. Only the sound of the clock ticking quietly fills the living room. Max leans back into his chair, crossing one leg over the other, and observes the Doctor. He keeps his cigar between his lips.
"Where's my sister?" Max eventually says.
The Doctor and Rose exchange fearful glances and Terry remains unmoved as she perches on the edge of the settee.
"I have not seen you since my eighteenth birthday and that was around the same time Jack Gruntler informed me that she was with you. Where is she?"
"It's complicated." The Doctor says quietly.
"Then try me. Nothing could be more complex than the past seven years of my life."
"She's stuck," Rose says quickly before the Doctor can respond. "She's trapped in her own nightmare," she speaks slowly as she wrings her hands. "There's nothing we can do to save her."
"She's in trouble?" Max leans forward, ready to jump out of his seat.
"No," Terry says sternly. "Well not unless she can help herself. And we don't know how long it's going to take."
"I know," Max hastily waves away the smoke from his cigar. "She's the one that's been left with the myth of the Island while I've been stuck here."
The Doctor narrows his eyes. "How did you find that out?"
There is another pause of silence as Max nervously shifts in his seat, not wanting to speak a word of Suzette's letter.
"That's not what's important to me right now," Max says softly. "I have to see my sister."
"And we want to know more about the Bellingham family."
Max rolls his eyes. "You cannot keep April away from me, Doctor! I must reunite with her. She is my twin!" Max looks at his three guests. Very little has changed of them since they last met two years ago but there is something in their eyes, almost like fear is taking over. "Why are you here if you will not let me see her?"
"I'm not stopping you, Max," The Doctor replies. "We're just in a tough situation and she needs to come round herself. We didn't know that the Cytracik sent you here but now that we have found you, it all makes sense."
Max looks at the Doctor for a long while before sighing and putting out his cigar in the ashtray on the table beside him. "The Bellingham family were close acquaintances with our local vicar, Nathaniel Davidson. They were a very Christian family that were very strict against anything unholy," Max smirks. "They would disapprove of you, Doctor. Very religious like most here."
"When did you find out they had tuberculosis?" Rose asks.
"Two weeks before their death. We had to keep them under quarantine but it was too late for us to save them. The disease killed them off."
"Have you seen or heard from the father or his two children since?" The Doctor watches Max suspiciously.
Max frowns and shakes his head. "No," He replies. "Like I said, it was not my job to do any of the paperwork. I'm unaware of their health or of their whereabouts," Max clears his throat loudly, trying to rid the horrible tickle he has felt since the death of the Bellingham family. "I suppose, Doctor," Max coughs a few times. "If you want to find out more about what happened after their death then you are going to have to find Horace Bellingham. He's the father and will know more than I do."
"You've had that cough since their death, haven't you, Max?" The Doctor says deeply as Max covers his mouth with his handkerchief.
"I have only had it for a short while. It does not matter too much," Max tries to push the thought away. "But Horace-"
"Tell me the truth, Max."
Max looks at the Doctor for a long while, before slowly dropping his handkerchief. "It's not important right now, Doctor." He says quietly.
"Max, that disease will kill you in time."
Rose lets out a little gasp of shock. The situation between April and Max is getting worse.
"Max…" Rose says softly as the realisation hits her. "Doctor, we have to give him a cure! We can't leave him here suffering from this easily curable disease!"
Max shakes his head. "I was with them under quarantine as they were dying. It really was the inevitable that I would catch tuberculosis," He then looks up at the Doctor with his eyes. "Will you look for Horace Bellingham?"
"We'll do our best." The Doctor replies before standing up.
Max also stands up and shakes the Doctor's hand firmly.
"It is good to see you again, Max," The Doctor's forces his voice to sound cheerful. "I didn't seem to realise that you would still be the exact same age as April after all this travelling."
"It would have been nice to have seen you sooner."
The Doctor smiles before he turns to go. He looks at the Butler who holds the living room door open but says nothing about seeing this Butler again.
"Oh and Doctor," Max calls just before his guests are about to leave. "Please let me know if you find him. It would ease my mind to hear how he is."
"I will. And I hope that you can reunite with your twin too." Although the Doctor says it, he isn't too sure he means what he says. He isn't too sure that April will be the same after the pain she is fighting in her nightmare.
Max watches his guests as they leave the room and the Butler follows pursuit.
