Point of origin
Sunday November 4, 1888
It was a chilly evening in London. Nigel Brown pulled out his pocket watch and noted that the time was half past eight. The sun had long set and he looked at the empty park bench where he was supposed to meet Elizabeth. He had intended to propose to her this evening. He had in his possession his Grandmother wedding ring that he was going to give her. His eyes got that dreamy look in them whenever he thought of her. He had met her four years earlier almost by chance. He smiled at the memory.
* * *
He remembered walking out the bakery with his breakfast, a muffin, when he walked right into her. As they collided, they both fell to the ground. She had been carrying an armload of books, which she promptly dropped with papers flying.
"Why don't you watch where you are going?" she said crossly.
He was astonished at her when he looked at her. She was about 5'4" tall and had chest length brown hair. Her eyes were fawn colored and she had a perfect smile. She was wearing a blue dress and she was the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen.
"Excuse me," he said. "Let me help you with those."
He began to pick up the books as she was sorting and organizing her papers. He was definitely taken by her.
"I'm Nigel," he stammered.
"No, you are clumsy. I assume that you name is Nigel then?" she asked as she took back her books.
"My name? Yes of course." He said as he felt the flush of embarrassment creep up his face. "I didn't catch your name, Miss"
"That's because I didn't give it to you Nigel." She said as she tried to look cross at him. It was a losing battle as a smile began to play at the corners of her mouth. She looked him over once. He stood 5'8" tall and had blond hair. He had dark brown eyes and had a medium build. She stood looking at him as several seconds of awkward silence went by.
"Will you at least allow me to carry your books for you?"
At last a smile broke out on her face and it had the effect of making Nigel weak in his knees. Without a word she handed him her books and began walking down the street. After they had taken several steps she stopped and looked at him and said, "Your muffin is still back there." She said with a giggle.
Nigel almost dropped her books from sheer embarrassment as he went back and retrieved his muffin.
"I'd offer you some of this muffin but it seems to have gotten dirty when I dropped it."
They began walking down the street and walked for a couple of blocks.
"We have arrived at my destination Nigel. Thank you for carrying my books." She said as she took them back from him. They were stopped in front of a store that said Mattocks Books on it. "Theses belong to my employer Mr. Mattock."
She opened the door and was about to walk inside. Nigel stood there with a dreamy expression on his face as she turned and looked at him.
"I'll be free by half past 3 this afternoon. Pick me up for tea?" she asked.
"Uh…Yes of course." He managed to say. His hesitation brought another giggle from her.
"My name is Elizabeth by the way," she said as she disappeared inside the bookstore leaving him on the sidewalk with the same smile on his face.
* * *
He remembered picking her up that afternoon and they did have afternoon tea together. They had over the course of the last four years gotten very close to one another. Elizabeth Jones. He was so in love with her that it caused him to constantly think about her. Today was unusual as she was two hours late. She had, of course been late from time to time but never this late. He was concerned and just a bit cold as a cold rain began to fall. He decided that he would go to her residence and find out if she were ok. He stopped by Mattocks Books to see if she were there. She had told him that Mr. Mattock had received as shipment of books from Cairo chronicling the events of one ancient Egypt. He tried the door and it was locked. He peered in a window and thought that he saw someone in the store. He paused and looked for a bit and finally dismissed it as his imagination. He walked and descended into the tunnel of the London Underground to catch a train to take him near her residence. As he waited for the train, he noticed a most peculiar sight. Off to one side and well out of the way, he saw a light source. He paused and looked at his watch and noticed that it was a quarter of nine. He walked a couple of steps and thought that he heard his train approaching. That was when he heard the noise. It was deeply frightening to say the least. It seemed to be rapidly approaching from the opposite side of the tunnel. He heard a scream that chilled him more than the cold damp air could. The sound of that scream contained a hatred and rage and yet it seemed so unreal that he may have imagined it. He walked towards the light source and that was when he noticed its source. It was a wooden blue box. In bold letters it said Police Box and with smaller letters in between the to words it said public call. He noticed that the door was partially ajar. This was a mystery indeed. From the doorway he could see that the interior of the box was illuminated but the windows were dark. He lived to solve mysteries and this was yet another. Cautiously he opened the door and peered inside. What he beheld was like something out of a dream. He stepped inside the box and took several tentative steps and then came to himself. He should have reached the backside of this box already and yet he was in a large room. The construction of the room was different than anything that he had ever seen before. He felt a stab of fear and uncertainty as he turned and exited the box. He walked around the box and verified that it could not have contained the room he had just exited. He was pondering these things when he heard that baleful scream again. It was coming from the tunnel to his left and he turned and looked. He beheld a nightmare as a black robed figure was racing towards him. It might have been a woman but the creatures' eyes held him in shock and he was paralyzed with fear. The nightmare screamed again and there was no denying the fact that it was real and headed right for him.
"Run you fool!" came a voice further down the tunnel. He snapped out of his fear-induced paralysis and reentered the blue box and slammed the door. He noticed that there was a lock on the door and he turned it. Something large and heavy sounding crashed against the door again and again. He then heard what sounded like a titanic struggle outside of the door. Fear once again over came him and he ran looking for an escape from the nightmare that seemed to have claimed him. He found a corridor and ran down it, finally finding what appeared to be a cloakroom. He ran to the back of it and hid. His heart was thundering in his chest and he was having trouble breathing. The taste of fear was in his mouth and he closed his eyes in agony against it. The words that echoed in his memory "Run you fool!" were spoken with his own voice.
"This is not possible!" he moaned as he began to weep. Finally the events strained him to his breaking point and he lost consciousness.
* * *
Nigel was in a happy place. He had just met Elizabeth's father. His name was Lord Stanley Jones. It had taken several months just to convince Elizabeth that he was interested in her and not because she came from money. Nigel's parents had left him a stipend as he studied ancient world history at the University of London. He could still hear the voice of his mother as she chided him, "Nigel you shouldn't be studying in the past but should be looking forward to the sciences where you can make a comfortable living." He had been considering exactly that until he found out that Elizabeth had also been studying world history. Her employer Mr. Mattock was a fellow from the history department at Oxford and she was his apprentice as well as his assistant. They would have lively discussions about Egyptian history. She had been interested in the culture and society structure of the Egyptians while he had been primarily interested in their architecture and sciences. Their individual research would compliment the work of the other and they formed a solid bond of friendship in this fashion. He had realized that he had found his soul mate and he endeavored to convince her that he was hers as well. They were researching a particularly vague city in Egypt one night when he decided against reason and kissed her. Her reaction to the kiss was as shocking as it was unexpected. She had got a hard look on her face and slapped him so hard that he saw stars.
"Nigel Brown if you do that again unbidden and I shall never speak to you again." She had said and then she stormed away leaving him hurt and confused. He had gathered up the study material and retired to his room at the university. He lay in bed and stared at the ceiling when there came knock at the door. He opened the door and there stood Elizabeth. It was apparent that she had been crying.
"Nigel", she said. "Can I come in?"
"Of course Elizabeth." He said as he backed away from the door. "Listen about earlier…"
She silenced him by placing a finger over his lips.
"When I was in primary school one of my classmates had taken an interest in me. It was an inappropriate interest to say the least. He had feigned an interest in my studies as a pretext to get me alone with him and then he attempted to have an affair with me. When I resisted he began to slander me. He said that I had come on to him and I was shunned by all of my friends. I decided at that moment never to let anyone get that close to me again." She paused to take a breath as the tears streamed down her face.
"Elizabeth," he began as she silenced him again.
"I was not ever going to let anyone get that close to me again so there would be, could be no doubt as to my integrity. Then I met you Nigel. You are different and kind. You seem to be genuinely interested in me and if you are feigning your interest in Egyptian history, you are the most accomplished fraud I have ever met. Then you kissed me unbidden and I reacted without thinking. I am sorry."
"Elizabeth," he began again. When she did not stop him he continued. "When I am with you, everything seems more real, more exciting, I cannot even begin on how to describe how I feel about you. From that first day when I met you quite by accident, I was taken by you. The passion that I feel for you was so overwhelming that when I was that close to you I could have resisted but I chose not to. I want to be with you more than anything. I love you Elizabeth."
"Nigel, I don't know if I am capable of loving you back but I want to explore my feelings with you to see if it is possible. I ask you to be patient with me."
Without waiting for a response, she turned and left him there alone that night. It took several months but finally she admitted that she had the same feelings for him as he had for her. She had insisted that he meet her parents and now he stood in the withering glare of her father.
"My daughter is more precious to me than all the wealth that I possess." Lord Jones had said. "She means a great deal to me as she is my only surviving offspring. I must admit that I never thought that she would find another male suitor since that wretched business several years back. Has she told you about that?"
"Yes sir, she has." Nigel said.
"What exactly are your intentions with my daughter," Lord Jones asked as he lit his pipe.
"Sir?"
"Young man I remember what it is like to be young. If you think that Elizabeth is just going to be another conquest for you, you are mistaken. If that is what you are after you can find an accommodating harlot and kindly leave my daughter out of it."
"Sir, I take offence to that statement."
"Oh? And why is that Nigel Brown?" Lord Jones asked as he exhaled a cloud of sweet smelling smoke from his pipe.
"My intention toward your daughter is to marry her and spend the rest of my days cherishing her. I desire to make her happy and to stimulate her mind. She completes me."
Lord Jones looked at Nigel for a full minute. When Nigel didn't turn away or fidget he looked upon him with respect.
"What does Elizabeth think of this, Nigel?" Lord Jones asked.
"I haven't asked her yet. I wanted your permission first." Nigel replied.
"What would you do if I denied you that permission?"
"Sir with all respect, I would ask her to marry me anyways." Nigel said.
"You know that I would disinherit her if that was the case and you would be chased out of England. Where would you go? Germany perhaps?" Lord Jones asked.
"Sir with my education I would take her and emigrate to America. Boston or New York and get a teaching assignment. I am well able to provide for us with or without your support. I ask as a courtesy nothing more, nothing less."
Lord Jones laughed aloud and came up to Nigel. He put his hand on his shoulder and said, "Son if she agrees to marry you, you indeed have my blessing. She could not have a better choice of young men to come and court her."
With that, Nigel had intended to ask her at the park the next day but she didn't show up. Then he remembered what had happened.
***
He opened his eyes and the cloakroom that he found himself in had not vanished. It wasn't a dream but a strange and horrible reality. He decided to flee from this nightmare and find Elizabeth. He cautiously made his way back down the corridor from which he came and approached the door in which he had entered. He paused and listened but it seemed to be quiet outside the door. As he was reaching toward the door, he heard voices on the outside of it. He froze in momentary panic and then he turned and ran back towards the cloakroom from which he had come from. He heard what sounded like a key turn the lock and the door opened.
"Doctor, I'll bet you five quid that it would look like you if it still had the nose." A female voice said.
"Rose, I cannot take that bet in good faith." A male voice replied.
"Ok Doctor, lets make it interesting. Ten quid." She said.
"Your on Rose. I hope that you have cash then" he replied.
These two seemed friendly enough and the strangest of noises began. It sounded like someone scraping a piece of metal up and down an off tune piano wire. He felt the floor shift under his feet and then the movement stopped.
"Lets go look at it Doctor and then you can pay me and we can go and have fish and chips." The female said and Nigel heard the door open.
"Ok Rose, it will be light soon and then we will see." He heard the male voice say, as they seemed to be moving away from the doorway.
Nigel looked at his watch and it was half past nine. He pondered what they could have possibly meant as they said it would be light soon. He had apparently been unconscious for about a half an hour. He worked up the nerve and went to the door. He listened for a moment and hearing none, he exited.
***
It had been a strange day with several strange and unexplainable events. Even so, nothing could have prepared him for what he saw. He was no longer in the tunnel of the London Underground. In fact, he could assume that he was no longer in London. There was no moon that night and yet high in the sky the moon was full. The nighttime air was very warm and it seemed that he was in a desert. He looked around and noticed an impossible sight of a pyramid. It would seem to him that somehow he was in Egypt. He could see the Great Pyramid of Giza in the background. It seemed that fear was to be his constant companion as he looked on this scene that seemed so real and yet could not be. He wandered away from the blue box, momentarily forgetting it. It was strangely fascinating to be here despite the improbability of it.
"This has got to be a dream." He said aloud, his own voice sounding strange in his ears. He walked along the sand in the light of the full moon and was completely taken by surprise when he put his foot down in a place that looked solid but was not. He fell some twenty feet down into a pit that was somehow concealed. It was at least a hundred feet across and yet he failed to notice it. He climbed to his feet and noticed that he had twisted his ankle. He looked around and there were two statues on either side of the pit. He walked up towards one of them and looked at it, thinking that maybe he could climb up and out of the pit. As he approached one, the opposite one moved. He walked over to investigate and noticed that there was a small room with a stone chest with in.
"Great." He said. "I am going insane now."
He laughed a humorless laugh as he approached the stone chest. How bizarre can this dream get he thought to himself. He touched the chest and ran his fingers over it. It sprang open and revealed a red vapor that seemed to be emanating light. He did not know what it was only that he felt a feeling of dread. There was something dreadful about what ever that was and he decided to take his chances inside the strange blue box. He limped back toward the other statue when he noticed that the vapor had left the box and was pursuing him. He cried out and tried to run. He fell to the ground and the vapor overtook him. It completely encompassed him and he drew in a deep breath to scream but no sound came forth. The vapor entered him and he was fundamentally changed at that moment. He ceased breathing and his heart stopped beating. He knew he was dying and yet he remained completely aware of everything. The night seemed to turn to day. He could hear the noise of the insects of the desert. He could hear the man and the woman that were in the blue box with him and yet he lay there wide eyed and staring. Because he was looking up he noticed that the two of them appeared to walk on thin air and walked completely away from him unaware. He felt the floor begin to move, (How can I feel anything I am dead) and when it had completed its movement he was laying in the desert sand. (I want my heart to beat again and I want to live) he thought desperately. He could hear his own heart as it began to beat again. He forced himself to breath and yet he fundamentally knew that he needed neither to live. (Live? Is this life? I know that I just died and yet I am more aware than ever before.)
He ran with superhuman speed towards the blue box and he heard the sound from earlier, the sound of someone scraping a piece of metal up and down an off tune piano wire. The box began to pulse light and fade in and out of reality, in an out until it was gone. He screamed with fear and rage until there was no more air in his lungs.