6: Time Lord Mysterious

Will

William Chesterton woke to the sound of rain pattering on his roof. Warily, he glanced at the clock beside his bed, reading "2:00 AM" in glowing red letters. He groaned, why must he wake up at this ungodly hour? He stopped himself, this seemed oddly familiar. This was exactly like the night all of this started. He sat up sharply, glancing left and right, willing something, anything to happen. Suddenly, a noise. Just like that first night, except different this time. The first night it had been a high pitched wail, tonight it was a groaning of engines, something he had heard before. At school, out of the corner of his eye, a blue shape that disappeared. The police box in the storage cupboard, it had disappeared with the same noise. What colour was that blasted police box again? Blue. It was blue. He had completely missed that in this entire equation! Turning his attention to where the noise was coming from, he spied a shape beginning to form in the darkness of his room. A familiar shape, square, wooden, blue… Will could hardly believe his eyes as the blue 1950s police box materialized in front of him, accompanied by the groaning of engines. The noise stopped as suddenly as it had started, and the police box sat there with its gentle hum of machinery undercutting the silence of Will's house.

Will climbed out of bed and walked across his room towards it, stepping slowly, one foot in front of the other. Hairs stood up on the back of his neck, and suddenly he felt the cold as he had never felt it before; not so much to do with the weather as an eerie chill creeping over every facet of his body and mind. He reached the police box and slowly, placed his hand on the door handle, gripping the cold metal with his fingers. He pulled, once, and nothing happened. The doors moved forward slightly and then fell back into place. He pulled again, harder. Nothing changed.

Frustrated, he sat down on the end of his bed, head in hands. He sat like this, in silence, for a minute, when he heard a gentle creaking coming from the police box, and he looked up to see the right door slowly opening inwards. He stood up, rapidly, and as he did so a head popped out of the gap in the doorway.

"Blimey! Is this the Shadowlands of Sycorax again? I thought for sure I'd gotten Watling Street this time!" the face that spoke was oddly shaped, with a large, protruding chin and floppy hair. Floppy hair…

"Um, no! This is Watling Street!" Will piped up rapidly before the man stuck his head back inside the box.

"Oh! Finally!" the man grinned and stepped out of the box.

The mysterious man stood before Will Chesterton, silhouetted in the pale moonlight that shone in through the window. This was the moment, Will could feel it. The moment where secrets were revealed, questions were answered, and a whole new world was opened up before his eyes…

"Who are you?" he asked, unable to contain himself.

"I'm the Doctor." the man replied, uttering the three most significant words of Will's life.

"Doctor who?"

The Doctor only smiled, as if he was used to being asked that.

"I'm just a madman with a box."

"That's not really-"

"Want to see it?"

"See what?"

"The box."

The Doctor grinned, obviously pleased with himself, and swung round, sauntering back into the police box. Will followed him, curious. Stepping inside, he felts his insides do somersaults as a giant room appeared before his eyes, certainly too big to fit inside a humble police box. He stood speechless in the doorway, gaping at the console that was obviously used to control the box, filled with buttons and topped with a glowing tube which ran up to spinning discs with odd symbols engraved on them. Staircases led every which way, suggesting that there was even more to this colossal interior. Shocked, Will ran back out of the police box, running around it twice, feeling the sides, trying to make sense of the impossibility. He ran back inside, to find the Doctor just standing there bemused, this was obviously a familiar reaction.

"It's- it's bigger on the inside." Will said, uttering the words that had been said by so many.

"I know." The Doctor replied, smiling in a self-satisfied manner

"It's impossible."

"Exactly."

"C-could we pick up a friend of mine?" Will asked tentatively.

The Doctor only grinned.

"Impossible man, impossible box, impossible universe, that's me!"

And with that declaration, he lunged at the controls like a drunk giraffe and sent his fantastic machine hurtling off to their destination.

Ariel

Ariel Jones woke up to a sound like the groaning of engines. Sitting up rapidly, she looked at the time, the clock beside her bed reading "2:01 AM" in glowing green letters. Engines, groaning… There was something familiar about that, but she was still waking up. As the haze of her mind cleared, it came to her, the sound that Will had heard when the police box disappeared! Of course! Hurriedly, she got up and got dressed, the sound was coming from the approximate direction of down the road, Will's house. Before the clock turned to 2:02 she was out the door, but before she could get out the front gate, something materialized in her yard. Something blue…

Feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, Ariel approached the police box slowly, feet crunching on the wet grass. Reaching the box, she reached her hand out, gripping the cold metal of the handle with her fingers, and…

"Blimey! That's not far at all, we could've walked!" a man yelled as he flung open the door from the inside, knocking her hand away. "Oh, hello there, I'm the Doctor!"

Ariel just stared, trying desperately to comprehend what was happening. She didn't think she could be anymore shocked, until Will poked his head out from behind this man calling himself "The Doctor".

"Ariel! It's him, it's really him!"

"Will! What the bloody hell is going on?"

"I'll explain everything, or rather, the Doctor will, just come inside!"

"Inside where? There's barely room for the two of you."

"Oh trust me, there's plenty of room in here." The Doctor chimed in.

Confused, Ariel followed Will and the Doctor back into the box, reaching a new level of shock when she saw the interior. In the centre of the room stood a console that was obviously used to control the box, filled with buttons and topped with a glowing tube which ran up to spinning discs with odd symbols engraved on them. Staircases led God knows where, suggesting even more space inside this impossible machine. Will walked over to her, putting his arm around her shoulders, at which point she felt a nervous shiver course through her body.

"It's- it's bigger- on the…" she stammered, disbelieving.

"Isn't it magnificent?" Will said, grinning,

"Magnificent! Yes! That is one word I would use to describe her!" yelled the Doctor, twirling in front of them with manic, exaggerated movements.

"Her?" Ariel asked, suppressing a giggle. "It's a machine, not a person."

"Yes, good point, well, once… Long story! Still, she was a bit bitey… Yes! Sorry! Never mind that, let's get going!" The Doctor spurted, words tumbling over one another in a scramble for attention.

"Going where?" Ariel asked.

"Anywhere." The Doctor replied, grinning.

Ariel couldn't believe what was happening, after all their work trying to figure this out, the answer had literally materialized in front of them. The box, the mysterious man, the noise, it all made sense now, and here they were right in the middle of it. Her and Will, the only person she could ever want standing by her side at this moment.

"We did it Will," she breathed. "We got our answers."

"And a hell of a lot more questions." he replied pointedly.

The Doctor stood watching them, letting them take it in for a minute, then launched into conversation again.

"Well how about some answers? Mr. Chesterton, Ms. Jones, how would you like to see the stars?"

(end credits music) And that brings us to the end of our story! Never fear, for this saga shall continue in the next episode, Stranger Things… Where will The Doctor take our heroes? Will Ariel and Will get together? Will Josh even remember to write the damn story? Will Sherlock remember the milk? All of these questions and possibly less will be answered next episode!