Clara's Empty Echo

Chapter 2: Meet the Madman

The sound of my stomach growling woke me up early that morning. I put on my jacket and went outside. You could tell winter was coming because when I went outside I couldn't feel my nose or my feet. So I went to the back of the house, jumped behind the little fence, and shivered all the way to the junkyard. Once there, I glanced around to see if anyone was around. No one was around. I was lucky today. I went in for my daily hunt for scraps. Junk, junk, junk, oh and more junk. Wait…What's that over there? Whoa, could it be?! I sprinted towards it with one strand of hope. I curiously looked at the item. It was a perfectly good vase! "Mom would just love this!" I thought. I held it tight in my hands. I could feel the warmth and joy of the vase. This vase could change everything in my life. I smiled happily, and started to exit the junkyard. When I was out, the wind blew fierce so I looked around. A strange noise was heard. While I was searching for the source of the sound, I saw a police box appear in front of the fence between the junkyard. I then remembered all those newspaper stories. This was it! I held the vase tighter. I slowly started to step up to the doors. My heart thumped faster and faster as I grew nearer. As soon as I placed my hand on the door something or someone on the other side was opening it. My heart sank. I jumped back and fell to the ground. A bright green light shone onto my face. Then the light stopped and a man was staring at me. He looked confused. I soon did, too. He looked down at the ground right in front of him, looking even more confused. I was curious to why he looked down. Then I realized I wasn't holding anything. The vase had shattered. I immediately started balling my eyes out. My whole future was in that vase! The man tilted his head, and knelt down beside me. He just simply asked me, "Why are you crying?" I held a piece of the vase close to my heart. I sobbed, "I was gonna bring it home. Show my mum and…It was gonna get us stuff. A whole feast. But it's all gone now!" I cried out more. The man just patted my back and stood up. He then started to walk into the junkyard. I then was furious with him. So I ran up to him. He saw me and just smirked. He fixed his bow tie. I had so many questions to ask him but the only words that could come out of my mouth were, "Wh-what?!" He looked at me and stopped. He spoke, "Yes, I know you're very, very confused right now. Just go on and pretend nothing even happened."

So I replied, poking him hard on the back, "You broke my vase!"

"No, I did not!"

"You scared me!"

"You were in the way!"

"You have a police box!"

"Yes, yes I do."

We both walked on.

"Th-then what are you doing here?!" I asked him.

"First off, I'm The Doctor. And I don't need a reason to be here!"

"Alright, "Doctor", you owe me a vase! And what was that green light and that appearing blue box? Also, the newspapers say that you're an alien."

"The humans finally got it right. Heh. The light was my sonic screwdriver, I am an alien, and the police box is my time machine called the TARDIS."

I could only say, "Y-you're a madman…"

He replied, "I know."

He stopped in front of a big pile of junk. I tilted my head and asked, "Why are you even here?"

He picked up a cardboard box and shook it. He turned his head to me and smiled. "First off, you haven't even told me your name, silly girl. Or should I call you Rubbish Girl?"

I stomped and yelled, "VASEBREAKER!" I then crossed my arms, and sighed. He stared at me and raised his eyebrow. I looked away and finally answered, "My real name is Michelle, but I liked to be called Clara." The Doctor smiled and fixed his bow tie, "Heh, funny, that's my companion's name."

"Your who what now?"

"The girl I travel around with."

"Oh…Well, what's with being here?"

"Well, why not? Every place has a good reason to explore!"

"Besides here!"

"Oh, come on." He then put down the cardboard box.

"What are you doing?"

"Just say it's a gift from me!" He took out the weird thing he called "sonic screwdriver." He buzzed the box with it and smiled at me. He stood up and handed me the box.

"What is this?" I asked.

"Look inside it!" He replied while putting the sonic in his coat. I sighed and opened the box. My heart dropped. It was the same vase that broke. I looked at him. He smiled like a little kid.

"I-I…What?!" I said while holding the vase.

"Yes, you're welcome."

"H-how did you?!"

"All thanks to my sonic screwdriver!"

"I-I…" I couldn't say anymore. I put the vase carefully down, and I hugged him. He nervously hugged me back. I smiled at him. There was a moment of silence. Then he turned around and started walking away. "W-wait!" I called out. He stopped but didn't even look back.

"What is it?" He answered. I took my vase and went to him, "You can't leave me! I have so much to ask you." He fixed his bow tie and looked at me, "Alright, 'Clara', I'll let you get all your questions answered. One trip and I mean one trip!"