When I leave the psychiatrist's office, Aunt Sharon is waiting for me. She gets up from her seat and guides me out of the building. We drive home in silence, both of us as unwilling to discuss the fact that I'm seeing a psychiatrist as the other. She's tired of me talking about my raggedy man, she says. Apparently it's unhealthy, so she invested in some help for me. I don't understand any of this. I'm just talking about my friend while I wait for him to come back. What's unhealthy about that?
We arrive home after about twenty minutes of awkwardness. I finally ask her what I've been wanting to ask for the whole trip.
"Am I allowed to tell Rory about Dr. Roberts?" Aunt Sharon doesn't bother looking at me as she replies.
"I suppose so," she sighs. "You'd have told him even if I said you shouldn't, wouldn't you?"
"Yes," I admit sheepishly. "Is he coming for dinner today?" I ask, suddenly excited.
"Yes, actually," she answers, opening the front door. I smile to myself and run upstairs to my room as soon as the door is open. I've done some more drawings of the Doctor that I have to show Rory. I think he believes me, at least. Maybe one day he'll meet the Doctor, too.
"What time is Rory coming?" I call down to my Aunt.
"Half four," she replies. I glance at the clock. It's four already, only half an hour to go! I decide to get some things ready for us to play with.
I rummage through the papers on my desk to find my new drawings. I leave them on my bed so I'll find them easily when Rory comes. As I wonder what we can do when he arrives, a brilliant idea strikes me. I know exactly what we can do.
Half an hour later, I sit at the bottom of the stairs, facing the front door. As soon as I hear a knock, I yank the door open.
"Rory!" I say excitedly. I pull him into a hug. When I let go, I see his cheeks have gone pink. He's always been a bit shy about hugging. His mother grins down at us.
"I'll be back at eight to pick him up," she informs me.
"Okay!" I reply happily.
"Don't forget to tell Sharon," she adds. I nod, but I know I won't bother. Aunt Sharon rarely comes to the door, and she doesn't care about when Rory comes and goes. She's always told beforehand by Rory's mother, but other than that, she doesn't involve herself.
Rory's mum kisses his cheek (causing him to blush again), says she'll see us later, and waves us goodbye. Once she's gone, I pull Rory upstairs.
"I've got new drawings," I tell him. "And a great new game!" I take the drawings off my bed and hand them to him.
"Wow!" he says in admiration. "I think you should be an artist when you grow up!"
"Don't be silly, you know I'm going to be an adventurer," I remind him.
"You could be a drawing adventurer!" he suggests. I giggle.
"You should come with me some day," I say, surprising myself. I hadn't meant to say it; it just popped out of my mouth.
"That would be really good!" he replies, grinning. "Now, what's the new game?"
"Oh, yes, new game! Well, I think we should play a new pretending game," I say.
"What kind?" he asks.
"An adventure one." I pause for effect. "I want you to dress up as the raggedy man, and we can go on adventures together," I explain. He smiles in reply.
"That sounds really, really good!" he says excitedly. "But how will I dress like a raggedy person?" I take a moment to think about this.
"I have a blue shirt that's a little bit big for me. You could try wearing that," I suggest.
"Ok!" he agrees. I retrieve the shirt from my wardrobe and hand it to him. He inspects it for a moment. "You can't look at me when I'm changing," he says shyly.
"Oh, sorry," I reply awkwardly, turning around.
"You can look now," he informs me a few seconds later. I turn back around to look at him. The shirt is also too big for him, and it works rather well.
"Tuck one side into your trousers," I tell him, "and then it will be just right." He does as I ask.
"Ta-da!" he says, holding his arms out. I laugh.
"Come on then, raggedy man!" I take his hand and lead him out to the garden. "Let's find prisoner zero!" I shout.
We spend more than an hour searching the garden for Prisoner Zero. We look in the bushes, climb the trees to check the branches, and even peek through the gaps in the fence to my next door neighbour's garden. Eventually, Aunt Sharon calls us in for dinner.
"Coming!" I call back. I turn to Rory. "Don't tell her who you're dressed up as, ok? I have some things to tell you after dinner. Just don't say you're dressed up like the Doctor." He nods and mimes zipping his lips closed.
"I won't say anything," he promises. I smile at him and we go inside.
After dinner, I sit Rory down beside me on my bed.
"Aunt Sharon is making me go to a special doctor person. A doctor for people's minds," I explain quietly.
"Why?" he asks. His concern is clearly visible on his face.
"She says I shouldn't talk about the Doctor so much," I tell him sadly. "I don't think she believes he's real," I whisper.
"But he really is real, isn't he?"
"Of course he is," I assure Rory. "I would never lie to you."
"Good," he says. I look at the clock and notice it says 7:55.
"Quick!" I say suddenly. "You have to get changed before your mum gets back!"
Rory jumps off the bed and grabs his shirt from the floor.
"Close your eyes!" I do so, and a moment later he says it's okay to open them. I take the shirt from him and return it to my wardrobe, just as there's a knock on the door downstairs. We run down the stairs and I open the door.
"Hello Mrs. Williams," I say, seeing Rory's mum.
"Hello Amelia," she replies, smiling. "Ready to go, Rory?" Rory nods. His mother's eyebrows furrow as she looks down at him. "Rory... What have you been doing? Why is your shirt on backwards?" I look over and see that she's right. He must have accidentally put it on backwards when he was changing in a hurry. Before I can stop myself, I laugh.