Sadie and Jason stepped away from the window, Jason sitting on the end of his bed and Sadie leaning against the doorframe, her hands to her temples as she thought about what she had seen.
“Okay, okay, so that’s not normal.”
“Are you sure we didn’t imagine it?” asked Sadie.
“What, both of us at the same time?” laughed Jason. “Perhaps it’s a dream.”
“That sounds even more stupid.”
“We need to call the police,” said Jason.
“Finally! I’ve been saying that for the last few minutes!”
Jason went to his mobile that had been connected to the charger. His eye caught the clock on the side and he frowned. It still read 3.17am.
“What are you waiting for?” asked Sadie.
“I think my clock’s stopped working. It was 3.16am when I woke up and now it says it’s only 3.17am.”
“So?”
“So we’ve been awake for more than a minute, sis,” he hissed. He shook his head and went to unlock his phone. His face froze.
“Again, what are you waiting for?” said Sadie, growing more impatient. “That thing might still be out there.”
“It’s my phone. The time on it says 3.17am as well.”
Sadie shook her head. “I don’t get it.”
He unlocked his phone and called the emergency number, but there was no dial tone. “It’s dead.”
“Let me try mine,” she said, hurrying out the room and returning with her own phone. She looked pale as she looked down at the screen.
“Let me guess – it says 3.17am as well?”
Sadie nodded slowly and turned the screen to face him.
“Well there’s gotta be a simple explanation for it. Maybe there was a power surge and it fried the electronics in the house.”
“Let’s try the landline.”
They made their way downstairs and Jason grabbed the receiver of the phone mounted to the kitchen wall, but there was nothing. It was completely dead as well.
Jason shook his head, his eyes wide with fear.
“Maybe it’s gone,” said Sadie, but she sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than anything.
Jason turned to the front window and grabbed the thick, blackout curtains. He swallowed and then slowly pulled them open. To his relief there was nothing there.
“It’s gone,” he said, breathing a sigh of relief.
“We need to go next door and see if their phone is working,” said Sadie.
“We can’t wake up Mr and Mrs Peppers.”
“Look, I don’t know what that thing was and I don’t know what it did to that poor woman, but you know there’s been some weird crap going on over the last twenty years or so all over the world. I reckon we might be in danger.”
“You’re right,” said Jason. “Let me get our coats.”
Jason headed through to the kitchen and the little utility room that led to the backdoor. He grabbed his and Sadie’s coats and was just putting his trainers on when something caught his eye.
Something right in front of him.
Jason looked up, and standing looking at him through the frosted glass was the bright blue eyes of the shadowy figure.
Jason staggered back and nearly collided with Sadie who had also come to grab her shoes.
“Oh shit!” she said.
“Run!” shouted Jason.
Current Time: Unknown
Mary woke up and, amazingly, felt refreshed. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been asleep for, but more items had materialised in the room since she’d fallen asleep. She went to the wardrobe and found a plain, black dress with a white belt. It still didn’t completely suit her, but it would have to do for now.
She made her way back through the maze of corridors until she located the console room again. The Doctor was sat in an easy chair with his feet up on a small pouf. He was reading a leather bound book – Tales from the Ancient Days – and was nodding to himself.
“Good morning,” said Mary as she wandered into the console room.
“Oh, finally!” he said, slamming the book shut enthusiastically and popping it down on the top of the pouf. “I was wondering when you’d wake up.”
“How long was I asleep?”
“Hard to tell,” said the Doctor, rushing to the console. “Time is so difficult to track on board the TARDIS, but I’d say….hmmm…maybe three days.”
“Three days!” she said, aghast and plonking herself down on the easy chair.
“Yes, about that I think. I was beginning to think you’d never wake up. I’ve managed to film an episode of a game show with a previous version of myself, save a race composed entirely of grass and avert World War 22 in the time you’ve been asleep.”
“Goodness,” she said. “I must have needed it.”
“The TARDIS can do funny things to a person.”
“About that,” said Mary, “are you any closer to getting control of this ship? I mean you did promise me you’d take me home.”
“Mary, are you so desperate to return right now?”
“Well, eventually,” she said. She thought for a moment. “It’s just…well, my mother is alone. She’s been so lonely since my father and Peter died. She tries to smile her way through the days, but I know she’s not smiling when her back is turned or when she knows nobody is looking.”
The Doctor looked down at the console. “You have a strong bond with your mother, don’t you?”
“We’re all each other have left.”
The Doctor’s mouth curled into a sad smile. “I know how much family can mean. I’ve had family members I’ve lost and I’ve had friends as well. Friends that have become family to me. It’s always so hard to leave them behind.” His eyes narrowed as if he was remembering something. “And sometimes we can do the most desperate things to get family back…”
The TARDIS suddenly lurched backwards. The Doctor fell back towards the doors and he banged his head on the wall while Mary stumbled forward and fell against the console.
“What was that?!” she yelled, as the TARDIS lurched back again.
“I don’t know,” said the Doctor, getting to his feet and rubbing the back of his head.
He frowned at the digital clock readout on the time zone panel of the console. It’s numbers were randomly jumbling up and not settling on anything.
“Doctor, you might want to look at that,” said Mary, pointing towards an ornate clock, its hands spinning around and around.
“We seem to be caught in some kind of time anomaly,” said the Doctor as the TARDIS lurched again.
“Meaning what exactly?” said Mary, as she gripped the console again.
“I’ll explain later,” said the Doctor, looking from side to side and then making a decision. He raced around to the other side of the console and flicked a switch. The central column stopped its usual rise and fall and the TARDIS engines suddenly fell silent.
“What’s happening?” said Mary, casting her eyes towards the ceiling.
“We’re riding the anomaly down to its source.”
Current Time: 3.17am
The TARDIS materialised on the dark country lane relatively quietly, save for it’s usual wheezing and groaning. After a few moments the door opened and the Doctor stepped out followed by Mary, who had found herself a black, knee-length wrap-around jacket.
“Seems rather peaceful,” said the Doctor, looking up and down the lane, which was flanked by tall trees on one side and a hedge and dark field the other.
“I thought we were going to blow up for a moment.”
“Nonsense,” smiled the Doctor, patting his box, “she’s been through worse scrapes. Just recently in fact.”
“You said you’d explain the anomaly.”
“Yes,” said the Doctor, “although it’s hard to explain something when I don’t know where it’s originating from, or how.”
“Try,” said Mary, as she squinted her eyes to see if she could see anything in the dark.
“The TARDIS travels through the space/time vortex – I suppose you could call it a shipping lane. We were sailing along quite nicely until we hit the anomaly – think of a whirlpool.”
“Whirlpools in time and space…” said Mary, mulling it over in her head.
“The TARDIS tried to escape but that just caused an opposite reaction to the whirlpool. The easiest solution was to ride the whirlpool down to the point of origin, which is here.”
“And where exactly is here?”
“I’m not sure,” said the Doctor. He checked his watch and frowned. The face was cracked and the hands were stuck on 3.17am. “But at least we know the time.” He showed it to Mary.
“So do we take off again?” said Mary, shivering in the night air.
“Unfortunately we won’t be able to until we can solve this little problem.”
“I see. So we have to wait until the whirlpool is gone,” said Mary. “So where do we start?”
As if to answer her question they heard a yell from down the lane complete with two sets of squelching feet running down the muddy lane.
“Who’s there?” asked the Doctor.
Two terrified people – a young man and woman – appeared from out of the darkness, their faces white with fear.
They looked just as surprised to see Mary and the Doctor and the male stopped dead, the woman nearly colliding with her partner.
“Calm yourself,” said the Doctor. “What are you running from?”
The man bent over and clutched as his side. “I’ve…I’ve got a stitch.”
“It’s back there. It’s coming,” said the woman, trying to get her breath and pointing towards the darkness.
The Doctor walked past them and peered into the night. And then he saw it. It was moving rapidly towards them. All he could make out was the ice-blue eyes.
“What are your names?” asked the Doctor.
“Jason and Sadie,” panted the man. “But we’ve gotta run.”
“I don’t run,” said the Doctor. “Well, sometimes I run. But today.” He went in his pocket and pulled out a small device that looked like a firework.
“What’s that?” said Mary. She was peering into the darkness to try and see what it was that was pursuing the two people.
“It’s a galactic glitter,” said the Doctor. He took out a lighter and lit the end. The fuse sparkled and spluttered with sparks. When the blue-eyed-something was almost on top of them he threw the glitter towards it.
It exploded with a little “crack” and the blue eyes closed. The creature and surrounding lane was illuminated just long enough for the four of them to see a black-cloaked figure running back the other way before fading into the darkness.
“That’ll frighten it off for a bit.” The Doctor smiled and turned to Jason and Sadie. “Good morning, my friends. I’m the Doctor, this is Mary and before you ask any more questions this is my time machine. And I’m here to help. All okay?”
Jason was about to respond when his eyes rolled back and he collapsed into the mud.
When Jason opened his eyes it was still dark, but his bedside lamp was switched on. He wondered if it had all been a horrible nightmare. He turned to look at his clock and he let out a pained groan. It was still 3.17am.
The strange man who had introduced himself as the Doctor was sat on a chair in the corner of the room. If he hadn’t already been freaked out by the blue-eyed creature today he would have been freaked out even more by the strange man sitting in his room.
“You’re awake,” said the Doctor. “That was most inconvenient of you.”
“What?” said Jason rubbing his forehead.
“I said that was most inconvenient of you.”
“What? What was?”
“Passing out in the middle of the lane.”
“How did I get back here?” he asked, realising that he was covered in nearly-dry mud.
“We carried you back. Myself, your sister and my friend, Mary, that is.”
“Sadie…is she?”
“She’s fine,” said the Doctor. “She’s downstairs with Mary.” He leaned forward. “She’s given me her account of what she saw. What I need to know is what you saw.”
“Exactly the same thing,” said Jason, sitting up and wincing in pain. “Exactly the same thing as Sadie.”
“A cloaked figure with blue eyes?”
“That’s the one.”
“Hmmm,” he said, tapping his chin. “That bit is fascinating in itself, but I’d like to know what else you saw. I’ve met cloaked beings before. I need to make sure they aren’t the same creatures. So, again, what did you see?”
“You mean the woman?”
“Your sister – Sadie, did you say her name was? – says the woman disappeared.”
“That’s right. The thing seemed to just…I don’t know…engulf her.”
The Doctor got up from the chair and rubbed his chin. He crossed over to the window and stared down at the orange, street-light-bathed street below. “Again I’ve met creatures in cloaks that engulf their victims before. A long time ago.”
“You have?” Jason threw his bed covers back and sat up. “What sort of creatures?”
“Oh, creatures that are long gone. Poor, unfortunate creatures. But these can’t be the same ones.”
Jason got out of bed, rubbed at his aching head and then walked over to the Doctor. “Really, Doc, I’m scared, okay? I don’t have the faintest clue of what’s going on here.”
“Then maybe we should head down to the kitchen and we can collate all the information we have.” He clapped Jason on the back and smiled. “Come on, old son.”
Sadie finished pouring the tea and sat down at the table opposite Mary. “Yes, poor Jason has been through a lot just recently. He’s going through a pretty difficult divorce. I’m not surprised he flaked out like that.”
“Then I’m assuming it’s your brothers wife that wants the divorce and not him?”
“His wife?” Sadie chuckled. “Oh, sweetheart, he’s never even taken a second look at a woman. Jason’s married to a man.”
Mary’s raised her eyebrows so high that Sadie thought they were about to drop off her forehead. “Oh…I mean…oh, how modern.”
“Modern? Where are you from, sweetheart, the 1940’s?”
“As a matter of fact, yes.”
“Mary is a child from another time,” said the Doctor as he entered the kitchen followed by a bewildered Jason.
“I beg your pardon?”
“That’s a story for another time, Sadie,” smiled the Doctor.
“How you doing, bro?” asked Sadie, as Jason sat himself down and took a sip of tea.
“Totally and utterly confused.”
“I’ve got to be honest. I feel the same,” said Mary. “Doctor, what on Earth is going on here?”
“Firstly we need to dispense with the usual questions,” said the Doctor. “If you can just accept that aliens and monsters and time travel exist then we can move on and deal with the situation at hand. I really don’t have time for it all.”
“To be fair,” said Jason, “time is essentially what we do have, especially if we’re stuck in this one single second.”
“And how long, Mr Harwood, do you expect us to live in this single second?”
“How do you mean, Doctor?” asked Mary.
“Well apart from that cloaked thing out there, we can’t stay here forever. We’re frozen in one moment in time. We can’t live here forever.”
“Then what do we do?” asked Sadie.
The Doctor frowned and held his finger up. He got up from the kitchen chair and ran through to the living room. The lights were all off so he peeked through the curtains. Sure enough there was the sound of running footsteps. Little footsteps.
The other three followed him through.
“What is it?” asked Mary, trying to peer over his shoulder.
“It’s a child,” said the Doctor, his voice almost a whisper.
Outside the little girl, wearing pink pyjamas adorned with fluffy white sheep, a blue dressing grown, red slippers and a grey bobble hat, ran as fast as her little legs could carry her. She was panting and out of breath. She stopped just outside the Harwood home and her brown eyes flicked up to the Doctor’s face, mostly concealed in shadow.
She seemed to frown at him and she brushed her wet, blonde hair out of her face.
The Doctor tapped on the window and beckoned her to come inside.
But before she could do anything another sound came. More footsteps. This time heavier on the rain-soaked tarmac of the road.
The little girl turned to look back, then back at the Doctor, shook her head and bolted up the road.
A few moments later the same, cloaked figure came running past the house. It slowed slightly and then looked at the Doctor, who took a step back, but this time the figure didn’t head towards the house. Instead it carried on its pursuit of the little girl.
“Where’s she going?” asked Sadie. “We’ve got to help her.”
“Agreed,” said the Doctor. He turned to Jason. “Will you come with me, Mr Harwood?”
“Out there?”
“Yes, out there,” said the Doctor, nodding. “What’s at the end of this road?”
“St. Joseph’s,” said Sadie.
The Doctor frowned.
“The church,” said Jason.
“Then that’s where we’re heading,” said the Doctor. “Go and wrap up warm. We have to help her.”
“What about us, Doctor?” said Mary, feeling a little helpless.
“You and Sadie go and take a look around the village. If that little girl is stuck with us then there may be more villagers. And be careful - I’m not yet sure what we’re dealing with, but these creatures can’t be allowed to take anymore innocent people.”
To be continued...
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