The Companion

It had been a few days since our little escapade in the TARDIS and coming back into our lives after seeing all those different worlds in a flying visit was strange. Working in the shop seemed even more tedious than before apart from the occasional free ice cream. But somehow, even that didn’t tempt me as much as it used to.

Recently I had been working the shop on my own while the Doctor continued his search for anything connected to the cracks. I, of course, asked if I could come with him but he said I should keep the shop running for now at least.

He popped in every now and then, generally around the busiest hours to give me a hand but apart from that… I had no idea where he actually went.

Evening had come around once again and I sat out on the steps by the back door waiting for Harry. It seemed incredible that just the other night Harry and I had set foot in the TARDIS for the first time over on that patch of grass on the edge of the car park. Despite the fact that we’d only traveled with him once, it’d had felt as if we’d been doing it all our lives. Maybe it was the fact that we were with the Doctor for such a long stretch of time or that he’d taken us to five different places in one night. Whatever it was I knew that traveling with the Doctor was something that I didn’t want to stop doing. It had become apparent that there was so many worlds out there undiscovered by humans that we could visit at pull of a lever. There was so much out there to see.

As trains of thought do, however, this led me to another. Over the past few days, being alone in the shop I had seemed to hear things that I shouldn’t have been able to. They were almost like an echo of a voice belonging someone who was meant to be there but… well, wasn’t and they always seemed to come from the same place by the store cupboard. I wondered if it was just me going spare after traveling with the Doctor but really I knew that it had something to do with that crack. But the wall upon which it sat gave no warning signs whatsoever, not even a glint of light was to be seen. All seemed to be well even though I knew it wasn’t.

I was pulled out of my reverie by the skidding sound of car tyres as Harry pulled into the car park at top speed. I stood up slowly as he parked the car randomly, not checking if it was straight before jumping out.

“Kylie! You’ve gotta come with me,” he said, grabbing my hand and dragging me towards the car.

“Wait, what? What’s going on, Harry?” I said.

“I found one,” he said.

“One? One what?”

“A crack, another crack, the exact same shape!” he said panicking slightly.

“What? Where?”

“At the studio. We’ve gotta go!”

I gave him one quick look before racing around to the passenger’s seat while Harry jumped into the driver’s side and slammed the door.

“Has anything happened?” I asked.

“I saw the light out of the corner of my eye as I was leaving… I think.”

“You think? Harry, are you sure it’s a crack?”

“Pretty sure. It looks the same.”

“It might not be,” I said quietly.

“Just… just let me show you.”

“Oh ok,” I sighed, rubbing my eyes as Harry started the car up.

“Are you tired?” he asked with concern, looking over at me.

“Just a little. But I’ll be fine,” I said, smiling reassuringly before Harry gave a small nod and pulled out of the car park.

The studio was a good fifteen minutes away and we were there in no time. We parked out the back and as we got out I saw Harry look around as if to check that we weren’t going to be seen. He took my hand and walked quickly up to the back door, which he unlocked before letting us inside.

“I’ll just do the alarm. Wait here a moment,” said Harry before going up the hall to where the keypad was, punching in the four digit code. “Ok, come on,” he said, beckoning and I followed after him.

He led the way to a small lounge-like area and turned on the light.

“Where is it?” I asked quietly.

“Hold on a second,” said Harry and he moved over to where a couch was pushed up against the wall. Just poking out from behind it I could see a faint line on the wall and as Harry moved the couch away the crack was revealed. It was definitely the same shape as the one in the store but didn’t appear to be active.

“See, it’s exactly the same,” said Harry.

“Well, what do we do? I have no way of contacting the Doctor and I-“

There was a loud bump that had come from down the hall.

“Shit,” Harry whispered loudly, turning the light off with full force before pulling me over behind the couch, “Come over here and stay still.”

“How could someone have got in? This place was alarmed,” I said.

“I have absolutely no idea,” said Harry.

We sat quietly listening and heard footsteps coming down the hall, closer and closer to the door. I frowned slightly as I heard what sounded like curses as whoever it was got closer. I looked over at Harry and saw that he was straining his ears to hear the voice.

“I should really learn to turn some lights on,” they said, apparently to themselves and I let out a sigh of relief as I realised it could only be one person.

“Are you serious?” Harry muttered as we stood up. He walked over to turn on the lights before poking his head out into the hall and said, “Fancy seeing you here.”

“Blimey! Harry, you gave me a fright!” I heard the Doctor say from the hallway.

“I was always under the impression that nothing frightened you,” said Harry as he stepped back to let the Doctor through the door.

“Well, what do you expect, jumping out at me like that?”

“You’re one to talk,” I said from over by the second couch. “Making a bloody loud noise down the hall. We thought someone had broken in.”

“Ah… well… I momentarily forgot how big my feet were so as you can imagine… but anyway, I believe you’ve found something, have you not?”

“Yeah, over there,” said Harry pointing to where he’d pulled the first couch away from the wall. The Doctor strolled right on over and bent down to examine it with his sonic screwdriver. Naturally, Harry and I followed him but perched ourselves on the couch while he did his inspection.

“Doctor?” said Harry.

“Yeah?”

“How’d you get in here without setting off the alarms?”

“Simple. I just knocked out the sensors with my screwdriver.”

“It can do that?” I asked.

“It can do anything except wood. I thought I told you.”

“Oh… that’s right.”

“But if it can do anything, wouldn’t it have been more… practical to disarm the alarm?” asked Harry.

“There’s not always time for practicality, Curly. Now, this is the second crack we’ve found in this version of reality and in close proximity to the first. What can that mean?”

“What do you mean ‘in this version of reality’?” I asked.

“Well with the reboot of the universe, everything that happened previously was reset and so the cracks that had previously appeared never really existed. Therefore, they were part of an alternate version of reality.”

“Right, gotcha,” I said.

“The cracks had previously appeared all across time and space but as of now we’ve only found two… it doesn’t make sense,” said the Doctor, more to himself than either of us and standing up he said, “Make sure no one comes too close to this crack. I assume this is a place you’re familiar with?”

“Its the studio we’ve been at for the last couple of weeks,” said Harry.

“Of course, yes. Well, I have much to work out. I’ll see you both soon… I hope,” said the Doctor.

“Hang on, you can’t just go!” said Harry. “What’ll happen if one of the boys or anyone gets close to it?”

“Any number of things. They could meet the same fate as Marie and be erased from reality entirely or this crack could act as some sort of wormhole,” said the Doctor.

“Doctor, how could I have completely forgotten Marie if she was my best friend? I mean… I understand that she was erased; well I think I do at least… but how can I just forget?”

“You weren’t a time traveler prior when the incident occurred but even if you were, it wouldn’t have changed things because she was part of your own personal timeline. It was your own history changing.”

“Will I ever remember again?”

“Traces are always left and those traces can bring someone back. Have hope Kylie… and trust me.”

“You know I trust you… it was just something that was on my mind.”

“Understandable, of course. Now, I really must be going, I promise I’ll be back. Keep the faith,” and with that he was gone.

Notes