The Companion

“Shit,” said Niall. “You know the Doctor. The man with the bow tie and the floppy hair.”

I looked at Harry to see his mind working, eyebrows furrowed. I stared at the floor trying to picture this figure Niall spoke of.

The room had grown silent as both Harry and I concentrated. I felt like I was getting nowhere but somehow I knew this was important… very important. But my mind felt so muddled, so much had happened it was a wonder that I was still upright. I was almost about to give up when the light coming from the wall flickered and an image swam to the forefront of my mind. A man in a brown tweed jacket and a burgundy bow tie with a stupid grin. His hair flopped over his forehead as he stood at the console of the bigger on the inside machine. I seized that image and held on to it with everything I had but it seemed my work was close to done for another figure came flying out of the light and onto the floor in front of us. I knew who it was straight away. There was no mistaking her slight figure or long wavy brown hair or glowing brown skin. It was Marie.

I ran over to help her up off the ground. She too appeared to be overcoming a dizzy spell and staggered as her feet took her full weight for the first time. I could tell that from her perspective, the room was spinning from the way her pupils moved, struggling to focus. I could only imagine what both her and Niall were going through right now, trying to get their heads straight. Where had they been? I couldn’t help but wonder where it was that they had been stuck. Was it some kind of limbo? A completely empty area of nothing?

I pulled Marie’s arm over my shoulder and did my best to support her as we moved over towards the free couch.

“Kylie, he’s coming. The Doctor,” said Marie as I sat her down

“Shhh shhh I know,” I said, lying her down so that she could get her spinning head under control.

I sat down on the edge of the couch and watched the illuminated crack closely, hoping, willing the Doctor to come through. He had to make it, he just had to.

“Come on, Doctor,” I found myself saying, teeth gritted in anticipation.

My eyes never once left the light and I could almost picture him slowly coming into view but… wait… that wasn’t just my mind at work. A grin spread across my face and I jumped up as I watched the Doctor’s familiar frame come into view, completely upright and carrying something. Suddenly a leg stepped down from the crack and he stumbled slightly as his whole body emerged and in his arms was a middle-aged woman, completely unconscious.

“Its that lady! The cleaner!” said Harry.

The Doctor quickly moved past Harry and found the clearest part of the carpet on which to lay the woman down. Once he’d done so, he ran back up to the crack, which was still glowing profusely. Harry and I made to run up beside him.

“Stand back!” said the Doctor, holding out an arm as an indication not to step any closer.

I watched as the Doctor raised his sonic screwdriver to the crack once more. The light in the room intensified as the crack slowly widened. For a moment time appeared to freeze in mid tick as a loud reverberating note rang through the room before the crack snapped shut to reveal a perfectly unmarked wall. The Doctor then fell to his knees, gripping his head in his hands.

“You all right, Doctor?” said Harry, cautiously taking a few steps closer.

“Yeah, fine. Just dizzy. The time field, it can do funny things to your head,” he said as he slowly sat upright, blinking a few times to clear his eyes. “We should, uh… we should get this lot home. They’ve been through a lot. They need to rest.”

“How about yourself?” said Niall from the couch.

“I’ll be fine… I’ve done this… many a time,” said the Doctor, panting a little as he pushed himself slowly to his feet. I watched as he got himself upright before stumbling slightly. Both Harry and I went to put our arms out to prevent him from falling.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” I asked.

“Yes, yes, completely fine. Absolutely spiffing. Hey, never said that before, should I keep it? I quite like it,” the Doctor replied.

“Do you need some water?” asked Harry.

“That would be lovely, yes,” said the Doctor and giving in he went to sit on the couch next to Niall.

Harry made his way out of the room to fetch some water.

“So,” I said, taking my seat on Marie’s couch once more. “Are we gonna get any further explanations? And don’t think I’ll let you off because you’re a little dizzy, Doctor. Like you said, you’ve done this many a time.”

“Yes, no, of course not,” said the Doctor. “It’s quite a complicated concept, you see. What we have is, as I said before, the scar tissue, which remains as a result of my successful attempt to reboot the universe. Beforehand the cracks were scattered across time and space and the time field was able to erase people and entire events and left them as if they had never occurred in the first place. As for the positions of these cracks, I can’t tell you why they appeared in the shop and the studio but I don’t think the fact that I turned up at the same time was a coincidence.”

“Sounds like an attempt to impress,” I said, smirking.

“I had no knowledge of this, I promise. It may have been that I turned up at the right time but I think its more likely that this has something to do with me. As for what it is, I don’t know but I very much doubt this is the last we’ll see of these cracks… or at least the last I’ll see of them.”

“Are you saying, they’ll be back?” said Marie.

“Yes, but not here. Not sure when but they’ll be back to bite me in the bum one of these days,” the Doctor replied, sighing a little.

“We’ll help,” I said quietly.

“No, nope absolutely not, its far too dangerous. Besides, it could be another two hundred or so years before I encounter them again… but time passes in funny ways for me so it could be tomorrow… or the next day… or the day after that…” he said, trailing off slightly.

There was a short silence that followed this statement but this was soon punctured by Niall.

“Where were we, Doctor? Marie and I?” he asked.

“Nowhere,” he said simply.

“How could we have been nowhere?” asked Marie.

“You were erased from reality, itself as if you’d never been thought of. You didn’t exist. I think its safe to say that the place in which you were caught could be something of a nowhere. A void, perhaps,” said the Doctor.

“I just can’t wrap my head around it,” said Niall, frowning slightly.

“Ah I wouldn’t expect you to,” said the Doctor, give him a friendly pat on the knee and a smile.

“Water for the invalids! I would have got one for our lovely cleaner but… she doesn’t exactly look up to it,” said Harry as he appeared in the doorway with three cups of water. It always amazed me how he managed to fit so many objects in one hand and I grinned as I reminded myself that I had the privilege of holding that hand.

As Harry passed the water around I took a quick glance at the Doctor and found him looking straight back at me.

I gave him a quick grin and mouthed “thank you” and making a mental note to pull him aside later.

Notes