The Empty Child

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"Who was the last one in?" Nancy demanded.

"Them." Ernie pointed at the Doctor and me.

"No, they came round the back. Who came in the front?" Nancy asked.

"Me." One of the boys replied, staring at the ground with wide eyes.

"Did you close the door?"

"Er."

"Did you close the door?"

"Mummy? Mummy? Mummy?" The child by the front door called.

"What's this, then? It's never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know." The Doctor told her, grabbing my hand and walking to the front door.

"I suppose you'd know." Nancy rolled her eyes.

"I do actually, yes." He replied.

"It's not exactly a child."

"Mummy?"

"Right, everybody out. Across the back garden and under the fence. Now! Go! Move!" Nancy ordered.

The children grabbed their coats and darted out of the dining room. Nancy walked over to the remaining little girl who couldn't be more than four She looked scared to death.

"Come on, baby, we've got to go, all right? It's just like a game. Just like chasing. Take your coat, go on. Go!" The little girl ran out after the others.

"You're really brave, you know?" I told her.

"How? I'm just keeping myself and these kids alive."

"You're growing up in the middle of a war, so they don't have to. You could still be a teenager but you became a parent figure for these kids in the middle of a war so that they wouldn't have to learn to fend for themselves. That's incredibly brave."

She grinned. "Thank you so much." She hugged me, and I hugged back tightly.

"Mummy? Mummy? Please let me in, mummy. Please let me in, mummy." The child outside begged. A hand reached through the letterbox.

"Are you all right?" The Doctor asking, reaching to hold the child's hand.

"Please let me in."

Nancy grabbed something and threw it at the child's hand so it withdrew. The item she threw broke into pieces.

"You mustn't let him touch you!" She shouted.

"Why?" I asked. "What happens if he touches us?"

"He'll make you like him." She muttered.

"And what's he like?" The Doctor glanced at Nancy and the door the child stood behind.

"I've got to go." She told us before trying to run away. I grabbed her by her collar and held her in place.

"Nancy, what's he like?" I asked.

"He's empty." She whispered.

Suddenly, the phone started to ring.

"It's him." She muttered. "He can make phones ring. He can. Just like with that police box you saw."

I stared at the phone in fear and the Doctor slowly picked up the telephone. I walked over and he let me listen in.

"Are you my mummy?"

I placed the phone back on the hook. Just then, the radio in the dining room started up.

"Mummy? Please let me in, mummy." Then, a clockwork monkey started up.

"Mummy, mummy, mummy."

"You two stay if you want to." Nancy told us before running out the back.

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