Earth's Dark Side

2 - Beginnings

The alley is dark and cold on this frigid Saturday. I shouldn't be wandering around in the middle of winter without a coat, but I really could care less about my health right now. I don't know what he would think, seeing me here. I can't keep up with these visions forever, they're just too much. I can't help but wonder if my father had them too.

This was the only calling I knew, to find the answers about my broken family. Because my mother and father died when I was little, this was the only inheritance I received from them. Find their stories, and make them known to the world.

The walks at night calm me and clear my thinking. They're the oxygen to soothe the restlessness that I'm sure came from my parents. I walk in the darkest streets and sit in the quiet, abandoned lots. I often am able to name the constellations, even though I have never studied them. I rarely sleep, but this, of all nights, is one that will keep me awake for years to come.

Because it's winter, the trees are bare and cold, and the sidewalks on which I walk are covered with snow and ice. I feel like I'm in a frozen world, a harsh, cold wonderland. The cold air chills my bones as if to remind me that I haven't escaped the torment of nature. All of the birds have gone south for the winter, probably to a warmer place, like Africa or South America. There can be no such escape for me.

I take two sharp left turns and come to a stately apartment. The curtains on the window are drawn back so that not a single ray of light from the house enters the street. The door is black, with a wrought iron knocker on the door. I hope that the Doctor will help me since he knew my father so well. I place my hand up but hesitate. I know he misses him too, but I also can't help but think that seeing me will be too much for him.

I bang the knocker twice against the door, and the sound reverberates through the silence of the street. The slot slides back, and a man is revealed on the other side. He has a kind face and looks to be in his forties. The lines of age have slowly been made prevalent on his face, and he seems tired and worn, possibly from the many journeys he had with my father.

     "What is it?!" he yells, "Who are you and what do you want?!"

I am tempted to run away. This does not seem like the man who ran away with the likes of my father. He seems too old and looks as though he never had a family or friends. I want to turn away, but I am rooted to the spot and compelled to speak.

     "Hello. My name is Tempest. I don't know if he ever told you I existed, but I was wondering what you could tell me about my father."

The man's eyes widen with shock, but I can see that there is some sort of understanding here. As he opens the door, I can clearly see that this is the man that worked alongside my father, even though the trip aged him.

     "Ah yes," he replies, "He told me you would come someday. I don't know how I could be much help to you, but please, do come in. Mary will be most delighted to see you."

As he ushers me inside, I set foot into a large parlor, furnished elegantly with plush sofas and hand-crafted tables. Though the lights are dim, I can see that this is truly a cozy home. I sit down on a couch at the far end of the room and place my bag on the floor. The Doctor sits across from me in a black high-backed chair.

     "You obviously know all about your father, and about me of course. You know how your father was so close to exposing Moriarty, even though we had lost one of our most valuable assets. You know how he died, and you know what happened at his funeral. You know how your mother had died so many months before his entire journey began.

     "But there is something, something that most people do not know, that I only discovered a few months ago. Something that will change the course of history."