Dreaming of a Blue Box | The Doctor {1} ✔️ (Original Version)

The Empty Child - II

"As soon as the sirens go off, you find a big fat family meal still warm on the table with everyone down in the air raid shelter, and bingo!" He snapped his fingers. "Feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London Town. Puddings for all, as long as the bombs don't get you."

"Something wrong with that?" Nancy asked.

"Wrong with it?" The Doctor let out a laugh. "It's brilliant! I'm not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical."

"Why did you two follow me?" She asked. "What do you want?"

"I want to know how a phone that isn't a phone gets a phone call." The Doctor replied. "You seem to be the one to ask."

"I did you a favor," Nancy replied. "I told you not to answer it. That's all I'm telling you."

"Great. Thanks." He said sarcastically. "And I want to find a ginger in bright orange. I mean a specific one. I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving." He looked around the table. "Anybody has seen a girl like that?" He started when Nancy took away his plate. "What have I done wrong?"

"You took two slices," Nancy replied like it was obvious. "No gingers. No orange. Anything else before you leave?"

The Doctor nodded. "Yeah, there is actually. Thanks for asking! Something I've been looking for. Would've fallen from the sky about a month ago, but not a bomb. Not the usual kind, anyway. Wouldn't have exploded. Probably would have just buried itself in the ground somewhere, and it would have looked something like . . this." He pulled the rough sketch from his pocket and showed it to the others.

Before they could answer there was knock at the door that made everyone jump. "Mummy?" A child's voice asked. The Doctor and Rose both remembered it from the phone call. "Are you in there, mummy?" They both saw a little boy with a vase mask through the window. "Mummy?"

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

"Them." Ernie pointed at the duo.

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

"Me." The boy from the farm replied.

"Did you close the door?" Nancy asked.

"Er . ."

"Did you close the door?" She repeated.

"Mummy? Mummy? Muuuummmy?"

Nancy ran out of the room. When the Doctor and Rose heard the bolting of the front door they stood and made their way to her. "What's this, then?" He asked. "It's never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know."

"I suppose you'd know," Nancy muttered.

"I do, actually, yes."

"It's not exactly a child."

"Mummy?"

Nancy ran back into the dining room. "Right, everybody out!" She ordered. "Across the back garden and under the fence. Now! Go! Move!"

The Doctor and Rose watched the children leave, then back at the door. "Mummy? Mummy?" The child called out. "Please let me in, Mummy. Please let me in, mummy."

Rose softly asked as a hand came through the letterbox. "Are you all right?"

"Please let me in."

Something smashed into the door, and the hand quickly withdrew. "You mustn't let him touch you!" Nancy shrieked.

"Why?" Rose asked. "What happens if he touches me?"

"He'll make you like him." 

"And what's he like?"

Nancy was taken back. "I've got to go."

"Nancy!" The Doctor stopped her.
"Answer her question. What's he like?"

"He's empty." When a telephone on the dresser rang her eyes widen. "It's him. He can make phones ring. He can. Just like with that police box you saw."

The Doctor picked up the phone and put it to his ear. "Are you my mummy?" He nodded to Rose to confirm it was the boy.

Nancy took it from him and slammed it back down on the hook. Various things, like a radio and a toy monkey, started to ask for mummy as well. All he turned them off Nancy spoke. "You two stay here if you want." And then headed to the back door.

The two watched the boy put his hand back through the letterbox. This time, they both saw a scar on the back of his hand. "Mummy?" It asked. "Let me in, please, mummy. Please let me in."

"Your mummy isn't here," Rose told him gently.

"Are you my mummy?"

"What's wrong with him, Doctor?" Rose asked.

The Doctor swallowed. He didn't answer. He couldn't. He was as confused as her. "No mummies here." The Doctor told the boy. "Nobody here but us chickens." He chuckled.

"I'm scared."

"Why are those other children frightened of you?" Rose asked.

"Please let me in, mummy." The child pleaded again. "I'm scared of the bombs."

Rose didn't want to hear any more. "That's it. I'm opening it." The Doctor didn't stop her. He would have done it himself.

When the child withdrew its hand Rose unbolted the door. When she opened it they both blinked in astonishment.

The boy was nowhere in sight.

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