A Strange Man in a Strange Box

4. Down The Rabbit Hole

The little girl hurried off through the crowd, with Y/n hot on her trail. Ducking and weaving between the various other people that were going about their business.

The girl was slower at running than Y/n, but she was better at cutting through the crowds with her smaller size. As Y/n got closer to the back of her, she disappeared into a gap between two buildings. Y/n screeched to a stop before she smashed into the wall. The gap was narrow, but Y/n managed to turn to her side and squeeze through.

After about fifteen metres, the gap widened and opened out onto an alleyway. With the extra room it was easier for Y/n to move, but the girl had slipped through much faster, and had vanished from her sight. She stopped and looked to the left and right, unsure of which way to go when she heard the clang of metal hitting metal.

Rushing in the direction of the sound, Y/n caught sight of a square drain cover dropping back into place. She dropped to her knees and quickly pulled on the handle. The drain cover lifted up and exposed a dark hole with a ladder that disappeared into the darkness below.

Y/n sighed. She didn't really want to be climbing down there. It looked dark and dirty, but most of all, it looked scary. But her thoughts went back to Mrs Harvey, and the promise that she had made to be careful with the shop keys when she had been given the promotion to assistant manager.

Her reluctance was strong, but her resolve was stronger, so Y/n sat down on the edge of the hole and swung her feet over onto the first rung of the ladder. Slowly she climbed down into the darkness. The further down she went, her eyes started to adjust to the lower levels of light. Then she realised that there was a faint glow coming from below her.

When Y/n reached the bottom of the ladder, she realised that she had climbed down into a sewer tunnel. It was just different from the sewer tunnels back home. These were made of a kind of smooth material that looked a bit like concrete. There were also strips of fluorescent tubes along the roof that filled the tunnel with a faint bluish light that seemed to react and glow brighter with her presence. At her feet, shallow water trickled slowly past.

Y/n was not sure which way to go next, so she paused for breath and listened carefully. Off to her right, she could hear the faint splashing of footsteps heading away from her. It has to be the girl, thought Y/n, so she quickly started running in that direction.

The tunnels appeared to grow slightly brighter as Y/n's eyes kept adjusting to the light levels. She could see more clearly the lack of detail in the tunnel walls. She noticed they were completely smooth and lacking in joints between sections, but she was in too much of a hurry to question why.

After a few more steps, Y/n reached a crossroads. The tunnels split away in different directions, and she wasn't sure which way to go. So again she paused and listened carefully. This time the splashing footsteps were coming from the tunnel to the left, and seemed closer than before.

Y/n sprinted down the left tunnel with renewed vigour. She could tell her prey was slowing down and weakening. The sounds of splashing were spaced further apart as the girl slowed from running to walking.

As she went further, Y/n noticed that she could see a faint glow ahead of her in the tunnel. She realised it must be the fluorescent tubes reacting to the girl. The way it was going, she would soon be in sight.

A few moments later, the tunnel opened out into a large open circular area. Tunnels lead off in different directions, and there was a raised section off to one side. And in the middle, the little girl stood looking back at Y/n. She looked scared, and was holding the bunch of keys in one of her hands.

"What do you want?" she asked. "Why are you following me?"

"I'm not going to hurt you," Y/n said, calmly. "I just need to get my keys back."

She looked carefully at Y/n, and tried to decide whether she believed her.

While she did, Y/n glanced around at her surroundings. She realised that there were a few boxes and things in a raised semicircle area behind the girl. Amongst them, there was a mattress and blankets. Empty packets of food were scattered around the ground.

"Do you live down here?" Y/n asked, with a feeling of shock.

The girl looked down at her feet and nodded.

"Where are your parents?" asked Y/n.

"They're gone," she said quietly.

"Gone where?" Y/n asked, but the girl just shrugged.

"And you live down here on your own?" asked Y/n.

"Yeah."

Y/n looked around trying to work out what to do next. It didn't feel right to leave the girl on her own living in the sewers. She looked too young for that. Plus now that Y/n got a closer look at her, she could see that she looked quite thin and her clothes were dirty and tattered.

But then Y/n remembered what the Doctor had told her about his job. To travel around and help people. This must be what he had meant. He was the person to help this little girl. But first, Y/n knew she would have to gain her trust. She edged slowly closer to where she was standing, then crouched down so she was no longer towering over her. When the girl seemed to have calmed down slightly, Y/n gave her a reassuring smile.

"My name is Y/n," she said. "What's yours?"

"Sh'reen," she said, quietly.

"Well Sh'reen, I have a friend, he's called the Doctor. He will want to help you," said Y/n. "Would you like to come and meet him?"

"Okay," said Sh'reen.

"Great," said Y/n. "Now, how do we get out of here?"

Sh'reen pointed to one of the tunnels. When Y/n looked over there, she could see there was a ladder leading upwards just past the entrance of the tunnel.

Y/n followed close behind, as Sh'reen walked over and started to climb up the ladder. When they reached the top, Sh'reen flicked open a control panel that was hidden in a recess just below the cover. With a few button presses, a buzzer sounded and after a moment the cover started to open. As it lifted up, the sunlight flooded into the dark hole.

Once they had both climbed out of the hole, the cover started to slowly close again automatically. Then, as it clanged shut, Y/n looked up to see where they had came out.

They were now standing in a different part of the city from where she had left the Doctor. They were on the corner of a quiet side street, with a few small shops around them.

Y/n looked around in a slight panic. She had no idea where the Doctor was. She was lost on an alien planet with no idea where she was, or how to get home again.

As the panic started to slowly grow inside her chest, Y/n caught the distant sound of something familiar carried on the wind. As she listened closer, she realised it was the sound of 80s disco music. Well that was definitely not something she would have expected to hear so far from home. It had to be the Doctor.