Doctor Who: If Only In My Dreams (Christmas Special 2023)

Stave 1: Silent Night

     I was woken up by a wheezing, groaning noise coming from above. I wondered how that could be. My room was on the second floor. There was nothing above me.

     I hopped out of bed, and slid open the window. The cold, bitter wind whipped at my face. Outside, it was snowing. I guess it is gonna be a white Christmas this year, I thought.

     Everything was completely normal. It must've just been the sound of the wind or something like that. I got snuggled back up into bed, took a couple deep breaths, and closed my eyes.

     Thump!

     It's nothing!

     Thump! Thump!

     Maybe some hail perhaps?

     Thump! Thump!... Thump! Thump!

     That sounds like... no it can't be! It sounds like footsteps!

     My curiosity got the best of me. I got out of bed for a second time, and poked my head out the window. I heard a voice.

     "Ah! Old girl! You finally got us here."

     Who was on my roof? I could only think of one answer. My heart leapt. I slammed my window shut, and ran out of my room to our Christmas tree.

     When I got to our sitting room there was nothing. Everything was perfectly in order. There were no presents under the tree, and the milk and cookies were sitting on a tray.

     I turned to go back upstairs when there was a rumble from my fireplace. I felt a dangerous surge of hope, and spun back around. I knew exactly how this bit of the story was meant to go; a jolly fat man dressed in red would come out of the fireplace with a giant sack of toys.

     Right as that thought passed my mind, a gangly man with floppy brown hair, dressed in tweed, flailed out of my fireplace while yelling. I stared in disbelief.

     He picked himself off from the floor, and brushed himself off. "Hello!" he beamed.

     It took me a few moments to even find words. All I could get out was, "huh?"

     "Okay," he said, "that was not the reaction I was expecting."

     "Who are you?" I asked.

     "Well who do you think? Christmas eve! Coming down a chimney!"

     I gave him a blank stare.

     "I'm Father Christmas!"

     "No, no, no, no, no!"

     "Well it's actually 'ho-ho-ho-ho-ho' but you'll get it eventually. Took me years of practice!"

     "You don't look anything like Santa Claus."

     The man reached into his coat pocket, pulled out a red Santa hat, and hastily threw it on his head. "This better?"

     "You can't be Santa!"

     "And why not?"

     "Santa isn't real! He's just a story for children!"

     The man fell back onto the sofa, and stuck his feet up on the coffee table. "Fine you got me," he said. "I'm not Santa. I'm much much better." He paused for what I assumed was dramatic effect. "I'm the Doctor."

     How was I meant to respond to that? Did he want applause? Cheering? A screech of excitement? "Doctor who?" is what I had managed.

     "Yes, that one, exactly!" he responded.

     I stared at him for what felt like eternity, "If you're not Santa, what were you doing on my roof?"

     "Well how else was I meant to get in?"

     "Through the front door?"

     "Doors are not cool," the Doctor said. "Now chimneys... Yeah, chimneys are in!"

     "What would you have done if the fireplace was lit?" I asked.

     "What do you think Santa does?"

     "Santa doesn't do anything because he's made up. There's no man who sneaks into your house on Christmas eve to leave you presents. It's just your parents."

     "You see, that's where you're wrong. Santa's more real than any of us."

     "I'm not a kid anymore. You don't need to lie to me. I know life isn't a fairytale." 

     "My life is," he smirked. The Doctor pulled a chrome and silver wand out of his pocket. It made a high pitched buzzing noise as everything around us dissolved and melted away.

     I crouched down, shut my eyes, and covered my ears. "This is all a dream," I said to myself. "I'll wake up any minute." I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up, and saw I was suddenly outside, on my roof!

     "Short range teleport," the Doctor said. 

     Off at the edge of the roof was a blue box with illuminated windows. I stared at it. It felt familiar like I'd known it from somewhere.

     The Doctor noticed, and pointed back. "That," he said, "is a T-"

     "TARDIS," I whispered.

     The Doctor didn't respond. He just smiled back at me. 

     "How did you get it up here?"

     "Go inside," he replied. "It'll all make sense."

     I assume I looked confused based on his response.

     "It's fine! I'll even go in with you."

     "Both of us?"

     "Yeah!"

     "At the same time?"

     "How do you think Santa fits all those presents in his sack?"

     "Is that what you're going to do?" I asked. "Disprove all the impossible things about Santa?"

     "No, that wouldn't be faith then. It would just be a pure straight fact."

     I walked across the roof towards the TARDIS. I put my hand on the door, and I felt it pulsating. I looked back at the Doctor.

     "Go on!" he said. "You'll love this bit!"

     I pushed forward, and like the wardrobe to Narnia, I was in a whole other world. The room was very large, and very silver. I could've fit my whole bedroom in here at least 50 times. At the center was a light blue pillar wrapped in Christmas lights. There were six panels filled with buttons around the pillar. Scattered around were bits of rubbish like some books, a sofa, and a chalkboard. Did the Doctor live here?

     I heard the Doctor's footsteps come in from behind. "So what d'ya think? Pretty awesome?"

     "Is there a kitchen?"

     The Doctor's face fell, "What?"

     "I was just thinking... I'm getting a little peckish."

     "I show you a time and space machine, and your first reaction is to ask if there's a kitchen?"

     "Well, is there?"

     The Doctor walked up to the central pillar, and flipped some levers. A dispenser made a clicking noise. "Here you go kid." He handed me a TARDIS shaped Christmas cookie. "Now that we've got that out of the way." the Doctor turned a switch, and the entire room started to shake.

     I heard the same wheezing, groaning noise that woke me up. "What's happening?" I asked.

     "We've got somewhere to be!" the Doctor replied. "And Christmas may depend on it!"

A Marshmallow World: Coming December 10th