The Ghost of Time

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Juniper Green, on the outskirts of Edinburgh
1993

"Nae, lasse," her father said, kissing her on the forehead. "Yuir tae auld tae be belevin' in ghosts."

He rose, tucking the blankets around her slender figure as he did. His footsteps were soft, remarkably so for such a large-seeming man, as he made his way to the door. Pausing, he smiled at his daughter. "Noo, there's nae such thing as ghosts, Dana. Y'get yuirself same sleep nao."

There was a click as he turned off the light switch. "Ae love ye, lasse. Sweet dreams." With that, there was another click as he closed the door. Light from the hall streamed under it for a minute, until he turned that off as well.

The room was silent.

In the darkness, the dimly-perceived outlines of things familiar by daylight took on ominous and sinister shapes. The branches of the tree outside cast clawlike shadows across the wall. Books on the shelf by the closet combined to become blunt fangs. The dollhouse seemed a hunched figure, crouching in the corner, waiting for an opportunity. And as the clock ticked on, the hunched, crouching figure of the dollhouse stretched.

Every day for a month it had done this, becoming more and more defined each night. By now it was the shadow of a tall, impossibly lean man with stiltlike legs and long, thin arms with long, thin fingers. The shadow of its head moved as if it were looking around, and then it stilt along the wall with mincing, birdlike steps. Each step brought it closer and closer to the bed.

It hesitated, the shadow of one hand cast so that it almost - not quite, but almost - touched the covers. This close it felt of dank chill, like the wind off the ocean in January or damp stones deep beneath the Earth. The shadow of its hand slid fractionally closer, fingers hooking to tug or pull.

And then it stopped again, the shadow of its head on the wall moving as if it were looking around one more. With sudden, jerky movements it recoiled from the bed and stilted across the wall once more. As it flowed across the floor and vanished, a peculiar sound became audible from the closet. A sort of roaring, grinding sound that built in pitch and then faded away.

For another minute, all was silence. Then the closet door banged open, flooding the room with a stark white light and providing a glimpse of some impossibly vast white hall. A woman stood in the doorway, red kerchief knotted around a tangle of curly black hair, wearing a puffy-sleeved white blouse and brown breeches tucked into cuffed black boots. A luminous crystal torch was gripped in one hand, and she looked around curiously.  "Right, then," she asked, focusing on the figure in the bed. "Was it you, sent the distress call, m'dear?  Now what can the Corsair do to help you?"

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"But pa, I seen it.. the shaedow man. E's real, I know 'e is"

The child protested, looking up at her father with wild, frightened eyes. Dana's room was littered with pictures of this being, things she had frantically drawn to show her father it wasn't a lie. At times, the poor child would even wake up standing in the doorway of her fathers room, disorientated and confused and with no knowledge of how she had gotten there. As the lights were turned off, ordinary things such as the chair or the teddy bear seemed to writhe and grow in the dim, dank light, turning ordinary shadows into grotesque shapes straight out of nightmares.

Dana hunched up under the covers, pulling them around her neck and looking around her wildly, too terrified to sleep but too proud to turn the night-light on. This frightening apparition had been happening regularly every day for a month; every night the same... but it was growing. Growing into what? Dana didn't want to find out. If she did manage to sleep if fed its way into her dreams, haunting and terrorising them so she would wake up screaming in the night. Her father didn't believe her and just put it down to average child nightmares, but these were different. They weren't all just Dana's imagination.

On this particular night in question, when the shadow had gotten bolder and Dana that bit more terrified; something happened to change that. The child was cowering at the head of the bed, eyes closed and trying to catch some sleep but with the ever present knowledge of the... thing in the doll-house. Young Dana was terrified, frightened out of her mind and desperately wanting it to go away and disappear so she could finally get some sleep and peace.

Her eyes were clenched tightly shut, wishing with all her might; when her prayers were apparently answered. At the sound of the otherworldly whining noise, Dana's eyes shot open and focused on the closet, watching the creature slink back along to wall and then dissipate. She was about to go over and investigate when a woman tumbled out from between the doors, making the young child jump and clutch the covers that bit tighter. But then again, if this woman managed to scare the... shadow away, then surely that was a good thing.. right? It didn't occur to Dana, who so desperately wanted answers, that this woman may have frightened the shadow because it was even more of a threat. No, Dana chose to trust the woman simply because she had done something Dana had wanted to do ever since this began.

"Distress call?" Dana asked curiously, slipping out the bed and standing there in a blue pyjama set decorated with rabbits. She rubbed her eyes sleepily and tottered closer, looking up at the woman. "Are you a pirate?" She asked in awe, very fond of the peter pan and associated pirates. But the child cleared her throat at the next question, looking over warily at the innocent looking doll-house before fixing this 'corsair' with a piercing yet terrified stare.

"Have you come to take the shadow man away?"

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"Distress call?" Dana asked curiously, slipping out the bed and standing there in a blue pyjama set decorated with rabbits.

"Yep, distress call," the Corsair said, shining the crystal torch around the room. "Picked it up loud and clear, I did, on the 22,000 millicycle band of the noetic spectrum. Which is odd," she continued, pausing to examine one of the crayon portraits of the shadow man, "because that range has no carrying capacity to speak of."

She rubbed her eyes sleepily and tottered closer, looking up at the woman. "Are you a pirate?" She asked in awe.

She grinned as she looked back at the little girl. "Yep. Sometimes, anyway. I'm also..."

But the child cleared her throat at the next question, looking over warily at the innocent looking doll-house before fixing this 'corsair' with a piercing yet terrified stare.

"Have you come to take the shadow man away?"

"...shadow man?" the Corsair finished. She frowned, shining the light around the room again and taking in all of the portraits. "Yes," she decided. "Yes. I am."

With that, she perched herself on the foot of the bed and adjusted the crystal torch until it illuminated the whole room. "So, tell me about this 'shadow man', and we'll figure out what needs to be done. Oh," she added, offering her hand, "my name's the Corsair. What's yours?"

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"The what shpec-tum?" Asked Dana fascinated, though very confused and she couldn't quite pronounce it right. She just put it down to adult things and decided to focus on more important matters at hand. Like the shadow man. "Really?" Dana said, slightly sceptical and hopped up onto the bed beside Corsair. The young child crossed her legs slowly, casting another fearful glance over at the dolls house before clearing her throat, rather uncertain about where to start.

"'e lives in the doll house and only ever comes out at night. 'e's like this really, really, really long and thin shadow... and 'e keeps trying to get me. Every night 'e gets bigger and bigger... and 'e gives me nightmares too."

The child paused, shivering slightly at the chill in the air that gently whispered at the curtains and played with the drawings on the wall. "Oh, me name's Dana. Dana McKinnon." Dana said proudly, her small hand dwarfed by the Corsair's. "So, if you're sometimes a pirate; what are you when you're not?" The young girl asked the question in a way only children can, with the curious tilt of the head and slight frown creasing her small brow. Sometimes Dana was too inquisitive for her own good. "And 'ow did you end up in my wardrobe?"

But another ominous creaking of the house made her fall silent and stare around wildly with fearful eyes. "My pa don't believe me, 'e says 'e's all in me 'ead. But 'e's real, I know 'e is." Dana whispered, scooting closer to The Corsair. "Can you 'elp me make 'im go away?"

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"The what shpec-tum?" the girl asked, sounding both interested and confused.

"The noetic spectrum," the Corsair repeated. "The spectrum of the energies that carry thought."

Then she listened as the girl described the 'shadow man'. As a long, thin shadow that was 'trying to get her'. As far as identification went, it wasn't helpful. Probably fairly accurate, and at the same time so utterly nebulous as to be all but worthless.

The child paused, shivering slightly at the chill in the air that gently whispered at the curtains and played with the drawings on the wall. "Oh, me name's Dana. Dana McKinnon." Dana said proudly, her small hand dwarfed by the Corsair's.

The Corsair shook hands, gravely. "A pleasure, m'lady. A real pleasure."

"So, if you're sometimes a pirate; what are you when you're not?" The young girl asked the question in a way only children can, with the curious tilt of the head and slight frown creasing her small brow. Sometimes Dana was too inquisitive for her own good.

"When I'm not a pirate," she said with a grin, "I'm a Time Lord." There was a pause as she glanced down at the front of her shirt. "Or... Lady." A shrug. "Whatever works."

"And 'ow did you end up in my wardrobe?"

The grin turned mischevious. "That's where my ship landed."

But another ominous creaking of the house made her fall silent and stare around wildly with fearful eyes. "My pa don't believe me, 'e says 'e's all in me 'ead. But 'e's real, I know 'e is." Dana whispered, scooting closer to The Corsair.

The Corsair glanced around the room, which was now brilliantly illuminated by her torch, then put a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. "Don't blame him," she said, "I'm sure he loves you very much. But sometimes, well, grownups forget that the things in your head can be real too."

"Can you 'elp me make 'im go away?"

Another brilliant grin. "Yep. I can. I'll just need to get a couple of things."

Rising, she strode across the room and fitted a curious key into the doorknob of the closet. There was an audible click, and then she pushed it in. Beyond, the closet was missing, replaced by a vast cream-colored room with a peculiar table in the center. "C'mon," the Corsair said, extending a hand and nodding into the closet, "you can help me carry."

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Dana looked up at this pirate with awe. She'd always wanted to be a pirate and sail the seven seas with a pirate on her shoulder and the sea breeze in her hair. For a moment the child cracked a small smile and giggle, however the doll house soon put a stop to that. "Whassa time... lord lady?" Dana asked, looking up at the woman with big brown eyes. A ship? In her wardrobe? ...what?

"Ow'd yer ship get fit in m' wardrobe? E's not very big." She asked innocently, her eyes wide with wonderment. Dana was grateful for the light the torch supplied, huddling comfortingly in its warmth and glow. What she didn't like however, was how dark it made the shadows it left behind. "I love me pa, I really really do. He just don't understand..." The child pouted, propping her head up on her hands and leaning slightly into The Corsair for protection. For some reason, she felt safe around this stranger.

"You can?" The child's face lit up with tense hope and her voice echoed it. Could this woman really take the shadow man away? The woman's grin seemed to be infectious, for Dana soon found herself grinning along. Wordlessly, she gripped the woman's hand tightly but paused to pull it away. Dana wiped her clammy hand sheepishly on her pyjama trousers before taking The Corsairs hand again and allowing herself to be led towards the wardrobe.

Young Dana was truly stunned for words. What on earth had happened? Her face and eyes grew wide with awe and she let out a small gleeful laugh, her earlier frightened state all but momentarily forgotten. "Ship..." The child stammered out, feeling all of her childhood fantasies about spaceships and aliens and dragons and faeries all coming true at once. Dana practically skipped alongside The Corsair into the spaceship, running her hand along the cream table and jumping up on her tiptoes to see what was on top. That was one way to cure the fear.