TWELVE

 “Could someone explain again why we are going outside?”

 My dad shouted out between huge gasps as he struggled to keep up with the Doctor and me as we raced towards the main entrance of the museum.

 The Doctor opened one of the doors and peered outside, it was eerily silent, there wasn’t a soul about as we proceeded down the steps towards Victoria square. I gazed up towards the sky, there were patches of grey and fierce black clouds, a terrible storm threatening to erupt at any moment, all due to the shadow armies trying to break through to our reality. I glanced around, had the Mediator placed us within a force field? In the distance I could see a blaze of blue lights and lots of uniform wandering about. Behind barriers there were crowds of evacuees and basically nosey people (if they knew what was going on, they wouldn’t be standing there) I blinked, I thought my eye sight was failing, the people were all blurry and hazy, I couldn’t make anyone’s features out. The crowds of people at the foot of the Victoria square fountain shimmered like a heat haze…I pulled a coin out of my pocket and tossed it into the distance, it clattered and bounced back, falling a few yards from my feet…The Mediator had done it, we were successfully contained within a force field. It was a little like being inside a glass dome though I hoped the oxygen supply was unlimited. It was difficult to say how far it stretched but mercifully the TARDIS was contained within it. I glanced over at the Doctor and he looked relieved about that as well, let’s just say he didn’t have the up most confidence in the Mediator. But there was no escape on board the TARDIS, we had to stay and fight for our planet. The Doctor had suggested that a party of us go outside and check the surrounding area, as far as I understood it he needed some parts from his TARDIS console to build a “Dimensional Stabilizer”. It sounded good to me. We left the others in the foyer, mum was silently fuming and Jasmine was a little shaky but at least Paul and Kyle were taking it all in their stride. I was just about to ask the Doctor if we should tell the police to move the crowds back when he shouted- “Hello there Birmingham!” The Doctor had a really loud voice but no one seemed to hear him or respond, we could barely see them maybe they couldn’t see inside the force field at all. The Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver and scanned.

 “It’s just as I thought… But at least it keeps the people of this city safe for now…”

 “It’s like being in a bubble.” Dad marvelled as he spun round on the spot.

 “Yeah temporal shield, it won’t last but it’s better than nothing.” The Doctor half heartedly replied because he was already distracted by something else. “Just running a check to make sure there aren’t any hapless humans that have been left behind…Oh.”

 The Doctor took off at great speeds towards the TARDIS, we both followed. There had been too many coincidences today, I knew before the Doctor had found the person who it would be…The Doctor walked round the back of the TARDIS and pushed out my ex-boyfriend Mike Hilton.

 “Look who we have here Anna. Old Mikey he just keeps turning up doesn’t he?”

 (Note to self: Don’t trust Mike Hilton. And under no circumstances let him inside the TARDIS.)

 “I knew it, it was you who was spying on me earlier. You creep! What are you doing here?” I shouted at the shifty looking guy who I used to be in a relationship with. But I had to admit he was looking good. Damn him…Why was he still so good looking?

 “Hello Anna and it’s good to see you again too.” Mike smiled but his whole manner was heavily sarcastic. No change there then.

 “Mike Hilton, well I haven’t seen you since that night back in April 2008... I thought you’d moved to Bilston.” Dad placed a protective arm around me.

 “Mr. Bailey… Doctor.” Mike acknowledged them. “I didn’t see you there, I wasn’t hiding from you honest…”

 It appeared that Mike had hidden by the TARDIS, shielded by its perception filter and had not moved when everyone else had been evacuated from the area. But he appeared strangely untroubled by the dimensional storm brewing in the atmosphere. It was as though Mike knew the Doctor and I would be here today. I remembered that night when he saw the TARDIS, the look of pure envy upon his face. In fact if I didn’t know better I would say he was more pleased to be standing beside the TARDIS, then to see me. But yet at the same time I could also tell he was glad to see me, I strongly suspected that he was under some wild delusion that this was our chance of reconciliation, even though it would be for the umpteenth time.

 “I shouldn’t ignore coincidences but I really haven’t got time today.” The Doctor frowned as he glanced between myself and Mike. I could tell the Doctor wasn’t happy and suspected something wasn’t right. But circumstances forced him to move on as he shook his head and pushed the TARDIS door open. “Come and give me a hand David… Anna are you coming?”

 “I want to know what Mike is doing here.” I straightened my back and folded my arms. The impending danger we faced from the shadow armies had momentary faded into background. But we should have known better, it had been too quiet for a while now…

 “Okay but just so you know and everything is clear Mike Hilton, this is Anna from 2008 and under no circumstances should you say anything to her which will tell her about the future, specifically her own personal future. Alright? Otherwise I will not be held responsible for my actions.” The Doctor’s eyes narrowed as he warned Mike, slamming the blue door behind him.

 It was just the two of us left outside, sealed in our own troubled bubble as I turned towards Mike.

 “So was there something you wanted to say to me?” The words “Sorry for treating you lousy for three years and being a horrible boyfriend” were at the forefront in my mind but I knew Mike Hilton would never say them. Even if it was the end of the world. In fact the vicious dimensional storm generated by the creatures trying to enter our Universe only added to the drama of the showdown with my ex.

 “I knew it was you the moment I saw you step outside the TARDIS, the old Anna.” Mike moved closer to me, the wind whipped up between us. “But I chickened out earlier, I couldn’t approach you especially when I saw your mother. So I waited outside and knew you would return. Everything kicked off earlier, people were running from the Museum but they couldn’t see me and so I waited to see you…” Mike looked down at the ground and then back at me. “It’s bad isn’t it, there’s something coming here from another world?” I nodded to him and swallowed hard.

 “Oh… How can you be here now?” I paused and started again. “We’ve finished Mike, the night before I went away with the Doctor our relationship was over. In no uncertain terms you made that clear and it’s for the best. We’ve both moved on…And…I don’t love you anymore Mike. ” There I had said it…My heart was beating hard against my chest, I had faced monsters and conquered many of my demons, I had to be strong. It was time to break up properly.       

 “I don’t believe you Anna.” Mike replied flatly, his arrogance as steadfast as ever.

 “Well you better believe me because I’ve changed Mikey. The self-esteem you took from me, well I’ve got that back and an even greater passion for life. And it’s all due to the Doctor and all the wonderful things we’ve seen and done together. And when it’s time for me to go home, in my own small way I’ll carry on some of the good I’ve learnt from the Doctor and try make the world a better and happier place.”

 “No you won’t…I’ve seen you, the present you.” Mike spoke with certainty and shook his head decisively. But he wasn’t going to elaborate any further.

 Like my mum and Jasmine before Mike had said it now, something was going to happen to change me in the future.

 “What’s that supposed to mean?” I gasped,but he would not say, maybe he was afraid of the Doctor. But I suspected he liked the power he had over me as he opened his mouth to speak. I felt an icy chill spreading across my chest but I was in denial as I snapped. “I don’t want to know about the future. Shut up!”

 “Time can be rewritten Anna…” Mike dived forward and grabbed my wrists, pulling me closer to him. “We can start again. Let me come with you, through time and space. Ask the Doctor and give me the chance to make it up to you. I was a fool to lose you…” His face contorted into a sickly expression of self-pity as his mouth twitched. “I still love you Anna…”

 I pulled away from him. I wasn’t interested in his empty promise of “I Love you”, the numerous times he had said those three words to me over the years.

 “Time can be rewritten?” I gazed at Mike, stunned that he would use such a phrase or have any understanding of it.

 Mike Hilton was the man, whom the Doctor and I bought back into existence. Something was wrong but it wasn’t the time or the place to work it out. Though when I look back I knew instinctively that like the man I met in the virtual reality world who wasn’t Mike Hilton, this Mike Hilton wasn’t quite himself either.

 “It’s over Mike… And do you know what I regret most about you and me?”

 “No but I’m sure you’re going to tell me…” Mike looked up at me, tears were starting to form in his eyes and something like defeat etched upon his face.

 “All the time I wasted with you.” I looked him straight in the eyes and felt a fleeting moment of triumph. The TARDIS doors creaked opened.

 “Have you two finished?” The Doctor enquired testily as dad followed him outside laden with a box full of gadgets and circuitry. “Right good, we have got a world to save you know.”

 “Well we can’t leave Mike here, he’s going to have to come with us.”  I did have a conscience after all.

 “Yes, I suppose he better had.” The Doctor replied matter-of-factly, to be fair I’d hardly sang Mike Hilton’s praises to him.

 “Oh the pair of you are all heart.” Mike deadpanned sarcastically.

 “Well Mike I hope you’re feeling brave, cause I don’t fancy your chances with Anna’s mum in there…” Dad added mischievously, I had to laugh.

 Dad’s phone was ringing, it was mum wondering where “the hell” we had all got to. Mum was right we really had wasted too much time… And when the ground beneath our feet started shaking violently I had feeling we were in a lot of trouble. Swiftly followed by the downpour of rain as the lightening streaked above our heads. But at least it was only contained within the force field. Though the odds were suddenly stacked against us as a whirlpool of light started forming outside the main entrance of the museum.

 “We’re going to have to find another way in. Come on run!” The Doctor yelled, I went to move but felt a hand grab hold of me pulling me down, it was Mike who was cowering on the ground, paralysed with fear. I watched the Doctor and my dad making a run for it.

 “Get up!” I shouted enraged by his idiotic behaviour.

 I managed to break free but just at that moment cracks began to appear in the slabs, separating the group of us. I pulled Mike towards the TARDIS just before the ground in front of us erupted like a volcanic explosion, I dived to the ground as concrete slabs and debris flew through the air. I thought the worst was over but then a huge dust cloud leapt up from out of the ground like a Jack-in-a-box but when I looked closely beneath the translucent smoke, its frame could be described as a giant centipede. It was like it had been turned inside out, its outer shell made of bones and tissue. The creature hissed loudly and then suddenly reared upright as though it was ready to pounce. Its tiny eyes appeared to look through us, I don’t know whether it could see us or more rather sense us as its sharp, blade like pincers moved in closer…