Zakopane, Poland, 1932.
A British blue Police Box, a spaceship/time machine called “TARDIS” (Time And Relative Dimension In Space) materialised in the forest of the Tatra Mountains nearby the town, not too far from the border with Czechoslovakia. From there, a 6 years old-looking child came out of it. He was a beautiful child, with medium-length wavy brown hair, emerald eyes and freckles on his cheeks. He was wearing anachronistic garments for the era he was currently in: A dark green frock coat, grey-ish waistcoat, a green cravat, white trousers, knee-high black socks and brown shoes, making him look like either the son of an English nobleman or a child cosplaying Oscar Wilde.
This boy however wasn’t a normal human child, he was an alien traveller, a renegade Time Lord known only as the Doctor.
“Woah…Look at this view!” He said, admiring the town from the forest with childlike glee, “Eastern Europe sure has great rural landscapes, doesn’t it?”
Curious by this new location, the Doctor decided to go for the exploration.
He closed the door of the TARDIS with his key and ran through the forest.
He didn’t know why he was running, but he thought it would feel nice doing that.
It was a great idea doing that, it gave the Doctor a quick and great landscape, feeling surrounded by so much green felt lovely. Until he reached a cabin. It was small and made of wood, located on a hill and a dirt path leading to it.
“A cabin in the middle of a forest?” he thought, “Quite an unusual place to live in. There’s a high chance a psychotic mass murder lives there so that the Police and curious strangers couldn’t bother them…Let’s go check it!”
And so he did, he cautiously approached the cabin he noticed someone taking mushrooms and various food from the trees near the cabin. That person was a short young woman, presumably in her early 20s. She had short, slightly messy brown hair and blue eyes and was wearing a black blouse with an orange dress on top of it and a necklace with a blue pendant.
“She must be a local.” the Doctor thought.
Not wanting to bother her, he distanced himself.
However, he didn’t pay attention to his surroundings and accidentally crashed into a tree, attracting the girl’s attention.
She went to help him. “Hey, are you okay?” She lends her hand to him.
The Doctor took it and managed to stand up. "I think so, I didn't pay attention to my surroundings. Thank you."
"You're a bit clumsy, you know?" The girl chuckled, "I'm Mariah, what's your name?"
"Smith, John Smith." the Doctor used his fake identity, "But for my friends I'm the Doctor. Nice to meet you, Mariah. Are you from here?"
Mariah seemed a bit reluctant to answer. "Well…Not really. I'm from Ukraine, I'm here with my friends."
"An Ukrainian? We're a bit far from it, maybe she's having a holiday with her friends?" the Doctor thought, scrutinising Mariah's face.
"Say, "Doctor", where are your parents?" Mariah asked.“Huh? Well…” the Doctor thought of a believable excuse, “I don’t know. I think I got lost…Oh! Idea! Can I stay with you for the meantime?” He tilted his head.
Mariah nodded. “Sure, why not? I think the others will like you. Follow me!”
After the Doctor helped Mariah with gathering mushrooms and other stuff, they entered the cabin.
“I’m back!” Mariah said, “I also brought someone else with me!”
“Took you long enough!” A tall woman with long red hair kept into a braid and green eyes, wearing a long white dress and a long, yellow double necklace spoke with an annoyed tone.
“Hehe, sorry, Karin.” Mariah sheepishly chuckled.
“Who’s that kid?” A young man of average build and weight, with dark hair and dark eyes, wearing a blue button-up shirt, black trousers and round glasses.
“This boy is called the Doctor, he got lost in the woods, so he decided to stay with us.” Mariah explained. “Doctor, these are my friends: Karin, Anatoly and Gregor!”
“Nice to meet you all.” the Doctor slightly bowed.
“Nice to meet you too, kid.” Gregor, a giant buff man (by the looks probably the oldest of the bunch) with brown eyes, short brown hair and a beard, wearing black trousers, a white shirt with an open collar and a green vest on it.
“Great, another mouth to feed." Karin sarcastically said.
"Well I couldn't leave a child alone in the woods, could I?" Mariah justified her reason.
"Is there something wrong?" A deep, young male voice spoke.
The group turned around, and noticed the presence of another person.
They were…Off. He looked both young and old at the same time. He had white messy hair, brown eyes, with soft wrinkles around the eyes. He was wearing a pair of grey trousers, a white shirt and a grey vest, along with a light grey fedora, hiding most of his face in the shadows.
"Oh, I just found this child lost in the woods, he wants to stay with us for the meantime." Mariah explained.
The man looked at the Doctor, analysing him with his cold glare. He took a deep breath and asked him a question:
"Did you come here of your free will, or were you sent here?"
The Doctor found that question weird so, perhaps out of intuition or just for the giggles, he answered weirdly too:
"I am here seventy-five percent of my own free will, sixty-five percent by compulsion."
The group was confused, while the man was surprised by this answer, then he said:
"He may stay with us."
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
Gregor and Anatoly didn't seem to mind the Doctor either, so they accepted it.
Karin gave up, “Fine, but the brat is in your care, Mariah, since you found him.”
“Sure.” the short girl said.
"So, did you bring everything we need?" The man asked.
Mariah nodded and gave the mushrooms and other stuff to him and went to the kitchen to prepare the dinner.
15 minutes later, he came out of the kitchen with a vegetable stew.
They sat down at the table and went to eat.
“Wow! This stew is delicious!” Gregor said, taking a bite of it.
“I agree, this stew is splendid.” the Doctor said.
“You must be a world class chef!” Mariah commented.
“...It’s bland as hell.” Karin said, unimpressed.
“She must be the fun one at the parties…” the Doctor thought, sarcastically
“Karin!” Mariah said.
“What? It tastes like every vegetable stew I ate, SO generic!” Karin justified her complain.
“Well, for a side dish we could bake some bread and utilise the fragaria vesca for some jam…”
“Nobody cares, pipsqueak.” Karin ribbed Anatoly.
The group laughed at her comment.
“Nevermind, she’s actually funny.” the Doctor thought.
After dinner, everyone went to bed. Since the cabin was small, they had to choose where to sleep.
Karin, the man and Anatoly slept in the bedrooms while Mariah, Gregor and the Doctor slept in the living room (Gregor slept on a chair by his request, so that the Doctor and Mariah could use the couch.
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The next day, Gregor woke up the Doctor and Mariah at 5 AM.
“Morning! Did you guys sleep well?” He said.
“Ugh…What time is it?” Mariah asked, still sleepy.
“It’s 5 AM!” Gregor said.
Karin, Anatoly and the man also woke up and went to the living room.
“Will you please be quiet?! I’m trying to sleep!”
“Gregor…Why did you wake us up so early?” Anatoly asked, yawning.
“We don’t have many supplies, so we shouldn’t waste any time gathering food!” Gregor said.
So, the group minus the man left the cabin to take food. Thanks to Anatoly’s knowledge and the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver, they managed to find various blackberries and elderberries.
The man then made cabbage rolls for dinner and everyone went to sleep.
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The next day, Gregor woke everyone up again early, much to everyone’s annoyance.
“GOOD MORNING EVERYONE!” He said.
“Geugh…” Mariah was very sleepy.
“What now?” the Doctor said.
“Again, Gregor?” Karin said, visibly annoyed.
“Why can’t you let us sleep in?” Anatoly asked.
“Not today! Storm clouds are gathering outside! We have to find more food before it starts to downpour!” Gregor explained.
“...You’re overreacting, Gregor.” Karin said, “We have enough food to last us for a while.”
“W-Well, not really.” Anatoly said, “We used most of our supplies for last evening’s dinner.”
“Plus, precipitation here is very high, there might be a chance it may flood.” the Doctor said.
“You really think it will?” Mariah asked, worried.
“Yes, very. The cabin is on high ground, but it will be surrounded by flood waters, making it impossible to leave it.” the Time Lord explained.
“See? Plus, better safe than sorry!”
Gregor and Anatoly went to another room with a map to plan what to do.
The Doctor had some spare time, so he went to chat with Mariah, who was hanging around near the bookshelf.
“You seem to like reading books, eh?” he said.
“Yup! There are so many great books here! Do you have a favourite one, Doctor?”
The Doctor glanced at the library looking at the titles.
“Hmm…This one about Metallurgy seems interesting.” he said, taking the book.
“I know, right? I’m curious about the alloy composition of our cauldron, I’ve never seen something like that before.” Mariah said, “I didn’t know you liked these things! You’re a really smart kid!”
The Doctor slightly smirked, both flattered and smug about her compliment.
Gregor and Anatoly came back from the meeting and the group went to gather food.
However, while returning, Mariah seemed worried.
“Is there something wrong?” the Doctor asked, noticing her worry.
“I’m a bit worried about the food. We haven’t got much in case of a flood, not even if we ration everything…” Mariah said.
The Doctor took her hand and smiled with childlike glee. “Don’t worry! I’m sure everything will be fine, I promise!”
Spoilers: It will not.
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Mariah seemed to be touched by the child-looking Time Lord to cheer her up, so she softly smiled, slightly blushing: “Thanks…You’re really sweet.”
They returned to the cabin and had dinner with what they had: mouldy bread with strawberry jam and some jelly babies the Doctor had in the TARDIS. Everyone went to sleep.
However, the next day, Anatoly woke up early and saw something horrifying.
Everyone woke up noticed it: The cabin was surrounded with flood waters:
“Great, now I can’t go to the TARDIS even if I wanted to…” the Doctor thought, “The situation is going extreme, and I can’t do much to help them…”
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The day later, the Doctor woke up early and saw Mariah, petrified.
Looks like nobody managed to sleep properly.
There was no bread, and everyone was dead worried.
Once again, the Doctor decided to check for Mariah.
She was trembling from the cold. “It’s cold as hell over here! How can Gregor not freeze to death at night?”
“It’s because he’s bigger than you, therefore he has more fat content that keeps him warm.” the Doctor explained, then he took off his frock coat and gave it to Mariah. “Here, it may not be long enough, but it should keep you warm.”
Mariah took it and wore it. “Thanks, Doctor. You make it easier to pass the time, you know?”
After that everyone reunited at the dinner table.
The man chopped the last piece of bread six times and gave one each.
They ate it slowly and carefully, it may be their last meal for a while.
They went to sleep, still starving.
The next day, panic creeped in even more. The supplies were exhausted, the rain showed no sign of stopping and their hunger grew even more.
While Karin and Gregor discussed what to do next, the Doctor once again went to console a dead-worried Mariah in the kitchen.
“Hey.” the Doctor said.
“Hey…” she said, looking a bit relieved at the sight of her little friend, “How are you holding up?”
“How I am isn’t important, how are you holding up instead?”
“Not very good…” Mariah, other than being worried, she also looked…Regretful about something. “Doctor, I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“At this time you would have probably found your parents again and be safe but, instead you’re stuck here starving with us…I shouldn’t have brought you here.”
“Nonsense.” the Doctor said, “It’s not your fault, Mariah, It was me who asked you to stick around with you, wasn’t I? Plus, if I hadn't gotten lost here, I wouldn’t have met such a wonderful person like you.”
Mariah blushed, quite flattered by his compliment. “You really are good with words, aren’t you?”
The two laughed.
“Thanks, Doctor, I feel a lot better now.”
Later, everyone went to the living room.
“We know that we can’t resist any longer like this…One of us has to go outside to search for food.” Gregor said.
Silence fell.
“...I’ll go.” the Doctor and Mariah said in unison.
Everyone was surprised, especially these two.
“M-Mariah!” Anatoly said.
“I’m very agile, I just need to climb a tree and I can jump from branch to branch.” the Doctor insisted.
“No, I already brought you into this tragedy, I don't want to have the death of a child on my conscience.” Mariah insisted. “Plus, I used to swim all the time back home, so I’ll do it..”
“...I’ll do it!” Anatoly interrupted
“You won’t get far if something happens to your glasses, Anatoly.” Gregor said.
“Yeah, you’re blind as a mole rat, remember?” Karin said.
“I’ll go instead, little guy.” Gregor said.
“Sounds good to me.” Karin said, “He’s the tallest one here, so he shouldn’t have a problem reaching a tree.”
Gregor grabbed a branch from a woodpile and cutted it in different measurements. “Since we can’t reach for an agreement, let’s draw for it. We’ll pick each one…And the one who takes the shortest stick will go outside.”
Tension raised even further. Everyone took a branch and the one that will go outside is…
“Looks like I’ve got the shortest…” Mariah said.
Everyone was saddened.
“You don’t need to do this.” the Doctor tried to persuade the girl in one last desperate attempt.
Mariah answered with a simple headpat. “It’s okay…”
She reached the door. “I watched Anatoly forage earlier, so I know where to search.”
Everyone was silent and heartbroken.
The Doctor, defeated, reached Mariah and gave a TARDIS spare key. “There…There should be a blue Police Box with text in English not too far from here, to the East…Take this key and enter inside, you will be safe there.” He said, trying his best to not burst into tears.
Mariah nodded. “Thanks…” She then returned the frock coat to the Doctor. “Thanks for the coat.”
She then looked at everyone.
“Karin…Anatoly…Gregor…Doctor…I’ll keep us alive, no matter what. I promise. G-Goodbye”
The door shutted behind her, the Doctor could faintly yell about how cold the water was. Then…Silence.
The Doctor had a terrible feeling that she might not come back alive.
Ｍａｒｉａｈ ｈａｓ ｌｅｆｔ ｔｈｅ Ｃａｂｉｎ．