Crack

"That's the crack," she'd pointed out to him, when to two of them stood in the doorframe of her new bedroom on the afternoon she'd arrived.

John's eyes grew wide as he gazed at the sinister smile. "I can see why it scares you," he said. He received a hard punch on the shoulder in reply. "Ow! What have I done?"

"I'm not scared!" Amelia cried, "It just makes me feel weird!"

"Amelia, keep your voice down!" hissed Aunt Sharon, coming down the landing from her own room. She noticed John, who was rubbing his shoulder. "Who's this?" she enquired.

"Um, this is John," Amelia gave him a sideways glance, "He's my new...friend."

The hand of John's rubbing his shoulder dropped back to his side as he grinned with joy at Amelia's summary of him.

"Well, that's great," her aunt smiled, "What are you doing?"

"We're about to play a game."

"That's good. Could you do it outside?"

"Yeah. Come on, John." Amelia grabbed John by the elbow and steered him down the stairs.

"I can see why it makes you feel weird," John said into her ear, "I feel the same."

"Thanks."

She met his godparents the next day, when John took her round to his house. He lived in upper Leadworth, in a beautiful little cottage at the edge of the village. Mr and Mrs McCarthy, his godparents, an aging, childless couple, seemed to her very loving, yet distant, not unlike her own aunt. She stayed at his house until late, not keen to go back to her own lonely residence. When the day turned to night they lay on their backs on the neatly mowed lawn of John's back garden, gazing up at the stars. John was telling her his story.

"I've lived here all my life, you know. It's really boring at weekends because there's nowhere to go, not like if I lived in London. My mum and dad died when I was a baby. I never knew them."

"Oh, that's a shame," Amelia pitied him.

"No, it's okay. I've never felt sad about them being dead, because I can't miss them. Not like with you. You must have felt hurt."

"Yeah," she would say no more where her loss was concerned.

"Amelia, I want to tell you something. Promise not to laugh."

"I promise."

"I've never really had a friend of my own before you," He paused to see if Amelia would laugh. When she didn't, he said "All the other kids, they just seem...different. They don't see things like I do."

"I know that feeling," Amelia said softly. And she did, despite the fact she had had plenty of friends in Scotland.

"I'm so glad I met you," John exlaimed, with more passion than was normal for a seven-year-old.

At that, Amelia sat up suddenly, staring down at her friend with troubled green eyes.

"John," she spoke seriously, "I didn't laugh at what you said. Laugh at what I'm about to say and I won't be your friend any more, not ever again."

John stared up at her with wide eyes. To him, not being friends with this wonderful fairytale person seemed like the worst prospect in the world. "I won't laugh, I swear it," he promised.

Amelia took a deep breath, "Last night, my first night in my new room, I had a nightmare. I dreamt about the crack in my wall. I dreamt that it was taking people, taking them so that they wouldn't exist anymore. If you walked through the crack then you would never have been born. And when I woke up...it was still there. I mean, of course it was, but in the dark, smiling at me like that, it made me feel...scared. I was scared, John."

John was solemn, frowning in thought at her confession. Then, all of a sudden, his stormy blue eyes lit up and he beamed up at her. "I know what to do," he said.

"What?"

"We must become Amelia Pond and her magic man again. Together we can close up the cracks."

"Okay," Amelia laughed.

"One thing," John sat up slowly, "The magic man. He needs a name. A proper name."

Amelia thought of the scene she'd imagined of the man crawling out of his time machine, his clothes in shreds. Then she recalled how in her head he was always helping people, saving people.

"The Raggedy Doctor," she said decidedly. John expressed approval.

They played until Sharon came for Amelia, and she was forced to go home to the crack. But although it still haunted her dreams that night, it was accompanied by herself and John, conquering it.