Doctor Who_ The Room With No Doors - Kate Orman [13]
‘It appeared that he had been trying to climb out of a ditch when exhaustion overcame him. But he was lucky.’
26
Chris said, ‘The snow insulates you.’
The Roshi nodded. ‘Without that white cloak, he would certainly have frozen to death. I dug him out of the snow and carried him down the mountainside on my back.
‘The chief monk examined him, and we found the signs of the jiki-ketsu-gaki on his throat and wrists. At that time she was a great danger to those passing through the mountains. I had taken special care to avoid her Castle.’
‘The Castle we landed in.’ Chris thought of the humanoid figure carved into the shrine stone, the face he hadn’t been able to make out. He imagined the monks hastily making the shrine, eager to leave. . .
The Roshi said, ‘No one expected him to live. But I knew that someone who had survived the jiki-ketsu-gaki and the snow would not easily relinquish life.
I placed him next to the fire in the infirmary and watched over him until he recovered.
‘He stayed with us for three months. He lived like a monk, cooking and working and attending sermons.’
Chris grinned suddenly. ‘Did he shave his head?’
‘No. He’d never have the patience to become a monk. His mind is in a hundred places at once. Every day he looked up into the mountains, towards the demon’s Castle. He was like a ghost that could not rest until it had finished a task.’
Chris realized that his topknot had come undone by itself while he was listening. He shook his head, letting his yellow hair fall down to his shoulders, and took out his comb.
‘I’ve heard the story of the snowman and the hungry ghost,’ said Aoi. ‘So you were the one who destroyed her!’
The man smiled. ‘Second time lucky.’
‘Enough,’ said Aoi’s father. ‘Wandering monks and pilgrims bring the Roshi news from all around. He must have told you more about the fallen god. Tell me what you know.’
‘My nose itches,’ said the little man. Aoi’s father raised an arm to strike him, almost casually.
‘Yes, he did,’ said the giant quickly. ‘Though he didn’t tell us very much.’
Kiiro had discovered the Doctor’s jacket pockets. He began to empty them, strange objects tumbling out on to the grass. Pieces of string and strange coins and toys. And there was the rainbow-coloured egg. Aoi reached out for it and held it in his palm. The snowman watched him as he marvelled at the pattern of colours swirling over its surface.
Aoi’s father said, ‘Tell me, then, whatever he told you.’ The yellow-haired bushi nodded.
27
‘My nose still itches,’ said the snowman.
28
The Room With No Doors
Chris opened his eyes. He was in the Room With No Doors.
He sat up.
It was just the same as the last. . . how many times? There was nothing else in the room but him. No bed, no table, no chair.
He drew his knees up to his chest, sitting back against one of the walls.
He could see, even though there was no particular place the light was coming from.
He’d explored the room, of course. There had been plenty of time in those endless, vaguely panicked nights. Six walls, smoothly joined at the edges. A high ceiling, out of reach. The air was neither warm nor cool. The floor was hard, but not particularly hard, just not soft. Made of the same impenetrable stuff as the walls.
The first time he’d had this nightmare, it had gone on for hours. Eight hours – he’d checked the alarm clock next to his bed. That was how it always went, hour after hour of sitting in the Room, unable to wake up. Each time he wondered if he ought to ask the Doctor about it. Each time, for some reason, he didn’t.
He wished he could dream up a comic book or something.
Imagine being stuck somewhere like this. Being a prisoner or something, in solitary. Absolute solitary. No little slot where the food came in. Nothing.
Man, that was creepy. Chris hugged his knees. Imagine being stuck here forever. Oh, man.
Oh, of course! That was where this came from, of course! His grandfather’s funeral. He laughed out loud. It was so simple.
Poor old Granddad. Chris had been only