Snowglobe

A Doctor Who Christmas short story by Charles McGrath

The Cloister Bell had tolled. She had landed.
The TARDIS stood in a suitably festive scene at the centre of a town square, street-lamps lit and all
in sight covered in snow. The continual snowfall had even slightly dusted the TARDIS itself in snow.
What made this scene pristine, however, was the complete lack of townspeople in it. The whole
square was completely empty, not a soul to be seen.
The TARDIS door opened slowly with its usual creak, and out stepped the Doctor, gazing around
suspiciously. She took a cautious first-step into this new world, one small step for a Time Lord or
Lady. Almost as soon as she had stepped from the TARDIS, she took out her Sonic Screwdriver and
began surveying the area, inquisitive to an extent but, more importantly, concerned. Concerned for her
own welfare and that of others for thats who the Doctor was, the selfless woman who would give
her life for even the most humble person.
She walked across the square, through the metres of snow that had accumulated, still scanning the
surrounding area. There was something odd about this place not just the emptiness (though that
didnt help), but the sheer perfection of the landscape in which he found himself. It was too beautiful,
too serene, too Christmassy. Those images on the front of Christmas cards (or, at least, the traditional
ones), as all the peoples of the universe knew, just didnt exist in real life. Thats why theyre so
beloved by those aficionados of Christmas: theyre exactly what you want, but know you will never
get.
The Doctor then found herself outside what appeared to be an old thatched cottage, caught in the
middle of the storm. She approached the wooden door, attempted to use the Sonic Screwdriver, but
found it already open. She pushed the door, into darkness.
In these sorts of situations, the Sonic proved useful. Its light guided the Doctor around the room,
aiding the investigation, unveiling the shroud.
Then, a footstep, a creak. And not one made by the Doctor.
Out from the shadows appeared a soldier, like one of those toy soldiers from The Nutcracker. It
lurched from the blackness. The Doctor armed herself.

Far away
Jenny Bolton looked at the snow-globe she had just bought, placed on a shelf at the centre of the
room. She had just given it a shake, and snow was falling in it. Within it stood a traditional village
scene a selection of buildings, trees and people. A group of people gathered at the very centre,
revelling in the Christmas spirit. It was quite a cheap buy (as with everyone, money eluded Jenny at
this time of year), but a worthwhile one.
She moved in closer to the snow-globe, observing it with precision and admiring every aspect of its
modest beauty. She then gave it another shake, and placed it back down on the shelf, moving away
from it to continue with the days proceedings.

In the sky
The people looked up. They always did when the eye of the sky appeared.
They all stood round, gathered in a combination of fear and amazement. What was it up there? What
was that blinking yet soulless eye? Why did it watch them from time to time, paying close attention to
the townspeoples every move and action?
When the eyes stare passed, the people went about their daily lives as usual. It had almost become a
ritual of sorts, everyone standing in judgement of the eye, having their souls cleansed and being
absolved of their sins on a daily basis.
It was comforting, in a way. Comforting that someone, whoever or wherever they were, was watching
over them, guiding them, protecting them. Or judging them.

In the cottage
The Doctor stood firm against the soldier, who marched forward with its constant and unrelenting
stare. She scanned the figure with the Sonic, extracting every item of information. When the scan was
completed, she put the Sonic away, slipped backwards towards the door, the room still pitch black.
Then, another creak neither the Doctor nor the soldier. The door opened. Light streamed into the
room.
And a man ran in, grabbed the Doctor, pulled her out of the room, to safety.

In the street
The man who had saved the Doctor dragged her out into the open, snow-covered street.
What the hell were you doing in there? the man yelled, almost insulted by the fact that the Doctor
had thus far failed to thank him.
I was investigating, the Doctor replied. Just investigating, passing through.
Well, do it a bit safer next time! You nearly got yourself killed in there!
The man, in his middle-age and wearing a red woolly jumper to shield himself from the bitter cold,
took a few deep breaths, calming himself.
Im Matt, said the man. And your name?
The Doctor. Just the Doctor.
Ive never seen you around these parts before. Where are you from?
Not from around these parts.
Where?
Far away from this place.

The Doctor looked up, up at the sky. She wondered how she got here, in this new world. She also
wondered how everything here could be so perfect. Perfection didnt exist in the universe it is
merely the state all aspire to achieve.

But, she began to wonder out loud, I think the more pertinent question here is, where am I?
Matt stood back, slightly aghast, his own self-ascribed and somewhat pompous dominance in the
conversation being shattered by the Doctors intelligence.
Dont you know? You should know This is the Globe, the snow-globe.
The snow-what?
The snow-globe. Up there, in the sky, were watched over by the all-seeing eye. It brings judgement
on us all. And here, in our land, its Christmas. Its always Christmas.
The Doctor looked around, realising at last where she was.
So were in a snow-globe? An actual snow-globe? A real, proper snow-globe?
Yeah, you are. Merry Christmas.
****
Jenny picked up the snow-globe again, gave it another shake. Christmas Day was fast approaching. It
was late evening, the night was upon her, the mulled wine had been poured.
The Doctor and Matt looked up to the sky, the eye glaring down at them, casting its judgement. Then,
it started to snow.
Its the eye! The eye always brings snow with it, as well as its judgement! Matt exclaimed, at once
excited and terrified.
But what is the eye? The Doctor continued gazing up, her face contorting, visibly working through
all the available possibilities of what this might be.
The eye is whoevers out there, whatevers out there.
Matt pointed upwards, up at the eye that stared, the eye that observed, blinking as the sun blinks from
day to night and back again.
The snow finally stopped. Stillness.
And then, the phone rang.
****
Jenny was on the phone, intending on calling her mum on Christmas Eve. She knew shed be alone,
thats why each Christmas Eve she gave her a call to keep her company.
Hello, Mum? You alright?
Someone else replied:
Hello? Hello, whos there?
A woman, but not her mother.
The Doctor was through to someone he didnt know. But that wasnt the strangest part his phone
rang. The TARDIS phone. The phone not connected to any sort of landline or mobile network. The
disconnected telephone, and it had connected to someone.
Hello?
Youre not my mum!

The Doctor was taken aback she hadnt, until this point, considered the possibility that she could
now, technically, be someones mum. But she responded sincerely:
No, Im not. Who are you?
Why should I tell you? I dialled my mums number, and now Im on the line to you! Is she alright?
Where is she?
The Doctor paused for a moment, then responded:
Well, you didnt call her, you called me. Im the Doctor. Im trapped inside a snow-globe with
someone who clearly needs anger management classes and have just been chased out of a rather
pleasant thatched cottage by a sentient toy soldier. And you are?
Jenny. And youre mad. You sound it, at least.
Thanks for that it has been a pretty mad day
The Doctor suddenly came up with an idea, some sort of connection between the telephone call and
the snow-globe. She asked, anticipating a fruitful response:
Tell me, do you have a snow-globe?
Yeah, why?
Take a look at it.
What the hell are you talking about? boomed Matt. His patience had grown thin. Jenny was not the
only one irritated profoundly by this woman who just seemed to appear in their lives from out of
nowhere, turning every preconception and individual thought they had ever had on its head and
causing them to reassess their very existences.
Im talking about the eye
Jenny looked in the snow-globe, and the eye glared down from up in the sky.
I think weve found it! the Doctor exclaimed, once again proven right in one of her wackier
hypotheses.
Oh my God Matt looked, and felt, deflated. The Doctor had not only got him into significant
danger, but had also ruined his entire idea of what life was, and who controlled it. In the space of
about five minutes, his entire world had changed and he, naturally, was not happy.
If you look carefully enough, the Doctor said, youll see us. Down here, in the globe.
Jenny looked, straining her eyes, and could just about make out two human-shaped figures and a
small blue box, miniatures within the slightly larger snow-globe scene.
I can see you! I think
Good! Thats very good
The Doctor paused again, this time more plaintively than before. For it had just dawned on her, the
grim reality that she and Matt and anyone else who might be trapped in the globe with her faced.
Matt?
Yes!?
Is there anyone else here?

Matt stood completely still, just for a moment, expressing no emotion whatsoever. No anger or
annoyance, no rage or stress of any kind. He just stood there, somehow realising exactly what the
Doctor had done mere moments before. And then coming out with the truth:
Yes. Yes, theres a group of us.
The Doctors face dropped in horrifying realisation, her countenance lifeless and defeated, completely
alien to anyone who knew her. Then, she knew what to do next.
Take me to them.
And so off they went to the group.
****
Valerie was a mother. She had a son and a daughter, the son aged around two years and the daughter
around five. Their father, Joseph, was also part of the group. There was also Jasmine and Freya, the
residents of Numbers 6 and 7 on Mistletoe Lane, alongside John and Carter of 10 and 12. They were
all gathered in the square, looking up at the sky, at the eye.
Thats twice its appeared today! Our sins must be doubly atrocious Valerie lamented, comforting
her son who appeared quite disconcerted by the whole event.
But its Christmas Eve! Surely we cant be guilty on Christmas Eve! said Freya, brushing back her
long brown hair in an attempt to expel her nervousness faster.
Well, you know what I say if the eye appears and you dont know why, its pretty damned certain
youre going to Joseph was interrupted.
Dont say that! Not in front of the children!
They all stared up, bewildered. The only way they could look was up. Up was, in this instance at least,
the way, the truth and the life. The way to look, the truth of what was happening, and a sign of how
much life they had left.
The Doctor and Matt rushed into the group, each as concerned as the group itself.
Matthew! Where in Gods name have you been!? Have you seen the eye? Valerie enquired.
Yes, and this lass has worked out what its all about. Tell them, Doctor.
The group shifted its gaze towards the Doctor, piercing as it was, staring into her soul for the answers.
Well I think Well, Im not one hundred per cent
Come on, spit it out! John intervened. His demeanour was usually quite placid, but the situation had
called for a new side of his personality to reveal itself.
Well, the thing is This is a snow-globe, in case you were wondering.
Well, we knew that! Valerie sighed, exhausted from the anticipation of the Doctors response.
But its more than that, the Doctor retorted. Its far more than a snow-globe. Cos your perception
of a snow-globe is far different from mine, and from the average human beings. A snow-globes your
world, but a snow-globes their ornament, their Christmas decoration.
The group cocked their heads almost simultaneously, each as baffled as the other. The Doctor
continued:

What I mean is this the snow-globe is not the world, and what happens in it is not the end of the
world.
Why do you say that? asked Freya, concerned.
Because I didnt come here alone.
From out of the blizzard came the toy soldier, and even he was not alone. Around ten of these soldiers
marched out, all in formation, all with cold and frozen expressions on their faces, carved and
remaining forever.
These came with me, and I apologise for that.
The soldiers approached the group, lined up in a row. Valerie took her children, ran behind her
husband, while Freya stood still with a look of pure horror covering her face, frozen in fear and dread.
Please, whatever you are, dont hurt my children! Valerie screamed and screeched, holding them
close.
Ill make sure they dont, the Doctor, relatively calmly, said. She brandished the Sonic Screwdriver
from the pocket of her jacket, directed it at one of the soldiers. Because I may have brought you here,
but Im sending you back too.
The soldier, with utter stillness, observed the Doctor (whether intentionally or not), its wide eyes
burning into the Time Ladys mind, analysing her every thought and planning responses to her next
actions. Then, it moved. It raised its arms, used its hands to clasp onto its face, and removed a wooden
panel covering such a horror beneath
The soldiers wooden mask revealed a nightmarish face; hollow eye sockets, a hole where the nose
should be, an open wound where the mouth would normally appear. There was something very
Munch about it, as though the face were screaming in endless despair.
Valerie screamed in terror, covering the childrens eyes. Freya and Jasmine did likewise. The men of
the group gasped, jolted back, but refrained from screaming. The Doctor, however, remained stoic in
the face of evil.
What do you want here? the Doctor asked.
The soldier didnt reply. It couldnt. But it moved closer, as though trying to communicate in another
way.
It moved towards the Doctor, arms stretched out, as though to embrace. It grasped the Doctors hand,
and the Doctor saw into its mind.
Such terror without
Such sadness within
Such fear without
Such pain within
For it understood exactly the choice the Doctor was about to make. The most terrible choice, the most
impossible decision. To live and to kill, or to die and to save?
It was at that moment the Doctor realised what she had to decide. And the soldier withdrew from her.
What did it do? asked Matt. Doctor, are you okay?

A tear fell from the Doctors cheek onto the fallen snow. It soon froze, becoming part of the snowy
mass beneath their feet.
Doctor?
The Doctor didnt respond. Her mind was somewhere else. Not standing amongst the snow-covered
buildings or alongside the line of toy soldiers in the snow-globe, but on the deserts of Gallifrey, on the
day of her most important decision.
I changed it she muttered.
What?
I changed the established course of events before. I can do it again. It doesnt have to end like that,
not again.
A look of concern enveloped every member of the group, a mixture of confusion and, deep-down,
realisation. A realisation that what would happen next would not end well for them.
Well, I for one appreciate the life Ive had. Thank God for my life! exclaimed John, not much caring
about the others in his presence, all with evidently distraught looks on their faces.
Oh, shut up Valerie said whilst comforting her children, too young to understand the stimulus but
old enough to detect the sheer sadness of the situation. Even they had tears in their eyes, defeat in
their souls.
But I dont The Doctor turned round, facing the group now. It doesnt have to end like this!
How are you going to stop it? asked Matt.
Bypass the decision. If anyones going to die, its all of us.
Why does anyone have to die?
Whats happened is this theres a compression field here, a miniaturising field, whatever. It
miniaturised me and my time machine, the TARDIS, and it miniaturised you too. Im a Time Lord, so
I withstood the side-effect of amnesia, but youre human. Oh, youre perfectly human! You cant
remember where you came from. And you wont until I put things right.
So youre going to kill us all?
The Doctor stopped for a moment. Her joy turned quickly into sombreness, sobriety.
Yes. Cos theres no other way.
So well never remember Freya whimpered.
You will. You will, one day. I dont know where or when you will remember, but itll happen. Itll
come.
And what about the children, my children? Theyll never have lived, and die too young to ever get
the chance to live. Joseph wept, covering his face despite his utter grief.
This is not the way I want it to end. But one thing Ive come to realise is this. Im too old for this
game now. The Doctor is dead. Ive saved the world countless times, and Id do anything to save
you
Something clicked. A spark in her mind flashed. And she found a way.
Get in the TARDIS, the Doctor said sullenly. Get in there now.

The what? Valerie grunted.

The big blue box just over there. Get in it now.
Why?
Because its your only chance of survival.
And what about you? Matt asked, mainly out of obligation.
I need to stay out here. Because what Im about to do next is potentially very dangerous.
The group, not hesitating for one minute, ran towards the Doctors blue box. Each climbed inside, the
last Carter slamming the door behind him. The Doctor followed, but didnt enter. She opened up
the phone case, and dialled.
****
Jennys phone never normally rang more than twice in an evening, even on Christmas Eve. But
tonight was the night it did, so she picked up the phone.
Its me again.
What? Oh, you What do you want? Jenny disapprovingly answered.
Your help.
Doing what?
I want you to break your snow-globe.
What!? Jenny was evidently irritated to the maximum point now, and a millimetre from breaking
point. Why do you want me to do that? I only bought that today!
I know, Im sorry. Ill get the others to refund you. But you need to break the snow-globe. Were all
trapped inside, but if you break it the compression field will collapse.
The what in the what?
Oh, youll understand. Just smash the damn snow-globe!
No!
Do you want the deaths of all of us to be on your hands?
How do I know youre not just making this up?
Because you saw us earlier, the Doctor noted. You saw us in the snow-globe, and you know, deep
down, that were here.
And how many of you are there?
Seven eight including me.
And what about you? Arent you coming along? You might as well
No, cos theres something else in here too. Demented, demonic toy soldiers who will tear the world
apart just to stop us from escaping. They showed us the way home but only so they could tag along
for the ride. I need to stop them from leaving, meaning The Doctor paused.
Meaning?

We all stay together. The compression field breaks, the others escape, and the soldiers and I well,
who knows?
Jenny put down the phone. It hadnt occurred to her before that the very scene encased within the
snow-globe on her shelf, in her living room, was alive and waiting to burst out into the real world,
the real dimension which she inhabited. Of course, reality meant nothing anymore, not after that
conversation with the Doctor. Reality was just a word used to describe the here and now, not all the
countless existences and dimensions that existed around her, not least within her own home.
Jennys reality had crumbled. Christmas was just another day now. For she knew now that not only
was she not alone, but she was keeping the company of aliens.
****
The Doctor also had hung up by this point. She fended off repeated onslaughts from the soldiers, who
had become surprisingly more mobile, in a sense knowing the Doctors plan and trying to ensure that
she along with themselves would suffer the most painful end.
Behind the Doctor, the TARDIS began to dematerialise, fading into the blizzard it itself had caused.
Its ethereal groan slowly became distant, echoing throughout the globe, down each alleyway and
inside every cottage. It was then gone completely.
The Doctor, turning round while trying to evade the soldiers grasp, breathed a sigh of relief. They
were safe now. But not until the globe was smashed.
Jenny picked up the snow-globe, swivelling it around in the palm of her hand, observing its
dimensions and pondering the absurdity of people actually living inside of it.
She then stopped. Gripped it tight. And threw it as hard as she could at the floor.
The globe smashed, that pleasant wintry scene in ruins.
And suddenly, a small blue box began swirling around the room, wheezing and groaning. It grew and
it grew, and flew straight out the window in a cacophony of smashing glass and screams from Jenny.
Jenny was left in a room of unkempt furniture and shattered glass. She looked around desperately, but
there it was. No going back.
Merry Christmas.
****
The Doctor couldnt see anything. It was black, everything was black at first. But then, there was
light.
She wandered around for a moment or two, taking in her new surroundings. The soldiers were
nowhere to be seen. It had worked.
Such a bright light shone all around her. She scanned her environs with her Sonic Screwdriver, but it
refused to work. Wherever the Doctor was, it didnt like it.
But the Doctor, by contrast, did. The light faded to reveal a snowy scene, not too dissimilar to the one
she had been in in the snow-globe. There were small cottages all around, all adorned with lanterns and
covered in festive decorations.
And in the middle of the cobbled street stood the TARDIS, as good as new.

The Doctor walked towards it, a beaming smile on her face. She approached her blue box, tapped its
wooden exterior as though patting it on the back for its hard work and effort, pulled out the key and
opened the doors.
As she did this, it started to snow. And the snow was gentle this time, not coming in flurries but
drifting slowly from the night sky, a gift from the heavens.
A voice came from behind the TARDIS, a mans voice, probably in his middle-age:
Doctor!
The Doctor poked her head out of the door.
Yes?
Its me again. It was Matt he was still here.
What are you doing here? I thought you were
I was. This is where we arrived at.
The Doctor took a closer look at her surroundings. Everything was the same as it was in the snowglobe, except there were no soldiers, and no eye in the sky.
Where are we? enquired the Doctor, a question she was totally unfamiliar with.
Home. Were not trapped anymore, but where else do you think we could possibly live?
But why am I here? I should be dead.
Death never means the end. Thats something everyone gets wrong. Look where you are, and tell me
this isnt heaven.
Of course it was, the Doctor realised. This was heaven, this was Christmas. The place where everyone
feels at home.
The Doctor said goodbye to Matt, stepped inside the TARDIS, the door making its usual creak. The
TARDIS softly faded away into the snow, as Matt stood unusually calm and pacified in awe of it, of
the Doctor.
For the Doctor was not dead. The snow-globe shattered, and its prisoners were released.
This was heaven. This was Christmas.