Corner of the Eye (short story)
Corner of the Eye was the seventh short story published in the Doctor Who Storybook 2007.
Summary
Tom and Kathy are chatting on instant messenger and Tom recounts -- for the fiftieth time, as Kathy keeps forgetting -- how, one day he noticed a short, bald man standing behind him in the mirror. Looking through some old photos, he finds the same man behind him in all of them. He decides to post a "have you seen this man?" ad.
The Doctor appears, having read the ad and arrived at Tom's house before it was posted, to question him. Tom reveals he has had agoraphobia for the last ten years, which the Doctor remarks as being odd. Tom shows the Doctor his computer, explaining he speaks to Kathy via instant messenger and the Doctor asks why they do not live together; they seem to have split up ten years ago. Tom cannot think of an answer.
The Doctor asks if Tom has any other form of contact with anyone. Tom replies that he doesn't write letters, he hates the phone and he cannot email since he doesn't even have an internet connection. After repeating this a few times, Tom realises that Instant Messenger requires an internet connection, so he really shouldn't be able to chat with Kathy. The Doctor searches the house, and discovers Kathy's corpse in the cellar, underneath old wine racks, looking as if it has been there for ten years.
The Doctor tells Tom about Floofs, short, hairless creatures like the one in all Tom's photos, who hide out of people's sight, disorganising their lives by moving keys around, stealing important letters and so forth. Tom's Floof murdered Kathy for some reason, and set up a sentient computer programme to write on instant messenger just as she would. The Floof messed with Tom's head, removing his suspicions and confining him to his house to cut him off from the rest of the world. The Doctor orders the Floof to stay still so they can talk, and explains that he is taking Tom away so that the Floof cannot harm him any more.
Back in the IM program, the Kathy programme asks Tom how he can be chatting now if he left the computer. He tells her he is not the real Tom. On his instructions, she asks him where he is. He answers with the same list of information she gave him earlier, revealing that he is actually a computer programme based on Tom, left there by the Doctor to keep the Kathy programme company forever.
Characters
References
to be added
Notes
- The idea of Floofs may have been reused by Moffat in TV: The Eleventh Hour, in the form of Prisoner Zero, who hides out of sight but is seen it the corner of one's eye, moves things around (i.e. the sonic screwdriver), etc.
- The Floofs may be unseen creatures in TV: Listen, when a figure underneath a bedsheet appeared to young Danny Pink (then Rupert Pink) in the West Country Childrens' Home. The identity of the figure is unknown and may be a child playing a prank, however the episode features a brief blurry split-second glimpse which seems to resemble the illustration in the 2007 Storybook. This has led to some fans theorizing that the episode feature Floofs, however this is unconfirmed. The following is a selection of text from "Corner of the Eye" which strongly supports this theory:
"I saw a man. A small, neat, perfectly bald man standing directly behind me, and now revealed in the mirror as I bent. When I say he was small, I don't just mean short - I mean kind of miniature. Like a compacted person, two thirds size; neat, pale, and somehow - the word I want to use is gleaming. Like he was so clean he sparkled."
"It's the Floof. It can control and limit your thoughts, so long as it stays close."
"What," I begged, "please, for God's sake, tell me, WHAT is a Floof?"
"Odd little creatures," said the Doctor, settling back on to his chair. "No one really knows where they came from, because they're pretty much impossible to study. But where there are humans, or humanoids, there are Floofs. Millions of them, usually. But no one ever knows a thing about them, because there's an ability that evolution can throw up that no one, but no one, can ever learn anything about. The super-evolved ability to hide."
"To Hide??"
"A Floof can stand in a bare room full of a hundred people, all looking in every direction, all searching for it - and find the one spot no one's looking at. You can be alone in a room with a Floof, and spinning round and round trying to see it - and the Floof will just spin faster. However fast you turn to look, a Floof has moved away faster. Just a tiny movement in the corner of your eye. People get used to it, think it's normal. They hear a creak, and they say it's the house settling! What's that mean, 'house settling'? No such thing as 'house settling'! They get a prickling on the back of their necks, they think their hairs are standing on end. What's that about? Hair doesn't stand! it's a Floof breathing right behind you."
"But what do they want, these Floofs?"
"Nothing much. Mischievous more than anything. They'll nick your pens, your socks, move around your car keys - they love all that."
His face turned darker.
"But sometimes… well sometimes they get a bit possessive."''
Continuity
to be added
