"It's only a few days."
Hatter sighed internally but externally smiled benevolently.
"No worries I am a big Timelord after all. Nothing to worry about."
He could hear the insistent tick of an atomic clock in the background.
"You know I have been planning this trip for months. Quite the highlight of the year."
He grinned and wrinkled His eyes and lied with all the expressions He knew how too. Your leaving Me was all He could think. They always leave. Companions always leave.
"You have a lot to do anyways. Writing to catch up on, plans to peruse."
He was beginning to crack a little. First the 'new male friend' conversation, now this. She was leaving.
"I got you a present. See!"
She pointed the camera at the white box on the floor of her room.
"I can bring it on the way if you want."
"No need. It would just mean extra pressure for you. No you take your time on the trip, enjoy, relax, have fun. I am fine really."
They always leave. Companions always leave. Hatter felt the tears welling but decided they were wasted. No point crying, no point letting His reality show. No one saw His misfortune, they all thought this life was some sort of endless holiday. Regeneration was no gift, it was a curse.
"Almost five hundred years old and not one real friend."
K9 didn't reply. He never did. Just sat or laid, slept, just was.
"You going to leave Me K9?"
Now He started to cry.
"Fucking idiot thinking that."
He touched the knife on the console. Didn't look at it just wanted to feel it was still there. K9 snored. Hatter smiled through the pain and bent to rub him behind the ear.
"Good old boy. Daddys here. You get some sleep you had a busy day."
The second screen on the console blinked a number. He ignored it. No calls right now. He was getting used to being alone again.
Evil is as real as you make it. Some races actually think it exists as a separate entity to be breathed in and out like a gaseous substance. Hatter knew better. Evil existed in everything, as real as goodness, as real as life itself. He had lived on this planet for close to sixty years now. Worked His way through two regenerations and companions almost too many to remember. He recognized the evil in Himself. Saw the flaw that divided His character and accepted it and its consequences.
"You really are fascinated by puppets."
He recalled their conversation and the way the truth had been spoken but only recognized by Him. She had a way of divining the truth behind His actions. Maybe that was what attracted Him, the scalpel to His essence He was afraid to wield.
"Why do you like them so much?"
He fought to find an honest answer but decided to lie.
"They make Me laugh."
"I think they are a bit scary."
Hatter considered this proposition. Puppets and clowns. Puppets and old wives tales. Puppets and urban legends. Humans, so gullible.
"Your race finds everything scary they don't understand, It amazes Me sometimes you ever came down from the trees."
She smiled knowingly, like He had said something clever or important. He moved His hand inside the paper bag and momentarily lost Himself in play.
'"That's the way to do it!"
She looked mystified.
"Mister Punch. That's what he says in the puppet shows."
Her face was still confused.
"Punch and Judy. It's a version of an old play about good and evil. Puppeteers perform it with glove puppets for children to watch at fairs."
She was listening intently. She always listened intently but never heard His cries.
"Really not important. Just making noise."
The console blinked again. Same number, same caller.
"Hello."
He tried to sound a little interested.
"Good evening Hatter, how was your day?"
Speed of thought can be a curse. The multiple conversations possible from such an opening gambit sped through His consciousness like an almost endless meteor storm.
