Corner of the Eye (short story)

 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

 * Tenth Doctor
 * Tom
 * Kathy
 * Floof

Continuity
to be added