27 May 2012

The Ghosts Of Winter, Chapter 10

Above the tunnels the Apparites were continuing their reign of destruction on the town. People looked out of their windows and screamed when the hooded figures entered their front gardens. Huge drifts of snow were seemingly coming to life like huge, shapeless monsters, slamming into windows and walls, knocking them clean down.

The Apparites were running through the streets and with simple waves of their hands were creating small earthquakes, causing buildings to crumble and fall.

One of the Apparites was laughing manically, and then, seemingly for no reason at all, it fell to the ground. It was sobbing.

Another one came up behind it and put a hand on it’s shoulder. “Freedom.”

The one on the floor looked up at the one standing over it. “Freedom,” it confirmed. “When is freedom?”

The ghost patted the other on the shoulder. “Soon.”

It helped the other off the floor and they both continued to tear through the town.




In the tunnel Ben and Margot were sat next to each other. Ben was chomping on a chocolate bar and Margot looked at him in frustration.

“How can you think of eating at a time like this?”

He looked at her. “It’s my belly that’s thinking of eating,” he said with his mouth full, “not me. Anyway,” he said, offering her a bite, “I told you we should have dealt with it.”

“Keep your voice down,” hissed Margot, shaking her head at his offer of the chocolate bar. “I think we’ve managed to blag our way through this so far so don’t ruin it!”

“I don’t know,” said Ben, looking at the Doctor and Caroline who were sat a few metres away. “He’s suspicious. He knows something’s not right.”

Margot drew her knees up towards her chin. “He’ll find a way.”

Ben laughed and shook his head. “When he finds out we could have dealt with this in a few minutes he’ll go off his head at us.”

“Shut up!” she snapped. “You know our orders. There’s only so long we can keep doing this. If he can find a way to permanently put an end to them then we need to let him work it out himself.”

“And if he can’t?” asked Ben, scrunching up the chocolate wrapper and throwing it against the wall. “What then? They’ve already advanced further than they’ve done before.”

“Jayne will know what to do,” said Margot, although she didn’t seem convinced. “Jayne will have a back-up plan.”

“Right then,” said the Doctor, making them both jump. “I’ve been formulating a few plans.”

“We think we know how to close that crack,” added Caroline.

“Go on then,” said Margot.

“There’s two options,” said the Doctor. “These creatures obviously have some kind of psychic link with Caroline, Danny and anyone else they’ve come into contact with. Caroline, just by touching that crack, allowed it to expand and let them through. It stands to reason that anyone with a psychic connection to them can close it off again.”

“Right,” said Margot.

“How did you fight them off all these years?” asked Caroline.

“They never came through full force. We just used to…scare them off,” she said. She was trying her best to make this up as she went along.

“Hmmm,” said the Doctor suspiciously.

“You said there were two options,” said Ben quickly, trying to avoid another round of questions.

“Yes. The other option is for me to use my machine to try and stitch up that crack.”

“How can the TARDIS help?” asked Margot.

The Doctor’s eyes narrowed. “The readings on my sonic screwdriver show that the dimensional energy coming from that crack is the same as what runs through my machine.”

“So why not go straight for that option?” asked Margot.

“Because there’s a risk. I’d have to move my machine - ” he looked towards Margot, “ - my TARDIS - over the crack. Materialise around it. The TARDIS should be able to close it up, but there’s a risk that instead the Apparites would become more powerful and overwhelm the ship.”

“But they’d be on the TARDIS, not on Earth. Surely that’s better?” asked Margot.

“No,” said the Doctor blankly. “If the Apparites had control of my ship they’d be able to go anywhere in time and space. I shan’t allow that, even if it means risking the Earth.”

Ben sighed. “So what’s the next move then?”

“I’ve got a friend called Danny,” said Caroline. “He’s asleep back at my flat right now, but he was taken over - possessed - by one of these things.”

The Doctor nodded. “He’s had the most contact. If we bring him here he could possibly close off the crack.”

“Even if you closed it,” said Margot, “you’ll still have a load of them trapped outside.”

“I’m hoping that these ghosts will automatically snap - like a rubber band - back to their own dimension once they know what we’re doing. I don’t think they can survive out of their world. That’s why they can’t come through and close the crack down behind them. They’re tethered to their own world.”

“It’s why the snow’s here,” said Caroline. “They bring it with them.”

“Snow being from there own dimension,” mused Margot, “I suppose it would come with them.”

The Doctor’s eyes narrowed at her again. “Indeed.”




The Doctor, Caroline, Margot and Ben had made their way through the tunnels until they had intersected with a doorway leading to a sewer tunnel.

The Doctor told Margot and Ben to stay here, and him and Caroline made their way along the sewer until they reached a ladder leading up to a manhole.

“As if today wasn’t enough,” said Caroline as she ascended the ladder behind the Doctor, “I have to spend the evening in a sewer.”

The Doctor laughed. “Perks of the job.”

“It’s not a job for me, though,” said Caroline. “I don’t think you’re going to be taking me on.”

“Nonsense. You’ve proven your worth so far,” he said as he reached the manhole cover.

“Glad to be of service,” smiled Caroline, “but I don’t think I could do this all the time.”

The Doctor got his sonic screwdriver out and began running it along the rim of the manhole cover. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that when this is all over I’d just like to go back home and get on with my life.”

The Doctor stopped and looked down at her. “I thought you wanted to better yourself in life.”

“I do. When all this is over I’m leaving my job, going back to college - yeah, I know, I’ll be a mature student - and I’m going to finish my course. Get myself a better job. Move away. Live my life!”

“I thought-” he stopped himself.

“What?” asked Caroline.

“Well, I thought you’d want to come with me.”

Caroline smiled. “It’s tempting, but it’s dangerous as well. And it’s your life, not mine. I want to forge my own path.”

“Okay,” said the Doctor quietly. “I understand.”

“Come on!” said Caroline. “Let’s get out of here. It stinks!”

The Doctor pushed the manhole cover up and both of them clambered out into the snowy street.

“Well?” asked the Doctor, getting up and giving Caroline a hand out of the manhole. “Does any of this look familiar?”

She got to her feet, brushed some snow of her jeans and looked around. It was a wide road lined with trees and old, grand houses. Towards the end of the road it curved off, and in the other direction was the huge, imposing college campus which stood on Nuns Corner, the site of the old nunnery.

“We’re on Bargate,” said Caroline. “About a twenty minute walk from the church.”

The Doctor craned his neck and looked into the distance. They could see the spire of St James’s church towering over the houses, the glowing from the crack lighting up the building like a Christmas tree. The snow was continuing to fall, but now, more than ever, it was being spiralled towards the church area.

“Did we really have to come this far away just to get back to your police box?” asked Caroline.

“Unfortunately, yes,” said the Doctor. “We never would have gotten out of that church alive.” He looked around. “Now it’s up to you to guide us back into the town.”

Caroline sighed. “Come on then. More snow-trekking.”




In the tunnels Margot and Ben were sat against the wall.

“This is crazy, Margot,” said Ben. “We should just go back to control and speak to Jayne.”

“We have our instructions,” said Margot, through gritted teeth. “Jayne wants the Doctor to deal with this. I’ve already told you that.”

“And while she conducts her experiments hundreds of people could be dying out there,” he said, pointing upwards.

Margot sighed. “I know that.”

“Well you don’t seem too bothered about it,” snapped Ben. “You’re always so quick to jump and do what she says.”

“Because she’s the boss,” replied Margot. “Jayne’s been looking after us for all this time. The least you can do is trust her judgement.”

“Maybe she’s been looking after us for too long,” he mumbled, half to himself.

Margot turned to face him. “Now listen to me, Ben Featherstone. If it wasn’t for Jayne we would have already been overrun by these things. She’s kept us together all these years.”

“I know that.”

“Then show some respect. When we first started out on this thing you were nothing but a medical student. You had no idea what to do about the things we came up against.”

“You don’t have to tell me that. You know I’ve grown. I’ve matured.”

“Then act like it. Jayne is in control here, and if she thinks the Doctor can help then let him help.”

There was silence for a few seconds.

“Maybe it’s not Jayne I’m worried about,” said Ben glumly. “Maybe it’s this Doctor. I mean, if he can’t deal with this simple situation right here and now, how is he ever going to help us with the bigger picture?”

“It’ll work itself out,” said Margot quietly.

“We should tell him the truth,” said Ben.

“No. Not yet. When the time is right. When the time is right Jayne will tell him everything.”


To be continued...

25 May 2012

The Ghosts Of Winter, Chapter 9

Down in the crypt the Doctor was confused. He had heard voices beyond the door, but when he had opened it there was nothing to be seen. Just an empty, stone room with a few tombs in it. He had contemplated opening the tombs to have a look, but he was sure that that was taking things a little too far. But still, he had heard voices. He was sure of it.

He looked around the empty room, checking all the corners and cracks to make sure he wasn’t missing anything.

There was a sound coming from up in the sanctuary. It was Caroline’s voice, but the Doctor wasn’t sure what she was saying. He decided he better get back up there and, giving a final look around, he made his way back to the staircase.

It was as he ascended the stairs that he heard the explosion from outside. The entire church shook and he almost fell back down the steps.

“Caroline!” he shouted.

He was about to bound up the stairs when he heard the door open at the end of the corridor leading to the empty room and the vicar emerged, this time with a woman with long, curly-blonde hair.

“Move!” said the American-accented woman as they pushed past him.

“Wait a minute…!” he said, watching them run up the stairs. He was absolutely certain that the room he had been in had been empty.

He wanted to go and check the room again, but decided against it. He had to make sure that Caroline was okay and so made his way back up the steps, following the two strangers.




When he got outside Caroline was on her back, propping herself up by her elbows and the two strangers were standing in front of the glowing crack which had grown to the size of the church.

“What happened?” asked the woman.

“I just touched it!” said Caroline. “I don’t even know why.”

“You stupid woman!” said the vicar. He turned to the blonde who was busy rummaging in a knap-sack slung over her shoulders. “I told you we should have dealt with this.”

“We don’t make the rules, Ben,” she said, as she pulled out a device.

“What on Earth is going on?” asked the Doctor. “It’s not very often I feel out of the loop, but I do today.”

Nobody answered the Doctor.

“I’ll just pretend I’m not here then,” he said as he ran over to Caroline and helped her to her feet. “What happened?”

“I don’t know,” she said, holding her hands out and looking down at them. “It’s like I was drawn to the crack. I couldn’t stop myself from moving.” She looked up at the gaping void. “There was a voice and then I just touched it and it…exploded.”

“Has anything come out of it yet?” asked the Doctor, running the sonic screwdriver up and down her hands.

“No,” she said. “Not as far as I know. Let me guess, though, we’re expecting more ghosts?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” said the blonde haired woman, who had crossed over to them. “You’re friend here blew the dam. Burst the bubble. Kicked a brick out.”

“Yes,” said Caroline, giving her an evil. “I get it. I released them. But why did it affect me?”

“Probably because you had contact with them,” said the vicar - Ben. “They hold a psychic connection over anyone they come into contact with.”

The Doctor looked concerned. “That means me as well.”

“Yes,” said the woman, arching her eyebrows. “So you’re not as untouchable as you might think.”

The Doctor frowned. “You know me?”

“We know of you,” said the woman. She extended her hand. “I’m Margot Dunlop and this is Ben Featherstone. We’ve been keeping an eye on these things for a good few years now.”

“So you know about them?” asked Caroline. “Is there anyway we can stop them?”

Suddenly there was a huge explosion from the crack. The four of them looked up and from the gap dark shapes began to emerge. Cloaked figures were scuttling out of the light and crawling towards the ground.

“Everyone inside,” said the Doctor. “We’ve got to protect ourselves until we can work out how to fight these things off.”

As they ran around the church to the main door Caroline remembered something and turned to Ben. “You said to her,” nodding towards Margot, “that you should have dealt with this.”

All four of them scrambled into the church and the Doctor slammed the door shut behind them.

“Hang on,” said Ben, as they began dragging bits of furniture from the church and barricading the door shut.

“That’s not gonna stop them,” said Caroline. “They can smash windows with snow!”

“She’s right,” said Margot. “They’re going to get in whether we like it or not.”

“We need to get out of the church.”

“No,” said the Doctor. “They’ll just follow us.” He turned to Ben and Margot. “Where have you two been hiding?”

“What?” asked a confused Ben who had taken his vicars robe off to reveal a pullover and jeans.

“You came from the crypt yet when I went in there I saw nobody.”

Ben looked at Margot, who quickly flicked her eyes to the Doctor’s icy stare. “Secret tunnels.”

“What?” asked Caroline.

“We’ve been hiding in secret tunnels.”

The Doctor looked confused and as if he couldn’t quite believe them. “Secret tunnels under the church? I’m not sure I believe it.”

“Actually,” said Caroline, “she could be right.” She thought back to the basic history she knew of the town. “Back in the old days there was a monastery and a nunnery here. There were rumours that the monks used to meet up with the nuns in these secret tunnels.”

“Why ever for?” asked the Doctor.

The three of them simply looked at him, their eyebrows all raised.

“Oh…” realisation dawned on him.

“Anyway, these tunnels are meant to run all the way under the town. I don’t think they’ve ever been mapped out though. I remember an old college friend doing some potholing under the main campus building and going into one of these tunnels.”

“Exactly,” said Margot quickly. “And that’s where we’ve been.” She thought. “It’s the easiest way to get around the town with all the snow up here.”

“Okay then,” said the Doctor, “so you were down in the tunnels when I first went in there. That makes sense. Show me them.”

“Come on,” said Margot as the ghosts began to hammer on the door.

“Doctor!” shouted Caroline as a shadow appeared at the window.

“Run!” shouted the Doctor as the window shattered into thousands of tiny stained-glass pieces and rained down on them.

They ran across the sanctuary and down the stairs to the door that led to the crypt.

“One of them’s behind us,” shouted Ben, who was at the back of the group. “Get the slab up!”

Margot ran into the room, and with the Doctor’s helped managed to lift a small stone slab in the corner.

“Quickly,” said Ben as he slammed the wooden door behind him.

“Everyone in,” said the Doctor, ushering them all into a large hole which the slab had been concealing. He looked up at Ben who was holding the door back. “Come on. You too.”

“I can’t. I’ve gotta hold them back,” he said, his back to the door and his arms outstretched, holding on for dear life.

“You can’t stop them,” said the Doctor. “They’re still going to follow us down anyway. What’s the point in sacrificing yourself?”

“Do you have a better solution? I at least want to give you a fighting chance, mate. I‘ve been at these things long enough now to know that you have to take your chances.”

The Doctor looked to Bens belt. Hanging off it were various devices and tools. And a torch. He went up to Ben and took the torch from the belt, and then activated the sonic screwdriver. He placed it near the bottom of the torch and the bulb inside started to glow brightly.

“When I say move, you move.”

“What are you-?”

“Do you understand?” asked the Doctor, the bulb getting hotter and brighter by the second.

“Okay,” said Ben, trying with all his might to keep the Apparites back.

The Doctor looked intently at the torch. The bulb was now glowing almost a red colour.

“Ready,” said the Doctor. “MOVE!”

He threw the torch at the door just as Ben moved away. The torch hit the door and burst into flames setting the door alight.

They could hear the Apparites behind the flaming door, screaming.

“Come on,” said the Doctor, “that’ll hold them off for a bit.”

They made their way through the hole in the floor and the Doctor slid the stone slab back over as he ducked down.

They were standing in a completely black tunnel. The only thing that lit it up was the light from Margot’s torch.

“What happened?” asked Caroline.

“I overheated the torch. Turned it into a makeshift bomb.” The Doctor shook his head. “Nasty weapons, bombs. But affective if used in the right way.”

“Did you kill it?” asked Margot.

“No,” he said, giving her an accusing glance. “I don’t kill. Not if I can help it. It’ll have been scared off for a bit though. They don‘t like heat. Remember, Caroline, when I scared off that one in your back garden?” He turned to the Ben and Margot. “We need to go. Now.”

They made there way through the tunnels, and when they were sure they were far enough away from underneath the church the Doctor sat down.

“We need to keep moving,” said Margot, who had continued to walk a little further.

“No,” said the Doctor, “we need to talk.”

“Talk about what?” she asked, urgency in her voice.

“Talk about you two and your connection to the Apparites.”

“The Doctor’s right,” said Caroline, sitting down next to him. “We’re not going anywhere until you’ve explained a few things to us.”

Margot came back over to them. She was about to tell them to move again, but when she looked at the Doctor she could tell that he really wasn’t going to be going anywhere until he got his answers. He simply sat there, legs crossed and staring into the darkness.

She sighed and leaned against the damp wall. “We don’t know a lot.”

“Tell me what you do know. No lies, please,” he said, still refusing to meet her eyes.

“We’re just normal people,” she said. “There’s nothing special about us.”

“Who said you’re special?” asked Caroline. “Sounds like you’re trying to hide something already.”

“No,” said Ben quickly. “We have nothing to hide.”

“Alright Ben,” she said sternly. “I can handle this.”

“Go on,” said the Doctor quietly.

Margot took a deep breath. “A few years ago we were attacked randomly by one of those things. Back in 2005. We started doing research into them and found out about the disappearances over the years in and around the town and people going mad, hearing voices and seeing ghosts.”

“So you moved yourself down into these tunnels in case they attacked again?” asked Caroline.

“No. We came down here when the weather started getting bad. The signs all pointed towards a ghost winter,” said Ben.

“And what were the signs?” asked the Doctor.

“It was supposed to be extremely mild this year,” continued Margot.

“Rubbish!” spat the Doctor. “You expect me to believe that rubbish? You’re not telling me the whole truth.”

“I am,” said Margot, crouching down beside him. “I swear.”

“I don’t know,” said the Doctor. “You’re not telling me everything. I can see it in your eyes.”

“I bet you’re a big fan of conspiracy theories,” said Margot, the disdain for him in her voice.

“Oh, a big fan,” he said with a wry smile.

“Everyone seems to be forgetting the main problem,” said Caroline who was standing again. “How do we stop these things?”

The Doctor looked to Margot and Ben. “Well? You seem to have all the answers.”

Margot and Ben exchanged glances. “We were hoping you knew how to deal with them.”

The Doctor and Caroline’s faces dropped.


To be continued...

23 May 2012

The Ghosts Of Winter, Chapter 8

Across the town, down the main shopping street and towards the old stone church that had stood for a good few centuries, the snow continued to pile up. Everywhere was deserted and the only sound was a faint crackling coming from around the side of the church.

A young man with short, dark hair and stubble emerged from a side door and ran around to where the crackling sound was coming from. He wore a vicars outfit and was holding a walkie-talkie in his hands.

In front of him was a crack of energy suspended in mid-air. He looked anxious and held the walkie up to his mouth. “Are you sure about this?”

An American female voice answered back. “Yes. Let him deal with it.”

“I don’t know,” said the vicar as the crack got wider. “We’ve dealt with them before and we should do again.”

He needs to do it,” came the voice. “Please, Ben, just come inside. He’ll sort it out.”

“And if he doesn’t?” asked the vicar. “It may be too late. It’s already worse than we’ve had to deal with before. Even worse than ‘87 and that was bad.”

“Ben, come inside. That’s an order.”

He hesitated for a moment as the huge, glowing crack expanded to the size of a door, and then he reluctantly went around to the other side of the church and back inside.




Caroline had tried to convince the Doctor to wait until the morning to go and confront the Apparites, but he was determined to go now. He said that the longer they left it the more damage could be done to the town and that she couldn’t argue with.

They’d made Danny comfortable in Caroline’s bed. The Doctor had said he’d be asleep for some time and that he needed rest. Caroline was reluctant to leave him, but she knew it was for the best. She’d then got her coat, hat and boots on again and was ready once more to brave the weather outside.

They stepped out of the front door and onto the street. The snow was coming down thick and fast again and Caroline had trouble trying not to sink into the deep drifts.

“I never thought it could get worse than last winter,” said Caroline. She suddenly had a thought. “Hey, were the ghosts responsible for that as well?”

“No,” said the Doctor as he tried to shield his face against the blizzard. He’d turned down Caroline’s offer of a pink scarf to wrap around himself. “I did some background checks and that was definitely a natural occurrence.”

“So we can’t blame the council this time?” said Caroline, smiling.

“Unfortunately not,” he smiled back. “But the locals will do anyway. It’s better that way really. Can’t panic people, can we?”

Caroline stepped around a fallen over wheelie bin. “That’s a thought,” said Caroline. “What’s with the snow? How does it connect to them do you reckon?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” said the Doctor. “Perhaps it’s an atmospheric disturbance caused by them. Perhaps the snow comes from their world. I don’t know.”

“I guess I’m asking too many questions.”

“No more than people usually ask.”

“So there’s been others then?” It suddenly occurred to Caroline that she didn’t really know what the Doctor’s life was really about.

“There have been many people who have travelled with me before.”

“To other countries you mean?”

“To other planets.”

She stopped, thought for a moment and then carried on. “Lovely.”

“You’re not surprised?”

“Not really. Not after today. How can that surprise you?” She wrapped her scarf a little tighter around her. “I suppose you travel around in that blue box as well.”

“How did you guess?” asked the Doctor, looking a little disappointed that she’d worked it out.

“It’s like Bill & Ted, isn’t it?”

The Doctor laughed. “They copied that idea from me!”

“Doesn’t it get cramped?”

“Bigger on the inside,” said the Doctor, as they turned the corner into Sixhills St.

“Ah, that explains it,” said Caroline. “You’ll have talk me through the ins and outs of that someday.”

“Tell me about yourself, Caroline,” said the Doctor.

“There’s not really much to say about me,” she said, a little glumly. “Dropped out of college. Got a job. Still there. Sad really.”

“But there’s more to you. I don’t know what it is, but the Apparites see it. Somehow you’re connected to them. Do you have any family nearby?”

“Only my parents. They moved to Tillby when I dropped out of college. I don’t see them very often.” She thought for a moment. “Actually I don’t see them at all. We fell out.”

“That’s a shame,” said the Doctor. “Family is very important.”

“Do you have any family?” she asked.

The Doctor didn’t answer and instead stopped to get his bearings. “Another fifteen minutes I think. That’s if we put our best foot forward.”

Caroline decided not to push the matter. She had clearly hit a nerve and they continued on their way to the town centre.




Finally, after much struggling through the snow, the pair arrived at the church. All around the snow was swirling and the Doctor and Caroline could hear a crackling coming from the other side of the church. They made their way around the stone building until they reached the old cobbled expanse that used to be the main entrance to the church until town planners had built a flyover in front of it.

“What the hell is that?” asked Caroline as they spotted the crack of light suspended in the air.

“I have know idea,” said the Doctor, rummaging in his pockets and bringing out his sonic screwdriver. “Usually I have a fair bit of information on things I come up against, but these things…there’s just nothing.”

She watched as he edged towards the crack, his sonic screwdriver pointing forward, buzzing and collecting readings.

“It’s some sort of gateway,” he said, checking the tiny readout on the screwdriver. “It’s how they’re getting through.”

“So if we close it, they won’t be able to?” asked Caroline, hopefully.

“I don’t think it’s as simple as that,” said the Doctor, moving away from it. “The Apparites are seeping in from their dimension to our dimension slowly. One at a time. They don’t need cracks to travel through. They just kind of…fade across. This thing, though, will enable them to come through in full force. Maybe even bring their world through with them.”

Caroline looked horrified. “Then how do we stop it?”

“I hate to say it again, as I feel like I’ve been saying it all day, but I just don’t know.”

Caroline sighed. “Maybe someone can help us,” she offered.

“Who? I’m the expert on these situations.”

Caroline shrugged her shoulders. That’s when she noticed the vicar at the other end of the church, watching them.

“Doctor,” she said, “maybe he can help.”

The Doctor looked towards where she was pointing. “Ah, the vicar. Hello!” he shouted.

The vicar realised he had been spotted and darted back inside the church.

“Well what’s his problem?” asked Caroline.

“Let’s find out, shall we?” said the Doctor as he trudged his way to the door of the church.

They knocked, but when nobody answered the Doctor decided to just go in anyway, much to Caroline’s concern.

“It’s a church!” said Caroline. “You can’t just break in!”

“We’re not breaking in,” said the Doctor. “And it’s a church, as you say. It should be open to all at any time of the day.”

The large oak door creaked open. The vicar had obviously forgotten to lock it in his haste. They made their way inside. It was dark and only a few candles up near the alter illuminated their way.

“How old is this church?” asked the Doctor.

“I don’t know exactly. It was built in the 12th century or something like that.”

“Very old then,” said the Doctor as he moved to the light switch. He flicked the switch and a number of lights high in the rafters flickered to life, illuminating everything around them. “Old with modern appliances. I do love your world.”

They made their way up towards the front of the church. There was no sign of the vicar. The Doctor stood with his hands on his hips, looking around.

“He must be in a room somewhere,” said Caroline.

“Yes.” The Doctor spotted a small wooden door in the side wall. “Caroline, you stay here and take a look around. Don’t go outside though.”

“Where are you going?”

“Through there,” he said, pointing to the door.

“Why can’t I come?”

“I need someone to wait up here in case the vicar comes back. He was clearly worried about something.”

“Alright, but just be careful,” she said, pointing a finger at him.

“I will be,” he said, as he made his way towards the door.

He opened it and it led to a dark passage and a stone staircase. He pulled a small torch out of his inside pocket and made his way down the steps. The further he got down the steps the warmer it became, which he felt was odd. Surely it should have been getting colder.

When he reached the bottom of the stairs he was standing in a stone corridor and at the end of the corridor was a very old wooden door. He listened carefully. He was sure he could hear talking coming from the other side.

He edged slowly up to the door and put his ear against the wood. He was right. It was very faint, but he could hear voices.

He straightened himself up, put his hand on the door handle and went inside.




Upstairs Caroline had searched all the rooms leading off from the main sanctuary of the church but still hadn’t found the vicar. For a second she contemplated following the Doctor down the stairs and was about to until a sound diverted her attention. It was coming from outside where the crack was forming.

The Doctor’s warning not to go outside stopped her from going to investigate and instead she sat down on one of the pews.

She looked up at the main stained glass window over the alter area and could see the light from the crack outside flickering and glowing through the glass.

It must be almost as high as the church now, she thought to herself.

She wanted to go and see. She wanted to investigate, but she forced herself to stay still.

And then she saw the shape outside, creeping up the window like a huge monster trying to force it’s way in. It was the snow, she realised with shock. It was almost alive.

“Doctor!” shouted Caroline. “Doctor, I think you should come up here now.”

There was no reply from beyond the small door.

She kept telling herself that she was safe and that it couldn’t get in. They’d bolted the outer door when they had entered and those windows were pretty strong. Snow wouldn’t be able to get in. It was, after all, just frozen water.

She was wrong. The window started cracking. Caroline jumped up out of her seat.

“DOCTOR!” she shouted again.

And then the window caved in. Heaps of white snow forced its way through the broken window and down the inside of the wall like some giant, snow-snake. It slithered its way across the floor, knocking over the stone font and making its way down the steps towards her.

“Bloody hell!” she said and turned to run. She managed to reach the door just before it reached her feet. She flung the door open and ran outside, shutting the door behind her.

The snow outside wasn’t as active and she leaned against the stone bricks, cursing herself for leaving the Doctor again.

“Poor little Caroline,” came a quiet voice from the other side of the church.

“No,” she said to herself. “This can’t be happening to me.”

“Come and see us,” came the voice. “Come back to us.”

“No,” she repeated, her eyes closed. “Fight it, Caz. Fight it.”

“You can’t fight it,” came the voice.

Caroline felt herself turning and moving around the church to the source of the voice and the crack of energy. She tried to stop herself, but it was like she wasn’t in control of her movements anymore. Something was drawing her to the crack.

When she rounded the corner the crack loomed in front of her. It was now the height of the church, but still there was nothing emerging from it.

“Leave me alone,” she said through gritted teeth. “I don’t know what you want from me.”

“Free us,” said the voice. “Let us come through.”

Caroline felt her arm reaching up towards the crack. She walked slowly towards the fizzing energy, her arm outstretched. She could feel her finger tips tingling from the energy. She tried to fight the ghosts off but to no avail.

She closed her eyes as her hand touched the crack. There was a huge explosion of white light and Caroline was thrown to the floor, sinking nearly all the way into the snow beneath her. She opened her eyes and looked up as the crack rippled and flared in the night sky.


To be continued...

21 May 2012

The Ghosts Of Winter, Chapter 7

Caroline knew this was the end. Her vision was going blurry and she couldn’t breathe. All she could see was the bright, white eyes of Danny burning through the blackness. This wasn’t how she had expected to die. Hell, no one could have expected this. She thought about all the things she was leaving behind and she thought about Steve and her unborn baby. The life that she had lost. And what was it that made her so special? She could feel herself slipping away and was about to pass out when suddenly Danny released his grip and she felt his weight being pulled away from her.

She gasped and coughed as she saw a Danny-shaped blur pushed into what she assumed was the corner of the room.

“The cavalry’s here!” came a familiar voice. “Well, maybe not the cavalry, but me at least. And that’s enough.”

Caroline tried to say something but all she could manage was a croak.

“Are you alright, Miss Parker?” came the Doctor’s voice.

Caroline looked up. Her vision had started to clear and the bald head of the Doctor began to shift into focus. His eyes were darting all over her face, looking for any injuries.

Caroline coughed. “Doctor…”

“Shhh,” he said. “Don’t try to speak.”

She felt her left eye being opened by his fingers and then he moved onto her right.

“You’ll be fine,” he said. “I don’t think he was trying to kill you.”

He helped her up onto the sofa and she attempted to regain her composure whilst he went and got her a glass of water. She looked over to the corner of the room and Danny was lying prone in the corner, face down on the carpet.

“He’s going to be okay,” said the Doctor coming back in the room with the glass of water. “I thought you might ask.”

Caroline attempted to speak. “I don’t understand what happened,” she croaked.

“He’s been possessed by one the Apparites.”

Caroline frowned and took a sip from the glass. “What? Is that even possible?”

The Doctor sat down next to her on the sofa and interlocked his fingers, looking towards Danny. “Very possible. They spoke to me as well.”

“What do you mean?”

“They got in my mind,” he said, pointing to his temple. “They spoke to me through my thoughts.”

“Is that what happened when I-”

“When you left?” said the Doctor, turning to face her. “Yes. But it’s okay. I understand and forgive you. I wouldn’t have ever put you in danger.”

Caroline still felt guilty. “What did they say?”

“They didn’t make much sense really,” he said, leaning back on the sofa and stretching his legs out in front of him. “They rambled on about wanting freedom and that they know who I am, which doesn’t really narrow it down as most species know who I am anyway.” He sighed. “I have absolutely no idea.”

“Danny kept talking about me being special,” she turned, hoping for the Doctor to give her an answer, but he didn’t say anything. “I mean, what’s that about?”

He stood up and crossed over to Danny. “I don’t know. I’m sure your pregnancy factors into it though.”

She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. She could feel a headache coming on. “Do you do this a lot?”

“What, fight aliens and monsters?”

She nodded.

“All of the time.”

“How do you live? It’s just…crazy! Do you even have a life outside of this job?”

The Doctor smiled, his hands deep in his pockets. “This job is my life.”

“So that thing just let you go?” asked Caroline, realising she was getting more questions than answers.

“Yep, it said it wanted freedom and then got mad and the next thing I knew I was lying in the snow down Victoria St with the snowflakes falling on my face. Not an unpleasant feeling, I might add, but it was very cold.”

“And you came here?”

“It was my only option.”

“But you never bothered to follow up on where we were going before?” asked Caroline, remembering the strange pattern in which the snow was falling.

He knelt down over Danny and put his finger on his neck to check his pulse. He then looked back at Caroline. “Miss Parker, you’re somehow connected to all of this. I wasn’t about to go and discover the answers without you being with me. Not only that but I needed to check that you were okay.”

Caroline managed a slight smile, although she wasn’t sure being dragged into imminent danger was something to smile about. But it made her smile because she felt needed.

Danny groaned on the floor and rolled over onto his back.

“How are you feeling, young man?” asked the Doctor. “Or is there someone else in there. Who am I talking to?”

Danny blinked and then opened his eyes, looking up at the Doctor. “What happened?”

“You don’t remember?” asked Caroline, amazed at how anyone could have forgotten what had just happened.

“Last thing I remember was sitting in the ambulance,” he said, getting up and checking the cut on the side of his face. “Your coffee table!” he said, noticing the smashed glass.

“Never mind the table,” said the Doctor sternly. “What about the Apparites?”

“What?”

“What did that ghost-thing say to you when you went into the water?”

“Nothing.”

The Doctor got up off his haunches and put his hands on his hips. He started pacing up and down. “I’m getting a little bit fed up here, Danny.”

“What do you want me to say?” asked Danny. “I fell into the water and then you pulled me out.”

“But you saw one of those things? You said it reached out and touched your forehead.” He was staring right down at Danny.

“Yeah, but that’s all.”

“Doctor, what are you getting at?” asked Caroline.

He shook his head and crossed over to the mirror, looking at his reflection. “I don’t know,” he sighed. “I remembered my encounter with them. Danny doesn’t.”

“You think they had a similar conversation?” asked Caroline, crossing over to the Doctor and half-whispering.

“I think Danny let one of them inside him.”

“Inside his head?” she whispered again. “You said possessed before.”

“The question is,” said the Doctor, turning back to Danny, “is it still in there?”

Danny looked nervous as the Doctor moved towards him.

“Well? Is it?!” he barked at Danny.

“Doctor, take it easy,” said Caroline putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Bear with me,” said the Doctor, motioning for her to move away.

He crossed over to Danny and crouched down over him, his nose was almost touching his.

“What do you want?” asked Danny, fear in his eyes.

“What do you want with Caroline?” barked the Doctor again.

“I don’t understand.”

“What don’t you understand?” he shouted.

“What you want me to say?”

“Are you telling me that you don’t remember a single thing that’s happened in this living room tonight?”

“No,” said Danny. “I can’t even remember getting here.”

“Liar!” shouted the Doctor.

Danny was breathing heavily. “I swear to you that I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t understand!”

The Doctor grabbed him by the front of his jumper and pulled him towards his face. “STOP SAYING THAT!”

Danny was thrown back down to the floor.

“Doctor!” said Caroline.

But he motioned for her to stay back again. “Trust me, Caroline.”

“You’re a psychopath!” shouted Danny.

“Better than being a traitor to my friends. What did they promise you, eh?” asked the Doctor, pacing up and down in front of Danny.

“I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN!” shouted Danny back at him. “Just leave me alone!”

“No! Come on, show your true colours!” The Doctor’s face was getting redder and redder.

“No!”

“You’re pathetic. You’re a pathetic species!” He pressed his face right up against Danny’s. “You’re cowards! Hiding in the darkness and picking on poor, defenceless humans.”

Danny shouted out. Caroline couldn’t tell if it was a cry of anger, pain or fear.

“You’ve already failed before you’ve even begun!”

“No,” cried Danny.

“Then show yourself!”

“No…”

“SHOW YOURSELF!”

Danny screamed and threw his head back. His body shook all over and his arms were stretched out at his sides. The lights flickered and the air felt cold.

Caroline was about to run over and help him when he stopped convulsing. His face moved back to look at the Doctor and Caroline. His eyes were white and he was smiling.

“That’s better,” said the Doctor, calmness taking over him once more. “Now, tell me a little bit about yourself.”

Danny laughed, but it wasn’t his voice. It was a rasping, guttural laugh. “What do you want to know?”

“Some answers,” said the Doctor, sitting down on the sofa.

Caroline couldn’t bring herself to sit and be so calm so stayed beside the mirror over the mantelpiece.

“We are not what you think we are,” said Danny.

“And what do I think you are?”

“Dimensional beings trying to invade this planet.” His head tilted. “We’re just trying to get home.”

“And your home is Earth, yes?”

“That’s correct.” Danny got up and crossed over to a bowl of fruit beside the armchair. He picked up an apple and examined it closely. “Believe it or not we were not always like this. We were once like you.” He looked at Caroline. “There was…an incident.”
“What kind of incident?” asked the Doctor.
Danny winced. Somewhere deep inside, the real Danny was trying to fight his way to the surface.
“What kind of incident?” asked the Doctor again.
“We were trapped,” said Danny, his face twitching. “I must go.”
“No,” said the Doctor, “I need to know what to do. If you don’t tell me I can’t help you. I’ll have to stop you instead.”
“We made this man forget he had let us in. We told him he would die unless he let us in.” Danny fell to his knees. “He’s fighting me.” He looked at Caroline. “We’ll have you eventually.”
“Please! Tell me!”
Danny screamed and then was once again still.
Caroline rushed over to him. “Has it left him? For good?”
The Doctor nodded, a solemn look on his face.
“So what do we do now?” she asked, an arm around Danny who was now sobbing. “Go Jack Bauer on everyone and find out if there are more possessed people?”
“We can’t help them,” said the Doctor quietly. “They won’t tell us what we need to do. So we’ll have to stop them.”


To be continued...

15 May 2012

The Ghosts Of Winter, Chapter 6

The Doctor was surrounded by hills. Hills of white, soft snow with dead trees dotted all around him. He appeared to be in some kind of valley and above him the sky was a grey-orange colour. And there were no stars to be seen. Strangely he didn’t feel cold.

He tried to open his mouth to call out, but nothing came out.

Then there was a voice. It seemed to come from all around him.

“Poor little Doctor.”

He tried to speak again, but it was no good.

“Think,” said the rasping voice.

The Doctor closed his eyes and instead of speaking he thought the words. “Where am I?”

“Our world.”

“But I was in a street on Earth.”

“Our world. Your mind.”

The Doctor got to his feet. “Ah, I see. This is a projection of your world from your mind into mind. That’s why you were reaching out to my forehead?”

The voice didn’t reply.

“Why are you doing this?”

“We do nothing wrong.”

“You’ve brought this town to a standstill and hurt people along the way.” He looked around himself, hoping to see one of the Apparites, but there was nothing in sight.

“Poor little people.”

“And you seem to lack the capability to communicate in any kind of sense,” said the Doctor sternly.

The voice laughed. “Little man. Too little for this world.”

“What does that mean?”

“You are known to us,” said the voice. “You are damaged.”

The Doctor’s unconsciously moved his hand to his right pocket where his tablets were stored. “How do you know?”

“We know,” came the chuckling voice again.

“What do you want with this world?”

“Freedom.”

The Doctor shook his head. “Not if your freedom means this. I’m always willing to help those in need, but not if it means destroying a world to do it.”

The voice cried out in anger, but the Doctor could hear pain in it as well.

“I want to help.”

“Go back!” shouted the voice. “You will suffer the same fate.”

The Doctor looked up at the sky. “Please, tell me what you want!” he pleaded.

But instead everything went black.




When Caroline had finally stopped running she realised she had almost gotten home. She was standing in her deserted, orange street light-lit street and she was out of breath. The snow had stopped chasing her, but she was too frightened to go back and look for the Doctor. She felt bad for running, but what was she supposed to do? She had no idea how to fight these things.

“You alright, love?” asked Mrs Wooster as she locked up her shop.

“Yeah,” said Caroline, realising that she really wasn’t. “Just trying to get home.”

Mrs Wooster frowned at her. “Have you been running? You ought to be careful. This snows getting worse.”

“I know,” said Caroline, realising that running in her boots through the snow had been a bad idea. “I just wanted to get inside in the warmth.”

“Well you take care, love, won’t you?” said the little grey haired woman. She then edged closer to Caroline, looking over her glasses at her. “There are strange things out in this street.”

And with that she was gone. Caroline knew exactly what she meant, but wasn’t sure if Mrs Wooster knew the real truth behind the strange things that were out here.

She finally reached her front garden and took her keys out. She felt a twinge of guilt as she unlocked the door and stepped inside, the warmth from the house making her skin prickle all over. She felt bad for leaving the Doctor, but she vowed to go back and look for him in the morning. And anyway he knew what he was doing…supposedly.

She was unable to really convince herself of that.

She made her way down the hallway and then suddenly remembered what had happened with Mr Cope. She went over to the door that led to the bottom part of the house and knocked softly.

“Mr Cope, are you there?” she asked.

There was no response.

She knocked again, knowing full well that there wouldn’t be an answer. “Mr Cope?”

She could now feel the tears welling up in her eyes as she leant against the door and slumped to the floor. This was just too much for her. Her life had been turned upside down in just a few hours and right now all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and fall asleep.

After a few minutes she clambered to her feet, eyes still wet, and made her way upstairs. She told herself that she’d get on the phone to the police as soon as she had sat down and gathered her thoughts together. After all, how could you explain that your landlord had been attacked by ghosts?

As she made her way onto her landing she could hear a noise. It was coming from the front room and it sounded like the TV. She grabbed an umbrella from the basket and pushed the door open, ready to give the intruder a good whack.

Sitting there in front of the television, watching the news, was Danny.

“Danny?” said Caroline, confused and surprised.

He turned to look at her and then quickly got up. “Caroline. I’m sorry-”

“What are you doing here?” she said, walking into the room and standing in front of him.

“I let myself in.”

“How?”

He shifted uncomfortably on the spot. “I, erm, I got in through the window.”

Caroline thought for a moment. “Hang on. You got in through the window? Which one?”

“Your bedroom window,” he looked like a scolded schoolboy.

“I can’t remember leaving it open. And anyway, what are you doing breaking and entering.”

Danny held his hands up. “I entered, but I didn’t break. The window was open.”

“You still don’t come into someone’s house uninvited,” she said, walking out of the room, into the hallway and into her bedroom to check. “It’s closed.”

“Well it’s closed now,” said Danny, sitting back down. “There was a bit of a chill.”

Caroline returned to the living room, her face like thunder. “You should be at the hospital getting checked out.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I feel fine.”

“You just fell into an ice-cold river!” she said, sitting down with her arms folded.

“I know, but…I feel better.”

Caroline looked at him. He had a look of contentment on his face, but something wasn’t right about him. He was always an easy going guy, but this seemed too easy going.

“You need to stop worrying all the time, Caz,” he said, turning back to the TV.

The two of them sat there for a moment - Danny watching the TV and Caroline watching Danny. There was something not quite right about him, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

After a moment Danny spoke again. “This could have been us in another life.”

She frowned. “What?”

He looked at her. “Me and you, sat together watching the TV.”

Caroline rolled her eyes. “You’re watching the TV, Danny, not me.”

He smiled. His face looked different, almost sinister. “You know what I mean.”

“I thought we’d agreed years ago that it never would have worked out between us.”

“We were school kids, Caz,” he said, turning back to the TV. “Time’s change. People grow up.”

Caroline didn’t like where this was going. She cared a lot for Danny, but not enough that she ever thought there could be anything more to their relationship. They were good friends who had drifted apart over the last few years. That was it, and that’s how Caroline was determined to keep it. After Steve she was certain she wasn’t ready for a new relationship.

“Why would you want things to change? You could have any girl, I expect,” said Caroline.

He turned to her again and smiled. “I don’t want any girl though, do I?” He turned in his chair and was looking her right in the eyes. “You’re special. You’re pretty, you’re smart…there’s something about you that you can’t find in anybody else.”

Caroline was feeling uncomfortable and turned to face the TV. The local news reports were showing the wintry conditions in the area which had gotten steadily worse.

“Where’s that Doctor guy?” asked Danny, still staring at the TV.

Caroline suddenly felt that twinge of guilt again. “He…he ran into one of those things.”

“And what about you?”

She sighed, trying not to break down in tears again. “I just turned and ran.”

“Well no one can blame you,” said Danny blankly.

This certainly wasn’t the Danny she knew. If it was he’d have been over to her and be trying to tell her that everything was going to be okay. Maybe it was the last few years of them being apart that had done this, but right now this Danny seemed to be cold and emotionless.

She fought back the tears. “What the hell is up with you?”

“Nothing,” said Danny, refusing to look at her. “I’ve just had my eyes opened.”

Caroline thought back to their conversation at the ambulance. “You said that thing touched your forehead.”

“That’s right,” he said, turning and standing up. “It opened my eyes.”

Caroline shifted uncomfortably on the sofa as Danny loomed over her. “It opened your eyes? What did it do?”

He smiled. “It showed me who you really are?”

This wasn’t the first time she’d got a sense that something wasn’t right with herself. “What does that mean?” she said, exasperated.

“You are special. They want you.” He was now standing right over her and Caroline could see his eyes. They were pale and she could feel cold air coming from his body.

“Why am I special?”

“Let me show you,” he said as he reached out for her.

Caroline chose that moment and jumped up from the sofa, and using her full body knocked Danny to the ground. The both of them came crashing down and Caroline fell on top of him. He groaned as she scrambled off him and crawled across the floor.

She was about to grab the umbrella she’d put down earlier, when she suddenly felt an ice-cold hand around her ankle. She turned back to see Danny, on his stomach with his arms outstretched, reaching for her.

“Get off!” she shouted, kicking back at him and hitting him right on his forehead. He yelped in pain and let her go. It gave her just enough time to get to grab the umbrella and get to her feet.

She stood over him, the umbrella in both of her hands like some kind of sword. He lay on the floor on his back, his hand to his head.

“Caroline…” he groaned. “They need you.”

“I don‘t think so,” she said, raising the umbrella slightly, ready to attack if he made a move.

He growled and like lightning was up and on his feet again before Caroline could even think. He lunged himself at her and she pushed him back, hitting him full-force with the umbrella. It didn’t seem to do any good and he was coming back towards her again. This time she jabbed out with the pointed end of the umbrella and it seemed to cause him some pain. He groaned as he held his stomach.

“They need you!”

“And I need you to got the hell out of my flat!” she yelled, whacking him with the umbrella again.

He tried to grab her, but she pushed him, and he fell backwards straight through the glass coffee table.

The coffee table smashed in three pieces and Caroline watched on as Danny struggled on the floor. A trickle of blood came from the side of his face where the glass had cut him and for a split second she felt a pang of concern. That concern was soon replaced with fear when Danny jumped up again, fast as lightning, and grabbed her around the throat.

“If you won’t come with us,” he growled, “then you’ll have to be made to!”

His eyes burned bright white.


To be continued...

13 May 2012

The Ghosts Of Winter, Chapter 5

Danny couldn’t feel his body anymore. All he could feel was ice-cold water all around him. It felt as if he was a block of ice. He was completely numb.

The last thing he could remember was running behind the Doctor and Caroline towards the steps when he felt himself fall through a crack in the floor and into the icy water surrounding the boat. He struggled to grab onto something, but the cold numbed him almost instantly and he found himself sinking towards the riverbed. It wasn’t very deep where the Barge was docked, and he could see the bottom of the boat so tantalisingly close, and yet he was unable to get to it. He lay there, unable to move, breathe or do anything.

That’s when he saw one of the things in the cloaks. It was swimming in the water above him. It didn’t seem to be affected by the cold and floated so close that their noses - or what little of it’s nose was left - were touching.

“Poor Danny,” it said as it’s hand reached out and touched his forehead.




The next thing Danny remembered was being hauled out of the freezing cold water and pulled onto the dockside. He still couldn’t feel anything, but he knew that even though he was lying in freezing cold snow, it was a thousand times better than being in that water.

It took him a while to adjust, but when he eventually focused he could see Caroline standing over him, her hands to her mouth in shock. The Doctor had taken his long black coat off and had wrapped it around him to keep him warm.

“-niel? Daniel are you okay?” he heard the Doctor say.

“It’s….Danny….don’t call me…Daniel…” he shivered and stuttered.

Then he blacked out again.




When he woke up he was in the back of an ambulance on a stretcher, wrapped in blankets. Caroline was sat next to him holding his hand.

“Caroline…” he just about managed.

“Danny,” she said, fighting back the tears. “I thought you were gone.”

“So…so did I,” he just about managed. “There was one of those…things…”

“An Apparite?” she said, looking concerned. “What did it do?”

“Nothing really,” he winced in pain. “It just sort of…touched my forehead.”

“The Doctor saw you floating to the surface and reached in to pull you out.”

“On his own?” asked Danny. “I’m surprised he had the strength.”

“What happened down there?” came the Doctors voice from behind Caroline.

“What do you mean?” asked Danny, confused at the Doctor’s question.

“With the Apparite. Did it say anything to you?”

“I was drowning, Doctor.” Danny thought for a moment. “And I was underwater. What was it supposed to have said?”

The Doctor turned and wandered over to the dockside edge, muttering to himself.

“The Doctor’s just concerned, that’s all,” said Caroline.

“All of a sudden you’re sticking up for this bloke,” said Danny. “You’ve only known him a few hours.”

Caroline thought for a moment. Danny was right, she had only know him a few hours, but at the same time he’d saved her from those things. It meant something to her.

“Danny…” she started, but before she could continue the Doctor was over again.

“Do you feel well enough to walk?” he asked, impatiently.

“What? No,” said Danny. “I’m soaking wet. I can hardly feel my legs.”

“Then we’ve got to go without him, Caroline,” said the Doctor.

“Go where? Shouldn’t we stay with Danny or try and help the police or something?”

“No, no, no,” he said, looking over at the police men and women standing by the dockside and people in suits taking photographs of the broken, half-sunken remains of the Barge. “They wouldn’t understand anyway.”

“Okay, but-”

“Good,” he smiled. “Danny can go to A&E, get himself checked out, and then he can meet up with us later. Off we go then,” he said, and started trudging through the snow towards the main shopping street.

Caroline hesitated on the spot for a moment and then turned to Danny. “Will you be alright?”

Danny smiled and nodded his head. “I’ll be fine. I’ll call you later.”

She smiled and turned to go when he stopped her, grabbing her arm.

“Just be careful, won’t you?”

She looked at him and then nodded. “I will.”

As Danny watched her try and keep up with the Doctor’s pace he suddenly felt a sharp pain flash across his temples. He grimaced in pain, but was snapped out of it when he heard the voice of one of the paramedics.

“Everything okay?”

Danny rubbed his forehead. “Yeah, I’m good thanks.” He watched Caroline and the Doctor disappear around the corner. “Poor Caroline.”

“Who?” asked the paramedic as he closed the doors to the ambulance.

“Nothing,” said Danny, feeling cold, dazed and confused.




A little while later the Doctor and Caroline were heading down a dead-end street between Vision Express and House Of Frazer, which in turn led to a passage behind the latter shop. At the end of the passage, much to Caroline’s confusion, was a large blue with double doors. Above the double doors was a sign which read: “Police Public Call Box“. On the top was a lamp. It looked like it could barely fit into the passage. In fact it looked as if it had been crammed in there.

She’d read about Police Boxes before at school when they’d studied the history of the police force. They used to stand on street corners and were a lifeline for policemen back in the day before radio’s. They’d be able to lock criminals up inside of them until backup could arrive. But Caroline was sure that there weren’t any about anymore. Having said that, though, she’d never felt the need to wander down this particular passage. It wasn’t something she did in her spare time!

The Doctor went over to the snow-covered box and took a key out of his pocket.

He turned the key in the lock and was about to go inside when he stopped himself and turned back to her. “Do you mind waiting out here?”

“Sure,” said Caroline, wondering why he thought she would even attempt to follow him into a small, cramped cupboard anyway.

“I’ll just be a minute,” he said as he went inside and shut the door.

Never-the-less Caroline felt compelled to go and take a closer look at the box. She slowly made her way down the passage, her feet crunching in the snow. There were only the Doctor’s footprints to be seen so she tried to walk in them to make things easier. Her feet were already freezing. As she got nearer to the box she was sure she could hear a sound. It was like some kind of buzzing sound. And there was something else as well. It felt like the air around her was vibrating in unison with the buzzing sound.

She reached out her hand and could feel her fingers tingling with power. She was about to touch the box when the door opened and the Doctor came back out.

“Everything okay?” he asked, looking at her outstretched arm.

She quickly snatched it back. “Yeah, fine,” she smiled.

He looked back at the box and then at her. “She was tempting you in.”

She?” Caroline was confused.

“The TARDIS. She needs some company. Clearly I’m not enough these days.”

“You’ve lost me, Doctor,” said Caroline half-laughing. “What is that box?”

“Oh nothing,” said the Doctor, removing a small, thin device from his pocket. “Storage.”

“So, what’s our next step?” she asked, following him out of the passage.

The Doctor flicked a small switch on the tube-like device and the tip of it glowed bright red. It made a high-pitched sound and he held it up to the sky. He walked around in a circle and then stood still again. After a few seconds he started turning on the spot, still with the device held up. When he was facing a certain direction the sound coming from it increased in pitch. He smiled for a second, popped the device back into his pocket, and then marched off in that direction.

“Wait!” said Caroline, attempting to hurry after him again and failing miserably in the snow.

He turned the corner into the main shopping street and continued to walk.

“I said wait!” shouted Caroline as he started to get quite far ahead of her.

He wasn’t listening, his hands in his pockets and a look of determination on his face.

“Fine!” shouted Caroline, standing still.

The Doctor carried on for a few paces more and then stopped, turning back to face her. “What’s wrong?”

“Are you ignorant or stupid?” she asked, her arms folded.

“I don’t quite understand,” he said, oblivious to what she was referring to.

“Look, I know you saved me and thank you for that and, yes, I want to get to the bottom of this as well, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to blindly follow you everywhere.”

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, was about to say something back to her, and then closed his mouth, stopping himself.

“Well?” asked Caroline, hands now on her hips. For a moment he looked like a scolded schoolboy.

He made his way slowly back to her.

Now she raised her eyebrows. “I’m not some kid, Doctor. All I want is a few explanations before I get dragged into god knows what.”

He closed his eyes and nodded. “I know,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry. I’m just so used to being on my own that I sometimes forget about the people around me.”

“That’s alright,” Caroline replied, “just try and be a little more clearer with me from now on.”

“I will,” he smiled, “but I also need you to understand the urgency of the situation. These things are dangerous.”

“I know,” said Caroline. “I saw what they did to the Barge, remember? But a couple of minutes doesn’t hurt anyone.” She started walking in the direction he had originally gone. “Walk and talk, Doctor. Walk and talk.”

The Doctor smiled and made after her.

“So go on then,” she said, as she stepped over a metal bin that had been forced over by a huge snow drift.

“Go on? Go where?”

“Explain to me what we’re doing because I’ll be damned if I know why I’m following you around.” She half meant it.

“The device I was holding up,” said the Doctor, “is my sonic screwdriver. Capable of a number of things.”

“Putting up shelves?”

“Actually,” said the Doctor, edging around a iced-up puddle by the side of the road, “yes. I successfully installed a number of shelves not long ago. Ikea I believe.”

“So how does it help with these ghost things?”

The Doctor stopped. “Do you notice anything strange about the snow storm?”

Caroline looked around her, snowflakes getting in her eyes. “Not really, no.”

“Really? Look harder.”

She looked up and then around her. At first glance there didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary, but the more she looked, the more she realised something wasn’t quite right. The snow was spiralling down and it was spiralling down towards a specific point. It was as if it was getting drawn towards a certain area of the town.

“What’s over there?” asked the Doctor, realising Caroline had cottoned on to what he meant.

“More shops,” she said. “And the church. St James’s.”

“Then that’s where we’re heading,” he said, once again resuming his almost effortless march through the snow.

It was then that Caroline noticed something even stranger about the snow. She looked down at her feet. It appeared to be moving, very slowly at first but it was now gathering speed.

“Doctor!” she called. “This is strange, right?”

The Doctor stopped and looked at her, then followed her gaze down. The snow was starting to pile up around their feet.

“Definitely not normal,” said the Doctor, flicking out his sonic screwdriver. He crouched down and aimed the device towards the snow. It whirred and buzzed with life, it’s red light illuminating the thick white stuff.

“Doctor!” said Caroline as the snow gathered up around her boots.

His hand moved nearer to the snow and Caroline jumped when she saw a flurry of snow jump up and knock the Doctor back. It was as if it was trying to bat his hand away.

“We’ve got to go!” said the Doctor as he clambered back to his feet.

“No surprises there then,” said Caroline as she stumbled over to the Doctor, the snow moving and snapping at her feet.

“Run!” he said, grabbing her arm and pulling her along with him.

The pair made their way down the deserted shopping street and towards the direction of the church, but the nearer they seemed to get to the church, the deeper the snow became. And the streets were empty as well. There was not a soul in sight.

Caroline looked back and the panic in her grew when she noticed that the snow behind them was actually following them. It looked like a mini-tidal wave and this only made her run faster.

She only turned to face forward again when she went crashing into the back of the Doctor. He’d stopped right in front of her. She rubbed her bruised cheek and was about to tell him off for being so careless when she noticed that standing right in front of the Doctor was the looming shape of one of the Apparites, it’s hand outstretched towards the Doctor’s forehead.

The Doctor was still and unmoving, his eyes fixed on the thing standing before him. Caroline panicked, turned and ran.


To be continued...

12 May 2012

The Ghosts Of Winter, Chapter 4

Brian Cope opened his eyes. He was lying flat on his back in the snow and he wasn’t even sure where he was. Above him were dark, orange-grey clouds and large snowflakes were fluttering down and landing on his face.

He managed to clamber up and his first thought was that he’d slipped on his way back from the pub. He’d popped to the corner shop and, deciding against going back to his lonely flat, had decided to go for a quick pint in the local. The last thing he could remember was leaving after two pints and then everything going black.

He looked around him. He wasn’t where he thought he’d be. This wasn’t the street the pub was in. This was the park and it was dark. He checked his watch - 4:45pm. How had he ended up here?

Suddenly he felt himself fall back again. He yelled in fear as he felt cold hands around his ankles. He tried to kick himself free but their grip only tightened.

“Help!” he shouted out, knowing full well that nobody would be out in the park in this weather and at this time of the day.

He then felt himself being pulled along the ground. At first slowly, but soon he gathered speed, snow piling up around him.

“Help! Please!” he shouted again as his cap fell off his head.

It was pointless as the more he shouted the faster he was pulled.

Finally he came to a stop near some trees. He turned onto his front and tried to crawl away when he felt a hand around the back of his neck and he was hauled to his feet.

“What do you want?” he said, fear in his voice.

A voice came from behind him as he was slammed into the tree. “Poor Mr. Cope.”

“Who are you?” asked Mr. Cope as he felt himself pulled back again.

“Your future,” the voice cackled.

Now Mr. Cope could feel the cold hand around his neck again. It felt like his skin was burning.

“Please…please let me go…” he begged.

The voice just laughed as Mr. Cope felt his entire body start to freeze up. He could feel every joint and every bone in his body seize up as he fell to the floor. He looked down at his arms and legs. They were grey and the skin was leather-like. He opened his mouth to yell out another cry for help but instead felt his face start to seize up as the stone-like greyness crept across his head.

The voice continued to laugh as the grey colour turned to black and holes started to rip in his skin, exposing the muscles and bones inside. His clothes became ripped and shredded and hung around him like a cloak. His eyes fizzled and boiled and were replaced by glowing white spheres that burnt from deep within his skull, and his teeth became rotten and jagged. He could feel his insides twisting and turning. It felt like a great force was rushing through him and he could hear the voices of a thousand people crying out in his head. Just when he felt he was about to explode…there was silence. Everything was calm.

A cloaked figure stepped out in front of him and put it’s gnarled hand on his shoulder.

“How do you feel?”

Mr. Cope, now almost identical to the thing that was standing before him smiled. “Not alone.”




Across the large expanse of the park Danny stood next to a tree and watched on in horror. He turned and ran as fast as he could.




Caroline and her new friend were already halfway into the town centre when she received the phone call from Danny.

“Hello?” she said. “What’s up, Dan?”

Danny was out of breath and it took him some time to compose himself on the phone. “Mr Cope…”

“Danny, what’s up? What’s wrong?” she said, looking around the wintry street as if expecting to see him somewhere.

“It’s..it’s your…landlord,” he panted.

“What about him?” asked Caroline, frowning.

The Doctor, who had gotten a few metres in front realised something was wrong and span on his heel to face Caroline. “What’s wrong?”

“Hang on,” said Caroline, holding a hand up to the Doctor. “Danny, what about Mr Cope?”

“I…I saw him…in the park…they got him.”

“Who got him?” asked Caroline, automatically thinking that her kindly landlord had been mugged on his way home.

“Some…people…”

That didn’t make sense to her. “Take a deep breath,” she said, calmly. She waited a few seconds. “Feel better?”

Danny’s heavy breathing had eased off a bit. “Yeah. Sort of…”

“Right. Now, what was it that got Mr Cope?”

“These people in cloaks.”

Caroline moved the phone away from her ear and closed her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” asked the Doctor, crossing over to her.

“My landlord, Brian Cope. They got him. Your Apparite things,” she said, giving him an accusing stare.

“What? Where?” asked the Doctor, grabbing Caroline’s phone off her before she even knew it.

“The park,” she said, trying to jump for the phone. As the Doctor was considerably taller than her, she didn’t stand much of a chance.

“Hello?” he said into the speaker. “Hello, is that Danny?”

“Well, yes,” came Danny’s confused voice. “Who’s this?”

“A friend of Caroline’s.” He continued to walk around on the spot. “Tell me what you saw.”

“It’s hard to describe,” said Danny, barely understanding it himself.

Caroline finally managed to reach up and snatch the phone back from the Doctor, earning an frustrated glare from him.

“Danny?” she said. “Where are you now?”

“I was on my way round to yours.”

She shook her head. “We’re not there. We’re on our way to the town centre. This guy, the Doctor, he has something that can help us find out what these things are?”

“I don’t understand.”

“What’s he saying?” asked an impatient Doctor. He clicked his fingers and pointed towards the phone. “Tell him to meet us in the Barge in thirty minutes.”




The Doctor and Caroline had made there way through the snowy streets and towards the town centre. What normally would have been a fifteen minute journey had taken nearly thirty minutes. Caroline had slipped and slid on the snow a number of times, but so far had managed to keep her dignity and not fallen on her backside.

The streets were deserted and a number of the houses had been plunged into darkness. Power cuts was all Caroline could think of. She was going to ask the Doctor, but since the phone call he’d become decidedly quieter and had marched on ahead, completely oblivious to her struggling behind him. She’d suddenly got this worry that maybe she shouldn’t have gotten involved in this, but how could she have not? He knew something about these things and they’d specifically targeted her. And what had happened to her landlord? Poor Mr Cope. He was such a nice old man.

They finally reached the bus station and dock area where the Barge was waiting. Unbelievably the lights where on, although the music was much quieter now. They made their way inside the boat and into the relatively warm interior.

Surprisingly the floating pub was quite busy, full of rockers and young kids discussing how “crap the weather is” or about it “lasting for a whole month into the new year”.

The Doctor went to the bar, bought Caroline an orange juice - much to her frustration that it wasn’t a lager - and himself a glass of ice-cold water.

“Thanks,” said Caroline as she took a sip of the orange. “Any vodka for this?”

“You don’t need alcohol,” said the Doctor, his eyes darting around the pub, looking for any sign of Danny.

“I know I don’t need alcohol,” she said, “but I like alcohol.”

He didn’t respond. He was too busy looking up the wooden staircase for anybody coming in.

“I said,” continued Caroline, “I like alcohol.”

“And I like cheesecake,” said the Doctor, turning to face her suddenly. “I can’t have that anymore.”

Caroline frowned. There was no doubt about it; this guy was an odd character, and she couldn’t believe that she was sat here with him right now. Everything that she’d learnt in her thirty years of experience had taught her not to get involved with these kinds of situations, but something in her heart kept telling her to stick with it. No matter how weird the situation got, it was worth it, wasn’t it?

She was lost in her thoughts when Danny came down the stairs. He looked around for a few seconds before finally noticing Caroline and the Doctor.

“Caroline,” he said, out of breath. They embraced and sat down again. He looked at the Doctor. “You must be Caroline’s friend?”

“Yes, I’m the Doctor.” He extended his hand and Danny shook it.

“You look bloody awful,” said Caroline, noticing Danny’s white, panic-stricken face.

He shook his head, looking down at the table. “I just don’t know what I saw…”

“Well you have to describe it,” said the Doctor, eager to press for answers. “The fate of this planet rests on it.”

Danny turned and frowned at him. “Are you alright in the head?”

“It’s a long story,” sighed Caroline, giving Danny a look which told him to just run with it.

“I’m sure you’ll explain it to me eventually,” said Danny.

“So what did you see?” asked the Doctor again, this time a little more impatiently.

“I’m not 100% sure,” he said, thinking back, “I was on the other side of the park. I was just leaving my parents and thought I’d cut through the park when I saw Mr Cope up against the tree and this cloaked thing with it’s hand around his throat.” He closed his eyes, remembering. “Then Mr Cope just…turned into… one of them.”

“Fascinating!” said the Doctor, with wonder in his eyes.

“How is that fascinating?” asked Caroline in disgust.

“Oh, I didn’t mean it like that,” said the Doctor, slightly flustered. “I just meant that I find it fascinating that these things can turn ordinary people into their own kind.”

“But why?” asked Danny. “What are they?”

“Well there’s one thing for sure,” said the Doctor, his chin resting on his hands, “they’re human. Or at least they used to be.”

“I don’t understand,” said Danny, leaning back in his chair.

“They’re creatures from another dimension,” said Caroline, realising how stupid that sounded. Caroline suddenly thought. “But how can they be human? They’re nothing like us.”

“They’re some kind of twisted, evolved version of you,” said the Doctor, staring right through Caroline. “That’s why they can convert humans into their own.”

“But why Mr Cope?” she asked, still trying to grasp the idea.

“I don’t know. They’ve taken people before, like I said. Remember, back in 1987?”

“What’s special about 1987?” asked Danny. “What happened then?” He was feeling lost.

“Bad weather,” said Caroline dismissively.

“There’s nothing special about it. It’s just a point in time when they managed to break through into your world.”

“You talk like you’re not from ‘our world’” said Danny.

“I’m not.”

Caroline was about to respond to that new revelation, but the Doctor interrupted again.

“For some reason they’ve latched onto you, Miss Parker. And I think they went after Mr Cope because of his connection to you.”

“But why me? I’m nothing special.” She was beginning to get frustrated with the situation.

“And then there’s the baby…” trailed off the Doctor.

Before Caroline could respond there was a rumble from outside and suddenly the boat lurched forwards. Glasses and bottles were thrown to the floor and a number of customers fell off their stools whilst others were thrown across the tables.

“What the hell was that?” asked Danny, standing up and trying to look out of one of the portholes.

“They’re here,” said the Doctor quietly.

There was another lurch, and with a huge, thunderous cracking sound the boat ripped right through the middle.

People started to scream and yell as the water gushed up through the cracks in the floor. The ice-cold water poured in as people ran for the steps, clambering up them to get into the open.

Caroline couldn’t feel her legs anymore as she stumbled up out of her chair. When she was certain she was on the steps she looked back. The Doctor was right behind her, but Danny was nowhere to be seen.


To be continued...

9 May 2012

The Ghosts Of Winter, Chapter 3


Caroline was now sat in her living room on the sofa contemplating what had just happened. She looked across to the window. The sun was setting now and she was sure she was awake despite all of this feeling like a nightmare. She snapped her head forward and stared straight ahead at the electric fire glowing brightly.

She wasn’t quite sure what had just happened to her outside, but she was sure that it hadn’t been something normal. That thing wasn’t normal, and what it had done to her wasn’t normal. She put her hand to her throat. Her skin felt cold, but the red rash that it had left was now starting to fade.

After the bald man had introduced himself as the Doctor, he’d helped her back up the fire escape and inside. He’d sat her down and gone to the kitchen to make her and himself a cup of tea. She hadn’t argued. He was a complete stranger, but he’d been the one who had saved her from that…monster. That’s the word she was looking forward - a monster. It’s the only thing it could have been.

She was snapped back to reality when the clinking of mugs came from the kitchen and the Doctor, stepped into her living room.

“Tea,” he said, smiling and handing her the mug.

She took it quickly and had a quick sip. “Thanks,” was all she could manage.

He sat down on the arm chair which faced the TV, took a sip of his steaming hot tea and then turned to look at her. After a while he spoke. “How do you feel?”

Caroline laughed. “How do I feel?” her tone of voice betrayed the laugh. “I feel like I don’t know what the hell is going on!”

“That’s to be expected,” he said calmly. “It happens a lot I’m afraid.”

Caroline closed her eyes. “You mean this has happened before?”

“Yes. Unfortunately. To many people.” He waited but Caroline never said anything else. “The first thing you need to know is that nothing is as it seems.”

Caroline shook her head and frowned. “What’s that meant to mean?”

He took a sip from his tea and held the cup in both of his hands. His face looked old, yet there seemed to be youthful energy behind his eyes. He looked to be in his late 50’s, maybe early 60’s, yet Caroline had the feeling he was a lot older and yet younger at the same time.

“It means that you have to accept what I’m about to tell you as the truth. Right now everything you’ve ever been told about the world is a lie.”

“You’re still being vague,” she said, exasperated.

“What I’m trying to tell you is that aliens exist.”

“Well I guessed that,” she said, raising her eyebrows.

The Doctor looked a little despondent. “Oh, so you believe in them?”

“Well, kind of,” she said. “I mean, there are things happening all the time these days. What about that time all those planets appeared in the sky?” said Caroline. A few years back the Earth has supposedly been moved to another part of the galaxy. It was difficult for Caroline to swallow, but what other plausible explanation could there have been?

“Yes, well-”

She interrupted him. “I know what the government say. They say it’s rogue-group scientific experiments or drugs in the water or something, but they can’t keep a lid on it much longer.”

The Doctor nodded his approval. “It makes a change to meet someone who believes.”

“Well I wouldn’t say I necessarily believe everything,” she said, “but there’s got to be some truth in it.”

“And there is,” he said, his voice lowering slightly.

“So that thing was an alien?” she asked, nodding towards the kitchen door.

He put his mug down and clasped his hands together, interlocking his fingers. “Well, not exactly.”

“Then what?”

“They’re called Apparites.”

“Apparites?”

The Doctor looked pleased with himself. “A name I came up with myself. They’re like apparitions, and they come from another dimension.”

“So…aliens, yeah?” Caroline was confused.

“They’re not from another planet,” said the Doctor quickly. “Not as far as I know anyway. They’re from a dimension that exists separately from our own.”

I should just walk away from this, Caroline thought to herself. This sounds even crazier than aliens.

“I’ve been tracking them down for sometime…” he trailed off and closed his eyes. He put a hand to his chest and winced in pain.

“Are you alright?” asked Caroline.

“I’m fine,” he said, rummaging around in his coat pocket. He pulled out a small, plastic container and tipped two dark blue tablets into his hand. He popped them in his mouth and took a swig of his tea to wash them down.

“Headache tablets?” queried Caroline.

The Doctor turned and smiled. “I wish,” he said as he went in his inside pocket and pulled out a Dictaphone. He checked the time on Caroline’s clock and then the time on an overly-complicated watch on his wrist. He then spoke into the tape recorder.

“Aleena, the time is 3.52pm local and it’s been 25.4 days since the last dosage. That’s a drop off of five since the last lot.” He paused and looked visibly worried. “I’m going to need more.” He switched off the tape recorder, put it back into his pocket and then turned back to Caroline with a smile on his face. “Now, where were we?”

“What was that all about?” she asked, wondering if things could get any more confusing.

“Just a little problem I’ve got,” he said, brushing it away with a wave of his hand.

“Well you were telling me about you following these Apparote things-”

Apparite,” he corrected.

“Yeah, Apparite things.” She took the hint from him not to continue pressing about the tablet situation.

“I first became aware of them when I noticed unusual weather patterns in the area. England has been getting more and more snow recently and I think it’s these things getting stronger and trying to break through.”

“But it’s just bad weather,” said Caroline, unable to make the connection.

“Well, I don’t really know how the snow and Apparites are connected, but what I do know is that there’s a pattern. When the snow gets really bad, people start disappearing or dying.”

“They must be lost in the snow or dying from the cold,” said Caroline, determined to find a less-fantastic reason for what was happening.

“No. People don’t just vanish. The last time it was really, really bad was January 1987. Forty-five people died or disappeared that year.”

Caroline got up and crossed over to the window. The snow looked worse than she’d ever seen it. Now not even Mr Ross was outside. Everything was silent and the only signs of life were the patches of golden light shining from the houses down the street.

“We would have known about it, surely?”

The Doctor looked down at his empty mug of tea. “Without wanting to insult you, Caroline, Human beings have an enormous capability for self-deception. Not only that, but the authorities would have covered it up. That’s what they always do with regards to these things.”

She turned back to him. “I still don’t get what I’ve got to do with any of this. Why are they in the back garden?”

“I really don’t know what they want with you. That’s why we need to find out.”

Caroline was suspicious. “And how do we do that?”

“First of all we need to find out where they’re coming from. Where they’re breaking through.”

“You can’t just walk us into the lions den,” she said, laughing, “not without something to protect us. And anyway,” she continued, “I might not want to go with you.”

“Oh, but I think you do,” he said, standing up and crossing over to her. “You hate your life.”

Caroline span around and looked him right in his pale, grey eyes. “I do not hate my life. How dare you!”

“Forgive me, Miss Parker,” he said, smiling again, “but you are stuck in this flat with nothing but your job, which you don’t even want. Your friends don’t care, and the one friend you could always rely on, Danny - that’s his name, isn’t it? - has moved away.”

Caroline was taken aback and edged away from him. “You’ve been spying on me?”

“No,” he said, “I’ve been keeping an eye on you. I’ve seen them watching you and they were there, lurking in the shadows the other day when you met with your friend. I overheard your conversation.”

“In the Barge?!” laughed Caroline. “You’ve got good hearing. And anyway I never saw you.”

“Funny what alcohol does to people, isn’t it?” He arched his eyebrows. “Makes you oblivious to what’s going on around you.”

She shook her head, frustrated and went back to the sofa. “Okay, so you’ve been spying - sorry, keeping an eye on me - for my own benefit. Thank you,” she said sarcastically, “but it still doesn’t mean I’m gonna follow you because I ‘hate my life’”. She quoted with her fingers.

He then walked to the window and looked outside. “Believe me, I wish I didn’t have to even get involved with your life. I just want people to be able to live up to the best of their abilities. I don’t really want to get involved, but I will if I have to.”

“I don’t even know who you are,” she said, quietly. She knew she was fighting a losing battle here. He was right, she did hate her life and she wanted nothing more than something exciting to come along, but she remained to be convinced that going off and fighting some dimension-hopping ghost was “exciting”. She didn’t want to die.

“All you need to know is that I’m a very, very old man who has been fighting things like this for such a long, long time. And it’s not safe. None of what I do is safe.” He crossed back over to her. “And anyway, who says it’s a permanent thing? All I want to do is make sure you and everyone else on this planet is safe. Then we’ll see what happens after that.”

Caroline sighed and leaned back on the sofa. “Okay then. You win. Save me. That’s all I want. Then I’ll change my life around. I do want to do more.”

The Doctor sat down next to her and grinned the widest grin she’d ever seen. “Then you’ll do more. There’s such a wonderful world out there. Don’t spend the next 30 years of your life locked in an upstairs flat in Thornsby.”

Caroline drained the last of her tea, and smiled. “I remain to be convinced in all of this yet,” she said, “but we might as well try and work it out.”

“Excellent,” said the Doctor, hopping up and heading towards the door.

“And after this is all over you can leave me alone.”


To be continued...