There came no reply.
“Alice! Is that you?” he called again.
Again, nothing.
Grumbling to himself he put his sonic screwdriver back in his pocket and gripped his cane tightly, slowly making his way around the side of the barn and to the small stone wall with the field beyond.
The Doctor could see something crouched down in the tall grass beyond the wall.
“Alice,” he said, “is that you?”
Whoever it was froze.
And then stood up.
It was Alice, her back to the Doctor. The Doctor’s eyes slowly looked down to her arms held oddly at either side. They were dripping with blood.
Slowly Alice turned around until she was looking directly at the Doctor, her eyes ablaze with hatred, and blood dripping from her mouth.
“What on Earth-?”
His eyes then caught a glimpse of what she had been crouched over. It was the body of a man, covered in blood.
The blood Alice now had on her hands, arms and around her mouth.
Two hours ago
The village was still and silent. Even the wind hadn’t bothered to try and cause a disturbance today. The sky was grey, but cloudless, and it was freezing cold. It wasn’t just the sky that looked grey - the whole village looked grey. Grey buildings, grey fields, grey roads…and no sign of any people.
The stillness was broken by the sound of a large blue box materialising beside a bus shelter.
The door opened and a tall man in with a bald head, wearing a black suit with a blue shirt stepped out. He was holding a cane and seemed almost frustrated that he had to use it. His dark eyes surveyed the setting and he nodded secretively to himself.
A second person stepped from the box. She was small, pretty and had her mousy-coloured hair tied into a ponytail. She was wearing a big, grey coat and jeans and wrinkled her nose up at the site before her.
“God, I hate villages,” she said.
“You live in a village, Alice,” said the man.
“There’s a difference, Doctor,” said Alice. “My village at least looks pretty. This place looks like, well, Royston Vasey!"
"Where?” said the Doctor as he made his way down the road that led into the village centre.
“Never mind,” said Alice, pulling the door shut behind her, “but if you spot a Local Shop on top of a hill, please don’t drag me inside.”
She hurried after him until they reached the centre of the village. Old, grey-brick buildings, the like that Alice had seen on ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ back when she was a kid, told her that they were somewhere in the north.
“What’s this place called then?” she said, peering over a garden wall to see if she could see anybody.
“Owensby,” said the Doctor, stopping, turning on the spot, and then carrying on his walk.
“And the army won’t come in anymore?”
“UNIT won’t, no,” said the Doctor.
Before they had arrived, the Doctor had received an urgent message from Brigadier Winters at UNIT HQ, informing him of a situation in Owensby. He had explained that about two months ago villagers had begun to disappear in the dead of night. The police had been called in, but the people had simply vanished.
Eventually, when the amount of people that had disappeared had become too unnatural to ignore, UNIT came in. By then nearly half of the village had disappeared. And soon the UNIT soldiers began to disappear.
In a matter of days the village had become completely deserted and lifeless. Winters had sent another squad in, and they too had disappeared. So Winters had no choice but to call in the Doctor.
And Alice was rather concerned that they had gone here alone.
“So,” said Alice, as they passed the village pub and reached the old market area in the centre, “what happens when we go missing?”
“We at least find out what happened.”
“Look, Doctor,” she said, sighing, “I know you’ve not got long left, but I’d prefer to live my life as long as possible.”
“Don’t worry,” said the Doctor, smiling and putting and affectionate arm around her, “I’ll make sure you’re home before I pop me clogs.”
“Don’t say it like that,” she said, suddenly feeling guilty for even bringing the subject up.
A sound from back towards the pub made them turn around.
“What do you think it is?” asked the Doctor.
“How should I know? Let’s go and look,” said Alice.
They made their way to the pub - the Hope and Glory - and were about to go inside, when the noise came again. It was coming from the rear of the pub.
They made their way around to the beer garden when they suddenly heard a noise of something being dropped and footsteps thudding away on the wet grass.
Alice tried to hurry around the other side of the pub to see what had run, but whoever it was had been too quick for her.
“Look at this,” said the Doctor, kneeling down to examine what had been dropped.
“It’s a video camera,” said Alice, picking it up. “It’s still switched on.”
The Doctor fumbled with the controls, Alice told him to “give it here”, and then switched it on. The face of a man with red, slight greying curly hair, black rimmed glasses, a thin face and a big, green jumper came on the screen. He looked to be in his late 50’s.
“It’s a video message,” said the Doctor, curiously.
“Do people still do these?” said Alice.
“Obviously,” said the Doctor. “Shush, shush,” he said, as the man began to speak.
“My name is Barry Mickleson. And if anyone finds this, please understand that we had no idea. No idea at all.” He looked away from the camera nervously and then back again. “It was already too late when I told them. They wouldn’t believe me. The reflections just moved…” He began to panic, tears starting to run down his face. “And then they came.”
Suddenly, the man’s head snapped to the side, and then he dropped the camera. Alice and the Doctor watched as he disappeared around the side of the pub and then Alice came into view on the screen.
“Up to date there, then,” said Alice, switching it off. “What did he mean by the reflections moving?”
“Who knows?” said the Doctor.
“Well, we’ll have to find out,” said Alice, popping on her bobble hat. It had started to drizzle with rain.
“Naturally,” he said distantly as he moved off towards the back door of the pub.
She followed as he tried to unlock door and pushed his way inside. They made their way past the toilets, the entrance to the kitchen and then into the dark, old-fashioned wood interior with it’s wood-panelled walls adorned with various pictures of Owensby over the years and a number of other, curious artefacts such as an old fashioned oil lamp, some kind of shield and a sword and the stuffed head of a cow.
“Fancy a pint?” said Alice, nipping behind the bar and grabbing a glass.
“It’s a little too early in the day for alcohol,” said the Doctor.
She frowned. “I meant a pint of water. I’m not touching a drop of alcohol in this place.” She poured herself a glass of water and then went to sit on a bar stool. “Should we go looking for Barry?”
“Soon,” said the Doctor, surveying the room. “Let’s let him calm down first. The poor man’s scared out of his mind.”
“But at least he’s still alive.”
“Yes,” said the Doctor, pulling up a bar stool and sitting next to Alice. “Curious that.”
“Do you think he’s got something to do with it?”
Before the Doctor could answer, his eyes fixed on a large, cracked mirror hanging over the fireplace on the far wall.
“Barry said something about reflections…” said Alice, nervously.
The Doctor slowly walked up to the mirror. He looked at himself, his eyes tired and looking quite, quite old. But something wasn’t quite right. There was something…off about his reflection. He knew he was dying, but his reflection already looked dead.
“What’s wrong?” said Alice, not daring to look into the broken mirror herself.
“Mirrors are interesting things,” he said. “Jimi Hendrix once claimed to have seen a ghost walk past him whilst he was shaving.”
“My Dad said he saw a hooded man behind him in the mirror once,” said Alice, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.
“I think we should get out of here.”
“Fine by me!” said Alice, leaping up off the stool.
“Not the village,” said the Doctor. “The pub.”
“Oh.” Alice sounded disappointed. She was all for adventure, but this village was creeping her out and all she could think about was getting back to the warmth of the TARDIS.
Not that the TARDIS was helping much. She continued to have her nightmares about a voice calling her. The other day she’d actually woken up, floating on her back in the swimming pool. How she had managed that, she didn’t know. She hadn’t mentioned anything to the Doctor, though. He had enough on his plate without her worrying him.
They made their way out of the pub and went back towards the market. And then they heard another sound. This time it seemed to be coming from the blue portaloo that had been set up next to some abandoned building works.
“Doctor,” whispered Alice. “He’s in there.”
“And so he is!” said the Doctor, rapping on the portaloo with his cane. “Come out, Barry. I know you’re in there.”
“Leave me alone,” said Barry’s muffled, fearful voice.
“We’re not going to hurt you,” said the Doctor. “Open up, or I’ll come in and drag you out.”
Slowly the door of the portaloo opened and Barry stood there, shaking, his face wet with tears.
“Why don’t you sit down and tell us what happened,” said the Doctor.
“Who are you?”
“Friends,” smiled Alice, putting her hand on his.
“It was the reflections,” said Barry nervously, looking around himself.
“What about them?” said the Doctor. “What did the reflections do?”
“Not out here,” said Barry. “Come with me.”
The Doctor and Alice followed Barry across the village square and up a narrow street, the stone houses looming over them like huge tombstones. They went down a few more streets until eventually they reached a house with a red door, it’s windows boarded up.
“This is my house,” said Barry as he fumbled for his keys in his jacket pocket. “They haven’t got in here yet.”
“You still haven’t explained what’s going on,” said the Doctor, exasperated.
“You’ll understand when we get inside.”
Barry unlocked the door and let them in. It was dark and gloomy inside with the curtains closed and the windows boarded up.
Barry went to the fridge and brought them some battles of still water.
Alice took a gulp and then put her bottle down on the mantle piece…and then noticed the smash glass all over the living room carpet.
“You broke your mirror?” said Alice.
Barry nodded. “I broke all of the mirrors. All of them in this house and as many as I could find in the other buildings.”
“Because of the reflections?” said the Doctor, helping himself to the incredibly comfy armchair.
Barry nodded. “It started about a month ago. There was a big boom from somewhere to the west, beyond the camel hills.”
“Camel hills?” said Alice, perching herself on the arm of the Doctor’s chair.
“They look like two humps,” said Barry, as if he’d had to explain the name so many times before in the past. “Nobody thought anything of it. There was nothing on the local news, and nothing that happens in Owensby really gets reported anyway.”
“Interesting,” said the Doctor, rubbing his chin and making a note to visit the camel hills later.
“And then that’s when people started to disappear. Little Mrs Poppywell in the sweet shop. David Larkin the headmaster at the school. The Sinner twins…one by one people started disappearing.”
“But what about the reflections?” said Alice, looking nervously at the broken pieces.
“I spotted something not quite right in the mirror at the Town Hall, just after they’d gotten everybody together for a meeting.”
“Go on,” said the Doctor, urging him to continue.
“I was sure I saw one of the Sinner twins in the mirror against the wall. After they had disappeared.”
Alice felt those hairs stand up again.
“When I got home, I looked in my mirror. Something didn’t feel right about my reflection.” He sat down on the sofa, looking around him nervously. “I saw my reflection smile back at me.”
Alice gulped and edged a little closer to the Doctor. She was almost sitting on his lap now.
“I tried to tell the rest of them, but they laughed. They didn’t believe me. And then that’s when more people began going missing. When the army came in, people started to take me more seriously. But then they began to disappear.”
“So you started smashing the mirrors?”
“Yes.”
The Doctor rubbed the back of his head. “Are there any mirrors still left intact?”
“The one in the pub. I was about o break that one when you scared me off.”
“Any others?”
“The one in the Town Hall. The doors are all locked. There might be others in there, but I can’t get in.”
“Hmmm,” said the Doctor. He got up from the chair and wobbled slightly, steadying himself on his stick. “Alice, go with Barry to the pub and smash that mirror. Any other mirrors in there - smash them.”
“It’s not safe!” said Barry, appalled at the idea.
“You’ve been around every other building, yes?” said the Doctor.
Barry nodded.
“Then you can do this. Alice will keep you safe. It’s just a mirror. Smash it and then come back here.”
“What about you?” said Alice, looking up at him.
“I’m going to break into the Town Hall and deal with the ones there.” He made his way towards the front door. “Remember, smash them, don’t look into them. And then come straight back here. I’ll meet you in a bit.”
Alice and Barry had made their way back to the pub and were standing in front of the mirror, Alice trying her very best to not look at her reflection. Barry had disappeared upstairs to see if there were anymore. She smiled as she heard the sound of a cry and then smashing glass.
And then she turned back to the cracked mirror in front of her.
And she looked.
She immediately tried to look away, but she couldn’t. Her eyes were transfixed to her own reflection. But it didn’t look like her face. It looked…evil.
Her reflection smiled.
Alice, strangely, began to recite her seven times table. She couldn’t stop herself.
And then all went quiet.
She could hear Barry coming back down the stairs.
She raised the cricket bat Barry had given her back at his house, swung her arm back, ready to smash the mirror, took the swing, and-
Her reflection’s arm shot out of the mirror and grabbed her arm. She was startled and didn’t know what to do. Then, slowly, it pulled her towards the glass. The surface of the mirror rippled as Alice struggled, dragged towards it. She was hauled up, over the mantle piece and pulled head first through the rippling glass.
Then, after a few moments, the glass rippled again as Alice crawled back out, dropping to the floor.
Barry came into the room and frowned at her crouched on all fours on the floor. “You okay?” he said.
Alice’s eyes flicked up and narrowed. And then the corners of her mouth twisted into a smile.
“I’m fine, Barry. Absolutely fine.”
She grabbed the cricket back, took a quick look at the mirror, saw the other Alice - the real Alice - begging her not to do it, and then smashed the mirror to a hundred pieces.
She then turned to Barry and smiled. “Let’s go and find the Doctor.”
“Never mind,” said Alice, pulling the door shut behind her, “but if you spot a Local Shop on top of a hill, please don’t drag me inside.”
She hurried after him until they reached the centre of the village. Old, grey-brick buildings, the like that Alice had seen on ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ back when she was a kid, told her that they were somewhere in the north.
“What’s this place called then?” she said, peering over a garden wall to see if she could see anybody.
“Owensby,” said the Doctor, stopping, turning on the spot, and then carrying on his walk.
“And the army won’t come in anymore?”
“UNIT won’t, no,” said the Doctor.
Before they had arrived, the Doctor had received an urgent message from Brigadier Winters at UNIT HQ, informing him of a situation in Owensby. He had explained that about two months ago villagers had begun to disappear in the dead of night. The police had been called in, but the people had simply vanished.
Eventually, when the amount of people that had disappeared had become too unnatural to ignore, UNIT came in. By then nearly half of the village had disappeared. And soon the UNIT soldiers began to disappear.
In a matter of days the village had become completely deserted and lifeless. Winters had sent another squad in, and they too had disappeared. So Winters had no choice but to call in the Doctor.
And Alice was rather concerned that they had gone here alone.
“So,” said Alice, as they passed the village pub and reached the old market area in the centre, “what happens when we go missing?”
“We at least find out what happened.”
“Look, Doctor,” she said, sighing, “I know you’ve not got long left, but I’d prefer to live my life as long as possible.”
“Don’t worry,” said the Doctor, smiling and putting and affectionate arm around her, “I’ll make sure you’re home before I pop me clogs.”
“Don’t say it like that,” she said, suddenly feeling guilty for even bringing the subject up.
A sound from back towards the pub made them turn around.
“What do you think it is?” asked the Doctor.
“How should I know? Let’s go and look,” said Alice.
They made their way to the pub - the Hope and Glory - and were about to go inside, when the noise came again. It was coming from the rear of the pub.
They made their way around to the beer garden when they suddenly heard a noise of something being dropped and footsteps thudding away on the wet grass.
Alice tried to hurry around the other side of the pub to see what had run, but whoever it was had been too quick for her.
“Look at this,” said the Doctor, kneeling down to examine what had been dropped.
“It’s a video camera,” said Alice, picking it up. “It’s still switched on.”
The Doctor fumbled with the controls, Alice told him to “give it here”, and then switched it on. The face of a man with red, slight greying curly hair, black rimmed glasses, a thin face and a big, green jumper came on the screen. He looked to be in his late 50’s.
“It’s a video message,” said the Doctor, curiously.
“Do people still do these?” said Alice.
“Obviously,” said the Doctor. “Shush, shush,” he said, as the man began to speak.
“My name is Barry Mickleson. And if anyone finds this, please understand that we had no idea. No idea at all.” He looked away from the camera nervously and then back again. “It was already too late when I told them. They wouldn’t believe me. The reflections just moved…” He began to panic, tears starting to run down his face. “And then they came.”
Suddenly, the man’s head snapped to the side, and then he dropped the camera. Alice and the Doctor watched as he disappeared around the side of the pub and then Alice came into view on the screen.
“Up to date there, then,” said Alice, switching it off. “What did he mean by the reflections moving?”
“Who knows?” said the Doctor.
“Well, we’ll have to find out,” said Alice, popping on her bobble hat. It had started to drizzle with rain.
“Naturally,” he said distantly as he moved off towards the back door of the pub.
She followed as he tried to unlock door and pushed his way inside. They made their way past the toilets, the entrance to the kitchen and then into the dark, old-fashioned wood interior with it’s wood-panelled walls adorned with various pictures of Owensby over the years and a number of other, curious artefacts such as an old fashioned oil lamp, some kind of shield and a sword and the stuffed head of a cow.
“Fancy a pint?” said Alice, nipping behind the bar and grabbing a glass.
“It’s a little too early in the day for alcohol,” said the Doctor.
She frowned. “I meant a pint of water. I’m not touching a drop of alcohol in this place.” She poured herself a glass of water and then went to sit on a bar stool. “Should we go looking for Barry?”
“Soon,” said the Doctor, surveying the room. “Let’s let him calm down first. The poor man’s scared out of his mind.”
“But at least he’s still alive.”
“Yes,” said the Doctor, pulling up a bar stool and sitting next to Alice. “Curious that.”
“Do you think he’s got something to do with it?”
Before the Doctor could answer, his eyes fixed on a large, cracked mirror hanging over the fireplace on the far wall.
“Barry said something about reflections…” said Alice, nervously.
The Doctor slowly walked up to the mirror. He looked at himself, his eyes tired and looking quite, quite old. But something wasn’t quite right. There was something…off about his reflection. He knew he was dying, but his reflection already looked dead.
“What’s wrong?” said Alice, not daring to look into the broken mirror herself.
“Mirrors are interesting things,” he said. “Jimi Hendrix once claimed to have seen a ghost walk past him whilst he was shaving.”
“My Dad said he saw a hooded man behind him in the mirror once,” said Alice, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.
“I think we should get out of here.”
“Fine by me!” said Alice, leaping up off the stool.
“Not the village,” said the Doctor. “The pub.”
“Oh.” Alice sounded disappointed. She was all for adventure, but this village was creeping her out and all she could think about was getting back to the warmth of the TARDIS.
Not that the TARDIS was helping much. She continued to have her nightmares about a voice calling her. The other day she’d actually woken up, floating on her back in the swimming pool. How she had managed that, she didn’t know. She hadn’t mentioned anything to the Doctor, though. He had enough on his plate without her worrying him.
They made their way out of the pub and went back towards the market. And then they heard another sound. This time it seemed to be coming from the blue portaloo that had been set up next to some abandoned building works.
“Doctor,” whispered Alice. “He’s in there.”
“And so he is!” said the Doctor, rapping on the portaloo with his cane. “Come out, Barry. I know you’re in there.”
“Leave me alone,” said Barry’s muffled, fearful voice.
“We’re not going to hurt you,” said the Doctor. “Open up, or I’ll come in and drag you out.”
Slowly the door of the portaloo opened and Barry stood there, shaking, his face wet with tears.
“Why don’t you sit down and tell us what happened,” said the Doctor.
“Who are you?”
“Friends,” smiled Alice, putting her hand on his.
“It was the reflections,” said Barry nervously, looking around himself.
“What about them?” said the Doctor. “What did the reflections do?”
“Not out here,” said Barry. “Come with me.”
The Doctor and Alice followed Barry across the village square and up a narrow street, the stone houses looming over them like huge tombstones. They went down a few more streets until eventually they reached a house with a red door, it’s windows boarded up.
“This is my house,” said Barry as he fumbled for his keys in his jacket pocket. “They haven’t got in here yet.”
“You still haven’t explained what’s going on,” said the Doctor, exasperated.
“You’ll understand when we get inside.”
Barry unlocked the door and let them in. It was dark and gloomy inside with the curtains closed and the windows boarded up.
Barry went to the fridge and brought them some battles of still water.
Alice took a gulp and then put her bottle down on the mantle piece…and then noticed the smash glass all over the living room carpet.
“You broke your mirror?” said Alice.
Barry nodded. “I broke all of the mirrors. All of them in this house and as many as I could find in the other buildings.”
“Because of the reflections?” said the Doctor, helping himself to the incredibly comfy armchair.
Barry nodded. “It started about a month ago. There was a big boom from somewhere to the west, beyond the camel hills.”
“Camel hills?” said Alice, perching herself on the arm of the Doctor’s chair.
“They look like two humps,” said Barry, as if he’d had to explain the name so many times before in the past. “Nobody thought anything of it. There was nothing on the local news, and nothing that happens in Owensby really gets reported anyway.”
“Interesting,” said the Doctor, rubbing his chin and making a note to visit the camel hills later.
“And then that’s when people started to disappear. Little Mrs Poppywell in the sweet shop. David Larkin the headmaster at the school. The Sinner twins…one by one people started disappearing.”
“But what about the reflections?” said Alice, looking nervously at the broken pieces.
“I spotted something not quite right in the mirror at the Town Hall, just after they’d gotten everybody together for a meeting.”
“Go on,” said the Doctor, urging him to continue.
“I was sure I saw one of the Sinner twins in the mirror against the wall. After they had disappeared.”
Alice felt those hairs stand up again.
“When I got home, I looked in my mirror. Something didn’t feel right about my reflection.” He sat down on the sofa, looking around him nervously. “I saw my reflection smile back at me.”
Alice gulped and edged a little closer to the Doctor. She was almost sitting on his lap now.
“I tried to tell the rest of them, but they laughed. They didn’t believe me. And then that’s when more people began going missing. When the army came in, people started to take me more seriously. But then they began to disappear.”
“So you started smashing the mirrors?”
“Yes.”
The Doctor rubbed the back of his head. “Are there any mirrors still left intact?”
“The one in the pub. I was about o break that one when you scared me off.”
“Any others?”
“The one in the Town Hall. The doors are all locked. There might be others in there, but I can’t get in.”
“Hmmm,” said the Doctor. He got up from the chair and wobbled slightly, steadying himself on his stick. “Alice, go with Barry to the pub and smash that mirror. Any other mirrors in there - smash them.”
“It’s not safe!” said Barry, appalled at the idea.
“You’ve been around every other building, yes?” said the Doctor.
Barry nodded.
“Then you can do this. Alice will keep you safe. It’s just a mirror. Smash it and then come back here.”
“What about you?” said Alice, looking up at him.
“I’m going to break into the Town Hall and deal with the ones there.” He made his way towards the front door. “Remember, smash them, don’t look into them. And then come straight back here. I’ll meet you in a bit.”
Alice and Barry had made their way back to the pub and were standing in front of the mirror, Alice trying her very best to not look at her reflection. Barry had disappeared upstairs to see if there were anymore. She smiled as she heard the sound of a cry and then smashing glass.
And then she turned back to the cracked mirror in front of her.
And she looked.
She immediately tried to look away, but she couldn’t. Her eyes were transfixed to her own reflection. But it didn’t look like her face. It looked…evil.
Her reflection smiled.
Alice, strangely, began to recite her seven times table. She couldn’t stop herself.
And then all went quiet.
She could hear Barry coming back down the stairs.
She raised the cricket bat Barry had given her back at his house, swung her arm back, ready to smash the mirror, took the swing, and-
Her reflection’s arm shot out of the mirror and grabbed her arm. She was startled and didn’t know what to do. Then, slowly, it pulled her towards the glass. The surface of the mirror rippled as Alice struggled, dragged towards it. She was hauled up, over the mantle piece and pulled head first through the rippling glass.
Then, after a few moments, the glass rippled again as Alice crawled back out, dropping to the floor.
Barry came into the room and frowned at her crouched on all fours on the floor. “You okay?” he said.
Alice’s eyes flicked up and narrowed. And then the corners of her mouth twisted into a smile.
“I’m fine, Barry. Absolutely fine.”
She grabbed the cricket back, took a quick look at the mirror, saw the other Alice - the real Alice - begging her not to do it, and then smashed the mirror to a hundred pieces.
She then turned to Barry and smiled. “Let’s go and find the Doctor.”
Next time: The Doctor has a close encounter with his reflection. Coming Saturday 8th March 2014.
Haha, Royston Vasey!
ReplyDeleteWhen we see certain people here in Bocklemünd we feel like actually living in R.V.!:D
Thrilling opening!! Thumbs UP!!