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...
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