Call of the Spirits: Chapter 2 (Brothers)

Caroline and the Doctor sat quietly in the back of the car whilst Danny rode in the front with Margot. After the initial shock and disbelief that his brother had actually returned, he had gone quiet. He sat in the front passenger seat, biting his fingernails and staring out of the window.

The car pulled up to the park and they got out, making their way down the winding path that led past the bushes and towards the old, wooden bandstand which stood on the other side of the park.

Danny was shaking a little as they approached the bandstand and he walked a little way ahead. As he approached, Adrian had his back to Danny.

Jayne held out an arm to stop him. “Danny, just be careful okay?”

“He’s my brother,” said Danny, trying to get past Jayne.

“We don’t yet know what he’s doing back. It might be a trap.”

“He’s my brother,” said Danny again.

Danny pushed past and made his way up the steps to the centre of the bandstand. Adrian slowly turned to face him and Danny gasped. He hadn’t changed at all. Hadn’t aged a single day. He still wore the same clothes he had left in for college that day, and even his bag was the same - still full of holes, threatening to widen and let his college books fall to the floor.

Danny opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

“Hi, Dan,” smiled Adrian.

“You…you haven’t changed,” said Danny, trying to compose himself.

“You have. You look old,” said Adrian, smiling.

Danny laughed, the tears starting to fall from his eyes. “I thought you were dead.”

“I didn’t even realise.”

The two of them stared at each other, and then they both embraced in the centre of the bandstand.

A little way off Caroline watched on, smiling at the reunion. She had always known about Danny’s heartbreak at losing his brother, but he had always clammed up about it. He didn’t really tend to talk about it. She was happy for him.

“It’s been so long,” said Danny.

“It’s difficult to understand,” said Adrian.

“What do you mean?”

“Time. Time moved so slowly there. At different speeds sometimes. It’s difficult to work out what’s going on.”

“You were there, weren’t you? With the Apparites?”

“The who?” asked Adrian as they released each other.

“A name my friend came up with,” said Danny, pointing towards the Doctor.

“You need to be careful of your friend,” said Adrian.

“What do you mean?”

Adrian tilted his head to the side. “Is it still inside you?”

Danny had forgotten. He had been taken the pills he’d received on Xanji-For, and they had dulled his senses to the creature inside him. He had forgotten it was even in there.

“Yeah,” said Danny, “but I can’t hear it at the moment.”

Adrian took his hand. “I can help get it out of you.”

“What? How?”

“You need to come with me.”

“Come where?”

“Back to our side.”

Danny frowned. “Our side? Adrian, you’re not one of them, you’re one of us. A Human being.”

Adrian shook his head. “You’ve only heard one side of the story, Dan. You need to come with me. Now.”

“I can’t,” said Danny.

“I’m sorry,” said Adrian, grabbing Danny’s arm tighter, “but you have no choice in the matter.”

There was a gush of wind. Then, with a flash, he and Danny were gone.




As soon as Danny and Adrian had disappeared, the Doctor, Jayne, Caroline, Margot and Ben had piled back into the car and they had driven as fast as legally possible through the streets of Thornsby, arriving just ten minutes later at St. James’s Church.

The Doctor hurriedly got out of the car and made his way through the old building and down the stone steps towards the crypt.

“Hold on a minute!” yelled Jayne, trying to keep up with him.

The Doctor turned to look at Jayne and then stumbled. He leant against the wall and clutched at his chest.

“Are you alright?”

“Doctor,” said Caroline, pushing past Jayne and getting to the Doctor’s side. “Are you alright?”

“Just gone a little weak,” said the Doctor, giving a little smile.

“You should have brought your walking stick,” said Caroline, helping him to straighten up.

“I’m not finished yet,” he said, grinning and continuing on his way down the stairs.

“Wait!” said Jayne. “You can’t just go barging into our base of operations.”

“Do you want my help or not?” said the Doctor, sternly.

Jayne was quiet for a few moments and then reluctantly said, “Yes.”

“Good,” said the Doctor, standing in front of the door to their HQ. “Now if I remember, last time I was here, I heard the voices on the other side, but there was nothing there.”

“The time barrier,” said Jayne. “It’s a second-”

“Yes, a second out of time,” said the Doctor, irritably. “Re-tune it now.”

Jayne glared at him and then spoke into a walkie-talkie. “Switch off the barrier, we’re back with the Doctor.”

There was a hum from the other side of the door and Jayne pushed her way inside.

The team were busy looking at all the data they had gathered from Adrian’s appearance in the park, but they looked tired and fed up.

“People,” said Jayne, ushering the Doctor and Caroline inside, “this is the Doctor.”

The rest of the team nodded their greetings to him.

“I want you all to work with him. We need to get this sorted out.”

One of the older members of the team, Michael, approached Jayne with a piece of paper. “We may have a problem, Miss Robson.”

Jayne looked at the paper and then showed it to the Doctor.

“Hmmm,” said the Doctor, “I need to see that TARDIS right now.”

“What is it, Doctor?” asked Caroline, trying to get a look at the piece of paper.

“Come with me,” he said.

They left the crypt and went back into the picturesque area outside of the church. The sky was getting darker and Caroline noticed that it had gotten colder. She could see her breath in the air.

“Look,” said the Doctor, pointing towards the fountains in the Old Market Place.

Caroline squinted. The air was shimmering and a small slither of light was appearing above the fountains.

She followed the direction of his finger. Above the White Hart was another slither of light. It was getting bigger. And then another slither of light, this time next to the flyover on the other side of the church area.

“Are these what I think they are?” asked Caroline.

“They are indeed. The Apparites are coming through again.”

“But how?” asked Caroline. “This didn’t happen before. Not in this way anyway. Last time I had to touch it and that’s when the gap - the one gap - began opening.”

The Doctor shook his head. “It’s like a piece of paper. Pour enough water on it and eventually the whole sheet will go soggy and split open. Adrian coming through and then going back - with Danny as well, with an Apparite trapped inside - was the final push they needed. The barrier between the TARDIS dimensions and ours is at it’s weakest.”

Caroline ran her hands through her hair, looking lost. “Then what do we do to stop them?”

“I’m not sure we can,” said the Doctor, worriedly.




They made their way back to the control centre and Jayne brought another piece of paper to show the Doctor and Caroline.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“It’s not just Thornsby,” said Jayne, “they’re starting to appear all over the surrounding area. Cracks forming. Nothing coming through yet, but they’re there. In Yarathorpe, Suntersby, Fallington. It’s only a matter of time.”

“I need to see that TARDIS, Jayne,” said the Doctor.

Jayne nodded. “We can’t open it though. They’ll come through.”

“They’re going come through anyway,” said the Doctor.

Before they could leave Caroline’s mobile began ringing. She frowned and reached into her jeans pocket. She looked at the readout and frowned, answering the phone.

“What do you want?” she said.

She listened to the voice on the other end of the line. Her face slowly sank and turned to white. She swallowed hard and nodded.

“Okay, I’ll be there,” she said shakily.

“Caroline?” said the Doctor. “Caroline is everything okay?”

Caroline put the phone back in her jean pocket and looked at the Doctor. She shook her head. “No. That was my Mum - my adopted Mum,” she said, shaking her head at her mistake.

“What is it?”

“It’s Dad. He’s had a heart attack.”

Next chapter: Caroline confronts her parents with the truth. Coming Thursday November 7th.

Call of the Spirits: Chapter 1 (Home)

August 13th, 2012




The still, warm summers evening was broken with the sound of the fabric of time and space being ripped open. Slowly a blue box materialised.

Upside down.

Inside the box - the space/time machine known as the TARDIS - the Doctor, Caroline Parker and Danny Lennon were stood around the mushroom shaped TARDIS console. The Doctor flicked a switch and then smiled.

“Did we make it?” asked Danny.

“We made it,” said the Doctor, relieved.

“Where did Jayne go?” asked Caroline, looking around her.

“The hologram must have shorted out. Not that it matters anymore. We can go and meet the real Jayne.”

“Fun!” said Caroline, folding her arms and walking to get her coat.

“You won’t need your coat,” said the Doctor. “It’s a lovely warm evening out there. Middle of the summer in fact.”

“Brilliant,” said Danny. He watched Caroline as she made her way towards the exit doors. “Are you alright?” he said, catching up to her.

“I’ll be fine,” she said, sighing. “It’s just a lot to take in.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

She smiled at him. “Just…stick with me, yeah?”

“Always,” he smiled.

The Doctor watched his companions quietly and then opened the door. The two of them stepped outside…

…and fell upwards!

“Oh no!” said the Doctor, racing after them.

When he had finally gotten the right way up and outside the TARDIS he found Caroline and Danny in a heap on the ground.

“What happened?” asked Danny, getting up. “We fell upwards.”

“I’m afraid I landed the ship upside down,” said the Doctor apologetically. “The anti-gravity stopped working as you stepped outside and actually…well, fell to the floor.”

“Great,” said Caroline, getting to her feet and brushing the dried grass from her jeans. “We’re in the back garden of my flat.”

“Yes,” smiled the Doctor. “Welcome home.”




Underneath St. James’s church was a hive of activity once again. The map above the consoles was showing a red dot flashing in the vicinity of People’s Park.

Jayne emerged from the ante-chamber. “What’s up people?”

“You finished in there?” asked Margot.

“Yes, the Doctor’s up to speed on the situation. He should be here now if he followed the signal down correctly.” She put her hands on her hips. “Now, what’s going on?”

“We’ve had a materialisation. Not just a split second fade either. This one’s fully formed and on our side.”

“What?” said Jayne, frowning. “How did it manage that? Usually they need a full on crack to come through.”

“God knows,” said Margot. “Do we investigate?”

“Do I like cheesecake? Of course we should.”

It only took a few moments, but soon they had all piled into Margot’s car and were driving through the sunny-evening streets of Thornsby, heading towards the park.

When they eventually got there they found the park deserted, apart from a young man wandering, a little disorientated across the road.

Jayne, Margot and Ben got out of the car and walked over to the young man.

“Is everything okay?” asked Margot.

The young man blinked slowly and tried to focus on the three people. “I’m sorry? Do I know you?”

“You look a little lost,” said Jayne. “Where have you just come from?”

The young man suddenly recomposed himself and straightened himself up. “You’re Jayne Robson, aren’t you? And Margot Dunlop and Ben Featherstone?”

“Yes,” said Jayne. “How do you know our names?”

“What year is this?”

“It’s 2012.”

“Jesus,” said the young man, rubbing his forehead. “Have I really been gone that long?”

“Who are you?” asked Ben, getting impatient.

“I want to see my brother, Danny.”

“Danny?”

“My name’s Adrian. Adrian Lennon. It’s been a bloody long time since I saw him.”




Caroline unlocked the back door at the top of the fire escape and the three of them stepped into the kitchen.

“Fancy a cuppa?” said Danny.

“Go on then,” said Caroline. “I’m off for a shower.”

“Ah,” said the Doctor, peering his head around the doorway into the front room. “I see the coffee table’s still not been swept away.”

“Who did you think would do it?” asked Caroline, glancing at the broken glass, “the house fairy?”

“You mean you don’t have your own house fairy?” asked the Doctor as Caroline strode off towards the bathroom and shut the door.

“No jokes, Doc, please,” said Danny, filling up the kettle and getting out three mugs.

“I’m just trying to cheer her up.”

“Doctor, she’s just found out she’s adopted and is descended from a bunch of time travellers from the future. It’s going to take a while for her to cheer up.”

“I suppose,” said the Doctor, grabbing a dust pan and brush from underneath the sink and sweeping up the broken pieces of glass in the living room. “I just find these situations very difficult.”

“So others you’ve travelled with have had similar problems?” said Danny, pouring the hot water into the mugs, drowning the teabags.

“Some have. Some haven’t. Each react differently to different situations.”

“I’d have thought you’d be a seasoned pro by now.”

“Not yet,” said the Doctor.

Danny smiled as he squeezed each of the teabags with the teaspoon and then added the milk. “At least I know what happened to Adrian now. Not that it’s any comfort to know that he was taken by them. But at least I know something more.”

“I’m sorry about that,” said the Doctor.

There came a knock on the door. The Doctor made his way down the stairs to the front door and opened it. Standing there was the blonde, curly-haired Margot.

“Ah, the liar!” smiled the Doctor.

“You know why we had to lie,” said Margot. “We couldn’t tell you the truth back then.”

“But what a lie,” said the Doctor. “Hiding in tunnels from ghosts, indeed!”

“Anyway,” said Margot, pushing her way inside, “that’s not why I’m here.”

“Do tell,” he said, letting her up the stairs to the kitchen and Danny.

“It’s Mr. Lennon I’m here to see.”

“Oh?” said Danny, taking a sip of his tea and purposely not making a fourth mug for Margot.

“Yes. It’s pretty urgent actually.”

“Go on then,” said Danny, leaning on the counter.

“It’s your brother: Adrian,” said Margot, half-smiling, half worried.

“What about him?”

Margot looked at the Doctor and then back to Danny. “He’s back.”

Next chapter: Danny goes on a trip, and Caroline receives some shocking news. Coming Monday 4th November.

Story 2.6: Call of the Spirits

Danny shook his head and gazed out to sea again. “Why would you want to help them? They’re crazy!”
“Because,” said Adrian, walking up behind his brother and talking over his shoulder, “each one of those crazy beings used to be a Human being.”

August 13th 2012

The Doctor finally get's the TARDIS to where he needs to be - the church in Thornsby containing the shed containing the dimensions of the Apparite world. He has one thing to do - shut the place down for good.

Meanwhile, Danny reunites with his long-lost brother, but his brother his different. His brother has been changed.

Caroline also has to face up to a few things - namely the parents who adopted her when she was a baby. Can she ever get over the secrets that were kept from her?

Thing's are coming to a close, and not everyone's going to get out of this alive...

This is the final story in season 2 for The Doctor, Caroline and Danny.

Beginning Friday 1st November

The Story of the Ancestors: Chapter 10 (Consequences)

The Doctor had finally found Caroline. She was sat under a willow tree in an old marble room with twisted wooden trees breaking through the walls. She was crying, but tried to compose herself when the Doctor approached her.

“Ah,” said the Doctor, glancing around him, “I see you found the old forest room.”

She nodded, rubbing at her eyes.

He sat down next to her. “I used to come here quite a lot. Usually when I’ve had to say goodbye to old friends. It helps me to relax and put things into perspective.” He gently put an arm around her. “I’m sorry.”

“What for?” she sniffed.

“For all of this.”

“How could you not tell me about what happened when we went back to 1998?”

“I just…I wanted to wait for the right time.”

“The right time was as soon as you got us away from there.”

“I still have the memory stored away,” he said hopefully. “I can give it back to you. It’d be like it was always there.”

“A quick fix and a way out for you. I don’t want it,” she said, looking at him.

“Caroline, you wouldn’t have understood.”

“Really? Do you really think that? I understood that you took a memory from me to protect the web of time. I understand that you were worried for me finding out about my real parents. But what I don’t understand is why you kept it all from me. You knew I was after answers. I didn’t want to have to find out through this Jayne woman.”

“I know,” said the Doctor, hanging his head. “I just…I’m not used to these situations.”

“What did you think I would do?”

“I don’t know,” said the Doctor, turning his head to look at her. “Not be able to cope. Perhaps.”

She laughed and shook her head. “If you thought that then you really don’t know me.”

“The one positive thing in all this is that at least we have some answers.”

“That thing took my baby. For what?”

“I don’t know. But we need to find out.”

Caroline stood up. “How?”

“Jayne’s setting up a link for us down in Thornsby. It should help us to guide the TARDIS down there.”

“And then?”

“And then I’m going to finally put a stop to the Apparites.” He got up and put a hand on her shoulder, looking down at her. “I’m going put things right, Caroline, I promise.”

She sniffed and then nodded. “Can you remember what I said to you when we first met?”

The Doctor frowned, struggling to remember much about that chaotic night. “Was that after I scared the Apparite away with the fire or when we were in the living room?”

“The living room. I said that when this is all over you can leave me alone.”

“Oh,” said the Doctor sadly.

“And I mean it this time. When this is all over, I’m going home and I never want to see you, or Jayne or anyone ever again.”




The sun was shining, but the bushes at the edge of the park were in shadow. The air was cold and slowly the atmosphere began to shimmer and change. Eventually the shape of a person materialised from the shimmer.

He looked around him. He was tall and was clutching a rucksack. He rubbed his eyes and coughed. He held back a shiver and then checked his watch. It wasn’t working. But he knew where he was. He knew he had finally made it back.




Adrian Lennon had returned to Thornsby.




TO BE CONTINUED…

Next: Season 2 of "Darkpaths" comes to a close in "Call of the Spirits". The Doctor returns to Thornsby to finally try and put an end to the Apparites, Danny meets with his long-lost brother again, and Caroline has to face up to her parents and the truth.

Coming Friday November 1st.

The Story of the Ancestors: Chapter 9 (The Child Snatcher)

October, 2008




She watched his train pulling away at the station. She knew it was for the best, but she couldn’t help shed a tear for him. His life had been torn apart four years ago, and she hadn’t done much to help. She always wondered if she had led him on. She hadn’t intended on doing that.

It had been a civil, but warm goodbye at the train station. But now she was fighting back the tears as Danny Lennon’s train took him away to his new life in Manchester.

She felt she would see him again, but she knew that nothing would be the same again.

But she had to continue. Hypersave awaited as did her new flat. She had a meeting with the landlord, Brian Cope, this afternoon and she didn’t want to be late.

Giving one last look at the train pulling out of the station, she turned and marched towards the future.




May, 2011




Caroline had done something she had promised herself she would never do again - fall in love. She had always had trouble meeting men, but it was partly her own fault. She was incredibly picky over the type of man she wanted. Her friends, Kate and Sarah, would always go off with blokes, but she’d be incredibly reserved. Even almost-gentlemen-like blokes didn’t stand much of a chance.

Kate had always told her that she thought it was because of Danny. Danny had had such an impact on her life that nobody would ever be able to live up to being a best friend and a partner.

Caroline had vehemently disputed this, but secretly thought that maybe Kate was right.

But one particularly warm spring night she broke all of her rules. Steve Pearson was a true gent. He was the DJ at the Pier nightclub in Yarrathorpe. She had seen him there before, but she had never paid him much attention.

But he had been paying her attention.

He had finished his couple of hours on the decks one night and had approached her. His eyes were dark, but his smile made Caroline’s heart melt.

“Could I buy you a drink, miss?” he asked, leaning against the pillar next her.

Caroline looked down at her drink. She still had almost a full glass. “No, it’s alright DJ Steve.”

“Haha,” laughed Steve. “Less of the DJ. I’m off duty now.” He looked around him and then back at Caroline. “Can I ask you a question?”

“I suppose,” said Caroline, sipping her drink and listening carefully over the thumping music.

“What do you want from life?”

She frowned. “That’s a bit of a bizarre question to ask when you’re in a nightclub.”

“Maybe. But not for me. I’ve seen you standing there, getting bored. You always look so sad.”

“I’m not sad,” said Caroline quickly.

“There’s no need to be,” said Steve. “You’re cute, you know.”

“Don’t make me laugh,” laughed Caroline.

“It’s true. You’re beautiful.”

Caroline almost spat her drink out. “The last time someone told me that, I was 16 and freezing on the beach below this pier.”

“You should hear it more often.”

“I’m heading towards being 30 now, Mr DJ. I’m sure it’s all downhill from here.”

“No way,” laughed Steve. “Never!”

And that was that. All it took was a little chat with a stranger and Caroline started to believe again. She believed that maybe there was someone out there for her. Maybe she could fall in love and be friends without their being any complications.

What followed was a whirlwind romance that only a lasted a few months, but the effects this relationship left behind had long lasting impacts.




August, 2011




Caroline knew something was wrong. She wasn’t exactly sure what, but something didn’t feel right. The bouts of sickness every morning, feeling dizzy…To anyone else it was obvious, but to her…




Caroline and Steve left the doctor’s surgery hand in hand. Caroline had a frown on her face and Steve stared ahead of him. The two of them then looked at each other. Both of them were waiting for the other to make a move. Finally Caroline broke into a grin and then Steve followed suit. He picked her up off her feet and span her around.

When he put her down she wobbled unsteadily on her feet and he stopped her from falling.

“Sorry!” he said quickly

“It’s alright,” she said, holding out a hand.

“Are you happy?”

“Of course I’m happy,” she smiled.

“It’s not too soon?” said Steve, looking a little worried.

“Who says there’s a law on how long you have to wait to have a baby?” smiled Caroline.

“But we’ve only been together a few months.”

“Again, who says there’s a law?”

Steve looked down at his feet and then back up at her. “You’re right.”

“Stop worrying about what other people think. I never have done.”

He nodded. “This is the most amazing moment of my life.”

Caroline smiled and then threw her arms around him. “Everything’s gonna be okay. Everything’s gonna be brilliant.”




Two months past. It was an uneasy pregnancy for Caroline, but she battled on through it. She hadn’t informed her parents. She hadn’t told Danny. They wanted to keep it to themselves for now. Caroline had spent so much of her life being controlled by those around her. She now simply wanted to live her life with Steve and build for her future under her rules.




And then that’s when it happened.




October, 2011




Caroline was lying in bed. Steve was lying next to her and snoring loudly. The blue-tinted night sky filtered through the gaps around the curtains in the dark room. And standing in the corner of the room was a shadowy figure. It was wearing a hood.

Caroline was half asleep/half awake. She was breathing heavily as though having a nightmare

The figure was shuffling closer and closer. As it approached the bed it’s arm began to rise. Caroline had started to hyperventilate, and Steve had stopped snoring. The thing was almost on top of her. The air had gone cold. Slowly the cloaked figure rose off the floor until it was horizontal and floating above Caroline. It lowered itself closer and closer to Caroline. She was now paralysed, her eyes staring blankly at the shadowy insides of the hood. It’s hand pressed down on her stomach. Slowly it’s icy hand somehow pushed down inside of her. It was feeling around for something. And then it found what it was looking for. It slowly drew it’s hand outside, it’s hand still clasped around whatever it had found.

“Poor little Caroline!” it hissed.

The thing then scuttled away into the shadows as Caroline screamed in agony.

Steve woke up, immediately went for the bedside lamp, switched it on and turned to Caroline. “What’s up?”

She was half sitting/half lying down and breathing heavily. Her eyes were full of fear.

“Caroline, what’s wrong?”

“I-I don’t know,” she stuttered. “Something…something feels wrong. Something feels wrong.” Her hands went to her abdomen. “Something’s wrong.”

Steve had tried to calm Caroline down but had been unable to. So after about thirty minutes had driven her to the hospital to get her checked out.

As the car pulled away, Caroline thought she saw a red-headed woman standing at the end of her street looking concerned, but she soon dismissed it as she was too worried about her unborn baby.




Caroline sat on the bed in A&E, confused and disorientated.

“I don’t understand,” said Steve, holding his girlfriends hand. “How can that be?”

“The readings aren’t wrong, sir. I’m sorry but your partner is not pregnant.”

“How can that be?” said Steve again, getting more and more frustrated. “She’s been bloody pregnant for two months. We went to the doctors!”

“I’ve got the records,” said the doctor, scratching his head, “but there is just no evidence of a baby.”

“Was it a miscarriage?” said Steve, struggling to understand.

“No. If there was miscarriage there’d be signs. No, this baby was just never there. Miss Parker was simply never pregnant.”

“But she was!” yelled Steve.

“Mr Pearson I’m going to have to ask you to calm down.”

“Calm down? Calm down!? You’re telling me that my girlfriend, who was pregnant, was now never pregnant at all. Someone has made a big mistake here. It’s either you or the other doctor,” he said, pointing at the grey-haired and slightly flustered doctor.

“If you want I can get a second opinion.”

“Yes!”

“No,” said Caroline quietly. “I don’t need a second opinion.”

Steve knelt down in front of the bed. “But Caroline-”

“It’s not there. I can feel that.”

“But you were pregnant-”

“I know. But I’m not now, am I?” She closed her eyes. “I want to go home. I want to go to bed.”




The next few days were difficult for Steve and Caroline. Steve constantly searched for answers to what had happened, but Caroline didn’t know how to explain it. She was having difficulty coming to terms with things. The news of a baby had come as a shock to her, but it had made her happy. It had made her complete. Her friend Sarah had said that maybe she was only feeling so in love with Steve because of the baby, but Caroline knew different. She truly loved him. But right now she was having trouble showing any feelings other than complete despair for what had happened.

“I don’t know what else you want me to say,” said Caroline as she idly picked at the frayed edge of the arm of the chair.

“I want you to try and help me to help you,” said Steve, feeling exasperated.

“How?” said Caroline blankly.

“You just don’t seem to care.”

Caroline glared at him. “Don’t seem to care? How dare you!” She rose from the chair and Steve seemed to shrink under her fury. “All you seem to be bothered about is finding answers to what happened. You’ve never once asked how feel. How do you think it feels to have a life growing inside of you and then for it to be just…gone? How?”

“Caroline…”

“Don’t bother,” yelled Caroline, storming out of the room to the bedroom and slamming the door.

Later on in the night Steve dared to venture into the bedroom. Caroline was half asleep. He knelt down beside the bed. She had clearly cried herself to sleep. He stroked her arm and closed his eyes.

“What?” said Caroline sleepily.

“I’m going away for a while.”

“What?” said Caroline, edging up onto her elbows and squinting at him in the darkness. “Why?”

“I need to be away for a while. I need to think about things.”

“You’re leaving me?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“No. No,” he said, shaking his head. “But you need me away from you. We both need time to let this soak in.”

“And where are you gonna go?” she said as he got up and grabbed an already packed bag from the hallway.

“A friend in Yarathorpe. He says he’ll put me up for a bit.”

“Steve…”

“It’s better for the both of us,” he said, hefting the bag onto his shoulder. “I need to work out how to be a better boyfriend to you.”

“Please, we can talk about this.”

“Love you, Caroline,” he said as he made his way out of the bedroom door.

“Steve…” she said again, her eyes welling up with tears.

Caroline never heard from Steve again. She tried his phone a number of times, but he never answered it. She never even found out where in Yarathorpe he was staying, but he never returned to his DJ job. It was like he had vanished off the face of the Earth.

Two months later she met the Doctor…




As Steve made his way around the corner of the street to wait for the taxi he had ordered, he thought he heard a sound behind him. He looked. There was nothing there.

Dismissing the thought he reached the bus stop.

And then he felt the cold hand on his shoulder and heard the voice.

“Poor little Steve…”

And Steve was gone.

Next: The TARDIS crew face up to what they have learnt. Coming Sunday 27th October.

The Story of the Ancestors: Chapter 8 (Broken Families)

August, 1999




“What do you mean you’re not going back?” said Cathy Parker, her eyes ablaze with fury.

Tony Parker shook his head, tutting from behind the Telegraph.

“Just like I said, Mum, I’m not going back. I don’t wanna do politics anymore. I don’t even know why I bothered in the first place.”

“You better be joking. It better be one of your stupid jokes.”

“Do I look like I’m joking?” said Caroline, eyeballing her Mum.

“Tony, say something,” pleaded Cath.

Tony sighed and folded up his paper, getting up from the arm chair. “Listen to your Mother, love,” he said.

“Is that it?” said Cathy. “For goodness sake. You’re incapable of doing anything.”

“It’s my own choice,” said Caroline.

“All we’ve ever done,” continued Cath, “is try and give you the best life you could possibly have.”

“And I’m grateful for that,” said Caroline, “but you’ve gotta let me make my own decisions. Pollitics just isn’t me.”

“Do you know how much hard work we put in to get you on that course?”

“And, like I said, I’m grateful for it, but why should I carry on doing something I have no interest in?”

“I think it’s more than that,” said Cath, pointing her finger towards the young girl. “You’ve never respected our wishes. Sneaking out of the house with that Danny at the age of 15, drunk at 16 and goodness knows what else at 16!”

“I’m old enough to do what I want,” laughed Caroline.

“I’m just glad you stopped seeing him. He’s a livewire.”

“And that’s not because you told me to stop seeing him,” said Caroline quickly. “I chose it because I didn’t want to lose a friend.”

“You’re just irresponsible.”

“Then why don’t you just kick me out!”




That night Caroline had walked out of the Parker household. She had gone to stay at her friend, Kate’s house. Caroline hadn’t bothered returning to college and as Christmas approached she had been given the job as a super market checkout girl at Hypersave.




January, 2000




Catherine Parker loaded up the last of Caroline’s belongings into a cardboard box. She held the final item - a pink dressing gown - in her hands for a good few minutes, and then, with tears in her eyes, placed it into the box, sealing it up with tape.

“Are you ready, love?” asked Tony.

“Are we doing the right thing?” asked Cath.

“She doesn’t want to know us,” said Tony. “We’ve gotta get the rest of this stuff loaded into the van.”

“But should we really be moving away? Aren’t we letting Thomas and Rebecca down?”

Tony shook his head. “She’s a big girl now. We’ve done all we can. We’ve gotta cut her free some time.”

Cath buried her head on Tony’s chest and cried. “I just wish we could have done more.”




Catherine and Tony Parker moved to the small village of Tillby, approximately 15 miles away from Thornsby. They took Caroline’s remaining possessions with them, but it would be a long, long time before her and the Parkers would speak again…




February, 2004




Danny pulled out the kitchen chair and slumped into it. He rubbed his eyes and then stared down at the soggy cornflakes sat in front of him, the milk looking sickly and warm.

“Get toast,” said his brother.

Adrian Lennon was much like his brother, except, whereas Danny had filled out and turned into a handsome man, Adrian was much more scrawny with untidy hair and a pair of wiry glasses. He was a few years younger than Danny and was still at college studying A-Level Maths. He was a bit of a dreamer, but had never really set his sights on anything. He kind of drifted from class to class, doing the lessons, but never really caring what he got out of it. He did it more to please his parents.

“What?” mumbled Danny.

“Get toast,” said Adrian again, stuffing half a slice of heavily buttered toast into his mouth.

“I can’t eat that brown stuff at this time in the morning,” grumble Danny, rubbing his head.

“Are you hungover?” asked Adrian.

“I had a bit to drink, yeah,” replied Danny, frowning. “What’s it to you?”

“And you’re about to spend a whole eight hours at work?”

“Advertising doesn’t wait, you know?”

“Good luck, you,” smiled Adrian, finishing off his toast. “Who’d you go drinking with?”

“Brian and the lads.”

“No Caroline last night?”

Danny groaned. “Why do you always ask that? You know I don’t see her half as much as I used to.”

“Shame,” said Adrian, “she was a nice lass.”

“She still is,” said Danny.

Adrian got up, grabbed his rucksack, and made his way out of the kitchen. “Then don’t let her go so easily.”




Adrian locked the door of his parents house and crossed over the road towards the park. It was still pretty early and the grass was covered in frost. He took the winding path through the park and past the pond.

All he could think about was making sure he hit his target score at college today. He was not a big fan of algebra, but he had been studying for weeks and weeks for this and he certainly wasn’t going to let algebra let him down.

“An Open Letter To NYC” by the Beastie Boys had just started on his Discman when it suddenly went dead. He frowned and pulled it out of his pocket. He cursed himself for not bringing any spare batteries. He took the batteries out and tossed them in the park bin, taking the earphones out and putting the whole lot into his bag.

He carried on his walk towards college. He checked his watch and realised he was running late so decided to cut across the grass and through a cluster of bushes.

As he made his way through the bushes he snagged his jacket on a twig. He turned to untangle himself and when he turned back, standing there before him was a very faint, very shadowy shape. He jumped and almost fell back into the bush he had just un-snagged himself from.

He wasn’t entirely sure, but the thing seemed to look as though it was wearing some kind of cloak. The more he looked at it, the more it began to fade into view. And Adrian was sure that he could see snow flakes coming from above it’s head.

It reached out a faint, shadowy arm towards him and Adrian could hear it speaking.

“Poor little Adrian…”




There was a gust of wind. All was silent. And Adrian was gone…




Underneath St. James’s church in the centre of Thornsby, banks of computer’s bleeped and a map of the town was shown on a large screen mounted on a stone wall. A dot was flashing in the area of the park and people were scrabbling around, checking readouts and trying to get an exact fix on the flashing dot.

Jayne entered the room, her hands on her hips. She was frowning and looking up at the flashing dot.

“Okay, okay, settle down everyone,” she said.

The room calmed noticeably.

“Margot, what’s happened?”

Margot crossed over to the woman. “We had another bleed-through.”

Jayne let out a big sigh, almost as if she was annoyed with the woman. “I gathered that.”

“In the People’s Park area. Just for a minute.”

Jayne crossed over to the map on the screen and folded her arms. “Do we need to send in a clean up crew?”

“Not this time,” said Ben, looking up from the his own computer screen. “It faded back.”

“Then what’s this?” said Jayne, tapping on a red indicator on the screen.

Margot looked a little shifty and then cleared her throat. “It took someone.”

Jayne closed her eyes and sighed.

“There wasn’t enough warning,” said Margot desperately.

Jayne didn’t respond.

“If there was any way-”

Jayne interrupted, her voice stern. “What is our job here? What do we do?”

Nobody answered.

Jayne looked at all of them, surveying the entire room. “We look for signs. We look for signals. Anything that can help us to prevent people being taken.”

“To be fair,” said Ben, “we haven’t had a disappearance in two years.”

“Then why did that change today?!” said Jayne, almost shouting.

Ben shrunk back into his seat.

“It is our fault that this is happening,” she continued, “and we will stay here until the day that we can fix what we’ve done. They will come through, using any means they like. We all remember 1998, don’t we? We didn’t even know about that until somebody else told us!”

She turned to leave and Margot grabbed her arm. “Jayne, we can send someone to look,” she said, almost a whisper.

“No,” said Jayne. “It’ll be too late now. But we need to be more careful, Margot. I feel there are worse days to come.”




Adrian opened his eyes. It was cold and he could see flakes of snow falling gently above his head. The sky was dark orange and twisted, blackened trees seemed to hang over him like hideous monsters closing in for the kill.

“What the hell…?” said Adrian, rubbing his head and sitting up.

“Poor little Adrian,” came a rasping, haunted voice.

Adrian quickly looked around. Standing there was the hooded figure, now much clearer than before. It’s hand was outstretched, as if almost pleading for Adrian to do something.

“Who are you?” asked Adrian, not really sure on how to deal with this situation let alone understand it.

“Please…” said the creature.

“Please what?” asked Adrian, edging back a little.

“Help us…”




March, 2005




It had been a particularly mild month. Spring had come a little earlier than usual and people were already beginning to abandon their coats and jackets, eager for the nicer weather to arrive.

Caroline, however, was never one to be without a jacket. It wasn’t just to keep her warm, but also because she needed pockets. No matter where she was, she always seemed to have way too many things on her person.

She had come to London for the weekend. Danny had been down there for a couple of weeks and was attending a conference for Harpers Advertising when she had received the call. He needed to speak to her. He needed to speak to a friend. So she had gotten the train to King’s Cross and arranged to meet with him.

She made her way down the street until she reached the small, quaint little building that contained the Tivoli Tavern.

She pushed the door open and stepped inside. It was a very small pub with a bar running down one side, a snug and then a larger area with a few tables and chairs. On the ceiling were exposed wooden beams and the whole pub had an old-world feel to it.

Danny was sat in the corner sipping on a pint of lager. He smiled when Caroline entered and they both embraced. Caroline grabbed herself half a lager and sat down opposite Danny.

After a while of sitting in silence, Caroline broke the ice. “How you doing?”

“Not bad,” said Danny quietly.

“It’s been a while.”

Danny nodded. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I just haven’t felt like doing…well, anything really.”

“It’s understandable.”

“But it’s been over a year now, Caz,” said Danny.

“You don’t get over something that quickly though,” she said, putting her hand on his.

Danny looked as though he was trying to hold in his emotions, but his eyes had glazed over. “Mum and Dad have filed for a divorce.”

Caroline sighed. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s all been too much for them. After he went…after Adrian disappeared they just got to such a point where they were arguing all the time.”

“Is there no way-?”

“No,” interrupted Danny. “They’ve said too much to each other. There’s no way back now. Even if Adrian reappeared, I don’t think it’d stop them breaking up.”

Caroline sighed. She knew Danny had moved out and was living alone in an apartment in the old Victoria flour mill, and she herself was about to move out of her one-bedroom flat. She had considered asking Danny if he’d mind sharing with her and was about to ask when there was a loud bang outside and the sound of breaking glass.

The two of them got up and ran outside. Across the road a large department store was on fire. People were running for cover and cars were skidding out of the way of the debris. A young, blonde girl ran across the road and skidded to a halt. She looked back at the burning building, pushed past Danny and Caroline and then ran away down the street.

The two of the them watched, silently, for what seemed like hours until the fire engines arrived. Danny still had hold of his pint and was sipping on it when a man came running past them. He had short, close-cropped hair, a green jumper, jeans and a leather jacket. He stopped and then turned to face Caroline and Danny.

“Can we help?” asked Caroline, unsure of the man staring at them.

“You haven’t seen a plastic arm go scuttling past have you?” he asked, his Northern accent thick.

Caroline frowned. “A plastic arm?” She couldn’t tell if the bloke was drunk or not. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Okay,” he said, looking slightly concerned. He then grinned widely at them. “Cheers anyway. See ya.”

And he disappeared down the road.

Caroline looked at Danny and they both shook their heads and then continued to watch the chaos. A few moments later Caroline thought she heard a wheezing and groaning sound coming from down the road. She looked but there was nothing there.

“Come to London and watch a building burn down,” said Danny, draining his pint.

“Yeah,” said Caroline, “nothing exciting ever happens in Thornsby.”

Next: Caroline meets a bloke called Steve. Coming Friday 25th October.