**This came directly from a dream I had, except it was my boyfriend who was there for me when I woke up. Happy horror movie watching! Hope they leave less of an impression on your imagination than they do mine, haha!**
Rose's eyes were so heavy it was a wonder she woke up at all. She was still in her hotel room, completely dark except for a sheath of light through the curtained windows. On the other side of the thin wall she could make out the Doctor's snores, but they weren't loud enough to have woken her up. So what…
She looked to her left and gasped in surprise. Standing at the foot of her bed was a child – a human child, though she couldn't make out his features. He was holding a knife in his right hand, but it was held at his side loosely, as if he'd forgotten it was there. Rose felt a wash of relief come over her. She knew this boy, she cared for him. Despite the knife, she somehow knew she could trust his judgement.
"Hey…" Rose murmured. No response from the child. She sat up in bed, slowly so as not to spook him. She repeated, "Hey there…"
Finally the boy did respond: "Red rum, red rum, red rum, red rum."
Her blood ran cold. "What?"
"Red rum, red rum, red rum, red rum, red rum, red rum, red rum, red rum, red rum, red rum, red rum, red rum, red rum, red rum, red rum, red rum, red rum, red rum." It was repeated on end without even a pause for breath.
Rose got out of bed quickly and walked toward the boy. Maybe she could help him, something was clearly wrong—
BAM!
The child screamed in fright. Rose turned around and saw the door next to her bed, the one that led to the Doctor's room. Someone had struck the door, but who? Was the Doctor alright?
The knife was in Rose's hand now. She turned, hoping to see the boy behind her, but he was gone, leaving her completely alone. The banging on the door was growing louder, more frequent. She could feel her entire body tremble. Something was crushing her chest, it was so hard to breathe.
Suddenly, the banging stopped. After a beat it became a soft, polite knock. "Knock, knock," a voice whispered from behind the door.
The politeness made Rose's hair stand on end. She wished this thing would go back to banging the door down, at least then there'd be no doubts about its true intentions.
Rose wanted to run, but her feet were rooted in place by the floorboards. And then, before she could even think about what to do next, an ax blew a hole in the door. Her mouth opened to scream, but no sound came out. The axe retracted itself, and then, through the hole in the door, the Doctor stuck his head through, eyes wild and hostile.
"Herrrrrrrre's JOHNNY!"
"Ahh!" Rose finally found air to breath, but she was somewhere different now. The Doctor was there, sitting next to her on the bed. He was rubbing her shoulders and making soothing noises.
"Doctor…?" Rose murmured. The sight of her room in the TARDIS was already causing the memory of the dream to fade.
"You're safe," the real Doctor replied. He gave her a small smile. "Sleep well, yeah?"
Rose thought she should nod or reply somehow, but she'd already let her head hit the pillow. As she drifted back to sleep, she admitted that the "Doctor" in her dream looked much more like Jack Nicholson than she'd first thought.
*/*/*/*
The Doctor grinned – Rose was too tired to even speak. Even a nightmare wasn't enough to keep her from a good night's sleep! He was almost jealous of her.
He readjusted her blankets and shrugged. He still couldn't prevent nightmares, but maybe his physical presence could help. It wasn't like he was getting any more sleep tonight.
The Doctor leaned his back against Rose's bed's headboard, far enough from his companion so as not to disturb her. As he closed his eyes, he concluded that maybe next Halloween they'll watch something a little less scary than "The Shining".