White Noise:
Denna had very much enjoyed her time in Imre after she had returned from 18th century Vienna. She hadn't quite had the time to really think about the Doctor or what adventures she could have been on. Instead, Denna had taken advantage of her free time and decided to dedicate it to music. When not dedicating her time to her music, she had plenty of time to relax and catch up with what friends she had made in Imre. She even had several encounters with Kvothe, and in fact at this very moment was sitting in The Eolian, having a drink, waiting for Kvothe to join her for the evening.
She had certainly enjoyed her time with Kvothe even though she just couldn't put her finger on what she would define their relationship as. The only thing she would admit to herself was that it was a relationship; whether it be friendly or more than that, she could not say. They certainly spent a good amount of time together, but she didn't like to burden her mind with such troubles. 'Everything will eventually work itself out' she thought to herself and for now she will continue to sit at her table, chat with Deoch and Stanchion – the co-owners of The Eolian – and enjoy her drink and the music.
After her third drink, Kvothe was now several hours late. Denna wasn't surprised and at first did not mind. Kvothe was studying at the University and most of the times did seem to have his hands full with his studies. She thought, 'sometimes you have to set your priorities and maybe I'm not that high of a priority for him.'
Realizing she had just ordered her fourth drink of the night, Denna decided she should check her change-purse or decide whether it'd be a good idea to find a young gentleman who would welcome her company (and her bill). As she dug through her travel sack, searching for her small purse, her hand brushed across something cold to its touch. She fiddled around with the unfamiliar object until she had gotten a good grip on it. Slowly, she pulled the unknown item out of her bag. It was not until the small, shiny box was sitting in front of her that she remembered where it had come from…the Doctor.
She hadn't thought about travelling again with the Doctor, but as of that moment, she didn't have anything to do and nowhere to go. The box sat in front of her with its lone, red button staring back at her as if daring her to push it and for anyone who has ever met Denna knows she is not one to back down from a dare. Therefore, before she could even consider whether or not to call the Doctor, her own hand slammed on it as if an involuntary reflex. And from the look on her face it was involuntary.
She immediately got up, said a quick good-bye to Deoch and Stanchion as she hurried passed them out the door, though to the two tavern owners it was more of a cut off "eyyyeeeee..." and a quick flash past their eyes.
This was typically the way Denna would react; she wasn't quite sure why she was now fighting against her flight mentality. She made her way to a hidden little spot near the stone bridge. As she approached, the moonlight colored the swaying grass a glowing deep blue. She tossed off her moccasins, nuzzled her toes in the cool grass and decided to sit down. Holding her flowing maroon dress against herself, she lowered herself cross-legged down to the welcoming ground. As the wind blew through her long dark locks, she felt at ease. But then she thought to herself 'I don't want to be at ease …I don't want to sit around while life is passing by.' In fact, she wasn't even sure how to live a life of "ease."
"I suppose I could just do as I've been doing…" Denna said out loud to herself, "It's not terribly bad just doing the same thing over and over….and over again…"
And with that thought, Denna decided that maybe her first instinct wasn't the right one. Maybe she'd head back to The Eolian. And so she did.
With her shoes in hand, Denna approached The Eolian seemingly worry-free. From outside the door it sounded like the crowd had grown since she had left, hearing hoots and hollers through the door.
Denna walked up to Deoch at The Eolian's entrance. "Some crowd tonight, huh? Anyone I know performing?"
"Not sure. I don't remember him but he does have his pipes." Deoch responded still sounding a bit confused. "He's certainly an interesting fella'."
"Well I can't wait to hear him…" Denna said as she slowly crept her eyes to the door.
"Alright," Deoch said opening the door, "Go right ahead," which earned him a big hug from Denna as she walked into the tavern.
As Denna got closer to the stage, the performer - who had a plain, dirt-ridden brown jumpsuit on – had his back to the audience and head down and was singing what sounded something like a yodel.
As soon as the individual's brown mess of hair popped up, Denna knew right away, "…oh no…" she muttered.
Getting more into his to say the least, experimental music, the performer started these weird gyrations that reminded Denna of a fish out of water.
"Oh, no…" she muttered to herself again.
Unsurprisingly to Denna, the performer turned around, revealing himself as the Doctor. His hair had grown a bit more and he may have had a new, but ragged outfit, nonetheless it was the Doctor. Everyone in the Eolian that night seemed to be confused over what exactly was going on.
When the Doctor had finished his performance, he took a quick bow, picked up a metal contraption that he tossed on his back and walked off stage. The crowd gave the Doctor a warm applause that Denna believed was more for his song being over and not for the quality of the song itself. The Doctor glided from the stage through the crowd like a true man about town, his greeting to everyone. The Doctor had a smile a big as Denna had seen on the Doctor for the short time she had known him, he acted like a beauty pageant winner waving to her loving audience. The Doctor rode his own euphoria towards Denna…and then right past Denna.
Fed up with the Doctor's fanfare, Denna strode directly towards the Doctor, shoving him in the back.
"Hey Beethoven!" Denna sarcastically said.
"Oh Denna! I hope you caught my marvelous performance! I never got music until tonight. Oh what a thrill that was! I certainly will be stopping by more often to, how to do you people say it….express myself."
As the Doctor continued to praise his performance Denna noticed something shiny gleaming out from his brown jump suit. Remembering Deoch mentioned that whoever was performing had his pipes, she grabbed the Doctor's collar and pulled him to a nearby corner.
Reaching into the dingy jumpsuit Denna pulled the set of pipes off of the Doctor's neck with one swift yank. "Where did you get these!?" Denna demanded.
"First off, ouch!" the Doctor said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I noticed any one with this silly little medallion had some sort of right to perform whenever he wanted, so I made myself one."
"What? You made this? It looks exactly like Kvothe's. You better not have stolen these!" Denna scolded the Doctor, dangling the metal pipes in his face with one hand and still holding on to his collar with the other.
"And what would you do if I had stolen them?" said the Doctor mockingly, which prompted Denna to pull his collar a little tighter around his neck.
"Fair enough," said the Doctor catching his breath, "Just look closely at the pipes, I added a little something extra to make it my own."
Finally letting go of the Doctor, Denna held the pipes up to a small light at the nearest table and realized one of the pipes was not a pipe at all but a tiny model of his sonic screwdriver.
"Fine," Denna said, acknowledging that she was wrong. "But I'll be holding on to these pipes. It's just not right. Some people take years of performing to earn their pipes. Any way, it's for the best, you shouldn't perform anymore, I don't think this crowd is quite ready for you."
"Well that's not fair!" said the Doctor sounding like a five year-old child complaining to his mother. "All I was doing was passing the time! You paged me in the middle of a very important investigation! Speaking of which where did I put my apparitorum?"
"Appa-what?"
"Ah, there she blows!" the Doctor said, pointing at the side of the bar where is strange metal contraption laid.
The Doctor slid on his apparitorum, adjusted his collar from Denna's threats and proceeded out the door of The Eolian. They stepped outside to what was now a brisk, windy late night.
"So what is this mystery you were investigating?" Denna asked the Doctor.
At first the Doctor wanted to question whether Denna was certain she was ready to travel again, but for one of the very few times in his long life, the Doctor held his tongue. Instead the Doctor simply responded to Denna's inquiry. "Come along, I'll tell you on the way there," said the Doctor, leading Denna away from the old tavern. "First, let me ask you a question…do you believe in the after-life?"
"Oh great Tehlu that's a grim thought," Denna responded sullenly. "You'd like to think there's a larger plan for us all besides this…" Denna thoughtfully said pointing around Imre.
"Ah! Well you'll certainly be intrigued by this one," said the Doctor, smirking as if he knew something you didn't.
"Where's the Tardis anyway?"
"Oh, it's right in the alley behind The Eolian," said the Doctor, looking back The Eolian.
Denna came to a standstill. "Wait, so where are we going?"
"Right back down the block to Chatwick's house."
"Who in the four corners is Chatwick?"
"He's an Imrian…or is it 'ite', English could be such a strange language at times," the Doctor pondered.
"Chatwick!?" Denna questioned again, trying to keep the Doctor back on topic.
"Yes, yes, Chatwick, what a pleasant little lad. Such a shame he is haunted by these shadows."
Denna and the Doctor's footsteps echoed off the cobblestone road as they slowly made their way down a winding lane. Crooked rooftops and uneven windows occupied the twisting path of buildings. Most houses were older than the oldest inhabitants of the block. Gangly trees sprouted up through the cobblestone here and there that seemed to add to the eerie feel of the decrepit neighborhood. As they made their way down the block Denna would have sworn that the street grew darker the further down they walked.
The two trekkers finally reached the end of the road which turned into a square, and Chatwick's house. The building fit quite well with its neighbors. A roof that was so slanted it appeared that the slabs of clay would slip off with slightest of sneezes, the door was large and wooden but did not appear sturdy at all, the windows had all been blacked out and if you looked up at the second story you would have to tilt a bit to the right for it to seem straight.
The Doctor looked at Denna to see if there was any hint of unwillingness left in her, but Denna showed no signs of reservation. In fact, Denna had seemed to relish these moments of mystery and adventure that she had missed since she had been in Imre.
As Denna carefully Chatwick's home, her eyes wandered to the left of the building to where a small cemetery sat. "Of course there's a cemetery! What is this a children's horror tale?"
"Ahh, well that is why we are here," the Doctor explained, "You see, the Tardis senses many dangers, even those cries of fear as little as those from little boys who are afraid to go to sleep. Now most of these pleas are nothing but an overactive imagination," the Doctor continued, "but every so often I come across a cry for help that is more than that."
The Doctor then began to search through the pockets of his musty brown jumpsuit, muttering to himself, "Now where did I put that thing…" After no luck, the Doctor began patting himself down as if being searched for a weapon when he finally hit something other than himself as he patted against his chest. His reaction was as if he were a gold digger who finally struck the mother load.
The Doctor pulled a small four button mechanism out of the small pock that laid over one of his hearts, "Here," he said softly, "listen closely." And so, he pressed the button farthest to the left on the device. As soon as he pressed the button it was as if he cued a voice to start talking. At first Denna was taken aback by the voice, then realized that it was a small child's voice. It must have been Chatwick.
Though the voice was soft and fuzzy, Denna was still able to make out what was being said. "Help…somebody help," the voice cried out, "They're all gone…I'm all alone." A long pause broke the cry for help, all that Denna heard was heavy breathing, then the voice continued, "It's getting colder…darker…" Then as the little boy proceeded, the recording started to sound grainier. As the static grew, the little boy quivered, "please, I don't know what to do, I'm all alone." And with that the voice stopped; however, the recording wasn't done.
The Doctor put one finger up, as if telling Denna to listen carefully. The noise that was once nothing but a bit of background filler had now become the main focus of the recording until a low, indecipherable sound approached and then ended as quickly as it had come. The Doctor swiftly pressed the second button on his recorder.
"Did you catch it?" the Doctor questioned Denna.
"Yeah, that poor little boy needs our help." Denna responded
"No." Denna responded with a 'what do you mean, no?' expression. "No, I mean, we do need to help Chatwick, but did you catch the ending?"
Denna just shrugged her shoulders and said, "Just sounded like a bunch of rubbish to me."
"Here, listen again…" This time the Doctor pressed the third button from the left on contraption, which played the recording back in what sounded like gibberish to Denna. Once he was satisfied with what point he had reached, the Doctor pressed the first and fourth buttons simultaneously. This prompted the sound to come out of the tiny speaker at about half the normal speed.
At first the slower speed made the loud gritty noise unbearable until the low, unrecognizable voice was now recognizable. "Death to those who come," the voice bellowed out, "Death to those who stay."
"Dead Man's Square! This must be Dead Man's Square," exclaimed Denna as she pointed down to the end of the alley. "I thought that had been but child's tales."
"A-ha! You see, some stories are more than just old wives tales. Some stories exist because they are true."
"We have to get in there!" Denna cried, rushing to the front steps.
"Don't worry there, I already have been in there and for now Chatwick is ok. I told you, you rang me right in the middle of a mystery."
Denna looked petrified for pulling the Doctor away from Chatwick. The Doctor noticed Denna's alarmed look and tried to reassure her, "Don't worry, I assure you he is doing quite well at the moment. Besides I had to go back to get my apparitorum." Denna decided to accept the Doctor's explanation for now in lieu of wasting any more time. Besides, she thought, she could always ridicule the Doctor after the job was done. And so, she gave the Doctor a nod of approval to make their way in.
The two cautiously made their way up the loose stones that once called themselves steps that led to the front of Chatwick's house. As they reached the top stone, the wooden door creaked open on its own without any attempt to even open the door made by the Doctor or Denna.
"Ooooh, spooky," the Doctor jokingly as he over-dramatically shivered. The Doctor's jest only subdued the two weary visitors for a moment before the silence of the now abandoned house washed over them.
As with the beginning of any adventure, the Doctor attempted to make himself as presentable as possible. Once he didn't look like a total mess he said, "That will have to suffice," he turned to Denna, "you don't know how easy you have it, keeping yourself together like that. What I'd give to have it as easy as you women."
In her short time she has known the Doctor, Denna likes to think she has already given quite a number of 'looks' to the Doctor without having to say anything. This particular look she titled the 'you have to be kidding me look' that she delivered to the Doctor on behalf of all of womankind.
Unfortunately – as with many of the looks Denna gave – the Doctor absolutely did not comprehend it. Instead he gave a goofy half bow/half curtsey and said, "Shall we?" as he pointed Denna inside.
Denna led the expedition into the building. All the rooms were as dark as night. Though the rooms were sparse in furniture, what fixtures that were in the rooms were in shambles. Each room was a mess that appeared no one had attended to in several weeks.
A long hallway led from the front door through to the back of the house where a staircase stood. The hallway bore no pictures or paintings and the dark green floral wallpaper was beginning to peel off at the edges.
"His room is right up this way," said the Doctor at the base of the stairwell.
Each step the two took screeched, creaked and howled up the two flights of steps. The second story was full of smaller rooms then the first landing had and each room contained one small bed and a two drawer dresser. At the center of one of the walls stood one lone picture. The frame was bronzed and chipped around the corners. A photograph of about twelve boys called this frame its home.
Denna thought to herself, it can't be a school portrait because there's no uniforms, in fact, all the boys were wearing as ragged as clothes as she had ever seen. "This is an orphanage," she spurted out.
"Is it now? I was wondering how these children were able to afford this large of a living space on their own."
"Here, look…" Denna pointed at a middle-aged woman on the right side of the picture. She wore a floral dress that strangely matched the wallpaper downstairs, had a small, plump body and curly hair that rivaled the Doctor. "She must be the care-giver."
"Or was," the Doctor said unaware how gloomy that sounded. "It's a wonder where they all went."
"Lovely," Denna said dryly. "Enough chit-chat though, on to Chatwick's room."
The Doctor headed to the right, down the hall. "His room is this one on the left, the corner room."
At the foot of Chatwick's room door laid a white semi-circle that attached itself to the bottom of the doorway and a white "X" on the middle of the door, "A little trick I learned a few hundred years away when dealing with potential spirits," said the Doctor as he took a piece of chalk out of his pocket and uncoordinatedly twirled it in his hand. The chalk was not even in the Doctor's hand for a total of five seconds before he had unceremoniously dropped the slab of chalk.
"What's it supposed to do?" Denna curiously inquired.
"I wish I remember. You see, wisdom does come with old age, but so does the trait to lose that wisdom."
The Doctor opened the door slowly until Chatwick's empty bed sat in the middle of the dark room. "I assure you he is quite well, you say," Denna cried out, "well where is he?!"
"Doctor, is that you?" a small and tender voice came from behind the door.
The two of them immediately entered the dark chamber to find Chatwick sitting on the floor behind the door, holding his knees to his chest. Chatwick's darker complexion made it easy to miss him had you not been paying attention, with his hair just as dark. He was about seven years-old, which made him one of the youngest in his orphanage. He wasn't as skinny as you'd expect an orphan in this part of town to be. The Doctor even went as far as to describe Chatwick's outward appearance as 'round.' He had on beige slacks on with a hole on each knee and a tattered blue tunic that was getting a little small for his size. His feet were bare and dirty and Denna assumed that was all the clothes little Chatwick had as he didn't even have a dresser in his room.
"What took you so long?" Chatwick asked meekly. Denna realized that this might be a question the Doctor gets asked fairly often.
"Sorry about that ol' chap. I was making my way back over when a thought occurred to me," the Doctor said, drawing Chatwick's attention in. "I asked myself, 'you know who'd really be able to help us out? My good friend Denna.' So I ran back over to find her and here she is!"
A small smile crept on to Chatwick's face as he examined Denna the way a lost pup would examine an approaching stranger. "A pleasure to meet you Chatwick," Denna said, greeting the little boy. "Are you alright? You haven't had any other visitors, have you?"
"I'm f-f-fine," Chatwick stuttered, "Since the Doctor left I've been alone."
"Good, good. Now, where was I…" pondered the Doctor, "Ahh, yes! I left this recording before I left," he said, picking up a similar device to the one he used to play Chatwick's initial plea. "Now let's see if our friends left us any presents…"
With the click of one button, the ominous white noise returned. The noise had gotten so loud, at one point the Doctor had to even adjust the volume. "This is certainly an electrically charged area, no wonder it has drawn our friends here."
The noise continued until you could hear banging and deep grumbling. "Chatwick," Denna said, "I thought you said you had been alone?"
"I was alone…at least I thought I was…" Chatwick said as fear entered his eyes.
"How long have your friends been gone Chatwick?" Denna inquired.
"A couple of days I guess," Chatwick paused for a few seconds, almost embarrassed to go on, "And they weren't really my friends. Everybody always made fun of me. They'd call me 'Chubby Chatwick. They would always sing 'Chubby Chatwick, the chubbiest chap that you ever did meet."
The noise from the player continued to blare in the background. "Well that isn't nice, now is it the Doctor?"
"No, not at all. But the tune is a bit catchy," said the Doctor as he started humming 'Chubby Chatwick', until the shrieking from the recorder got so loud it cut him off.
"What about your care-giver? She wouldn't stick up for you Chatwick?" Denna asked.
"No," Chatwick said sullenly, "All Ms. Appleby cared about was the chores being done so she could have her 'alone time.'"
"Well, not to worry Chatwick, we'll figure out what happened to them," said the Doctor as if not listening to how miserable Chatwick was here in this orphanage. And so, he reached behind to his apparitorum and yanked on a small chain that dangled from the bottom which seemingly started the machine. At first the mechanism sputtered and grunted, but soon found its groove, continuously puttering on the Doctor's back.
The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, shining blue light around the room. "Oops," mumbled the Doctor as he whacked on the bottom of his screwdriver. He attempted to use his screwdriver again, but this time it lit up the room in a red light. "Infrared setting," explained the Doctor to Denna.
With his other hand the Doctor grabbed the hose attachment from his apparitorum, as he flashed his red screwdriver light around the room. "Helloooo?" yelled the Doctor, his accent more prevalent than ever with this cry. "I know you're in here…" The Doctor paused for a response as he continued to search the room with his infrared light, weapon in hand.
"What did you do with Ms. Appleby? And little…ummm…" the Doctor quickly looked to Chatwick for one of the boys names.
"Nathaniel."
"Little Nathaniel. Where did you put little Nathaniel and his friends?" Again, the Doctor paused for a response, but there was none. "Alright then, you want to play rough, do ya?"
The white noise screeched to a deafening pitch, "Those who have passed dare not return," bellowed the same deep monotone voice as before.
"Ah, so you are listening," the Doctor retorted.
"And neither shall you."
"What?! What does that mean Doctor? We shall not…" but before Denna could finish her question, the door to Chatwick's room slammed shut. Chatwick scrunched into a tighter ball in the corner of his room, Denna jumped from the loud noise and the Doctor screamed like a little girl, in turn causing Denna and Chatwick to laugh to themselves.
The sound of running footsteps swirled around Chatwick's room and down the hallways, all while the Doctor's sound recorder squealed back at them, louder and louder.
The Doctor, now at wits end, seemingly ran in circles sucking in air with his apparitorum until Denna stopped…and slapped him upside his messy mop. "Get a hold of yourself, Doctor! What in the name of Tehlu are you doing?"
Out of breath, the Doctor realized what a fool he had made of himself and tried to make up for it, "Well, you see, I specifically designed the apparitorum after I got Chatwick's plea for help. I had feeling it might be some type of spirit or as you might call it, a poltergeist, and I fear I may be more correct than I had wanted to be.
"The apparitorum is designed to suck those rogue spirits through this nozzle," the Doctor pointed at the tube-shaped apparatus in his hand, "And securely stored in the apparitorum's primary storage unit here," the Doctor pointed at the metal pack on his back.
"And what does that dingy jumpsuit have to do with everything?" Denna questioned.
"I thought it was common knowledge this is what professional ghost catchers wear?"
Denna refused to respond.
The awkward silence was filled with the prolonged scratching clatter. Thumps and clunks hammered throughout the entire building now.
"Doctor…Doctor…Doctor," repeated in different tones, "You'll never get them back, Doctor."
Then, as if he had won the lottery, a dark red shadow appeared in the bright infrared light. "I got one! This way!" cried the Doctor, crashing through the door and stumbling out of Chatwick's room down the hallway.
Denna and Chatwick followed in suit as the apparitorum was at full potency as it forcefully drew in as much air as it could, trying to catch this ghoul. They rambled through three of the orphan's bedrooms and passed the stairwell. The Doctor now appeared as a mad man; hair flapping crazily in the wind and a smile that would make any sane person feel a bit awkward.
"We almost have it Chatwick!" howled the Doctor, but to his surprise when he turned around neither Chatwick nor Denna were behind him. "Denna?...Chatwick?..."
"Doctor! Help!" cried Denna in return.
The Doctor spun around, his back now to Chatwick's room, and ran down to the opposite end of the hallway.
"Doctor!" called Denna's voice from the room on the Doctor's right. He burst through the door half way open door. No one was there.
As if his eyes were playing a trick on him, the Doctor shut his eyes closed for several seconds and then reopened them to the same outcome. The Doctor shook up head trying to clear his mind. "Denna?" he called out again.
"Doctor, please!" Denna cried once more. This time it sounded as if the cry came from across the hall.
"My ears must be playing tricks on me," the Doctor murmured to himself as he ran to the adjacent room. Again the room was dark and empty. The Doctor slammed his fist against the wall in anger.
The sound of little children rang throughout the entire house now, echoing up and down the stairwell. Then screams rang out form what the Doctor believed what back in Chatwick's room. The Doctor's hearts began to race as he raced back to Chatwick's room.
As he rounded the corner to enter Chatwick's room, he stumbled, tripped and fell, banging his head on the floor. The Doctor peered up from the floor, his vision hazy, saw what two blurry masses on the floor and a floating dark shadow behind them. As the shadow came down upon its two victims, the Doctor heard their screams once more before all he saw was blackness.
It had been a while since the Doctor had blacked out. It wasn't that bad, thought the Doctor. Until…slap…Denna's slap had woken him up right away. "Doctor! Get up! It's Chatwick!"
The Doctor sprung, not so gingerly, to his feet. "Where is the little fellow?" Denna pointed to the middle of the room where Chatwick stood, still as a stone, draped in the darkness. The Doctor picked up his sonic screwdriver off the floor, shining the light on the floor in front of him.
"Chatwick, are you alright over there?"
No response.
The Doctor continued to examine the room around him, but there was no sign of the ghostly spirits. He was just a few meters away from Chatwick when he spotted a sliver of dark red shadows, floating on the floor coming from Chatwick's direction.
"Doctor…the noise. It stopped." Denna pointed out.
"Indeed it did. I think whatever this is decided to focus its attention on something else." said the Doctor as he started to lead his screwdriver's light up towards Chatwick. There stood Chatwick, bathed in the red light from the sonic screwdriver with the dark red shadow pouring out throughout his plump body.
"Doctor, I tried to help him! I noticed he wasn't with us when you ran into that first room down the hall. I found him back here, but he seemed angry, even enraged, for some reason." Denna explained. "I think it was almost as if he didn't want us to catching that demon thing, and then it came over after us while you were fiddling around over there!"
"Chatwick, can you hear me?" the Doctor approached the young boy.
With a solemn look on his face, the boy's eyes flickered open, showing all whites. The darkness now suffocated the Doctor and Denna. True silence now rang supreme throughout the house.
"Those who are gone shall stay gone forever," came the familiar deep voice out of Chatwick's mouth.
"What do you want with these children?" the Doctor demanded.
"It is not I who wants, it is I who simply follows commands."
"Who's commands are you following then?" Denna forcefully asked.
"The one who summoned."
"Oh, stop beating around the bush! No need to be mysterious, we have you cornered this time," said the Doctor threateningly as he pointed his apparitorum right in Chatwick's face.
"Doctor, wait," Denna stopped the Doctor, "Just think about it. Who would want all of these kids gone? Who has the most to gain by everyone else in this house disappearing?"
A look of confusion onto the Doctor's face, "Their grumpy old landlord?"
"Come on Doctor, you're not that dense are you? Who would have ill will towards all those children? Even against Ms. Appleby?"
"What?! Chatwick!? No!" said the Doctor.
"Yes!" Denna vehemently said.
"No!"
"Yes!"
"N…"
"Yes Doctor!" said Denna cutting off the Doctor, "Why do you think Chatwick is the only one left in this house?"
Shock struck the Doctor's face, "The poor little guy. His emotions must have been so strong from all the times of getting picked on that it was like a calling card to these old spirits. What did you call this side of town?"
"Dead Man's Square."
"Well I guess it's not called that just to scare the kids away," the Doctor said matter-of-factly. "A lot of horrid things must have happened in this area in the past. It's like a paranormal hot spot."
"So what do we do about Chatwick?" asked Denna as Chatwick still stood there, entranced by the supernatural being, "He couldn't have willfully done this, right?"
"No, no, I don't believe so. It must have fed off of Chatwick's emotion and done what it believed its master wanted," said the Doctor, trying to work out the situation in his head. "We'll just have to act promptly."
"Right then," but before Denna could ask the Doctor his plan he aimed his apparitorum directly in front of Chatwick and began to try and extract the being.
"You said act promptly, not suck the life out of Chatwick!" Denna shouted.
"Not to worry!" the Doctor shouted back over the loud noise of the apparitorum working, "If my calculations are correct, once we extract the spirit from Chatwick, he and his friends should be fine. Besides…I didn't want to ruin my sneak attack."
"The other orphans? How are we going to get them back?" asked Denna as the dark thick shadow continued to be tugged out of Chatwick's body.
"It's quite simple. Ghosts and spirits do exist, just in a different dimension, that's why they are hardly seen or made contact with and that's the only logical place Chatwick's chums could have been taken so quickly. Once this little bugger is contained and displaced, that should release the spirits hold on them and send them right back to where they came from."
As the spirit was vacuumed out and sucked down into the apparitorum, high pitched squeals and thunderous low bellows wailed out of Chatwick, the lighting in the house began to flicker and as if for one last finale, the loud white noise rang supreme once more out of the Doctor's sound recorder until finally, with one last tug, the spirit was fully encapsuled into the apparitorum.
Chatwick's body automatically collapsed from sure exhaustion right into Denna's arms. As Denna struggled to support the little boy's cumbersome body, he began to sob. "Doctor," he cried, "I didn't mean it! I didn't mean to have all the other disappear. I was just upset and then all of a sudden they started to disappear. Ms. Appleby thought they were just playing a game at first."
"Oh, it's quite understandable Chatwick, don't worry. Besides, you're the hero of the day. You're the one who called for help, don't you remember?" said the Doctor as a smile snuck onto Chatwick's face.
"But what about everyone els…" but before Chatwick could finish, the sound of footsteps and chatter filled the once dim building.
Denna looked at the Doctor as surprised as Chatwick appeared. Before they could celebrate, all the orphans along with Ms. Appleby poured into Chatwick's small room. Then it was time for the Doctor to do what he does best: tell the tale of Chatwick's heroics and how he saved all of his pals and "the lovely Ms. Appleby," as he winked at the children's care-giver.
Though still confused at the Doctor's story, the other children couldn't help but sing the praises of the hero of the day, Chatwick, who now seemed to be right at home with the other orphans. And so, Denna and the Doctor headed out of the once grim orphanage, leaving it as a cheerful home.
"Shall we head back to The Eolian?" asked the Doctor as him and Denna left the last house at the end of the block.
"Certainly," Denna responded contently.
"Can it be our 'spot'?" asked the Doctor overeagerly, "I've never had a, how do the kids say it, 'hip spot' to 'chill' at."
Instead of criticizing the Doctor for another confusing statement, Denna decided to contently walk side by side with the Doctor. They slowly approached The Eolian as the last of the night hours waned on.
"So this is why you do it, huh?" Denna asked, finally breaking the comfortable silence. "For the satisfaction of saving someone's life…putting a smile back on their face."
"It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, yes, it makes everything else worth it."
The Doctor flashed his faux pipes as they reached The Eolian's door and waltzed down to a table of two. Denna ordered two drinks, one for herself and one for the Doctor. They sat sipping their drinks for a few minutes enjoying the good they had done earlier that night.
The Doctor cleared his throat, "So…" he nervously started, "What will you be doing now here in Imre?" he asked as if he had been waiting to have this conversation all night.
Denna laughed, "I won't be staying in Imre for long. I've decided I want to travel."
"Ah, sounds exciting. Where to?"
"I don't know, you tell me," Denna smiled.
The Doctor grinned ear to ear, worn lines creased around his cheeks. "I have to warn you, the Tardis has gotten a bit messy since you last were in it," the Doctor paused, "Traveling alone, you know, you tend not to pay attention to things like cleaning."
Denna laughed, "You'll just have to give it a quick scrubbing before I come in then, right?"
The Doctor looked down at his feet, like a child after being scolded by his mother, "Right," he muttered softly.
There was about an hour left before the tavern closed; however, the room was still buzzing with people chatting and gossiping. "It's pretty crowded for it being so late," Denna mentioned. The Doctor, decided to turn to the table next to them and uninvitingly interrupt the stranger's conversation.
"Excuse me good sir," the Doctor said properly, "What's all the hub-bub about?"
The tall slender man who sat closest to Denna and the Doctor's table slowly turned around, "You haven't heard?" came a high pitched voice, clearly coated with several cups of alcohol, "Two thugs, muggers, were struck by lightning down some alley a few blocks from here."
"Huh, well you don't see that every day," the Doctor retorted.
"That's not even it!" the blond haired man continued, "There wasn't any storm or anythin' tonight. Rumor has it that the lightning was called down by the guy who those muggers were after."
Both of the Doctor's eyebrows raised in curiosity.
"They say it was it was some younger lad, scrawny and red-haired. I'm bettin' no one's gonna ever mess with that kid again," the drunken stranger concluded, "I certainly wouldn't."
Denna's eyes lit up at the mention of a red-haired kid. "Well that certainly sounds like your little friend…what was his name again? Koyothe?"
"Kvothe," Denna said, "I didn't think he was that advanced in his studies yet…" she pondered.
"I surely must meet him now," said the Doctor with mischief in his eyes.
"Oh, I don't think so," Denna said plainly. "I was thinking," Denna changed the subject, "If I come with you, what do you think of kinda helping me with my musical studies?" Denna over-dramatically flapped her eyelashes.
"Certainly!" the Doctor said excitedly, "But first, I have to ask you… what do you know about The Chandrian?"
To Be Continued…