THE UNQUIET DEAD - Part Two
Jazmine, with a groan, came around. She blinked, reaching up to rub her eyes before looking around. She saw a man who looked rather ill, before noting she was in what someone would call a 'Chapel of Rest'. She glanced at the man again.
"Are you all right? You're kidding me, yeah? You're just kidding. You are kidding me, aren't you?" The man, however, ignored her. He climbed out of the coffin and walked slowly, like a zombie, towards her. Jazmine freaked out. "Okay, not kidding." She quickly ran for the door, banging on it loudly. "Let me out! Open the door! PLEASE! Please let me out!" Jazmine cried, looking over her shoulder briefly. The man was coming closer. "Let me out! Somebody open the door! Open the door!" She felt tears well in her eyes as no-one came, and gasped in fright as the man grabbed her. At this point, the door was kicked in, revealing the Doctor.
"I think this is my dance." The Doctor pulled Jazmine away, before checking her over quickly. Dickens looked mortified, and had a look of complete disbelief on his face.
"It's a prank. It must be. We're under some mesmeric influence." The Doctor didn't look impressed with him.
"No, we're not. The dead are walking." He turned back to Jazmine, giving her a soft smile. "Hi." Jazmine tried her best to return the smile.
"Hi." She nodded over to Dickens, knowing who he was from studying him, but wanting to be introduced. "Who's your friend?" The Doctor shrugged nonchalant.
"Charles Dickens." Jazmine nodded, trying not to look impressed.
"Okay." The Doctor then looked over to the man, a hard look coming onto his face.
"My name's the Doctor. Who are you, then? What do you want?" The man's mouth opened before several voices spilled out, all saying the same thing;
"Failing. Open the rift. We're dying. Trapped in this form. Cannot sustain. Help us. Argh!" A blue gas left the body, returning to a gas lamp before the corpse collapsed.
With a small sigh, the Doctor turned to look at the man and woman.
"Let's move this somewhere else, eh?"
With the woman, now known as Gwyneth, pouring some tea, Jazmine began to question Sneed.
"First of all you drug me, then you kidnap me, and don't think I didn't feel your hands having a quick wander, you dirty old man." She sneered at him, the Doctor frowning at the newly found information. Sneed, however, looked thoroughly insulted.
"I won't be spoken to like this!" Jazmine took no notice to him, instead carrying on with her rant.
"Then you stuck me in a room full of zombies! And if that ain't enough, you swan off and leave me to die! So come on, talk!" She demanded, glared at Sneed headily.
"It's not my fault!" He crumbled, "It's this house. It always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had much bother until a few months back, and then the stiffs, the er, dear departed started getting restless." Dickens scoffed, crossing his arms.
"Tommyrot." He sneered, shaking his head. Sneed rolled his eyes.
"You witnessed it. Can't keep the beggars down, sir. They walk. And it's the queerest thing, but they hang on to scraps." Sneed explained, looking towards the Doctor as he did. It was quite clear he could no longer look at Jazmine, as all she did was glare at him.
Gwyneth placed the Doctor's cup of tea on the mantle-piece besides him, nodding to him with a soft smile.
"Two sugars, sir, just how you like it." The Doctor gave her a brief smile of thanks, before returning to listening to Sneed.
"One old fellow who used to be a sexton almost walked into his own memorial service." He turned to Dickens, "Just like the old lady going to your performance, sir, just as she planned." Dickens scoffed again, refusing to believe it.
"Morbid fancy." The Doctor sighed, having enough of his stubbornness.
"Oh, Charles, you were there." Jazmine tried, but to no avail. Dickens just wasn't having it.
"I saw nothing but an illusion." He said hotly, looking away from the pair.
"If you're going to deny it, don't waste my time." The Doctor told him, "Just shut up. What about the gas?" He asked Sneed, leaning forwards slightly.
"That's new, sir. Never seen anything like that." The Doctor nodded at this information.
"Means it's getting stronger, the rift's getting wider and something's sneaking through." Jazmine, a little confused, turned to the Doctor.
"What's the rift?" The Doctor glanced at her.
"A weak point in time and space. A connection between this place and another. That's the cause of ghost stories, most of the time." Jazmine shuddered slightly, but didn't say anything.
"That's how I got the house so cheap. Stories going back generations." Sneed was interrupted as the door slammed, Dickens having had left. The Doctor sighed lightly, but didn't comment. Instead, he gestured for Sneed to continue. "Echoes in the dark, queer songs in the air, and this feeling like a shadow passing over your soul. Mind you, truth be told, it's been good for business. Just what people expect from a gloomy old trade like mine."
The Doctor nodded, before sighing lightly. He excused himself, leaving to head towards the Chapel of Rest to find Dickens. Jazmine pushed herself up, following Gwyneth into the kitchen area. She watched the woman begin the light the lamps, and decided to start the washing up for her. Gwyneth spun, watching her in slight horror.
"Please, miss, you shouldn't be helping. It's not right." Jazmine shook her head, smiling lightly at the girl.
"Don't be stupid. Sneed works you to death." She gently placed a plate on the side bit, "How much do you get paid?" Gwyneth smiled slightly at the lady's generosity.
"Eight pound a year, miss." Jazmine froze slightly, looking over at her shocked.
"How much?" Gwyneth nodded, smiling happily.
"I know. I would've been happy with six." Jazmine shook her head, forgetting how much that would have been now. In her time, eight pounds would last someone a day, never mind a year!
"So, did you go to school, or..?" She asked, looking back at the woman.
"Of course I did. What do you think I am, an urchin?" She smiled gently, "I went every Sunday, nice and proper." Jazmine paused, looking at her again.
"What, once a week?" Gwyneth nodded, oblivious.
"We did sums and everything." Gwyneth paused, looking around before towards the kind woman standing in front of her, "To be honest, I hated every second." Jazmine chuckled lightly under her breath.
"Me too." She paused, before looking down at the water, "Or, I'm guessing so."
"You don't remember, miss?" Gwyneth asked, shocked slightly. Jazmine sighed.
"I... A while back, I lost a lot of my memory. Didn't know where I came from, who my family was... Only knew my name." She scoffed slightly, "I always blamed myself, thinking it was my fault. Now?" she threw a towel down. "Seeing what's out there... I couldn't have just been me." Gwyneth looked at the woman, who was clearly in distress.
"Don't tell anyone," She decided to change the subject, "but one week, I didn't go and ran on the heath all on my own." Jazmine laughed.
"I wish I knew what I did," She frowned, "I have a feeling I didn't have a choice to skip," She shook her head. "Don't know why." Jazmine laughed, "Also have a feeling I'd always look at the boys a lot, don't know why either." Gwyneth blushed, looking away.
"Well, I don't know much about that, miss." Jazmine looked at her, cocking her head to the side to look the woman over.
"Come on, times haven't changed that much. I bet you've done the same." Gwyneth shook her head, "What? You've never watched a boy running, or playing football? Never?"
"I don't think so, miss." But with the way she looked away, avoided Jazmine's gaze, she could tell there was someone.
"Gwyneth, you can tell me." She said softly, "I wouldn't tell anyone. Besides, I bet you've got your eye on someone." She grinned slightly, causing Gwyneth to also grin.
"I suppose. There is one lad. The butcher's boy." She got a slightly dreamy look on her face at this, "He comes by every Tuesday. Such a lovely smile on him." Jazmine smiled, nodding.
"I like a nice smile," She paused, before grinning cheekily, "Good smile, nice bum." Gwyneth gasped slightly.
"Well, I have never heard the like!" Jazmine laughed, shaking her head. She grinned, nudging Gwyneth.
"Ask him out. Give him a cup of tea or something, that's a start." Gwyneth shook her head.
"I swear it is the strangest thing, miss. You've got all the clothes and the breeding, but there's just something about you, like you don't... Belong down here." Jazmine sighed, shrugging.
"Maybe I don't. Maybe that's a good thing, maybe not. I don't know where I belong, Gwyneth." She sighed, before looked up at the girl,"But I do know you need a bit more in your life than Mister Sneed." Gwyneth shook her head.
"Oh, now that's not fair. He's not so bad, old Sneed. He was very kind to me to take me in because I lost my mum and dad to the flu when I was twelve." Jazmine frowned, a look of sorrow in her eyes.
"Oh, gosh. I'm sorry." Gwyneth shook her head, smiling slightly.
"Thank you, miss. But I'll be with them again, one day, sitting with them in paradise. I shall be so blessed. They're waiting for me. Maybe your friend's dad's up there waiting for her, maybe your parents are up there too, miss." Jazmine froze.
"It's possible." She agreed, before looked at her quizzically, "Er, who told you he was dead? My friend's dad?" Gwyneth frowned, before shrugging.
"I don't know. Must have been the Doctor." Jazmine frowned.
"Her father died years back. Jackie always told us about him, you know. She'd always tell me he'd love me like his own, just like she does." Jazmine laughed lightly, "I don't know what I would've done without Jackie and Rose."
"But she's been thinking about him lately more than ever. And you, about your life before this, before you lost your memory." Jazmine frowned.
" I suppose so. How do you know all this?" Gwyneth chuckled lightly.
"Mister Sneed says I think too much. I'm all alone down here. I bet you've got dozens of servants, haven't you, miss?" Jazmine shook her head, playing with her fingers.
"No, I don't think so. No servants where I'm from." Gwyneth, however, shook her head.
"From where you think you're from," She took a sharp, deep breath, "Oh, and you've come such a long way."
"What makes you think so?" Jazmine asked quietly, looking at her expectantly. Maybe she knew something about her old life, maybe she could shed some light on some questions...
"You're from London." Or, maybe not. "I've seen London in drawings, but never like that. All those people rushing about half naked, for shame. And the noise, and the metal boxes racing past, and the birds in the sky, no, they're metal as well. Metal birds with people in them. People are flying. And you, you've flown so far. Further than anyone. The things you've seen. The light, the Angel of Time." At this point, Gwyneth had tears in her eyes, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, miss." Jazmine shook her head, walking closer to Gwyneth.
"It's all right." Gwyneth sighed.
"I can't help it. Ever since I was a little girl, my mam said I had the sight. She told me to hide it." Jazmine opened her mouth to talk, only to jump as the Doctor spoke.
"But it's getting stronger, more powerful, is that right?" Jazmine placed a hand over her heart, feeling it race. She scowled at the Doctor.
"All the time, sir." Gwyneth nodded, "Every night, voices in my head." The Doctor looked at the woman with a soft look.
"You grew up on top of the rift. You're part of it. You're the key." Gwyneth looked away, a far away look on her face.
"I've tried to make sense of it, sir. Consulted with spiritualists, table rappers, all sorts." The Doctor nodded at her.
"Well, that should help. You can show us what to do." Gwyneth, along with Jazmine, looked confused.
"What to do where, sir?" The Doctor grinned.
"Oh, didn't I mention? We're going to have a séance."
I promised this nights ago, and didn't get it finished. So, I rushed to get it done for something to be up tonight. I PROMISE, I will post the rest within the next two days. I have to revise my Spanish (need to remember an essay - kill me) But I will take time to do this. I know most of it (well, I say most...) Anyways!
Thanks to those who Favorited and followed my story! Thank you so much!
Love you guys!
- Seren12
P.S. I spent most of today, admittedly, watching Game of Thrones. Hooked on it, to be honest. I love it!
30/05/2014 - Sorry, not an update exactly. I've sort of revised the story, and decided to change some things. Mainly, as you'll notice in this chapter, the Bad Wolf part of it. Why? Well, Bad Wolf is and always will be Rose so why not make one up for Jazmine? Thanks for putting up with me, and if you're new here, you probably won't notice any difference. If you find any spelling mistakes, just drop a comment and I'll look over it again! Bleh, I'm shattered. Going to Manchester tomorrow as well! Thanks again, guys. - Seren12 x