Chapter XCIII
Mira
"Wait," she said as she followed the Doctor, clutching his hand. "A green dress you said? A long one?"
"Yeah," he replied, "Why?"
"There was a woman on the picture in that other room – where something pulled my hair. There was an old man on it, and a woman standing a bit behind him, wearing a long green dress. With lace. I wondered why she's with her back to the viewer; staring out the windows."
"So then there really is a woman in a green dress?" he replied without stopping.
At least he seemed to know where they were heading, even though she had no idea. But for some reason she wanted to see that picture again.
"Can we stop when we pass the room with the picture again? Should be close to the door to the main hall anyway. Maybe there's a hint of who she is..."
"I thought you wanted to leave?" he said reluctantly.
"Well, yes, but- There's something about her if you saw her and, well. As you said, maybe someone needs help."
Truth was, she herself did not know why she really wanted to have another look on that picture. She still felt trapped in this weird mood, feeling strangely at home here whilst her conscious thinking was on the verge of panicking. She didn't even mind the darkness that much any more and did not think about lighting the candle again.
She didn't even wonder about the fact that the Doctor found the way back to the small library rather quickly.
Doctor
They were staring at the painting – well, at least he was, as it must be too dark for Mira to see anything, and indeed, the woman showing only her back could have well been the figure he had seen. He was about to shove his hands in his pockets, but he caught a strand of Mira's hair between his fingers.
"Ouch!"
"Sorry," he said, untangling his fingers and finally reaching for his pockets.
So was it an actual ghost? Should they now search around the house for her grave? Or search for her bones and then give her a decent burial? No, that was just stories and fairy-tales. But why had he seen her standing there then?
Suddenly Mira turned around and left the room – he couldn't help himself but she almost looked like as if sleepwalking. Her movements slightly stiff and her steps a bit insecure.
"Oi! Mira? Where are you going? Don't run off again...," he said quietly and followed her.
She didn't turn around but walked over to the bedroom where he had been lying on the bed not too long ago. There she determinedly walked over to a wooden wardrobe and opened it. There was a lot of stuff in it, but she grabbed in it unerringly and seemingly without searching for even a second, pulled out a piece of clothing and held it out in front of her. Then she went over to a standing mirror in one of the corners, finally letting him see reflected in the mirror what she had pulled out of the wardrobe. It was a green, long dress. Her head was bowed, looking down on the dress, not looking at her reflection, her hair falling over her face.
"Mira, you should put that back," he said.
Riddle to solve or not, he wanted to get out of here – if only for her mental stability.
"Isn't it nice?" she said, obviously not listening to him at all, with a voice not quite her own.
When she finally turned around to him he instantly regretted that he had wished for it a moment ago. What looked at him made him jump back almost as mortified as he had been earlier when hearing her voice behind him. She had lifted her head and stared straight at him, and even after blinking once or twice he was not quite sure if he had only imagined what he had seen a second ago. Now her face was her own again. But, just for the fracture of a second, not she but someone – something – else had stared back at him, a white, hollow face with dark and empty eye-sockets. Almost like a skull. Had it just been the shadows playing tricks on him? Must be.
"What is it?" Mira asked, sounding a bit more like herself again – and then sneezed. "Excuse me. God is that old thing dusty."
"Bless you," he said, still absolutely dumbfounded, and watched as she threw the dress carelessly on the bed and then walked over to the window. "Just- I- For a moment I thought- Well, nothing. Forget it."
He still wasn't over the fact that he was so obviously hallucinating and without any real explanation for it. Well, actually it were pseudo-hallucinations, as he was aware of the fact that it wasn't real. Well, almost. Not quite. He had believed the woman had been Mira, until he had heard her voice from behind, so that would pass as an actual hallucination.
"Come on," he said, "We're almost back at the main hall. Lets go-"
But she again didn't listen. Instead she reached for the handle and opened the window. It creaked protestingly in its hinges, but it swung open. A breeze of cold air came in, playing with her hair.
"Fresh air, certainly helps with the dust," he continued, "But now lets go, come on!"
He turned around, hearing her shuffling at the window. "Yes, close the window, we won't leave a mess and then-"
He could feel that something was not quite right. He couldn't say what or why he turned around to her again, but when he did he saw her climbing right up the windowsill and then leaning forward.
"NO!"
Mira
"What in hell is the matter now?" she yelled as she suddenly found herself wrapped tightly in his arms, fighting for her balance as he tried to drag her along. "Let go-" she yelled but broke into a scream as she managed to get a glimpse at his face – well, at least she had thought it was him all along. But now she stared into dark, empty eye-sockets in a white, weirdly hollow face and she quickly closed her eyes and started to hit and kick only to get out of this monsters grip, but all her attempts were to no avail, her arms were pinned to her sides as it obviously was much stronger than she.
"Mira, it's me! Stop hitting me, please. What's wrong?"
She recognised the voice, but she also knew what she had seen. A feeling of utter panic crept up her throat, chocking her, drowning out any rational thought she might have been able to come up with.
"Mira, stop it, please. Look at me- Ouch! That was my shin! Stop kicking me, please!"
She heard the words but all she could think of was this horrible face she had started into a moment ago, and only when she felt a familiar and calming presence touching her mind she stopped kicking whoever was holding her; even though she did not dare to look up.
"It's me," the voice repeated. "Just look at me, please."
"No! Let go of me," she said, remembering all to well what she had just seen.
"Only if you promise me you're not heading for the window again! Come on, open your eyes, please."
"What!?" she said, and, more out of surprise than a conscious decision her eyes flew open and she dared to shoot a quick look at his face.
This time she met dark eyes instead of empty eye-sockets, eyes which were anything but empty. His face was also back to normal again.
"What did you see?" he asked quietly, his arms still wrapped around her.
"What?"
"When you looked at me and started screaming, what did you see?"
"Your face...," she replied slowly, "It looked different. Somehow... I don't know, probably just the shadows in here."
"Dark, empty eye-sockets? Pale and hollow?" he asked, something in his voice making her shiver.
"Yes, why- And why are you holding me like that?"
"You were about to jump out of the window."
"What? Why would I do that?"
"I don't know, you tell me. I watched you getting that dress from the wardrobe, and then, without any explanation you just walked over to the window and started to climb on the windowsill-"
"What?" she said and looked around herself. They were back in the bedroom, the wardrobe was open and there was a dress lying on the bed. The window was open, cold night-air coming in.
"We were standing in that small library, looking at the painting, and suddenly you grabbed me as if there's no tomorrow!"
"You don't remember anything?" he asked, finally letting her out of his grip, but still holding onto her hand.
She shook her head and walked over to the window, he following her, slowly looking down. It was higher than she had thought; sure, it was the first floor, but the courtyard she was looking at must be slightly beyond ground level. It was paved; she would have seriously injured herself when jumping down, if not died. And she couldn't remember a thing of what had been going on the last minutes.
"By the way, sorry for kicking you," she said slowly, "I didn't mean to, but-"
Suddenly the ceiling was shaking under heavy footsteps. It also sounded like there were steps down the hallway, but she wasn't certain of it.
"Is there someone?" the Doctor whispered.
"I don't know," she replied, fear clouding her mind, making it impossible for her to tell if there was another living being somewhere near. "And honestly, I don't care. Run!"
And so he did, still holding her hand and pulling her with him, all the way back to the door leading to the entrance hall. She did not dare looking back even once – but she knew that something was close behind her, only waiting for her to stumble or waste time in looking back so it could catch up and grab her.
Doctor
"It's locked!" he yelled after trying the front-door. He was certain he hadn't locked it when coming in, and neither had Mira – but frankly, he didn't care much about how it got locked right now. More important was to unlock it.
"Deadlocked!" he added after trying it with his Sonic.
"What?!" Mira yelled, "How-"
Her voice was drowned by another violent rattling of the door leading to the west wing. Seemed whatever had followed them through the hallway was determined to break through the door. For a moment they stared at each other and he saw the panic in her eyes – panic he could feel himself now, a feeling that – at least for him – was totally inappropriate in this situation. But he couldn't help it. He had tried it the whole time, but in vain.
He was pushed aside by Mira who tried the door herself now. "Locked!" she said disbelievingly. "The windows!" she added.
Next thing he saw was her climbing up the windowsill, searching for something at the sides of the massive windows. "Is there a handle?" she asked him. "Can you see a handle anywhere?"
"No," he said slowly, "There's no handle."
"What?"
"Maybe there's another door somewhere... They must have a back-door!"
"Do I look like I've time to search for another door?" she yelled at him, and another banging on the doors leading to the wings convinced him that he didn't file like searching for a back-door either.
"Maybe I can break the glass with the Sonic..." he said and knocked against it. It felt weirdly solid. "But it may take some time..."
Meanwhile, Mira had jumped off the windowsill and was shuffling around behind is back.
"Step aside!" he heard not a moment later, just as he was the glass poking with the Sonic Screwdriver.
"What? Why, I-"
"Get out of the way! NOW!"
He jumped aside, turning around. She had grabbed a big footstool in both hands making him realise what she was about to do.
"Don't, it'll-"
"Step aside!" she repeated, swinging the stool behind herself, gathering momentum so she could throw it with more force.
He jumped further aside and, as the stool went flying past him, he hurried to get behind her. To his surprise it not only went right into one of the lower parts of the window – but right through it. He had halfway expected it to bounce back, but the glass shattered and splinters and shards went flying with a loud clinking sound. Only an instance later Mira was removing some of the larger shards still sticking to the lower frame and the beams separating the massive window with a poking stick.
"Come," she said, "Let's get out!"
He didn't need any more of an invitation, and a moment later they both went through the broken window, jumping down the five foot to the ground, glass shards scrunching under their feet as they landed.
He looked around and found the area bathed in moonlight, as they clouds had vanished by now. It was still stormy though, and as he wanted to turn around to look at the house again, Mira took his hand and pulled him with her.
Well, he didn't feel like staying any longer anyway. They ran all the way back to the TARDIS and once their, he hurried to unlock the door. Once inside, Mira slammed it shut, locking it from the inside and then, her back leaning against it, sliding to the floor. He sat down next to her, and for a while they just tried to catch their breath. Well, Mira more than him, so he tried to make sense of what had just happened.
"What was that, for all planets?" Mira finally said, her head turned to him.
"I... I don't know," he said with a frown on his face. "Happens rarely enough, but I actually don't know."
"Bloody hell," she replied and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Sorry, but that's all I can think of. We're definitely not going back there."
"Well...," he said, stretching the word, causing her to lift her head for a moment, staring at him. "Maybe later? When the sun's up?"
She just sighed, leaning her head against his shoulder again.
"Fancy a tea?"
"Only if there's a good shot alcohol in it," she replied.
...
"We should really go back and take some scans," he said, "Just to prove my theory. Not that I think it's wrong, but still, we-"
"What theory?" Mira said and looked up. "Thought you have no idea what was going on in there."
She was holding a cup in both of her hands and the strong smell of the whisky he had put in it filled the room. The bottle was still on the table, a rather old one he thought he'd never open as he normally wasn't that into alcohol, at least not in his current regeneration. Robert Burns had given it to him once, and it had been old already back then.
"That was like twenty minutes ago," he replied indignantly. "But now I think you were just influenced by the building itself. Somehow it was built on a strong, naturally occurring energy source, five or probably even six dimensional. Somehow it acts a s an accumulator for everything which has happened in this it. You were just sort of reading, or receiving, it. I mean, you are definitely sensitive to time and-"
"Oh, finally admitting it?"
"-and not only that, but also to other multi-dimensional energy sources, like the universe itself, and if a house or something else is build in a place where probably even multiple streams of those energies intersect, they will get influenced and charged by whatever happened. Acting like film in a camera, if you want to use that overly simplified image, and with a rather simple brain as the human brain, most of all not made for interpreting stuff like that, you might have misinterpreted some of these things, leading to-" he stopped at the look which had grown on her face. "You don't believe me?"
"Does that explain the rattling and banging sounds?" she replied. "We saw the doors moving. And, most of all, you experienced the same stuff with your not-so-simple, non-human brain."
"Uhm, well-"
"And you were on the verge of panicking. How so if you should be able to interpret it properly?"
"I wasn't panicking!"
"You were. Don't ask me how, but I do know. Something is definitely going on between us, and even though I'm still not able to read your emotions as I am with others, you're not a complete black box to me any more either. So I'm afraid but I think your theory is not quite working out. And yes, just for the records, you were panicking as well," she said and blinked at him teasingly.
"You might have influenced me," he said, trying to defend his theory. Not that he didn't like whenever she was opposing him, in fact it was one of the things he so loved at her, but now he was desperately trying to find an explanation. "I mean, you are right, something has changed between us," he added, deeply in thoughts. And he had no idea what and why, nor had he been able to tell where this all was heading, and it probably was much more than he had bargained for in the first place, but he didn't regret a thing. Even more so after having been human for a while, understanding what it meant for them to be in love with someone, and then being close to her in a not so new way for him, and yet entirely different from what he had occasionally done with other humans before – maybe there was a deeper, subconscious connection between them, one he wasn't entirely aware of just yet.
"That still doesn't explain everything we saw," she replied. "Assuming we didn't hallucinate. I mean, don't get me wrong, the theory of buildings and structures somehow storing images and even emotions of what had happened within their walls is actually a rather common theory to explain ghost phenomenons, but frankly, whatever happened in there goes a bit beyond that in my opinion. What about the two rooms? The one you said was mirrored? Seems like they weren't two different rooms after all."
Well, there went his theory.
"Fine, I can't explain that," he said defeatedly. "Yet. Oh! At least whoever pulled your hear was not a ghost!"
"What?"
"It was me!"
"Yes, but the first time you weren't in the room with me, so- Oh. Seriously?"
"That backs up my theory about recording things. Probably it works backwards in time as well. There was no ghost behind you, it was me, accidentally pulling your hair. My future me. Well, future me at this time, now it's my past-future me, so-"
"Still doesn't make any more sense to me, I'm afraid. But I really have enough for today," she said and yawned. "Good night."
Mira
It was broad daylight, puddles gleaming in the sun. The air was cool but not too cold; all in all a rather pleasant day. He had finally managed to convince her to go back to the house, just to have a look at it, not to set a foot inside. And yes, it was nagging at her as well, and now, with the sun out and some hours past - she almost thought herself foolish to freak out like she had when running down the hallway towards the exit – thinking something was behind her. She had been freaked out to no end, but certainly nothing had been hunting them, had there? She only hoped they wouldn't run into someone holding them responsible for the smashed window – a smashed window which didn't look that smashed any more she had to admit as they were approaching the house. The windows were gleaming in the sunlight, and they seemed to be unbroken. Actually, the whole house did look much brighter, much more inviting and not at all creepy any more.
"Someone did repair the window," the Doctor said as they were merely ten feet away.
"I don't think so," she replied. "When? Last night in the dark? You're sure it's the same time?"
"Yup," he said. "We stayed in place with the TARDIS the whole night."
"But I did smash the window, didn't I?"
"You did, I saw it. We jumped down," he replied. "Maybe it was the left one?"
"That's not broken either," she said and rolled her sleeve up. "I cut myself on a shard," she continued, and indeed, the cut was still there. "See?"
"Ouch! Why didn't you tell me?"
"It's just a cut, that's w-" she stopped as the Doctor, who had been gazing through the window, suddenly ducked. "What?"
"Someone's home!"
"What? No one's living here! It was all dusty and stale and-"
We left quite a mess, she was about to add, as the door swung open. An old man, maybe in his late seventies looked at them, the very picture of an English gentlemen. Human, as far as she could tell.
"Can I help you?" he asked.
"Oh-"
"Uhm-"
They both stuttered, until she finally found her words again. "I'm so sorry. We didn't know someone's actually living here! We would have never stared in your windows otherwise-"
"Yeah," the Doctor added, "Sorry. It's such a lovely house, and-"
"We'll be on our way. Sorry again," she added and pulled him with her down the way through the park.
As they were around a bend and out of sight of the house, she said, "That was the man on the painting. With the woman in the green dress. That was him, I swear!"
"I know," he replied.
"He's human – well, at least he's very good at pretending that he is," she added.
"Is he?"
They were walking in brooding silence for a moment, then she said, "You know what? Sometimes you just have- If you can't explain certain things, you- You just have..."
"Just have to accept them?" he helped her out.
"Yes. Yes, that's what I'm trying to say. Let's just never talk about the last twenty-four hours again, okay? At least not in public."
"Okay," he agreed. "Fine with me. Let's go and pick up Martha."
Arashi – IV of VI, oXxgeorgiaxXo, heroherondaletotherescue, E-man-dy-S, OneWhoReadsToMuch, bored411, MiaEther: Thanks for leaving a review :-)
