Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who
Chapter 6
Rapid bangs greeted the siblings' return to Sandwethers. Maddie jumped and clung to Tom. He hadn't talked much on the way home and when he tried, Maddie ignored him. Tom left her standing there, fuming slightly and eyebrows twitching.
Maddie followed Tom to the source of the sound was and found a number of students behind rifles. Tom had rejoined his friends. Michael glanced over at Maddie and the corners of his mouth twitched up. Geoffrey ignored her presence as he lifted a gun and shot, with alarming accuracy, the dummies across the yard.
There was a tug on her sleeve and Maddie looked down to see a boy with sandy hair. He was scrawny and had the look of someone who had been bullied. He couldn't be more than twelve. His hair fell messily around his ears and there was a gap between his two front teeth.
"What's your name?" Maddie asked. She found this boy charming.
"I'm Trevor Cardon," the child replied. "You're Smith's sister, aren't you?"
"Yes, I am. How do you know him?"
"I share a room with him and his friends."
Maddie had to resist cringing. Seeing the way the young men had treated Christine, she feared that they must have mistreated this young boy as well. "Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Cardon."
Trevor sprinted away from Maddie. This was the first time he had seen her and she was absolutely beautiful. Previously, Trevor had had not interest whatsoever in girls, but Maddie had piqued it. Her eyes were so kind and gentle. They were accepting and refreshing, especially compared with her brother's and his friends.
He returned to the range and stationed himself behind an unmanned gun. The artillery was heavy and he found it difficult to maneuver. His mind wandered to Maddie again and the weapon sagged.
"Pay attention, worm," Tom strode up behind him and smacked him upside the head. His hair swung into his eyes as his head shot forward. Expecting to see Michael behind Tom, Trevor turned to glare, but found Michael still at his rifle.
"Trouble, Tom?" Professor Vendren asked as he ambled nearer, clipboard in hand.
"Permission to beat this useless lump for not paying attention?" Tom seized Trevor by the back of the collar.
"Granted." The professor did not look up from his clipboard, but rather continued walking, occasionally chatting with the other young men as they loaded and fired their guns.
Tom dragged Trevor from the artillery and kicked him hard in the stomach. The wind rushed from Trevor's lungs as he curled in pain. He could not draw breath and his head spun. Trevor could see Tom's feet retreating back to his gun. As Trevor's vision cleared, he could see that Maddie was long gone, so there would be no pity or justice from her. He climbed slowly to his feet, gut still aching. Geoffrey was cleaning and putting away his gun, and Trevor decided to do the same.
Michael watched the entirety of the interchange between Trevor and Maddie, as well as Tom kick Trevor. Usually, he would have been right there beside him, but the idea repulsed him now.
Something was happening to Michael, and he could not explain it. It scared, exhilarated, and intrigued him. What had changed?
Nightfall took an excruciatingly long time to come. Today had been artillery practice, and Geoffrey had never enjoyed the recoil and loud noise that the guns emitted.
It had been a less than pleasant day for everyone. Michael and Tom were best friends and Tom had been out of town, Tom had come back from town quiet and grumpy, as had Maddie, and Geoffrey was not patient, so having to wait was difficult.
Michael began tossing his glass and catching it. He still had a lovesick look in his eyes and the sappy feeling that came off him was revolting. Tom sat at his desk, head in his hands when he started mumbling harshly.
"She's forgiven him? Why has she forgiven him? He practically ruined her life."
He continued grumbling for another hour before he started to nod off. Geoffrey glanced at the clock. It was near midnight. His chance was now or never.
"Does anyone fancy a wine?" he asked his roommates. "I fancy one."
"Can't," moaned Michael, jerking his head toward the sleeping Trevor. "Our friend is out of commission."
"I have a stash a few miles away," Geoffrey said as calmly as he could. "It will take me an hour at most to get it. I also have cakes."
"Since when have you had a private store?" Michael asked, sitting up and setting down his glass.
"I'll take that as a 'yes, I would like some, Geoffrey, thank you,'" Geoffrey got up and unlatched the window. Not waiting for any further answer, he swung his legs over the windowsill and climbed down the wall. Tom and Michael both came to the window to watch his descent. Once he reached the bottom, he headed toward a patch of woods that surrounded half of the yard. The thick trees and twigs scraped across his face and caught in his mop of uncombed hair. Navy sky, peppered with diamond stars, peeped through the branches and the hardened leaves beneath his feet crunched revealingly.
The wine and cakes themselves would not have taken more than about five minutes to get as he had left them inconspicuously in the shrubbery beneath Maddie's window. They were only an excuse to be gone an hour so he could discover the details he needed to animate the nightmares.
"Ah! It cut out again!" Geoffrey paused as a voice carried through the night. A figure appeared: the tall man from earlier, still accompanied by the red-head.
"Have you tried turning it off and turning it back on?" the woman asked, putting her hands on her hips and wobbling her head side to side as she spoke.
"Yes," the man said, shaking the black box in his hand. "We'll have to plug it back into the T.A.R.D.I.S. mainframe. Come on, Donna." They turned back the way they had come, adding crunching branches to the cacophony of crickets. Geoffrey headed back towards the school.
Once out of sight of his bedroom window, Geoffrey returned from the woods and strode up to the side of the building with Maddie's bedroom window. It was well past eleven forty-five, so he did not expect to be seen by anyone. He removed the box of goods from the bushes and set them on the lawn. With little effort, he scaled the pockmarked wall and reached Maddie's window on the third story. Geoffrey chanced to look down. He was at a dizzying height. It would be an embarrassing death if he should fall and be found beneath Maddie's window.
Shooing the morbid image out of his mind, Geoffrey pulled the key to the window from his breast pocket and strained to look beyond the thin curtain. The moon was full and bright, so he could easily see into Maddie's bed. She was fast asleep. Geoffrey unlocked the pane and pushed the glass in. He silently lowered himself into the bedroom and took a seat on the chair next to the opening. Curtains parted, Maddie was now bathed in silver moonlight and Geoffrey could see maybe why Michael liked her. She turned in her sleep and he decided he should get on with what he came here to do.
Closing his eyes, Geoffrey sharpened his senses to detect the fear that he had discovered the night before. It was easy to find. In a state of slumber, the wall between peace and nightmare was delicate, but was there nonetheless. Geoffrey found his consciousness on a grassy and beautiful plain. There was a swirling blue sky, like a Van Gogh painting, and the flowers moved, though there was no wind. There was one other living person here, but Maddie's back was turned to Geoffrey and she looked entranced by an image playing across a portion of the sky. It was a dream, but Geoffrey doubted that she would remember it, weak as it was.
Geoffrey turned around to find himself face to face with an enormous black box. He ran his fingers over it and smiled. This was the delicate wall between Maddie and her deep-set fear. It was smooth where he touched it, but cracks spider-webbed across the ebony surface as he tapped it.
Had Maddie been awake, the prison would have been impregnable. The thoughts binding away the fear were powerful. Tom had been right. But what was she afraid of? Geoffrey exited her mind and turned instinctively t open Maddie's trunk. Inside, resting atop the clothes, were a doll with orange hair, and a small stuffed scarecrow. So, that was it.
Reentering Maddie's consciousness, Geoffrey pondered at how deftly the wall had been put up. It wouldn't be enough to stop him. Dreams were a weakened state of consciousness. When in such a state, one was easily influenced by illogical monsters and insane ideas. It was a time when the walls of reality were thin.
Geoffrey caressed the black box before smashing his fist into its walls. The spider webs danced across the whole compartment and Geoffrey stepped back in anticipation as the box shattered and the pieces melted. A cloud of grey and fear swirled in place, as if unsure of what to do next. It shot outward, washing over Geoffrey and filling the plain. Scarecrows began to crop up around him and they all surged toward Maddie, invading the pictured dancing across the sky and surrounding her.
The world around Maddie exploded. She didn't know how she had gotten into the barn, or why she was there. Scarecrows began climbing from boxes and closets and marching toward her. When she pulled off the head of one, there was no one inside. She immediately knew then that they were coming to get her and make her one of them, to guard fields for an eternity.
She tried to run, but the world tipped and swirled sickeningly around her. There were arms reaching. Reaching. Always reaching. She tried to call for help, knowing someone would save her, but she had no voice. The rough sackcloth arms surrounded her and lifted her from the ground. Though these monsters had no muscles, they were strong and it was impossible to break their grip one they had gotten hold. A horrible, sick fear settled on her chest as they dragged her from the barn and to a field.
Maddie saw the post where she would spend the rest of eternity and tried to fight. Her body wouldn't move. The leering, disproportionate figures forced her into sackcloth like theirs and stuffed the sleeves full of hay. She began crying when they pulled the sack over her head. The scarecrows lifted her easily off the ground and they held her to the post as another monster neared with a length of rope.
"There it goes, Donna!" The Doctor shouted as the black box lit up. He pulled down a lever and pounded the T.A.R.D.I.S. console with a rubber mallet. "Let's see where the energy surge leads us."
This felt wonderful. Geoffrey had enjoyed the buried fear in the parlor, but this, this was a feast. The sky screamed; the grass shrunk back; the flowers wilted. He had not felt fear this strong in all his time and he loved it. But his job was finished. Michael and Tom would be expecting him and he could not be late lest he appear suspicious.
Geoffrey pulled himself reluctantly from the suffering mind, returned to that of a terrified seven-year-old. He had seen everything: the certainty that the scarecrows wanted to turn her into one of them, the years of being forced to play with dolls and draw picture of that which she most feared.
Maddie was tossing on the bed and shaking. Tears were leaking from her closed eyes and sweat was appearing in bead on her forehead. She cried out softly and Geoffrey willed her not to scream, willed her mental voice to be removed. Her lips parted in a silent shout of terror and Geoffrey backed toward the window.
He closed and locked the pane as he clambered down. As he dropped to the ground, the same saw-like noise he had heard earlier filled his ears and blue light pulsated behind Maddie's window. Taking hold of the box of edibles, Geoffrey checked his pocket watch by the light of the moon. It had been half an hour. He couldn't be much longer. He returned to the woods and circled the house.
"We missed it," the Doctor sighed, closing his eyes and placing a hand on the trembling girl's forehead. Her shaking stopped, but she still looked distressed.
"What's wrong with her?" Donna demanded, stroking the auburn hair. It was so soft.
"Something broke down her suppression walls," the Doctor said, reentering the T.A.R.D.I.S.. Donna followed. The T.A.R.D.I.S. hummed to life again. "If someone overcame a fear, the food supply for our traveler would be gone, but when someone suppressed a fear, it poisons the supply. The traveler just purified the poisoning. With that much power, who knows what else he could do?"
Michael stared at the ceiling. The springs in his bed pushed annoyingly against his back, constantly prodding him back into reality. He glanced over at Tom, who had maintained a sour expression since he had com home from his trip with Maddie.
"How was your trip into town?" Michael asked warily, knowing that Tom could explode any moment.
"Why?" Tom paced across the floor, the board creaking beneath his weight. Trevor's snores pierced the silence.
"I was merely curious." Michael backed out of the impending argument.
"Keep away from Maddie," Tom quipped flatly. He continued his long, even strides.
"What do you mea-"
"I've seen the way you act around her," Tom replied, barely waiting for Michael to finish. "Keep away."
"What makes you think I have any intere-"
"You've changed a lot over the past few days," Tom raged. "Don't think I don't recognize that you like my sister. If you know what's good for you, back off."
Michael closed his mouth, hoping that closing his side of the argument would stem the flow of Tom's. It worked and they sat in awkward silence until Geoffrey returned.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
I wrote this in hopes that
You'd read and review
