Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who

Chapter 7

Maddie's head pounded at breakfast. She had woken up that morning from her worst nightmare in three years. There went the hope of being normal again. But, it was just a dream, nothing to be afraid of, or was it? Her head was still a tempest and the wall she had used to hold back all her fears had completely disappeared. Maddie felt ashamed. She was a logical young woman who was calm and not afraid of childish bad dreams.

Feeling foolish, Maddie returned to her room after the meal and retrieved her dolls from her trunk. She nearly dropped her scarecrow in a fit of inexcusable terror. An image of one much larger, reaching towards her, flashed across her mind and Maddie staggered and dropped to the floor. What was happening to her? Were all those years of therapy for nothing? The ragged toy leered up at her from the floor and Maddie crawled onto the bed, clutching the miniature version of herself to her chest. She was afraid that the harmless plaything would grow and take her away to become one of them.

They're going to find me, Maddie thought, shaking head to foot and backing herself up against the wall at the opposite end of her bed. They're going to find me and catch me, with their reaching arms and their scratching hay. They'll catch me and take me away to be one of them. A scarecrow bride, watching over the fields for eter…

With a frown, Maddie slapped herself, hard. Her cheek stung and tears welled up in her eyes, but the small doll didn't frighten her anymore. Maddie, she said to herself, scarecrows can't move. It was just a nightmare. You are brave and don't believe in magic. You're safe.

That evening, the nightmares returned. Now she was in the school yard, running, but tripping because of the numerous branches catching at her churning legs, tearing her dress.

The scarecrows closed around her in droves, and she fell, helpless, on her back. The reaching arms scratched across her face and wrapped around her, lifting her from the ground and carrying her away. Now she could see others and she tried to call for help, but nothing came out but a strangled whisper of a cry. Michael stood there, doing nothing and letting her be carried away. Maddie felt oddly betrayed.

Once again, the scarecrows took her to a field where she now met her monster groom. She had never before had that, but he watched witch empty eyes as she was dressed in the flannel and sackcloth and lifted onto the post. The cruel creature stepped forward and ran its straw across Maddie's face. She flinched and knew she would be there for the rest of eternity, guarding the fields without any effect, the crows laughing at her.

Geoffrey had told his roommates he was spending the night out. Hopefully they suspected that he had fallen in love at last and was spending time with whoever it was. He had tried to lead them to think that, especially since he now had his army, if only in thought so far.

The thick fumes from the candles helped clear Geoffrey's head as he paced, formulating his plans and piecing together the missing bits of Maddie's fears.

To allow the scarecrows to retain their physical shape, both he and Maddie needed to remain alive. Geoffrey decided to make them do what they always did to Maddie: make her one of them. The stronger her fear, the stronger the scarecrows. And the more powerful he felt.

As to the rest of the world, Geoffrey would have the monsters kill relentlessly. Maddie's young mind had created a perfect soldier. They were strong and could not die. To be most successful in his plots he would have to dress as a scarecrow and become one of them: guiltless. They would be more susceptible to his control if he were similar to them.

With the design in his mind, Geoffrey took a seat on an ancient rocking chair. The old wood was uncomfortable to sit on, but Geoffrey took no notice. He closed his eyes and delved into Maddie's mind, over a mile away. When he had broken the wall between Maddie and her fears, he had established a connection between her subconscious brain and his conscious one.

That was interesting. There was something new. Silly girl, Geoffrey thought upon seeing the scarecrow groom. It was a charming idea… perhaps he should implement it. No, he would have time for that later.

Scarecrows bloomed from splotches of color in his mind's eye, hideous, ragged and frightening to even him now. Geoffrey implanted the pictures in his sight and looked around the ramshackle hut. The images that he had forced to remain began to solidify. The yellow straw jutting from the ends of their arms scratched against whatever they touched. Geoffrey took the opportunity to admire his handiwork.

The monster leered at him through empty holes for eyes and a crudely stitched mouth. Its face was a rough sack, tied with twine around the bottom to make a head and neck. The creature was clothed in an aged checkered shirt and heavy trousers with holes in the knees. Hay stuck out from these holes, around the waist, from spots on the throat and from the ends of the sleeves. Ratty old shoes served as its feet, though they should have fallen off when the hideous nightmare took a step.

There were only these few scarecrows inside the shack, and Geoffrey needed ever so many more to create and army. He stood up abruptly from his chair and strode outside where his hut was surrounded by a vast field. He imagined a post appearing next to his front door and a long pole with a crooked crossbeam materialized before him.

"You," he barked to the scarecrows within his house, "get out here."

Once the figures exited the building, Geoffrey turned back to the field. Man-like shapes rose from the ground in droves. An army of scowling monsters faced him, still, silent and waiting. They separated to go where Geoffrey had ordered them to go with his mind: unused closets, empty fields and quiet alleyways. They would awaken the next afternoon, ready to wage the war against humanity.

The crowd had thinned considerably before Geoffrey reentered the hut. Since there were no curtains for the windows to block out the stream of heavy moonlight, Geoffrey found that he could not fall asleep on the thin cot in the corner of the room. He lay there for several hours, silence pressing in on him, broken only by the soft ticking of a clock. The ticking got louder and harsher as the time passed.

Awake, strained, excited and tired, Geoffrey passed the long night.

Sparks exploded over the T.A.R.D.I.S. console.

"What happened?" Donna demanded, shielding her head. "Doctor?"

"Huge surge in energy!" the Doctor bellowed over the multiple sirens, unplugging multiple wires until the sparks stopped and the alarms died down. He ran over to grab a fire extinguisher, using it to put out patches of flame. "All that clean fear that that girl released last night, used up. The question is: what was it used for?"

Roses are red
Violets are blue
I wrote this in hopes that
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