Hello everyone! Thanks for reading me again :)

Chapter 11 hasn't been much of a success aparently, do not hesitate to give me some advice, I'll be happy to imrpove :)

Here comes chapter 12, I hope you will like it!

Enjoy!

Melody - x.

Chapter 12

Back in the dining room, they had laid down Joe before the puppets. The Doctor scanned him and the puppets with his sonic screwdriver before covering the corpse with a white sheet.

"If we can wedge a chair under the door handles, that would stop anything from getting in." Rory said carrying chairs with Howie.

"Help yourself to tea." Rita said. "Guys, tea over here."

Melody watched Amy talking to the man from Tivoli. She smiled a bit: Amy had such faith in the Doctor. She will protect it.

Rita came towards Melody and the Doctor and offered them tea.

"What exactly happened to him?" she asked.

"He died." the Doctor simply answered.

"You are a medical doctor, aren't you? You haven't just got a degree in cheese-making or something."

"No, well yes, both, actually. I mean there is no cause, all his vital organs simply stopped, as if the simple spark of life, his loves and hates, his faiths and fears were just…" He sniffed the cup he was holding. "...taken, and this is a cup of tea."

"Of course I'm… British, it's how we cope with trauma." said Rita. "That and tutting."

"But how did you make it?"

"We're in an hotel Doctor. Even a mocked up alien hotel have a well stocked kitchen." Melody said. The Doctor looked at her. "Oh don't worry, Rita heard us when we arrived."

"Yeah. It's no more ridiculous than Howie's CIA theory or mine." the Indian woman said.

"Which is?"

"This is Jahannam."

"You're a Muslim!" the Doctor said with a smile.

"Doctor!" Melody exclaimed. "That's not a good manner to point at things like you do…"

"Don't be frightened." said Rita laughing.

"You think this is Hell?"

"The whole '80s hotel thing took me by surprise though." Rita answered with a nod.

"All these fears and phobias wandering about, most are completely unconnected to us, so why are they still here?" the Doctor asked.

"Maybe the cleaners have gone on strike." she joked.

"You're a right clever clogs." he laughed. "But this isn't Hell, Rita."

Melody listened to them talking for a bit when Rita said something that made her look up:

"Gibbis is an alien, isn't he?"

"Gibbis! That was his name! Why couldn't I remember!" Melody exclaimed. "Sorry…" she added after seeing the Doctor looking at her, frowning, with a confused look.

"Doctor look at this" Amy spoke up. " I found it in a corridor, I completely forgot I had it."

The Doctor took the papers she was handing him and tapped her forehead meaning 'memory of a goldfish!'. He started to read out loud.

"Er… My name is Lucy Hayward, and I'm the last one left. It took Luke first. It got him on his first day, almost as soon as we arrived. It's funny. You don't know what's going to be in your room until you see it, then you realise it could never have been anything else. I just saw mine, it was a gorilla from a book I had read as a kid. My God, that thing used to terrify me. The gaps between my worships are getting shorter, like contractions. This is what happened to the others… And how lucky they were. It's all so clear now. I'm so happy. Praise him."

"Praise him" Howie spoke up. All heads turned to him.

"What did you just say?" the Doctor asked him.

Melody sighed: she closed the door too late. Howie started to praise him. And if he had started, there was little chance she could be able to save him.

"Nothing" the boy answered. "Praise him!" he exclaimed without controlling it.

"This is what happened to Joe!" Gibbis said.

Then everybody started to speak at the same time, panicking, arguing.

Melody took the sonic from the Doctor's hand and pressed on the button, making a loud noise to claim the silence.

"Thank you." she said, handing it back to him.

"He'll lead it right here!" Gibbis said.

"What do you suggest?" Rita talked back.

"Whatever it is out there, it has obviously chosen Howard as its next course. Tragic though that is, this is no time for sentiment. I'm saying, if it were to… find him, it may be satisfied and let the rest of us go." he said before letting out a sigh and sitting down. "All I want to do is go home and be conquered and oppressed, is that too much to ask?"

"It's ok I'll stay with Howie. You take the others and go." Rita proposed.

"No, we stay together." said the Doctor. He then walked up to Gibbis. "Your civilisation is one of the oldest in the galaxy. Now I see why. Your cowardice isn't quaint, it's sly, aggressive. It's how that gene of gutlessness has survived while so many others have perished. Not today. No-one else dies today. Right?" he said.

Gibbis only nodded in response.

"Howie, any second, it's going to possess you again. When it does, I'm going to ask you some questions. Please try to answer them." the Doctor explained to Howie as he sat him down in front of the table where they were all sitting, observing the young boy. The Doctor sat down next to Melody and grabbed her hand. He gave her a little smile.

She was feeling so useless. She couldn't save Joe, she probably won't be able to save Howie, what was she supposed to do?

"I hope my mum's all right, she's going to be worried." Howie said before changing his attitude. Now he was smiling like a devil.

"Howie, you're next, we're all dead jealous so tell us…" started the Doctor. "How do we get a piece of the action? Why isn't he possessing all of us?"

"You guys have got...all these distractions." he answered, tapping his head. "All these obstacles. It'd be so much easier if you just let it go, you know. Clear the path."

"You want it to find you?" asked Amy. "Even though you know what it's going to do?"

"Are you kidding? He's going to kill us all! How cool is that?"

They all got up and moved a few steps away.

"It's as I thought, it feeds on fear." said the Doctor. "Everything, the rooms, Lucy's note, even the pictures in reception has been put here to frighten us. So we have to resist it. Do whatever you have to, cross your fingers, say a prayer, think of a basket of kittens, but do not give in to the fear."

"Ok but what are we actually going to do?" asked Amy.

"We're going to catch ourselves a monster" he answered with a smile.

Let me know what you think! :)