Chapter 5

The Next Move

Michael walked up to the kitchens end of the cafeteria, grabbing a tray and giving a small nod and smile to the cook's cheery greeting.

"So Mikey, how's things?" She said. Mrs. Court was a good friend of Michael's foster parents, and she had taken it upon herself to watch over Michael since his new parents weren't able to. She was a small, plump, older woman, with short, curly hair that might have once been a dark brown, but now was almost completely silver. The color suited her, matching her bright blue eyes and cheery smile. She had the disposition of a sweet, but strict grandmother, which Michael loved about her.

"They're good," Michael said, holding out his tray. She handed him half a sandwich with a smile. It was what he always had- half of a veggie sandwich with rye bread- Michael wouldn't touch meat.

"Put some Mayo on it for you," Mrs. Court said, "Know how you like some on your sandwiches."

"Thanks," Michael smiled, "Mrs. Court?"

"What, sweetie?" She asked as she started wiping down the counter, Michael had been the last in line.

"Have you met the three new people?" Michael asked. He was curious about those three, and the investigators, but it would seem more normal if he was asking about the new hires. He knew for a fact that Mrs. Court didn't trust the authorities. A few years beforethe kind old lady's niece had gone missing, but the authorities had given up on their search for the young girl under the excuse that they believed the girl had ran away. Coming from a very low class family, no one outside of Mrs. Court's extended family cared at all about it, the police department in that district was known to be more corrupt than not. So, Michael stuck to asking about the new hires.

"Yeah, I have," She said, pausing, she breathed out a heavy breath, shaking her head, "They're some interesting kids, those three. Now," She leaned forward, "Don't tell anyone I said this, but… I'm not too sure about the nurse and his wife, both of them seem to… well… not really know what they're doing. If you ask me, they need to spend more time with a professional, not try and jump right into the trade."

"What about the history teacher?" Michael asked, that was the one he was most curious about.

"Ohhh… that one… well, he seems distracted but…" She shrugged, "Seems like a good guy, I'd trust him Mikey." With that, she smiled, leaned over the counter, sneaking a small candy bar onto Michael's tray with a wink, "See you at dinner. And as always," She put a finger to her lips and pointed at the candy.

Michael nodded and smiled, "Thanks."

She nodded and returned to cleaning.

He moved off into one of the unoccupied corners of the cafeteria and quickly ate his sandwich, slipping the candy into his pocket. It was half of a bar of dark chocolate, Michael's favorite. Taking care to watch the monitor- one of the older student's science teacher who seemed bored out of his mind- Michael broke a small piece off and ate it, letting it melt slowly in his mouth, savoring the sharp flavor.

After he finished, Michael cleaned up his area and, throwing his napkin out, he placed the tray in the small pile next to the door and headed out of the cafeteria, planning on going to his room to try and start on his intro Chemistry homework.

"Michael! Hey! Michael!"

Michael couldn't help but roll his eyes in annoyance- Kevin Merits. Hadn't he already gotten Malcolm to talk to those investigator's?

"What?" Michael said, turning around. While he did like Kevin, the twelve year old could get on his nerves.

"Seen Malcolm?" Kevin asked nervously.

"No, I thought you were gonna ask-"

"I did," Kevin cut him off.

"So why're you asking me?" Michael said, he really needed to get that homework done, he didn't have time tonight, there was a Hall trip that night into Marksborough. Every month each hall in the dorms(there were four) went on an evening trip into town as a group, with a teacher and their Dorm head acting as the chaperone/leaders. It would be fun if Michael had any friends on his hall, now it was just a forced waste of precious homework time.

"I asked him, and he said he'd meet up with me after lunch, but I can't find him," Kevin said, close to tears.

"Where'd you last see him?" Michael sighed, apparently he was just going to have to risk pushing the 'lights out' rule that night. He knew he was going to have about twice as much homework in his math class(Algebra) along with finishing an English essay of his take on a short reading they had read in class- 'The Keys to Childhood'.

"Marine science room," Kevin said.

"So why don't you go check there?" Michael asked, getting even more annoyed.

"Those guys who're investigatin' are there," Kevin said.

Michael was about to mention how stupid it was that Kevin was scared of the very people he had been trying to help earlier, when he was distracted.

"Hey Mike," The voice sent shivers down his spine.

No. Not now. This couldn't be a dream. No way. He was awake, wasn't he?

Michael took a deep breath, trying as hard as he could not to shout. He didn't want to seem crazy.

"Mike? You alright?" Derik asked, moving to stand next to Kevin who didn't seem to notice the older boy standing an inch next to him. "Mike. What's wrong?"

Michael didn't speak, noticing that Kevin was staring at him as though he was going mad.

"Michael? You okay?" Kevin asked, he seemed concerned and…. Yep… scared.

"Mike, look, I'm sorry if I scared you earlier," 'Derik' said. He couldn't possibly be here, and Michael was positive this wasn't a dream.

"Hey! Boy!"

"No!" Michael couldn't help but scream, he turned around and sprinted away from an extremely confused and worried Kevin Merits.

"Michael! What's wrong!" Kevin sprinted after him.

"Come here!" The gruff voice seemed even louder than a second before.

"No! Get away from me!" Michael screamed.

"Mike, come back! Stop!" It was Derik again. Michael hesitated for a second, remembering his dream, then stopped. He turned around and saw both Kevin and Derik sprinting towards him.

"Mike," Derik stopped to catch a breath as he ran up next to Michael, Kevin arrived a few seconds later, "Don't do that, please."

"Michael… what was that about?" Kevin asked, he was breathing heavily.

"Thanks kid, I hate it when the boy runs," The voice was there again, accompanied by the nightmarish smell of alcohol and sweat. Then, the feeling of hard, calloused hands gripping his wrist.

"No," Michael stared at Derik. How could he do this?

Derik shrugged, "You really think I care?"

Michael couldn't take it anymore. He screamed. He felt as though his throat was being torn out, but still he screamed. He had to be free of this nightmare of torture and betrayal. He collapsed to the ground, not taking notice of the disappearance of the hard, vice-like grip around his arm.

"Michael!" Kevin was shouting now, he seemed to swallow his fear and moved close to Michael. The screaming boy flailed his arm out and hit Kevin hard in the face.

"Get away!" Michael wanted to curl up in a dark closet, the location known only to him. Just to hide, and be free of these nightmares from his past.

"Hey! Hey, hey…" A new voice came, deeper, accented, calming. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Michael had stopped screaming, but he refused to move from his position in the middle of the hall, curled tightly in a ball.

"I don't know," Kevin. He seemed close to tears once more, "He just started running. Then he stopped. Then… he started screaming and he hit me."

Michael glanced out from behind the shelter of his arms. Kevin had a large red mark on his cheek, giving Michael a painful shot of guilt. The other boy seemed terrified. Now that he had calmed down slightly, Michael noticed how the world seemed to shake and now had a blurry quality to it.

He was shaking and crying.

He felt a warm, gentle hand on his shoulder.

"You okay?" The man asked.

Michael shook his head and tried to move away, but the man pushed down gently, just hard enough so Michael couldn't move far.

"I'm just trying to help," The man said, "Look, whatever you were scared of, it's gone now."

Michael shook his head, "It's never gone."

"What?" The man said in confusion.

"He's never gone…" Michael sobbed, thinking of Derik, "How's he here? How can he be here? He's dead!"

"What? Who's dead?" The man asked quickly.

"He's dead," Michael whimpered.

"Who?"

"Derik."

The man gently moved Michael's arms, showing him a young man with a larger-than-normal nose and kind eyes.

"Who's Derik?" He asked softly.

Michael just shook his head, pressing his forehead into the floor, anything to not make eye contact with the man. Now that they were he just felt silly for the way he acted when he saw the… ghosts?

"Okay… here, come on," The man helped Michael up gently, "Here, I've got a friend who'll do a good job cheering you up. I'm the nurse by the way, Rory… um… Mr. Williams," The man introduced himself.

"I'm Kevin… he's Michael," Kevin said quietly when it was obvious Michael wasn't going to respond.

"Right, um… I think they were over in the science wing," Mr. Williams said, thinking for a moment, "Marine something…"

"It's this way," Kevin said, almost in a whisper. If Michael hadn't been so shaken, he would have been surprised at how Kevin was able to talk to the stranger so well.

They walked for a couple minutes in silence, Kevin leading the way and Mr. Williams walking close to Michael. As they neared their destination, Mr. Williams spoke.

"Kevin, when we're done here, I'll get something for your cheek," He said, "Just and ice pack or something."

"Thanks," Kevin said just as they came around the corner.

Standing in the middle of the hall, biting her nails, was a young woman. She had bright red hair and was dressed in an outfit Michael was pretty sure Ms. Trails wouldn't approve of.

"Rory!" She said, "God, I've been so worried! Look something's happened."

It was then that she caught sight of Michael and Kevin.

"Rory," The red head hissed, coming towards them, "You can't bring them here," She motioned towards the two seventh graders.

"Amy," Mr. Williams said, "Something just happened, and I need to talk to the D-"

"What about?" Mr. Smith strolled up to them, he seemed worried about something. When he caught sight of Michael he smiled, "Michael and… Kevin right?" His smile slipped, "Merits?"

Kevin nodded.

"Do-"

"Rory," Mr. Smith said, "Why are they here?"

"That's what I need to talk to you about," Mr. Williams said.

"And we need to tell you something too," The red head, who Michael now guessed to be Mrs. Williams said.

"What?"

"It's about Kevin's brother," Mr. Smith said, "Although, Ms. Trails probably should be here." Mr. Smith nodded towards Kevin. Mrs. Williams seemed to get the message and with a hurried 'Be right back' she sped off somewhere back into the main section of the school.

"So… what did you want to talk to me about?" Mr. Smith turned to Mr. Williams.

"Oh, um… well, it's… well it's about these two," He motioned towards Kevin and Michael.

Mr. Smith nodded, "What about them?"

"Nothing sir," Kevin said, "We were jus' playing."

Michael had to give him credit for the lie- even though it was terrible, the other boy's voice didn't shake one bit.

"That's right sir," Michael backed him up, "We were just fooling around, but I tripped and hit my head, it hurt a lot."

"Why didn't you tell me that earlier?" Mr. Williams asked, clearly not believing them.

"We're afraid you were gonna be mad at us," Kevin said, "We're not 'posed to run in the halls. Didn't wanna get in trouble."

"Alright," Mr. Smith said, "Have you given him an icepack for that?" He pointed towards Kevin's cheek, "Don't want that to bruise up badly. Although… pack of peas might be better. I mean an ice pack's fine, but just the fact that you can use peas for something other than eating is fantastic. Although… I don't -particularly like peas-"

"Doctor," Mr. Williams said, but a second later - "John!"

"Oh, sorry," Mr. Smith said, "Rambling…"

"And no, I haven't, but I was about to," Mr. Williams said.

Michael ignored him, staring at the history teacher.

Could he really be the Doctor?

Michael's thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the Headmistress. She seemed worried, and extremely saddened by something.

She paused before she spoke, "Kevin…"

"What happened to Malcolm?" The small boy asked, "They said something happened to him."

Ms. Trails took a deep breath, she seemed close to tears, "Kevin I'm so sorry…"

As soon as Amy arrived with Ms. Trails, the Doctor led Rory into one of the nearby rooms, where the nurse quickly told him what had happened with the two boys.

"And then, I came to find you," He finished.

"Okay… thanks," The Doctor said, his mind racing with possible causes, "And you said Michael told you he had seen someone he knew to be dead?"

"As far as I could tell, yes," Rory said, "I mean it was more… 'He can't be here… he's dead', so I guess so."

"Right… well," The Doctor sighed, "About twenty minutes ago one of the boys died."

"What!" Rory stared at him.

"They said it was suicide," The Doctor said, "But there was a camera… I'm pretty sure they watched it."

"They?"

"The investigators… Torchwood," The Doctor said, "Look, Rory, we need to be careful around them. I don't want them knowing about me… not yet at least, it's just a feeling… But still, I know they suspect me, I slipped up earlier, knew one of their name's when I shouldn't have."

"So know we've got to find whatever's causing this, while staying out of their way?" Rory asked.

The Doctor nodded.

"Why didn't you tell me? Or find me?" Rory asked, "When you found out the boy was dead…"

"We just found out actually," The Doctor said, "Amy was looking for you, and we got a bit… lost. Then we came upon Torchwood by accident and they asked Amy to find Alice Trails. When they weren't looking I watched the video, it seemed as though the boy was being forced to kill himself."

"Who would want that?" Rory asked.

"I think he was on his way to talk to Torchwood," The Doctor said, "The boys here… they know something, but they're too scared to say."

Rory was about to respond, but the door opened and Alice Trails walked in.

"Excuse me," She said, her voice shaky. She sat down at one of the desks.

Rory moved over next to her.

"What's wrong?" The Doctor asked, sincerely concerned.

"It's just all this," Alice said, breathing out, "It's so hard, knowing there's a boy who'll never graduate, who'll never fall in love… Why?"

A few tears trickled down her face, "I try to get to know the boys, especially after what's been happening… and it just makes it even harder. Telling Kevin…"

"It'll be alright," The Doctor tried to comfort her, he could understand what she was going through. He'd been there once, "Those investigators, they'll figure it out, they're the best in the business."

Alice sniffed, "I know… it's just… Malcolm, he was a nice kid… why'd he have to die?"

"I don't know," The Doctor said, "Just trust me, it'll be fine in the end." He knew it was a small lie, but it always hurt him to see others like this… so… vulnerable.

She nodded, taking in a shaky breath, "I just… I guess I'm not too ready for this, running a school and these… murders. Especially of a boy."

Rory looked over at the Doctor, "Here, how about we go get a cup of tea or something, that Agent Jones seems to know what she's doing so it should be safe to leave for half an hour."

The Doctor nodded and watched Rory lead the woman out of the room. He moved to follow, but froze as he heard an achingly familiar voice. He peeked around the door frame and watched as Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones and Gwen Cooper walked down the hallway,

"I think the teachers know something, but they aren't letting on," Jack murmured, Ianto nodded.

"Those three new ones, they're hiding something," Ianto said, "And I know I've seen the woman's name before… just don't know where."

"Well figure it out," Jack said, moving away from the young Welshman, "We've got to stop this before more people die. Gwen, go check on Owen and Tosh, they're probably doing fine, just make sure they've got all they need. Ianto, with me."

Gwen nodded and headed off while Ianto stayed close by Jack as they disappeared around the corner at the far end of the hall.

The Doctor frowned. They were completely wrong. It had nothing to do with the teachers… well he wasn't positive… but it probably didn't. Anyways- Torchwood had completely dropped the kids.

He wandered off, thinking. He needed to make sure Torchwood took up the lead involving the children once more, without drawing even more suspicion to himself. He mentally beat himself over the head at his slip-up of saying Ianto's name.

Now they would think he was involved. Then it would come to either letting them take him, and leaving the real culprit at large, or telling them who he was, which for some reason was just as worse as the former.

For what reason, the Doctor had no idea.

He walked along one of the garden paths, retracing his steps for no particular reason. Soon he was standing right where he had first come face-to-face with Jack. He sighed and sat down on the bench.

"What could possibly be doing this?" The Doctor muttered sadly. Two people already dead, one still a boy.

His eyes alighted on a small bit of paper trapped underneath a rock sitting on the edge of the bench. Black ink stood out against the bright white paper that seemed to shine in the mid-day sunlight.

The Doctor pulled the paper out from under the stone and read-

Ianto-

Gone to meet Martha. Sorry.

Meet me here in 1 hour.

-Jack

He didn't even need the signature to know who had written the note, he would know that handwriting anywhere.

Seeing the note gave him an idea. It was a long-shot, but it could work.

The Doctor pulled out a pen-red- from his pocket, flipped the paper over, scribbled down a short message, and stuck the new note underneath the rock. He was about to stand when he heard a familiar voice.

"Doctor."

His head shot up, "Jack?"

"Yeah… it's me," Jack walked towards him, glaring at the Time Lord, "Of course you would know that, I don't have the ability to change my face… like some people."

"How'd you kn-"

"Know it's you?" Jack finished for him, "Not hard to figure out. Found the TARDIS, sent her off to Hollywood, not the one on Earth. Sixty-seventh century, I believe."

The Doctor stared, panic gripping his heart. He didn't even spend time to notice how uncharacteristic of Jack the act was.

He was stranded.

On Earth.

In Maine.

"Why?"

"'Cause that's what happens," Jack said, spitting the words out, "That's what you did to me. How's it feel? Being abandoned by someone you thought you could trust. Well apparently you didn't trust me enough to tell me you were here."

"I just-" The Doctor started, choking a little on the words, "I just… I don't know why I didn't tell you, but I had a feeling-"

"Just like the feeling that I'm wrong and you should abandon me thousands of years in the future surrounded by corpses?" Jack shot back.

"Look, I'm sorry about that," The Doctor stood, "I just-"

"Stop." Jack growled, "I don't want any excuses. And just in case you're wondering… I'll never forgive you for that."

With that, the immortal spun on his heels and marched out of the garden, leaving the Doctor staring at his retreating back in shock.

The Doctor moved to follow him, to try and fix things, when he heard a new noise that made his blood run cold.

Make that noises.

There was the rhythmic beat of heavy, metal shoes crunching along the gravel path, the metallic whir of a large, metal creature sliding along the grass. Thousands of other sounds that brought back terrible memories bombarded his ears.

They can't all be here.

Hold on.

The gardens were empty.

Where would they be?

The noises stopped. The Doctor looked around in confusion. Then it dawned on him.

"Oh," He raced off.

"So you just found him?" Jack asked for the twentieth time that hour, wanting to know every detail. Ianto and he were walking down to the fountain in the garden, hoping for some privacy to talk about what they had learned.

"Yes, but assistant teacher found him first," Ianto said patiently.

"Okay, and you were…"

"On my way to see you, but found her and the body, so I found Martha, she was closer... and a doctor," Ianto said, "And you were there for the rest."

Jack nodded, "So what did you want to tell me?"

Ianto looked around for a moment, staying silent as one of the older students rounded a bend in the hedge maze they were walking in.

As they rounded the corner in the hedge maze, and Jack nearly ran into the history teacher.

"Mr. Smith?" He said as righted himself, Ianto helping the teacher.

The teacher stared at him, "What?"

"Mr. Smith," Jack said, "Are you alright?"

"Yes… yes, I'm good…. I'm fine," The man said, nodding, as though trying to convince himself of this as well as Jack and Ianto, "So, how're the investigations going?"

"They're going fine," Jack said, the other man was acting even more suspicious than usual.

"Oh good… good," The man nodded before skirting around Ianto and Jack, moving to leave, "Well, yes… see you 'round then."

"Well that was… odd," Jack said as the history teacher disappeared, "I think it'd be best if you kept an eye on him Ianto."

"Of course sir," Ianto said as they started walking once more, "That was actually what I was meaning to speak to you about earlier. He knew my name."

"And you…"

"Didn't tell him," Ianto said.

Jack nodded thinking, "Okay, I'll tell the others. We need to keep an eye on him and those friends of his."

Ianto nodded, "I'll do that as soon as I can sir." They reached the fountain and paused, Ianto broke the silence, "Sir, do you have any idea what might be causing this? Anything you've seen before?"

"I don't know," Jack sighed, looking over at Ianto, "I have no idea what this is. It's similar to thousands of things I've seen, but too different… I'm sorry."

"Not your fault," Ianto said, trying to comfort the Captain.

"Hang on," Jack said, stopping and staring at a bench, "I thought you said you never came here."

"I didn't," Ianto said, confused.

"Then why is there writing on that paper?" Jack moved over to the bench, "I didn't write this… this is in red."

He grabbed the paper from under the rock holding it down and read.

Jack-

Talk to the children.

"'Talk to the children,'" Ianto read out, "I mean, I get what it means… but why?"

Jack frowned, "Either someone's trying to help us. Or someone's trying to lead us in the wrong direction."

"So… what do we do?" Ianto asked.

Jack thought about it for a moment before looking over at Ianto, "Let's go talk to some kids."

Right... there...

Okay, so sorry about the long delay, I've been super busy, just went through Hell Week for our fall play and had our class field trip and had some sports tournaments...phew... lots of stuff sooo, well I hope you liked this chapter, I'm planning on having...something... important... revealed in the next chapter...

Please review! It helps me feel guilty and ignore homework and write this quicker... that might not have been the best 'Please Review' reason ever... but it's true.