I'M A DOCTOR, CHAPTER FIVE
A/N: An admission here. This chapter and possibly the next has bits stolen from works by Stephen King, but I hope I've put enough of my own slant on them to make this unique.
"Somebody go and get Dylan and Lofty" ordered Connie.
"I'm not going upstairs" wailed Robyn. Dixie hugged her.
"I'll go" Iain said, wanting to redeem himself. He was slightly ashamed because he'd never expected Ethan to take being called 'fugly' seriously. Surely Ethan could see he was a good-looking lad? He'd only teased him as revenge for fainting across 'Bosoms and Butts."
Ghostly noises pursued him all the way upstairs and he just said "F*ck off, f*ck off" to them all the way up.
He knocked at room 4.
"Who is it?"
"Iain."
Lofty came to the door in his bathrobe.
"I've just got Dylan off to sleep" he said, as if he were talking about a child he was looking after.
"Sorry, Loft. Cersei Lannister wants us all downstairs for a meeting. There was another apparition. Robyn was upset."
"Sorry to hear that. Tell Cersei to give us five minutes."
Dylan grizzled but was able to tell Lofty that if he, too, had worn pyjamas, he'd have been ready to go downstairs straight away.
"She can have me in my bathrobe or not at all". Lofty's confidence had seemed to grow since punching the skeletons.
"You've missed something horrible" shuddered Robyn, on seeing him, "Noel's head in the microwave."
"Which one's Noel?" Ethan asked sullenly. He knew there'd be no more fruit pies that night and he was sure he'd seen blackcurrant pies under the apple ones.
"Throat slit by a mugger while his manservant hid."
"Oh. Well, maybe the pies would thaw…"
"When you've finished talking about your favourite subject, Ethan, there's actually a meeting in progress."
Connie, as usual, had taken the floor.
"Now, it's a known fact that ghosts only come out at night."
The others looked uncertain.
"At night we've all been splitting up in different rooms. We'd be a lot better off if we stayed together from dusk till dawn, and slept during the day. We're not likely to be terrorised in our rooms so much in the daytime."
"What about the house rules? Will we be allowed to do that? They were pretty sure about the rooms we had to have, and the pairings."
"The rules state that we have to spend two nights and three days in Redmyres Grange, and that's it. Besides, look at it from Harper's point of view. He'll not want to be caught out looking a cheapskate by the nations' viewers by nitpicking, will he?"
"Maybe we could watch a DVD."
They gave it a try, choosing a thriller rather than a romcom or a slasher movie. The DVD came on. Noel's face filled the screen, screaming:
"Get that bloody film off NOW!"
Cal put out his hand to switch the DVD player off, and Connie's hand came out to stop him.
"He's only a ghost; we won't let him bully us into doing what he wants."
Connie's skirt fell off.
"Next time it's the panties" sneered Noel.
Connie ran across the room and switched off the TV altogether.
She went to the back of the room to put her skirt back, clipping Rita's ear for giggling on the way back.
"It looks like a group discussion then, folks. So, did anybody notice the weather forecast before we set out?"
Alas, nobody had really taken that much notice of the forecast. Which was a shame, as it happened.
They'd played I Spy, which had been a dismal failure because Moist Tess, Max and Taylorette, had sat among them and joined in. Taylorette's voice took on a loud whine when she lost.
Iain showed he was an ex soldier by doing something quite brave; he made a mercy dash to the fridge and came back with food and drinks.
"Ethan, you like grub, you can be our taster. Pull a bit off that quiche and tell us if it's fit to eat."
Ethan had eaten half the quiche before he'd nodded and said:
"Yeah, it's safe."
Robyn wouldn't go back into the kitchen but Jack, who seemed to fear nothing, went to make sandwiches and hot drinks. Apart from Moist Tess staring fixedly at him, nothing too bad happened and he carried the trays in expertly.
Rita and Connie had been unable to keep awake and were snoozing in the chairs.
"I know, truth time!" beamed Iain, "Let's go all out for a full confession. So, the sleeping arrangements, who'd change their room- mates and who'd they pick instead? Cal?"
"I'd move the ever-nibbling Nibbles, and move Lauren Cohen into my room instead."
"Fight you for her!" smirked Dixie.
"Ethan?"
"Oh, he'd have any bugger who can cook" smirked Cal.
"I wouldn't, then. I'd have all the girls from 'Call the Midwife, even the old ones!"
"Pervert!" sniggered Iain.
"Much hilarity ensues" commented Dylan drily.
"Robyn?"
Robyn wanted to say 'Cal' but wasn't drunk enough to be so indiscreet so she sighed:
"Johnny Depp."
"What people see in that man I do not know" Dylan sniggered.
"Me neither" Dixie agreed.
"Name your choice, Dix. Want to keep that nice big single room you've got, or…."
Dixie had a quick look to see that Connie and Rita were both sleeping, then said:
"Con and Rita. Together. An' anybody who tells them is dead, get it?"
Lofty had decided, not unreasonably, to have more wine than he would normally. It had loosened him up considerably.
"Come on then, Loft, how about you? Swap Dylan for Miley Cyrus?" Iain encouraged.
A soppy smile came over Lofty's features.
"Ah, I'm more than happy with the sleeping arrangements" he purred.
"Ben, for God's sake!" Dylan snapped at him, stalking out.
Lofty sobered instantly, feeling as if Dylan had knifed him. He'd thought…
Oh, hell, why did he have to be such a fool?
"Jack?" Iain asked hastily, seeing the pain on Lofty's face.
"Oh, I'd have you, Lofty, mate. Or Tom Hiddleston."
The long night wore on.
Dylan eventually came back in, but wouldn't look at Lofty. Instead he said uneasily:
"In case nobody's checked the weather, we've got a blizzard and it looks set for all tomorrow as well. We're supposed to leave the day after that."
"No running away today, then" Dixie only half-teased.
Meanwhile, a desperate Lily Chao was trying to reach Redmyres by phone. She'd had a terrifying experience of her own back at the ED.
A patient had been brought in from a RTA, and though she'd worked on him, there was no way of her saving the man. She and the remaining team did their best, but were unable to help him. But just before the man had flatlined, he'd looked up at her and mouthed:
"They're in danger in that house. He wants their souls."
And now nobody was answering their mobiles.
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