Chapter 29
The Shadow Man
All sat at dinner now, the weird people just seemed to be talking animatedly with each other. Kaster, Dosrian, Tribus sat on one side of the table. Frank, Fiver, Sechi in the middle and Kasey, Raven and the Doctor on the opposite end. The Doctor sitting at the tables end so he was next to Raven and Kasey.
Raven didn't like where she was sitting. It was next to the kid Fiver and it was making her uncomfortable. Across from her was the bespectacled person Frank, she hated him. Something about him was like looking into a mirror for her, but he seemed to have some control over Fiver as he instantly behaved when Frank told him to. Sechi seemed to find Fiver just as irritating, and he seemed to absolutely loath Kasey, to the point where he pulled his chair closer to Frank to keep his distance.
They had been given strange meals Raven had never seen before. Turkey, gravy and assorted vegetables. Raven tasted them and found they weren't to her liking. She wasn't very hungry, but Fiver seemed to be eating up everything and wanted seconds, so while Tribus was looking the other way she swapped her plate with Fivers empty one.
"Knock yourself out." She'd told the little boy who beamed a 'thanks' at her with his eyes and tucked in. He liked the cooking at least.
"So you've never been here before?" The Doctor asked Kasey.
"Never in my life." Kasey said looking around, "But it does look familiar somehow."
"And you don't know these people?" The Doctor asked.
"Never seen them before in my whole life." Kasey said, a little too brightly to be real. "I was driving over the Penines. When suddenly I found myself halfway up this mountain trail. All I knew was that I had to get to this building."
"Why?" Raven asked.
"I had nowhere else to be." Kasey replied.
"I say," The Doctor said, grabbing the Sechi's attention, "How do you know Kasey? You clearly know him."
Sechi just stared darkly at the Doctor. Instead of speaking he pushed away from the table and retreated out of the dining area, clearly sick of having peas thrown at him by Fiver.
"You're not members." Frank said to explain. "He doesn't speak well to people outside of our circle. He's rather a tragic individual, or he likes to see himself as one."
If the Doctor gives me a look, I will kill him. Raven decided. But the Doctor was too interested in the conversation to tease her.
"So, who started this whole thing? What's it for?" The Doctor asked.
"Kaster started it all. It's just a gathering for 'the End' and 'the rebirth'." Frank said mysteriously.
"You mean Christmas? You celebrate it the way the Pagans used to?" The Doctor asked.
"In a manner of speaking." Frank said, but didn't elaborate.
Frank then began talking to Tribus so the Doctor broke away and talked to Raven and Kasey again.
"Frankly from talking to each of them, they all seem a little confused, as if they're not all there. Like two dimensional characters from a TV show." He suddenly held up his hand. "Maybe we're in the Land of Fiction." He suddenly said.
"Land of what?" Raven asked in disbelief.
"The Land of Fiction. A dimension connected to the imagination of any mind capable of creating, specifically the human mind. All fictional creations are stored there. Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, Gulliver's Travels, even myths like the Minotaur and gods like Zeus." He then added as an afterthought. "Listen, if you ever find a type writer, do not type a sentence involving your own name, or you'll become part of the fiction."
"So... how do we test if we're in this land of fiction?" Raven asked quizzically, her eye brow raising and her mouth moved to one side of her face. She wasn't buying this 'Land of Fiction' thingy the Doctor had clearly made up.
"We can't." The Doctor said. "It is possible we're just on Earth and invited to a very odd party."
"If we're in this Land of Fiction, how do we even know if we are real?" Kasey said, "Everything we're experiencing could be a fiction!"
"That would explain so much." Raven said deadpan glancing at the Doctor. Could it be her entire adventures with the Doctor were just some fiction? That she herself was some fiction?
"You're taking this on board very easily." The Doctor asked Kasey, who just shrugged.
"This morning, I was travelling across the British Pennines in Old Reliable. Next thing I know I'm suddenly heading to a place I've never heard of before."
"Did your cars control panels give you strange readings?" The Doctor asked.
"Well, I needed petrol one minute, then I had a full tank, and its remained full as I drove up here. Gauge must be bust." He said.
"Old Reliable sounds like the TARDIS." Raven commented.
"Do you have a watch?" The Doctor asked Kasey.
"Yeah, but it's broken." Kasey said.
"How do you mean, broken?" The Doctor asked.
"Well, it's stuck on midnight. Battery must be dead."
These questions were getting them nowhere.
Suddenly they were presented with 'plumb pudding' that the Doctor wanted so much. But when it came to Raven, Tribus just passed her by.
"You didn't eat your Christmas dinner, so no treat for you." He'd said and moved on. Raven shot him a dark look as he went back into the kitchen. When she was facing forwards again she suddenly had a serving of the pudding. Looking around she saw Fiver looking away innocently, and no plumb pudding on his plate. He'd swapped her empty plate for his full one. That was surprisingly kind of him, she never expected it from a kid.
"I'm not in the mood for a sweet." The boy said looking away as if he saw nothing. Raven raised an eyebrow at this odd little boy. Surely kids of his age should be wolfing down candies and sweets. Gently she passed it back over to him saying. "I'm not hungry."
Raven then suddenly counted the people at the table. There were nine people present. The TARDIS console had mentioned 'the End' and this party was supposed to celebrate the ending of something. The end of the year? But then what was the significance of the number seven and time which refused to tick over to midnight?
What happened at midnight? The seventh day became the eighth, obviously. Ravens eyes suddenly focused. There had been six people here to start with. Then the Doctor showed up. Maybe seven was just a way of saying he was the seventh person to arrive. Followed by the eighth, Raven herself. Maybe the TARDIS had ticked over to the eighth as they'd left the TARDIS, and now with Kasey it counted as nine.
She voiced these thoughts to the Doctor.
"Its a possibility." The Doctor said. "Might be worth checking on the console at some point to see if that's true."
"What console?" Kasey asked.
"Would you believe if I told you we were travellers like you. But in Time and Space?" The Doctor asked.
"If I did, I think I'd need to check my medication." Kasey said, obviously disbelieving them.
"Well, our ship, the TARDIS, was dragged down here." The Doctor explained the odd messages on the console and that there was something significant to the number seven.
"There are seven days in a week. A heptagon has seven sides." Kasey suggested, unhelpfully but it did raise a point that the numbers on the console might not have anything to do with the number of people here.
Suddenly something was dumped in front of them. A strangely shaped cardboard tube in festive patterns.
"Christmas Crackers!" The Doctor announced, "I love Christmas Crackers." Raven didn't know what these were for.
The Doctor held up his and offered the other side to Raven. She looked up and down the table and saw what the others were doing with them. Gingerly she took one end, a rather bored look on her face. This was pathetic.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when it went SNAP! As the Doctor pulled on it.
Raven had received the package end of it and she could feel there was something inside. The Doctor shook it out for her and there was a collection of cards that were a simple numbers game, the Doctor was delighted with it, she was bored with it as he explained how it worked. There was also a pink paper crown inside which folded out and the Doctor had tried to put it on her head. Without turning her eyes to look at him she'd said. "DON'T, YOU, DARE!" and shrugging he put it on his own head. He looked ridicules. They all did as they all put paper crowns on their heads. Kasey just put his around the rim of his hat.
There was also a scrap of paper inside the cracker which the Doctor read out. "Why did Santa go to the doctor? Because of his bad 'elf'." Raven just groaned, it was a joke and it was the worst one she'd ever heard.
"What do you call a cat in the desert? Sandy Claws!" Kasey said, reading off his joke. As the crackers snapped up and down the table the Doctor and Kasey gathered all the jokes up and began reading them out. But with each one Raven felt like her brain was being assaulted. "What do you get if you cross Santa with a duck? A Christmas Quacker!"
"Okay, stop." Raven said. That was the fifth one and she was getting annoyed. But the Doctor and Kasey kept going despite her displeasure.
"There's got to be a good one in here somewhere." Kasey muttered reading out another.
"Who is Santa's favourite singer? Elf-is Presley!" The Doctor laughed. "That one is quite good." It wasn't...
"One more..." Raven warned. "Just... one more!"
"What do you call a frozen elf hanging from the ceiling?" The Doctor asked. "An elfcicle!" Okay, she'd had enough!
"Kasey, Doctor, what starts with 'come here,' and ends with 'ow'?"
"Don't know." They both admitted.
"Come here!" and she reached out for them when they came closer. The Doctor and Kasey got out of their seats and quickly retreated laughing at her. Oh god, now she has two of them!
The others were also all retreating back into the living room, giving her some peace. Thank goodness.
"What does Santa suffer from if he gets stuck in a chimney?" OH MY GOD! This one came from little Fiver.
"I DON'T CARE!" Raven said through gritted teeth.
"Claustrophobia!" he said. Raven paused, and just sighed.
"Okay, that one wasn't as bad. I'll let you walk away alive, if you go, now."
"Ha, you're funny," and giggling little Fiver ran away.
"I know I am," Raven said flatly, "I can hardly contain myself." She decided she hated Christmas.
With little else to do Raven followed them into the living room. Dosrian and Fiver then began dressing a big tree in tinsel and a string of multi-coloured lights.
"Would you like to help decorate the tree?" Tribus said, holding out a box of spheres of varying sizes.
"What the hell are they?" Raven asked looking at them as if they could jump out and attack her.
"Balls." Tribus announced.
"Why are they all different sizes?" Raven asked.
Tribus shrugged. "That's just life, miss." He smirked and walked off leaving Raven confused. Was that a joke? She didn't get it.
She crossed her arms over her chest and watched them decorate the Christmas tree, even the Doctor was getting in on it. "This is all just pointless." She commented.
"You're just saying that because you're lonely and deep down you want to join in." Said Frank from behind her.
"You know nothing." Raven said, not turning to acknowledge him.
"It's psychology." Frank said, "You want company, you want to join in, so you say utter rubbish so someone will talk to you."
"'That' is rubbish." God, it was like having her own mind in the room with her.
"That jewel in your head tells me you're a psychic of some sort. The build and your pale skin tells me you're malnourished and lacking in vitamin D. You behave like the tough girl because of a very rough childhood, yet underneath you're soft, but you feel you can't afford that luxury. You're the type to push people away and then hate them for leaving."
Raven still refused to look at him. For the most part he was right, and that just irritated her. Had her fears come true? Had she found someone who could read her mind and see her deepest, darkest thoughts?
"You hide under your cloak because its like a surrogate shield for you that protects you from the 'outside' and it makes you feel secure." Frank said.
Raven gritted her teeth and looked up to take a deep breath. There was a mistletoe above them.
Raven looked at Frank in horror, he was standing next to her, and instantly she took a step away from him.
"What?" Frank asked, not sure what had happened. He looked up, spotted the plant and took a step away too.
Wait, what's wrong with me? Not this again! Shut up, I don't like him. She sighed. But why doesn't he like us?! Raven groaned. I don't care!
Why did she get the feeling Frank was reading her again?
"Don't bother." He said, "My relationships never work out anyway. I always end up disappointing and hurting people." and he walked off sadly.
Okay, was he a projection of her own mind? It would explain a lot. Why he was hollow, why he seemed to be able to read her like a book, why his eyes looked so familiar to her. Maybe they were all a mixture of traits borrowed from her, the Doctor and Kasey, and that's why they all knew the three, but the three didn't know who they were.
"Fiver!" She heard Frank call. "Come on, lets watch Wallace and Grommet." And Fiver ran up and dived into his arms. Frank picking him up like a little brother.
She scrapped the idea of Frank being a projection, no part of her likes kids.
"You are troubled my dear?" Said the elderly voice of Kaster behind her.
"I'm fine, it's nothing." She said vaguely.
"Ah, there is no such thing as 'nothing'." The old man said as he sat on the stairs near her. "Why not join in the festivities?"
"Because I don't want to." She insisted. "Why don't you?"
"Oh... because it's past me by." He smiled, there was a twinkle to his eye despite his great age. "I wish I could join in, but my age won't allow it." He sighed. "You should enjoy your youth, before its gone."
She held her arms tightly over her chest and didn't speak. She just wanted to watch. Not get involved with it. She would just spoil it somehow. There was such a positive energy flowing in that room and she just wanted it to wash over her, she didn't want to swim in it.
"While you sit there wishing, time passes you by." Kaster said, "And time waits for no man, nor indeed, any woman."
"I... don't belong. I'm not part of your family." She said.
"Your Doctor friend doesn't seem to mind." Kaster nodded at the Doctor as Fiver began tying him up in tinsel.
"He's not my friend, he is..." She hesitated, what can she call the Doctor? 'Irritating' not withstanding. "He could find family in a group of frogs."
"And yet, he seems a rather lonely man, in the same way you are a rather lonely girl." Raven didn't bother answering, she just wished this man would go away. "You look at him longingly. Did you know your father?"
"My father is a touchy subject." Raven said shooting daggers at him with her eyes. Kaster looked at her as if he suddenly understood. "What?!" She shot at him.
He chuckled. "Our souls tend to be like Swiss cheese, full of holes, and we spend our lives trying to fill those holes in with other people, or die with holes in our souls." He sighed deeply. "And I'm going to die with, oh so many holes left in my soul, and it's too late to fill them now."
Raven actually turned to look at the man. He looked more frail than ever, and more vulnerable. For some reason she couldn't help but think of her tutor Azar. A very wise man with so many secrets about him, but this man was a lot more frail. He was nearing the end and he seemed to hold so many regrets. Words left unspoken, actions left not acted upon.
He got up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, it's past my bed time, it looks set to be a cold night tonight." He came up to her and gently rested a hand on her shoulder. She didn't shrug it off, but she chose to look away from him.
"Keep warm." He said sadly and he began walking up the stairs and the darkness above swallowed him.
The tree was up and Fiver, Frank and Dosrian had watched a TV show about stop motion Plasticine puppets. It was quite impressive to watch, but some part of Raven wondered how much time was wasted to achieve that effect.
Now they had all gathered around the tree as Kasey brought out 'Jessica' who Fiver had mentioned. Jessica turned out to be an acoustic, wooden guitar. He began strumming it. He could actually play the instrument quite well, but Raven didn't care much for his songs. They were very folky and she didn't like folk music. Raven didn't know what music she did like but she thought this music was... not awful, but it was just noise to her.
They were mostly Christmas songs, trying to spread good will and happiness, all of which Raven didn't 'do' at all. Raven had never actually seen a guitar being played, and she was partially hypnotised by the way Kasey's fingers danced up and down the neck to make the thing produce a new note.
He did eventually play a song called. "Always look on the bright side of life." And Raven actually found herself swaying a little to the tune under her cloak. She caught herself though when the Doctor stared at her, and she again became as stiff as a board.
Aren't we supposed to be investigating why the TARDIS brought us here?! Raven asked the Doctor telepathically.
I am. I'm mingling. I've found plenty out. Oh, one second, I'm up!
Oh no! Who gave the Doctor a recorder? Suddenly he was playing a jig with Kasey providing backing. Fiver and Dosrian danced to it in some kind of folk dance. Even Tribus and Frank, two of the most reserved of the bunch were stamping their feet to the tune. Clearly whatever icy feelings they had towards Kasey were starting to melt.
The Doctor wasn't taking this seriously at all. He was just getting caught up in the mood of everything.
Fiver looked at her and beckoned her to join in. But she just stared at them all flatly, she turned and walked away. She wanted to find a quiet place to meditate and think on this puzzle. She thought about returning to the TARDIS, but decided to go upstairs instead to poke around for more clues.
As she ascended the stairs Kasey began playing another song on his acoustic guitar. Something about it didn't quite sound right. Like it wasn't supposed to be played on an acoustic guitar. They all must know the tune because they all sang it.
'I feel my wings have broken in your hands,
I feel the words unspoken inside.
And they pull you under,
And I would give you anything you want, know.
You were all I wanted
And all my dreams are falling down,
Crawling around.'
As Raven lost her view of the party as she ascended the stairs she noticed that, curiously, the Doctor wasn't singing. He looked more confused in an amused way. Raven could still hear them sing as she continued up the stairs.
'Somebody save me,
Let your warm hands break right through and,
Save me.
I don't care how you do it,
Just stay, stay.
Oh come on
I've been waiting for you!'
As she ascended the happy music just faded out and faded out, until it was just a throb on the edge of hearing.
Upstairs she found several doors. Casting her mind into them she found that they were clearly these peoples bed rooms. She could sense the clutter within them.
Raven lifted herself up off the floor and hovered in the air so no one could hear her moving. Doing this she pressed her ear against each door and listened for signs of movement before going in. Each bedroom was decorated to different tastes. She guessed the scientific looking one belonged to Frank and the one decorated with musical instruments and pictures of exotic places belonged to Kasey.
Wait a minute. Kasey didn't bring anything with him. Which must mean this room was prepared ahead of time! It was eerily like how the TARDIS produced her own room from her own personal tastes.
She wondered briefly if this house was some kind of TARDIS or TARDIS like thing. But that theory was squashed when she realised there was no room prepared for her or the Doctor, clearly because they hadn't been expected. But it was weird why Kasey had his own room.
Could his attitude and ignorance be an act?
In an empty room, which contained nothing but a bed and a table, she walked over to a window and peered out into the storm. This was the back of the house, near the french windows of the kitchen. She could see trees out there and a great mass of snow on the ground.
Weird how the season of goodwill and peace on earth happens during the most inhospitable months of the year, when the season and the weather turned and tried to kill things.
Through the blustering wind and the flakes of snow Raven thought she could see movement. It was between the trees and it lumbered along like it didn't exactly know how to walk, or maybe it was injured.
Raven thought maybe it's another visitor, until she saw depressions in the snow that the storm had only partially filled in. Foot prints, walking around, clearly stopping at windows and then away from the house.
Someone was outside, and that someone was watching them. She stared out of the window and tried to give an intense stare to anything watching, as if to say. "I know you're out there, I can see you."
In reality she couldn't see anything, nor sense anything.
Maybe it was just her imagination. She had read that in snow sometimes melting and thawing made the footprint of a smaller animal look larger. But there clearly hadn't been time for the snow to melt and widen the shape.
Raven wanted to meditate but she wasn't sure she could now, knowing what she knew. They were all under observation by something.
Crash! Came a loud noise, and Raven decided to investigate. She left her room and could hear a soft moan of someone in distress. It sounded like the old man Kaster. Now there was the sound of a dead weight falling to the floor with a thud.
Raven floated up to the door she heard the thud coming from and she knocked on the door.
"Hello..." she asked a little too quietly. There was no answer. She knocked harder, "Hello?" She asked again much more firmly.
She didn't want to disturb the old man if he was sleeping. So she gently took the handle and slowly pushed the door open. The lights were still on.
Raven pushed the door open more firmly when she saw sprawled on the floor was the form of Kaster. He had collapsed and wasn't moving.
Quickly Raven went to the mans side and rolled him onto his back. He wasn't breathing. She placed her hands over the mans wrists and felt for a pulse, there wasn't one. He was dying!
Raven got up and was about to shout for help when a sight at the window made her freeze.
Two white eyes were peering in at her from the blackness. They were a vivid green and they stared in either hungrily or in desperation. Suddenly its hand smacked on the glass. The hand was blackened and burnt and had loose, dirty bandages over his palms.
Gently it pounded its palm into the window, trying to get in. It also seemed to be producing some kind of vocalisation, as if it was trying to speak while breathing in rather than breathing out. Then it was like it suddenly melted away, back into the snow.
She stared a good few seconds until she was convinced whatever it is was gone, before attending to Kaster.
Maybe she could heal his body and bring him back. But no, his life force, or whatever he had, had already left him.
Kaster was dead.
"Old age, I think" was the Doctors summery, "It was just his time. There is no evidence of trauma that can't be explained by the fall, no wounds. As far as I can tell there is no internal bleeding. I can't give a prognosis unless I have access to specialised equipment. As is, I think we should leave it to the medical professionals from here."
"The emergency services won't be able to cut through this storm until morning. This is a terrible day to pass. Christmas day of all." Tribus said running his hands through his long hair.
"Death comes for all of us, eventually." Raven commented.
"Some more often than others." The Doctor said.
"We can't tell Fiver or Frank, they'd be devastated." Tribus said. "We'll break it to them in the morning. Until then, I hope we can keep a lid on this?"
"You have my word," the Doctor said, and he looked at Raven. "And you have Ravens too. Right, Raven?"
Raven stared blankly at him. "Fine." she said. As if I was actually going to go up to a kid and tell him his grandparent is dead. I might be cold, but I'm not that insensitive.
The Doctor and Tribus picked up the old man and rested him in his bed and covered him over. After that they left the room and Tribus locked it with a key to stop anyone going in.
"I must tell Dosrian." Tribus said, "Excuse me." and he walked away back down the stairs.
"He doesn't seem all that upset that his father is dead." Raven commented.
"Noticed that, did you?" The Doctor asked. "Curiouser and curiouser."
"Doctor, I didn't mention." Raven said, "I think there's something outside."
"There's bound to be something outside." The Doctor added darkly, "You can't expect the universe and its contents to remain within the confines of a small structure like this one."
Raven didn't laugh nor react to the obvious flippancy.
"There is 'someone' outside." Raven said, more specifically. "A shadow man of some kind."
"You mean a literal Shadow Man, or are you being descriptive?"
"As in, it was like his body was a black hole. And it was like the snow didn't collect on him. He stayed totally dark."
The Doctor looked around, as if he could sense the creature. "If its out there, and its human, it can't last for long."
"And the chances of it 'not' being human?" Raven asked.
"In our line of work, a little too high." The Doctor commented.
"How does this fit into the mystery?" Raven asked, now adding 'Shadow man' to their case study.
When they returned to the festivities Fiver and Frank still looked the same as ever clearly ignorant of the dead grandparent. But Dosrian looked a little sombre. Still Kasey kept playing, to the delight of Fiver.
"Could Kaster have been the one calling for help?" Raven asked as they sat in a corner to discuss things. Though she was certain the Doctor was glancing longingly at the festivities, wanting to join in but was all too aware now that something unsettling was going on around this festive party.
"Possible. The clue was rather cryptic and its just bad luck that we missed him." He sighed. "Why do people have to be so cryptic with their calls for help?" He asked no one in particular.
"Then can we please go back to the TARDIS and get out of here?" Raven asked. "I've had all I can stand of Christmas."
"You're a little Grinch, aren't you?" The Doctor said, clearly thinking about something else while his mouth rattled.
"Bah, humbug." Raven went.
"No, that's Ebenezer Scrooge." The Doctor sighed again. "There are still too many questions left unanswered. It's possible Kaster isn't who sent the message."
"Don't tell me you're about to go into 'ominous Time Lord mode'." Raven commented with a bored look which said 'I can read you like a book'.
"A say-what Lord?" Kasey asked, Raven hadn't noticed he'd stopped playing his guitar, thank goodness. He was holding three glasses of some kind of bubbling liquid, two of which he handed to Raven and the Doctor.
"Nothing," Raven dismissed, smelling the small glass of liquid. The Doctor downed his in one gulp.
"We're still no nearer answering our questions." The Doctor said and gently plucked the glass from Ravens fingers just as she was about to drink from it. "And you're too young, Rae-Rae."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know." Kasey said drinking his own. Probably for the best she didn't drink alcohol. Controlling her powers was difficult enough already.
The Doctor moved past Raven and gently said into her ear. "Keep an eye on Kasey, I have a feeling he's the key to all of this." and moved on.
Raven looked at Kasey as he gazed out the window at the snow storm. Why did she have to keep an eye on this weirdo? He's not up to anything. His aura was strange, sure. For a man so happy and jovial he seemed like he was deeply wounded somehow.
Raven looked out the window with Kasey, but Raven wasn't looking outside at the storm. She was using the glasses reflection to get a look at Kasey without him realising she was looking. That's when she noticed something. Because he was holding a drink glass Raven could see under his jacket sleeves. It looked like his arms were bandaged up with a dirty rag of some kind. Was he injured? His aura didn't give that impression.
Bandages? Like the creature outside. No, that can't be right. Kasey was down here playing his stupid guitar when she saw the creature.
She could dive into his mind. But she resisted the urge to do so. The Doctor would not approve. Wait, what was she thinking? Screw the Doctor and what he thought. But still, she found herself refusing to do it, at least not fully.
She gently played at the edges of his mind and hoped to read its surface thoughts. But... this was so weird. Why couldn't she connect? It's like she was coming up against a total barrier of a blank nothing. There was clearly something going on in that head of his, but the moment she got too close it was as if it vanished, like it was hiding from her.
"A beauty isn't she?" Kasey said, "Old Reliable." He was talking about his stupid car, which was now buried in the snow. "You know I found her in a barn after I woke up. The farmer, a Mr. Stevens, said I could have her if I worked around the place. I fixed her, and got her up and running again."
"What do you mean, 'woke up'?" Raven asked, her ears prickling at that word.
"Oh, I was found washed up on a beach many years ago." Kasey said, "I was in a coma for ten years. I woke up in hospital, no idea where I was, not a penny to my name. I kind of agreed to work on a farm for a lovely farming family until I could get back on my feet. It was them who gave me the car when I finally decided to move on. I worked my way around the planet trying to get home."
Something in that didn't make sense. Presumably he came from the 20th or 21st centuries, so why didn't he save up enough money and fly home? Why is he trying to drive there? Maybe they're in the early part of the 20th century, when flight wasn't so common.
"You do know Kasey is spelt with a 'C'? Right?" Raven corrected.
"Is it?" Kasey said back as if he didn't know. "Anyway, after I woke up I had nothing to do so I fixed Old Reliable, picked up a guitar and I've been driving all over the place, from country to country just playing at certain events to keep food in my belly and fuel in the tank. I'm pretty content with my life." He took a deep breath and seemed to want to move on. "So what's with that jewel in your head? Is it supposed to represent a chakra?" he asked. This took her off guard.
"How do you know about Chakra's?" she asked him, surprised he'd even know what one was.
"I read a lot too." Kasey said, "There's no DVD nor Game Station in my car, I need to find something to entertain me. I've also got books on tape for those long, lonely drives."
"Fascinating." She said with a bored tone and decided to move away. Clearly Kasey had ran out of anything of value to say to the investigation. The Doctor told her to keep an eye on him, not bond with him. Thank goodness.
She looked at Tribus and Dosrian, they were in an animated conversation apparently around something sciencey Raven didn't understand. Where they actually scientists?
Meanwhile Fiver and Frank seemed to be playing with each other like two brothers would. Were they actually brothers?
Sechi, the balled one was actually missing, and so was the Doctor? Finally, was he doing something useful?
Raven sat, and found a book on the chair, it was the one Frank was reading earlier. It had no title, and no cover. She opened it and began to read. Or she tried. The words wouldn't translate for her. They were written in the English alphabet, but the words were a jumble she couldn't understand, as if the TARDIS wouldn't translate it. Weird.
Suddenly she was aware of someone standing over her, looking down at her face from over her head. When she removed the book she found it was the boy Fiver.
"Why do you have a jewel over your Chakra?" He asked. Raven wanted to say "Because I can do this." and shove him away with her power, but she didn't, and went back to the book and pretended to read it.
"Hey Fiver!" Said Dosrian, "me and uncle Kasey are going to play trains down stairs. Want to come?"
"Yes!" the kid said quickly before turning back to Raven. "Want to come play?"
I'd rather stand out in the blizzard naked. Raven wanted to say. But since she had to keep an eye on Kasey for the Doctor she just sighed and said. "Fine."
She followed them down to the basement and watched them fire up the train set. They tried to get Raven to join in, but she just looked bored and told them to just play by themselves, despite there being trains and controls for six people to play, Raven just wasn't interested.
They each picked their own 'engines'. Fiver picking the small tank engine, Dosrian the large steam engine, and Kasey picked the diesel locomotive, and now each was whirling around the track, each person pretending they were actual train conductors.
Kasey seemed to take to this immediately like he'd done it before and was thoroughly enjoying it. Watching it, Raven admitted she so wanted to join in. There were three other electric trains, but she felt like she'd feel embarrassed, especially if the Doctor walked in and found her playing trains. She was supposed to be an adult monster after all. These things aren't supposed to appeal to her. She was supposed to be a grown up. These things were childish.
"Look out, snow on the track!" Fiver said as he leapt onto a crate and opened one of the small windows above. Wind and snow poured in and began mounting on the train tracks. Dosrian grabbed Fiver and pulled him down before shutting the window himself.
"Don't do that!" Dosrian said sternly, "you'll damage something."
Suddenly Raven felt something very cold and very dark approaching. She looked around. It felt like it was coming from everywhere and yet nowhere. She looked at the TARDIS, that was still sitting fine in one corner of the room, totally undisturbed. It wasn't causing what she could sense.
Then she heard something that made her feel very cold. It was a rasping breath of some kind, a rasping intake of breath and a mumbling as if it was trying to speak while breathing in; and it was coming from behind her.
She then became aware of the three people in front of her by the train set, who were now looking past her at something that clearly spooked them.
Slowly she turned. There was a corpse standing behind her. A ragged, husky looking corpse wrapped in black bandages that hung loosely from its arms, torso and head, like a zombie or a mummy. Its mouth fell open and it produced that rasping noise, and it shuffled forwards.
Raven quickly cast a black wall in front of this creature, but it just stepped through it like it wasn't there! Why does she keep stumbling into people who are immune to her powers?
Its mouth fell open, and it reached out to grab them!
To Be Continued...
Authors notes: Okay, I've explored enough of Christmas, and made Raven's head throb enough now. The stage is set, now for things to start moving. :P
This was actually awkward to write. It's kind of difficult to balance the Christmas themes, and the mystery and the same time. Hopefully, I've managed it.
It helps that I'm writing this around Christmas time, so I've got the festive mood fresh in my mind, and I can imagine how Raven would react to all of it. Especially the terrible Christmas Cracker jokes. Fun fact, the reason they're terrible is so there will be no arguments or friction at Christmas.
I've tried to paint each of the people like one of those kinds of people you meet at Christmas. Tribus being the busy one always trying to keep plates spinning, Dosrian the big brother, always wanting to play and helps out the busy one. Kaster the kindly Grandparent full of so much wisdom. Fiver, the excited kid. Frank the brooding recluse. Sechi the one who start all the arguments and usually spends Christmas interacting with the family as little as possible. Kasey being the one who always brings a hint of Christmas cheer.
The mistletoe moment Raven and Frank had is something I actually witnessed at a Christmas party, it looked so awkward and weird I had to put it in. XD
I'm trying to write Ravens thoughts as organically as possible, like how one might make connections in their head by mulling over certain details again, and again and again. Until something eventually clicks.
The song that was sung was 'Somebody Save me' by Remy Zero. Fans of Smallville will recognise it as its theme tune.
Cheers
-TimeLordParadox