"It's never open when you want it." said the Doctor, irritably.
As soon as the Doctor had turned into Lord Tennyson Square, he had realised that the closest of the two buildings he had seen from the back was the community centre. However, upon reaching the door, he found to his exasperation a sign on the front doors stating:
"Closed until further notice."
The windows stood dark & empty, some curtained off, others open. Tramping over wet grass, covered in the fallen leaves of the bare trees that lined the front of the community centre, the Doctor made his way over to a large window & cupped his hands over the glass. Peering into the gloom, the Doctor saw an empty function room, chairs & tables placed haphazardly about. Turning away, he sighed with irritation.
Now at a loss, he would have to ask around the square. He was not looking forward to it, if the reception he had received merely walking through the streets was anything to go by, it would be a hard task getting info out of people. Even if something wasn't going on, this was not the kind of area where people would be forthcoming with requests for information from a complete stranger.
Sauntering over the road & onto the grass next to the car park of Lord Tennyson Square, the Doctor examined his surroundings. Only three or four cars populated the parking area & the activity surrounding the shops was dismal, unless one counted the myriad swirling browns & reds of leaves shuffling & gliding about the shop fronts. Leaning outside the Bakery was a man chewing into a sausage roll, occasionally flipping through a pamphlet of some kind. Near the mini-supermarket were four teens, two boys & two girls, presumably playing truant from school. One of the boys wore a green cap, the other had hair cut so short he was nearly bald.
"Try my luck with the lone gentleman." thought the Doctor.
Walking over, the Doctor raised his hand to doff his cap & smiled.
"Hello, can I as-"
As soon as the words left the Doctor's lips, the man took one look at him & ran frantically off toward an old, banged-up Vauxhall Astra parked across the road. It was almost comical to watch him fumble with the door handle & take off at speed. Almost. The Doctor noted the scared look on the man's face as he glanced between the road & the shop fronts. The Timelord stood for a moment, his hat still raised, a look of vexation on his features.
"I think I'm losing my touch." he said quietly, replacing his hat atop his head.
Turning his head, the Doctor saw the teens still engrossed in their own business. Making his way over, the Timelord stopped near the door of the mini-supermarket & dropped to his knees, pretending to re-tie his shoelaces. Though he did not expect them to take fright, he had a sneaking suspicion that he'd get more grief than help from this quartet, especially the boys. Concentrating, he readily picked up what the teens were saying.
"...Ah this is boring, why don't we go back to your place & play the Sega?" asked the short haired one. ""Yer parents are out to work, aren't they?"
"Can't, that twat o' a big brother broke it after the auld man beat him at Sensible Soccer." said the one with the cap.
"Yer joking?" said the other. "Over a football game?."
"Aye, he's been a bampot lately, so 'fraid it's nae happening. We could try going back to school if ye want."said cap-boy with a smirk. Looking over at the two girls, the smile died away on his lips. "Is she still...?"
The short-haired teen nodded & silence took over the group. The Doctor peered out of the corner of his eye & saw that the cap-boy had nodded toward one of the girls, the redheaded one who sat on the ground, her knees held tight to her chest. Turning his head slightly, the Doctor examined the red-head as best he could from the corner of his eyes. She had clearly been a pretty young woman, but lack of sleep & a haggard, haunted look had taken it's toll. Now, she looked like a ghost. Her green-brown eyes were tinged with red & her pale face, at one point clearly rounder & fuller, was now gaunt & thin. She hugged her knees even tighter as the other girl, a blonde with glasses looked on at her concernedly
"Eilidh...do you need anything?" she asked. Eilidh shook her head. The blonde went to put her arm around the girl & was surprised when she flinched.
"Oh come on, Hannah." said the cap boy. "Let's go somewhere else. Just leave her." he added with a withering glance at Eilidh,
"Bugger off, horse face." replied Hannah.
The cap wearer looked annoyed but the other boy laughed so heartily that he refused to retort.
"It's ok...just leave me a while, Han." said Eilidh.
"Are you sure?" asked Hannah.
"I'd like to be alone for a while." replied the girl, her voice a whisper.
"Ach, she doesn't want any company so let's go." said the horse-faced cap wearer.
With a last glance of worry, Hannah rejoined the boys. The three passed the Doctor, who looked up with a smile, & observed him incredulously, before disappearing around the corner of the shops. Leaving it a few seconds to see if the girl would do anything, the Doctor walked over & sat next to her, his umbrella propped up in front of him.
"You've seen something, something you can't explain." he said softly. "It's horrified you beyond belief & made you a shadow of your old self. I'd like to help, if I can." The girl stirred a little at his voice, but refused to talk. She buried her head deeper into the well she had made with her arms. The Doctor continued undaunted.
"Something strange is happening in this place. I felt it as soon as I arrived. It's cast a dark veil over this borough & it's not going away anytime soon. I can help if only you'll tell me."
A muffled sound emanated from the girls direction & before the Doctor could inquire what she said, Eilidh had lifted her head & looked upon the Doctor with haunted eyes.
"You don't know what you're talking about." she said. "I did something...terrible."
Before the Doctor could speak, Eilidh had stood up, took off in the direction of the Lord Tennyson Pub & disappeared around the corner, all whilst the Doctor struggled to stand up. Gripping his umbrella handle, the Doctor looked on in the direction the girl had fled, his features a mixture of worry & confusion. Waiting a few moments to see if the girl would return, a cold wind passed over the Timelord, rustling the leaves once more & making him shiver again. Turning around with a sigh, the Doctor passed into the mini-supermarket.
Inside, the aisle's were arranged in long, vertical lines, the shelves reaching so high up that seeing over to the next aisle was impossible, even if the Doctor had been taller. Meandering through, the little man had no idea what he was doing, though he was appreciative of the relative warmer air in the building. Picking up a bottle of fizzy juice, he stared at it for a moment, a look of vague indifference on his face.
"Not good for you, especially with all that sugar." he said, absentmindedly.
Replacing the bottle on the shelf, he ambled along the aisle & into the next & sniffed at the boxes of tea. Thinking about it, he had expected to hear the chatter of housewives doing the weekly shop, or the flapping mouths of pensioners, but the mini-supermarket was as deserted as the square. The only sounds were the hum of the fridges, the soft roaring of the ventilation, the occasional whistle of the wind outside & an extremely crackling radio. Such was the distortion that whatever the song was, fizzing & buzzing from the speakers, it could not be discerned, save for the odd jingle or word.
"Sounds like a Cyberman on a C.B." said the Doctor, poking his pinky into his ear & wincing.
Reaching the aisle with the newspapers, the Doctor cast a cursory glance over their contents. The national newspapers had the usual fare, death, destruction, politics, "what colour of underpants is generic celebrity wearing this week?", but it was the local newspaper, the Cairndon Post, which excited the Doctor's interest. The headline read:
"Mass disappearance in North Fens."
Despite the Doctor's enthusiastic picking up of the paper & leafing through the pages, he was annoyed to find the page number he had been directed to had little more than a half a page worth of paragraphs. What little info there was to be found had been vague & without much interest or detail paid to it. There were no pictures nor was there anything useful, like house numbers & road names, that the Doctor could use.
Putting the paper back with a grunt, the Doctor walked up to the end of the aisle & observed the cashier. He was a spotty man of twenty or twenty one, the tag on his chest revealing his name as "Fraser". Occasionally, he would look up at the speaker near him in irritation, before returning to reading the smutty magazine he had procured from one of the stands. Stepping up to the counter, the Doctor doffed his cap & spoke quickly.
"Hello young man, I was wondering if you could tell me something..."
"Milk's by the door, so is the bread. Newspapers & mags in the next aisle, crisps & juice the aisle after that. Haven't had a fresh shipment of beer yet, though." said the cashier, lazily flipping through the magazine as he did. "No cigarettes either, unless you want the soggy packet of Mayfair's that got dropped in a puddle during delivery."
"No, I gave up smoking after a caveman nearly brained me...oh, quite a while ago now...anyway, it was a pipe I preferred." said the Doctor, reminiscently. "I've taken up Jelly Babies as a substitute instead."
If the cashier heard what the Doctor had just said, he did not show it. The Timelord carried on regardless.
"I just wanted some information on the area." said the Doctor, an awkward smile on his face. "Everyone seems scared stiff."
Fraser looked up from his magazine & looked the little man over.
"Who are you supposed to be?" he said, looking incredulously at the Doctor's attire. "Detective Inspector Jack Frost's eccentric brother?"
"Jack Frost?" said the Doctor quizzically. "I'm not a snowman, didn't even know he was a policeman either."
"No, the TV program, started last year...with David Jason?"
The Doctor continued to look puzzled for a moment, his lack of knowledge of the 1990's stretched also to it's entertainment output, before a memory clicked.
"Oh, you mean the crime books?" said the Doctor with a smile. "Quite funny, very dark too, I thought. The first four are excellent reading material, but I didn't think much of the last two."
"Didn't even know there were books." replied Fraser, absentmindedly. "Anyway, why do you want to know about the area. Never seen you before in my life, and I'd definitely recognise you in that get-up."
The spotty teen smirked inanely & the Doctor felt irritation rising. Intentionally, he had let this irritation betray itself on his face, causing Fraser to stand up straight. Wiping his hands on his apron nervously, he looked about.
"You're not a Bobby are you? Or..."
A sudden look of terror swept over the spotty irks face, but the Doctor reacted quickly. In a flash the cold look of annoyance had been replaced by a warm smile.
"More of a concerned citizen. How about this, I'll fix the radio speakers & you tell me what's been happening in the area." he said, good-naturedly.
Fraser eyed the funny little man for a moment before visibly relaxing.
"You good with electronics?" he said, scratching his pimple covered chin.
"Oh, only an amateur fancy." he said, pulling free the Sonic Screwdriver from his inside pocket.
Freya arrived back in Lord Tennyson Square quicker than she expected. Darting her eyes to & fro, she looked frantically to see anyone out of place. Unfortunately, the area was empty.
Looking up the road that led past the row of shops, she could make out a trio of teens malingering on the pavement outside a row of houses.
"Maybe they've seen something." she breathed, hurrying off after them.
As it happened, the Sonic Screwdriver had been superfluous for the task the Doctor had been set. After checking the radio itself, he moved on to the various speakers around the shop & soon discovered several loose wires. All the job called for was electric tape.
"Looks like it's been nibbled at." said the Doctor, taping up the last of the wires. "Must have some furry friends hiding behind the walls."
"Hmm-hmm." was the only noise from the cashier, now in the backroom tuning the radio for a channel.
Suddenly, "Rhythm is a Dancer" blared from the speakers as the Doctor descended the ladder. Looking over at the backroom door, he saw Fraser dance his way back onto the shop floor whilst mouthing the words of the song.
"Would you mind telling me what's been going on around here?" asked the Doctor.
The pimpled youth stopped dancing & suddenly looked sheepish. Beckoning the Timelord back over to the counter, he looked about him once again before speaking.
"It's like this: People have been disappearing from their homes. According to the police, though, they're investigating murders."
"What about that house, behind the community centre?" asked the Doctor, his expression grim.
Fraser looked surprised for a moment before soldiering on.
"That was the McLeod family, I went to school with their eldest son. They disappeared about a month ago, police was all over it like flies on sh-"
"Yes, yes please get on." interrupted the Doctor, waving his hand impatiently, as if to ward off one of the proverbial flies.
"Well, an old mate of mines younger brother sneaks up to the house on a dare & peaks in through the window. Says the living room was covered in blood & body parts. Poor bugger's been having nightmares ever since."
"How many disappearances have there been?" asked the Doctor, his gaze drifting out the nearby shop window. Leaves were being blown against the window before fluttering back to the ground.
"Oh, about 15 or 16 so far I think." replied Fraser, trying & failing to find where he'd dropped the dirty magazine. "Haven't been paying too close attention to be honest. Not something you want to dwell on."
"Why are the news papers talking about ""mass disappearances"" if the police are investigating murder?"
"Don't know, probably something to do with the panic. It's been going round the town that there's a deranged killer on the loose, bursting into peoples homes & slashing them up. That said, my old girlfriend who works as a cleaner at the police station says they haven't found any whole bodies, just blood, bits & pieces."
The Doctor seemed to ponder this for a moment. After a few minutes, he eventually spoke.
"What are they doing, the police that is?"
"Sod all." replied Fraser. "There was a disappearance only a couple nights ago apparently, but you don't see any police cars around, which is unusual given the area."
"Why only ""apparently"" asked the Doctor, his blue eyes darting back to the young man & fixing on him.
"W-well it's just talk from some of the pensioners that come in on their way to or from the Tennyson Pub." replied Fraser, nervously. The little man's stare was unnerving, like he was looking right through him.
"Who disappeared?"
"Old Balfour, couldn't say where he lives." replied the cashier, scratching his head. "Heard they moved a little while ago."
The Doctor sighed, nothing was ever easy.
"Is there a phone box near hear?" he asked.
"Yup." said the cashier with a grin. "But it doesn't work nor has it got a phone book. Been vandalised too many times. And we don't have one either." added Fraser, putting his hands up as if to say "Don't shoot the messenger".
The Doctor resisted the urge to throw up his hands in frustration. Turning around, the Timelord made his way to the exit, speaking over his shoulder as he did.
"Thank you Fraser. You might want to check the milk, they all went out of date three days ago."
"Oi, you lot!"
Freya caught up with the teens in no time, but she was now out of breath. Stopping near them, she doubled over & sucked in lungfuls of air.
"Who's she?" said the horsey, cap-wearing teen.
The other two merely shrugged. Standing up straight, Freya tried to look serious & official before giving up the attempt.
"Have you lot seen anyone...strange about?"
"Except for you, you mean?" said the short-haired teen.
This remark led to snickering between the two lads, before the bespectacled blonde launched a perfectly executed attack into the short-haired teens ribs with her elbow. The girl spoke up as the boy rubbed his side.
"What do you mean weird?" she asked. "Acting weird or just looking weird?"
The distinction made Freya perk up.
"The latter." she said quickly.
"Well, there was this funny looking bloke back at the shops. Was wearing this summery kind of hat with the brim turned up, like you see on Poirot when he goes somewhere warm. Had checked trousers too & this ugly question marked pullover." answered the bespectacled girl. "Seemed a harmless looking sort."
"Had some serious paisley co-ordination going on though." said the cap wearing youth respectfully.
"Thanks!" said Freya, turning & running back in the direction of the Square. If she was quick, she might just catch him.
Exiting the shop, the Doctor weighed his options. Right now, it was only 11:00AM &, despite the pub being open, very few pub-goers had arrived in the time since the Doctor had exited the mini-supermarket. He had wanted to question the pensioners, hoping they might have some info, but the last time he had poked his head into the Tennyson, it had been dead. He could meander about the rest of the shops in the row, but he had a feeling he wouldn't get much else out of anyone. Mooching towards a bench near the car park, the Doctor flopped himself onto it. Playing with an end of his paisley scarf, he stared lazily upward.
"What does this all have to do with finding my memory?" he muttered.
Somewhere to his right, he was aware of the rustling of dead leaves & grass. Slowly turning his head, he saw a 30-something woman standing, breathlessly, before him. Her blonde-brown hair hung at her shoulders & a scar ran across the bridge of her nose. Looking at her questioningly, the woman sat on the bench next to the Doctor & took a deep breath before speaking.
"A-a-are you the Doctor?" she said, the slight stammer just noticeable.
Sitting up, the Doctor looked at the young woman with surprise.
"Yes, I am. How did you-"
"I saw the Tardis in the field." interrupted the woman, hurriedly. "My names Freya Drury, I'm with UNIT's plain clothes branch of operatives & I really need your help."
Slowly, a smile spread across the Doctors lips.
"I'm all ears, Freya Drury." he said, rolling the "R's" of her surname.