The walk to Alpin Crescent proved surprisingly chatty. Freya had expected an awkward silence to fall over the two as they made their way through leaf strewn, overcast streets, but the Doctor defied her expectation. As they made their way up the steep hill, the Doctor related some of his previous adventures he had undertaken whilst UNIT's Scientific Adviser.
"Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart wasn't at all happy about the Skarasen going back to Loch Ness. I told him he'd have to lump it, the creature wasn't a threat anymore without the Zygons about anyway. So to this day, anytime you see a new picture or video of Nessie emerge, it's probably just the old Skarasen coming up for a breath of fresh air."
Freya found herself fascinated by the stories. She had heard about the Doctor, mostly through her initial posting in the Archives, but it was still interesting to here about these things first hand.
"You know." she said after a suitable pause in the Doctor's story telling. "The year dates on your adventures are all over the place in the Archives."
"Well, they would be." he replied, a mischievous grin forming on his face. "Another UNIT protocol in-case of spies or alien enemies looking for something. There's also a couple of complete fabrications in there too, like the Albert Square incident with the Rani. I was told the intern who wrote that was away with the faeries thanks to some strong pain-killing medication & actually believed it happened for the longest time. Then there's the Zodin-Chumbley alliance of 1982, fake future or past incarnations...I could go on, but I think we're here."
As he finished speaking, the Doctor pointed to the Alpin Crescent road sign. The houses were certainly nicer than those the Doctor had seen in Davidson Street. Much bigger & all well tended to. It did however share one similarity with the neglected portion of North Fens; it was quiet as the grave & nary a soul could be seen. The Doctor had a sense of deja vu as he noticed curtains twitching & furtive movements in the windows as the owners backed away out of sight. Reaching No.21, the Doctor observed the blue Ford Sierra he had seen earlier that morning in the driveway. Leaves were still attached to it in various places & the well of the windscreen was thick with them.
Stepping up to the door, Freya pressed the doorbell & stepped back. Within seconds, a mixed heritage woman she recognised stood looking them over.
"Did you walk here?" she said, eyeing the Doctor curiously.
"Yes, good for getting the mental faculties flowing." he said cheerily. "You must be Yumiko, I'm the Doctor & this is Freya."
"Yes, pleasure to meet you. You should have said, I'd have come & picked you up." added Yumiko, turning to Freya. "Come in-I'm sorry to be a pest but you'll have to take your shoes off, Grans...well, you'll see soon enough I suppose."
The Doctor & Freya exchanged glances as they entered the Balfour residence. Stepping into the vestibule, the Doctor removed his spectator shoes quickly & leaned his umbrella up against the nearby metre cupboard. Pulling his hat off, he held it to his stomach as he realised there was nowhere to hang it. Following Yumiko, the Doctor entered a kitchen that looked brand new. The cabinets & worktops were all sparkling clean & in a shade of light brown. A medium sized kitchen island sat in the centre of the room, near the worktops & back door. Just by another door, leading to the living room, was a dark brown, circular supper table. Sitting atop the table was a folder of many papers & a portable tv.
Moving over to the kitchen island, the Doctor sat on one of the stools & observed the young woman as she took the stool on the opposite side. She was clearly half-Japanese, half-British. The roundness of her features & darkness of her hair betrayed the former, whilst the blue of her eyes, which verged on violet, along with her RP English accent, betrayed the latter.
Freya, having had trouble removing her boots, trumped into the kitchen & sat beside the Doctor. She was about to speak when an older women entered from the living room dramatically.
"Yumiko, my love, are these the detectives who will seek out your Grandfather?" said the woman, melodramatically."Who, I might add, is merely misplaced, not disappeared or abducted as my beautiful granddaughter believes."
Evidently Yumiko's grandmother, she spoke in a peculiar sort of way that Freya had some experience of. She was clearly Scottish, but she was attempting to put on airs & graces. The result made her sound even more distinctly Scottish whilst singling her out as posh. The older woman was dressed in a dark blue, floral print dress & stood holding a doily clutched to her chest.
"Yes & no, Gran." replied Yumiko. The Doctor had the distinct impression the young woman was trying not to laugh. "Yes, they're going to look for Granddad, but I don't think that they're-"
Suddenly, the older woman rushed across the kitchen floor, scooping up the Doctor's hand in her own & holding it tightly to her bosom. The Timelord was momentarily taken aback.
"Oh of course they're detectives, my dear." she said, smiling. "All the best detectives dress strangely, I've seen them on the TV. They either have a funny accent or look like they've been unearthed from a dig-site."
"Madam, could I have my hand bac-" spluttered the Doctor.
"You will do your best to find my Harold, won't you, all the while letting people know just how important he is in fishing circles & that he was in no way taken against his will." said the older woman, grandiloquently. "Oh, Yumiko, you won't use my best china with the hand-painted violets will you for tea & light refreshments, just in case."
The Doctor retrieved his hand & watched as the older woman swept from the room. At some point during the performance, Yumiko had stood from the island table & busied herself making tea. Turning her head, she acknowledged her grandmother with a nod & a "hmm" & waited a few moments until she was sure the older woman was gone.
"Sorry, would you like tea or coffee?"
Both the Doctor & Freya indicated they were fine with neither. Returning to the table, Yumiko sighed.
"I'll apologise for Gran too. She wasn't always like that...so prim & house-proud, when I was younger she was actually quite relaxed. It's really only in the last 6 or 7 years she's gone full Hyacinth Bucket." said Yumiko, a big grin spreading across her face. Freya began to titter, but the Doctor sat with a lost look.
"Oh come on, Doc, you must have seen Keeping up Appearances?" said Yumiko
The Doctor merely shook his head, a nervous smile on his lips.
"Your missing out." said Yumiko, winking as she lifted her teacup to her lips. "Grandad's basically Victor Meldrew. I remember that time they both went on holiday to Blackpool for a week. Gran drove there & back again, she drives mentally by the way. Anyway, about an hour after they got home, Grandad phones up Dad & tells him that if they ever go on holiday again & end up in a car wreck, he wanted his ashes kept separate from Grans & to be scattered in the front room to get his own back!"
At this, Freya desperately tried to stop herself from laughing as the Doctor brought a thoughtful finger up to his lips & squinted his eyes in remembrance.
"No, name doesn't ring a bell either, I'm afraid."
Bringing her hand up to her mouth, Freya coughed softly to compose herself.
"Let's get on to business. When was your Grandfather last seen?"
"Three days ago. Gran says the last she saw him was after lunchtime, going out to the garden shed." replied Yumiko, a worried expression replacing the smile on her face.
The Doctor exchanged a glance with Freya & took up the questioning.
"Was there any sign of anything having happened in the shed?"
"No, ordered chaos like it normally is for Granddad." replied the young woman.
"Have you seen or heard anything odd or suspicious?" asked Freya, worrying her scar.
"No, I only got here a few hours ago. This was a spur of the moment decision to come for a visit."
"Why didn't your Gran tell the police sooner?" asked the Doctor.
"You saw her, she's very image conscious now, so the idea of informing the police & letting it be known that Granddad's disappeared would have been beyond the pale for her. It's only because I insisted that we phone, even then she had to gee herself up for it. Hence the melodramatic performance a moment ago."
The Doctor ran his hand, the same that had been grabbed by Yumiko's grandmother, through his collar nervously. Yumiko, seeing this, smiled.
"I wouldn't worry, she'll be polishing her cut-glass figures for the millionth time. She's not likely to be back through."
The Doctor visibly relaxed at this.
"Do you think my Granddad's disappearance has anything to do with these other disappearances?" asked Yumiko, suddenly. "Gran filled me in on it whilst we were waiting for you."
"We don't know yet." answered the Doctor, shrugging his shoulders.
"We've got some enquiries to make-" began Freya.
"Would you mind awfully if I came with you?" asked Yumiko. "I'm worried about the old git."
"I don't see why not." said the Doctor, looking to Freya.
"There is a rule about bringing civilians in on matters like this, but I suppose I could get away with it by saying she's with you." said Freya, looking at the Doctor. "Out of curiosity, what would you have done if we said no?"
"Followed you two about as ninja like as I could." Yumiko smiled mischievously.
"That's that settled then." said the Doctor, warmly. "But I warn you, if your grandfather is involved in these disappearances, you might not like what you find." he added, darkly.
"I'm prepared." said Yumiko, doing her best to seem resolute.
"We're going over to the scene of the most recent disappearance, discounting your grandfather, once we've gotten the keys from the station." said Freya. "Marchfield Drive."
Standing up, Yumiko moved over to the gleaming counter-top by the window & picked up a set of keys.
"I can give you a lift there then, I remember where it is."
Minutes later, after an exhausting farewell to the lady of the house, they had all jumped into Yumiko's car. The Doctor had given Freya first refusal on the front passenger seat whilst settling in the back. They were on their way to the local police station to collect number 21's keys when the Doctor leaned forward & spoke.
"I hope you'll forgive my curiosity Ms Pollington..." began the Doctor.
"Yumiko, please."
"Yumiko." smiled the Doctor. "But where were-"
"Mum's Japanese, Dad's technically English." she interrupted. It seemed the question was a frequent one from new acquaintances. "Gran & Grandad moved to Basingstoke before the war & lived there until the 60's when they came back up here. Dad stayed there & that's where he met mum when she came over to study from Kamakura."
A moment of silence passed. The Doctor noted the vexed look on Freya's face as she turned to look at the young woman driving.
"How do you come by an old surname like Pollington if your father's was, presumably, also Balfour?" he asked.
Yumiko made a face as she kept her eyes on the road & sighed.
"Blame my ditz of an agent." she said. "I'm an author, I've written a couple of children's books-"
"Oh! I don't know why It never struck me, you wrote those Herby Hedgehog books." blurted out Freya.
"Yes." smiled Yumiko. "Well, when I started out, my agent insisted that I go under a pen name. She felt Balfour was too French sounding."
It was now the Doctor's turn to look vexed.
"But Balfour's a Scottish surname."
"I know." laughed Yumiko. "And that's what I told her, but she wouldn't have it. Insisted that it was of French origin & that I should plump for a solid British surname. So I looked up old sounding British's surnames & there you have it. That said, I prefer to use my given name, but I've spent so much time repeating "Yumiko Pollington" over the phone & whatnot that it's become a habit."
The trio fell into a comfortable silence as they drove along the back road of the borough toward the police shed, as Freya called it, at the top of Springvale Road. To the left of the car, a wide open expanse of field stretched out, the grass nearest the road cut short & a set of goal posts decorating the desolate stretch. The Doctor, staring out the window, realised this was part of the field the Tardis had been landed in, only much further up & somewhat better tended. As he looked out, he found his gaze drawn to two things, a distant high rise flat & a figure. Due to the distance, only a fuzzy silhouette of someone, not much taller than the Doctor, could be made out moving over a long path of short grass cut through longer strands close to the tower. Their movement was stop-start, almost as if they were unsure of their way.
"Or is it someone limping?" the Doctor thought.
A way ahead of the figure, the Timelord could see the towering bulk of the high-rise flat. Surrounding it were trees, which the grass path cut through, the spindly fingers of the branches scrabbling & reaching towards the tower. Oddly, the flat stood alone, the nearest house being some distance from it.
"What is that place?" he asked, his voice faraway.
"Sorry?" said Freya. "Oh, that's the Ludovico Estate."
"That place was a rotten dump, even when I was a kid." said Yumiko."And it had only been built in the early 60's. Gran used to visit a friend there & take me with her, felt like I was walking into a monsters den."
"Why does it stand alone?"
"Not sure, think it had something to do with the Council running out of funds to build more, so they just left it as it was. There was a big hoo-ha about some land developer in the 70's vying to funnel money into it, but it never came to anything."
The Doctor remained silent as he stared at the monolith stretching towards the sky, his face unreadable.
Yumiko's Ford Sierra turned into Marchfield Drive & slowed to a halt outside number 21. Leaning forward to see past Freya, Yumiko bit her lip.
"Creepy." she said.
Number 21 had a dark aura about it. The house was in the middle of a row of terraced houses & the pall it cast seemed to bleed out & into the surrounding houses. The front of the house was covered in creeping ivy, some of it winding around the windows, other strands reaching up to the guttering. This, combined with the swirling dead leaves from a nearby tree, had the effect of making the house seem older & more desolate somehow. The front garden was nothing more than stone slabs, which had been left to the various weeds & grass that had sprouted up through the cracks. A short, covered alley to the right of the house led to the back gardens of 21 & 23. In the overcast weather, the darkened passage was ominous to look at.
The Doctor exited first & made his way over to the waist high metal gate at the end of the path to the front door. Stopping, he looked up & watched the house front for a few seconds. Lifting his free hand, he observed the hairs standing up on the back of his hand.
"Just like at the McLeod's." he muttered.
Unhooking the lock, the Doctor pushed forward into the garden & stopped by the door. The dark feeling was growing & he was not at all looking forward to the interior.
"Something other-wordly took place here." he thought. "Something that left it's mark in more ways than one."
Freya made her way up the path & slotted the key into the lock. Pushing the door open, the trio found themselves in a modest main hall. To the right was the living room, a frosted glass door protecting the interior from view. Ahead, a wooden door stood which led to the kitchen & to the left of that a flight of stairs. The Doctor, observing the hall, noted the pindot pale green carpet had faint traces of blood on it.
As Yumiko closed the door behind her, such a silence descended upon the scene that it sent a shiver up the two human's spines. The lone Gallifreyan, now reaching for the living room door, felt a sense of trepidation rising in his chest, but ignored it.
Entering the living room, the trio were greeted by a scene from a splatter horror film. The floral print wallpaper on all sides was covered in blood, the stains having dried to a dark reddish-brown. A Persian rug, which covered the green carpet at the centre of the room, was likewise saturated & appeared to have been slashed in places. The tv situated just by the door was shattered, the internal workings laid bare for all to see. The settees, one positioned by the far wall & the other under the window, were untouched save for smatterings of blood. The bookcase, which sat in a shallow alcove on the left wall, was filled to the brim with books & videos. At the centre of this wall was a fire, the contents having long since gone cold.
The Doctor made his way into the room, his face pale. Dropping to the ground, he placed a hand on the bloodstained rug.
"Something far more terrible than human crimes happened here, Freya." he said, his voice seeming loud in the thundering silence.
"Do you know who's behind all this." she asked, her arms crossed to hide her shaking hands.
"No, but I'm working my way towards it." he said, grimly. "Are there any other rooms like this?"
Freya shook her head. Beside her, Yumiko was staring at the bloodstains, her eyes wide with shock.
"Who could have done such a thing?" she whispered.
"Let's make a check of the house." said the Doctor, rising.
"But the police have alread-" began the UNIT agent.
"And a fresh collection of eyes never hurt anyone, unless it's something to do with the Grundyrbung. Nasty race, like to sneak into peoples bedrooms & pluck out their eyes as they sleep."
As the Doctor turned & left the living room, Freya noted that, not only was his face still pale, but the dark looked she had dismissed at the leisure centre had returned.
Yumiko had entered the kitchen with Freya. Both women shared the unspoken desire not to be alone, though both privately chided themselves for it. Yumiko stood by the sink looking through the window. Outside, the aperture looked out onto a large garden with an equally large shed to the right. Freya, moving into the adjacent & very cramped dining room, poked her head through the serving hatch & looked into the living room.
The Doctor had gone upstairs alone & the two woman could hear the creak of floorboards above them. Despite knowing he was up there, it did little to reassure them.
"There's something wrong with this house." said Yumiko.
"I know." said Freya, re-entering the kitchen. "The atmosphere it exudes just makes you want to run away."
"What could the Doctor possibly want to see here?" asked Yumiko, still staring out the window.
Freya hesitated. Neither she nor the Doctor had informed Yumiko about the potential nature of what they were dealing with. Whether paranormal or supernatural, the woman was a civilian & ignorant of the threats they could face. Scratching the side of her head, Freya was beginning to think it hadn't been the best idea to let Yumiko join them. Then again, the Doctor seemed to be happy & she trusted his judgement.
Upstairs, the Doctor had poked his head into two out of the three rooms & found untouched bedrooms. One had evidently been for the parents, the other for a pair of children. Inside the parents room, his eyes had lingered on a family photograph on one of the bedside tables. Out from the frame smiled the happy Beattie's, a teenage boy & a younger boy & girl, around the same age, standing before their parents & oblivious to the unknown fate that would befall them. Sighing, the Doctor left the room & that was when his eyes had fallen on the third room door. Merely looking at it made the Doctor hesitate. The same dark, oppressive feeling came over him, but he soon mastered it. Stepping slowly forward, he turned the doorknob & entered what was clearly the eldest boys. Clothes lay strewn about, the bed unmade, what appeared to be school jotters lay piled up at the bottom of the bed & the curtains were drawn with only a small crack of weak autumn light passing through.
There were no signs of a violent struggle or end in this room, yet it had the same nebulous dread about it. Sitting on the bed, the Doctor twitched the curtains open & looked out onto the garden. Just over a row of tall hedges, he could see the houses which backed onto the Marchfield Drive row. On the horizon, he could see dark rain clouds gliding toward the houses direction. A rustle of carpet by the door made him turn around.
"Find anything?" asked Yumiko
"No, nothing here." said the Doctor, his features sagging with grim disappointment. "This room gives off the same feeling as the living room. Something wrong happened, something contrary to the accepted laws of space-time."
"Space-time?" said Yumiko, walking over to a pile of discarded jotters at the foot of the bed.
"Yes, think of it like haunted houses. It's still fiercely debated by the scientists of your planet, but many accept the idea that an event of significant emotional & mental upheaval can cause them to be...absorbed by it's surroundings, in the right circumstance. Something happened here, and the walls, the furniture, the house itself, it all holds the memory of the event. It's not just that, however. The very fabric of the room, of the space between us is...agitated, disturbed by something that shouldn't ordinarily occur."
"You speak like your not human." said Yumiko, kneeling by the discarded jotters & flipping through one of them. When she got no reply, she flicked her eyes back to the Doctor & saw him smiling softly to himself.
"Anything good in there?" he said, indicating the jotters.
"Oh, just the usual teenage boy stuff." she said, smirking. "Riveting stuff like ""Laura Gordon's got a nice bum"", though in more colourful language, ""Mr. Haynes is a tosspot."" and various pages filled with the most atrocious grammar that I've seen since I was at school. Oh, and a couple pages worth of noughts & crosses games. There are some random scribblings at the back though. Something about ""Lament"" and how ""It'll open up a new world!""."
Reaching over, Yumiko handed the jotter to the Doctor & began leafing through another. Straining his eyes in the half-light, the Doctor saw that the eldest Beattie boy, Laurence, had scribbled only once the word "Lament" among other unrelated topics. Closing the book, he tapped his lips with the top of the spine & became lost in thought.
As he sat there, he was vaguely aware of Freya entering.
"Have you soaked in the atmosphere enough?" she asked, nervously.
The Doctor nodded, his face unreadable. Inclining his head toward the window, he peered out through the small crack as he spoke.
"Are next line of enquiry should be about this ""Lament"". I think it's something that the more vulnerable are likely to seek out."
"Go on." said Freya, leaning on the bedroom wall.
"The first vanishing was a drug addict & local washout, the next was a family, but a family with a teenage son. I also came across a rather haunted teen at the shops, Eilidh I think her name was. If we could find her we'd probably be a lot further on."
"What about the old age pensioners?" asked Freya. "Whilst they're technically vulnerable people, I can hardly imagine them tramping the streets in search of this ""Lament""."
"True." conceded the Doctor. "But that file mentioned their disappearance was discovered by their granddaughter, aged 16."
"You think the local youths might have an idea?" Yumiko chimed in.
"Yes, so perhaps it's time to go back to school." said the Doctor, standing up as he spoke.
"You'll have a hard time finding anyone at this time of day, they've all gone home." said Yumiko, in answer to the Doctor's questioning glance.
Pulling out his watch, the Doctor grunted irritably as the readout flashed "16:00".
"What about after school activities?" he asked, hopefully.
"They've been taking place at the leisure centre." said Freya. "They found asbestos in the gym at North Fens Academy & the community centre's going to be renovated, so the leisure centre Manager offered them the use of the facilities."
"Well, that can be our next stop then." said the Doctor.
"Why exactly?" asked Freya.
"Aside from tapping the youth of North Fens for what they know about ""Lament"", they might be able to give us the address of Eilidh, or at least tell us something about her."
"We could just stop by the Secondary School & ask there, couldn't we?" asked Yumiko.
"The old battleaxe at reception won't give out that info, even if I were to get her to phone the police & confirm I work with them." replied Freya, irritably.
"Our course is set for the Leisure Centre, then." said the Timelord.
Clapping his hands together, the Doctor walked past the two women & stopped dead in his tracks at the door. Freya & Yumiko, bumping into him, followed his line of vision & felt their blood run cold.
The stairs up to the 1st floor curved around a large wall which had partially been turned into a display area for various ornaments. The lower section of which was, however, unaltered & upon the floral print wallpaper, the words "Help us" were written in what appeared to be blood.
The Doctor was first over to the grizzly sight & touched the impromptu ink of the message.
"Human blood." he said, grimly, though his eyes were wide with horror. "A cross dimensional call for help, maybe?"
"That wasn't there before, I looked at that wall when Freya came into the bedroom." said Yumiko. "Wait, a cross dimensional call for help? From where?"
The Doctor did not answer, still examining the message. As Yumiko was about to insist on an answer, the open door of Laurence's bedroom slammed shut. About turning, Yumiko was about to march over & open the door when Freya's restraining hand latched onto her wrist. Twisting her head to look at her, Yumiko was surprised to see fear marring her features. The Doctor, however, remained crouched by the bloody message, his head raised as if listening to something.
"L-l-let's get back to the Leisure Centre." said Freya, her voice trembling. "P-please?"
"Can't you hear it?" asked the Doctor.
The two women turned to him, looks of confusion on their faces. The Timelord, upon realising he was being stared at, stood up.
"You're right, Freya, time we were moving."
Taking one last look at the message, the Doctor turned & took the stairs, Freya following in his wake. Yumiko remained behind for a moment longer, trying to listen. Failing to hear anything, she glanced at the words stained on the wall & was shocked to see that they had disappeared.