The Girl Who Survived (Doctor Who)

Blowing Off Steam

Rebel's POV
Gwyneth poured us all tea as Rose and I went off on Sneed. "First of all you drug me, then my best friend, then you kidnap us, and don't think I didn't feel your hands having a quick wander, you dirty old man." Rose yelled, at Sneed who shrunk in his chair. "Like she said! Drugging us! What are you? Cause it's sure as hells not a good man! You stuff Rose on a DEAD woman expect NOT to get lip back from us?" With each word I got closer and closer to Sneed, voice getting higher and higher. "I won't be spoken to like this!" He scorned us. "Then you stuck us in a room full of zombies! And if that ain't enough, you swan off and leave us to die! So come on, talk!" Rose demanded.

I huffed and went to stand by the Doctor, who was leaning on the mantle of the fireplace, watching this go down. "It's not my fault. It's this house. It always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had much bother until a few months back, and then the stiffs, the er, dear departed started getting restless." The Doctor placed his arm over my shoulder and I leaned into him, blowing off steam. Rose was still glaring angrily at Sneed. "Tommyrot." Charles muttered. "You witnessed it. Can't keep the beggars down, sir. They walk. And it's the queerest thing, but they hang on to scraps." Sneed continued. Gwyneth placed two cups of tea on the mantelpiece beside us.  "Two sugars, sir, ma'm. Just how you like it." She said.

"One old fellow who used to be a sexton almost walked into his own memorial service. Just like the old lady going to your performance, sir, just as she planned." Sneed told Charles. "Morbid fancy." He denuded again. "Oh, Charles, you were there." I sighed. I saw nothing but an illusion." He simply stated. "If you're going to deny it, don't waste my time. Just shut up. What about the gas?" The Doctor asked. "That's new, sir. Never seen anything like that." Sneed admitted.

"Means it's getting stronger, the rift's getting wider and something's sneaking through." I looked at the Doctor as I talked. "What's the rift?" Rose asked, asking the question everybody besides the Doctor and I knew. "A weak point in time and space. A connection between this place and another. That's the cause of ghost stories, most of the time." The Doctor answered.
"That's how I got the house so cheap. Stories going back generations." Sneed piped in. Charles had been debating on leaving us for awhile. I saw it in his eyes. Talking about the rift must of set him off, because he slammed the door to the room as he stormed off.

"Echoes in the dark, queer songs in the air, and this feeling like a shadow passing over your soul. Mind you, truth be told, it's been good for business. Just what people expect from a gloomy old trade like mine." Sneed choked out.

The Doctor took off a second after Charles did, me hot on his trail. We watched as Charles took the lid off Redpath's coffin, and waved his hand in front of the dead man's face."Checking for strings?" I spoke. "Wires, perhaps. There must be some mechanism behind this fraud." He kept checking the coffin, but to no avail, found words or strings of any sort. "Oh, come on, Charles. All right. I shouldn't have told you to shut up. I'm sorry. But you've got one of the best minds in the world. You saw those gas creatures." The Doctor apologized. "I cannot accept that." Charles stubbornly told us.

"And what does the human body do when it decomposes? It breaks down and produces gas. Perfect home for these gas things. They can slip inside and use it as a vehicle, just like your driver and his coach." I explained. "Stop it. Can it be that I have the world entirely wrong?" Charles questioned itself. "Not wrong. There's just more to learn." I coaxed.

"I've always railed against the fantasists. Oh, I loved an illusion as much as the next man, revelled in them, but that's exactly what they were, illusions. The real world is something else. I dedicated myself to that. Injustices, the great social causes. I hoped that I was a force for good. Now you tell me that the real world is a realm of spectres and jack-o'-lanterns. In which case, have I wasted my brief span here, Doctor? Rebel? Has it all been for nothing?"