The Girl Who Accidentally Ran Away (A Doctor Who Fan-fiction)

Chapter Eleven: A Writer and A Foolish Man

I followed Charles out. I found him examining the young man's coffin, looking for signs of tricks. I leaned against the doorframe. "You're not going to find anything, Charles."

"There must be some mechanism behind this fraud."

"Come on. the Doctor shouldn't have told you to shut up. He's sorry, and I know this because the two of us literally share a brain."

"How do you share a brain?" He asked. In 1869 literally actually means literally. Got it.

"Never mind. Charles Dickens, you have one of the best minds in the entire world. You know that you saw those creatures."

"I cannot accept that."

"When people die, the human body breaks down and produces gas. That's a fact, and it's a fact that tells us that the deceased are a perfect home for these creatures. They can get in and use the bodies as a vehicle-"

"Stop it, please." He told me. "Can it be that I have the world entirely wrong?" i shook my head.

"You don't have it wrong, Charles. There's just more to it than you realized. It's not that everything you know doesn't exist, it does. There just happens to be more out there that you don't know about."

"I've always rallied against the fantasies, oh I loved an illusion as much as the next man, revlled 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 specters and jack-o-Lanterns. In which case...have I wasted my brief span here, Katherine? Has it all been for nothing?"

"Of course not." I assured him. "You're Charles Dickens! You're one of the greatest literary minds the world has ever seen. Your stories...they cause people to beleive that maybe there is something magical out there. Even if they know, or think they know, in the back of their minds that that isn't true, you have opened a doorway in their hearts to imagination and whimsy! And maybe the people of this time call that nonsense, but...I call it a fresh perspective on life that makes it worth living."

"Really?" I nodded.

"Of course. And yes, those things that you classify as 'the real world' are still important. THat's just not all there is. You've provided that differentiation with the things you support and the stories you write."

"I don't understand you, Katherine," He told me, "You have the wisdom of someone far beyond your years." I shook my head.

"Trust me Charles...I have more years to my name than my face suggests."

~~~

When we returned to the room, the Doctor filled me in. Firstly, he reminded me of the people's names, the old man being Mr. Sneed and the maid being Gwyneth. Evidentally, Gwyneth grew up on top of the rift and was connected to it. She could hear the creatures and see inside of people's heads evidently. She was going to assist us in having a séance.

"This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists, down in big town. " She explained as we all sat around a table. Charles still looked skeptical. "Come. We must all join hands."

"I can't take part in this." Charles said, sitting down.

"Humbug?" The Doctor referenced. 

"Come on. Have an open mind."

"This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I strive to unmask. Seances? Nothing but luminous tabourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing."

"Now don't antagonize her. I love a happy medium." The Doctor joked.

"I can't beleive you just said taht." Rose replied. I looked up at Charles.

"Only a foolish man denies the evidence that's right in front of him. You saw the creatures, you saw the dead come to life, now tell me Charles...are you a foolish man?" He looked down at the table before sitting down again.

"Good man!" The Doctor exclaimed, taking my hand. "Now Gwyneth...reach out."

"Speak to us. Are you there? Spiits come. Speak to us that we may relieve your burden." Her eyes went up to the ceiling and the faint sound of whispers entered the room.

"Can you hear that?" Rose asekd. 

"Nothing can happen. This is sheer folly."

"Look at her." She started rocking back and forth, her eyes on the ceiling. 

"I see them! I feel them!" Suddenly, the blue rays of light filled the air around us, floating over our heads like smoke.

"What's it saying?"

"It can't get through the rift," The Doctor stated, "Gwyneth, it's not controlling you, you're controlling it. Now look deep. Allow them through."

"I can't." I squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Yes, you can. Just beleive it. I have faith in you, Gwyneth." She closed her eyes, bringing her head down. "Make the link."

"Yes." All of a sudden a blue, woman-like gas creature stood behind her and Gywneth was enveloped with light. Two other shapes joined the first.

"Good gosh. Spirits from the other side." Mr. Sneed noted in awe.

"The other side of the universe." The Doctor clarified.

"Pity us. Pity the Gelth." They said through Gwynth's mouth. "There is so little time, help us!"

"What do you want us to do?" I asked.

"The rift. Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge."

"What for?" The Doctor questioned.

"We are so very few. The last of our kind." I looked at the Doctor. "We face extinction."

"Why? What happened?"

"Once we had a physical form, like you. But then the war came."

"War? What war?" Charles inquired.

"The Time war." My hand tightened around the Doctor's. Rose glanced at us and the Doctor glanced back. "The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged, invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in this gaseous state."

"So that's why you need the corpses." I stated, my voice tight. The Doctor noticed this and squeezed my hand. 

"We want to stand tall. To feel the sunlight. To live again. We need a physical form and your dead are abandoned. They go to waste. Give them to us."

"But we can't." Rose protested.

"Why not?" The Doctor asked.

"It's not...I mean...It's not..."

"Not decent? Not polite? It could save their lives." 

"Open the rift. Let the Gelth through. We're dying, help us. Pity the Gelth!"  They disappeared and Gwyneth doubled over, gasping. I let go of the Doctor's hand, putting a hand on her back.

"You're alright..." I whispered gently. I got up, holding her head up. "You're ok, Gwyneth."

"All true..." Charles muttered. I looked up at him. "it's all true."