The power of loving a fandom so much that you need more than what the source material is offering is a magical feeling that opens up doors to the imagination and ignites a spark you may have never known you had. Among the ambitious routes you can ta...
Entered into the 'Who's Been Creeping Into Your Fandom' Fanfic contest
Posted on: 28th October 2018
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The woods were dark and dense. They all fitted together in a large group, closing in around any living creature. The moonlight could only just be seen between the entwined branches high above, covering the blue-grey sky.
Animals scurried to-and-fro, the snapping of branches and the padding of footsteps the only sounds inside the woodland.
That is until a strange, unearthly sound echoed throughout the woodland. Animals ran off at the strange, loud sound, knowing very well that no such sound had been heard in this wood, nor should it ever be. Nothing – no one – ever ventured this far unless they were looking for someone. Or to discover if the legend was true.
A blue phone box, often used in the sixties, appeared then faded out of sight before appearing again. The sound was ever present and was clearly coming from this mysterious object. After a few more times of fading in and out of existence, the blue phone box became apparent. It stood out like a sore thumb against the tranquil scenery of the woodland, the rushing of a river nearby drowned by a settling noise from the out of place object.
A final echo erupted around the woodland, disrupting the settled birds who had just flown back to their nests in the trees.
As the birds flew high in the sky, following one another in a circle until they came upon their nests again, the door opened revealing a man with spiky hair wearing a long brown jacket and a blue pinstriped suit underneath. He patted the box before peeking his head into the inside again.
"Here you go." The Doctor said in an over excited tone, a wide smile tugging at his face as he stared at Rose Tyler.
Rose looked around, closing the door of the TARDIS behind her. She raised an eyebrow, looking sidelong at the Doctor with an amused smile upon her face. "This is a forest." She said slowly, pronouncing each word very clearly for the Doctor to here.
The Doctor pulled a face as he tried to come up with an excuse as to why this is the most interesting forest in the world, but no false truth would come to him. "Fine, it's a forest. Mundane. Tedious. Dull. But," He spun around, pointing his finger at Rose making her laugh. "Peaceful. Nothing could possibly go wrong here."
"It's hardly the place for a picnic." Rose retorted, folding her arms.
A low howl echoed around the woodland before it went still again, the rustling of leaves and the padding sounds of animals running away the only sound.
The Doctor and Rose went still as they focused upon the little break within the trees in front of them. One of them shook very slightly in fear, whilst the other began to take a closer look, their footsteps crunching against the twig-strewn ground.
"What are you doing?" Rose called in a whisper-shout, making sure that the TARDIS was right behind her as she reached for the wooden box.
The Doctor didn't answer as he examined the opening compared to the rest of the forest around them.
The opening within the trees was dark, the faint outline of the dense trees the only sight from anywhere around. Not much could be seen within. It was almost as though the woodland within the opening was another dimension.
The rest of the woodland had no such paths, nor were the trees as close together as in the opening. It was still dark, but there was an eerie blue glow to the part of the forest they were in.
Something caught the Doctor's eye in the opening, just on the other side of it. It looked like a crumpled-up piece of paper, yellowed with age, the piece of paper not new but it looked as though it had just been thrown there very recently.
The Doctor reached in and picked it up before unfolding it to see what was upon it.
In large words at the very top was the word 'MISSING' in capital letters and hand written.
In the middle was a picture in black and white of a young girl smiling, her eyes crinkled in happiness. She had curly locks that hung around her shoulders and her cheeks were chubby. She must have only been about the age of six at the time the photograph was taken.
At the bottom of the page lay the name of the girl; Rosemary Gray. Her age was below that; Eight years old. Below that was the day that she went missing; 18th December 1955. The home address and phone number were posted below for anyone to come forward with information about her whereabouts.
The Doctor folded the piece of paper neatly into his pocket before beckoning to Rose to come and follow him into the opening.
"Do you smell smoke?" Rose asked, sniffing the air, not moving from where the TARDIS stood.
The Doctor looked around, until he saw a large smoke cloud in a parting within the trees.
The dark grey smoke was closer to black. A few sparks from whatever fire was causing it merged with the smoke cloud, the embers flying with the light wind which commanded it.
Above the trees, not too far away through the opening in the trees, the flames of a large fire could just be seen. The orange glow, the only light within the darkness of the forest.
But before the Doctor or Rose could get to it, they sensed movement from around them within the trees. The sound of large footsteps and trees cracked and rustled around the woodland.
Soon, a figure with no face, only a blank white, long tendrils expanding behind the creature wearing a black suit with a white shirt, towered within the treelines in the opening of the forest. It stood out against the darkness.
The Doctor turned to Rose who was frozen in fear, her eyes wide and mouth slightly parted as she tried to speak or scream.
As the... monster made its way closer to the pair, the Doctor raced to Rose, opening the door of the TARDIS and pushing her in. Her eyes were still tracking the creature who was close on their tail, it's long, thin legs carrying it towards them at a fast pace.
The Doctor flicked a switch on the console and the vworping sound so familiar to them rang out throughout the console chamber. Turning the monitor on, the Doctor noticed that the monster stood a fair few feet away, it's head tilted as the tendrils extended outwards and then retracted inwards repetitively.
Soon, the TARDIS was flying through the time vortex, perfectly safe out of harm's way of whatever the creature may have been.
Turning to Rose with a smile, the Doctor said happily – and in many ways relieved, "We're safe now. Although, I really want to know what that thing was. Maybe it just wanted to say hello. Maybe it was scouting the area. Maybe it just needed help getting home."
Rose still stood frozen in fear as she nodded in a robotic way, her head moving stiffly.
The Doctor narrowed his eyes in concentration just as the monitor changed to a fact file on a creature known as the Slender Man. The Doctor squinted his eyes at the facts that raced down the screen as the TARDIS made a noise.
"Rose, you haven't seen the creature before have you?" The Doctor asked curiously, not looking towards her as he read the missing person's cases related to the Slender Man, one of them being Rosemary.
Rose shook her head, the movement stiff and forced.
The Doctor didn't smile as he watched Rose from the corner of his eye. He tried to mask his concern, but it was hard to when he tried to debate what the right thing to do was.
Leave Slender Man to continue these kidnappings and possible killings? Or go back and defeat him then and there?
The Doctor finally decided on neither. He would leave for now but would come back someday to discover what was going on. Right now, he needed to get Rose as far away from here as possible.
