Where Waves crash and Journeys end (Doctor Who/Broadchurch)

12

Days passed and Alec Hardy was getting more and more impatient. He felt restless, wanting to know about all this. His mind didn't want to leave him alone, still whispering odd things. He wanted to know who had killed Danny Latimer, he wanted to know who that blonde girl was. He wanted to know where that strange blue box came from. He wanted to know so much, but the truth remained untold. 

He tried to do his job, started suspecting. Avoided useless questions, talked to the members of Dannys family. They all were upset so deeply, it gave him chills. He knew that he couldn't turn back time and bring their son back, you had to move on somehow. Even if the pain was gripping, dragging you into a dark pit. 

At night, when the sleepy town of Broadchurch finally closed its eyes, Alec sneaked out of the hotel. Then he looked over the shore, the waves crashing as usual. He enjoyed the loneliness. He enjoyed the silence. And the most surprising thing - his mind went silent for the first time in months. 

Maybe, just maybe...the nightmares had just led him to this point. That he wouldn't die. That he just would stand here, thinking about going anywhere else. 

He still had time. It was worth wasting some. 

Hell, was he wrong...

It was Friday evening and Alec was just walking back to the hotel. He had been invited for dinner at Ellie Millers house, meeting her husband Joe. He worked as a paramedic and had felt very sorry for the murder both of them investigated, nothing so cruel had happened here in centuries. He seemed very nice and the food had been better than anything he had eaten in former times. Living on cup noodles and pizza for almost six months wasn't really his favourite. 

Today had been Dannys funeral where Alec at first hadn't wanted to go. He wasn't very religious and he couldn't stand being surrounded by crowds anyway. Surrounded by humans. But somehow, it seemed to him that he had to. He could have sworn the voice in his head had told him so. However, Alec was done. Completely done. He just wanted to have a nice cup of tea and crawl under the warm sheets of his hotel bed, all worries blown away. 

All of a sudden, there was a shift in the air. The cold night breeze was blowing through the dark streets as usual, playing with his hair. But there was something else Alec couldn't tell - a sweet, sharp smell like rotten flesh. It was in the air, surrounding him like thick fog, paving the ground to his feet. Alec shrugged his shoulders, wanting to convince his mind that there was nothing to be scared of - as the street lamp to his right started to flicker. So did the other three along the street, all going on and off until Alec was standing in complete darkness. 

The DI swallowed, his heart pounding rapidly under his chest. He wanted to run, but his feet felt like glued to the ground. His whole body started to shake, trembling in fear...he never had experienced anything like this before. He tried to breathe normally, his gaze roaming through the empty streets. Everything was silent, only the wind could be heard - so why did it feel like someone...or something...was watching him? 

Watching out of the shadows?

Okay, Alec. This is your friendly reminder that absolutely NOTHING can harm you, not even the darkest night. There's nothing to be afraid of, there's no such thing as boogymen or scary dolls or...

But he wouldn't finish the sentence. Something was coming. And it was hungry. Hungry for blood. Hungry for human bodies, for human flesh. 

It was getting closer and closer, Alec felt his blood run cold. He still couldn't move, his body seemed like paralyzed. His heart was about to pass out again, his vision getting blurry. His life energy was being ripped out, sucked from the creature. He could feel it. 

Maybe, just maybe...that was the end. He would die right here, with nothing left than himself. He would never find out about his past, would never travel. Would never be alive again. He would return to his family, six feet under the ground, becoming a plastic face too. 

He would never see the light again.