Chapter 5 (Underneath the Floorboards)
If it hadn’t been for the fact that I needed to keep a roof over our heads I would have grabbed our things and gotten both myself and Eve out of the house there and then, but I wasn’t in a position to do that. I’d have nowhere to go. My family visited occasionally, but we weren’t particularly close. I hadn’t seen David, my brother, for over a year now. This was our home. However dark and horrible it seemed it still had to be our home.
I had to put my faith in the Doctor.
He had cleared away the picture frame again and shut the door to the middle room as we settled into the front room. He had set up his equipment – some kind of old, 1950’s wireless and a couple of large satellite dishes – and switched them on. Both of the dishes were whirring around, but other than that nothing was happening.
“What does it do?” asked Eve, trying to peer at the device.
“It monitors the area for any signs of disruption to the atmosphere,” said the Doctor, turning around on the spot.
“So it’s like a ghost detector?” asked Eve.
“Sort of,” smiled the Doctor.
“Cool,” she said, looking closer.
“Eve, maybe you should step back from that,” I said. As friendly as they were, I didn’t want Eve interfering in things she shouldn’t.
“She’s fine, Mrs Webster,” said the Doctor, sitting down opposite me on the gold-coloured sofa. “Your daughter has an enquiring mind.”
“Yeah, she’s always sticking her nose into things she shouldn’t,” I smiled.
“I try to stay out of trouble,” she replied.
The Doctor turned back to me. “Emily, I was wondering if you’d help me with something.”
“Of course,” I said, not really knowing what I’d agreed to, “but what about your device?”
“Oh, Holly can monitor it,” he said.
Holly nodded. “We both can,” she said smiling at Eve.
“I’d like to take a look back upstairs. That’s where the first activity was with the tapping.”
“After you,” I said, getting up.
The both of us made our way up the creaking steps and towards the back bedroom. The Doctor glanced momentarily into the bathroom and then opened the back bedroom door.
I wrinkled my nose. It always smelt fusty in there.
“Black?” said the Doctor, arching his eyebrows.
“Some student painted it before we moved in.”
“You moved in years ago,” said the Doctor. “You didn’t want to redecorate?”
“We just never got around to it,” I replied. “I know how lazy that sounds, but we mainly used it as a storage room.”
“Hmm,” he said, kneeling down and examining the floorboards. “So the tapping originated from towards this room.” He felt around the boards and then peered closer at something.
“What is it?” I asked, kneeling beside him.
He held up a straggly object to my face. “Looks like straw to me,” he said.
I looked at it curiously and then spotted his blue eyes looking deep into mine. I smiled at him. “How would straw get up here?”
“Who knows?” said the Doctor. He put the straw back on the floor. “There’s more over there.”
I traced where his finger was pointed and there was indeed more straw. Very small strands of it were dotted around the room and towards the rotting skirting board.
“Do you mind if I lift one of these boards?” he asked, pulling out the same sonic device he’d used earlier from his coat pocket.
“Well, as long as you put it back. I don’t want us getting into trouble with the council.”
“By the sounds of it, Emily, I don’t think they care too much about this place.” He smiled. “But I promise to put it back.”
“Then be my guest,” I said.
He aimed the device at one of the screws and it made an odd, whirring sound. Slowly the rusty old screw came away. He did the same to the other three screws.
“What kind of a tool is that anyway?” I asked.
“A sonic screwdriver,” he smiled, patting the device.
“I could do with one of those. Since Julian’s died I’ve becoming quite the handy woman.”
“I’ll see if I can fix you up with one,” he said, winking at me. “Perks of working for UNIT.”
He put the screwdriver back into his pocket and then forced the tips of his fingers in the gap between the floorboards. With a satisfying crack he tugged the floorboard away. We both peered into the dark, rectangular hole and then looked at each other.
“Oh well,” said the Doctor, rolling up his sleeve and slowing putting his hand into the gap in the floor.
“What are you looking for?” I asked, realising what he was doing wasn’t making much sense.
“Looking for more...aha!” He said. “There’s more straw down here.”
“More straw?” I tried to see inside but he shielded my view, looking concerned, concentrating on what he was doing.
“What on Gallifrey-”
He didn’t finish his sentence. He froze, his eyes full of concern, his brow furrowed. He quickly snatched his hand away from the gap, grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the room.
I nearly tripped over my own feet. “Wait, Doctor, what is it?” I asked, trying to look back at the room as he dragged me out and shut the door with a loud bang.
“Not up here,” he said, still holding onto my hand and guiding me down the stairs.
“What’s all the slamming about?” asked Holly, emerging at the bottom of the stairs with Eve.
“Emily, do you have anywhere you can stay other than here?”
I shook my head. The pitfalls of having family out of town. “No. Nowhere. What’s wrong?”
“Then I’ll give you some money for a hotel room,” he said, going into his blazer pocket.
“No,” I said, snatching my hands away from his and looking at him in frustration. “What’s going on? Why did you drag me out of the room?”
There was a sound from upstairs – a creaking sound. All four of us turned to look up the stairs as the door slowly creaked open.
“There’s nothing there,” said Holly. “Maybe it’s on loose hinges.”
“It’s never done that before,” said Eve, looking worried.
“Please, Mrs Webster, I need you to leave this house right now.”
“No,” I said, folding my arms, “not until you tell me why I need to leave. What happened up there? What did you find under the floorboards?”
“Floorboards?” said Eve, looking nervous now. “Why were you taking floorboards up?”
“Please...” continued the Doctor, a pained expression on his face.
“What did you find under the floorboards?” I asked again. I didn’t like repeating myself, but he was holding back now.
The door upstairs slammed shut and made us jump.
“In the front room,” said the Doctor, ushering us in ahead of him. He took another glance up the stairs and then sat down in the armchair, the rest of us settling down on the sofa. It was barely big enough to fit us all.
“What’s going on, Doctor?” asked Holly, now starting to sound as frustrated as myself.
The Doctor took a deep breath and glanced at the door almost as if he was expecting something to burst through it. “When I put my hand underneath the floorboards I felt more straw so I moved my hand around for a bit and dug deeper.”
“And?” I said, waiting for him to continue.
“Something grabbed my wrist.”
My blood ran cold and Eve moved in close to me.
“You have to be kidding,” said Holly.
The Doctor shook his head. “I wish I was. When I put my hand in the straw an old, woman’s hand grabbed my wrist as if to stop me. Her hands were cold and lifeless.”
“Oh my god,” said Holly, putting her hands to her mouth and looking at myself and Eve. “Your ghost is genuine.”
To be continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment