The Haunting of Mrs. Webster (Chapter 9)

Chapter 9 (Assistant 559)

Whilst myself and Eve sat on the sofa worrying, the Doctor had rigged up some of his equipment that he had brought in the previous day. He had attached two small wires to the jewel and fixed his sonic screwdriver to the wires.

“This may not work,” he said, looking up at the two of us, “but it’s all we have left to try.”

He activated the screwdriver, the jewel began to glow a little bit and then a strange, monotone voice followed by an old woman’s voice began to speak.

“This jewel has been used to record something. How about we have a listen?”





THIS LOG IS DAMAGED. PLEASE BE AWARE THAT ONLY FRAGMENTS NOW EXIST.

LOG OF ASSISTANT 559: CODE NAME - QUICK

EXTRACT 1

It is my first day on the planet Earth after spending the last 40 years on Thrax with King Tabien and his family. After a significant period of rest I am pleased to say that I am ready to resume my duties, albeit in a totally different environment.

The Hub has sent me to a small town in the South of the country known as England on planet Earth. Many Assistants have visited the planet before, but not for a number of years now. I will be the first.

The local date and time is July 15th 1899. I shall be caring for the children that belong in the Horner family. Yvonne Horner is a matron at a local hospital and Nicholas Horner is the manager of a ship builders. Their children are James and Poppy Horner, aged 8 and 10 respectively.

EXTRACT ENDS

DAMAGE IN RECORDING LOG. PLEASE WAIT FOR PICK UP.

EXTRACT 4

...very pleasant children, but there is something not quite right about them. They are very placid and not as excitable as children should be. Maybe this is because their parents appear to be quite strict with them. I spoke to Poppy, the eldest, and she said that they very rarely get to see their parents. When their parents return from work they eat and then have to retire to their rooms...

...my accommodation leaves a lot to be desired. The parents are in the master bedroom at the front of the house and the children share the middle room. My room is at the back of the house. Unfortunately the Horner’s have told me that I will have to pay for a bed myself. Until my first payment I will have to make do with a makeshift pile of straw set into just under the floorboards and a few blankets. It will suffice for now. I’ve lived in much worse conditions...

DAMAGE IN RECORDING LOG. PLEASE WAIT FOR PICK UP.

EXTRACT 14

...speak to me like that again. The gall of the man! It’s no wonder he gets through as many workers as he does at his ship building empire. No offense to the Grand Assistant, but if he spoke to me like Nicholas Horner speaks to me I would not be working for him any longer...

...cold porridge...

...seriously considering taking my leave unless something happens. I have a bed at least...

DAMAGE IN RECORDING LOG. PLEASE WAIT FOR PICK UP.

EXTRACT 22

I have spoken to Human Resources regarding my issues on Earth. They have told me that no matter what I must see the job through. We are, after all, Assistants. We assist. It seems I must swallow my pride and continue to let the Horner’s treat me like a second-class citizen.

DAMAGE IN RECORDING LOG. PLEASE WAIT FOR PICK UP.

EXTRACT 26

...shaking. I am a little disturbed by what I have just seen. James was washing his hands when I noticed a bruise to his forearm. When I asked him about it he tried to brush it off and say he did it falling out of a tree. I don’t know. And they are so frightened. I gently tap against the wall each night along the landing to signify it is time to go to bed, but James says it terrifies him. I’ve seen him eyeing up my cane with fear and distrust. I need to investigate further into...

DAMAGE IN RECORDING LOG. PLEASE WAIT FOR PICK UP.

EXTRACT 31

...confirmed. Today Poppy has a cut behind her ear. I have spoken to the Horner’s about this, but they deny all knowledge and have simply told me that children get themselves into all sorts of scrapes. Whilst I believe this to be true, I also know that there is something else going on. I have been here for two weeks. These are not the type of children who get themselves into scrapes. They seem to be devoid of any fun. I will wait for more evidence to...

DAMAGE IN RECORDING LOG. PLEASE WAIT FOR PICK UP.

EXTRACT 37

...to leave or not? I can’t leave though. Not after what I have just witnessed. James was home from school and was ill. Nicholas Horner was also home feeling ill. I took the opportunity to go to the shops and buy groceries. When I returned, earlier than expected, I heard shouting coming from the kitchen. I remained quiet and witnessed Nicholas Horner continually beating James with a cane – my cane! When Horner senior realised I was there he stopped. I have told him that, whilst a child may sometimes have a beating from their parents or teachers, outright beating the child to within an inch of his life is in line with child cruelty. I have informed Horner that I shall be reporting him to the authorities. He has left the house for the moment, but has threatened to deal with me later. I must be on my guard. Right now James’s wounds need tending to...

DAMAGE IN RECORDING LOG. PLEASE WAIT FOR PICK UP.

FINAL EXTRACT

...final...dying...the pain....

ERROR. ERROR. ERROR.

CONTINUE.

This is my final report. Mrs and Mrs Horner returned later in the day whilst I was washing the laundry. They confronted me about what I had witnessed. I told them that I was going to report them to the authorities. The rest is a blur.

As I left the kitchen I was struck on the back of the head by a blunt object. My vision turned cloudy, but I felt myself being dragged up the stairs. I heard Mr Horner bellow at James to stay in his room.

I tried to turn and escape only to feel another blow to the back of my head - the killer blow. As we all know our bodies are different to Humankind. The brain – the mind – lives on beyond the body unless we are shut down correctly, so whilst my body may be dying, my mind will continue to live. I can only hope that someone finds my body and ends it completely.

I wasn’t sure of where I was being taken, but I do know that the Horner’s took me up some ladders and into darkness. I remember seeing Mrs Horner’s wicked face illuminated by candlelight and then being thrown against a solid wall with the two evil creatures looking at me.

“You’ll tell no-one, Miss Quick,” was the last thing I heard Mr Horner say. My vision shut down and all I could hear was the hammering of nails on wood - and then nothing.

This is my last log entry. I hope those children will be safe from their parents.

I hope...all...children will be safe...



END LOG.

To be continued...

The Haunting of Mrs. Webster (Chapter 8)

Chapter 8 (Bones)

“What are you thinking, Doctor?” I asked.

I’d only know him for a day, but I’d never seen him looking so frustrated and confused. He sat there on the sofa in the front room, leant forward with his chin resting on the palm of his hand, his elbow balanced on his knee.

“Excuse me?” he said, almost as if he hadn’t heard me.

“I asked you what you were thinking. You know?”

He shook his head. “I’m actually feeling quiet positive, Emily.”

I was taken aback. “Sorry? Positive?”

“Mmm-hmm,” he nodded.

“But that ghost has taken away Holly. Your friend.”

“Yes, but it’s confirmed a few things for me.”

“Which are what?” I asked.

“That our old lady ghost cannot be a spirit.”

I frowned again. I seemed to spend most of my time frowning. “But you said-”

“I know what I said,” he interrupted me. I hated it when people did that, but somehow he didn’t make me angry, “but this changes everything. Completely and utterly. Ghosts don’t abduct people.”

Okay, that made sense, but if anything it threw everything else into confusion. If it wasn’t a ghost then what was it?

I looked across to the sofa. Eve was fast asleep. She was absolutely drained from the antics from the ghost – cos I’m just gonna keep calling it a ghost for now – and had crashed out not long after Holly had disappeared.

Now there were just the two of us.

“How are we going to get her back then?”

“By continuing on our original plan - ending this tonight. Well, before dawn at least. I want a nice slap up English breakfast after this as a way to celebrate.”

“Sounds good,” I said, smiling.”I’ll even cook it for you.”

“But first we need to lay out a timeline of events.”

“What about the message on the wall? It said to give her or Holly will die. Who does she mean?”

“Well ‘her’ is either you or Eve. Without gathering together all the information we can’t know for certain.”

We made sure Eve was sound asleep and then went through to the kitchen. The Doctor made us two steaming hot mugs of black coffee and then we sat down at the table. He got out a piece of paper from his blazer pocket and a pencil.

“So, firstly, when did you move into this house?”

“Well, it would have been when Eve was 6, so early 1979. I lost Julian the year after,” I felt sad again thinking about him.

The Doctor wrote down 1979 on the paper and then drew a timeline up till this year – 1986.

“And you never had any trouble in all that time?”

I shook my head. “No. Like I said before the house has always felt cold and uninviting. It doesn’t feel like a home, but we never had any issues at all and certainly no ghosts.”

“Okay, so when was the first event.”

“The other night when we heard the tapping on the walls.”

He wrote down ‘tapping’ on the paper.

“Can you think of anything else that has happened? Anything significant that happened on that day?”

“Eve turned 13.” I was worried that this was the direction it was headed in anyway.

“Nothing else?”

“Isn’t that enough?”

“No,” said the Doctor. “It may be connected, but I don’t think it’s the significant factor.”

He rapped his fingers on the table and then chewed the end of the pencil, sticking his tongue out at the woody-taste.

“How did you care for Eve when you were working?”

“We had a babysitter - Tash. Natasha Jones.” My eyes narrowed. “And the night that Tash left the ghost started up.”

The Doctor clicked his finger, pointed at me and then wrote down ‘babysitter’ on the paper. “Deciding factor.”

“But what’s Tash got to do with this?”

“Nothing. Well, nothing personally to do with it.” He leant back on the chair. I heard it creaking. The chairs were pretty cheap and prone to collapse at any minute. “You cared for Eve until Julian passed away. Then after struggling you got in a string of babysitters, correct?”

“Yeah. There was Carol and Jenny and then Tash.”

“Eve was protected. She had an adult protecting her until the moment Tash left.”

“But I’m still here. I’m an adult protecting her.”

“Yes, it’s interesting, isn’t it? The moment Tash left Eve had no protection other than her mother.”

I was struggling to understand the significance. “I’m her mother. I’m the best protection she can have.”

“But our old woman ghostly doesn’t seem to think that,” he said, grinning.

“Okay, but we’re still no closer to discovering why she wants Eve. So Eve isn’t protected now, except by me, but we know nothing.”

“I think our answers – or at least some of them – may lie in that attic.”



I’d checked up on Eve one more time and pulled the blanket a little higher over her before we headed back up the stairs. Strangely, although I was still scared, I wasn’t as worried now knowing that it was potentially not a ghost and that we were getting closer to an answer.

We were now armed with head torches and two hand torches as we ascended the stairs. The Doctor had also, somehow, managed to remove the strip light from the kitchen and rig it up to light up when disconnected. He placed it in the attic and it illuminated the room pretty well.

We crawled along to the backboards and the Doctor examined them. They had been nailed down against the wooden support beams and the nails looked older than modern day ones. He grabbed the hammer we’d brought up with us and began hammering at the board.

I hoped the neighbours wouldn’t complain or that we wouldn’t wake Eve up, but the wood was very brittle and it didn’t take long for the heavy hammer to splinter the wood. Once we were through we were able to pull the rest of the board off to make a hole big enough for us to get through. The Doctor told me to stay back and then crawled forward, shining the torch into the darkness.

I almost retched. There was a horrible, foul, musty stench coming from the space. The Doctor had taken his tie off and made a makeshift mouth cover.

“What’s back there?” I asked, peering forward.

“Come and see. It’s safe,” he said.

I grabbed my torch, pulled my top up over my nose and mouth and edged forward. My torch light hit something against the wall of the house. It was covered in dust, but it was unmistakable. I gasped as I looked down at it.

Curled into a foetal position was a small, almost-skeletal corpse with most of its clothes rotted away. The mouth was wide open and it looked to have been in some distress or agony when it died.

“Oh, Jesus Christ,” was all I could say.

“I think we’ve found the body of our old lady,” said the Doctor sadly. He crouched in front of the corpse and frowned. There was something not quite right about the skull. It looked Human, but in the centre of the forehead was an oval-shaped hole. It almost looked like a socket – too smooth for it to have been caused by a blunt instrument.

“What is that?” I asked, peering closer.

“This isn’t a Human skeleton,” said the Doctor, his eyes lighting up. “I have no idea what species it is, but something was here, imbedded in its skull.”

“Hey, look at this,” I said, noticing the torchlight glinting on something. I picked up what looked like a brass oval with a green jewel fixed into it.

The Doctor took it off me and peered at it.

“Was it for decoration, do you think?” I asked.

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “In fact I think this may be what’s causing all of your problems.” He bit on the end of his finger nail and then looked at me. “I need to get to my TARDIS. The equipment there will help me determine what this old lady is.”

We made our way out of the attic and the Doctor went to the front door. “Go and wake Eve up. I need to take you both with me.”

I nodded as he turned the door handle. But something was wrong. He tugged and frowned.

“What’s up?”

“Did you lock the door?” he asked.

“No,” I said, grabbing the key from the side table drawer and turning it in the lock. “It’s unlocked.”

“Then why won’t the door open?” he asked, pulling on the door.

“Try the back,” I said.

We headed through the middle room to the kitchen and tried the back door. The same thing happened. The door was jammed shut.

The Doctor had a thought and went to the front room. Eve was stirring now, awoken by our rustling about.

He pulled the curtains open and then stepped back in shock. Outside, instead of orange streetlights and the fence to the disused railway, there was nothing but blackness. It was totally and utterly pitch black.

“What the hell’s happening?” I said, pressing my face to the window to try and see if I could see anything at all.

“She’s trapped us,” said the Doctor. “She’s isolated us from the rest of the world.” He looked at me and the closed his eyes. “I’m sorry, Emily, but we can’t get out of this house.”

To be continued...

The Haunting of Mrs. Webster (Chapter 7)

Chapter 7 (Under the Covers)

Madness erupted in the attic. Mainly madness from myself. The Doctor seemed pretty calm, but I had been tensed up as tight as a spring when the torch had gone off. The first thing I did was yelp as I lost all bearings of where I was.

I relaxed a little when I felt the Doctor’s hand on my arm, but the panic rose inside me again when I realised that he also had hold of my other arm. And then the realisation dawned on me. I had a sleeveless top on, so I could feel the Doctor’s warm, gentle hand on my lower arm, but the second hand, clasped around my left arm, was not a warm, gentle hand. It wasn’t a male hand. It was a cold, bony, old wrinkled hand.

I yelped. Actually, no, I didn’t yelp. This time I screamed and pulled away, feeling myself collide with the Doctor. I felt around for him. He was still sat down and I had somehow found myself sat between his legs like some weird, in-the-dark version of the ‘Oops Upside Your Head’ thing we used to do at school discos.

“Stay calm,” I heard him say, his hands trying to grab at my shoulders to secure me.

And then I felt the cold hand again, this time on my bare midriff. My top must have ridden up slightly and the cold hand was trying to grab at my belly.

I turned around and tried to scrambling away, not realising in my blind panic that I was literally crawling over the Doctor as I felt the hand grabbing at me. I could feel sharp, pinpricks of pain on my bare skin and on my back. I pushed past the Doctor and headed for the light coming from below. I flung myself at the hatch and, if it hadn’t been for the step ladder breaking my fall, I would have gone headfirst down to the carpet below.

I sort of tumbled and fell until I was sat on my bum looking up at the hatch, panting heavily.

The Doctor came down the steps the normal way; feet first, closed the hatch behind him and turned to face me. He crouched down in front of me and looked into my eyes.

“Mum, are you okay?” came Eve’s voice from downstairs.

“Doctor, what’s going on?”

“We’re fine,” said the Doctor, still looking at me. “Emily, are you okay?”

I couldn’t help it. I burst into tears and buried my face in his chest, my tears soaking his jacket. He put his arms around me and pulled me in close, rubbing my back.

“It’s okay,” he said, soothingly. “It’s all over now.”





“Well?” asked the Doctor, as he stood outside the downstairs bathroom door, impatiently.

I was in the bathroom. I’d taken my top off and was looking in the full-length mirror. On my tummy was a set of bright red scratches. I turned around to look over my shoulder at my back in the mirror. The same thing - red scratches. I touched them and winced in pain.

“Emily, do you mind if Holly comes in?”

“No,” I said, distantly.

Holly knocked and then slipped inside. She looked down at the scratches and then at me. “How are you feeling?”

“Terrified,” I said. “What could do this to someone?”

“They look vicious, Doctor, but they’ll heal.”

I put my top back on and went outside. The Doctor had gone downstairs to the kitchen and was pouring a cup of tea for the four of us. Eve was busy gathering as many chocolate biscuits as possible.

“I really think you should both leave here,” said Holly.

“No,” said the Doctor, pouring milk into each of the cups.

“No?” I said. I was now seriously starting to think about it.

“This entity is something different. It has poltergeist tendencies and normal haunting tendencies and now it’s doing something else.”

“The scratches?” asked Eve.

The Doctor nodded. “Demonic properties.”

“Oh, God,” I said, sitting down at the table, my head in my hands.

The Doctor was at me straight away. “I will get to the bottom of this, but I think this ghost has a connection to you. It wants you.”

“What makes you say that?” asked Holly.

“It attacked Emily in the attic. It didn’t even bother with me. I could feel it there climbing over me to reach for Emily, but it ignored me completely. It wanted you.”

I didn’t know what to say. The Doctor put my mug down on the table and I just stared at it, watching the steam gently rise from it.

“I think that if you left it would stop, but the ghost would still be in the house, lying dormant. The only way we’re going to be able to stop her is by having you here in this house. She’s only going to be defeated if you’re here, Emily.”

“But it’s utter madness,” said Holly. “If they just packed up and left and never returned they’d be okay.”

“But she’d still be, hiding away between the cracks in time,” said the Doctor. “And I can’t leave a job undone.”

“So what do we do?” asked Eve.

“We wait until morning. We all have a good night’s sleep and then myself and Emily will head up into the attic again - with a hundred torches if we have to - and find out what’s in that hidden space behind the panels.”

“Do I have to go up there again?” I asked. I already knew the answer.

“Not if you don’t want to, but I could do with some help, Emily.” He sat down next to me and put his arm around me. “I promise you that I will keep you safe.”



That night I don’t think any of us slept a wink. Eve was in bed with me again and Holly and the Doctor had taken to sleeping on the sofas downstairs. I turned to face Eve, who had thankfully drifted off, and looked up at the ceiling. She had been up there somewhere – the old woman – crawling above my bedroom ceiling. It made me shudder to think about it.

I tried not to think about it. Instead I tried to think of warm and fluffy things - kittens and summer and holidays by the seaside. I reached across to the bedside table and switched on my little portable radio. The Shipping Forecast was on Radio 4. I found listening to people talking would help me to drift off.

Slowly but surely, as the voice called out it’s names – Dogger, Cromarty, Viking – I drifted away in the night sea...

“Emily.”

I opened my eyes. It was still dark. The radio was on. Static filled my ears.

“Emily.”

I frowned. Who was saying that? My blood ran cold as I listened again.

“Emily.”

It was an old voice. An old woman’s voice - hissing and rasping and sounding as evil as they come. I began to breathe heavily as the voice seemed to mix and mingle in the static.

“Emily.”

I yelped and threw my hand down on the radio, switching it off instantly.

“Mum?” came Eve’s tired, half-asleep voice.

I was about to reply when I felt something towards the bottom of the bed. It felt like it used to do when our old cat, Topsy, used to sit on the end of the bed. It was right next to me feet. I froze as I sensed Eve drifting off again.

And then I felt the bottom of the bed cover being lifted up. I could feel the cold air on the end of my toes. I daren’t look down the bed. I pulled the covers tighter around me and continue to stare at the ceiling. I was going to burst into tears at any moment.

And then it happened. Two cold, old, gnarled hands grabbed my feet and then my ankles.

I yelped again and they gripped tighter. I tried to pull my feet away, but the hands wouldn’t let go. The more I struggled, the tighter they gripped. I could feel her – the old woman – dragging me down my own bed. I turned and twisted and tried to crawl away.

By now Eve was wide awake and was looking at me. She screamed.

There came the thunder of steps up the stairs, a light flicked on, the door opened and the hands let go.

The Doctor was there in an instant.

“What’s happened?” he asked, looking around the room.

“She was here. She was here,” I said, unable to control myself. “She grabbed my ankles. She tried to take me!”

“It’s alright,” said the Doctor, sitting on the bed and putting his arms around me. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. I should have let you stay downstairs with us.”

“Mum, are you okay?” asked Eve.

“Eve, will you go downstairs and wake up Holly,” said the Doctor. “We can’t wait until morning for this. We have to deal with her now.”

Eve nodded and, as afraid as she was, put her slippers on and headed downstairs.

“She’s going to kill us, isn’t she?” I said, looking up at the Doctor.

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “She will not harm you or your daughter. I promise. This ends tonight.”

I closed my eyes, nodded and continued to sob.

“Doctor,” shouted Eve from downstairs.

“Yes?”

“Something’s not right.”

“What do you mean?” asked the Doctor, gently moving away from me and walking to the landing.

Eve was at the bottom of the stairs looking up at him.

“What’s wrong? Where’s Holly?”

“I don’t know,” said Eve. “I checked the kitchen, the bathroom...everywhere. She’s just vanished.”

“Doctor,” I said, worriedly, looking across to the piece of wall between the two bedroom windows.

The Doctor re-entered the bedroom and looked at the wall. On it, scratched into the paint work was crudely written words. They read:

“GIVE HER TO ME OR SHE DIES.”

To be continued...

The Haunting of Mrs. Webster (Chapter 6)

Chapter 6 (Talking Time in the Attic)

When I was little I remember believing in ghosts and ghouls and stuff like that. When I was eight years old I’d caught a midnight showing of “The Signalman” on BBC2 and it had terrified me. But as I got older the real world took over and I soon started to realise that the chances of anyone coming back from the dead was unlikely. It was stupid. All those TV shows like Most Haunted and Ghost Hunters – they had to be fake.

But after what had happened since last night I was starting to wonder, but my first thought was whether it was Julian or not.

“It’s not Julian,” said the Doctor, sadly.

“How can you be so sure?” I asked

“Because this spirit, if that’s what it really is, doesn’t seem to be communicating in the way a loved one would communicate.”

“Doctor,” said Holly, frowning, “you said it was a ghost. Now you’re questioning if that’s really what it is.”

I hadn’t even noticed him saying that myself. I was too caught up on wondering why my house had a ghost living in it.

“Not only that but the Doctor said it was a woman’s hands. Cold hands,” said Eve.

I looked across at my daughter. She was sat with her hands in her lap, trying not to make eye contact with anyone. She always did this when she was scared. Her left knee was also shaking.

“Eve,” I said, putting my arm around her, “it’ll all be okay, won’t it, Doctor?”

The Doctor’s eyes flicked up to meet mine and then his worried face broke out into a grin. “Emily, there are very few situations I’ve gotten mixed up in that have ever not been okay.”

“He’s right,” said Holly, smiling at her friend. “If there’s anyone you want on your side then it’s the Doctor.”

“So what’s the plan then?” I asked, noticing the black clouds over the houses in the distance. A thunderstorm was coming in.

“We have to wait for her next move,” said the Doctor, sitting back on the armchair.

“You’re joking, right?” said Eve.

“I’m afraid not,” said the Doctor.

“But wouldn’t it be safer if we cleared out? You wanted myself and Eve to leave.”

“A rash choice. An idea born in the heat of the moment,” said the Doctor. “I’m not entirely sure what this thing is. As a rule I don’t believe in ghosts. I believe in shadows and creatures that can appear as ghosts, but not actual ghosts. And I can’t make a move until she makes a move and shows me a little more of what she’s about.”

“Okay,” I said, “but we can’t just sit here waiting for something bad to happen.”

“I agree,” said the Doctor, getting to his feet. “Firstly I need to take a look at the history of this house.”

“The TARDIS?” said Holly.

“No,” said the Doctor.

“But surely-“

“The TARDIS won’t help us there. We can’t simply hop back for the answer. It doesn’t work like that. No, we need to do our own investigations.”

“Perhaps the council will know something.”

“Wait a minute,” I said, remembering back to something from a few years ago. “When we first moved in we put some things up in the attic. There were boxes at the back. Julian dragged one of them over but it was full of rags and stuff. We always said we’d clear it out but I guess we just forgot about it all.”

“It may not be connected to our ghost lady,” said the Doctor, “but it’s worth a try.”

“Oh, fantastic,” said Holly. “You want to head up into an attic in a haunted house?” Holly laughed. “We’ve all seen ‘The Grudge’.”

“The Grudge?” frowned Eve. I didn’t know what Holly was talking about either.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” said the Doctor, noticing mine and Eve’s worry. “I’ll go up there.”

“I’m coming with you,” I found myself saying, feeling braver than maybe I should have done.

“I really don’t think-”

“It’s my house,” I said softly. “Holly can stay down here and look after Eve. I want to help you with this.”

The Doctor nodded. “Just follow my lead then.”

“Mum,” said Eve, reaching for my hand.

“Eve, I’ll be fine,” I said, taking her hand and stroking her arm affectionately. “Holly will take care of you.”



The attic was just outside my bedroom door. As we headed up the stairs I took a glance at the back bedroom door, which was now closed, but quickly looked away. I was terrified of seeing something stood there.

The Doctor reached out and took my hand. I felt worried for a moment and pulled away. A man hadn’t held my hand since Julian. It threw me off. I was that scared earlier on when he’d done it that I hadn’t even flinched.

“Everything okay?” asked the Doctor, noticing my discomfort.

“I’m good,” I said, nodding. “I just...well, it’s stirring up feelings, that’s all.”

“Of your husband?”

I nodded.

He turned to look at me and put both hands on my shoulders. It felt comforting and I relaxed a little. I didn’t even know this man, but he had a way about him. A kindly way that made me feel like I could trust him.

“If you want to go back-“

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “This thing is living in my house. Maybe if we get rid of it the house might start to feel like a home at last.”

“Yes,” he said, looking around the landing and removing his hands from my shoulders, “the entity has clearly been the reason for the coldness and general uneasy feeling here, but I can’t understand why she hasn’t made a move until now.”

I shook my head. The house was always cold and uninviting, but we’d never, ever witnessed any weird activity.

“Has anything changed over the last few days,” he asked, as he pulled out a set of stepladders from behind the wardrobe.

“Oh, God,” I said, realisation hitting me. “Eve turned 13.” I’d seen “The Exorcist” years ago. I knew about the stories. I knew what a teenage girl meant.

“What would her turning 13 have to do with anything?” he asked, unfolding the ladder.

“Poltergeists. They seem to prey on adolescents, don’t they?”

He frowned. “Well, so-called poltergeists do, but we haven’t experienced total poltergeist activity.”

“But the slamming doors and stuff.”

“Yes, there’s that, but there’s more than that. More than just a noisy ghost. Each of these things must be connected. A poltergeist stirs up trouble and throws things around. So far,” he continued, as he set the ladders under the hatch, “we’ve had tapping on the walls, very rhythmically, a picture fall off the wall, a bedroom door slamming and cold hands grabbing my wrist.” He looked back at me. “This is more than a poltergeist. This is a different, more intelligent manifestation.”

He began to climb the stairs as I felt a chill run up my spine. Somehow I didn’t feel comforted. The idea of a naughty ghost throwing stuff around was frightening in itself, but not as frightening as something with an actual purpose.

I watched as the Doctor pushed open the hatch and pulled himself up inside. He then reached down for me as I climbed and, grabbing my arm, was able to lift me up. I was fairly slim and didn’t weight much so he didn’t struggle.

He went into his pocket and flicked on a torch. It was amazingly bright and lit the entirety of the attic up. My heart sank when I saw some of mine and Julian’s boxes stacked up not far from the hatch. It wasn’t much – some mementos and stuff from the old house – but it made me sad.

“Alright?” asked the Doctor, noticing me looking at the boxes.

“I’m fine,” I said. “It’s just...sad.”

The Doctor looked at me and sat down next to me. He took my hand. “I can’t imagine what you’re going through – having to bring up a teenage daughter on your own.”

“Do you have any family?” I asked, realising I knew absolutely nothing about him.

“Nobody close by,” he said, looking wistful. “I have an adopted brother in London and a niece...well, she’s somewhere else. I miss her a lot.”

“I miss Julian,” I said, trying to fight back the tears. I’d always been strong. I had to be strong for Eve’s sake. I’d cried a lot in the days after his death, but always made sure I was alone and that nobody was about. I couldn’t break down in front of my daughter.

“Death is a strange emotion to deal with,” he said. “I’ve lost people before, but I’m always comforted.”

“In what way?”

He frowned and looked uneasy. “The nature of what I do means that death is never the end. I can always see those people again. Well, most of the time.”

“I don’t understand.”

He took a deep breath. “I’m a time traveller.”

I couldn’t help myself. I let out the loudest laugh I had laughed for years.

“I’m telling the truth,” he said, laughing back at me. “You heard Holly mention the TARDIS.”

“Yes,” I said, remembering the strange name, “but I assumed that was...I don’t know. A code name or something.”

“It’s my time machine,” he said, with a twinkle in his eye.

“Don’t be so daft,” I said, shaking my head, still grinning.

“It’s absolutely the truth,” he said. “I’ve seen the fall of Troy and World War One. I’ve seen it all.”

“I don’t believe you,” I said, looking for a crack in his face.

“Well whether you believe me or not is beside the point. What I am trying to say is that death is not the end. I can say goodbye to someone and then go back and see them earlier in their life. They may die in a linear sense, but it doesn’t mean it’s over.”

“Then why don’t you?” I asked him.

“Because I respect that not everyone can time travel. Most people have a beginning, middle and end. I can jump off the bus in the middle and go back to the beginning, but that’s not fair on the people I care about. The people I love.”

I frowned at him. He looked like he completely believed in what he was telling me. “Prove it.”

“After we’ve dealt with your ghostly old lady,” he said, shining the torch towards the boxes. “Perhaps an evening out to watch Shakespeare might convince you.” He smiled.

I watched as he scrambled on his hands and knees towards the old, battered cardboard boxes. Somehow what he was saying was comforting; no matter how crazy it sounded. Somewhere, back in the mists of time, myself, Julian and Eve were happy.

The Doctor blew off some dust from the boxes and opened them up.

“They’re a bit damp,” he said.

“This house is damp,” I said, knowingly. “What’s in them?”

“No answers I’m afraid,” he said, pulling out some old, filthy rags. “Just rags covered in oil. No doubt used for cleaning a car or bicycle or something.”

I shook my head in disappointed, but then noticed he was looking up at the roof and then the wall in front of him.

“What is it?” I asked.

“This attic, I’m assuming, stretches the entire length of the top floor.”

“Yeah, well it should do. I don’t come up here very often.”

The Doctor looked at the hatch and then across the floorboards to the wall. “On the other side of this wood should be the outer wall of the house, yes?”

“If it stretches the length of the house then yes,” I said, not really understanding him.

“Except it doesn’t.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“It doesn’t stretch the entire length.” He knocked on the wooden panels. “This panelling is around 3 feet from the front of the house.”

“Meaning?” I asked, still trying to join the dots.

“Meaning that on the other side of these panels is a block of space that we know nothing about.”

“A secret compartment?”

“A secret compartment,” smiled the Doctor.

I looked at him with a smile for a good few seconds...and then the torch bulb exploded and the attic was plunged into darkness.

To be continued...

The Haunting of Mrs. Webster (Chapter 5)

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...

The Haunting of Mrs. Webster (Chapter 4)

Chapter 4 (Testing the Waters)

I’d allowed what the Doctor had said to sink in for a few moments and then guided him back downstairs. My mind was racing. A haunting? No, that couldn’t be true. As miserable and cold as this house was it wasn’t haunted. We would have seen something by now.

Now first let me tell you this – I am well and truly a believer of these things. I always have been. When I was a little girl I saw a man in Victorian clothes stood in my best friend, Emma’s, shed at the bottom of the garden. Turns out the housing estate was built on an old cemetery. So, yeah, I believe it those things.

But in my house? No, it just couldn’t be.

“Are we talking about a ghost haunting here?” asked Eve, once the Doctor had filled her in on the revelation.

“What other haunting is there?” asked the Doctor.

“Wait a minute,” said Holly, frowning at him, “you don’t believe in ghosts.”

“It depends on what type of ghost it is,” said the Doctor, “and I’m always willing to open my mind. I’ve seen ghosts created by psychic aliens and ghosts that weren’t ghosts but a family trapped in a dimensional pocket of space and time. Then there are data ghost, shadow ghosts, space ghosts and mind ghosts.”

“So which one is this?” asked Holly.

“Hang on,” I said, holding my hands up yet again, “Aliens? Dimensional what’s?”

“Let’s just put that in the “WE DON’T NEED TO KNOW” box and concentrate on your particular mystery,” said the Doctor.

“So what type of ghost is it?” asked Holly.

“I don’t know,” said the Doctor. “Without it doing more I have no idea. And you definitely haven’t experienced anything else in this house?”

“No,” I replied, trying to think back. “I mean, like I said, it’s always been cold and gloomy, dark and miserable, but nothing else.”

“Looking into the history of the house though,” said the Doctor, “previous tenants haven’t stayed long. It was rented out by the council for many years until it was rented out to you and your husband, yes?”

“Yes,” I said, feeling sad at the thought of him. I wondered what he’d be thinking to all of this.

“So, I can deduce that – potentially – the council wanted this rented out because they couldn’t get people to stay.”

“Look, times were – are­ hard. We were desperate for somewhere to live. We didn’t have time to look into the history of it all.”

“And nothing has happened at all?” pondered the Doctor, tapping his chin.

“Are we safe?” I asked, suddenly feeling very afraid.

“Do you want the truth or a lie?” he asked.

“The truth, obviously.”

“No, you’re not safe,” he said.

I felt my blood run cold. “I’d have preferred a lie.”

“Don’t be silly, mum,” said Eve. She shuffled to the edge of the chair and looked closely at the Doctor. “Do you think we should move out for a while?”

There was a snap, the sound of something sliding down the wall behind us and then the clatter and shatter of glass on the floor.

I jumped, my heart in my mouth, and Eve leapt up, moving over to me quickly.

Holly got to her feet and walked over to the wall. A framed picture of Julian was lying on the floor, the black and white photo of his smiling face slipping out of the broken frame, the glass broken in two.

“How the hell did that happened?” I asked.

Holly’s hand went to the small hole in the wall where the picture hook had been. “It’s been worn away. The whole hook’s come out.” She pressed her finger against the hole and a trickle of dust came away. “Damp,” she said, looking at the Doctor.

“We have to remain calm and level-headed,” said the Doctor. “Not everything that happens is going to be our potential ghost.”

He was right, I thought, nodding and taking Eve’s hand. Still it didn’t make me feel any more comfortable. I got to my feet as Holly went into the kitchen to get a plastic bag to the put the broken glass into.

I took the slightly creased picture of Julian and smiled down sadly at it. I lightly touched his lips and then put it on the dresser beside the window.



The Doctor had left Eve and I alone with Holly, and strangely that made me feel more fearful. I didn’t know who he was, but he seemed to know a little more about these things than your average person. I know what people must be thinking – he could be a crackpot. He could be a lunatic trying to make me believe that there’s a ghost, but I just didn’t get that from him. He seemed genuine. A little odd, but warm and kind hearted.

The girl was the same. While I made us another round of tea, Holly sat with Eve whilst they flicked through one of her teenager magazines.

Holly occasionally smiled and nodded saying odd things like, “I remember them,” or “wow, didn’t he look young.”

I frowned at them whilst I waited for the kettle. I couldn’t help but smile. Holly almost seemed to be not a part of this world. She reminded me of a lifeboat cast adrift in the ocean, floating around and not really going anywhere.

I brought the teas back in and sat down on the armchair as they carried on looking through the magazine.

“I used to fancy him,” said Holly, pointing towards a white-teethed, smiling blonde lad in a white shirt and tight denim jeans.

“Used to?” laughed Eve, looking embarrassed.

“Yeah,” said Holly, scratching her head, “I guess my tastes have changed a bit.”

“Do you have any family here, Holly?” I asked. I was intrigued to know a little more about these two strangers.

“Not around here, no,” she said. “They live in another part of the country. Up north. A town called Huxley.”

“Oh, yes, I’ve heard of it,” I said. Only in passing though. Just one of those names you hear on the news occasionally or when Julian used to watch the football results come in.

“I hope it was for something good,” said Holly, smiling.

I smiled. “So you where just travelling through when you...well, when you detected my ghost?”

Holly nodded. “I was heading back to my friend, actually. The Doctor was taking me to be with her.”

I raised my eyebrows. She was being cryptic. She was friendly, but people being cryptic put me on the defensive.

I think Holly must have seen this because she smiled. “I met someone. A girl, actually.”

“Oh,” said Eve, grinning, “you said your tastes had changed.”

Holly nodded and smiled again. “I’ve never met anyone quite like her.” She seemed to go distant as if talking to herself rather than us. “It’s funny because when we first met I don’t think she could stand me. She was the grumpiest, moodiest cow you’ve ever met.” She laughed at the memory. “And then something just...well, clicked between us.”

I smiled sadly. I knew exactly what she met. I felt it the day I met Julian. I used to work behind the ticket counter at the cinema before it closed on Freeman Street. He came in one night with his friends and bought some tickets and, a little confidently, asked me out on a date. I said no at first, but he insisted and, well, he eventually broke me down.

And he became my world.

“Why isn’t she with you?” asked Eve. For a moment I thought she was talking about Julian and then my focus was back on Holly.

“She had to stay behind in her...city. She needed to reconnect with her mum and dad. It broke my heart.” Holly sighed and leaned back on the sofa. “But I’m going to see her again.”

Eve smiled sweetly at Holly and then her eyes transfixed on something on the wall behind me. The place where the picture frame had been. There was a beat. Just a single moment. And then Eve screamed, her hands to her mouth.

I spun around in my chair and almost toppled off it. The picture frame was back where it had been before and the glass was perfectly intact.

But as if that wasn’t terrifying enough – the picture of Julian had had its eyes gauged out.



It was twenty minutes later when the Doctor returned carrying all sorts of bizarre scientific equipment that looked like it had come straight out of some 1950’s sci-fi movie. We had moved to the front room, away from the back room. It wasn’t necessarily safer here, but the thing with the frame had terrified us all.

Holly had called the Doctor and he had come back almost straight away.

He dumped the equipment in the hallway and we followed him into the living room. He crossed over to the picture frame and touched it, pulling his hand away quickly.

“What is it?” I asked, almost too scared to listen to the answer.

“It’s cold. It’s ice cold,” he said. He rubbed at his wrist and then looked at Eve. “Eve, would you mind taking my equipment into the front room, please?”

“No of course not,” said Eve, glancing nervously at the picture and then moving away.

The Doctor pulled myself and Holly into a huddle and looked at each of us, his voice a hushed whisper. “Listen, I didn’t want Eve to hear this, but something strange happened when I touched the picture frame.”

“You said it was cold,” said Holly.

“It wasn’t just that,” said the Doctor. He exhaled and looked at me. I couldn’t work his eyes out. I felt almost lost in their bright blueness. Then I felt stupid for thinking about anything else other than the picture.

“Well don’t keep us in suspense, Doctor,” hissed Holly.

The Doctor nodded. “When I touched the picture frame, I felt something brush against my wrist. It was only very, very lightly, but it felt like ice-cold finger tips.”

And then my blood ran ice-cold. And the picture fell from the wall again.

To be continued...

The Haunting of Mrs. Webster (Chapter 3)

Chapter 3 (The Man from UNIT)

I made sure I stayed firmly in the doorway. The pair of them didn’t look threatening, but you can never be too careful. They could have been scammers or sneak thieves or anything.

“I’ve had no problems with my house,” I lied. I wasn’t about to tell them about the weird sounds last night.

“Really?” said the man, scratching his chin.

“Who are you?” I looked to both of them in turn. “Have you been spying on my house?”

“So you did hear tapping,” said the man, clicking his fingers and smiling at the young woman. It was a statement, not a question.

“I didn’t say that,” I replied, “I simply asked who you were and if you’ve been spying on us.”

“By us you mean you and your daughter, yes?” said the man.

My hand was already on the door ready to close it. “I suggest you get off my property now.”

“This house is rented, isn’t it? Meaning it’s the councils property.”

“Doctor,” said the young woman, “why do we always have to skirt around the issue. Why can’t we just come clean from the get go?”

“Because being direct doesn’t always get us believed, Holly,” he said.

“Be direct with me,” I replied.

“Interesting,” said the man she had called the Doctor.

“What’s interesting?” I asked, still getting ready to shut the door.

“I believe that something strange did happen in your house last night.”

“And what leads you to believe that?”

“Because if it hadn’t you’d have not asked us to be direct about things. You want clear and concise answers so you have to be a little bit curious as to what is going on upstairs.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. I’d only known him for two minutes but he had a way about him that seemed to suggest he could get into anyone’s thoughts and feelings.

“Please, Mrs Webster, can we come in?”

“For goodness sake, mum,” came Eve’s voice from back towards the kitchen, “just let them in. You’re letting in a draft.”

“First tell me who you.”

The man called the Doctor sighed. He went into his pocket and pulled out an I.D. card. It looked genuine enough. There was a picture of him on it and “UNIT – Scientific Advisor” written on it.

“My name is Doctor John Smith, but you can call me the Doctor. This young female is my friend, Holly Dangerfield. I’m a scientific advisor to a government organisation called UNIT – sometimes called UNIT:X – and Holly is a former librarian now travelling around with me.”

“And you, what, pay visits to creaking houses?”

The Doctor smiled. “We sort of investigate the unexplained. The strange. The wonderful and the weird.” He looked impatient. “Look, if you don’t believe me I can get a few friends to verify my credentials.”

“No, no,” I said. He seemed genuine enough. Odd, but genuine. “Look, you better come in.”



“So,” said Eve as she put her empty cornflake bowl in the sink, “are they government agents?”

“Not exactly, Eve,” I said, switching the kettle back on the re-boil the water. “But they are here to investigate the strange sound.”

“I knew there was something weird about it,” said Eve, her eyes lightning up.

“Just let me deal with this, okay?” I said. I didn’t want Eve getting involved. She was much too young.

“Okay, okay. I’ll just sit back and listen.”

“I’d prefer you to go to your room.”

“Urggh, no way,” said Eve, “we haven’t found Steven yet.”

I sighed. My daughter certainly took after me – headstrong and determined. “Okay, but you just keep quiet. I don’t quite trust the two of them yet.”

“Yeah, I wonder how they knew about the tapping.”

I poured three cups of tea – the Doctor had requested six sugars in his – whilst Eve opened a packet of chocolate biscuits and popped them on a plate.

After a few moments and sitting, quietly and politely supping on our tea, I put my mug down. “Okay, so what is going on here, and please, as your friend said, can you just be as direct as possible?”

“Okay,” said the Doctor, putting his mug down on the floor. He looked around him. I had put them in the living room rather than our best room. “It’s a very dark room, isn’t it?”

“It always has been. It’s a dark house.”

“Gloomy,” said the Doctor.

“And cold,” said Eve, rubbing her arms. “Mum, is the heating on?”

“It’s September,” I replied, “we can’t put it on yet.”

“But it’s always cold.”

“Yes,” said the Doctor, clicking his fingers and pointing at Eve. “It’s always cold. The first sign that something isn’t right.”

“Remember what we said about being direct, Doctor?” said Holly, looking at him.

“Yes,” said the Doctor, sitting back in the chair and nibbling on a chocolate biscuit. “I wish I had more answers to your problems, Mrs Webster, but the truth is I’m experiencing this at the same time as you.”

“But I haven’t got any problems other than the tapping.”

“Which I believe is the start of something,” he said, looking up at the ceiling. “You see, Holly and I were on our way to visit some friends when we noticed something – a signal emanating from your house. It was only a faint blip, but it was enough to register on my equipment.”

“What sort of signal?”

“We don’t know,” said Holly. “It was gone before we even got a chance to analyse it.”

I took another sip of my drink. “So how do you know it’s a problem?”

“We arrived last night actually,” said Holly. “We could hear the tapping from outside.”

“You were creeping about outside?” said Eve.

“Not creeping. We were going to come and see you then but we realise what time it was so thought we’d come back this morning.”

“Wait a minute,” I said, holding my hand up, “back up a bit. How did you hear the taps from outside?”

The Doctor went into his jacket pocket and pulled out a metal, tubular device with a glowing end. “This amplifies sound waves. I simply aimed it at the house and listened.”

“So you did spy on us?” said Eve.

“Eve I asked you to be quiet.”

Eve sat back in the chair with a huff and folded her arms.

“All for your protection, we promise,” said Holly. “Believe it or not I don’t really want to be here. It’s stopping me from getting where I need to be.”

“Do you mind if I take a look upstairs?” asked the Doctor, getting to his feet.

“Well, no, but there’s nothing to see. Really it was just some odd tapping.”

“Rhythmic and continuous and very precise. Yes, I heard. May I?”

I had nothing to lose so led him upstairs whilst Holly stayed downstairs with Eve, who was becoming increasingly grumpy at being left out of the situation. When we reached the top of the stairs the Doctor immediately went to the back bedroom, but he didn’t go inside. Instead he just placed his hand on the wall and smiled.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Look,” said the Doctor, moving his hand away. “You wouldn’t have seen this in the dark last night. You wouldn’t have seen it this morning because you weren’t looking, but if you look hard you can see it now.”

“See what?” I asked, peering at the wall. And then I saw it. It was only very slight, but to my astonishment there was an indentation in the wall. A small, dint as if something had hit it with a force that was enough to cause the dint, but not enough for it to be a bigger one. “What is that?”

“Look,” said the Doctor, pointing down the landing wall, past Eve’s door and towards my bedroom door.

I followed his pointing and gasped. I moved in for a closer look. All along the wall, in a straight line, was a row of indentations.

“But...I don’t understand.”

Right next to my bedroom door was a bigger indentation. The one caused by the WHACK before it all ended.

“Still think it was just random house noises?” he said, raising his eyebrows.

“But...is it electrics going off or something within the wall maybe?”

“No, Emily,” said the Doctor, shaking his head at me. “Something has caused these dints from the outside. Something that was striking the wall over and over again. Last night, in the darkness, whilst you and your daughter tried to sleep, something walked up this landing hitting the wall over and over again until it reached your bedroom.”

I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. “It’s impossible.”

“Is it, Mrs Webster?” he said, taking me by surprise by using my surname. “You say this house is always cold. It’s always dark. It feels gloomy. It is gloomy.” He looked right into my eyes, his nose just centimetres away from mine. I could smell the peppermint toothpaste on his breath. “Mrs Webster, I very much think that you have the beginnings of a haunting here.”

To be continued...