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...
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