Chapter 5 (The Nightmare)
Holly looked out of the window. They could make it, she felt sure. It was just a few feet down to the roof of the bay window below and then they’d be able to lower themselves down to the pavement and to freedom.
“Does this window open?” asked Holly.
“It’s a window,” said Roxy, “of course it opens.” Realisation dawned on Roxy’s face. “Oh, no. No way, Holly!”
“We can’t get out of the main door. That thing’s out there.”
“You still haven’t explained what it is,” said Roxy.
“We don’t really know ourselves,” said India, joining Holly beside the window. “All we know is that it’s here to stop Holly.”
“See this?” said Holly, holding her wrist up to Roxy. “This is the one thing that’s keeping me tethered to this timeline. If I take it off I go poof.”
“And that thing – the Nightmare – is here to remove Holly from this timeline. She’s an aberration.”
The Nightmare screamed again and rammed itself against the door.
Holly worked quickly and opened the window. “Your choice, Roxy. You can either come with us or let that thing get you. It might ignore you of course. But, again, it’s your choice.”
The thing banged on the door again.
“I’m gonna regret this,” said Roxy as her and Holly, followed by India clambered out of the window. One at a time they lowered themselves onto the bay and then gently clambered down the side of the window until they were safely on the ground.
“Come on,” said Holly, about to run off.
“We’ll take my car,” said Roxy, running over to the small, blue mini metro that was parked a little further down the road.
A few minutes later and they were speeding through the streets, India in the back whilst Holly sat next to Roxy, nervously looking in the rear-view mirror to see any sign of the creature that she still hadn’t even caught a glimpse of.
“So what’s the plan?” asked Roxy.
“To be honest I don’t really know. The Keeper was meant to try and help us.”
“Who’s the Keeper?” asked Roxy.
Holly looked at India and then back at Roxy. “Let’s just say that he’s someone who could possibly help me to put all of this right.”
Without warning a bright light suddenly exploded in the middle of the road. Roxy swerved and put the brakes on, nearly crashing into a couple of stationary cars parked at the side of the road.
“What the hell!?” she shouted, gripping the wheel tightly.
The bright light had faded and standing there was the Keeper. He was solid this time and a little bit of steam was rising from him into the evening air.
Holly clambered out of the car and stormed up to him. “What are you playing at?”
“I’m very sorry, Miss Dangerfield,” said the Keeper, looking apologetic, “but sometimes travel like this is unstable.”
“So you’ve arrived this time. Properly. I notice you’ve kept your clothes.”
Roxy and India were now out of the car and Roxy frowned. This was all becoming a little too complicated for her.
“I’m not exactly here,” said the Keeper, “I’m still projecting myself, but I’m in more of a position to help you now.”
“Like Al from Quantum Leap,” said Roxy.
Holly smiled at Roxy. She was glad her old friend was with her, even if it wasn’t the exact Roxy that she had left behind in her timeline.
“So what do we do?” asked India. “I mean Holly tried to stop the Master, but it didn’t work.”
“No,” said the Keeper, “and I think that’s a problem we may keep coming up against. Time is going to constantly try and work against us.”
“I wonder…” mused Holly, before dismissing the thought.
“What?” asked India.
“Well, your Doctor – I mean the one before he met you – is out in Huxley somewhere, yes?”
“Yeah, I guess. Just waiting to meet me.”
“Well why don’t we go and find him. He might be able to help.”
“I don’t know if I’d advise that,” said the Keeper.
“What have we got to lose?” asked Holly.
“This is my timeline we’re talking about,” said India.
“India, you know the situation,” said Holly, feeling sorry for the girl. “This timeline shouldn’t exist, but it does.” She shook her head. “This is what the Master does. You should know that as well. He perverts things for his own gain. He disrupts things and then makes the person its affected end up having to cause pain and heartache to put it right.”
“Classic Master,” said the Keeper, nodding his agreement with Holly’s definition of him.
“You said time would stop Holly,” said Roxanne. “How do we know that anything she does will put anything right?”
“The way I see it,” said the Keeper, walking away from them a little, “is that this timeline is becoming more and more unstable the longer Holly spends in it. The longer she’s here the more changes she can make.”
“But what help will that be?” asked Roxy. “Holly is dead in this timeline. She’s got no chance of putting anything right.”
Holly groaned and sat down on the curb, her head in her hands. “This is turning into an impossible situation.” She began itching at her wrist. “And this bloody thing is driving me insane!”
“What if she took it off,” said India, nodding at the bracelet.
“We have no idea what damage it would cause,” said the Keeper. He began to flicker. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to the Zero Point. The generators can only project me for so long. I’ll be back.” He nodded and then blinked away.
Holly got up off the curb. “India, where are you now?”
“Right here with you,” she said, emotionless.
“You know what I mean. Where is past you?”
“It’s around two weeks before I met the Doctor and Lilly,” said India, looking at her watch. “So I guess I’m in the air at the moment.”
“On a plane?” asked Roxy.
“Yep. I flew in on an exchange programme to study at Huxley Uni. Stayed with a family called the Appleyards.”
Doncaster Airport, Three Hours Later
“Are you absolutely sure about this?” asked India.
The two of them were sat in Arrivals at Terminal 1. It had been a short, two-hour train journey down to the airport and it hadn’t taken India long to locate her flight as she flew in from New York. But she was nervous. She could see the Appleyards standing with a name sign with “INDIA” written on it. They were a lovely, young couple. The man, Brian, was a tall man with piercing blue eyes, jet black hair and a graying beard. He always dressed smart. The woman, Julia, was a shorter woman with long, curly hair that cascaded down her back. She always wore flowery dresses whereas he was always in v-neck sweaters and shirts. They had a little boy who was six years old – a lovely little boy called Frankie. They were the perfect little family.
India had settled in with them and had been there for just over two weeks when she had met the Doctor and Lilly struggling with a walking corpse. She had been taking a quiet stroll through the cemetery on her break.
That was where it had all started. She had made infrequent returns to the Appleyards, but the Master had continued to hound them until they had been forced to flee and stay away from Earth.
But this was completely different. This was totally surreal. She was sat, concealed amongst other waiting people, waiting for her past self to come through the gate.
“It will be fine,” said Holly. “You heard what the Keeper said – this timeline will become more and more unstable. So how much more unstable can you get than by screwing up the changed timeline.”
“It’s giving me a headache,” said Lilly, popping a headache table into her mouth and swigging it down with some apple juice. “I feel like I’m on one, long suicide run.”
“How many times do I have to tell you? When we reset this timeline back to how it should be I’ll get the Doctor – my Doctor – to come and find you.”
“I just keep thinking what would have happened if I hadn’t met the Doctor. I guess I’d just be living a normal, regular life studying and living with the Appleyards. I never imagined I’d one day go back to New York.”
“I promise you,” said Holly, taking India’s hands, “I’ll rescue you from your less extraordinary life.” She smiled.
India nodded, but she looked nervous and unsure.
“Hey!” came the voices of the Appleyards. “Welcome to England.”
India and Holly looked up as a carbon copy of the red-head emerged from the gates with her suitcase rolling behind her. She wore a pink blouse, jeans and a blue cap jammed onto her head. She looked nervous, but her eyes were glowing with life.
“I was so scared,” said India, watching herself. “I was so scared that I wouldn’t get on – that I’d miss my friends and family.”
Holly felt a pang of guilt in what she was doing. She felt it was so unfair. How could the Master have done this? By destroying her life she was now having to destroy India’s.
“What do we do then?” asked India, as Mr. Appleyard took the other India’s suitcase from her.
“We go and speak to her.”
“Are you sure?” said India, as they both nervously got to their feet.
“Yes,” said Holly. “You heard the Keeper – the more disruption we cause to this timeline the easier it will be for us to put it right.”
“Okay,” said India, “but this is gonna freak her – I mean me – I mean her…oh, Jesus…It’s gonna be weird for everyone.”
“Brave heart India,” said Holly.
They were about to step forward when the lights in the building began to flicker until it was in darkness with only the light from the outside streaming in through the large, glass windows. But that wasn’t the only odd thing. The hustle and bustle of the arrivals area had ground to a halt. People were stood, stuck doing one thing and not even moving.
“They’re frozen,” said Holly, tapping an old man on his cheek. “They’re frozen in time.”
To be continued...
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