Short Story: Home

“7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42...”




Alice opened her eyes with a start. She was lying in bed and her hair was a mess again. She was sure she had remembered brushing it before she went to bed. Why do us women do that anyway, she thought to herself? Why brush your hair before you get into bed, only to let it become a bird nest by the time you wake up?

She had a slight headache, but forced herself to get up. She made her way out of her room and towards the TARDIS shower room.

Alice frowned when she reached the room. It was huge. Much too big for a simple bathroom. It had 17 glass cubicles and the ceiling was like the ceiling of a particularly high-roofed church.

She turned on one of the showers and, getting undressed, stepped inside.

She stayed in there for about 10 minutes, letting the headache slowly fade, and then exited, wrapping a towel around her and making her way back towards her room.




Twenty minutes later she was fully clothed and back in the control room.

The Doctor was still standing over the console, checking readings.

“How long was I asleep?” she asked, sitting down on the sofa.

“About seven hours,” said the Doctor, checking his complicated wrist watch.

“Did you sleep?” asked Alice.

“No,” said the Doctor. “Too much stuff to do.”

“Like what?” asked Alice, slightly amazed. This man never seemed to sleep.

“Popped to the Galactic Bank, helped John Lennon’s mother to do the dishes - nice woman, Julia. Watched a performance of Joseph from 2077, cured the Mumps virus and starred in an episode of Neighbours from 1988, which, incidentally, led on to a further television career in a game show called-”

“Get away!” laughed Alice.

“Busy, busy, busy,” he smiled.




It was a cool morning when the TARDIS returned to Little Pebbleford. It had been drizzling and, for a Saturday morning, it had been pretty quiet. Okay, so Little Pebbleford wasn’t the busiest of villages on a Saturday morning, but today it had been even quieter.

The TARDIS slowly materialised beside Casterby House, the part-time residence of the Doctor, causing a squirrel to scurry away from the alien box and run back up his tree.

The door opened and Alice stepped out first, wrinkling her nose at the light drizzle.

“All okay?” came the Doctor’s voice from inside the box.

“I thought we were going to my house,” said Alice.

“Oh,” said the Doctor, popping his head outside and looking disappointed in himself. “Sorry about that. The old girl must have become familiar with this place.”

“Not to worry,” smiled Alice. She fastened up her long, grey coat, jammed her beanie hat onto her head and then headed towards the gate.

“You’re coming back, aren’t you?” said the Doctor, he had a hint of worry in his voice.

Alice turned and smiled. She found it quite sweet that he was getting attached to her. “Of course I am. I’m just gonna pack a small suitcase and I’ll be back with you.”

The Doctor smiled and gave her a little wave as she disappeared out of the gate and down the little lane towards her cottage.

By the time Alice had gotten to her cottage, unlocked it and clambered over the three newspapers on the doormat, she had worked out that she had been gone for three days.

She picked up the papers and gave them a quick once over. It was the Friday edition that caught her eye. The village didn’t have it’s own individual paper, but rather one that served the entire county. But it was the headline on it that made her sit herself down, her face white and ashen.




“LITTLE PEBBLEFORD: SCHOOL HEADMASTER FOUND DEAD”




She read the story, tears in her eyes. David Groves, the Headmaster of her obliterated school - her Headmaster - had been found strangled in his home. There had been signs of a break in and it had been revealed that he had died around a week before Alice had left.

Hang on, thought Alice, a week? She had only seen him four days ago. The report surely couldn’t have been right. She had seen him at school four days ago when he had handed her the new keys to take to the Doctor.

She made a mental note to call the police about this mistake when there came a knock at the door.

Alice got up, felt a little sick at the news, and then unlocked the door.

Standing there was a tall, dark-skinned man with piercing white eyes and a little bit of a beard. He was completely bald and for a moment Alice was taken aback by his height.

“Alice Stokes?” he said, standing there in a long, black coat.

“Yes,” said Alice, still not quite digesting the shock of David Grove’s death.

The man smiled. “Just checking.” He clicked his fingers and everything went black.




Alice woke up 30 minutes later, sat back in the armchair. She frowned and rubbed her temples. Did she just imagine the man? What had happened to her?

The door suddenly burst open and the Doctor came bounding in. “Thirty minutes, Alice!” he said. “Are you coming or what?”

Alice frowned and then got up, swaying a little on the spot. “Something weird is going on.”

“What?” said the Doctor, peering curiously around Alice’s front room and crossing over to a music system beside the television.

“David Groves is dead.”

“What?!” said the Doctor. “What happened?”

“The police are saying he was found strangled. But the thing is,” she rubbed her forehead this time. She felt a migraine coming on, “they say he died a week ago.”

“But he was alive-”

“-four days ago. Yes, I know.”

The Doctor nodded.

“And not only that,” said Alice, “but this bloke just appeared at the door, clicked his fingers and I blacked out.”

“Interesting,” said the Doctor, rubbing his chin.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” said Alice, getting used to the Doctor keeping things to himself.

“I think,” said the Doctor, “we need to go and check on Mr Groves body.”




Ten minutes later the TARDIS had arrived at the nearby town of Foxhill, outside the hospital that David Groves body was being kept in.

The Doctor had flashed some kind of pass - which looked blank - to the receptionist, and somehow they had blagged their way into the morgue.

Alice had never been anywhere like this before and it frightened her and she stood in the cool, metal room, staring at the rows of metallic compartment fronts that could have contained any number of bodies.

“Are you okay?” said the Doctor, noticing Alice’s fear.

“No,” she said, “but I will be. I know we have to do this.”

The mortuary attendant pulled opened the compartment marked A-E1 and pulled the metal shelf from the inside. The body of Groves was still underneath the white sheet.

The Doctor gripped Alice’s hand tightly, to reassure her, as the attendant pulled back the sheet, exposing the cold, dead face of Alice’s former Headmaster.

She closed her eyes and stopped her tears from coming out. The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver from his pocket and ran it over the body. A few seconds later he checked the readings, nodded a “thank you” to the attendant and then turned, guiding Alice out of the mortuary and back towards the TARDIS.

“Well?” said Alice, recomposing herself.

“He’s definitely been dead a week,” said the Doctor.

“But how is that possible?” said Alice. “He was alive and well.”

The Doctor put the key in the TARDIS lock and hesitated. He rapped his fingers on the warm, tingling wood of the exterior shell and frowned.

“Doctor?”

“That man who arrived at your cottage - what did he look like?”

“Tall, dark. A bit scary, but pretty handsome.” Alice had found him attractive and would have blushed had she not been so sick with the news of Groves.

He bit the end of his finger as he turned the key in the lock and they made their way inside.

“Doctor, we need to find out who he is. It’s worried me.”

“It worries me,” said the Doctor, “that you can black out for 30 minutes.” He ran the sonic screwdriver down the side of her face and then plugged the device into the console. A small computer screen on one of the panels showed a number of readouts that Alice hadn’t a hope in hell of understanding.

“What is that?” said the Doctor to himself, staring at the readouts.

“What? Do I have some kind of illness or something.”

“No,” said the Doctor. “Nothing like that.” He was now furiously drumming his fingers on the top of the console. “I can’t quite work these readings out though.”

“What are they?” said Alice, finding herself getting frustrated with the Doctor and herself.

“These figures show brain activity, but there are extra figures here. It’s like your brain is working overtime.”

“What?” said Alice, frowning and looking at the screen as if expecting it to all make some kind of sense. “What does that even mean?”

“I don’t know,” said the Doctor, clearly starting to get frustrated with the constant questions. He turned to her. “Let’s go back to yours and get that suitcase.”




Six Months Ago




The car sped along at just under the speed limit. Alice was a confident driver, but even a confident driver would be concerned in this downpour. She had been heading back from a training day and was on the motorway when the heavens had opened up and the roads had been attacked with sheets of heavy rain.

She cursed as her windscreen wipers worked furiously to clear the raindrops off her windscreen.

It was dark now and conditions were becoming worse. She could see the flashes of headlights on the other side of the road, shooting past like bolts of energy.

She looked in her rear view mirror and was aware of a red sports car coming up behind her. Whoever was in it was speeding and was clearly looking to overtake.

Alice cursed again. Bloody dangerous drivers!

On the radio “Crazy Nights” by Kiss had started up.

The red car overtook her and she felt herself relax as it passed on safely by.

And then she noticed it skidding on the wet road. It swerved to the side and then skidded off to the hard shoulder. Alice, though, had already swerved to avoid it and now her car was out of control. But instead of heading towards the relative safety of the hard shoulder, she was heading towards the divider in the middle of the motorway.

She tried to put on the breaks, but on the wet road they failed miserably. The car skidded headlong into the barrier and Alice felt herself thrown forward.

And then all went black.

The driver of the sports car exited the vehicle and walked over the now-relatively quiet motorway towards the crashed car.

He was a tall, dark-skinned man, wearing a long black coat and with white, piercing eyes.

He aimed a strange, laser-like device at the car lock. It clunked to the unlock position and he opened the door. He leant across to Alice, her head against the steering wheel and blood pouring from her ears. He checked her pulse. She was still alive.

He lifted a wrist device to his mouth and spoke into it.

“This is Agent Maxus to control,” he said.

“Go ahead, Maxus,” came a voice through the device.

“We have the package.”




Now




Alice had finished packing her suitcase with numerous items of clothing for all weather, but her previous sense of enthusiasm had been lost with the strange goings on that she had experienced. And it worried her even more that the Doctor didn’t seem to know what to do about it.

She was just coming down the stairs when she heard a beeping-like ring tone.

“Hello,” said the Doctor.

She came down the last few stairs and saw he was on some kind of futuristic mobile phone.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “who are you?”

A reply.

“Oh,” said the Doctor. “Oh yes, of course! Mr. Dennington! How are you? It’s been a long time since Theen.”

The Doctor went quiet, his face looked like all the blood had been drained from it.

“What happened?”

Another reply.

The Doctor nodded. “Yes. I’ll be there. Thank you, Mark.” The Doctor hung up and then looked at Alice. “We need to go.”

“But what about the strange goings on?”

“It’ll have to wait, Alice,” said the Doctor.

“What’s happened? Who was on the phone?”

“An old acquaintance,” he said. “His name’s Mark Dennington. I met him a while back on a planet called Theen.”

Alice looked at him, indicating for him to continue.

“Alice, I’ve travelled with people before you, as you know. Well, back when a was a bit…different, I travelled with a young Irish woman called Ivy. Ivy Coldstone.”

“Something’s happened, hasn’t it?”

The Doctor nodded. “She’s been killed. We need to go and pay our respects. I need to say goodbye.”




Agent Maxus watched on from the trees as the Doctor and Alice returned to the TARDIS and then smiled as it disappeared.

He brought the device to his mouth again. “This is Maxus.”

“Go ahead, Maxus,” said the voice.

“I’ve made contact with Tylaya. All is going to plan.”

“Maxus,” came the voice, a little nervously, “I’m afraid we have some bad news. Tylaya’s body has expired.”

“What?!” spluttered Maxus. “This was meant to be fool-proof. What the hell happened?”

“We don’t quite know, but you mustn’t tell her.”

Maxus looked like he was going to explode as he stared at the empty space that the TARDIS had previous been stood in. With a cry he threw the device to the ground, fighting back the tears.




Meanwhile, the face smiled and waited, unaware of what had gone on back home.

Next time: The Doctor and Alice travel to Mars to pay their last respects to Ivy Coldstone, and the Doctor tells Alice all about his first meeting with his old companion...back when he had a different face. Coming Saturday April 5th 2014.

If you want to refresh your memory on Ivy Coldstone's previous appearance in Doctor Who: Darkpaths, then please visit the Story Index and read back through "Eye of the Jungle" from Series 1.

Story Index

Reflections (Part 4)

By the time the Doctor had returned to the village the sun was up. He had pocketed the strange egg-like device which had contained the two Retarans, but even now, after thinking back over the last few hours, he was unsure of what he was going to do once he managed to find a way to speak to them.

He was making his way past the barn and it was then that he spotted the small mound of earth and the scuffle marks in the soil around it.

He knelt down beside the earth and examined it. There looked to have been some sign of a struggle all around, with what looked like something being dragged away.

And then he heard the sound. It was some kind of cry.

And then he heard it again.

The Doctor could hear the muffled cry from somewhere on the other side of the barn. He stood up from the patch of earth he had been investigating and called out, “Alice!”

There came no reply.

“Alice! Is that you?” he called again.

Again, nothing.

Grumbling to himself he put his sonic screwdriver back in his pocket and gripped his cane tightly, slowly making his way around the side of the barn and to the small stone wall with the field beyond.

The Doctor could see something crouched down in the tall grass beyond the wall.

“Alice,” he said, “is that you?”

Whoever it was froze.

And then stood up.

It was Alice, her back to the Doctor. The Doctor’s eyes slowly looked down to her arms held oddly at either side. They were dripping with blood.

Slowly Alice turned around until she was looking directly at the Doctor, her eyes ablaze with hatred and blood dripping from her mouth.

“What on Earth-?”

His eyes then caught a glimpse of what she had been crouched over. It was the body of a man, covered in blood.

The blood Alice now had on her hands, arms and around her mouth.

“Stay back, Doctor,” growled Alice.

“You’re not Alice, are you?” he said, edging a little towards her.

“I said stay back!” she snapped.

“Take it easy,” said the Doctor, holding his hands out. “Are you one of the Retarans?”

Alice’s eyes narrowed.

The Doctor went into his blazer pocket and pulled out the cracked device.

Alice flinched and stumbled backwards slightly.

“You recognise this, don’t you?”

“They put us in that,” she said, with all the hatred she could muster. “They trapped us like animals.”

“You were destroying their people,” said the Doctor. His eyes flicked down to Barry’s body. “Why did you kill Barry?”

Alice hissed at him. She was becoming more and more like a monster.

“Where is the real Alice, because I’m assuming you’re just the Reteran taking on her form. Her reflection.”

“Alice is safely hidden away for now.”

“I need you to let her and the other villagers go.”

“No,” she said, blankly. “They are our food.”

“I can’t let you do that. I can’t let you kill them.”

“You can’t stop us.”

And with that she ran at the Doctor, knocked him flying, and skipped past him, heading back towards the village.

The Doctor managed to keep a hold of the egg-device as he fell to the ground and hit his head on a rock. For a moment he was disoriented, and then he found the will-power to come back to his senses. He looked up, but Alice had already gotten past the barn and was making her way down the roads towards the village centre.

“…Doctor…” came a voice from near him.

It was Barry. Amazingly, he was still alive. Most of the blood on him was from the gaping wound in his shoulder as well as his nose which was streaming with blood.

“Barry, thank goodness. I thought you were dead.”

“…very….nearly…” he groaned.

The Doctor helped him to sit up, pulled a bottle of water from his blazer pocket and then sat beside the battered man, gazing at the sun which was getting higher and higher.

“I didn’t know…” said Barry, trying to clean up his nose.

“How’s the shoulder?” said the Doctor.

Barry looked down at it and winced. “Not too bad. Just a surface injury.”

“Here,” said the Doctor, handing him a handkerchief. “Keep it covered with this. We’ll get back to yours and patch you up.”

“We need to get out of here,” said Barry, trying to struggle to his feet. “She’s unhinged.”

“She’s my friend,” said the Doctor, “and I need to help her.”

“But she’s insane!”

“She’s been copied from the original Alice.”

“You’re gonna have to be careful,” said Barry, as the Doctor got up to join him, “she’s got all of her memories.”

“Which means my Alice must be alive. She’ll have to keep her alive to maintain the psychic link.”

“And the other villagers?”

“I don’t know, but, my dear Barry, I think I already may have found a way out of this. Come on!”




Alice had returned to the pub and was frantically trying to assemble the broken pieces of the mirror back into the frame against the hardboard. She was crying and had cut her hands on the jagged edges, blood dripping from her palms and fingers.

“Help me,” she pleaded. “Help me. Help me!”

After realising that there was no chance of repairing the mirror, she stood up, looked at the ceiling and screamed. Then she knelt down on the broken glass, her head in her hands.

“Please…”




In the reflected world of Owensby, Alice thought she heard a cry from somewhere. Somewhere outside of this particular world.

Wright put his hand on her shoulder. “You okay, Miss?”

She turned and looked at him, looking confused for a moment before realising that Wright was looking at her with concern. “Oh, yeah,” she smiled. “I’m fine.”

Then they heard Tommy scream.

He came running from one of the outer corridors and flung his arms around his mother.

“What is it, love?” asked Mrs Poppywell, crouching beside the young lad who had buried his face amongst the folds of his mothers skirt.

“It was the monster,” said Tommy. “The monster’s coming to get us.”

And then they heard the footsteps. They started off faint, but gradually grew louder and louder the closer they got.

“Everybody behind us,” said Wright, motioning for the rest of the other UNIT soldiers to gather in front of the villagers.

They watched intently as the footsteps stopped on the other side of the door.

The door handle began to turn, creaking slightly, showing it’s age. And then the door swung open.

A tall, seven-foot shimmering and glittering figure stepped through the door, causing the people around Alice to gasp.

Tommy dared a glance, and then returned his face to it’s original position, in the relative safety of his mother’s skirt.

The shimmering figure stepped towards them.

Wright raised his rifle and aimed at the figure. “Don’t come any further, mate.”

The shimmering figure held out the palm of it’s hand. “Please,” it said in a silky, slightly monotone voice, “do not shoot.”

“What the hell’s going on here?” said Wright, refusing to lower his weapon.

The figure stood for a moment, and then lowered it’s head. “I need your help.”




The Doctor and Barry stumbled into the pub and saw Alice curled up in a foetal position on top of the mirror. She was still sobbing, but her eyes were blank as they stared at nothing in particular.

The Doctor motioned for Barry to stay back and made his way over to his disturbed companion. He crouched down beside her.

“Be careful, Doctor,” said Barry.

“Alice,” said the Doctor quietly. “Alice, are you ok?”

Her eyes flicked up to him.

“We’ve established that you’re not my Alice,” he said, “so let’s dispense with the false names.”

“What do you want to know?” she said slowly.

“Tell me your real name.”

She looked at him and then slowly, and groggily, sat herself up. He helped her to her feet and escorted her to a bar stool.

“My name is Leetha.”

“Leetha,” said the Doctor, repeating the name a few times to help him get used to the word. “Do you want to tell me exactly what’s going on here, Leetha?”

She screwed her eyes shut to stop herself from crying. “It’s all gone wrong.”

“What has?”

“We were the last survivors of my race - the Retarans. We fought in a war against the Wracxos.”

“Yes I know all of that,” said the Doctor.

“You don’t know the whole truth,” said Leetha. “My people didn’t start the war. The Wracxos did.”

The Doctor frowned and pulled up a stool to sit down opposite Leetha.

“We exist between worlds. In other dimensions. We lived peaceful lives until a Wracxos scientist blew a hole into our world. I don‘t know what happened, but we began to die. It was as if the life force was drained form us. We died in our thousands.”

“But you killed their people.”

“Only because we had to. We had to consume the people to live. It was the only way to survive.”

“That still doesn’t make it right.”

“No,” said Leetha, shaking her head, “but the more we killed, the less we remembered of our true nature. We began to absorb the hated of the Wracxos. We became monsters. Myself and Zeeshan were the only survivors. And we were the strongest. But they trapped us. Extracted us from our world and blasted us into space, far away from the heart of our dimensions.”

“And then you crashed here, on Earth?”

“We dragged ourselves across the land and to the nearest mirror.”

“I don’t get the mirror thing,” said a bemused Barry from the other side of the pub.

“The mirrors act as windows into our dimension. Or rather a similar dimension. Imagine two panes of glass, and our world between them.”

“But you said you were far from your dimension.”

“We can shape and mould new dimensions,” said Leetha. She took a tissue from her pocket and began to dab at the blood on her hands. “Our new world was a reflection of this world. Each mirror a portal into that world.”

“But…?”

“How did you know that there’d be a but?”

“Because something else has gone wrong, hasn’t it?” said the Doctor, leaning back in the chair.

Leetha nodded. “This place is so small, and we are so weak. We can’t move from here. We took all of the villagers to try and consume and build our power, but myself and Zeeshan realised that no matter who we killed - no matter whom we consumed - we’d still be trapped here.”

“So they’re all still alive?” said the Doctor. “The villagers?”

Leetha nodded again. “I came out to find a way for us to escape this village, but I lost my way. I took on too much of Alice Stokes. I had the emotions of her, the Wraxcos and myself running through my head.”

“And you lost control?”

“And now you’ve smashed all the mirrors,” said Leetha, glaring at Barry. “You’ve cut myself and everything on that side of from me.”

“You smashed that one,” said Barry, pointing at the mirror on the floor.

The Doctor sighed and rubbed his forehead. He was developing a headache. “There’s a really simple answer to all of this, Leetha, but you’ve been so consumed with hate that you haven’t even tried asking for my help.”

“I’m asking now.”

“Good,” said the Doctor. “And once I’ve rescued all of the villagers and Alice and the UNIT soldiers from your dimension, we can discuss what to do with you and Zeeshan.”




The Doctor emerged from the TARDIS with a very large, very heavy looking object, covered in a cloth.

“Need a hand?” said Barry, rushing to the Doctor’s aid.

“Rest your shoulder,” said the Doctor.

Barry instinctively touched his bandaged wound. They’d patched it up back at the pub pretty well, but he kept forgetting it was injured.

“Leetha!” said the Doctor.

Leetha was there in an instant helping the Doctor to drag the object down the road. “Where are we taking it?”

“To the Town Hall. Hopefully the rest of them are in the mirror version of the Town Hall.”

They carried the object up the steps to the Town Hall and through the main doors that led to the entrance hall. Leetha struggled once or twice. She was growing weak, and that worried the Doctor. She needed to feed.

Eventually they settled the object in front of the grand fireplace and then removed the cloth from over it. It was a huge mirror, coated with a thin layer of dust. The Doctor blew off the dust and wiped the rest away with a handkerchief and then stood back.

“I got this from Henry VIII. Do you think you can use it?” said the Doctor.

Leetha slowly walked over to the mirror and placed her hand on it, as if feeling for something. “I think so, but I’m weaker.”

The Doctor nodded and then crossed over to Barry. He leaned in and quietly spoke to the bespectacled man. “We need to get her through urgently.”

“But she’s calmed down now.”

“But she won’t for long. She needs to feed, and, as with all beings, that desire to feed will soon take over.”

“And we’ll be on her menu?”

“We’d be the starter and the rest of the villagers the main course.”

The Doctor and Barry watched on as slowly Leetha’s fingers became like crystal, shimmering and sparkling with light. She pressed against the glass and slowly pushed her hand inside the mirror. She smiled and turned to the Doctor.

“Are you coming?”

The Doctor stepped forward, but Barry put a hand on his arm. “Are you sure about this?”

“Barry,” said the Doctor, “if I’m not out of there in 10 minutes, then get out of this village.”

Barry was about to protest, but the Doctor gave him a look which suggested he better not.

The Doctor crossed over to Leetha and she took his hand. Slowly Leetha pushed her way through the mirror, the Doctor following on behind her.




For a moment there was only light. The world around him shimmered and changed. It felt painful with little pinpricks of tingling all over his body, and for a second he felt both of his hearts stop.

And then he saw the woman. He wasn’t sure if she was really there or just in his head, but he recognised her. He had seen her before, just for a fleeting moment, back in Thornsby, just before he shut down the Apparites dimension. He had stumbled and fallen and she had appeared, pointing to a branch to help him to get up. And then she had vanished.

And now she was standing there again, her greying-blonde hair tied back and her deep-lined face flustered.

The Doctor could hardly make out what she was saying.

“Where are they, Doctor?” she shouted over the maelstrom of the void between both worlds. “Where are they?”

“Where are what?” shouted the Doctor.

She looked around her nervously. “When he comes for you, let him help you.”

“Who?”

But it was too late. Small, black, impish creatures suddenly appeared and scuttled over the old woman. She screamed as she slowly disappeared, along with the imps.

And then everything cleared and the Doctor was standing there, with Leetha, surrounded by the villagers…and Alice!

Instinctively the Doctor looked at Leetha. She no longer looked like Alice. She now looked like a figure made of shimmering diamonds and glitter.

“Doctor!” said Alice, running over and hugging him.

“Good to see you, Alice,” smiled the Doctor, his encounter with the old woman slowly being filed away at the back of his memory. He couldn’t deal with that now.

“Zeeshan,” said Leetha, noticing her companion standing behind the crowd of villagers.

“Something’s not right with him,” said Alice, as the Doctor and Leetha pushed past the villagers to the second shimmering figure. “He asked for our help and then started going funny.”

Zeeshan was now tinged with a light red colour.

Although Leetha didn’t really have any facial features, the Doctor gathered that she was pretty worried.

“You all need to leave. Now,” she said solemnly.

“But what about you two?” said the Doctor. “There must be some way to help you.”

“No,” said Leetha. “Zeeshan has entered the hunger phase.” She reached out a diamond hand and touched the side of his face. He flinched and backed away. “If you don’t leave, he will consume all of you, and I’m close to doing the same.”

“But there’s got to be a way,” said the Doctor. “I can’t just let you die. You’re the last of your kind.”

Zeeshan raised his head, his eyes glowing a bright red. “I will eat you all.”

The villagers all murmured, worried for their lives and began backing up towards the fireplace mirror which still hung on the wall, unbroken.

“Get out!” said Leetha.

Now Zeeshan was beginning to turn a dark red.

“No, Leetha,” said the Doctor. “I will stay and help you.”

“There is no way,” said Leetha. “Get out, smash the mirror, and I will destroy this world.”

“Doctor, we’ve got to go,” said Alice, as the UNIT soldiers began shepherding the villagers to the fireplace.

“No. Not like this.”

Leetha held up a finger to the Doctor’s lips and then crossed to Alice. She placed her hands either side of Alice’s face and looked into her eyes. “I saw your memories,” she said.

“I know. I felt you rummaging around in there.”

“I was linked to you,” said Leetha. “I took something of you, now you take something of me.”

Alice suddenly looked as though someone had thrown a bucket of ice cold water over her. She shivered and staggered backwards. The Doctor caught her before she fell.

The Doctor was about to say something when Zeeshan launched himself at them. Leetha stood in the way and he collided with her, the pair of them clattering to the ground.

“GO!!” yelled Leetha.

The Doctor grabbed the still-astonished Alice and dragged her to the mirror. The last of the UNIT soldiers helped them up onto the fireplace and then through the mirror.

“NO!” yelled Zeeshan. “You have doomed our race.”

“No,” said Leetha, calmly. “It lives on. It will always live on.”

Leetha and Zeeshan glowed bright red as their bodies merged together, Leetha drawing her companion in.




Back on the other side of the mirror, the Doctor had picked up a chair and lifted it over his shoulder. He hesitated for a moment, said, “Sorry, Henry,” and then brought the chair crashing down onto the mirror.

The surface of the glass cracked. Red light began to filter through the cracks.

Alice got to her feet and booted the mirror. A few pieces fell away.

And then the rest of the villagers joined in, each of them kicking and smashing at the mirror. There was a burst of red light from the frame just as the final pieces fell from the back board.

And then all was silent.




UNIT had been recalled to Owensby and Colonel Jefferson had taken control of the situation. The Doctor had assured everybody that the mirror world had gone and that things should return to normal from now on.

Alice was standing by a lamp post, watching the soldiers milling from house to house when Barry walked over to her.

“What are your plans now, Baz?” said Alice.

He smiled. “I think I’ve had enough of small Northern villages,” he said. “Perhaps it’s time to head out to the city.”

“You could come with us,” said Alice. “There’s a whole universe out there to explore.”

“I think Owensby’s finished me off,” chuckled Barry.

Alice smiled.

“Leetha told me the story about Graham. When she was pretending to be you, that is.”

Alice nodded slowly. “I know. I thought a lot about Graham in that mirror world. It must have been her accessing the memories.”

He smiled sadly. “Are you okay?”

“Course I am,” she smiled. “It’s part of life. It’s part of living and growing up and learning. We all make mistakes.”

“If you ever need a friend,” said Barry, “then you know where I am.”

Alice smiled and then gave him a kiss on the cheek. “See you later, Barry.”

“Goodbye Alice.”

Barry watched as Alice walked back to the blue police box. When she got there, the Doctor gave Barry a little wave and Alice followed him into the box. She turned and gave him one last look, smiled, and then went inside the box.

A few seconds later the air was ripped apart with a grating of machinery and engines, and slowly the blue box disappeared.

Barry smiled and then turned to head back towards the Town Hall. He was going to help with the clear up and then finally get out of here.




In the TARDIS Alice was smiling as she relaxed on the sofa.

“Are you okay?” said the Doctor.

“I am,” she said.

“What did Leetha do to you?” he asked, glancing up from the console.

“She gave me her memories,” she said, smiling. “They’re all fragmented, but they’re in there somewhere. In someway, no matter how bad they were, I feel sorry for them.”

“Their race made mistakes, but we can remember them through you.”

Alice got up from the sofa. “I am absolutely bloody knackered. I’m off to bed.”

“Goodnight Alice.”

“Goodnight Doctor.” She turned to leave and then stopped. “Where are we going now anyway?”

“Anywhere you want,” smiled the Doctor.

“How about home?”

“Oh,” said the Doctor, dejected.

“Not for good. I just want to pack up a few more things, have a cup of tea, give my sisters a call. And then we can go off again.”

The Doctor nodded. “Home it is.”




Twenty minutes later and Alice was sat on a chair in front of her mirror in her room in the TARDIS. She was brushing her hair when suddenly she froze. She stayed that way for a few seconds.

And then she began to recite her seven times table, her eyes still and fixed on her reflection.




And the face smiled again…

Next time: The Doctor takes Alice back to her home in Little Pebbleford where Alice meets a stranger, and the Doctor receives some upsetting news. "Home" is a one-part story coming Saturday March 29th 2014.

Story Index

Reflections (Part 3)

The sun had set and the Doctor was finding it more and more difficult to navigate his way across the fields. He had tracked through the streets until he reached an old cobbled wall which he climbed, passed a farm yard and barn and then made his way towards the two, oddly shaped hills in the distance - the camel hills. And Barry had been right - they did look like camel humps. Not normal, sloping hills. These were much more higher and steeper than most.

Every now and then he would look back towards the village and each time he did, the darker it seemed to be. For a moment he considered going back. Should he really have left Alice and Barry alone there? Perhaps he should have put them in the TARDIS to start with. They’d at least be safe in there.

But most of the mirrors had been broken, and, so far, since he’d destroyed the mirror in the Town Hall, there had be no other problems.

And so he pressed on.

Eventually he reached the base of the camel hills. Now it was pitch dark and there was nothing around. The breeze had died down and silence had fallen on the land around.

All he had to do now was look around.




Alice was running. She wasn’t sure where she was running to, and it still felt like she was trapped in jelly - painful jelly - but she knew she had to find a way out.

The more she ran, the more she found herself adjusting to the world around her. The wibbly-wobbly surroundings were still grey and shining with a strange glow, but they were coming more into focus. Like receding ripples on a lake.

She stood for a moment, closed her eyes and tried to regain her composure. She remained still and silent. Somewhere she could hear the sound of a car screeching in the distance.

“Hello,” came the voice.

Alice jumped, opened her eyes and turned around. Standing there was an old lady in a light blue dress and wearing an apron. The kind that shopkeepers in the past used to wear.

“Who are you?” asked Alice, getting ready to turn and run again.

“My name’s Mrs Poppywell.”

Something fired a memory of what Barry had told them back at his house. “The sweet shop owner?”

“That’s right, dear,” she smiled.

She seemed genuine and Alice found herself relaxing a little bit. “Where are we?”

“Where do you think?”

“The mirror.”

She nodded sadly.

“But I was taken through the mirror in the pub.”

“And I was taken through the mirror at the back of my shop.” She looked around her.

Alice looked around herself as well. Now everything had come into focus she realised that it was an exact replica of Owensby. The pub was off in the distance and there was even the portaloo that Barry had been hiding in.

“There are others here as well,” said Mrs Poppywell. “It seems like all the mirrors are linked to each other.”

“Like some kind of…mirror universe,” said Alice, slowly.

“I don’t pretend to understand it, love,” she said, sitting down on the small wall next to the bus shelter, “but I get the gist of it.”

“So where’s everybody else?”

“Back in the Town Hall,” she said. “We’re all in there and we’re all frightened.”

“Take me to them.”




Barry was sat in the corner with his back up against the wall. He kept glancing nervously out of the window, hoping against hope that the Doctor would suddenly come striding up the road with a solution to this problem. He was scared.

He turned to look at Alice. Something wasn’t right with her. He hadn’t know her for long, but she definitely didn’t seem to be the person he first met earlier in the day.

She was now lying across the top of the bar holding a half-empty glass of whisky - her fourth - and looking at the light shining between her fingers.

“Maybe we should go and find him.”

“No,” said Alice, snapping her head to look at him. “He’ll be back.”

“But it’s getting dark.”

“He’s not as scared as you, Barry,” she said.

“I’m not scared.”

“Yes you are,” she said, frowning.

“Okay,” said Barry, “maybe I am. But I have every reason to be terrified. Look at the situation. Owensby’s deserted, we’ve got crazy reflections after us and every one in the village is dead.”

“They’re not dead,” said Alice blankly.

“What? How do you know?”

Alice didn’t answer. She sat up, clambered off the bar and then sat on a stool next to Barry. She drained the last of her whiskey and then peered closely at Barry, his pale, white face looking as though it was about to burst into a scream.

“You look like an ex boyfriend of mine,” she said. “Of course, much younger and fitter. But you look like him.”

Barry shifted uncomfortably.

“It was when I was 14. I was never very experienced with men back then. Still aren’t in fact.” She put the glass down and smiled at him. “Neither was Graham. Graham the Geek they used to call him. They were cruel. He was into Star Trek and all that sort of stuff.”

“What has this got to do with anything?”

“I think I kind of pitied him. I didn’t really find him attractive or anything, but I felt sorry for him. I wanted to make him feel special. Feel wanted. Because all they ever did - the school bullies - was bully him. Over and over and over again. That’s what school bullies do, isn’t it?” She sniffed back some tears. “I remember when we were 12, he did a model of the Enterprise in woodwork. He was so proud of it. And then, on the way home, these kids grabbed it out of his bag and smashed it to pieces. He never fought back though. He didn’t know what to do. He just packed up the pieces into his Star Trek backpack and went home.”

Barry watched as she went back to the bar and poured herself another drink.

“I helped him build a new one. Then, when we were in Year 9 at the school disco, I noticed him stood against the wall on his own. He was so, so lonely. Never had any friends. So I went up to him. I grabbed his hand and I pulled him onto the dance floor. He didn’t know what to do at all. I think he was crying. So I just held him tight and danced with him.” Alice laughed. “I remember it was to some soppy Boyzone song. Remember them?” She laughed again, and then went sad. “He walked me home that night. He was so scared. He couldn’t understand why anyone would show him that kind of affection.”

“Did you love him?” asked Barry, finding himself invested in Alice and Graham’s relationship.

“No,” said Alice. “Like I said, I pitied him. I kissed him before he went home - it was mine and his first ever kiss - and then he went home. But I felt awful about it. I felt like I was lying to him. I didn’t love him. And you couldn’t have a relationship that was held together by pity.”

“What happened?”

“The next day, I went to his house. He had done his hair up. He’d gelled it all back and was pestering his mum to get him contact lenses - I happen to find glasses attractive on men and women, by the way - and he looked so happy.” She took a sip of her drink. “I walked with him to the park and we sat there for ages, not saying anything. And then I turned to him and told him that I couldn’t be with him.” She let a tear fall from her eye. “I felt so bad. He was distraught. He held back his tears, but he just got up and walked away.”

“But you did the right thing.”

“Did I? When he didn’t come home that night, his parents called the police. They put out a search for him.”

Barry let out a long sigh.

“They found his body two days later in a stream. The same bloody stream that I’d seen some bloke drowning kittens in years before.” She drained her drink again. “So I killed him.”

“You can’t feel like that.”

“I killed him,” she repeated. “And there’s no way the Doctor can go back and save him. Not like the kittens.” She sighed. “It’s an interesting memory that Alice has hidden in there,” she said, tapping her temple.

Barry frowned. “What do you mean?”

“In here. An interesting memory. Funny how I connect with her memories and emotions, isn’t it?”

“Alice-”

“Alice pitied him. It was her pity that got him killed. If she hadn’t pitied him, he would never have known. He would never have fallen in love with her and he would never have died because of Alice.”

“You’re drunk.”

“I’m quite clear-headed actually, Barry,” she said, crossing back to him. “And I pity you, just as Alice pitied Graham. But it’s not pity that’s going to get you killed, Barry.”

She smiled. But it was an evil and wicked smile.




The Doctor had made his way between the two slopes of the camel hills when he spotted something in the distance. It was a mound of earth that had been dug up. Or rather something had buried itself in the ground. He shone his torch down into the mound and dug around for a bit until he felt his hands clasp against something cool and metallic. He pulled it from the ground. It was a small, egg-like device.

And it was cracked.

The thing had a clear strip around it’s circumference and was flashing red. On the top was a button. The Doctor pressed the button and the image of a large, green, scaly humanoid alien flashed up in the form of a hologram. It looked like a human being with a lizards head stuck on top.

It was some kind of recorded message. The hologram flickered and fluctuated.

“This is Commander Fen of the Wracxos. If you find this containment unit, then I urge you not to open it.”

The Doctor peered worriedly at the crack in the side.

“Contained in this device is the last two surviving Retarans. They are demons. They exist only to destroy us. It took 100,000 Wracxos to destroy the rest. These two were the strongest. We could only contain them and jettison this prison into space.”

The Doctor remembered what Alice had said about the Retaran name.

“They exist in mirrors. They make the reflected world their own and they travel from mirror to mirror. They will take your loved ones. They will appear as your loved ones. And then they will feed on the originals and grow in strength and move on and on and on.” Commander Fen regained his composure. “Please, if you find this pod, do not open it. Find a way to destroy it. Do not let them escape!”

The hologram flickered out and the Doctor was stood there in the dark, holding the cracked pod.

“Oh dear.”




Mrs Poppywell led Alice into the Town Hall. Once inside she was greeted by hundreds and hundreds of people. Villagers and the UNIT soldiers as well. They had all been trapped here. Each once had been dragged into different mirrors and all had found themselves in the bizarre reflected world of Owensby.

Now Alice was sat amongst a circle of soldiers - and Mrs Poppywell - discussing the situation.

“Have any of you actually seen anybody other than yourselves?”

“Yes,” said one of the soldiers called Wright. He was unshaven and had sparkling blue eyes. “After my reflection pulled me in, I saw something creeping off. It was…I don’t know…some kind of weird, black shape.”

“I saw one too,” said a little boy - Tommy - he was sat on the edge of the circle. “It was like a man but completely black with see-through eyes.”

“I saw two together,” said Mrs Poppywell. “They disappeared before I could ask them who they were.”

“So,” said Alice, tapping her chin. “We may only be dealing with two or three of these things.”

“But what are they?” asked Mrs Poppywell.

“No idea,” said Alice, “but they’ve obviously trapped us here for a reason.” Alice considered for a moment. “And they must have the ability to become us as well.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. I just feel like something is sat in my head. Like something’s tuning into my memories and feelings.”

“I’m scared,” said Tommy.

“It’s alright,” said Alice, pulling him in and cuddling him, “my friend is out there with Barry. They’ll find a way to get us out. They have to.”




The sun had come up and the Doctor still hadn’t returned. Barry looked out of the window. He was nowhere to be seen. He turned to Alice. She was asleep on one of the seats across the other side of the room.

He wasn’t sure what had happened, but she definitely wasn’t the Alice he had met the other day. He didn’t feel safe with her. After she had spoken to him about her memories of Gareth, she had passed out. He would have gotten out then, but he was too scared.

Slowly, he got up from the table, careful not to scrape the chair against the wooden floorboards. He edged carefully towards the door, instinctively grabbed the cricket bat (he needed to protect himself), and then crept past Alice.

He was almost at the door when Alice’s hand reached out and grabbed his leg. “Where are you going?” she hissed.

“Away from you,” he said, jabbing at her knuckles with the handle of the cricket bar.

She cried in agony and released Barry.

He made a run for it, tripping down the steps, into the beer garden and then made his way around the building out towards the outskirts of the village, daring not to look back.

He was aware that Alice was chasing him, but a few minutes later he could see the field and the barn, the sun illuminating it like some kind of magical place. The Doctor was out there somewhere towards the hills. He needed to get to him. He could trust him. He leapt over the wall and continued to run. It was then that he dared to look back. Alice was right behind him. He yelled, panicked and tripped on a mound of earth, falling flat on his face.

His glasses flew from his head and he heard them crush under the weight of Alice’s foot.

He was then aware of her grunting as she hauled him to his feet and dragged him around to the outer wall of the farm and into the long glass beyond.

He was turned on his back and Alice’s blurry face came into focus.

“I told you that pity wouldn’t kill you, Barry,” she growled at him, as she rose the cricket bat and brought it down on his head. The last thing Barry saw was Alice open her mouth and sink her teeth deep into his shoulder.

Next time: The Doctor teams up with Alice to get the rest of the villagers back. Coming Saturday 22nd March 2014.

Visit the Story Index to find links to all stories and all chapters.

Reflections (Part 2)

The Doctor dithered around outside the grand, town hall building, it’s cream bricks standing out amongst the rest of the grey, dull buildings. He walked up the small flight of about 10 steps that led to the large, wood-panelled door, and then turned the handle.

Clunk!

The door was locked.

“Oh, well,” said the Doctor. “It was worth a try.”

He looked around himself, making sure there was nobody about - silly really, he thought, as the village was completely deserted - and then pulled out his sonic screwdriver from his top pocket. He aimed the device at the lock, the end glowed red and then there was a satisfying click-click which signified that the door had been unlocked.

The Doctor pattered the screwdriver, popped it back into his coat pocket, and then push the door open.

The inside of the Town Hall was dark and the main corridor looked foreboding. All along the hallway were doors - some open, some not - that let in small shafts of light from the windows inside.

The Doctor slowly walked down the corridor, his footsteps echoing eerily. He checked each and every room. If he found a mirror in any room, he would smash it, whacking his cane into the glass.

By the time he found got to the Great Hall, he was feeling a little down. How many years bad luck was he going to get out of smashing these mirrors. Clearly none as he was so close to the end of his life now.

He walked into the door, and hanging over the large, stone fireplace was a huge mirror. It looked like someone had tried to smash it - just like the one back at the pub - but they had failed, only managing to crack it in the bottom right hand corner.

He pulled up one of the wooden chairs from underneath the mahogany table in the centre of the room and placed it in front of the fireplace. Steadily, he got up onto the chair until he was face to face with the mirror. Face to face with himself.

“Hello, Doctor,” he said to himself, his voice echoing around the room.

He brought his cane up to the level of the mirror, drew his arm back, and then swung towards the mirror.

And then stopped when he felt something prevent him from dealing the fatal blow.

He looked down, and grabbing at his arm, was another, similar arm protruding from his own reflections. He looked from the arm, back to his own face in the mirror. It was grimacing at him, it’s teeth barred.

“What are you?” said the Doctor, frozen to the spot.

The reflection smiled.

“Tell me!”

The reflection tightened it’s grip on the Doctor and began to pull him towards the glass.

“No you don’t,” said the Doctor, deliberately allowing himself to fall off the chair. For a moment he was dangling in mid-air, the reflections arm still holding on to him; it was refusing to let go.

And then he heard the cracking from behind the mirror frame. The sound of breaking plaster.

The mirror was coming away from the wall. When the weight of the Doctor had finally become too much, the mirror came free from the wall. The reflection let go and the Doctor fell to the floor, rolling out of the way as the large mirror came crashing down on top of the chair and shattering as it hit the floor.

The Doctor scrambled away on his front, grabbing at his cane, backing himself up against the wall and waiting for the reflection to crawl from under the shattered remains.

But it never came.

He got to his feet and slowly stumbled over to the frame. With a great heave he pulled the mirror up and turned it so the broken, reflected pieces were facing upwards. Cautiously he looked down. He saw his reflection again, looking angrily up at him.

And then the Doctor stamped on the remains of the mirror, smashing and hitting with his stick. When the mirror was finally in enough small pieces to be deemed safer, he turned and made his way back to the entrance.




The Alice reflection and Barry were making their way down the path towards the town hall. Alice hadn’t spoken for a good few minutes to Barry - not since they left the pub - and to Barry something didn’t feel right about her.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” asked Barry, trotting up beside her.

“I’m fine, Barry,” she said. “I was just a little spooked with the mirror.”

“Did you see something?”

She turned and then smiled at him. “Nothing to worry your little head over.”

Barry frowned. She looked a little too calm to be spooked.

They turned the corner to where the TARDIS was standing. Barry hadn’t seen the police box before and looked a little confused by it.

“It’s ours,” said Alice, pre-empting his question.

“It’s a police box,” said Barry. “They used to have one standing on the Turnpike Road back in the 60’s.”

“It’s a time machine,” said Alice, running her hand along the blue paintwork of the box, feeling the alien tingle up her fingers.

“Get away!” laughed Barry.

Alice snapped her head around to look at him. “Why would I lie, Barry?”

“Alice,” came the Doctor’s voice from down the street,

Alice rolled her eyes and removed her hand from the TARDIS.

“Did you do it?” asked Barry nervously. “Did you break all the mirrors?”

“I did,” said the Doctor, stopping beside the lamp post beside the curb and catching his breath. “And I had a little run in with myself.”

Alice narrowed her eyes. “Your reflection?”

“That’s right,” said the Doctor.

“See! See!” said Barry. “I told you it was all true! We need to get out of here now. Tell the army to level this place to the ground.”

“Steady on,” said the Doctor, frowning. “We can’t just destroy a place without trying to save it first.”

“But there’s nobody to save. Everybody’s gone.”

“Not necessarily,” said the Doctor. “My reflection tried to drag me into the mirror.”

“To kill you,” said Barry exasperated.

“Again, not necessarily.” He went into his coat pocket and pulled out the TARDIS key. “I believe that those mirrors lead to another dimension.”

“Don’t be so absurd!” chuckled Barry.

“Any more absurd than smashing mirrors in case the reflections climb out and get you?”

Barry frowned. “Okay, so what if I believe you? What do we do?”

“What I need to do,” said the Doctor, unlocking the TARDIS, “is to find out how all of this started.”

“I told you,” said Barry, trying to peer inside the darkened TARDIS, “it started after we heard that boom at the camel hills.”

“And that’s where I need to go,” said the Doctor. He stepped inside the box, followed by the very quiet Alice. Barry was about to follow when the Doctor held up his hand. “This will be too much for you, my friend. Stay here. We’ll be out in a minute.”




Inside the TARDIS Alice was already at the console, running her hands gently along the controls, caressing the stone panels and array of dials and switches.

“I can’t have another long discussion about explaining the dimensions of the TARDIS,” said the Doctor, leaning his stick up against the console and standing next to Alice.

“Do we go to the hills in this?” said Alice.

“No,” said the Doctor, switching on the scanner and bringing up a map of the surrounding area, “I don’t want to put any kind of high technology in their path.”

“In whose path?” said Alice, gazing at the scanner.

“In the reflections path,” said the Doctor. “I really must come up with a good name for them,” he said, looking with interest at Alice. “I made up Apparites for Apparitions, Cakeyans for the Cheesecake Monsters….how about Reflectoids?”

Alice looked at him and laughed. “You do make me laugh. How about…Retarans?”

The Doctor frowned. “Interesting name. How do you get that one?”

“Just a wild guess, I suppose.”

“Hmmm,” said the Doctor, “we’ll see.”

He went under the console to pull out his bag when he suddenly felt a sharp pain through his hearts. He collapsed to the ground, clutching at his chest and then rolled onto his side.

“Alice…Alice…” he gasped…. “in my other bag….the pills….”

Alice looked at him with curiosity.

“Please…!” he gasped.

She slowly walked over to the Doctor’s brown, medical bag that was perched on the arm of the sofa. Opening the bag, she took out his pills and then handed them to him.

He snatched them from her and quickly swallowed three of them. After a few minutes, he began to regain his composure.

Alice was crouched over him, looking at him with interest. “Are you ok?”

“I stopped taking them a while back. I didn’t see the point anymore. But that fight with my reflection took it out of me.” He popped the packet of pills into his pocket. “I need to remember that I’m not invincible.

“Is there anything I can do?”

“No,” said the Doctor. He looked at her as he struggled to his feet. “Actually, I’d appreciate you moving a little quicker next time.”

“I beg your pardon?” she said.

“You looked spaced out, Alice. Spaced out!”

“It’s this place,” she said, quickly, not wanting to be caught out. “I hate it. It’s like a nightmare world.”

“Then we have to put this nightmare world to rights,” he said, grabbing what looked like a remote control for a toy car with a spiralling aerial on the top.

“What’s that for?”

“It detects disturbances in the fabric of every day objects. Like mirrors.”

“So you’ll know a bit more about what these things are?”

“When I get to the camel hills, yes.”




Alice was screaming. She was crying. She was wailing. She was in absolute agony - the worst she had ever felt. Even worse than when she woke up momentarily from the car crash before slipping unconscious again.

The world around her felt…wrong. It felt like Jelly. Painful jelly. If she wasn’t in so much pain she would have laughed at that analogy. How could jelly be painful, she thought to herself?

“Keep calm,” came a woman’s voice in the distance.

She turned to look and all she saw was a black mass moving towards her.

“Leave me alone!” she screamed.

“I won’t hurt you,” came the voice.

“LEAVE ME ALONE!” she screamed again, turning to run.




Alice and the Doctor emerged from the TARDIS to find Barry sat on the curb, looking rather nervous.

“Alright Barry?” said the Doctor, locking up.

“I heard sounds, coming from the houses over there.” He pointed back up the way they had come. “I smashed all the mirrors.”

“Look, Barry,” said the Doctor, pocking his remote-control device, “you can’t be sure you smashed them all.”

“I know, but-”

“Just keep calm.”

“Are we ready to go then?” said Alice.

“I am. Not you.”

“What?!” spluttered Alice.

“It’ll be getting dark soon. I need you to stay here with Barry. If thing’s go wrong, get into the TARDIS and lock yourself inside.”

“I want to come with you,” said Alice, blankly.

“It’ll be safer for you here.”

“Not in the dark,” said Barry, staring to panic. “Not again. I can’t stand another night of it.”

“Everything will be okay,” said the Doctor. “Go to the pub, lock the doors and stay inside. I’ll be back in a few hours once I’ve found out exactly what happened.”

“But Doctor-”

The Doctor held his finger up to her and guided her away from Barry’s listening ears. “Alice, I can’t have Barry with me up there. He’s scared and unpredictable. Normally I’d let you come, but I need you to stay with him. Keep him calm. Keep an eye on him.”

Alice narrowed her eyes and then her lips curled into a smile. “Okay.”

“Oh,” said the Doctor, arching his eyebrows. “I thought I’d have more of a battle on my hands than that.”

“Just you be careful, Doctor,” she said. She leaned forward and gave him a gentle kiss on his cheek and then made her way back to Barry.

The Doctor touched his cheek where she’d kissed him. He hadn’t been expecting that. And something about it didn’t feel right.

“Come on Barry,” said Alice, guiding him back towards the pub.

“Stay safe!” said the Doctor. “And remember, if anything happens, go to the TARDIS.”

“Will do,” said Alice.

The Doctor watched as the two disappeared into the pub at the end of the street, and then he turned and made his way back towards the outskirts of the village.




In the pub Barry had settled down at one of the tables and was anxiously pulling at an already dog-eared beer mat.

“A sign of nervousness, that,” said Alice, slinking behind the bar.

“I know,” said Barry. “That’s because I am bloody nervous.”

“Don’t be,” said Alice. “Have a pint.”

“I can’t get drunk. Not now.”

“Yes you can,” she said, pouring him a cold pint of ale and getting herself a whiskey and coke. “Drink it.”

“Alice, how can you be so calm?”

She smiled down at him. “All in a days work for me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, I’ve fought metal tank creatures and been to another planet. I know the score now. Reflection monsters? They’re nothing.”

“You’ve changed since we were last here. Since you smashed that mirror.”

“Drink,” said Alice.

Out of fear, Barry took a big gulp of ale and then wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his jumper.

“Ah,” said Alice as she downed her whiskey and coke, “these Earth drinks can be so agreeable.”

“You’re not from Earth then?” said Barry.

She smiled at him. “Not exactly, my dear.” She pulled up a stool and sat next to him. “Maybe I’ll show you where I come from. Very soon. But for now,” she said, eyeing up the cricket bat beside the broken pieces of mirror, “we’re just going to have as much fun as we possibly can.”

Next week: Alice finds herself an ally on the "other side" and the Doctor learns where the mysterious reflections came from. Coming Saturday 15th March 2014.

If you want to read back on all previous Darkpaths stories up to the present without trawling through the blog menus, then why not visit the Story Index which will bring up all stories and all chapters.

Reflections (Part 1)

The Doctor could hear the muffled cry from somewhere on the other side of the barn. He stood up from the patch of earth he had been investigating and called out, “Alice!”

There came no reply.

“Alice! Is that you?” he called again.

Again, nothing.

Grumbling to himself he put his sonic screwdriver back in his pocket and gripped his cane tightly, slowly making his way around the side of the barn and to the small stone wall with the field beyond.

The Doctor could see something crouched down in the tall grass beyond the wall.

“Alice,” he said, “is that you?”

Whoever it was froze.

And then stood up.

It was Alice, her back to the Doctor. The Doctor’s eyes slowly looked down to her arms held oddly at either side. They were dripping with blood.

Slowly Alice turned around until she was looking directly at the Doctor, her eyes ablaze with hatred, and blood dripping from her mouth.

“What on Earth-?”

His eyes then caught a glimpse of what she had been crouched over. It was the body of a man, covered in blood.

The blood Alice now had on her hands, arms and around her mouth.




Two hours ago




The village was still and silent. Even the wind hadn’t bothered to try and cause a disturbance today. The sky was grey, but cloudless, and it was freezing cold. It wasn’t just the sky that looked grey - the whole village looked grey. Grey buildings, grey fields, grey roads…and no sign of any people.

The stillness was broken by the sound of a large blue box materialising beside a bus shelter.

The door opened and a tall man in with a bald head, wearing a black suit with a blue shirt stepped out. He was holding a cane and seemed almost frustrated that he had to use it. His dark eyes surveyed the setting and he nodded secretively to himself.

A second person stepped from the box. She was small, pretty and had her mousy-coloured hair tied into a ponytail. She was wearing a big, grey coat and jeans and wrinkled her nose up at the site before her.

“God, I hate villages,” she said.

“You live in a village, Alice,” said the man.

“There’s a difference, Doctor,” said Alice. “My village at least looks pretty. This place looks like, well, Royston Vasey!"

"Where?” said the Doctor as he made his way down the road that led into the village centre.

“Never mind,” said Alice, pulling the door shut behind her, “but if you spot a Local Shop on top of a hill, please don’t drag me inside.”

She hurried after him until they reached the centre of the village. Old, grey-brick buildings, the like that Alice had seen on ‘Last of the Summer Wine’ back when she was a kid, told her that they were somewhere in the north.

“What’s this place called then?” she said, peering over a garden wall to see if she could see anybody.

“Owensby,” said the Doctor, stopping, turning on the spot, and then carrying on his walk.

“And the army won’t come in anymore?”

“UNIT won’t, no,” said the Doctor.

Before they had arrived, the Doctor had received an urgent message from Brigadier Winters at UNIT HQ, informing him of a situation in Owensby. He had explained that about two months ago villagers had begun to disappear in the dead of night. The police had been called in, but the people had simply vanished.

Eventually, when the amount of people that had disappeared had become too unnatural to ignore, UNIT came in. By then nearly half of the village had disappeared. And soon the UNIT soldiers began to disappear.

In a matter of days the village had become completely deserted and lifeless. Winters had sent another squad in, and they too had disappeared. So Winters had no choice but to call in the Doctor.

And Alice was rather concerned that they had gone here alone.

“So,” said Alice, as they passed the village pub and reached the old market area in the centre, “what happens when we go missing?”

“We at least find out what happened.”

“Look, Doctor,” she said, sighing, “I know you’ve not got long left, but I’d prefer to live my life as long as possible.”

“Don’t worry,” said the Doctor, smiling and putting and affectionate arm around her, “I’ll make sure you’re home before I pop me clogs.”

“Don’t say it like that,” she said, suddenly feeling guilty for even bringing the subject up.

A sound from back towards the pub made them turn around.

“What do you think it is?” asked the Doctor.

“How should I know? Let’s go and look,” said Alice.

They made their way to the pub - the Hope and Glory - and were about to go inside, when the noise came again. It was coming from the rear of the pub.

They made their way around to the beer garden when they suddenly heard a noise of something being dropped and footsteps thudding away on the wet grass.

Alice tried to hurry around the other side of the pub to see what had run, but whoever it was had been too quick for her.

“Look at this,” said the Doctor, kneeling down to examine what had been dropped.

“It’s a video camera,” said Alice, picking it up. “It’s still switched on.”

The Doctor fumbled with the controls, Alice told him to “give it here”, and then switched it on. The face of a man with red, slight greying curly hair, black rimmed glasses, a thin face and a big, green jumper came on the screen. He looked to be in his late 50’s.

“It’s a video message,” said the Doctor, curiously.

“Do people still do these?” said Alice.

“Obviously,” said the Doctor. “Shush, shush,” he said, as the man began to speak.

“My name is Barry Mickleson. And if anyone finds this, please understand that we had no idea. No idea at all.” He looked away from the camera nervously and then back again. “It was already too late when I told them. They wouldn’t believe me. The reflections just moved…” He began to panic, tears starting to run down his face. “And then they came.”

Suddenly, the man’s head snapped to the side, and then he dropped the camera. Alice and the Doctor watched as he disappeared around the side of the pub and then Alice came into view on the screen.

“Up to date there, then,” said Alice, switching it off. “What did he mean by the reflections moving?”

“Who knows?” said the Doctor.

“Well, we’ll have to find out,” said Alice, popping on her bobble hat. It had started to drizzle with rain.

“Naturally,” he said distantly as he moved off towards the back door of the pub.

She followed as he tried to unlock door and pushed his way inside. They made their way past the toilets, the entrance to the kitchen and then into the dark, old-fashioned wood interior with it’s wood-panelled walls adorned with various pictures of Owensby over the years and a number of other, curious artefacts such as an old fashioned oil lamp, some kind of shield and a sword and the stuffed head of a cow.

“Fancy a pint?” said Alice, nipping behind the bar and grabbing a glass.

“It’s a little too early in the day for alcohol,” said the Doctor.

She frowned. “I meant a pint of water. I’m not touching a drop of alcohol in this place.” She poured herself a glass of water and then went to sit on a bar stool. “Should we go looking for Barry?”

“Soon,” said the Doctor, surveying the room. “Let’s let him calm down first. The poor man’s scared out of his mind.”

“But at least he’s still alive.”

“Yes,” said the Doctor, pulling up a bar stool and sitting next to Alice. “Curious that.”

“Do you think he’s got something to do with it?”

Before the Doctor could answer, his eyes fixed on a large, cracked mirror hanging over the fireplace on the far wall.

“Barry said something about reflections…” said Alice, nervously.

The Doctor slowly walked up to the mirror. He looked at himself, his eyes tired and looking quite, quite old. But something wasn’t quite right. There was something…off about his reflection. He knew he was dying, but his reflection already looked dead.

“What’s wrong?” said Alice, not daring to look into the broken mirror herself.

“Mirrors are interesting things,” he said. “Jimi Hendrix once claimed to have seen a ghost walk past him whilst he was shaving.”

“My Dad said he saw a hooded man behind him in the mirror once,” said Alice, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

“I think we should get out of here.”

“Fine by me!” said Alice, leaping up off the stool.

“Not the village,” said the Doctor. “The pub.”

“Oh.” Alice sounded disappointed. She was all for adventure, but this village was creeping her out and all she could think about was getting back to the warmth of the TARDIS.

Not that the TARDIS was helping much. She continued to have her nightmares about a voice calling her. The other day she’d actually woken up, floating on her back in the swimming pool. How she had managed that, she didn’t know. She hadn’t mentioned anything to the Doctor, though. He had enough on his plate without her worrying him.

They made their way out of the pub and went back towards the market. And then they heard another sound. This time it seemed to be coming from the blue portaloo that had been set up next to some abandoned building works.

“Doctor,” whispered Alice. “He’s in there.”

“And so he is!” said the Doctor, rapping on the portaloo with his cane. “Come out, Barry. I know you’re in there.”

“Leave me alone,” said Barry’s muffled, fearful voice.

“We’re not going to hurt you,” said the Doctor. “Open up, or I’ll come in and drag you out.”

Slowly the door of the portaloo opened and Barry stood there, shaking, his face wet with tears.

“Why don’t you sit down and tell us what happened,” said the Doctor.

“Who are you?”

“Friends,” smiled Alice, putting her hand on his.

“It was the reflections,” said Barry nervously, looking around himself.

“What about them?” said the Doctor. “What did the reflections do?”

“Not out here,” said Barry. “Come with me.”

The Doctor and Alice followed Barry across the village square and up a narrow street, the stone houses looming over them like huge tombstones. They went down a few more streets until eventually they reached a house with a red door, it’s windows boarded up.

“This is my house,” said Barry as he fumbled for his keys in his jacket pocket. “They haven’t got in here yet.”

“You still haven’t explained what’s going on,” said the Doctor, exasperated.

“You’ll understand when we get inside.”

Barry unlocked the door and let them in. It was dark and gloomy inside with the curtains closed and the windows boarded up.

Barry went to the fridge and brought them some battles of still water.

Alice took a gulp and then put her bottle down on the mantle piece…and then noticed the smash glass all over the living room carpet.

“You broke your mirror?” said Alice.

Barry nodded. “I broke all of the mirrors. All of them in this house and as many as I could find in the other buildings.”

“Because of the reflections?” said the Doctor, helping himself to the incredibly comfy armchair.

Barry nodded. “It started about a month ago. There was a big boom from somewhere to the west, beyond the camel hills.”

“Camel hills?” said Alice, perching herself on the arm of the Doctor’s chair.

“They look like two humps,” said Barry, as if he’d had to explain the name so many times before in the past. “Nobody thought anything of it. There was nothing on the local news, and nothing that happens in Owensby really gets reported anyway.”

“Interesting,” said the Doctor, rubbing his chin and making a note to visit the camel hills later.

“And then that’s when people started to disappear. Little Mrs Poppywell in the sweet shop. David Larkin the headmaster at the school. The Sinner twins…one by one people started disappearing.”

“But what about the reflections?” said Alice, looking nervously at the broken pieces.

“I spotted something not quite right in the mirror at the Town Hall, just after they’d gotten everybody together for a meeting.”

“Go on,” said the Doctor, urging him to continue.

“I was sure I saw one of the Sinner twins in the mirror against the wall. After they had disappeared.”

Alice felt those hairs stand up again.

“When I got home, I looked in my mirror. Something didn’t feel right about my reflection.” He sat down on the sofa, looking around him nervously. “I saw my reflection smile back at me.”

Alice gulped and edged a little closer to the Doctor. She was almost sitting on his lap now.

“I tried to tell the rest of them, but they laughed. They didn’t believe me. And then that’s when more people began going missing. When the army came in, people started to take me more seriously. But then they began to disappear.”

“So you started smashing the mirrors?”

“Yes.”

The Doctor rubbed the back of his head. “Are there any mirrors still left intact?”

“The one in the pub. I was about o break that one when you scared me off.”

“Any others?”

“The one in the Town Hall. The doors are all locked. There might be others in there, but I can’t get in.”

“Hmmm,” said the Doctor. He got up from the chair and wobbled slightly, steadying himself on his stick. “Alice, go with Barry to the pub and smash that mirror. Any other mirrors in there - smash them.”

“It’s not safe!” said Barry, appalled at the idea.

“You’ve been around every other building, yes?” said the Doctor.

Barry nodded.

“Then you can do this. Alice will keep you safe. It’s just a mirror. Smash it and then come back here.”

“What about you?” said Alice, looking up at him.

“I’m going to break into the Town Hall and deal with the ones there.” He made his way towards the front door. “Remember, smash them, don’t look into them. And then come straight back here. I’ll meet you in a bit.”




Alice and Barry had made their way back to the pub and were standing in front of the mirror, Alice trying her very best to not look at her reflection. Barry had disappeared upstairs to see if there were anymore. She smiled as she heard the sound of a cry and then smashing glass.

And then she turned back to the cracked mirror in front of her.

And she looked.

She immediately tried to look away, but she couldn’t. Her eyes were transfixed to her own reflection. But it didn’t look like her face. It looked…evil.

Her reflection smiled.

Alice, strangely, began to recite her seven times table. She couldn’t stop herself.

And then all went quiet.

She could hear Barry coming back down the stairs.

She raised the cricket bat Barry had given her back at his house, swung her arm back, ready to smash the mirror, took the swing, and-

Her reflection’s arm shot out of the mirror and grabbed her arm. She was startled and didn’t know what to do. Then, slowly, it pulled her towards the glass. The surface of the mirror rippled as Alice struggled, dragged towards it. She was hauled up, over the mantle piece and pulled head first through the rippling glass.

Then, after a few moments, the glass rippled again as Alice crawled back out, dropping to the floor.

Barry came into the room and frowned at her crouched on all fours on the floor. “You okay?” he said.

Alice’s eyes flicked up and narrowed. And then the corners of her mouth twisted into a smile.

“I’m fine, Barry. Absolutely fine.”

She grabbed the cricket back, took a quick look at the mirror, saw the other Alice - the real Alice - begging her not to do it, and then smashed the mirror to a hundred pieces.

She then turned to Barry and smiled. “Let’s go and find the Doctor.”

Next time: The Doctor has a close encounter with his reflection. Coming Saturday 8th March 2014.