The Doctor (15 page)

Groping around in the dark, I grappled with the package my father had left, and pulled out something vaguely edible to chew on. Wondering if my connection to Jack might extend to two way conversation, I thought I’d give it a go. It wasn’t like I had anything to lose.

‘Hello?’ I thought, feeling rather silly, ‘Jack, can you hear me?’

I listened carefully, but there was just silence. I’m not really sure what I had expected—Jack’s voice to suddenly start communicating with me directly in my head? Then again, it wasn’t like I had anything better to do than talk to myself. It might even take my mind off this dark place for a while. I was really longing to return to my old cell now. I’d always hated being locked up there, but at least it was mine. It had a window so I could see outside, and the moonlight allowed me to see what was inside; the walls were perfect for marking as the days went by; it was even suitable for a little bit of running. Sort of. What more could a girl want?

Ok, let’s give this another try, ‘Jack?’ I tried to picture what he looked like from the snippets I had seen in my father’s mind. Trying to picture what he looked like was about as easy as trying to hold water in my hands. Every time I thought I had his image, it slipped away.

‘Jack, the person you’re with—Sarah—is very dangerous. If you can hear me, you need to get away from here as soon as possible.’

Nothing.

I put my head in my hands and squeezed my eyes tightly shut. I wanted out of this room now. At least when he had played games with me I got to go outside, even if I knew where the games would end. This was just torture. I stood up and started pacing back and forth, wall to wall. Momentum increased and soon I was running, or at least trying to, hitting the walls rather painfully. It’s not like I could see where they were; they crept up out of nowhere every time. This room was smaller than my old cell, so I could barely reach a fast run before I hit the wall. No doubt I’d be covered in bruises once I got out of here. If I got out of here.

The frustration of being locked in the dark room had finally suffocated me. I threw myself against the entrance to the room. Maybe if I hurled myself hard enough at it I could just break free. But the wall wasn’t budging. My whole right side was beginning to throb painfully though.

‘Let me out!’ I yelled at the room, taking one final run at the wall. It didn’t move even a millimetre.
 

Exhausted, I fell to the floor in tears. What use was I? Stuck in a tiny room with no way out, I couldn’t even communicate with a telepath in the same building. Maybe this was my punishment for boring my father. He had his new toys now; I’d been shelved.

Then, suddenly I heard it. I wiped the tears off my face quickly and sniffed hard.

‘Wow, it was hard to break through into your head,’ a voice said with a hint of humour. This certainly wasn’t my father; could it be Jack?

‘Err, hi,’ I said hesitantly. I hadn’t actually expected it to work! This was very weird. It had been strange enough when I started seeing things from other people’s eyes, but to have a conversation with someone else, in your own head, while in separate rooms, was taking it that one step further.

‘I’m Jack. Let me guess, you’re the real Sarah?’

I nodded my head, then quickly realised that he couldn’t see me.
Clever, Sarah.
However, he seemed to have gathered that the answer to his questions was ‘yes’.

This was all so strange; I didn’t understand what was happening. Maybe I was just crazy like my father. It sounded like something that would be passed from father to daughter, so why not me.

Jack’s voice was clear in my head now, ‘Sarah, you are not crazy. I let you into my head. I’d been suspecting this girl with us was not telling the truth, but she was very convincing. It led me to believe she might be copying someone, likely someone she had locked up in here. I took a chance and let my mind be quite open in case I could sense someone else. I didn’t expect that someone to start communicating with me, but I guess I should have learnt to expect the unexpected now.’

Jack paused as if he were considering me. Though how he could do that from another part of the building I had no idea.

‘Sarah, how did you get here?’ he asked, ‘Who is the fake Sarah?’

‘He’s my father,’ I said quietly. I traced my fingers along the floor, drawing invisible shapes.

It went quiet in my head. I could have kicked myself. Why did I think it was a good idea to tell the one chance I had of actually escaping, that the person who was trying to torture us all was related to me. Way to go Sarah.

‘I wouldn’t call me your one chance of escaping,’ he said. I breathed a sigh of relief. I’d been alone for a long time, but suddenly the idea of losing contact with these two new people was unbearable. I didn’t want to be alone anymore. ‘You’ve probably got a better chance at getting out of here than either Dan or I have.’

I laughed. ‘I’ve lost count of the number of escape attempts I’ve made. Clearly, as I am still here, not one of them was successful. I don’t see how that’s going to change.’

‘Well, we’re here now,’ Jack said, ‘That’s something new. Maybe we can change the outcome of your attempts. Can’t say I’m keen on staying here for the rest of my life.’

‘So what’s next?’ I asked cautiously. I couldn’t let myself set all my hopes on escaping, just for my father to come in at the last moment and steal them away from me. As I knew he would.

Jack talked to me for a while and it seemed like he had come up with a plan, now we just had to hope it would work.
 

Next thing I knew, I was back in Jack’s head again watching through his eyes; I had a feeling he was controlling the connection this time.
 

‘Dan,’ Jack was saying, ‘we need a distraction. We have to break away from fake Sarah, regroup and come up with a decent plan.’

What was he doing? I got to my knees and my heart was racing in horror. She was in the same room as them; she’d hear every word he was saying.
 

‘You want me to use the werewolf don’t you?’ Daniel said.
 

I breathed out and unclenched my hands. How silly was I being? Daniel’s lips hadn’t moved. They were communicating silently, I should have known—if I was in Jack’s head then there was no reason why I shouldn’t hear Daniel in Jack’s head too.
 

Jack glanced across the room and fake Sarah looked none the wiser. In fact she had her eyes closed as if she had finally fallen asleep. Or she was pretending to be asleep, hoping to catch a conversation or two between her prey. I smiled, maybe we would be able to outwit my father after all.

Daniel was clearly concentrating now, battling with the werewolf that was sitting timidly in the corner, keeping it’s eye on him. After the glimpses of the out-of-control werewolf I’d seen through my father’s mind earlier on, this didn’t even seem like the same creature. Maybe he did have some control over it now. I hoped he did anyway, or I think I’d rather stay locked up in this cell for a bit longer.
 

The werewolf got up from the corner and moved into the centre of the room, eyeing up the sleeping Sarah. He did look like he was contemplating how to cause maximum disruption, which was exactly what we needed right now.
 

I could tell Daniel was fighting to keep control of the wolf. It was looking at him disdainfully as if it absolutely did not want to do anything he asked it to. Despite this, the wolf growled. He got louder and louder until fake Sarah woke up as Jack shook her, Daniel looking panicked.
 

‘We have to get out of here now, Daniel’s lost control,’ Jack yelled. He practically dragged Sarah out of the room and Daniel followed, the wolf right behind him.

If everything went to plan, the wolf would cause huge disruption, they would split up to confuse it, then the boys would regroup and come to find me. Jack turned around and I saw the werewolf about to catch Daniel. He did not look happy.

Suddenly everything went blank and I could just see the darkness in my own cell. The link had been broken. Again. I got up and paced around. Not knowing what was going on was awful. I walked back and forth for what seemed like hours.

It had been silent for way too long. Something must have gone wrong. I twisted my fingers through my hair, walking in circles now. I had enough bruises.
Come on, Jack
.
 

I started eyeing up the wall again. Maybe if I backed up further this time, and put some more momentum into it, I could break through.
More likely I’d break myself,
the sensible part of me said. The more reckless side of me wanted to try it anyway.

Before the reckless side could win—which it clearly would—the silence was broken.

‘Sarah, how can I find you?’ Jack called urgently to me. I was almost relieved, but I decided the tone of his voice did not make me feel any better than the silence.

‘Do you know where the Doctor’s study is?’ I asked.

‘Yes, we’ve had the pleasure,’ he said, with what sounded like a grimace.

‘You need to head past the study towards the end of the corridor—it looks like it’s a dead end but it’s not. If you push the top of the wall it will open into a hidden room. I’m in there.’

‘Okay, stay right where you are, I’m coming for you.’

I laughed out loud. Like I was going anywhere. There was a great big wall between me and the way out and the stupid thing wouldn’t open from the inside.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Jack

‘Tez’s Rule #9 - Always assume people are lying.’
 

I kicked myself as I realised the Doctor had been playing us from the moment we arrived. I was sure now that the island, this whole place, was a projection, created in the Doctor’s head. Even I had to admit, he was a very skilled telepath.
 

Cautiously, I walked down another corridor, looking around for any signs of the werewolf, or the Doctor. It looked clear. Daniel and I had set up a diversion, using the werewolf to chase us until we were forced to split up. We just needed to ditch fake Sarah until we could find the real Sarah. I had a feeling she would be the one person who could help us defeat the Doctor. No one was going to know the Doctor better than the daughter he had kept with him for her whole life.

It wasn’t far now until I would reach the study, I just had to hope the way would be clear. I was a little worried about Daniel now; the plan was to regroup at the study once we lost the fake Sarah, but that werewolf had looked like it was giving Daniel a run for his money. He was still struggling to stay in control, but I didn’t want to break into his mind; any tiny distraction could be catastrophic.
 

The corridor I was after loomed up ahead, and I peered around the corner. It appeared to be empty. Treading as quietly as I could, I walked towards the open study door and looked in there too. All clear. Unfortunately there was no sign of Daniel either. After a quick glance behind, I made my way quickly to the wall at the end of the corridor. Listening carefully, with my ear up against the wall, I couldn’t hear anything. It crossed my mind that this could all be some elaborate prank by the Doctor, but I didn’t think it was—I believed the real Sarah was, indeed, real. The Doctor very likely had no idea that I had been able to communicate with her at all. In fact he probably thought that she was still his secret. He seemed to think we were none the wiser to his games.

Reaching up, I pushed against the top of the wall repeatedly. Nothing seemed to be happening. I moved to the right and stretched into the top corner. There was a small raised bump at the top of the wall. My hands were sweating now. I wiped them on my trousers and returned my fingers to the bump, pushing it hard.
This had better work.

There was a click, the wall swung open, and I stepped inside. Sarah, at least I assumed it was the real Sarah, was sitting there staring at me like I was a ghost. She looked exactly the same as fake Sarah, but she did not make me nervous like the other one did.

‘Sarah?’ I asked, not moving towards her in case she got up and ran, which was exactly what she looked like she wanted to do.

‘Jack? I can’t believe you came.’

She got up and walked over to me, touching my arm with her hand. ‘Checking I’m real?’ I said, grinning at her. She smiled at me.
 

‘It’s been a long time since I’ve seen anyone other than my father. And I prefer not to see him if I can avoid it—which I can’t. I can’t even get away from him now, even when he’s in another room.’

She had been holding something in her hand when I entered—a photograph. It looked familiar.

‘It was you that ripped up the photo in the study?’ I said, looking down at her hands. It had been bugging me, wondering why the Doctor would tear up one of his own photos. He hadn’t.

She nodded, tears welling up in her eyes. ‘It was a picture of him, and my mother. I kept the part with my mother on. He took her away years ago, and she never came back. I hate him.’

I was watching the picture twirling around in her fingers. I recognised that dress, a deep green dress, and the blonde curly hair. Taking the photo from Sarah, I ignored her protests and sank to the floor, staring at the picture. I’d thought the torn pieces looked familiar when I’d seen them in the study, but I hadn’t wanted to believe it.
 

‘This is my mother too,’ I said to Sarah with a catch in my voice.

‘What?’ she said, a little higher pitched than I had expected. ‘That’s not possible… How is that possible?’

I shrugged, still staring at the picture. I wished I knew.

‘But,’ Sarah said, looking completely bewildered, ‘Wait… who is your father?’

My heart dropped to the floor as she said the words out loud. It’s something I had been suspicious of for some time, but now there was no ignoring it. All the evidence pointed to it. The Doctor was my father.

‘You think my father is your father too?’ she asked. I nodded miserably. I’d been hoping that this whole journey of mine to find the Doctor would have removed my suspicions, not confirmed them. I was feeling rather sick now.