The Mystery of the Mystery House!

[The Fifth Doctor]

Charles picked himself up, and struggled out of the door, the pain slowly ebbing away.

[The Eighth Doctor]

(I can see Tyler as a dashing young pilot:) )

The Doctor flashed his light to the left then to the right. With a shrug he chose the right and started down. "At least we won't have to worry about tripping over anything," he noted. "These walkways are very well maintained. It should be lovely to see when the sun rises."

They were interrupted by a gruff voice behind the. A large man dressed in well worn clothes held up a lantern and scowled at them. "All right, mind tellin' me jes' what yer doin' messin' about here in the middle of the night?" he growled around the stub of a cigar clenched in his teeth.

"Ah well, yes, we were..ah..just passing by and we heard a scream," the Doctor answered. "It sounded like someone might be in trouble so we came along to help. No harm meant."

"Huh," the man removed his cigar, spat out a bit of tobacco leaf then replaced it. "Heard a scream, eh? Don't you know where you're at? Screams, howls and th' like are bound to happen when the Missus conjurs up her ghosts and sich. She -wants- 'em here, she does. Why I cain't figger but that's her lot, not mine. Now, ye says yer were jus' passin' by? You, a fine gent and this lady here, at this time? Heh. Lookin' for a quiet out o'the way place, more like! But why walk all th' way up here. No gal's worth that much effort. Gotta give it to yer though, she's a looker, she's a looker! Mus' be new in town as she doesn't have the wore air what th' rest o' 'em have!"

Quickly realizing the direction the conversation was heading and knowing how indignant (and loud) Charley could be, the Doctor said quickly "Oh no no no, Charley here is..is my niece! Yes, just arrived from London. She couldn't sleep, the excitement from being in a new country, you see, so I suggested a nice walk around to tire us both out. Isn't that right, Charley?" he gave her a gentle but firm nudge.

[The Tenth Doctor]

It was then that Tyler managed to get a glimpse of two people talking to someone who had a cigar. He wasn't yet close enough to hear the conversation, but he could tell that they were talking about something serious.

Not wanting to interrupt, but wanting to make sure that whomever had let out that scream was helped, Tyler spoke up. "Excuse me...but someone let out a scream...I heard it...not long ago....is there a doctor nearby? It sounds like they may have been hurt...."

Not being from this particular town, Tyler wanted to find out about the current situation. He didn't know the doctors around here or where they might live, but he would be willing to help. He had no notion of his accent, assuming that he spoke like everyone else from America.

[The Mentalist]

Still outside and not at the cellar yet, Lily turned back and saw Charles come round. He looked like he was in pain or was just coming out of it. She switched between the cellar and Charles.

It was difficult to decide which was more important right now. She could see that Charles wasn't alright but she could see how he was. She had no idea how Nicholas was and couldn't see who it was. The servant knew it was him in that cellar, it couldn't be anyone else. Frowned, she thought for a second...

Running back over to Charles, she watched her step as she went. Noticing a strange silver ball as she went past it, she stared at it. Stopping and tapping it with her shoes, it seemed to be solid iron. Gently picking it up, it weighed a lot and she looked puzzled. Where had this come from? As her mind went to other matters, she smiled and shoved it in her pocket. Whatever was in that cellar wouldn't be able to deflect this, the ball could be a good weapon.

Running back over to Charles, she tried to help him.

"Charles? Can you hear me? Are you okay?"

She just hoped whoever had screamed was okay. Lily fidgeted, waiting for an answer from Charles, wondering if he was any better.

~*~

Nicholas lay on the cellar floor, crying like a child. He felt the other man's foot on his back and didn't even struggle. It would just end his life sooner. His head was a mess, all the things he regretted, he'd loved and lost, all running through his head. He could remember so much and so many people he wanted to say things to, he wanted to thank lots of people, tell some that they'd been brilliant friends and mentors, thank his master and lady for all they'd done for him and he just wanted to tell someone he loved them. He also wanted to apologize to the future, for if anything was to be changed because of his death, perhaps future Lent's not being born, then he wanted to say sorry for robbing them of their chance to live.

But they were wasted thoughts now. They all left his mind as the tears left his eyes. He felt ashamed. To have said so little and taken life for granted, to believe the next day was for certain. It wasn't. He then felt shame. His final moments would be in this state. A butler of the great Winchester family, dying like this, it wasn't acceptable.

Opening his eyes, he felt the grip on his hair and tried desperately to still his tears. Through small sobs, he spoke to the assailant.

"... Just e-end this now. I can't s-stand it..."

The assailant removed his foot and then proceeded to sit on the butler. He made sure to sit on his back, so he could still hold onto his hair.

"Hmm. Is that what you really want? You're not the man you used to be. You would have beaten me into a pulp by now, you didn't used to be too keen on dying. But now you're asking for it? My. How time changes people."

The butler lost most of his breath as the other sat on his back. He felt like crying again, the pain and waiting slowly killing him off. Nicholas lost all sense of what the man was saying, just waiting for a blow to the chest or something to just stop this madness. This killer needed to be sectioned or handed to the authorities. He could only hope that after his death, this would happen. The assassin shifted himself a little, keeping hold of the butler's hair and taking out a blade with the other hand. Putting it to the butler's throat he smiled.

"Well, if you say so! Don't worry though, I'll make sure it's quick. And really messy. But you won't need to worry about that part!"

The assassin laughed maniacally, the noise ringing out all around the garden and surroundings. The butler just held his breath, closed his eyes and tried to face death like a man. He wanted his last thought to be a sweet one but instead it just turned sour. He could only apologize.

"Sorry everyone. "

He waited for the agony to end.

[Charley Pollard]

Charley walked along with the Doctor. “Oh, I’d say so,” she was just agreeing, in reference to the loveliness of the grounds. However, it was nighttime now, and she was eager to get to the Aviation Show the next day. Perhaps the ‘seeing the grounds at sunrise’ bit could be right if they headed off to the planes and promised young pilots afterward…

She was prevented from saying anything further when a man with a cigar came upon them. Charley could hardly blame him for questioning how they were walking around on what was most probably private grounds. She glanced at the Doctor to see his explanation. She nodded in agreement, peering past the man to see if there was anyone up ahead on their path. She was near to questioning just what he meant by what their employer wanted, if she was conjuring spirits, but he made a rather rude assumption. “Why, I—” It was a good thing that the Doctor opened his mouth and inserted an explanation for her. Charley swallowed her indignant feelings in favor of trying to make the Doctor’s niece-theory seem more plausible. She nodded, glancing at him again. He was lucky, this man, that the Doctor had stopped her rather quickly. She held back her annoyance, biting the inside of her lip.

With the prompt (in the side) by the Doctor, Charley nodded emphatically. “Oh, yes. Yes! Just in from London, me.” She flashed him a smile, hoping her ‘looks’ would be helpful in him believing them. She moved the conversation forward for good measure, both her curiosity and desire to help driving it. “But the screams we heard,” she said, glancing at him worriedly. “I believe they were just up ahead. Someone may be hurt…” She paused, remembering what he had first said about the woman that lived here. “Conjuring up ghosts, you say? What exactly for, might I ask?”

[The Eighth Doctor]

"Why, she does every night! At certain hours she goes and rings that blame bell, to call them in, y'see. Then they say..." Any further explanation was cut off when the man noticed another coming up. "What is this, a tour? A bloody circus? I see more new folk tonight than I do in a month of daylight! All this because of a yelp too. Hmmm, mebbe I should charge admission or somethin'! You folks togedders or what?"

The Doctor looked over to the young man walking towards them. He was tall and pleasent looking, wearing a pilot's jacket. He gave a quick smile of greetings. "Hello! You must be from the aviation show! I'm the Doctor and this is Charley. Oh, she's my niece." He really wanted to push that point in at this time.

"A pilot, eh? I heard there was a bunch of you cloud dancers in town!" This time the cigar-clenching man seemed a bit more friendly. "Always wunnered what it would be like, to be up there but then again, it would make fer a hell o'a fall! Oh, beg pardon, miss."

[The Tenth Doctor]

Tyler glanced at the man with the cigar and grinned at the people. He was proud to be a pilot, and he liked meeting new people. Nodding at the person who had greeted him in such a friendly manner, he replied. "Yes....I'm a pilot from the aviation show. Nice to meet you, Doctor.....medical doctor?"

He then took a glance at Charley. "Oh, hello there. Hello to all three of you. My name is Tyler."

Tyler then turned to the first person who had spoken to him. Although the man had been grumpy at first, he had seemed friendly enough now. Surmising that he no longer had to answer the first part of the man's address, assuming that it would be obvious to this man that they were NOT together, the need to introduce themselves together having answered that question for the man.

Tyler's face brightened even further. "Well, if you ever want me to take you up.....I'd be glad to....just...just no smoking on my plane. And you need not worry about the plane going down....I've been flying for about ten years, went to a good piloting academy...."

[The Eighth Doctor]

"Yeah, but there's always a first time, right?" the man winked. "Oh, me name's Flannery, Tom Flannery. I'm the watchman here for Mrs. Winchester an' her house here."

"'Winchester'?" the Doctor repeated. He paused, rummaging through his memory. "That wouldn't happen to be Sarah Winchester, would it?"

"Yeah, it would but it's Mrs. Winchester to you. The townsfolk may think she's gone and lost her wits but she pays good with no questions asked. So I won't have anybody talkin' down about her, unnerstand?" Flannery narrowed his eyes a bit. "So you'd best be respectful!"

"Oh of course, of course." the Doctor said in a mollifing tone. He tilted his head to talk in an almost whisper to Charley. "Yes! The Winchester Mystery House! It all makes sense now! Don't worry, Charley. If you wanted something to write about you will have plenty to fill that journal of yours with in no time!"

In a more normal tone he addressed the watchman again. "Ah, there wouldn't happen to be a chance of actually meeting Mrs. Winchester, would there? And I'm sure Tyler here would like to accompany us. Give our respects and all."

Flannery shook his head. "What, now? In the middle of her ghostin'? She don't even allow visitors in normal hours!"

The Doctor looked crestfallen. "Oh, well, you see, my niece and I are also followers of the occult and I would have liked to share our own experiences with her."

"Hmph,more spook callers, eh? I don't believe any o' that nonsense. Not that I haven't seen any weird stuff meself, y'unnerstand! Well," his resolve seemed to be wavering. "I don't s'pose there'd be any harm if yer walk up to the side door. Yer'll have to speak your case with the head butler though! I can only speak fer th' grounds. Speakin' o'which, I'll be gettin' back to m'rounds now. Good luck to yers! M'am." Giving a slight salute he walked off.

"All right then, shall we go up and simply knock on the side door?" the Doctor asked. "And in case you're wondering about going to the front door, Mrs Winchester had had that sealed up after the 1906 earthquake." His voice went low again as he spoke to Charley. "It appears the TARDIS landed in the Great Ballroom, which also had been sealed up at that time!"

[The Tenth Doctor]

Tyler nodded at Tom Flannery. "Yes, I suppose there is always a first time, but I don't like to think about the possibility of a crash, sir. And since you gave your last name...mine is Smith."

Tyler's ears perked up when he heard the Doctor invite him to come along in meeting this Mrs. Winchester. Having no clue who Mrs. Winchester was, not being from the area, a look of confusion crossed his face. However, these people were going to invite him inside to tour a house....or so it seemed, and it looked like a rather large house as well.

However, at the mention of the words 'ghostin' and 'occult', Tyler started to have second thoughts. Not wanting to be rude to the Tom Flannery, he didn't want to speak up for his distaste for the occult in front of the man. He seemed to be protective of the mistress of the house, the way that he went on about her.

Once Tom Flannery had walked off, Tyler turned to both the Doctor and Charley and said in a soft tone, "I...I'm not really into the occult.....I'm not meaning to offend you....it's just that....that I think that stuff is evil....not something that I really want to associate with. It's not that I wouldn't feel protected....but rather, I don't want to participate in it myself. I don't mind having a tour of a house, but don't ask me to participate in magic or any occult practices.....I.....I'm firmly against that sort of thing."

He then heard the word TARDIS . What on the Earth was that? "Um...sir...what do you mean by saying the TARDIS landed in the Great Ballroom, which also has been sealed up for a time?? What are you talking about....one of your occult practices?"

[The Eighth Doctor]

"Ah...well..I don't really believe in the occult either, but I do love meeting interesting people. And believe me, Mrs. Sarah Winchester is very interesting indeed. Interesting and tragic. You see all this?" The Doctor paused and flung one arm out, indicating the dark form of the huge house looming before them, lights flickering here and there as the workmen continued. "She is the sole heir of the Winchester Rifle fortune, but she lost what was really important, her husband and her baby girl. Grief-stricken, she consulted some person who claimed to be in contact with her loved ones on the other side and they informed her she should build a house large enough to house all the ghosts of all the people killed by the rifles her husband made. And once she started building she should never stop, otherwise the ghosts would have her too. Sad really, very sad but the end result is this, the most unique house in the world plus continuing employment for the locals."

He paused again, reflecting on the futility of it all, Mrs Winchester would die, of course, 12 short years from now, but who was he to say how one should spend one's life? If it brought her a measure of comfort, how could he say it was all just foolishness? His thoughts on that almost made him miss Tyler's comment about the TARDIS.

"The TARDIS? Oh yes, the TARDIS. Ah..." He floundered a bit, hoping Charley could distract the handsome young pilot.

[The Tenth Doctor]

Tyler let out a small sigh of relief when the Doctor told him that he didn't believe in the occult.

"Goes to show how destructive practicing the occult can be," Tyler said, shaking his head. He felt freer now to express his intense dislike for the practice. "And it isn't that I don't believe in the occult.....there could be power behind it...but it's not power that I want to mess with," Tyler added. "One day one of those ghosts might really kill her....because I don't think they are really ghosts."

Now knowing that this Doctor and his niece didn't practice the occult, he didn't care so much about what this TARDIS thing was. Whatever it was, it wasn't an occult game or practice. He was so relieved to learn that these were not occult practitioners that he didn't realize that the Doctor didn't answer the TARDIS question.

[The Eighth Doctor]

(Waiting on the others now;) )

[The Mentalist]

(Hope nobody minds if I attends to our guests now. Besides, time I got Nicholas out of there. ;D)

Lily frowned as Charles didn't reply. She then nearly screamed when she heard a mad laugh coming from, what could only be, the cellar. Glancing between Charles, who she was standing beside and the cellar, the maid ran from his side. Shouting back, she felt guilty for just leaving him.

"I'm sorry Charles! I'll be back soon!"

Running away and through the gardens, she tried not to stamp on any flowers as she ran, holding herself together. Lily knew she had to be strong. The spirits of the house were strong, she just hoped she could be a match for them. Or at least, she'd try!

Reaching the cellar door, the maid grabbed a hold of the door and threw it open. The moonlight lit the cellar itself and she nearly screamed at what she saw.

There were two Nicholas-is! One on the floor, with a trickle of blood running from his throat from a knife and the other cutting it. She stood staring at the scene, confused and scared. These spirits, surely they could not be so vengeful and maddening. She knew one of them was the real Nicholas, but it was so difficult to tell- no! it wasn't! her hand went to her pocket as she determined the spirit from the man. The butler, he could never look so mad, could never do that to anyone. The spirit had the blade and she said nothing as it spoke to her.

"Oh, hello there, do we have an audience? Lovely, I'll make sure to make a good job of this for you, you pretty thing."

Before he could even move, she threw the solid iron ball at the spirit as hard as she could. It flew through the air, smacking the spirit in the nose and with such force, it turned his head. She quivered in fear and the butler on the ground looked up to her. He took her in and thought to himself; he'd been so quick to resign. Lily hadn't given up hope! So why should he?

As the spirit clicked his head back, the maid saw it's nose. It was all broken and blood and the scowled. Cracking it back in to place, it got off of the butler and walked over to her, the blade now pointed at her.

"You broke my nose! You'll pay for that one, little miss. I'm going to have some fun with you, a feisty little one, aren't you?"

As she stood in the doorway, she froze up. Unable to move, she watched at it came closer, only to be stopped by the Butler behind him. he'd torn the blade from his suit, grabbed his bleeding throat with one hand and taken a hold of the blade with his other. Speaking to it, he took command of the situation, ordering the spirit around.

"Do not lay a hand on her. Be gone spirit. You've had your fun, now leave us! NOW!"

It turned back to him and glared, then smiled. The spirit looked at something on the floor and replied.

"Fine. But I'll be back."

In the moment both servants blinked, it vanished. The butler stood, a little shocked by the whole experience and then felt the pain in his neck. Keeping his hand on it, he backed away from the maid for a second, dropping the knife on the ground. Then wandering over, he picked up something that glimmered in the light, his old pocket watch. He must've dropped it. Then going back into the shadows, he got something else.

Lily watched as he walked around, still a little frozen. As she watched, she grabbed a handkerchief out of her pocket and waited, as the butler came up the stairs. She was shocked as he put put his free arm around her, hugging her. He whispered to her.

"Thank you..."

She paused, then hugged him back, not replying yet. She let him go and spoke, gently prising his hand from his throat. Taking the handkerchief, she wrapped it around his neck.

"No problem, but hold still for a second... There you go, all fixed. Are you okay, can you stand alright?"

Watching her tie the knot, he gently touched his neck and smiled. Nodding, he smiled. It was so good to see her. He spoke.

"Yes, thank you, that's very kind of you. Thank you, you've saved my life- oh. I almost forgot to give you this."

Handing her over the loaf of bead, he smiled as she took it. She stared at and started to get all fired up again. Rushing with her words, she started to panic, but in a normal way. She still had a lot to do! She still had the workmen's sandwiches and tea to get! Staring at him, she then started to run away, shouting back.

"Oh gosh! I forgot about this! I need to get back to this! Thank you Nicholas!"

He laughed as she ran off. As quirky as ever, that maid. Following at a walking pace, he went past Charles, giving him a pat on the back as he passed. Good old Charles! His mood was so much better! He was so glad to be alive! He was ecstatic!

Entering the house via the servants door, he walked down the corridor to the kitchen. He smiled as he entered, seeing all his friends working away. They were preparing tea, sandwiches and he grinned, as he wandered into the main body. Grabbing a hold of a pot, he poured some hot water into it, only to be tapped on the shoulder by another maid.

She smiled at him.

"Hello Nicholas, sorry to bother you, I just overheard that there were guests in the Mansion grounds. They want to see Lady Winchester."

He gave her an odd look. Guests? This late? Shrugging, he smiled. This house was full of mad things, guests this late wasn't all that bad. He agreed to go and see them, and handed the maid the teapot. Leaving the kitchen, he walked out into the dark house.

~*~

As he went into the house, he felt uneasy. He wound started to sting a little more as he kept going through the many hallways that lead to the side door. Passing many doors, Nicholas watched them all pass by. He could swear the house was getting less familiar everyday...

He waited to hear the side door be knocked on, as he walked in it's direction. He contemplated what the guests would be like as he passed another light, walking alone toward the door.

[The Eighth Doctor]

(Charley??? Yoo hoo!)

[Bryan Wilkeson]

((I believe I need to resign from this thread. So sorry))