The Kind Ones, Chapter 4
The Doctor and Rose walked behind Olena, who's flickering lantern battled the oppressive dark of the night. It was just after the dinner hour, as the Doctor had told Rose, and she was feeling sheepish for sleeping the whole day away. The Doctor however, was grateful she'd had some sleep before their next adventure. Who knew what would be waiting for them in the Kind House?
The trio went along quickly through the dusty lane, passing small cottages infrequently on their way. When they had been walking for a few minutes, the Doctor noticed a healthy glow emanating from a large building off of the road.
“What is that place, Olena?” he asked as he indicated toward it.
“The tavern,” she responded brusquely. “I’m not allowed in there.”
The Doctor steeled his gaze toward the structure as he altered his trajectory slightly. “I think we’re going to need to break that rule Olena.” He turned to Rose and lowered his voice, not bothering to hide his outrage. “I want to talk to the people who are responsible for this.”
The Doctor made his way to the tavern entrance and pushed heavily at the wooden double doors, that gave long-suffering groans as they swung forward on rusty hinges. Behind them was a sparse dining area and bar, filled with a dozen or so villagers staring dejectedly into their cups. Although the bartender looked up with interest, everyone else ignored the intrusion, too absorbed in their own thoughts to take notice. For obvious reasons, this only made the Doctor angrier.
The Doctor bristled as he came through the door with Rose and Olena in tow.
“So who went tonight?” he asked in his infamous moralizing tone. That got their attention.
The tired faces turned to regard him, but revealed little emotional response. They all had the same white forehead like Olena’s, but Rose noticed that many of them had lighter, almost ghoulish eyes. She positioned herself slightly behind the Doctor, knowing he wasn’t about to back down.
“Which one had to die tonight?” the Doctor continued. “I know you’re taking people to the Kind House and I want to know why! Do you understand? Somebody cares about what’s going on in this town! Now who’s going to answer me?”
The Doctor was practically seething at the thought of what these people were doing to each other.
One man stood up slowly from the others, taking his time to cross the room. He had a long beard similar to the old man who had helped Rose the night before, and as he walked toward them, he kicked a chair away from an empty table.
“Sit down,” he said in a heavy accent, “and I’ll tell you what you want to know. If you can bear to hear it.” The man leveled his eyes at the Doctor before sitting down himself and gesturing to the open seat.
The Doctor took the proffered chair and gazed steadily at the man, waiting for an explanation. Rose sat down beside him while Olena lingered behind.
“You’re not supposed to be out here,” the man said to the little girl.
Rose spoke, attempting a tougher tone than usual. “She’s with us.”
“I’m not doing anything, Olek,” Olena complained.
“Olek,” the Doctor repeated firmly. “Tell me what’s happened here.”
Olek cleared his throat and spread his gnarled hands on the table. His whitewashed eyes stared straight into the Doctor’s as he spoke. “Tonight we drew lots before the hum began, the way we’ve taken to doing. Wasyl drew short. He’s the…he was our village carpenter.”
Olek leaned back in his chair and waited, as if pausing to hear an unasked question. “We did what we always do,” he picked up again. “Nobody ever wants to go. It wasn’t pleasant. He kicked and screamed the whole way and it took six of us just to restrain him. And then we carried him down the way, just before Synovo Lake on the other side of the hill…where the Kind House lies. We took him down and shoved him through the front door and bolted it from the outside. We could hear him screaming like someone tore his arm off…it was enough to turn any man’s blood cold. But it only took a few minutes. He was quiet after that, like they all get. And then we came back here, as you see before you. The heroes of another day.”
Olek laughed humorlessly as he spread his arms, indicating the space around them.
“Why,” the Doctor asked intensely. “Why do you do it? How can you do it?” His fingers were bunching up on the table, aching to do something useful and stop this madness.
Olek leaned in, matching his darkness for darkness. Rose stared at the crooked row of his lower teeth, flashing in the candlelight. “I want you to look in my eyes and tell me what you see,” he said menacingly. “I used to be a man, once. But this place has turned me into a monster.”
He giggled suddenly, and his eyes crossed briefly before focusing back in on the Doctor. Rose shuddered as she realized he was not all there.
“We obey,” Olek repeated mirthlessly. “Because if we don’t…”
Rose noticed that the other villagers were turning in their chairs as if synchronized, and she pulled on the Doctor’s sleeve. “I think we should go,” she whispered.
“What happens if you don’t obey?” the Doctor continued, rising from his chair but keeping his eyes on Olek’s twisted grin.
He felt himself pulled firmly backwards by Rose, who was signaling to Olena to open the door. As they retreated, the Doctor caught one more look at Olek’s face and suddenly knew there was no answer to his question because…it wasn’t a question. The villagers just did what they were told blindly, and that made the Doctor scared because the kind of power needed to command that level of obedience was as incredible as it was dangerous. The Doctor clenched his teeth as the wooden doors shut them out in the cold.
He looked down at Olena, who stared up at him, waiting to see what came next.
“Take me to the Kind House,” he commanded. “This ends tonight.”
Olena led them down a steep hill past an ancient windmill. As the rotor spun six sharp blades, Rose noted their ominous resemblance to barber’s razors cutting through the sky. She reached out and took the Doctor’s hand as they walked on, frightened by the creaking sound of the fan and the cruel shadows it cast across the ground.
As the party neared the edge of the village and followed the upward sloping terrain, they came to look down on the grey waters of Synovo Lake, gleaming under grated starlight. A thin mist was rising up from the bank and smothering the lowlands.
Olena pointed down at a dilapidated manor that was little more than a crooked set of bricks bent with age and topped with ridged tin panels. Large holes appeared in the façade where time had beaten it down, while the windows were only the skeletal remains of wooden frames. The Doctor moved on until he realized their young host was not following. She shook her head at him and looked back to where they had come.
“Thank you Olena,” the Doctor said. “I will see you again soon.”
Olena frowned deeply and took the Doctor’s hands in her own, pulling him down to her level.
“I didn’t tell you the whole story about Bernardyn,” she admitted. “The last time I saw him and I shouted his name…he said something back to me. Only it didn’t make any sense and I’d tried to forget it for a long time because it frightened me. He told me that they were in the walls.”
“What was in the walls?” Rose asked, holding Olena’s large gray eyes with her own.
“I don’t know,” Olena cried, brushing away a few frozen tears. “He just kept saying it over and over again. Then he ran off like something was chasing him.”
Olena clung to Rose, digging her fingers into the sides of her jacket painfully. “Whatever you do, don’t touch them Rose. Please. Don't touch the walls!”
“Hey,” Rose said soothingly, returning the little girl’s hug. “I promise we’ll be careful. We’re gonna be back soon okay? We’re gonna fix this so that you and your Aunt can be safe.”
Olena sniffed morosely as she backed away, her expression haunted and hopeless. Suddenly, she perked up and reached down into her dress pocket, drawing out her homemade doll. “Take her,” Olena instructed. “In case you get scared. Sometimes I have nightmares until I realize I'm holding her, and then she brings me back to my own bed where its safe."
Rose almost cried at the gesture, taking the doll reverently from her little friend. “I’ll take good care of her,” she promised. Olena nodded and ran off into the night, too broken up to prolong their farewell.
Rose turned her attention back to the Doctor, who’s squared stance signaled he was ready to descend. Rose braced herself, trying to look a little braver than she felt. The Doctor seemed to sense her mood and squeezed the sides of her shoulders.
“Rose, whatever is in that house has hurt these people long enough. I’m going to go in there and make sure it never hurts anyone ever again…whatever it is. The fact is, I don't know what it is at all. I don’t know if you should come.”
Rose stiffened under his touch and pushed her forefinger into his chest. “Whatever is in there is going to have to deal with both of us. You’re not going in there alone and that’s final. We face this together, got it?”
The Doctor nodded, feeling the heat of her skin like her resolve, as a counterbalance to the chill and uncertainty of the night. He took her hand once more as they went on…not unafraid but together.
(Next Chapter)