The Doctor

by Jennifer Bull

  I felt like I’d been popped like a balloon. Jack had a knack for looking cheerful before breaking horrible pieces of news. Clearly this was his way of telling me I was going to be locked up for the rest of my life. I braced myself, ‘Go on.’

  ‘Tez had a chat with some of the high-up’s at the agency about your… shall we say, unique situation, and they have agreed that they could use some insider knowledge at the facility that is treating the other victims. We’d like you to go and work there, if you want to?’

  I looked at him shocked. He was offering me a job?

  ‘You’re offering me, the person who has an imaginary werewolf following him around, a job at your paranormal agency?’ I think my eyebrows were so far up my head they must have been hidden in my hairline by now.

  ‘Firstly, the wolf’s not imaginary to you, secondly you are the only victim ever to learn to control a creature implanted by the Doctor, and thirdly who better to help treat these other patients than someone who’s already treated themselves?’

  I didn’t know what to say. Clearly that showed on my face, because Jack just slapped my back and said, ‘Welcome to the team.’

  I couldn’t help it, I just grinned at him. I was actually going to be working for the Paranormal Agency, and they weren’t going to lock me up for the rest of my life. Maybe things were looking up after all. Now I just had to apologise to Jeff, Ty and Zach for trying to kill them, apologise to Rex for very nearly killing him, and try and explain to Beth—well, I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to explain everything to Beth, but I’d have to think of something pretty soon.

  Before long, the cavalry arrived, led by Tez, and we watched as they transported the Doctor out on a stretcher and bundled him into the back of a van. I’d be quite happy if I never saw him again. Jack made the medics promise that he would be looked after, and he watched them leave with a strange expression on his face.

  Tez was motioning to us impatiently, waving us over to the car. We climbed inside, Jack got into the front and I sat in the back, which was fine by me as there was usually more thinking time when you sat in the back. Much to Jack’s disgust, Tez had insisted that Jack wasn’t driving anywhere until we had both been checked out at the hospital, and that one of the team would drive his car back. Tez pretty much had to wrestle the keys off him.

  I shuffled over in my seat as the werewolf joined me in the back. Instead of sitting in the empty seat next to me, he decided I must be cold and had tried to sit as close as possible. Perhaps this was his way of attempting to make up for attacking me on the island. It was very clear the wolf had no intentions of leaving me, but at least I was in charge. And I intended for it to stay that way from now on.

  Epilogues

  Jack

  ‘Tez’s Rule #5 - Always listen to your gut. Unless it’s wrong, then don’t.’

  A few days had passed since we had made it off the Doctor’s island. It had been a whirlwind of meetings, questions, and slapped wrists for going without backup. The list went on. Dan was shown the ropes at headquarters and he would soon be sent to the facility to start working with the other victims. He had, however, managed to persuade headquarters that he definitely wouldn’t be able to concentrate until he had seen his friends and made sure they were okay. A few arguments later and he’d been bundled into the back of the head of Security’s car and, I checked my watch, he should be arriving at the hospital around now. I wouldn’t like to be him at the moment. Women were hard work.

  Sighing, I looked around my office. It was time to move on. I picked up one of the archive boxes Tez had littering his side of the office, and put it on my desk. Slowly, I began to move all of the case files into it one by one. This was going to take some time.

  After half an hour I had managed to clear my desk and fill two more boxes. I decided I’d leave them on Tez’s side of the office for now. With any luck he’d tidy them away for me without realising I’d filled them.

  Next I had to tackle the mountain of photos I had stuck to every conceivable piece of wall in the office. It actually didn’t take that long, because I turned it into a therapeutic exercise. Clearing the mess of photos off the floor took a lot longer. Soon I had them all packed up in boxes and I placed the final few in a case file. Getting out a marker pen, I scribbled ‘Solved’ alongside the case reference and the date on each of the boxes.

  Returning to my desk, I picked up the lone framed photo that sat by my computer, and flipped it over. Taking the back off the frame was simple, getting the photo out proved a little trickier, but I managed it and then I stared at the photo in my hands. I don’t think I could ever look at a photo of my father again without seeing the Doctor in his eyes. I followed Sarah’s example and tore the photo in two, replacing the half with my mother on into the frame and setting it back on the desk, next to my computer. The other half, I placed inside the nearest case file which held numerous photos that had been stuck on the wall. He was nothing more than a crime scene picture now.

  Closing the file, I placed it in the top archive box, which joined the others by Tez’s desk. He might figure out that there were a few additional boxes he needed to tidy away. I contemplated his desk for a while, wondering if I could do something that would prevent him from noticing the mountain of extra storage he had gained. I had just about decided that moving his desk around might allow me to hide some of the boxes, when I was distracted.

  A buzzing noise filled the room a few seconds before my ringtone went off. Picking the phone up off the desk, I answered it and instantly recognised Tez’s loud voice.

  ‘Jack, how’s it going?’

  ‘Not bad, just doing a little spring cleaning.’

  ‘About bloody time,’ Tez said laughing. He’d been hounding me to tidy the office for months. Actually, years.

  ‘Tell him he can come for dinner if he likes,’ a voice bellowed in the background.

  ‘I think he can hear you Ma,’ Tez yelled back. I held the phone away from my ear, wincing. Not a good move Tez.

  I listened as the two of them started arguing again, then quietly hung up the phone. They wouldn’t notice I’d left them to it. I figured I’d spend half an hour longer at the office, then it ought to be safe enough to visit the Tez’s. If I arrived too early Mama Tez would drag me into whatever disagreement they were currently in, and there was no possible way to win an argument with her. Not that it stopped Tez from trying. Well, he called it trying, I called it ‘making things worse’.

  Yep, women were most definitely hard work.

  Daniel

  ‘I’ve always wanted a pet, but a werewolf was not what I had in mind.’

  It had been a crazy few days since we returned from the island. We’d been bundled into the car and taken to headquarters where I’d been prodded and poked by the doctors, and questioned for hours on end with Jack. I decided it was best not to mention the wolf for now, they would find that out in good time. After what seemed like the hundredth interview, they finally seemed satisfied by our answers, and before I knew it I was on my way to the hospital to see Rex and Beth. I was beyond nervous.

  I’d had an update from the head of Security, Tom, who’d assured me that everyone was fine after the incident; Jeff and Ty were already recovering back home. He’d also explained that Rex, Ty and Zach had been treated by some of the paranormal team, so their memories of that night didn’t involve anything to do with the wolf. For Beth, however, they had been forced to leave her memories once they realised how connected she was to the werewolf. She would be moved to the same facility I would be working at once she was given the all clear by the serva doctors. It was strange, I already felt like I was part of the paranormal world after only this short time.

  By the time the car pulled into the hospital parking lot I was shaking from head to toe. I was about to suggest that perhaps this was a little soon after all, and maybe we should come back another day, when I caught the eye of Tom and decided better of it. Okay, now it is then.

  The lovely nurse
s took me straight through to Rex’s room, and I hesitated briefly before entering. The wolf nudged the back of my legs, encouraging me to go inside.

  ‘Hey,’ I said gruffly, looking at Rex for only a moment before dropping my gaze to my feet. He was looking pretty happy for someone who had been on death’s door.

  ‘Dan, you’ve finally come to visit! What took you so long? This place is awesome, have you seen the nurses they have here?’

  I grinned in spite of myself. Trust Rex to be more interested in the nearest females than the fact that he was in a hospital because he nearly died.

  ‘I’m sorry Rex, it’s all my fault,’ I started, not quite sure what to say. Tom had warned me not to mention anything about the wolf, or really anything that had happened, but I had to say something. Rex wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me.

  ‘What are you talking about? It was my fault for being so stupid and messing around on the coaster. I’m amazed your dad didn’t kill me when he came by.’ Apparently, the paranormal agency did a little more than just erase his memories. Wait…

  ‘Dad came by?’ I asked, looking around as if he might suddenly jump out of the shadows.

  ‘Yeah,’ Rex said lazily, ‘he dropped by to see how I was, and to say you would be in to visit as soon as you could. I got the impression we wouldn’t be allowed to spend a night at the park again after we all pretty much managed to get badly hurt. Really not sure how we did that.’ He grinned sheepishly at me.

  I shrugged nonchalantly, grinning back at him. ‘You never know, maybe when we’re like, thirty something, he might just let us loose again.’

  I was so relieved to see Rex looking well, in fact I was just relieved to see him alive after thinking he was dead. He was my best friend, always there when I needed him, usually with a sarcastic comment to hand, and I don’t know how I would have coped without him around.

  There was a knock on the door and a pretty nurse entered, which caused Rex’s grin to widen dramatically.

  Laughing, I made my way to the door. ‘I’ll leave you to, err, get some rest shall I?’

  He waved me out and turned his attention elsewhere. Clearly, I was already a distant memory.

  According to the nurse I found outside Rex’s room, Beth was only a few rooms away. I went down the corridor and soon found where she was. If I thought I had been nervous to see Rex, it was nothing compared to how I was feeling now. Maybe I could persuade one of the nurses I was actually as ill as I felt, then they would admit me and I could put this off a bit longer. Then my thoughts turned to Tom who was waiting downstairs in the car for me. Maybe not.

  I looked in through the window of the room. She was lying there, her eyes staring at the ceiling as if she was trying to stay awake. My heart was thundering away in my chest, trying to tell me to run as far away as I could. But I couldn’t. I needed to see her, to explain. Then it was up to her, I just hoped she could find some way to understand that I had never meant to hurt her.

  With a deep breath, I knocked and pushed open the door to her room. Her gaze shifted from the ceiling to me as I walked inside, and did the one thing that made me feel like everything might just be okay after all; she smiled at me. A genuine, I’m glad to see you, smile.

  Sarah

  ‘Day 1 in Paradise.’

  Once the boys had left, I felt bereft, like I had lost my two best friends. But at least now I knew who I was, and I knew I was finally in control. My father—I couldn’t quite get out of the habit of seeing him as my father—was trapped in his own mind and it was up to me where we went, what we did. We’d never be free like Daniel and Jack, but I could create anything I wanted, now that I had access to my father’s projection skills. So that was exactly what I did.

  I’d decided I didn’t want to leave the island after all; it was the only home I’d ever known. Instead I just decided to redecorate a little bit.

  I stood on the beach, looking out over the wide expanse of sea in front of me. A gentle breeze was running through my hair, and the warm sunshine was beating down on my exposed arms. I shifted my feet in the sand until they reached the cool layer that lay a few inches below the surface. The waves ran over the beach and flowed around my feet, sinking me further still into the sand. I had to hold out my arms to steady myself as my balance wavered.

  I could hear the birds chirping in the trees behind me, and the rustling sounds all around of the various animals that now inhabited the island. Last night I had sat out and watched the young turtles making their way down to the sea, jostling with each other on the way.

  ‘Sarah,’ a voice called, breaking me from my thoughts. I looked up and saw Jack strolling towards me. Okay, so it wasn’t actually Jack, he was back in the real world living his life. This was my Jack, the one I had created. I liked who I was, who I had been before I found out the truth, so I’d decided that I was going to stay as Sarah. When I was her I had a chance to be free, to have a mother and a brother who loved me, and a chance to be better than my father. My projection, my rules.

  ‘Mother is putting together something for lunch so she told me to come and get you,’ he said as he reached me. Grinning cheekily, he added, ‘But I think we’ve got some time to kill, so let’s have a race.’

  That brother of mine was the most competitive person I had ever met. It must be genetic. I took off at a run, speeding down the beach with the waves lapping up against my feet. I could hear Jack grumbling something about cheating as he fell behind. Unfortunately the severe laughing fit I was having hindered my speed, and soon he had overtaken me and won.

  ‘I’ll get you next time,’ I said, wheezing the words out in between the laughter.

  ‘You said that last time. And the time before.’

  I made a noise at him and wandered up the beach, leaving him at the water’s edge. Looking towards the forest, I kept an eye out for any disturbance. It was my daily ritual now; I had to make sure my father was still locked up, where he was supposed to be. Any unusual activity in the forest concerned me, but thankfully everything looked calm.

  In the middle of the island, hidden inside a thicket of dense bushes and trees, lay the old building that I had once been held in. I’d left it there as a reminder of what had happened, and a reminder that I was no longer trapped. The building was derelict now; it had vines growing through the walls, parts of the roof had crumbled in on itself, and the bars hung limply from the windows where they had once stood strong.

  Deep inside, through the maze of corridors, was my father’s study, and that was where you would find my father. Locked up with everything he held dear, unable to escape from his own mind, he was trapped. Around my neck hung the key I had used to lock him inside his room. I held it delicately in my hands, looking down at the intricate markings on it. He was never getting out again.

  A shout from further down the beach got my attention and I turned around to see Jack beckoning me over. Grinning, I left thoughts of my father behind and ran across the beach to join him.

  Jack draped his arm over my shoulder and, as we strolled along the beach to the hut where my mother stood waving at us, he was delightedly pointing out the various crabs that scuttled along in front of us, leaving tracks in the sand. This was all I could ever have dreamed of; a beautiful island to live on, my brother and mother by my side, and my father safely locked up. This was my idea of paradise, and I intended to enjoy every minute of it.

  Wonderstruck Anthology

  The idea behind The Doctor came from a Drabble I wrote for the Wonderstruck Anthology. A Drabble is a short story of 100 words, no more, no less. Below you can read the original Drabble:

  Round and Round I Go:

  I can’t stop, he’s right behind me. I run faster but the trees thicken around me - I’m trapped! Glancing around in terror, I spot a ray of light shining through a gap ahead. If I could only squeeze through I might escape. Wriggling painfully into the hole, I try to hide as I hear a thunderous noise behind me. Hands grab my legs, pulling me backwards. Suddenly a new
hand reaches in. Inch by inch I am dragged forwards until I see my rescuer. I look up in horror at the maniacal face of the man I was running from.

  Wonderstruck is available on Amazon now

  Message from the Author

  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed the book! I'd be very grateful if you could leave a review telling me what you thought. Thank you.

  Author Links

  www.facebook.com/jenniferabull

  jenniferabull.wordpress.com

  About the Author

  Jennifer Bull spends her time visiting other worlds, going on crazy adventures, and generally arguing with her characters when they are not cooperating... which seems to happen rather too often. She lives in the North of England with her husband, and when she is not working or writing she enjoys reading, crafting and photography.

  Also by Jennifer Bull

  ‘A Lady’s Revenge’, ‘A Wizard’s World’, ‘Life in a Jar’, ‘Once in a Blue Moon’, ‘Round and Round I Go’ - Wonderstruck Anthology

  ‘Rumpelstiltskin’s Ghost’ - Unhappily Ever After; Fairy Tales with a Twist Anthology