xxɪᴠ. ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ʙʟɪɴᴋ
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On a dark wet night, a woman climbs over a lovely set of wrought iron gates with a Danger Keep Out Unsafe Structure London County Council notice on them and goes up the gravel driveway to the big house.
She breaks in through a boarded up window and takes photographs of the plastic covered chandeliers resting on the floors, and other pieces of furniture.
Then she notices the letter B peeking from underneath a piece of peeling wallpaper. She pulls at it to reveal the words: Beware the weeping angel.
Underneath that is, Oh, and duck! Really, duck! Sally Sparrow duck, now.
So she ducks just before the window behind her is broken by a thrown pot, which bounces off the wall and breaks on the floor.
The light of her torch reveals a statue outside, a winged angel with its hands covering its face. She goes back to the wall and pulls off more paper to reveal -
Love from the Doctor and Juliet (1969)
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"Kathy?", The woman called Sally calls.
The Doctor and Juliet are on a monitor screen in a room at the far end.
"-yet. They're coming. They're coming for you, but listen, your life could depend on this. Don't blink. Don't even blink. Blink and you're dead. They are fast, faster than you can believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink. Good luck."
"Good luck. Stay safe.", Juliet says.
There are lots of screens in the room with the image of the Doctor and Juliet on them, and one with them Martha, and Thea.
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The mobile phone by the bed rings.
"Hello?", The woman groggily, says into it.
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"Bit freaked. Need to talk. Making you a coffee.", Sally tells her.
"Sally Sparrow, it's one in the morning. Do you think I'm coming round at one in the morning?"
"No."
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"I'm in the kitchen. What's that on all those screens in your front room?"
"Oh, God. Oh, God. Sally, you've met my brother Larry, haven't you?", Kathy says, suddenly.
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"No."
"You're about to.", Kathy sighs.
The door opens and a man, who is naked at least down to three inches below his navel appears.
"Okay. Not sure, but really, really hoping. Pants?"
"No."
Kathy closes her phone, grabs her dressing gown and runs out of the bedroom.
"Put them on! Put them on! I hate you! What're you thinking?", Kathy exclaims throwing pants at him.
Larry drifts away.
"Sorry. My useless brother. Sally? What's wrong? What's happened?"
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Sally and Kathy climb the gates in daylight.
"Okay, let's investigate! You and me, girl investigators. Love it. Hey! Sparrow and Nightingale. That so works."
"Bit ITV."
"I know!", Kathy grins.
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"What did you come here for anyway?"
"I love old things. They make me feel sad.", Sally explains with a shrug.
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"What's good about sad?"
"It's happy for deep people.", She looks at the writing on the wall, then walks out into the conservatory to look at the garden.
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"The Weeping Angel.", Sally gasps.
"Not bad in my garden."
"It's moved."
"It's what?", Kathy asks, not sure she's understanding.
"Since yesterday. I'm sure of it. It's closer. It's got closer to the house."
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"How can my name be written here? How is that possible?", Sally mutters.
The doorbell rings.
"Who'd come here? What are you doing? It could be a burglar.", Kathy adds as Sally goes to answer the door.
"A burglar who rings the doorbell?"
"Okay. I'll stay here in case of-"
"In case of?", She raises her brows.
"Incidents?", Kathy finishes, unsure of where her sentence was headed.
"Okay."
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"I'm looking for Sally Sparrow."
"How did you know I'd be here?"
"I was told to bring this letter on this date at this exact time to Sally Sparrow.", The man tells her.
"Looks old.", Sally comments.
"It is old. I'm sorry, do you have anything with a photograph on it, like a driving licence?"
Kathy hears a noise and investigates.
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"How did he know I was coming here? I didn't tell anyone. How could anyone have known?"
"It's all a bit complicated. I'm not sure I understand it myself.", The man admits to her.
The statue is closer to the house. Kathy turns away, and the statue's hands are lowered from its eyes.
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"I'm sorry, I feel really stupid, but I was told to make absolutely sure. It's so hard to tell with these little photographs, isn't it?", He chuckles.
"Apparently."
The statue is inside the conservatory.
"Well, here goes, I suppose. Funny feeling, after all these years."
"Who's it from?", Sally inquires.
"Well, that's a long story, actually."
"Give me a name."
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"Katherine Wainwright."
The statue is behind Kathy, reaching for her.
"But she specified I should tell you that prior to marriage-", He starts.
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"She was called Kathy Nightingale."
Bang!
"Kathy?", Sally turns around.
"Kathy, yes. Katherine Costello Nightingale.", The man confirms.
"Is this a joke?", Sally scoffs.
"A joke?"
"Kathy, is this you? Very funny.", Sally chuckles dryly.
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"Kathy?", Sally calls, but she receives no answer.
The statue is outside again, hands over its eyes.
Kathy gets to her feet in a field near a herd of grazing cows.
"Kathy? Kathy!"
"Please, you need to take this. I promised.", The man begs her.
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A young man in a cloth cap is sitting on a dry stone wall, eating an apple and reading a newspaper.
"Excuse me? Where am I? I was in London. I was in the middle of London.", Kathy approaches the man.
"You're in Hull.", He answers her.
"No, I'm not.", She scoffs.
"This is Hull.", He says again.
"No, it isn't."
"You're in Hull.", He insists.
"I'm not in Hull. Stop saying Hull.", Sh groans, annoyed.
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"Who are you? Why are you here?", Sally asks the man.
"I made a promise."
"Who to?", She asks.
"My grandmother. Katherine Costello Nightingale.", He informs her.
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Ben shows Kathy the paper he is reading.
"Don't have that in London. There's no call for it. It's all Hull.", The Hull Times, 5th December 1920, it reads.
"1920?", She mutters.
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"Your grandmother?"
"Yes. She died twenty years ago.", The man confirms.
Sally opens the envelope. It contains old photographs of a woman.
"So they're related?"
"I'm sorry?"
"My Kathy, your grandmother. They're practically identical.", Sally says.
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"Where are you going?", Ben follows Kathy as she runs off down the hill.
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Sally reads the letter with the photographs.
"My dearest Sally Sparrow. If my grandson has done as he promises he will, then as you read these words it has been mere minutes since we last spoke. For you. For me, it has been over sixty years. The third of the photographs is of my children. The youngest is Sally. I named her after you, of course."
"This is sick. This is totally sick.", She throws down the photographs and letter, and runs up the staircase.
"Kathy? Kathy! Kathy?"
At the top of the stairs, on the landing, are three statues, each hiding its eyes in different ways. One is holding a Yale key on a chain. As Sally crouches to look at the statue, the one behind her reveals its eyes. Sally takes the key and turns around, and it hides its eyes again. Sally hears the sound of the front door closes and runs downstairs, just before the statue that had the key can touch her.
"No, wait! Hang on!"
Malcolm is heading down the driveway. Sally picks up the photographs and letters that he has collected and put on the bottom of the banister rail, and runs outside. The statues watch her from the windows.
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Sally reads the rest of the letter.
"I suppose, unless I live to a really exceptional old age, I will be long gone as you read this. Don't feel sorry for me. I have led a good and full life. I've loved a good man and been well loved in return. You would have liked Ben. He was the very first person I met in 1920."
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"Are you following me?", Kathy asks Ben.
"Yeah."
"Are you going to stop following me?"
"No, I don't think so.", Ben says with a grin.
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Sally visits Ben and Kathy's grave, and lays flowers.
"To take one breath in 2007 and the next in 1920 is a strange way to start a new life, but a new life is exactly what I've always wanted.", Sally reads before scoffing aloud.
"1902? You told him you were eighteen? You lying cow."
"My mum and dad are gone by your time, so really there's only Lawrence to tell. He works at the DVD store on Queen Street. I don't know what you're going to say to him, but I know you'll think of something. Just tell him I love him."
A statue watches Sally leave.
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Banto's DVD Store - new, second hand and rare. A bearded man at the counter is watching a shoot out on a film on the television fastened to the wall.
"Excuse me, I'm looking for Lawrence Nightingale.", She tells him.
"Through the back.", He tells her, shortly.
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"Hello?", Sally calls.
"Martha, Thea.", The Doctor says on the screen.
"Sorry.", Martha and Thea leave the picture.
"Quite possibly. (pause) Afraid so."
Larry enters from even further back in the premises.
"Oh. Hello. Can I help you?", He says upon noticing her.
"Hi."
"Thirty eight.", Juliet's voice rings from the TV.
"Er, just a mo.", He pauses the playback.
"Hang on. We've met, haven't we.", His eyebrows furrow as he tried to recall meeting her.
"It'll come to you."
"Oh, my God.", He crosses his hands in front of his groin.
"There it is.", She sighs with a chuckle.
"Sorry. Sorry again about the whole-"
"Message from your sister.", She cuts him off.
"Oh! Okay. What? What is it? What's the message?"
"She's had to go away for a bit."
"Where?"
"Just a work thing. Nothing to worry about.", She assures him.
"Okay."
"And.."
"And what?"
"She loves you."
"She what?"
"She said to say. She just sort of mentioned it. She loves you. There, that's nice, isn't it?", Sally stutters, realizing that is not something her friend would normally say to him.
"Is she ill?", Larry asks suddenly.
"No! No."
"Am I ill?"
"No!"
"Is this a trick?"
"No. She loves you.", Sally says again.
"Yeah. Yeah, people don't understand time. It's not what you think it is.", Juliet says on the TV.
Larry pauses it again.
"Who are those two?"
"Sorry, the pause thing keeps slipping. Stupid thing.", Larry mumbles.
"Last night at Kathy's, you had them on all those screens. That same couple. Talking about, I don't know, blinking or something.", Sally recalls.
"Yeah, the bit about the blinking's great. I was just checking to see if they were all the same."
"What were the same? What is this? Who are they?"
"An Easter egg."
"Excuse me?"
"Like a DVD extra, yeah? You know how on DVDs they put extras on, documentaries and stuff? Well, sometimes they put on hidden ones, and they call them Easter eggs. You have to go looking for them. Follow a bunch of clues on the menu screen.", He elaborates.
"Complicated.", The Doctor says on the TV.
"Sorry. It's interesting, actually. They are on seventeen different DVDs. There are seventeen totally unrelated DVDs, all with them on. Always hidden away, always a secret. Not even the publishers know how they got there. I've talked to the manufacturers, right? They don't even know. Their like.. ghost's.. DVD extras. Just shows up where their not supposed to be. But only on those. Those seventeen."
"Well, what do they do?"
"Just sits there, making random remarks. It's like we're hearing half a conversation. Me and the guys are always trying to work out the other half.", Larry answers.
"When you say you and the guys, you mean the internet, don't you?"
"How'd you know?"
"Spooky, isn't it?"
"Very complicated.", Juliet says again.
"Laurence? Need you.", Banto calls from the front room.
"Excuse me a sec.", Larry goes forward to the shop.
"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff.", The Doctor rambles on as Juliet watches him with an amused grin.
"Started well, that sentence.", Sally laughs.
"It got away from me, yeah.", He admits.
"Isn't that every sentence for you?"
"Okay, that was weird. Like you can hear me."
"Well, we can hear you."
She pauses the screen and Larry comes back in.
"Okay, that's enough. I've had enough now. I've had a long day and I've had bloody enough! Sorry. Bad day.", She cries out suddenly.
"Got you the list."
"What?"
"The seventeen DVDs. I thought you might be interested."
"Yeah, great. Thanks.", She says before walking back into the front room.
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Banto is talking to the film.
"Go to the police, you stupid woman. Why does nobody ever just go to the police?", He mumbles.
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"Look, I know how mad I'm sounding.", Sally sighs.
"Shall we try it from the beginning this time?"
"Okay. There's this house. A big old house, been empty for years, falling apart. Wester Drumlins, out by the estate. You've probably seen it.", She starts.
"Wester Drumlin?"
"Yes.", She confirms.
"Could you just wait here for a minute?", The desk sergeant leaves her. Sally turns around to see two statues on the church opposite. She blinks, and they have disappeared.
"Okay, cracking up now."
They are either side of the window she is looking out of.
"Hi. DI Billy Shipton. Wester Drumlins, that's mine. Can't talk to you now, got a thing I can't be late for, so if you could just. Hello.", Billy introduces himself.
"Hello."
"Eh, Marcie, can you tell them I'm going to be late for that thing?"
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"All of them?"
"Over the last two years, yeah. They all still have personal items in them and a couple still had the motor running.", Billy explains.
"So over the last two years, the owners of all of these vehicles have driven up to Wester Drumlins House, parked outside and just disappeared.", There is a 1960's style police box in the corner.
"What's that?", She points to the box.
"Ah! The pride of the Wester Drumlins collection. We found that there, too. Somebody's idea of a joke, I suppose."
"But what is it? What's a police box?"
"Well, it's a special kind of phone box for policemen. They used to have them all over. But this isn't a real one. The phone's just a dummy, and the windows are the wrong size. We can't even get in it. Ordinary Yale lock, but nothing fits. But that's not the big question. See, you're missing the big question."
"Okay, what's the big question?", She asks.
"Will you have a drink with me?"
"I'm sorry?"
"Drink? You? Me? Now?", He asks her again.
"Aren't you on duty, Detective Inspector Shipton?", She narrows her eyes at him, although she is still smiling.
"Nope. Knocked off before I left. Told them I had a family crisis."
"Why?"
"Because life is short and you are hot. Drink?", He comments with a shrug.
"No."
"Ever?"
"Maybe.", She hums.
"Phone number?"
"Moving kind of fast, DI Shipton."
"Billy. I'm off duty."
"Aren't you just.", She writes in a notebook.
"Is that your phone number?", He asks, growing hopeful.
"Just my phone number. Not a promise. Not a guarantee. Not an IOU. Just a phone number."
"And that's Sally?"
"Sally Shipton. Sparrow! Sally Sparrow. I'm going now. Don't look at me.", She quickly corrects herself,
"I'll phone you.", He calls after her with a cheeky grin.
"Don't look at me.", She cries, absolutely mortified.
"Phone you tomorrow."
"Don't look at me.", She begs again.
"Might even phone you tonight."
"Don't look at me!"
"Definitely going to phone you, gorgeous girl!", Bill calls one last time.
"You definitely better!", Sally leaves. There are four angel statues around the Tardis. One has its hand up to the lock. He walks around, looking at them, then blinks.
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Sally crosses the street from the police station, then stops and takes the Yale key from her coat pocket.
"Ordinary Yale lock, but nothing fits.", Billy's words ring in her head.
She runs back to the car park, but the Tardis, Billy and the statues are gone.
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