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Title: Haunted
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack, Gwen, Ianto, OCs
Author: m_findlow
Rating: M
Length: 50,847 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for [livejournal.com profile] spook_me 2020 Prompt - Ghost
Summary: The team investigate rumours of a haunted house in rural Wales.

Gwen tucked her hands under her armpits in a bid to stop the chill from seeping into them. The night had turned remarkably cold without a cloud in the sky to trap any of that warmth from the earlier autumnal sunshine. The adrenaline had worn off and now she was left with nothing but steely determination to keep her going. Her shoulder ached and her breath clouded in little puffs in front of her face.

She must have walked a mile before something dark and black appeared up ahead on the road. It was almost impossible to see it but as she squinted she discerned the shadow moving. At first she thought it might be the creature from the house, still looking for her after she'd dashed into the woods to escape it. She stopped completely on the road, not making a sound. She listened for the noise of its heavy, rasping breathing but there was none. There were footsteps, measured and regular, and now the faintest sound of… whistling?

Monsters didn't whistle. And to imagine there was a hitch-hiker on the road at this late hour was madness. You could probably stand out here all day long and not a single car would pass by. And where would they go? There was nothing else at the end of this road except for Abercrafen House. If they wanted to go somewhere, they were headed in completely the wrong direction.

Assured that the shadow ahead of her could only be another person, she quickened her pace to catch up with them. She'd take her chances and hope this wasn't some homicidal local nutter out for a midnight stroll.

It didn't take long to catch up. Gwen hoped the sound of her footsteps preceding her call would be enough not to startle them. ‘Hello?’ she called out. ‘Who's there?’

The figure stopped and turned around. Gwen caught the tiniest flash of white just below the person's head. Another step closer and she could make out the face in the dark and the black and white collar that marked his profession. ‘Father Michael?’

‘Hello. It's Gwen, isn't it?’ Strangely he didn't seem the least bit surprised to suddenly have company on the empty road.

‘What are you doing out here?’

‘I couldn't sleep. There was something deeply wrong. I could feel
it in my bones. Some danger. Something up there,’ he said, gesturing vaguely up the lane towards the house. ‘I knew I couldn't wait until morning.’

Gwen had to admire the man for his instincts and resolve. ‘You came out walking all alone on an empty road in the middle of the night? That's a little mad.’

He gave her a congenial smile. ‘I did a lot of mad things back in the day when I was knocking around Cardiff with Jack. Walking an empty road at night barely scratches the surface. But what are you doing out here?’

‘Well, you may be right about something being very wrong in that house,’ she confessed. ‘But can we walk and talk?’

He frowned as he studied her, but fell into step beside her. She tried not to walk too fast, remembering that a seventy year old man was unlikely to be able to match the pace of a woman in her early thirties, let alone one anxious to get back and help her friends. ‘You look hurt,’ he said.

She shrugged it off, absently rubbing her shoulder without realising it. ‘I've had worse.’

‘What happened? What did you see?’

Gwen frowned, unsure she could put it into words. She'd seen so many things in her life that nothing should surprise her or be beyond explaining. There was something about this creature though. She'd felt it sap the courage right out of her.

‘A thing. Creature, alien, I'm not really sure. It was all shadows and smoke and thorns. It was like nothing I've ever seen before. It seemed to change and morph like it didn't really have a true shape at all.’ She supposed perhaps that was how people had mistaken it for some kind of ethereal being or ghost. It had frightened her enough to flee from it and she'd seen plenty of terrifying things. The average person stood no chance. No wonder they hadn't stayed long.

‘And there were these lights,’ Gwen continued to explain, glad she could at least tell someone about it, ‘apparitions maybe, in the forest. I thought I saw one earlier, from the kitchen window looking out over the graveyard, but there were dozens of them. I thought I could hear voices inside them, telling me to leave, to go away. It was like they didn't want us there and were trying to chase us away.’

‘Forces of dark and light,’ Father Michael mused. ‘But why are you here so far away?’

‘We got separated. I can't help but think it wanted us split apart. Picking us off one by one?’

‘Jack?’

She gave an involuntary shudder. ‘I don't know. He can't die, but I suppose you know that already.’

He inclined his head knowingly. ‘Only too well. And your other friend?’

Gwen shook her head. ‘That's why I have to get back there. I don't know what it is or how we fight it, but we'll think of something.’

‘You don't think we should call for help?’

Gwen expressed mirth at the suggestion. ‘Who should we call? The police?’ She paused, realising how cynical she must sound. ‘Sorry,’ she apologised. ‘You must think I'm mad. It's just, I don't know who would believe us. This is what we do for a living - solve the mysteries that no one else is ready to understand.’

‘Torchwood,’ Father Michael stated. ‘I know all about Torchwood. I thought by now you must have solved all the mysteries of this world.’

She repressed a grin. ‘It's not this world that's the problem. It's all the other worlds out there.’

‘The magnificence of the creator's grand universe.’

‘Not sure you'd describe it that way if you faced some of what we did. Don't get me wrong. It's brilliant, but it's terrible as well. You see the very best and the very worst of humanity.’ She didn't have to go far to find the very worst, humans exploiting innocent aliens that ended up here, or just hurting them for the fun of it. Those were the days she hated the job. But for every one of those there was a day of wonder, of delight, of a laugh with her two best friends as they navigated the absurdity of alien life in all its many forms.

‘I understand,’ he said. She wasn't sure he did but she let it slide. Jack trusted this man and that was good enough for her. She'd take whatever help she could get.

Next chapter...

July 2025

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