head laid back. Her head throbbed and a terrible tension had settled into her shoulders and back. Nancy had been prone to spells of headaches and sickness as far as she could remember.

"Oh, here darling." She could hear her mother's voice. Her eyes barely opened, to see the cup of tea being extended to her. She swallowed harshly, taking it and taking a long drink. Her mouth felt dry as if stuffed with cotton. Mother looked to Nancy's brother.

"Norman." She snapped. Norman's head turned. "Do you mind turning that off and going to play or read in your room? Your sister needs it to be quiet as possible right now." She gently asked of him. Norman nodded, approaching the television and turning it off. Nancy opened her eyes again for a moment to look at her brother. He was average height for a bit his age, was blonde like father, had a face covered in freckles and a gap in his teeth. Nancy could faintly recall hearing her mother and father debate headgear, but the memory felt more like a dream. Most of her memories felt like dreams.

"Can I go lay down, mum? I know you wanted me to go to the market with you-"

"Oh, whatever you need dear. We can go later. It's not even noon yet." Mother smiled. "Here, I'll get you up to your room." She gave Nancy her hand, helping her stand and then helping her back up the stairs and to her bedroom. Nancy eased herself onto her bed and slipped her shoes off.

"Just come get me when your up and we can go." Mother left her with that, keeping her door ajar. Nancy crawled up her pink quilt, easing herself down and onto the pillow. She pulled her knees in, her hands resting in front of her. She reached back, untying the ribbon in her hair and allowing it to be loose. She then rested back down and closed her eyes, allowing herself to slip into sleep once again.

__

She had the dreams constantly. Voices she didn't know speaking to her in them, but when she searched for the sources she was met with horrifyingly faceless bodies. Clothing and hair intact, but faceless. She couldn't give them one if she tried. The first dream was the closest she had ever been to seeing one of them. The dreams were different yet vaguely the same every time. As if she was seeing episodes of a show with no context. Just that callbox. That stayed the same always.

Reoccurring characters. No names, no faces. Just bodies and voices.

This one began on a sidewalk. In a damp and cold alleyway. Behind her cars, unimaginably fast cars, zoomed by and blared their horns. Headlights were painfully bright. And she was in those clothes again. Clothes she had never owned but fit her so perfectly as if she owned them for ages. Jeans, a thick brown belt, and a black crewneck sweater tucked in, that had most certainly seen better days. The wind blew her hair into her face.

She squinted against it, brushing her hair out of her face. And before her was the call box, as it had always been. Worn blue and a light-emitting from its window panes too high up to offer her a real glance within. A woman stood before her. She faced the callbox. She was taller than her, but not by a lot. She wore denim pants similar to the one's dream Nancy did, and a tan leather coat. She had been reoccurring in the dreams, but like the rest faceless. She turned to face Nancy.

Nancy recoiled. This was different. Blue eyes looked upon her and she saw lips turned in a kind smile. The woman had a face this time. The woman from this morning. It was her, it was that woman. Why was she here? Was she the red-haired woman from her dreams the entire time?

She turned away and walked to the callbox, opened the doors, and stepped inside. Nancy had never been inside it. Never occurred to her to go inside. She looked around hesitantly. She followed the woman, pushing the door to the box open. A warm light basked on her as she peeked in. The woman was nowhere in sight.

The inside was astonishing. It was so large, yet she felt like if she stepped any further in it would all vanish. Like a cruel trick. Nancy let the door groan shut behind her. She felt safe in here. Nancy gravitated to the centerpiece of the room. A large control panel it seemed, circular in shape and littered with buttons and levers she wouldn't begin to be able to label. Her fingers ghosted over it.

Then that voice.

"Valarie." She jumped at the suddenness of the voice. A man's voice. It wasn't her name but why had she responded to it? She turned on her heels quickly to find a body looming over her. A man towered over her. This was the first time he had ever appeared in her dreams. His voice felt so familiar. A brown pinstripe suit, and a headful of brown hair. Brown eyes watched her like a hawk.

She only had a moment with him before she woke.

__

Nancy woke with a jerk. As if she had been shaken awake. She sat up, running a hand through her hair as she tried to make sense of it all. She sighed. These dreams had been so reoccurring. Maybe something was wrong with her? Maybe these dreams were nothing more than manifestations of some deeper problem. After all, that's what those fancy shrinks say in the papers anyway.

For the past week possibly, since she came to in that bathroom floor of that pub sick as a dog, she had strange dreams. Mother explained it was because of that nasty fever she had when she got sick. Fevers burn your head up, they'll make you see things that simply aren't true, mother would say. Nancy believed her.

Nancy didn't like to venture on her own. She liked to stay at her mother's or father's side when they went out. They made her feel safe. The universe can be unkind, her father would say.

Those dreams were nothing but just that. Dreams. Yes, she was able to convince herself of that. That the woman only appeared in her dreams because of their interaction. Yes, it was a mere coincidence she had seen the women's body before this. Maybe she had passed her on the street before. And the man, Nancy could barely place him in her memories. He may have been at the pub the night she became sick, but she was so sick and disoriented that night that she felt her memory was unreliable.

"Nancy, love." Her head jerked up to face the door. Father stood there, watching her closely. "Are you alright?" He asked. She smiled.

"Of course, why?" She asked. Nancy swallowed what she was feeling,

"You just look startled." Nancy's face dropped, and she shook her head.

"I've just been having these weird dreams, that's all." He frowned. He approached and sat on the corner of her bed.

"What kind of dreams?" He asked. Nancy looked away from him. She felt an odd uneasiness about telling him of the dreams. She looked back at him.

"Just, weird dreams is all. There's these people there. I don't know them. And there's always a call box." She explained. His eyes followed hers as they looked everywhere but him.

"Like one of the ones down the road?" He smiled.

"Yes!" She nodded. "But something about it just, I dunno, feels off." She leaned forward, hands falling between her knees as she rung them over each other. She looked down and up. "It almost feels like it has eyes and it's looking back at me." She watched her aged father's expression. He reached in his trousers pocket and fished for the box of cigarettes he carried. He placed one between his teeth and fumbled around for his lighter.

"Well, they are just dreams my darling. Give it a couple of weeks and you'll stop having them, I'm sure of it." He leaned forward, kissing his daughter's head. As he sat there, lips against her forehead, his eyes were wide open. A couple of weeks. He thought. Give it two weeks, and that girl in there will burn out, he thought. And then his precious Nancy will have a secured host for at least the remainder of the human's life span - may be longer. And if they have to, they'll just flush her out themselves.

"Now get up and go, I think your mother is waiting on you to go to the market." He patted her back. Nancy smiled, sliding off her bed. She slid into the bathroom briefly, fixing her bed head the best she could. She opted out of the hair tie again and slid a headband on. When Nancy walked downstairs again her mother sat in a chair by the front window. In her hands was a novel - The Haunting of Hill House, by Shirley Jackson. It had been published four years prior.

"Mum." She stated. Her eyes peered over her reading glasses. She smiled, turning the corner of the page in the novel and placing it on the end table next to the seat. She took her glasses off and rose, brushing hands over her dress and smiling.

"All ready to go?"

___

Nancy felt like she was continuously looking over her shoulder through the store. She would only look away for a second, but who knew? What if during that second that crazy woman came back? She twisted the pearls on her necklace anxiously.

It was a beautiful necklace. Her mother had gifted it to her before they left. She felt it was time to pass it down with Nancy becoming a woman and all.

"Darling, it's alright." Mother laughed, noticing her daughter's anxious nature. Nancy's eyes turned to her mother before looking at her shoes. She blushed.

"I know mum, I just feel uneasy. That's all." She mumbled.

"Here, why don't you go fetch some chocolate chips? We can bake after dinner." She smiled. She ushered Nancy off, who hesitated. She looked around and slowly drifted to the aisle. She kept her side practically pressed to the shelf as she wedged between people to the small sacks of chocolate chips. She reached out and grasped the package. The plastic crinkled under her hand. Then she felt it again - eyes on her. Her head spun around, looking around desperately for the source.

At the opposing end of the aisle for a second she could see them. Two sets of eyes laid upon her.

The Doctor watched Nancy. He watched her eyes on him, and watched how they continuously drifted side to side - as if she didn't want to see him. She shook her head before turning away as if she couldn't bare the sight of the two any longer.

"What was that?" Donna asked. "She saw me and didn't freak out again."

"No, she didn't." He mumbled.

"But she looked all weird - well, weirder. Kind of like...."

"She didn't want to see us. They've gotten a chameleon arch on her. Probably in those pearl strings. But they seemed to have reversed it? Like they selected certain things to force her to forget. But why would- oh." He finished. His mouth hung open on that last sound and his eyes suddenly blew wide. "Oh, how could I have been so thick!" He gasped before pulling Donna away again. They had initially come to see what state Valarie, or her body exactly, was in. They didn't mean for her to spot them, but time had become of the essence and desperate times came for desperate measures.

"What?" Donna asked.

"I should have known. Oh, I should have known!" He shook his head.

"What are they? What are you going on about?" Donna demanded, pulling him to a stop. She wanted answers.

"There is this race out there. They were kind of elusive - no homeworld, no real form, but essences."

"Essences?" Her face scrunched up.

"Essences! Think, the body-snatchers. They are parasites. They take people, they take their bodies. Race doesn't really matter, they can be human or ood, or istood, but age does. They try to match gender and ages to keep a definitive pattern. They live for thousands of years this way! And while race doesn't matter the family units will try to match. Makes it easier - take over an entire family and no one will really come looking rather than if they just took little Timmy. They are called Venaeks. The best way to identify one is for starters, your loved one just running away and joining a weird family unit, but number two-"

"Cartoonishly green eyes?" Donna asked.

"Spot on."

"Okay, so if that is the case, why does this Nancy girl seem so frightened and genuinely confused?"

"Well, sometimes, and this comes solely from weird of mouth since they were regarded kinda like urban legends when a Venaek is born in one form-"

"Not to interrupt, but how do they...?"Donna asked quietly. The Doctor frowned, not understanding. When it did he rolled his eyes.

"The same way whatever they are does. Anyway, when say one is born in a human's body then they may become confused. They may actually believe they are human."

"And you think that's what is going on?" Donna asked, trying to follow his fast ramblings.

"Val was the suitable host. In the right age range for Nancy, right gender, and she may even resemble her last few hosts." He ran a hand through his hair.

"So this is good! We know what we are dealing with now!" Donna nodded, feeling hopeful.

"Oh, no, no, no." He shook his head. "It isn't good. We don't have that much time Donna." He looked panicked. "Human minds aren't meant to home but one consciousness. Nancy and Val can't both exist in her mind." He began to shake his head, realizing the gravity of the situation.

"Doctor, what happens if we don't get Nancy out of her?" She asked, so hesitant it's like she didn't want to know the answer.

"We won't be able to get her back. She'll burn her mind up from the inside out - like a fever." He drew in a deep, shaky breath.

"It'll kill her."