The Mist of Sorrow (short story)

The Mist of Sorrow was the eleventh short story in Tales of Terror, featuring the Eleventh Doctor.

Summary
The Martin Family are driving home after their camping trip has been ruined by a terrible rainstorm. Mr. Martin tries to lift up the spirits of his children by saying that they still had a great time despite the weather, but his sons, Pip and Evan shake their heads while Roxy uses her hood to block everything out. Evan begins to sense that something is wrong, then glimpses a blue box flying through the sky. But when he tries to tell his parents, they assume that he just saw a seagull and that he's been reading too many comics. Luckily, Pip tells Evan that he believes him, making Roxy roll her eyes at him.

Mr. Martin asks his wife if the path they are driving on is new, but Mrs. Martin replies by saying that she's following the diversions while Evan tries to see if he can spot the blue box again. Mrs. Martin soon stops the car when she notices a blue car that has seemingly been abandoned on the side of the road and goes to see if its owners need any help. But when she goes to investigate the blue car, its owners are nowhere to be seen. Mr. Martin tries to get his family to call someone to help in case the blue car's owners have gotten themselves lost, but nobody can get a signal, so Mr. Martin decides to try again once they're out of the valley.

Mrs. Martin continues driving the car through the valley, but the purple haze that is in the valley begins to thicken and become more noticeable to the family. Mr. Martin tries to play it off as the after-effects of the storm, but Roxy knows that the mist is worse than that. Mrs. Martin stops the car again because she sees what looks like a statue of an angel in the road. The sight makes Roxy wonder why anyone would leave a statue in the middle of a road. Mrs. Martin decides to investigate the statue, but suddenly, the voice of a man starts speaking through the car's radio telling her not to investigate the statue.

Mrs. Martin asks the man if this is a joke, but the man tells her that if this was one of his jokes, she would be laughing really hard. Mr. Martin tells his wife that the radio hasn't worked for weeks, to which the man replies that he fixed it so he can help them. He tells Evan to make sure that the doors are all locked and Roxy to ensure that all of the air-con units and any gaps in the car are blocked or turned off so the mist cannot get in. Pip is told to keep being cute. Evan asks the man who he is, but then the man replies by saying "The better question is: who are they?".

The man tells the Martins that they are surrounded by Weeping Angels as another one of them appears at the window beside Roxy. The Martins are told to keep their eyes on the Angels at all times and not even blink. Evan demands that the man tells them who he is and he introduces himself as the Doctor. The Doctor explains that the purple fog is actually the Mist of Sorrow, which is artificial and is used by the Weeping Angels to hide themselves from the family's sight. The Martins continue to try and look at the Weeping Angels, with Mrs. Martin and Roxy looking at the angels closest to them whereas Mr. Martin Evan and Pip continue to look everywhere. Evan reaches over the back of his seat to fins a pair of battery-powered lanterns which he turns on to their maximum settings.

The Doctor compliments the Martins for having a light source, then tells them that he is in a blue police box floating above the Martins, much to Evan's delight. He then says to them that victory is not winning, but surviving before explaining that if they catch them, the Weeping Angels will send the Martins back into the past so they can feed off the live they would have lived. The Weeping Angels continue to attack the car with one of them managing to grab Pip's shoelaces. Evan and Roxy start hitting the Angel's hand with their lanterns, causing them to lose sight of the other Angels, allowing them to get closer to the car.

Angered, the Doctor tells the Martins to keep their eyes open as the car springs into life. As it begins to drive off seemingly by itself, Pip manages to escape from the Weeping Angel's grasp. The Doctor explains that he is the one who is driving the car and tells them to keep looking at the Angels. He explains that the Mist of Sorrow was preventing him from getting a signal, but he managed to find enough power to help them and the Weeping Angels took away the owners of the other lost cars, allowing him to use the power of the cars. Eventually, the Weeping Angels manage to force the car off the road, causing it to land at the bottom of the valley.

Some of the Weeping Angels land on top of the car. The Doctor tells the Martins to get out of the car and that he has a plan, but he won't be able to talk to them once they're out of the car. Evan asks his father to give him the rear-view mirror, much to his confusion, but Mrs. Martin gives him the mirror without question. The family gets out of the car and begins making their way through the valley, making sure not to lose sight of the Weeping Angels. However, the Martins are soon surrounded and one of the Weeping Angels knocks the mirror away from Evan's hand.

Before the Weeping Angels can send the Martins into the past, however, it suddenly starts raining, causing the Mist of Sorrow to disappear and leave the Weeping Angels surrounding the Martins looking at each other. The TARDIS lands nearby and the Doctor emerges, telling the Martins that they can move again, but they cannot touch the Weeping Angels. Once the family is out of the circle of Weeping Angels, they approach the TARDIS and the Doctor tells them that the Weeping Angels are locked in each other's gazes, thus rendering them unable to move. He also explains that he was the one who caused the rain that made the Mist of Sorrow disappear through the use of a simple excitation of the atmosphere.

Roxy asks the Doctor what would have happened if the Weeping Angels managed to send them back in time, to which the Doctor answers that at best, they would have been sent back in time to roughly the same place and lived their lives as normal, and at worst, they would have been scattered throughout time, separated from each other. The Martins are grateful to the Doctor for rescuing them, and the Doctor tells them to keep going on camping trips, even going so far as to say that the one they will have in 2048 is especially exciting as it has flying bears, then stops himself from saying too much.

The Doctor offers the Martins a lift home in the TARDIS where he has some Ood visiting, and while Evan is confused as to what the Ood are, he and his family accept the Doctor's offer of a trip in the TARDIS.

Characters

 * Eleventh Doctor
 * Weeping Angels
 * Mr Martin
 * Mrs Martin
 * Evan Martin
 * Pip Martin
 * Roxy Martin

Continuity

 * Mrs. Martin notes the tone in the Eleventh Doctor's voice suggests that there was something personal in his fighting the Weeping Angels. (TV: The Angels Take Manhattan)
 * The Angels are defeated by being trapped in a circle, observing one another. (TV: Blink)
 * The Doctor mentions his prominent chin, (TV: The End of Time) and liking of bow ties. (TV: The Eleventh Hour)
 * The Doctor controls the weather using atmospheric excitation. (TV: The Runaway Bride)
 * The Doctor wears a fez. (TV: The Big Bang, et al)
 * The Doctor says "Spoilers, sweetie," as an old friend says. (TV: Silence in the Library, et al)