EPISODE: 3
No answer.
JOSH (CONT'D)
What are you thinking about?
RENAI
Nothing.
JOSH
It's impossible to think about
nothing.
She turns away, annoyed by his probing.
JOSH (CONT'D)
I keep staring at Dalton. I can't
believe we have our son back. So
why are you so upset?
RENAI
I'm upset because it's not over.
I'm upset because we have our son
back but there are a lot of
unanswered questions.
JOSH
Such as?
RENAI
What did you see in there?
JOSH
I saw things you don't want to know
about.
RENAI
Yes, I do. I need to know.
Josh exhales. A long beat. This is difficult for him.
JOSH
It's not a place where you see
anything. It was dark. Pitch black.
Exactly the way Elise described
it...like a void. There were people
in there. They were screaming,
crying. Stuck living out their worst
moments on a loop. It was a place
for people who died in a terrible
way.
RENAI
Like Elise?She is the only person still awake in the house. And then --
a baby crying interrupts the quiet.
INT. CORRIDOR, LORRAINE'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Renai pads down the corridor, stopping at a particular door.
INT. CALI'S BEDROOM, LORRAINE'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Renai tip-toes inside. As soon as she does, the crying
CEASES. The room is dark, save for a glowing NIGHT LIGHT.
Renai leans over the crib - seeing that Cali is sound asleep.
Unnerved, Renai claws through a cluttered baby bag on the
floor, fishing out two BABY MONITORS.
She sets one down beside Cali's crib, exits with the other.
INT. CORRIDOR, LORRAINE'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Renai heads down the corridor, towards a bedroom.
The baby monitor in her hand SPITS to life, the mournful cry
of an infant emitting from it.
Renai STARTS, listening, then heads back the way she came.
INT. CALI'S BEDROOM, LORRAINE'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Renai shuffles inside. The crying on the monitor drains away.
She FREEZES. The crib is EMPTY.
Alarmed, Renai whips around the room, stopping when she sees
her baby - asleep on the floor.
Renai scoops up her daughter, pressing her close. An all too
familiar shiver of terror passes through her. She backs out
of the room, still clinging to the baby.
INT. SPARE BEDROOM, LORRAINE'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Renai is lying in bed, awake, glaring at Cali who is now
lying next to her. Josh is awake too, watching Renai.
JOSH
Are you okay? Do you want me to get
you a sleeping pill?She drills his eyes, inches from his face.
JOSH (CONT'D)
It's me. You know it's me. I swear
on our children's lives. You have
to believe me or we can't go on
from this point right now. Do you
believe me?
The moment hangs in the air. A long beat, until Renai breaks.
RENAI
Yes.
She collapses into him and they entwine.
EXT. ELISE'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Specs and Tucker stand outside a modest house.
They are not wearing white shirts and ties, instead more
casually dressed in T-shirts.
Specs approaches the front door, letting a batch of keys fall
out of an envelope. He rivets one of them into the lock,
opening the door.
There is some mail at his feet. He scoops it up. It is
addressed to Elise Rainier.
INT. LIVING ROOM, ELISE'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Specs taps a switch and recessed lighting gives a gentle
ambience to a room full of quirky, fun bric-a-brac. There is
a vintage pinball machine wedged into one corner.
Specs moves past a table cluttered with photos. Many shots
are of Elise with the two of them. He picks one of them up.
SPECS
All the stuff we've seen, the
ghosts...I feel like that should be
a comfort somehow, like, we have
firsthand knowledge that there's
something else. That she's still
with us. But it's not. Turns out
the living version of someone is
always better.
TUCKER
Except for maybe...Hitler.JOSH
I don't know what happened to her,
Renai.
RENAI
Yeah, you said that. The police
asked me if I believed you.
JOSH
And what did you say?
Josh reaches for her hand and she flinches, getting up.
JOSH (CONT'D)
Okay. Alright. Let's just get it
all out there. Let me answer all
the accusations you're lying awake
'not thinking' about. I didn't do
it, okay? I didn't kill Elise. Why
would I? How could I do that?
Josh approaches her and she backs away.
JOSH (CONT'D)
What exactly is it that you think
happened, Renai? Tell me that. Tell
me your version of events
RENAI
That old woman in the photo...
JOSH
What about it? I don't know how it
got there. I don't know why she
showed up in pictures of me as a
kid and I don't know now.
Renai still doesn't seem convinced.
JOSH (CONT'D)
We invited some extremely evil
things into our house that night
and one of those things murdered
Elise. It's as simple as that. You
saw them too. You saw things that
cannot be explained rationally and
now you want to explain Elise's
death rationally. Well, it can't be
done.
He grips her by the shoulders.
JOSH (CONT'D)
Look at me. Look in my eyes.They open the filing cabinet, thumbing through and hauling
out a file labelled 'LAMBERT, JOSH - 1983'.
Tucker skims through the file; through papers and handwritten
notes taken down by Elise.
He finds two rolls of 16mm film, holds them up for Specs to
see, marked LAMBERT.
CUT TO:
A MONTAGE of Tucker threading film into the projector.
CUT TO:
INT. READING ROOM - LATER
Specs kills the lights and the projector lamp spits to life,
a shaft of light washing the opposite wall in white grain.
The film leader jerks and stutters before cutting to a dirty,
aging locked-off frame of YOUNG JOSH. He is slouched on a
couch in a living room. The sound crackles and spits.
ELISE (IN FILM)
Do you like living here?
YOUNG JOSH (IN FILM)
Yeah.
TUCKER
Amateur framing...just horrible.
SPECS
Shhh.
ELISE (IN FILM)
Good for you. Are there a lot of
kids your age in this neighborhood?
YOUNG JOSH (IN FILM)
A few. One kid lives next door.
ELISE (IN FILM)
Oh, that must be nice.
YOUNG JOSH (IN FILM)
Nah. He's pretty lame.
ELISE (IN FILM)
Is there anything you don't like
about living in this house?SPECS
What?
TUCKER
I'd prefer ghost Hitler to the
living version. It's not always
better.
SPECS
You're sick.
TUCKER
I'm just saying...technically...
Specs places the photo down. Tucker moves to a door on the
far side of the room. He fishes through the keys, trying
several in the lock. One after the other. Then -- CLICK.
Specs prods the door. It whines open and stabs a blade of
light onto a short set of steps that descend into murk.
SPECS
You first.
TUCKER
Hunter ninja bear?
SPECS
Hurry up.
Tucker descends the steps to another door, opening it.
INT. READING ROOM, ELISE'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Draped immediately behind the door there is a curtain.
Tucker parts it, shuffling into a large, dark room with a
small card table at the center, flanked by four chairs.
A hanging lamp dangles above the table, which is covered by a
red TABLE CLOTH. Tucker flicks a switch and the lamp gives
off a pale glow, revealing a deck of TAROT CARDS fanned out
on the cloth.
This room is also filled with bric-a-brac...but not of the
bright kind like upstairs. Shelves are lined with artifacts of
the occult, strange instruments, books on the afterlife.
Against the back wall is a FILING CABINET, a 16MM FILM
PROJECTOR and a life size ANATOMICAL DUMMY.
The dummy is wearing the GAS MASK that Elise once used to
contact Dalton.Tucker crops the frame and moves in again, focusing in on the
figure hidden in the corner. Shrouded in shadow.
This time, there is the definitive outline of a person.
Tucker crops it again, enlarging the face of the figure. When
it renders, it's still too dark to make out any real features.
SPECS
Can you brighten it?
Tucker pecks at the keyboard. The image brightens.
CLOSE ON SPECS AND TUCKER - they are stunned.
We do not see what they see.
SPECS (CONT'D)
Oh my God...
INT. LORRAINE'S BEDROOM, LORRAINE'S HOUSE - NIGHT
As opaque and still as the deep ocean.
Lorraine JOLTS awake with a yelp of fright, alert. She takes
in her surroundings, inhales. Relieved.
She peels back the sheets, climbing out of bed. The TV is
still mumbling away. She flicks it off with a remote.
INT. CORRIDOR, LORRAINE'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Lorraine slinks stealthily into the darkened hall. She passes
an open door. It is Dalton's new bedroom. She backs up.
INT. YOUNG JOSH'S BEDROOM - NIGHT
Lorraine enters, crossing the dark room and looming over her
sleeping grand-children, watching their movements.
She focuses on Dalton. His chest rises and falls. Light
bleeds in from the window.
Dalton twitches and mutters something unintelligible, sleep-
talking. He rolls over.
DALTON
...in...some...
Lorraine eases down onto the bed.YOUNG JOSH (IN FILM)
No.
ELISE (IN FILM)
There's nothing bad that happens
here at night?
Specs and Tucker exchange an unnerved glance. They turn back
to the image.
INT. READING ROOM - MOMENTS LATER
Specs and Tucker are entranced by the footage. In it, they
can now see CARL, who stoops in front of Young Josh, holding
a WALKIE-TALKIE to his mouth. Young Josh twitches.
YOUNG JOSH (IN FILM)
Hot...hotter
His body starts to tremble.
He JOLTS, then turns to face the murky corner of the room,
where the drapes are. Eyes still closed.
YOUNG JOSH (IN FILM) (CONT'D)
This door stays locked until I come
out of my shell.
The frame widens to reveal the whole room. It flutters WHITE,
then the leader runs out.
SPECS
What the hell does that mean?
INT. READING ROOM, ELISE'S HOUSE - LATER (MONTAGE)
A MONTAGE of Specs and Tucker cutting the last few frames out
of the film reel with scissors.
They lay it on a computer scanner, copying it -- the frames
appearing on Tucker's laptop screen.
They hunch in front of the computer screen, enlarging the
image of the corner of the living room where Josh was staring.
The frame renders, sharpening. There is a blurred shadow
there. Tucker traces his finger along the edge of the shadow.
TUCKER
Is that a person?The curtain dances in the breeze, the bathroom window open.
Lorraine glances up at her reflection.
In the mirror, she sees a figure is standing in the corridor,
facing the wall.
Lorraine freezes with terror. Keeping quiet. Very slowly, she
turns away from the mirror to face the door. We TRACK WITH
HER, following her eyes to see that the figure is still
standing there. This was no illusion.
The figure looks like a woman, in a short, dirty night gown.
Modern, not Victorian. Her scraggly, oily blonde hair coils
down her back. She presses her forehead against the wall of
the corridor.
Lorraine's eyes are locked on the woman. The woman appears to
be holding A BABY. The baby has PALE, DEAD SKIN.
The woman turns her head, glaring over her shoulder at Renai.
Eyes like portals into Hell. The woman's skin is wrinkled.
The bathroom door groans as the breeze from outside pushes it
closed, blocking Lorraine's view of the woman.
Lorraine takes a step towards the door. Then another. She
grips the handle...and opens the door.
It creaks open...very slowly --
-- THEN SLAMS SHUT as if pulled! Lorraine SCREAMS, reeling
back.
She watches the door...hears footsteps. The door opens. It's
Josh.
JOSH
What happened?
LORRAINE
I saw...someone.
Josh approaches her. Lowers his voice, through gritted teeth.
JOSH
No. You didn't. There's no one
here. If there was, that would
scare my children.
There is something about Josh's look. It's hard.
UnDalton mutters again. His voice is so quiet she can barely
hear it.
Lorraine leans down close to his face, kissing his arm.
LORRAINE
Please don't leave us again.
This time, she hears Dalton's whispered sleep-talking.
DALTON
There's someone standing behind you,
grandma...
LORRAINE'S BLOOD FREEZES.
Over her shoulder, we see what she does not...the silhouette
of a FIGURE. Standing behind Lorraine. Shrouded in shadow.
Lorraine turns her head slowly...very slowly.
As she turns her head, the figure walks away, disappearing.
Lorraine glowers into the dark. She reaches over and flicks
the bedside lamp on. It is bright enough to light the whole
bedroom.
She takes a deep breath and gets up, marching to the door. A
PITCH BLACK corridor extends beyond the door. Inky black.
She reaches into the dark, groping for the hallway light
switch on the wall next to the bedroom door.
Deathly quiet. Lorraine's fingers find the switch. The light
comes on. The corridor is empty.
She leaves the light on.
INT. BATHROOM, LORRAINE'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Lorraine steps into the bathroom, flicking on the light,
leaving the door open.
She opens the mirror cabinet, plucking out a bottle of
SLEEPING PILLS. She arches over the faucet, swallowing a pill
with a gulp of water.
We HOLD on the open mirror cabinet.
Lorraine shuts off the faucet, closing the cabinet to reveal -
-- NOTHING. No one is there.....