EPISODE: 7
The door opens and Renai barrels in, flicking the light on.
RENAI
Honey, are you okay? What's wrong?!
Dalton tears the sheet away, still numb with fear. Dalton
locks eyes with her.
Renai stares with mortal dread into her son's eyes.
She hugs him, pressing him tight. Dalton stares over her
shoulder. His father enters the room...or what looks like his
father.
Dalton is afraid of him.
EXT. PHILIP'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Pale headlights arc across a wrought iron gate.
Tucker's van pulls up outside a neglected estate. An aging
mansion looms out of the sable surroundings beyond the gate,
at the head of a short driveway.
INT. TUCKER'S VAN - SAME TIME
Tucker squints at the grounds in front of them.
TUCKER
Gate's open.
EXT. PHILIP'S HOUSE - SAME TIME
Tucker nudges his van through the groaning gate, piloting it
down the driveway to a halt. The gang disembarks the van,
glaring up at the house. No lights are on inside or out.
Carl shivers, unable to take his eyes off one particular
window in the top corner.
LORRAINE
Do you feel something?
CARL
They call my ability a talent...but
a talent is something to be
thankful for.
(beat)
This house is not a place where
good things have happened.He presses his ear to the cup.
VOICE (O.S.)
(from cup)
I want to show you something.
Dalton clamps his flashlight, aiming it at Foster's bed and
flicking it on.
He sees that Foster is FAST ASLEEP.
With dread, Dalton traces the flashlight beam down to the
string that leads from his cup.
It trails along the floor...Dalton keeps following it...all
the way to...
...the closet.
The string leads up into a GAP in the closet doors.
Someone is holding onto the other end inside there.
VOICE (O.S.) (CONT'D)
(from cup)
Dalton...
Dalton is a statue of terror - eyes locked on the closet. He
finally lifts the cup to his mouth.
DALTON (INTO CUP)
Who are you?
VOICE (O.S.)
(from cup)
An old friend.
DALTON (INTO CUP)
What do you want?
We CLOSE IN on the closet. Dalton turns his ear to the cup
again, straining to hear the sibilant whisper.
VOICE
(from cup)
What's mine.
Dalton turns back to face the closet - and SHRIEKS!!!
Perched on haunches at the end of Dalton's bed is the RED
FACED DEMON who terrified Dalton, leering like a harlequin!
Dalton scrambles backwards, a cry of terror reverberating
through the house. He rips the bed sheets over his face.Carl swoops his flashlight across the room. Boxes are
stacked, piled on rotting newspapers.
SPECS (CONT'D)
Somebody call Hoarders...whoever
lived here was a complete shut-in.
The house is in putrid decay...as if the walls themselves
were living things that had long ago died. Peeling wallpaper,
dripping in some unfelt heat. Insects cluster in piles of
rotting food.
INT. STAIRWELL/UPSTAIRS CORRIDOR, PHILIP'S HOUSE - NIGHT
The four of them advance up the stairs. Specs takes out a
handkerchief, covering his nose.
SPECS
What is that smell?
LORRAINE
Something you never forget once
you've worked in a hospital.
They creep down the corridor, reaching a set of double doors.
Specs opens them.
INT. MASTER BEDROOM, PHILIP'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Specs leads the others into a large bedroom with soaring
ceilings and a large bed covered by a canopy.
The four of them swat their flashlights onto it, reacting to
an intolerable stench. Tucker lifts his goggles.
Carl parts the curtain covering the bed, revealing the
skeletal corpse of an old woman, lying across the mattress,
eyes fixed and open.
LORRAINE
My God...I've seen her...
CUT TO:
INT. BATHROOM, LORRAINE'S HOUSE - NIGHT (FLASHBACK)
Lorraine gapes with horror at a woman standing in the hallway
of her home, holding a baby.Specs knocks on the door. No answer. He squats, wrenching a
handful of envelopes stuffed in a mail slot. The envelopes
are moldy, aged. He tears one open - an electrical bill.
SPECS
This bill is four months old.
SMASH!
They all whirl around to see Tucker wielding a blunt
instrument, clearing shards from the window.
TUCKER
Look they left a window open.
INT. LIVING ROOM, PHILIP'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Specs and Tucker assist Lorraine through the broken window.
Carl snaps the light switch on and off. Nothing.
Tucker clicks open a large equipment case, handing out
flashlights to Specs and Carl. He takes out a strange device,
affixing it to his face. It resembles a welding mask with
three camera lenses jutting out of it, forming a triangle.
Carl, Lorraine and Tucker step forward. Specs stays where he
is. Lorraine turns around.
LORRAINE
Are you okay?
Specs has tears in his eyes.
SPECS
We've never gone into a house
before without Elise. I guess...it
just hit me that she's gone. The
finality of it.
Lorraine hugs Specs, leading him into the house.
FROM TUCKER'S POV - night-vision views of the living room, in
different degrees of UV light. The mask automatically clicks
between the three different filters.
Click...click...click.
Specs follows Tucker with a flashlight.
Click...click...click.CARL
This must be Philip's room.
LORRAINE
It looks like a girls bedroom.
As they face the wall, a TEENAGE GIRL EMERGES FROM behind the
cabinet, marching outside the room. They do not see it. The
floorboards creak and Carl wheels on the sound.
All is then quiet again.
Carl approaches the doorway...slowly...slowly...
THE TEENAGE GIRL RUNS PAST THE DOORWAY! CARL LEAPS BACK WITH
A YELP! He bolts outside the room, following the girl.
INT. UPSTAIRS CORRIDOR, PHILIP'S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS
The group trample out of the bedroom, following the Teenage
Girl. They hear her scampering down the stairs and they
follow her --
INT. LIVING ROOM, PHILIP'S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS
-- down into the cavernous living room. Furniture is covered.
They huddle together, whipping their flashlights around.
SPECS
Look...
They snap their attention to a CAT. Sitting in the center of
the living room, STARING AT THE WALL. The cat pays no
attention to them, fixated on the wall.
CARL
What's she looking at?
Tucker sets his case down, pulls his goggles on and steps up
to the wall. Through his POV - the bone-white wall flicks
between different shades of UV light.
CLICK...CLICK...CLICK...
Then, in one of the filters - a messy collage of dark
HANDPRINTS is SUDDENLY VISIBLE. All of the handprints are
concentrated in ONE AREA OF THE WALL.
Tucker JOLTS, then lifts the goggles.INT. MASTER BEDROOM, PHILIP'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Lorraine steps closer.
SPECS
Josh was haunted by an old woman.
Lorraine leans in very close.
LORRAINE
Not by her. I'd say this woman's
only been dead about three weeks.
Maybe a month. She looks about
eighty.
There is a large locket around her neck. Tucker opens it -
inside is a PHOTO. Tucker pries it free. It is a shot of the
woman they see with a young boy, around 11.
On the back, the words MICHELLE AND PHILIP.
CARL
This is Michelle. Philip is her
son.
INT. UPSTAIRS CORRIDOR, PHILIP'S HOUSE - NIGHT
The gang cluster back into the hall, approaching another
door.
INT. PHILIP'S BEDROOM, PHILIP'S HOUSE - NIGHT
A large bedroom unveils itself in the pale glow of the
flashlights.
The room is large, with a soaring ceiling and a fireplace.
Toys are gathered in one corner - dozens of dolls and a
rocking horse.
A bed rests against a window, the sheets decorated with
frilly lace. Immaculately made, but sodden with mold.
Specs peeks in through the window of a DOLL HOUSE, seeing
eerily still figures sitting at a dining table.
Carl steps into the center of the room.
WHAT NO ONE IN THE GROUP SEES is a PAIR OF EYES staring at
the group over a CABINET.
Someone is crouching behind it.LORRAINE
That's him...that's Philip.
SPECS
The M killer. I remember this case.
Serial killers are one of my other
hobbies. Besides chasing demons.
It's an unsolved case.
TUCKER
Until now.
INT. LIVING ROOM, PHILIP'S HOUSE - SAME TIME
Carl sifts through Tucker's equipment case, hauling out his
Wiki-Board. He turns it on, closing his eyes.
CARL
I'm talking to the spirit who
brought us here...you're not Elise
are you?
A long beat passes. Carl glances down at the Wiki-Board.
It says NO.
CARL (CONT'D)
Who are you?
The word is slowly types out: U - P - S - T - A - I - R - S.
CARL (CONT'D)
Michelle...
INT. DARK CHAMBER, PHILIP'S HOUSE - SAME TIME
Specs, Lorraine and Tucker sift through the articles.
Specs turns around, facing the wire mattress.
THERE IS SOMEONE LYING ON IT.
IT IS THE TEENAGE GIRL.
She stands up, screeching at them in an unholy tenor.
TEENAGE GIRL
Heeeeelllppp meeee!!!!!
The three of them scream, spilling out of the room.TUCKER
There's something here. Handprints.
Tucker and Specs runs their fingers over the wall, finding
nothing. Tucker pushes on the wall.
A HIDDEN DOOR CLICKS OPEN.
Tucker pushes the door open, a vault of air escaping it. A
pitch black room lies beyond it.
Tucker aims his flashlight into it. Carl steps closer, then
staggers back. PALPABLE TERROR blazes in his eyes.
CARL
No...no...I can't go in...
He falls onto a couch, shaken. Stares up at them.
CARL (CONT'D)
There's too much suffering in
there.
TUCKER
It's okay. We'll go.
(turning to Specs)
After you.
Specs steps inside.
INT. DARK CHAMBER, PHILIP'S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS
A dank, stark cell. A wire-spring bed without a mattress rots
in one corner, a tattered, soiled blanket thrown across it.
A tray of medical instruments is beside the bed. A rusted
needle, a clamp, a scalpel and a STETHOSCOPE.
Tucker squats, finding a large case in the corner. He opens
it, finding a stack of NEWSPAPER ARTICLES. Headlines scream
out from them:
"M KILLER STILL AT LARGE", "FOURTH YOUNG WOMAN TO GO MISSING
THIS MONTH", "LETTER 'M' CONFIRMS MURDERS WORK OF ONE
KILLER", "LETTER M MURDERS REMAIN UNSOLVED".
All of the articles are related to one serial killer case.
The paper is yellowing, faded. The collection of a proud
killer.
In one of the articles, a crude police sketch of the suspect.
It is PHILIP'S FACE.She leaves.
INT. SPARE BEDROOM, LORRAINE'S HOUSE - NIGHT (THE FURTHER)
Renai twitches in her sleep. We are CLOSE ON her face.
She opens her eyes.
The room is unnaturally quiet. She sits up, sleepy. Her
children are gone. She is alone in bed.
RENAI
Dalton? Foster?
She strains to see in the dripping black around her. Then she
sees it - Dalton is standing at the end of the bed. Staring
at her.
RENAI (CONT'D)
Honey?
Dalton walks sluggishly around to the side of the bed. He
takes Renai's hand, pulling her out of bed. He leads her
through the door.
INT. CORRIDOR, LORRAINE'S HOUSE - NIGHT (THE FURTHER)
Their footsteps do not make a sound as they walk. Dalton
leads Renai into the dark.
RENAI
Where are you taking me?
DALTON
Into the dark place.
He points towards the end of the corridor.
DALTON (CONT'D)
They're over there.
Renai glares into the dark, seeing Josh, talking to someone,
just as Dalton described in his dream.
Josh turns and sees Renai.
INT. SPARE BEDROOM, LORRAINE'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Renai opens her eyes with a start, awakened from her dream.
Dalton is lying next to her, as is Foster.INT. LIVING ROOM, PHILIP'S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS
The trio fumble backwards, slamming the door behind them.
EXT. PHILIP'S HOUSE - NIGHT
They stand outside the house, spooked. Unsure of what to do
next.
LORRAINE
We've got to know for sure that
something is wrong with Josh before
we do anything.
CARL
I'll do it. You get him alone in
the house, take his wife and kids
away.
(beat)
If I look him in the eye, talk to
him...if there's something wrong
I'll sense it.
INT. FRONT DOOR, LORRAINE'S HOUSE - NIGHT
The lock jiggles, grunting as it is opened. Lorraine edges
inside, keeping quiet.
INT. UPSTAIRS CORRIDOR, LORRAINE'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Lorraine kicks off her shoes, skittering barefoot down the
hallway. She stops herself when she reaches the guest room
where Renai and Josh are sleeping.
She opens the door.
INT. SPARE BEDROOM, LORRAINE'S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS
Renai is asleep with Dalton and Foster beside her, her arms
curled around Dalton. Josh is not in the bed with them.
INT. YOUNG JOSH'S BEDROOM, LORRAINE'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Lorraine inches stealthily into the dark bedroom. With each
step, the floor CREAKS. She winces.
She stands over the slumbering Josh, at the foot of the bed,
watching her son...