FATHER kisses MOTHER again and exits, leaving MOTHER sitting at the table again looking distratced and despondent.
BOBBY
Mom...
MOTHER
Go play, honey, OK? I'll take care of your plate.
BOBBY
But..
MOTHER
Just go, Bobby, OK?
BOBBY exits slowly, hurt. MOTHER drops her head and starts to cry.
Int. DIning room. night.
MOTHER and FATHER are having a discussion in hushed tones at the dining room table. ALICIA is descending the main staircase; she stops and listens to her parents' conversation.
FATHER
It's nothing to worry about.
MOTHER
Yes, it is. This is real. It happened to my mother when she was around my age.
FATHER
But she showed signs way earlier. And besides, there are better treatments now...psychiatry has come a long way in the past few decades.
MOTHER
Yeah, now I can just be doped up the rest of my life.
FATHER
That's not true. You're not crazy.
MOTHER
What I saw in the kitchen this morning...
FATHER
Was brought on by stress from the move, and jet lag, and being in this old creepy house.
MOTHER
I love this house.
FATHER
So do I, but, you know, it's old, and you're tired...
MOTHER
I know, I know.
FATHER
You have enough to worry about without thinking you're going crazy.
MOTHER
Gee, thanks.
BOBBY appears on the stairs, descending, a picture book in his hands.
ALICIA
Don't bug them right now, twerp.
BOBBY
But I want Mom to read me a story.
ALICA
They're busy, OK? (She softens) C'mon, I'll read to you, alright?
They exit up the stairs.
Int. kitchen staircase. day.
BOBBY is in the upstairs hallway at the top of the kitchen stairs, starting a slinky on its way down. It goes from the top step to the first one down, then stops. BOBBY steps down, resets, tries again. Slinky moves one or two stairs, stops. BOBBY tries on more time, following the slinky until he is well inside the staircase. Suddenly, both the top and bottom dors to te staircase slam shut, enveloping BOBBY in darkness. He starts screaming; a scuffling sound is heard, along with moaning/groaning, a whoosh of wind, clattering sounds on the stairs, etc. BOBBY is very faintly visible as he tumbles -- perhaps pushed by an unseen force -- down the stairs, brusiing himself repeatedly until he comes to rest at the bottom, where the door swings slowly open and all is again quiet, except for BOBBY's whimpers. He picks himself up and looks back; the slinky is halfway up the staircase. BOBBY suddenly turns and runs away.
INT. ATTIC, BUTLER'S ROOM. DAy.
ALICIA is poking around, looking for a place to hide a pack of cigarettes, when BOBBY enters unannounced.
BOBBY
What are you doing?
ALICIA
(hidiing the cigarettes behind her back)
Nothing. What are you doing up here? Oh my God, Bobby, what happened to you?
The bruises are still forming on BOBBY's arms/face; there are visible scrapes and blood as well.
BOBBY
I fell down the stairs.
ALICIA
Are you OK?
BOBBY
Yeah.
ALICIA
What a trooper.
BOBBY
(indicating what's behind ALICIA's back)
What's that?
ALICIA
Nothing, kiddo.
BOBBY
Are you trying to hide it?
ALICIA
No..well, yeah, do you think we could find a good hiding spot up here?
They begin searching the room for a hiding spot. ALICIA opens one of the drawers in the dresser and discovers a stack of newspaper clippings and old photographs. She leafs through tehm silenetly as BOBBY continues rummaging about the room. The photographs show a Victorian era family -- Mother, Father, several older children including a girl around Alicia's age, and a young boy about Bobby's age. A butler and maid are also visible holding ahnds off to one side fo the photograph. This is set aside to reveal a headlinefrom a very old newspaper: "Family Murdered by Maid, Butler Dies Defending."
ALICIA
Oh my God!
BOBBY
What?
ALICIA
Nothing, Bobby.
BOBBY
What are you looking at?
ALICIA
Just some old stuff about the family that used to live here.
BOBBY
(pointing at the photograph)
Is that them?
ALICIA
Yeah, that's them.
She goes back to the drawer whre she found the itmes, and removes a wooden plaque with the hand carved words, "May His Spirit Rest Here Forever." Meanwhile, BOBBY has picked up the photographs/clippings and is leafing through tehm reading what he can.
ALICIA
(about the plaque)
Weird.
BOBBY
Does this say the family that used to live here was killed?
ALICIA
That was like, over a hundred years ago.
BOBBY
(Pointing at the butler in the picture)
He did it.
ALICIA
No, the article says it was the maid.
She scans the article, delivering information as she absorbs it.
ALICIA
They were married, and apparently the maid was jealous and killed the family in order to rob them...her husband -- thet's the butler, whose room we're in -- caught her with the youngest son, but it was too late for him.
BOBBY
What happened to her?
ALICIA
They think that the butler tried to capture her at the top of the kitchen stirs, but she stabbed him and they both fell down the stairs, nd were dead on the kitchen floor when they were found. It looks like they kept the butler's room the same way out of respect for what he tried to...
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