Apartment 143

Check check.

One-two, One-two.

Check check. Check?

Okay, groovy.

Paul Ortega, reporting live

from the inside of a glorious van,

capturing this moment

for posterity. I'm...

what's the best way

to describe it? I'm the...

technical expert.

Technological...

I'm the expert, that's me.

Yeah, I know, I know.

Ellen Keegan--

young, beautiful,

gatekeeper of the group.

What's a gatekeeper, Ellen?

That's right, nobody knows.

Ellen is shy by day.

But by night?

Grrr.

Ellen answers the phone.

You our secretary, Ellen?

I would love to scratch that.

Yeah, Ellen still doesn't know

she's our secretary-- by day.

By night-- grrr.

Joseph Helzer-- Dr. Helzer.

My boss, Ellen's boss,

but that's obvious

given Ellen is the secretary.

- Ellen:
Not the secretary.

- No? You're the telephone girl.

- Not the telephone girl.

- No? You're the gatekeeper?

- Exactly.

- Exactly. Ellen still doesn't know

she's the telephone girl.

Ow. It's Friday.

The sun is shining.

It's 2:
00 in the afternoon--

- Ellen:
Half past 2:00.

- Half 2:
00, who cares? I do.

- Why? Because who am I?

- Ellen:
An idiot with a camera?

I am the technological expert.

Paul:
From here

it looks like any old building.

- Helzer:
From here they all do.

- Paul:
That's true.

Sorry. We shouldn't have

loaded so much weight.

Paul:

Don't worry, you look great.

Hi.

Thank you so much for coming.

- Please, come in.

- Thank you, Mr. White.

- Hi.

- Hi.

I hope you don't mind.

It's just for our own records.

You know, internal use.

White:

Kitchen's on the left. Bathroom.

The kids' room is down

at the end of the hall.

Sorry for the mess.

Dining room, living room.

- Ellen:
Well, so...

- Paul:
Nice place.

- Here we are.

- Paul:
I'm gonna put this down here.

Can we set up

our equipment in this room?

Yeah, of course, whatever.

Make yourself at home.

- Ellen:
Just let me have a look.

- The children?

Yeah, uh...

my youngest is gonna

be home from school soon.

And Caitlin is in her room.

She's not really happy

about all this, so...

If you want, I can call her.

No, we've got all weekend.

One step at a time.

- It's okay.

- I'm going to get the rest

of the stuff from the car.

Does anyone want to give me a hand?

Paul:

Can I go?

Hey, little man.

Wave to the camera.

Oh, thank you.

- Ellen:
What's your name?

- Benny.

Benny? That's a lovely name.

Good boy.

Can you wave to the camera?

- Paul:
Wave one more time.

- Say hi.

- Say hi.

- Paul:
Oh, thank you.

Woman:

Bye, Benny! Bye, Benny.

Do you... want some help

with your stuff or...?

- Paul:
Well, actually...

- Ellen:
No no.

No thank you, no, Mr. White.

We're fine. We'll see you up there.

- Okay.

- Okay. Bye, Benny.

Bye.

Big mouth.

Okay.

Check. One-two, one-two.

See? She's going to make a picture.

We're going to make a picture

of the whole weekend.

Scared? You scared?

Er... yeah. Now see, don't do that.

That's... that's not fun.

- You already got the kitchen, right?

- Yeah, we did.

- It's just the girl's room that's left?

- That's right.

Just a second.

Excuse me. Sorry.

Let me...

- Caitlin?

- Caitlin:
Go away!

Sweetie, they need to set up

in your room, honey.

I'm sorry.

She's just at a really difficult age.

Ellen:

That's all right.

Caitlin, we are coming in, I have to

open the door. I'm really sorry, honey.

Leave me alone!

Maybe you can set up

in there later?

- Paul:
Well, actually--

- Sure.

- Okay.

- Ellen:
Yeah, it's no problem.

Paul:

I'm on it.

- Does this happen often?

- Yes.

Sometimes.

We don't know what it is though.

White:

Are there people living upstairs?

No, there's hardly

any tenants in this building.

- Is something wrong?

- It could be anything--

rusty pipes,

a rodent of some sort,

thermal dilation, woodworm,

mechanical vibrations.

Paul:

Yeah, sound abides by its own rules.

Yeah, that doesn't

sound like mice to me.

Tiptology.

Ellen:

Beats of unspecified origin.

Unknown.

Potentially anything.

Benny:

Paul, what's happening?

Paul:

Yeah, not now, buddy.

Helzer:

Paul, I need you to keep filming.

Ellen, change the frequency.

Raise the balance about 50%.

Let me know if you get

any espirical emission.

Nothing.

Ellen, keep doing what you're doing.

Paul, go upstairs,

see if anybody's there.

It's okay. No.

Guess what's behind me.

Guess what's behind me.

Guess what's behind me.

Helzer:

Yeah, Mr. White, you ready?

Have a seat.

Paul:

I'm just going to mic you really quick.

- Okay.

- It's just a simple mic. This...

- There we go.

- Helzer:
Okay?

- Okay.

- Helzer:
Hi, Benny.

Remember me?

Mr. Doctor.

My name is Alan White.

I was born

December 1 7th, 1 970.

- I used to be an agricultural engineer.

- Helzer:
Mm-hmm.

- I'm no longer employed.

- Helzer:
I'm sorry.

- Can you say that again?

- I'm no longer employed.

Helzer:

Do you know why we're here?

You wanna guess why we're here?

I am no longer married. I'm...

- I'm a widower, I guess.

- Helzer:
Mmm.

My name is Benjamin White.

- Helzer:
How old are you?

- Four.

Let's talk a little bit about why

you got in touch with the Institute.

Well, it kind of all started--

we used to live out in Riverside,

kind of out near

sort of Moreno Valley.

My wife Cynthia

was a teacher

at the local elementary school there.

She was very sick.

One time

she was in bed for a week.

White:

A few months after she passed away,

things...

things in the house

started to become very odd.

The lights were flashing

on and off,

on and off,

just all the time.

And we checked all the wires.

We revamped

the entire electrical system.

And he said that there

was nothing wrong.

Our stuff in the kitchen

were flying too.

There was one time

when we heard

that somebody was

using the typewriter.

I don't know who it was.

But we were sitting there, all of us--

Benny, me, Caitlin.

We just kind of laughed it off

and sort of pretended,

you know, "Oh..."

And Benny was like

"Oh, it's..."

you know, "it's Mom."

She's not dead or alive.

- Helzer:
Is it scary?

- Huh-uh-uh.

When you see your mother,

- can you talk to her?

- Yeah.

- Does she talk back to you?

- Mm-hmm.

Helzer:
Say that again, when you said

Benny pretended like it was Mom.

Well, he just--

ever since she died he's always kinda...

sort of played like

she was in the room,

like she was present.

Helzer:

Sorry. Sorry. We're almost there.

Okay.

Helzer:

Okay. Great.

Caitlin used to get

these scratches on her legs.

Really?

She had scratches on her legs.

- It wasn't me.

- White:
Honestly, I started

to get really concerned

for the safety of my kids.

So I pulled up stakes

and we moved here to...

this-- this place.

And everything was fine,

it seemed like,

for a week or two,

and...

and then it--

and then it all started again.

Benny:

Good doggy.

Benny on computer:

Good doggy.

Good dog. Good dog.

- Ellen?

- Yeah?

Ellen:
Hi, Benny.

Hey, Benny.

Benny:

Why is she putting it up there?

Paul:

'Cause she's kind of a big poser.

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