Lost Souls Page #19

Peter moves away and sits down on a bench in the hallway.

INT. SMALL CHAPEL - DAY

Fourteen Jesuits of mixed race, including Father Frank.

Chant prayers in Latin.

INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE LAREAUX'S ROOM

Peter is sitting on the bench. He HEARS:

VOICES (O.S.)

Peter, Peter...

He looks down the corridor. He sees no one. He looks in the

other direction and sees a JANITOR eating a sandwich and

pouring a container of MILK into a large glass. Once again,

he hears:

VOICES (O.S.) (CONT'D)

Peter, Peter...

He looks at the door to Lareaux's room and sees the WALL

BREATH IN AND OUT AS IF IT'S ALIVE. He runs to the door and

puts his ear against it.

FATHER THOMAS (O.S.)

...be gone and leave this child of the

Lord God almighty. Be gone, by the

power of Christ. Be gone, by the power

of the Holy Spirit.

Suddenly the imprint of a chair pushes against the wall as it

will burst right through. Peter jumps away. He approaches

the door.

FATHER THOMAS (O.S.) (CONT'D)

In the name of Christ, I command you.

Tell me your name!

Suddenly a body slams into the wall which starts to ripple as

if a subterranean shape were moving through it. The body

appears to be climbing straight up the wall.

There's an explosion of NOISE, shrieking and shouting, the

sounds of furniture being violently overturned. Peter is

mesmerized and scared. Hateful VOICES SWELL UP.

VOICES (O.S.)

Too late, too late, too late, too late.

Peter touches the door knob to Lareaux's room. It is

FREEZING COLD, so cold it burns. He pulls his hand away and

wraps his jacket around his hand.

MAYA (O.S.)

Please, no!

Peter is torn. His hand again moves to the doorknob.

Another body SLAMS into the wall. More NOISE cries of PANIC,

ANGER...and pain.

FATHER THOMAS (O.S.)

Move, move!

A GROWLING ANIMAL is heard, like a BABOON SHRIEKING. Peter

starts to turn the knob, then stops. He's caught, unsure

until Maya calls out in agony.

MAYA (O.S.)

Peter, help me. Oh God!

Peter flings the door open and steps inside.

INT. LAREAUX'S ROOM - DAY

AND THEN VERY FAST. The door SLAMS behind Peter and Locks

itself tight. Then, Peter sees:

The room is not destroyed. The room is FREEZING COLD, breath

is visible. Lareaux is tied to the chair. Father Thomas is

standing over him, with a crucifix in hand, the Eucharist on

Lareaux's head. Maya and the younger Priests are kneeling

just behind Father Thomas, overwhelmed.

LAREAUX:

Gotcha!

The lamp immediately goes out. Room is pitch black.

FATHER THOMAS:

Jeremy, the door!

We hear FUMBLING grunting.

FATHER JEREMY:

It...I can't!

FATHER THOMAS:

(continue subbing, in Latin)

Lowly beast, through the power of

Christ. Let the door re-open.

VOICES begin. MOCKING, speeded up versions of sentences

we've heard before, LATIN and ENGLISH.

LAREAUX:

(in Peter's voice)

Go on. Do something. Show me.

(in Maya's voice)

I'm scared I'm slipping back...

A beat. Then a normal voice.

PETER:

Maya?

A TORRENT OF PROFANITY drowns him out. A thousand voices,

young and old, crying, cursing, filling the air with hatred

and spite. Amidst this hurricane of sound, the lights begin

to flicker at ultra-high speed, creating a strobe effect.

The window bursts open, flooding the room with light. Father

Jeremy races over and struggles to close it, but cannot.

Maya is revealed praying, eyes open. Peter and Father

Malcolm are crouched near the door. A terrified Father

Thomas is bravely standing, holding his crucifix in front of

himself, facing Lareaux. Or where Lareaux was. The chair is

empty Amid the deafening noise, Peter sees:

Lareaux rise up behind Maya and encircle her throat with his

hands as the HELLISH VOICES reach a crescendo. Lareaux

begins to sing softly:

LAREAUX:

Rock-a-bye baby, on a tree top...

Peter leaps to pull Lareaux off her, but the aging priest

surprised Peter by grabbing him and hold him at bay.

As Peter struggles, Lareaux's expression shifts. His

confidence vanishes and pain distorts his features. Lareaux

falls to the floor in agony.

Maya and Peter bend down to help him, but the noise makes it

impossible for them to hear one another. Maya pulls open

Lareaux's collar to try to get him more air and in that

instant, the VOICES STOP. The lights POP on. Maya leans

close to Lareaux, who's dying on the floor, MUMBLING

incoherently. And on Lareaux's forehead, we see incisions

resembling strange, unknown letters. Like they've been cut

from within. The incisions are repeated on the backs of

Lareaux's hands. The room is so cold, steam pops off the

breath. Father Thomas moves fast, beginning the last rites

in Latin. He makes the sign of the Cross on Lareaux's

forehead, then:

FATHER THOMAS:

(to Lareaux, in Latin)

Confiterisne vitia tua ante omnipotentem

deum? (Do you confess your sins before

almighty God?)

LAREAUX:

...the ark sank, the sun set, the ark

sank again...

MAYA:

(desperately)

Father, please don't die.

LAREAUX:

(in great suffering)

...art sank, sun set, ark sank again...

Maya leans down, inches from the dying priest. Peter moves

beside her.

MAYA:

Father!

For a split second, Lareaux surfaces from his confusion and

looks at her with a great kindness.

LAREAUX:

Ensemble pour toujours quoi qu'il

arrive.

As he dies, Maya is momentarily inert, tears of exhaustion.

She's devastated. And we HEAR a single GRACE NOTE laced with

an intake of BREATH as we

SMASH CUT TO:

INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE LAREAUX'S ROOM

It's CHAOS as Jesuits rush in and out of the cell, helping

the exorcism participants. Father Frank glares at Maya, as

he helps clear the room.

PETER:

(looking down at Maya)

I thought you were in danger.

Maya backs away from Lareaux, who is being covered with a

white sheet. A last glance and then she takes off with

Peter.

INT. RANGE ROVER

Maya looks straight ahead, trying to shake off her fear.

Peter looks at Maya, moved by her. Puts an arm around her

shoulder, a momentary intimacy, then he pulls away. Finally,

Maya looks at Peter.

MAYA:

I'll be all right.

(reflective)

Peter, at the very end, I think Father

was back. I saw it in his eyes.

PETER:

So, what does it mean. The ark sank and

the sun set?

MAYA:

He's been repeating that since Birdson's

exorcism. I looked in every passage in

the Bible and there's nothing about an

ark or a sunset that tells us anything.

PETER:

What did he say to you in French?

MAYA:

That's his, I don't know, his

'grounding' phrase for me, "together, no

matter what."

PETER:

(deep sigh)

Terrific.

EXT. NEWARK NEIGHBORHOOD - DAY

The Range Rover enters a blue-collar residential part of the

city, old townhouses on both sides of the street. The

traffic is heavy and the Rover slows, pulling to the curb.

INT. RANGE ROVER

Peter studies Maya, admiring her in some new way.

MAYA:

He was trying to tell me something.

PETER:

(cynical)

And his message was "Together, no

matter what?"

A car pulls up alongside them. The driver, a middle-aged

WOMAN, rolls down her window and calls out to Peter.

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