The Haunting Page #9

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MARROW (cont'd)

Well, why don't we get some dinner

while we're waiting for him?

(beat, backing

through the doors

to the Great Hall)

Welcome to Hill House, everyone.

INT. GREAT HALL - NIGHT

Marrow leads the way across the hall. The others check out the

furnishings as they pass.

TODD:

These old Victorian houses are

great, aren't they?

LUKE:

(points to details;

ADJUST FOR SET)

It's not Victorian, everyone

thinks that the whole nineteenth

century was Victorian. This is

gothic, this is English Craftsman,

this is Romanesque. This is...

insane. Who lives here?

MARROW:

Nobody. A local mill owner, Hugh

Crain, built it in 1830. He had

no heirs, but he put the house in

trust, and the farmland around it,

with the stipulation that it never

be altered or sold. Crain's

executors made good investments

and for the last hundred and

twenty years, Hill House has taken

care of itself.

Mary is shaken by the house, but she's honoring Marrow's request.

Everywhere she looks, she feels the presence of something.

TODD:

So what's this study all about

anyway? Mary described the kind

of tests we'll be doing, but

didn't fill us in on the big

picture. She said you needed bad

sleepers, but this wasn't about

curing the problem.

MARY:

I can tell you what this is about.

MARROW:

Eat first, questions later, Mary,

please.

They exit the hall, Mary and Nell last, and as they do, Nell sees

Mary's strange look. She stops.

NELL:

Is something wrong?

MARY:

No. Just... when I saw your

picture I had a feeling about you,

and now that I meet you, I know I

was right.

NELL:

What?

MARY:

Eat first, questions later.

And suddenly awkward, Mary exits after the others.

INT. DINING ROOM - NIGHT

A chandelier hangs unlit over a long dining table. LAUGHTER. At

the end Nell and the others sprawl over the remains of a dinner

which has been going on for hours. Luke is opening another bottle

of jug wine.

LUKE:

You know what I love about wine

that comes in bottles like this?

TODD:

What?

LUKE:

Every year is a good year.

MARROW:

Theo? It's your turn.

Theo twirls her wine glass, licks the dregs inside the rim,

thinking.

THEO:

The rest of you may hate your

insomnia, but I find it the best

time of the day for me. I'm

alone. Nobody's talking to me but

myself. My mind is racing with

ideas, and I can think.

LUKE:

Nah, you're going crazy with

doubt, all of your mistakes are

coming back up the pipes, and it's

worse than a nightmare. --

Nell isn't used to people being so direct and at the same time,

playful. She glances at Marrow's LEFT HAND: NO WEDDING RING.

THEO (cont'd)

Excuse me.

LUKE:

Don't give me that look, it's

everybody's problem, we just have

different variations, I for

example. I fall asleep easily.

But I wake up around two or three

in the morning, every morning.

It's that time of night that

Fitzgerald called the deep dark

night of the soul. I stare

into... the abyss. Every night.

(breaks his own

somber mood)

It's the price I pay for being

such a jolly fellow.

(to Mary)

Y usted?

MARY:

I think I'd fall asleep easily,

but just as I start to feel

comfortable, I see things in the

dark.

Nell hears this, Nell is tuned into Mary.

MARY:

I feel the presence of something

watching me. It's not... scary...

not by itself but... I don't want

to go to sleep because I'm worried

about the thing attacking me. So

when I finally do fall asleep, I'm

like a soldier who's fallen asleep

at her post. I feel like I've

betrayed myself. Nell?

Nell wishes she could hide under her plate.

NELL:

All of you have such interesting

problems.

There's laughter.

NELL (cont'd)

No... Please, I know how that

sounds but... You're all so

articulate. You know how to talk.

I feel like I'm here under false

pretenses. It's silly, it's not

like... well, all of you have

trouble sleeping because you live

in the world, and the world is

complicated and scary, but

nothing's ever happened to me. So

I don't have a reason to sleep

badly.

MARROW:

You wrote that you had trouble

sleeping.

NELL:

Yes, because someone was always

keeping me awake. Ever since I

was little. That was my job. I

took care of my mother and I had

to be there for her all night

long, and she woke up all the

time. And after she died, well,

it's been a few months, but I

still, I still wake up, it's... a

habit.

(beat)

I know we've only known each other

a couple of hours, but I'm really

glad to be with people who let me

talk about this. I'm really happy

to be here with you.

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