The Lodgers Page #2

through your door."

Stay here.

Rachel!

Shh.

Open up.

I've come all the way from...

Mr. Bermingham?

Ms. Rachel, I have come all

the way from the mainland...

This is our mainland,

Mr. Bermingham

and you seem quite

out of place here.

Well, I must insist that

you admit me, regardless!

You know we don't admit

visitors, Mr. Bermingham.

My family has always been

emphatic on that matter.

I'm here on urgent business.

Where is your brother?

Edward is indisposed.

You may deal with me

from there.

I am not here on

a social call, young lady.

The finances of your estate are

in a state of grave depletion.

The outstanding debt is such

that I have little option

but to take drastic measures.

Wait here, please.

Young lady, I demand to

speak with your brother!

Sorry mother.

Will this help?

Well clearly I'm in no

position to evaluate

but they might help

for the time being.

Exquisite, yes!

An exquisite piece but

young lady, I'm afraid

you don't understand

the magnitude of the debt.

In the absence of your elders,

perhaps your brother

might be best...

I was born 11 minutes before

Edward, Mr. Bermingham.

You may consider me the elder.

Walk with me?

Clearly this is an unusual way

to conduct business

of this nature.

We're an unusual family.

Yes...

Rachel?

LODGER:
Edward...

[EERIE MUSIC PLAYING]

You won't follow me all the way

home limping like that, will you?

Rachel, is it you?

And if I asked you to,

if I asked you to follow me...

Tell me then, how

badly off are we?

I'm afraid the estate

could scarcely be worse off

and your family's eccentricities

have been little help to matters.

How long have you worked

for us, Mr. Bermingham?

My family has

attended to the needs

of your own for generations.

RACHEL:
Never before today

have any of you presumed

to come here in person.

The situation has

never been so dire.

My brother and I

live very simply.

Simply or otherwise,

there is nothing left

for you to live upon.

BERMINGHAM:
I must see inside the house

and bring a qualified individual

to make an evaluation of the

property and it's content.

That's out of the question.

The sale of a few trinkets

will only go so far,

but what about this

pretty little thing?

Silver, is it?

If I'm to sell the pearls,

mightn't this be taken also?

No.

Not this.

Soon you might not be in

the position to choose.

If only you knew!

In your position and with

your obvious advantages,

perhaps the best course of

action would be to marry?

This house has belonged

to us and we to it

for more than two centuries.

You need not understand

that, Mr. Bermingham,

but I ask that you respect it.

Good day.

You!

What are you doing here?

- Well?

- I'm sorry.

No, stay there or you'll

be seen from the house.

So you did follow me?

I didn't mean to frighten you,

but when I saw you in the

village you looked so...

Come back tomorrow,

in the morning.

It's okay.

We belong here, together.

[DOOR SLAMS]

Edward, he's gone.

Edward?

[EERIE MUSIC PLAYING]

Still afraid?

Wouldn't you be?

I didn't break the rules.

Did you dissuade Bermingham?

I tried,

but he'll be back.

And he came alone?

Yes, he was quite alone.

Don't you feel different lately?

Don't you feel their

presence with more intensity?

You know I do.

Do you hear them more now?

In every ticking of the clock

and every crick

of the floorboards

and in every sound the

house makes, I hear them.

They won't wait much longer,

not now that they're of age.

When they came last

night, how did it feel?

Did you call them in?

They wanted me to see you.

[CLANGING]

I can't save you!

You can't save yourself.

[INAUDIBLE WHISPERING]

RACHEL:
You came.

Don't be afraid.

Have one?

Go on.

They grow so well on the graves.

Come with me, I'll show

you where they died.

My brother and I

were always happiest

playing here as children.

This is the edge of our world.

Any farther and we weren't safe.

What were you doing

here yesterday?

I wanted to see you.

You saw me at the village.

I wanted to see you in private.

You mean you wanted

to see where I live.

When I saw you yesterday,

you looked afraid.

I was afraid that

you'd be afraid of me,

that you'd think

I was like them.

There are greater

things to be afraid of

than you or anybody

from that village.

Will you sit with me?

This is where Edward found them.

I was in my bed.

I woke up and this

was around my neck.

Mother had put it on me

while I was sleeping.

That's how I knew

they were gone.

By the time I got here Edward...

Something was broken in him.

He's never left the house since.

Your parents were suicides?

And theirs as well,

and theirs before them.

Drowned, all of them.

It's something about the water,

maybe they think it will

wash their sins away.

"So lovely is the

loneliness of a wild lake

"with black rock bound

and the tall pines

"that towered around."

Do you know it?

I never had much

time for poetry.

"But when the night

had thrown her paw

"upon that spot eyes upon all,

"and the mystic wind went

by murmuring a melody.

"Then ah, then I would wake

"to the tire of the lone lake.

"Death was in that

poisonous wave

"and in its garth,

a fitting grave."

Wait.

I'll die if you leave me.

Would you help me?

Would you help me

get away from here?

If we went together,

it could be safe.

Leave?

Why would you want that?

If you'd seen the world I have,

you'd know you were safer here.

Safer?

All I have here is death.

And what do you think is

out there in the world?

It's a bad place,

people are bad,

even there in the village.

I know what that's like

to have somebody

look in your eyes

and there's nothing

there but hate.

Maybe that's what

drove your parents to...

You think that's what did it?

Hate?

A few squinting eyes,

wagging tongues?

There are worse things

in this world than hate.

What's worse than hatred?

Love can be worse than hatred.

RACHEL:
Show it to me.

I know you have a false leg.

Show it to me.

Don't, please.

I want to know how it

feels to be somebody else.

EDWARD:
Do you feel that?

Do you feel that?

Sometimes I think

it's still there.

And then I look at it,

it's not me when I look.

Does it come away?

Show me.

I didn't think you'd understand.

It's war, you know?

There's a lot worse off than me.

Don't

touch me there.

I'm not touching you anywhere.

You know how

it feels, don't you?

For something to still

be there when it's gone?

[BIRD SCREECHING]

[KNOCKING ON THE DOOR]

Open up, I demand

an explanation for this!

Young lady, I will not

be made a fool of!

Oh, Master Edward?

I mistook you for...

What do you want?

Well, to be given an

explanation for this chicanery.

I was presented with

jewelry to begin repayment

for this estate's

considerable debts

only to find some kind of

substitution has been made

at the gate no doubt!

Oh, sly girl indeed.

Mother's love birds,

they've called you back.

I beg your pardon?

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