The Possession Page #19

ELLEN (V.O.)

'... I want them to have a sort of

duration. A demi-eternity...'

Places the box in the mausoleum near Ash's coffin.

ELLEN (V.O.)

'... And if the seekers dig them out

again...?'

On cue, the GATES CLOSE WITH a THUD. The box now locked and

sealed in the mausoleum -

ELLEN (V.O.)

'... Then justice will perhaps be

done to her when I am not here to

see it.'

END OF FLASHBACK.

INT. ASH'S HOUSE MUSEUM - NIGHT

In the shadowy twilight, Beatrice looks out from the

darkness. She takes back her precious note from Roland and

Maud.

ROLAND:

`Justice will perhaps be done to

her.' Who did she mean?

BEATRICE:

I've asked myself that question all

these years. A scholar's

lifetime...

MAUD:

If Cropper digs it up, he can keep

the truth hidden forever.

ROLAND:

So what can we do? We'd need to

catch him in the act -

BEATRICE:

Or get to the box before him -

ROLAND:

You mean, break in... to the tomb?

(CONTINUED)

108.

CONTINUED:

BEATRICE:

I know it sounds... barbaric.

MAUD:

This note you've shown us -- no one

else has seen it?

BEATRICE:

(shaking her head)

No one else has asked. They don't

think Ellen is important. But, you

see? She is.

Roland looks at Maud, an unaccustomed glint in his eye.

ROLAND:

Then we need to go now.

EXT. INN (NEAR CEMETERY) - NIGHT

An 18th Century inn with mossy roof and orchard, near a

village church. Beneath a large tree, the dark shape of a

Mercedes. Trunk open, with Cropper and Hildebrand

inspecting lights, shovels, ropes.

HILDEBRAND:

I suppose we could leave false

clues. Blame it on the Satanists.

A black mass or something...

Hildebrand snorts with laughter. Cropper frowns.

CROPPER:

I am not a common thief. It's only

that box -- the thought of it

decaying in the ground -- the

thought of perhaps never

knowing -

He closes the trunk. Cropper and Hildebrand walk over to

the inn, and enter, VOICES CARRYING OVER inside -

EXT. ROADS TO CEMETERY - NIGHT

On hilly roads, Maud drives her car through thickening mist,

Roland at her side. They pass the trip in silence, each

waiting for the other to speak.

MAUD:

You packed the things?

(CONTINUED)

109.

CONTINUED:

ROLAND:

Sure.

MAUD:

The crowbar?

ROLAND:

Yes. The crowbar.

MAUD:

We might need it. Aren't you

worried -- ?

Maud glances over towards him, her excitement palpable.

Then -- she swerves to avoid a truck; Roland winces, sighs.

ROLAND:

I don't worry about anything. Not

now. At the moment, I feel all -clear

in the head -- if you know

what I mean.

They sit in silence as she zooms down a narrow side street

through the fog. Then down a steep hill with trees on both

sides.

MAUD:

Roland, I'm sorry how it turned out.

ROLAND:

For who?

MAUD:

You. And me. I think I was afraid.

ROLAND:

I don't think so. Not you. Of

what?

MAUD:

Of falling in love with you.

ROLAND:

I didn't know you wanted to...

That's over now, anyway. I don't

want you to love me.

MAUD:

You don't?

(CONTINUED)

110.

CONTINUED:

ROLAND:

No. Too complicated. I can't think

about 'us' anymore.

The fog grows thicker, as if they're driving back in

time -

FLASHBACK - INT. ASH'S HOUSE - DAY (1888)

Illuminated in a flash of lightning: as the beginning -FOOTSTEPS.

A hand KNOCKS on a door. Three knocks.

MAID (O.S.)

Mrs. Ash...?

END OF FLASHBACK.

RETURN TO:

EXT. ROADS NEAR CEMETERY - NIGHT

Roland slams on the brakes. Swirling fog clears to reveal -

A hound like Christabel's companion from Seal Court, in the

road. The animal vanishes behind another cloud of fog.

Roland and Maud drive slowly forward. The fog grows more

misty -

COVERING the SCREEN as we -

RETURN TO:

FLASHBACK - INT. ASH'S HOUSE - DAY (1888)

The same hand KNOCKING on the door. Details become clearer,

as we REVEAL. Again the KNOCKING. A hushed servant's

voice:

MAID (O.S.)

Mrs. Ash... a letter.

Sound of RAIN ON GLASS. HORSES' HOOVES ON COBBLESTONES.

The door opens to reveal Ellen, facing her young MAID.

MAID:

A lady called Miss La Motte came to

the door. She gave me this letter

for your husband. She said it was

very important.

Ellen takes an envelope from the girl's hand, closes the

door.

111.

CLOSEUP - LETTER

The coat of arms from Seal Court. In Christabel's

handwriting:
"To Randolph Henry Ash Esq -- Most Urgent."

And her name:
"From: Christabel La Motte, Seal Court,

Lincolnshire."

Ellen takes the letter. Slowly, softly, she walks into the

BEDROOM:

Where Ash lies in bed, deathly ill. As Ellen picks up the

letter, she holds it to her, unable to let it go -

Poised over a candle's flame -

EXT. INN (NEAR CEMETERY) - NIGHT (PRESENT)

Peering through the bar window, Roland sees Cropper eating

and drinking with Hildebrand and Fergus. He sneaks back to

Maud, standing by Cropper's Merc.

ROLAND:

They're all there. Cropper,

Hildebrand, even Fergus.

MAUD:

Roland, did you bring a knife?

ROLAND:

Yes. Do you need it?

MAUD:

Yes, I do.

Roland brings out a knife from his bag. Without warning,

Maud takes it over to the Merc, stabs one tire. Then the

other. AIR RUSHES OUT. The TIRES PUNCTURE fast.

MAUD:

All right -- shall we?

Roland stares at Maud and the knife. Both is disbelief.

EXT. CEMETERY - NIGHT

Maud and Roland pull up on the hill near the cemetery gates.

On the gates, a sign: "STRICTLY NO ADMITTANCE" Nearby a

large wall, where they place a ladder.

Up over the wall, into the cemetery they go.

(CONTINUED)

112.

CONTINUED:

Walking through the graveyard, 'round long curved avenues of

the necropolis. As if, from the tombstones and graves,

voices fill the air.

CHRISTABEL (V.O.)

`My dear, my dear...'

HOLD ON Roland and Maud as they disappear up the hill, into

the gloomy darkness among the trees waving in the breeze.

INT. CEMETERY - NIGHT

Near the mausoleum, the tomb awaits, the box inside.

CHRISTABEL (V.O.)

`... I ask for your forgiveness for

intruding on you at this time. I am

told you are gravely ill...'

INSIDE CABINET:

HOLD ON the letter, its flap of envelope open. We hear a

voice, MOVE TOWARDS it, until white paper FILLS the SCREEN.

CHRISTABEL (V.O.)

`... I have writ down some things I

dearly wish you should know...'

FLASHBACK - INT. SEAL COURT - DAY (1888)

As in Roland and Maud's earlier journey, we CLIMB UP -

A winding spiral staircase leading to a tower bedroom, walls

now freshly-pained, Christabel's dolls -- where Maud and

Roland find the letters a century later -- kept neatly on

their bed.

A woman sits at her desk, talking softly as she composes a

letter. It is Christabel, now an old woman, in her 60s.

CHRISTABEL:

... I sit here like an old witch in

a tower. You will say to me, it

should have been told, twenty-eight

years ago. I know -- I have known

for these many years -- that I have

done you wrong. Yet, my guilt for

all that happened made it

impossible...'

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