Revisiting

EXT. OF SUMMERHOUSE — MID-MORNING.

The scene opens up with a wide view of the SUMMERHOUSE—

less of a house and more of a wingless bird trapped knee-deep in mud, lost and afraid of its vulnerability.

A car door slams shut revealing our trio, the camera pans (startles) at the sound and the house blurs into a backdrop.

An SUV sits in the driveway at the front of the house in meeting.

The house watches as a harp trills slowly, inquiringly.

A man with bright-pink hair is seen shuffling luggage through the windshield;

but, he along with the tattooed driver, then they appear in centre frame.

Their tattoos are hidden under two layers of long-shelves and their ears—

which hold a lot of metal—are underneath a toque making CRIS look unsuspecting.

CRIS

(neck stretched to take in the scale of wood and nails in front of them, the house’s windows glitter in the sunlight.)

Wow, it’s better than I remember.

DAVE

(Cris’ coworker, he handles media and marketing in their publishing house. His voice is distant and soft from the back of the car.)

The website only had pictures of the inside, how do you know this place?

CRIS

I…

(the hesitation is not intentional as they rehearsed this part in their head on the way over)

I came here as a kid, with my mom. It belongs in the family, a friend of a friend’s

grandparent gave it to my family way back when saying it was cursed.

(looking to the coastline and the quiet waves lapping at the rock path leading to the side-door; as the camera is back on the house the music stops.)

DEVA

(Cris’ childhood best-friend knew about the history of this house and how it affected Cris growing up, things happened here that cannot be explained—or they could but not in a way that was satisfying for the average onlooker.)

Did you tell your mom about this trip?

CRIS

(They scoff and their gaze is finally free from the house, the camera zooms in to catch all three in frame.)

No, she believes in the curse.

DAVE

(he jumps and hits his head on the hatch of the car, he is superstitious and a firm-believer.)

Cris, you didn’t say this place was haunted! You know how much this stuff scares me.

DEVA

(she pats him on the back and he jumps again, as though forgetting his surroundings are filled with both the natural and supernatural.)

Where’s your sense of adventure, Davey?

(the house shifts in the wind, creaking something fierce making Deva’s heart race a little though she won’t admit it.)

The SUMMERHOUSE grows as the camera slides to the ground and angles up,

the front door clicks open showing the growing void within.

It wants them to enter, it has been so dreadfully long since it had visitors.

CRIS, DEVA, and DAVE are frozen as the wind carries a soft welcome. DEVA is the first to gain composure, she has only heard stories second-hand and doesn’t know to fear the feeling in her gut yet.

DEVA

Come on, guys. It’s probably—

DAVE

If you say it’s the wind, I will punch you.

DEVA

Okay! It was weird, but I get the feeling that we are welcome, I mean whatever it is

opened the door for us.

(It should scare her, and it does, but moreso it feels… warm? Kind might be a better word, but what DEVA doesn’t know is that all the murders are kind in the beginning.)

CRIS

(swearing under their breath, not caught by the camera but the sense is felt. They shake themselves and it seems to calm DAVE, the house waits.)

I need to see this through, it’s just a door. Made of wood and metal where the lock

should be… and it somehow opened by itself, which is—

DAVE

terrifying—

CRIS

But I got to see what’s in there.

(They don’t know if it’s their memories from childhood forcing this curiosity or if the house can hide its teeth, because they don’t feel scared. Much like you don’t fear the dentist who needs to pull out the rotten teeth. The camera watches CRIS as they stare at the house with their features set in wonder. The SUMMERHOUSE laughs, or the wind chimes catch a stray breeze.)

DEVA

(The most excited of the group, bounces a little)

Yes! Let’s go.

-Continued…-

The camera seems stuck on the SUMMERHOUSE, the way the sun and clouds dance around

it to make it look like the walls are breathing. The camera catches the back of everyone’s heads,

as they step into frame at the bottom of the stairs, but the emotions

are easy to read on their shoulders. Something has a hold on DAVE though, the camera catches a shudder and then…

DAVE

Let’s go

(he walks until his feet his the wicker mat near the door, his body marionetted by the house, though at the sound of scuffing the mat he jumps back, shaking the strings off and returns to himself.)

DEVA

(she grabs CRIS’ hand and drags them with her to stand by DAVE and grabs his hand too and tries to pull them in)

Once we are in, we can take a peak around and then it won’t feel so bad. Look they even left the lights on and sprayed air-freshener!

It’s true, the house smells clean wafting “fresh linens”—distinct arisol-flavoured laundry detergent knockoff so perfumed

with a sickenly sweet taste it burns the hairs in the nose until the scent is all that is left—and the

curtains on the windows are open and the camera can catch no smoke lines or dust floating.

CRIS

(they hand is wet in DEVA’s, it’s truly been years since the house was this terrifying. Sure the nightmares were frequent but you cannot trust a nightmare to be truthful.)

Oh, I don’t think I’m ready, no Deva stop!

It’s too late, the trio is inside the house. The camera follows them in but the door doesn’t slam shut

nor is the place covered in spiderwebs nor is there screams echoing in the distance. It is a, slightly worn, house.

The SUMMERHOUSE remains quiet as they take it in.

The walls are beige and decorated in the typical sea-theme. Seashells hang from twine and

wood taken from the beach nearby, while the floors are painted blue. The camera focuses

on these details for 20 seconds each before moving on, even the furniture is not made for comfort but

rather small cushions adorn birch wood.

DAVE

(unusually calm, perhaps trying to forget the house forced his feet to move.)

Not to make fun of your haunted house, Cris, but this place is pretty nice—if not touristy, it has some charm and the air is warm. I half-expected creatures to be running in the walls and carcasses to litter the floor.

(he flicks one of the seashells and it chimes, someone must have put a bell in them.)

DEVA

(though the fear has left her, she cant let go of her friends’ hands.)

I don’t know, there is a certain staged aspect to this, I mean you read the reviews—this place has been abandoned and the groundskeeper only takes care of the exterior.

DAVE

Is it how you remember, Cris?

(His voice sounds different, higher?)

CRIS

It used to have carpet… and this ugly smoke-stained floral wallpaper. My mom and I spent the entire summer getting rid of it; we worked through nearly nine layers of glue. Now it just seems so… normal.

The SUMMERHOUSE shudders at the praise, it hoped they would be back.

There is nothing tastier than a meat that has been cooking for years, tender and juicy it falls off the bone.

This is the point of no return; tonight DAVE will leave the single room they bunked into and never return.

DEVA and CRIS will search, but the car is gone and a note is left on the kitchen counter “gone for food!”

Hours will pass as they house slowly leaks their brains from their ears, only then will they notice it has been too long.

DEVA will blame CRIS for bringing them here, even if it was her idea to make the trip—

that one psychology course changed her ideology on “bottling-up” trauma.

CRIS will slide down the wall of the bathroom to shake with the weight of losing a friend.

DEVA bangs on the door, no longer herself, calling for her friend to “come out, let’s go explore!”

CRIS will wait until DEVA breaks down the door and drags them down two flights of stairs,

CRIS is unconscious having hit their head several times on the stairs, into the old nursery;

this room knows CRIS. It all happens off-screen as it fades to black, a Tv clicks on amongst the seashells and the blue floor.

NEWSREPORTER

Three unindentified bodies were discovered this morning by a groundskeeper near Windsmuth today. Their bodies were defaced and their bodies charred, it is unknown at this time how the fire started, but the firefighters on the scene assure us there was no fire damage in the house. Here is Ted, the groundkeeper with more.

TED

The first kid, poor thing, I found outside. The body had strings coming from the arms and legs…

(he pauses to gag)

I had the police on the phone when I found the second hanging from the banister of the stairs (tears are streaming down his face at this, he knows the house is listening), the last one though…someone took their time with this one. Limbs and bits of flesh hung from the ceiling fan and blood was splattered everywhere! That’s when I puked, I bent down and just let loose. I must’ve turned my head and found the head watching me from the dresser.

(He is completely hysterical now, shaking and snot drooling down his chin. He will never lose sight of those bodies marred and disentangled from reality that he knew once to be peaceful taking care of an old house… he knew it would always hunger.)

NEWSREPORTER

A truly gruesome fate. Next up, the weather.