FADE UP
| INT. |
LOOKING OUTSIDE A WINDOW |
LATE NIGHT |
Winds blow through the forest trees of Callaway's Woods; partially obstructing the view of the town, Adamsville below.
Agnes Callaway stands in the darkened attic's floor-length window of her mansion, looking down at the lights of AdamsVille.
She gently fondles an old book in her soft hands. She opens to a book marker and reads her favorite passages to herself.
AGNES
(softly)
"The desert mountains and dreary glaciers are my refuge. I have wandered here many days..."
As she continues, a tear falls from her eye. She captures it with a claw-like finger and stares at it, puzzled.
AGNES
"...and the caves of ice, which
I only do not fear, are a
dwelling to me, and..."
NORALYN (O.S.)
(interrupting)
"...and the only one which man
does not grudge."
Frankenstein, chapter twelve?
Agnes smiles but does not move. She expected the old woman to show herself again.
AGNESTen, actually...
Noralyn glides in from the darkness and into the moonlight of the window.
Agnes doesn't move. Noralyn floats beside her to also stare out the window.
NORALYN
How could words of such passion
come from the lips of someone who
claims to be so dispassionate?
AGNES
Words. -- Simply words I can
spurn to appropiate the moment.
Agnes glides from the window and lights a single candle at a dresser. The candlelight casts wicked shadows in all directions.
AGNES
(facing away)
Why have you come at this hour, old woman?
Noralyn simply turns to face Agnes who's silhouette partially eclipsing the large moon.
NORALYN
For the same reason I have come
to you many decades before, child.
AGNES
(smiling)
To stop me?
Agnes turns to face Noralyn. In a display of power, the remaining candles around them explode to life. The display does not impress Noralyn.
The new light reveals the two women to be beautiful in appearance.
AGNES
You haven't learned, have you?
You cannot stop me.
My task is a ‘just’ one.
NORALYN
The senseless deaths of
innocent mortals is not
a righteous task.
AGNES
(biting down)
Innocent mortals? -- You dare
speak the words 'innocent'
and 'mortal' in the same breath?!
As Agnes' rage flares up, an unsettling wind filters through the attic. The candles flutter as she vanishes and instantly appears in front of Noralyn.
Agnes' eyes burn with a sinister red glow, but Noralyn is uneffected. She stares into the crimson storms.
AGNES
You call them innocent,
my sweet Nora?
Her expression turns into uncontrollable anguish.
AGNES
(enraged)
I call them wicked! I call them
vile and corrupt and
wetched for
what they have done to me!
She turns to look out the window toward AdamsVille.
AGNES
Can't you hear them, Nora?
Can't you hear what they call
me? They think they are safe
from my wrath!
Agnes closes her eyes and frowns; she shivers as if struck by an artic wind. She retreats from the window into a corner of the room.
AGNES
(hurt)
They rebuke me like --
like some kind of demon.
She looks over her shoulder at Noralyn.
AGNES
(softly but forcefully)
They call me the devil,
but it is they who are evil.
NORALYN
No, they are merely human...
AGNES
(insulted)
THEY - ARE - EVIL!
The candles explode again with Agnes' coming rage. She trembles from the cold chills. Tears run from her bloodshot eyes.
With a gently breeze, Noralyn glides across the room and rests her hands on Agnes' sholders in comfort.
NORALYN
(softly)
You are not bound to this
world, child. You must let go
of the hate. -- Let go of the rage.
Nora turns Agnes around to face her. Agnes stands about a foot taller than her so she elevates herself to eye level.
AGNES
Why did they do it?
I was not a witch.
I was not a devil.
NORALYN
I know child.
AGNES
(frantic)
I..I told them. I told them
I did not live there.
I told them it was not I who
slaughtered the chldren.
Agnes looks down at her hand as if ashamed of what happened next.
AGNES
(softly)
But they would not listen.
Agnes tries to pull away, but Noralyn follows close to comfort her.
AGNES
(frantic)
They tied me to that
rock and
-- and -- burned me!
