IN WHICH ARE LOGGED THE CONTENTS OF THE SCRAP PAPER BIN OF THE ROSE READING ROOM OF THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY AT 42ND AND 5TH

Friday 2 October 2009

Museum of the Earth

p. 84 of unnamed book

Chapter heading:

THE MUSEUM OF THE EARTH
ITHACA,
NEW YORK

The Museum of the Earth, commissioned by the Paleontological Research Institution, engages the remarkable landforms of the state's Finger Lakes region.

The museum houses one of the nation's largest paleontological collections and demonstrates the intrinsic relationships between geological events and biological evolution. Shifted and carved by a receding ice sheet twenty thousand years ago, the site is marked by a gradual, forty-foot slope. The design capitalizes on this rich condition, making vivid the dynamic interrelationship between biology and geology that is central to the museum's mission.


Approached from the south, a series of sculpted landforms and linear water terraces organize the site and museum into a coherent whole. These ten-foot-high landscaped berms, which recall moraines, define and conceal four distinct parking areas. Precisely graded, the parking areas divert groundwater runoff to groundswales with gravel filters and reintroduced prehistoric grasses such as equisetum, cleansing the groundwater of chemicals and other pollutants. Chennelled into the linear-stepped and stone-lined terrace, water is directed between the two museum wings, where it collects in a reflecting pool. Excess water fills the pool until it overflows into a new wetlands detention basin that calibrates the release of water into nearby Lake Cayuga.

Set into the hillside and adjacent to the existing research facility, the museum is organized into two parallel buildings - a public education wing and an exhibition wing - that are connected below grade...

...of cast-in-place concrete walls, aluminium curtain walls, and standing-seam copper roofs cantilevered over the two wings of the museum. The partially buried structures define the edges of a cascading plaza, extending views to the lake and the surrounding landscape.

The twenty thousand square-foot museum is organized in section to capitalize on the change of grade and provide a varied and spatially rich itinerary for the museum visitor. Just inside the exhibition hall entrance, the lobby takes the form of a bridge leading to a reception area and gift shop. To the left of the bridge, the complete skeleton of a rare Right whale, a contemporary mammal, is suspended above the exhibition area., which is reached by a long ramp. As visitors walk along the ramp they descend in time, passing artist Barbara Page's installation of 543 different panels, each representing one million years of geologic history. On the lower level, the exhibition extends through three geological periods, Devonian, Triassic, and Quaternary; interactive exhibits with more than 650 specimens are on view, including the ancient skeleton of a woolly mammoth.

In addition to innovative water-management strategies, a number of other sustainable initiatives support the pedagogic mission of the museum. The below-grade exhibition hall benefits from thermal insulation achieved by embedding both wings of the complex deep within the earth. Heating and cooling systems for the building are supplemented by geothermal energy provided by two ground-source water...

...hundred feet beneath the earth's surface. This energy is transformed into radiant floor heating in the winter and fed into an air-handling system for heating and cooling year-tound.

The design of the Museum of the Earth capitalizes on ideas of entropy - sedimentation, erosion, and freeze/thaw cycles - that relate to the glacially gouged topography unique to the Finger Lakes region. Rather than considering the site as distinct and separate from the museum, this project creates a ne topography: a continuous, terraced landscape that fuses architecture and ecology into a cohesive expression of the geologic processes involved in the region's formation.

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O River, Wash Over Me

pp 1-81, 100-111 of unnamed screenplay

first scene heading (P. 1):

EXT. FROZEN RIVER-DAY

first full dialogue:

VOICES (O.S.)
O river, wash over me
Spirit, make me thine
Till this earthly part of me
Glows with a fire divine.

Printout undated

Full text:

EXT. FROZEN RIVER - DAY

We TRACK across an expanse of frozen landscape as VOICES SING:

VOICES (O.S.) o river, wash over me Spirit, make me thine

Till this earthly part of me Glows with a fire divine.



TRACK past TWO MEN stooped and chopping at the ice with axes, swings timed to the song's rhythm. Keep TRACKING to find

two dozen CHURCH MEMBERS trudging across the river in their countrified Sunday best, SINGING from open hymnals. Leading are HENRIETTA JAMES, 11 and anxious-looking, and her parents BRAXTON and LISSA, early 30s, holding both her hands.

BRAXTON

It's OK, Henny-penny. Everybody gets a little scared.

HENRIETTA

Did you?

BRAXTON

Sure I did. But I knew my whole life was gonna change, so I was excited, too.

(off her silence)

Don't you think Jesus was scared when he was hangin up on that cross?

HENRIETTA

I guess.

BRAXTON

So it's okay to be scared.

The group reaches the axe-men as they're finishing their work a body-sized HOLE hacked through foot-thick ice.

with an apprehensive SCOWL, Lissa whispers to her husband --

LISSA

Hope you know what you're doin.

EXT. FROZEN RIVER - LATER

Henrietta kneels on a towel at the edge of the hole as a hardbitten preacher, BROTHER VALENTINE, delivers a baritone prayer. Lissa stands near the back with the other WIVES, wringing her hands and murmuring a silent prayer of her own.

VALENTINE

We pray that Henrietta will open her heart to Christ this day.

2.

Open her mind to the Holy Ghost and all its glorious mysteries. And be reborn today in the spirit of God!

ALL

Amen!

They take their hands away. Braxton kneels down next to her.

BRAXTON This is your decision.

HENRIETTA I know. I want to.

BRAXTON (holds up his palm) What do we say?

She high-fives him with gusto.

HENRIETTA

Let the spirit lead the way.

BRAXTON That's my girl.

He strips off her winter coat. Teeth chattering, she stares into

THE ICY HOLE -- the river running dark and muddy inside it.

UNDER THE ICE - MOMENTS LATER

The HOLE an ethereal circle of light shining down into the murk.

Suddenly, silently, HENRIETTA PLUNGES THROUGH IT.

ON THE SURFACE

Henrietta's up to her chest in the water, THRASHING, CRYING OUT IN SHOCK as her sharp, quick breaths crystallize in the cold air.

Braxton and kind-faced DEWEY ROGAN, 40s, squat on either side and hold Henrietta by her arms. Hand atop her head, Valentine SHOUTS to be heard above Henrietta's cries:

VALENTINE

Henrietta James, it is my honor to baptize you in the name of the father, the son and the Holy Ghost!

Lissa averts her eyes as Valentine PUSHES Henrietta underwater.

UNDER THE ICE

Henrietta's face contorts with the freezing shock.

3.

ON THE SURFACE

Valentine HOLDS HER UNDER as Braxton and Dewey grapple her upper arms, the only part of Henrietta still above water.

VALENTINE

We beseech thee, almighty God, to enfold this girl in your arms and show her the light of your truth!

(to Braxton and Dewey) Now pull 'er out!

They pull on Henrietta's arms, but SHE DOESN'T BUDGE.

LISSA (starting to lose it) PULL HER OUT, GODDAMMIT!

They YANK again, but Henrietta stays under. They look panicked.

UNDER THE ICE

Desperate FEAR on Henrietta's face as she's pulled hard in two directions: by her arms over her head and by her ankle, caught in the crook of a BLACK TREE BRANCH below.

She SCREAMS, loosing a storm of AIR BUBBLES, and SWALLOWS WATER.

ON THE SURFACE

The men are frantic. Lissa is crying, hyperventilating.

BRAXTON

She must be caught on something!

DEWEY GIVE US A HAND HERE!

Several MEN rush from the panicked crowd to help.

BRAXTON

PULL, YOU SONSABITCHES, PULL!

The lip around the hole crowds with men, tugging on Henrietta's hands, arms, hair. But the river refuses to give her up.

UNDER THE ICE

The girl is drowning. Going limp, eyes glassing. Her head lolls downward, and IN PLACE OF THE CROOKED BRANCH she sees

A LONG-FINGERED HAND wrapped around her ankle, char-black and connected to AN ARM, human yet impossibly long, branching down into the darkness like the limb of some unseen monster.

Are her dying eyes playing tricks on her?

4.

ON THE SURFACE

Henrietta is suddenly and violently PULLED DOWN, her arms slipping through the men's hands and out of sight.

She's gone. They gape at the swirling water, stunned.

UNDER THE ICE

Henrietta is PULLED DOWN FAST by the branchlike hand around her ankle. Peering fearfully into the dark, her arms trailing above.

ON THE SURFACE

Braxton tears off his coat and DIVES into the hole.

UNDER THE ICE - HENRIETTA

Above her, the circle of light from the surface is almost a pinpoint. Down below --

__ ANOTHER LONG-FINGERED HAND grasps her leg -- then ANOTHER.

She's descending into a nightmarish submarine FOREST OF ARMS, which lead like cables up from the invisible bottom, waving limp in the river's black current.

UNDER THE ICE - BRAXTON

Braxton searches frantically just below the surface. Finally, starting to run out of breath, he spies A HAND.

IT'S HIS DAUGHTER, unconscious, ankle caught in the crook of a tree branch scooting along the river's shallow bottom.

He struggles to dislodge her foot.

ON THE SURFACE

Braxton SURFACES, gasping, with Henrietta. A CHEER goes up.

BRAXTON

TAKE HER! SHE NEEDS HELP!

Valentine and Dewey pull Henrietta out, then Braxton. Lissa, hysterical now, tries to push through the crowd --

LISSA LET ME THROUGH!

__ but the men hold her back. She collapses to her knees, dizzy and sobbing.

5.

UNDER THE ICE - HENRIETTA'S DEATH VISION

Henrietta's descent SLOWS as she approaches A KNOT of arms hundreds of them -- all writhing around something unseen, imprisoned within.

Protruding out from them is A SINGLE WHITE ARM, stark and pale. One by one, the blackened arms begin to PEEL AWAY from the knot, revealing but not releasing the arm's owner --

__ a delicate-featured GIRL about Henrietta's age, eyes gently closed, one arm reaching out vainly toward the light above.

As if hypnotized, Henrietta stretches her hand toward the girl's.

ON THE SURFACE

Lissa's recovering from a FAINT. Dewey bolts for the riverbank.

DEWEY

I'll call an ambulance!

Freezing, hysterical, Braxton begins to give Henrietta CPR.

UNDER THE ICE - HENRIETTA'S DEATH VISION

Her fingers touch the girl's hand.

Lightning-fast FLASH: FIRE, SCREAMS.

THE GIRL'S EYES FLY OPEN and her hand CLOSES around Henrietta's.

ON THE SURFACE

Braxton PUMPS Henrietta's chest, tears streaking his face.

BRAXTON

Don't let my baby die, Jesus (pumps her chest)

... Jesus, don't let my baby die

As he breathes into his little girl's mouth

UNDER THE ICE - HENRIETTA'S DEATH VISION

__ something PULLS HER UP, away from the girl's grasp and this icy netherworld, the arms unraveling themselves from her legs.

She RUSHES toward the shining ice-hole above with amazing speed.

Just as she HITS THE SURFACE --

ON THE SURFACE

Henrietta COUGHS UP WATER, GASPING for breath. SHE'S ALIVE.

6.

BRAXTON

OH THANK YOU, JESUS! OH THANK YOU GOD, THANK YOU, JESUS!

A rush and confusion of relieved onlookers. People bring hotpaks and blankets, wrapping father and daughter up like mummies.

Lissa PUSHES past the men and tears her daughter from Braxton's weakened arms. In shock, holding her child close, she staggers away without looking back, toward the sound of a faraway SIREN.

Shaken and ashamed, Braxton watches his girls walk away.

ON HENRIETTA, bobbing in Lissa's arms. Barely conscious, she STARES AT SOMETHING over her mother's shoulder:

Standing by the hole in the ice is THE GIRL -- soaked in a thin white dress, gazing motionless at Henrietta. There are people all around, but no one seems to notice her.

THE GIRL'S LEG - a long, blackened arm is wrapped around it, trailing back down into the hole in the ice.

INT. DORMITORY BATHROOM - SEVEN YEARS LATER - NIGHT

A communal girls' bathroom, as institutional as they come. Steam billows from a hot shower.

An indistinct FACE in a FOGGED MIRROR. A hand WIPES IT, revealing

HENRIETTA, 18 now and beautiful, bent exhausted over a sink. She douses her face with cold water, trying to wake up.

Everything about her is unintentionally sexy: the homemade Mia Farrow pixie cut; the hand-me-down Army jacket; the hardness in her eyes that hides a secret. And it's not Henrietta anymore -that little girl is long gone -- now she's just HENRY.

Fighting overwhelming drowsiness, she lets out a long breath. Arranged on the counter before her are prescription PILL BOTTLES, a bent spoon, a bottle of energy drink.

Working with quick precision, she shakes a pill from each bottle. Pops a NO-DOZ out of yellow foil. Crushes the pills with the back of a spoon. Corrals the powder into the half-full energy drink, shakes it up. CHUGS IT.

INT. HENRY'S DORM ROOM - NIGHT

Henry's asleep at her desk, head resting on an open textbook. Her eyes dart rapidly under closed lids. Little MOANS.

She's having a nightmare.

PUSH IN on her troubled face as the SOUNDS OF HER DREAM MIX UP:

_ A FIRE. No, an INFERNO -- big and destructive.

7.

- SCREAMING. A chaos of competing voices, in pain. The sounds CRESCENDO, unbearably loud --

-- just as HENRY'S DOOR FLIES OPEN with a BANG.

Henry WAKES UP with a startled SCREAM as TWO FIGURES silhouetted in the doorway SHOUT

FIGURE 1

FIGURE 2

AAH!

JESUS!

One of them flicks on the room's OVERHEAD LIGHTS, revealing

Henry's roommates TARA and KRISSY in the doorway, hands fluttering over heaving chests. W.A.S.P. queens of the highest order.

KRISSY God, you scared me!

TARA

What the hell are you doing in here?

Fighting through a just-woken daze, Henry has to think about it.

HENRY

I was just ... trying to study. Guess I fell asleep.

The girls look at one another skeptically. Krissy noses into Henry's side of the room while Tara changes into party clothes.

KRISSY

It's only the third week of school, are you seriously studying already?

HENRY

Sort of. I can barely keep my eyes open.

Krissy snatches Henry's book. Off its cover --

KRISSY

The Anthropology of Religion:

Perspectives on the Other. Think I found your problem right here.

TARA The other what?

HENRY

It's not a what, it's a who.

TARA

What are you, one of the smart kids?

Beat.

8.

HENRY

Yeah.

Krissy hides a smirk. To Tara

KRISSY

So are we bringing her?

Tara looks pained by the suggestion. Henry's ears perk up --

HENRY

To what?

KRISSY

Your chance to be drunkenly groped by all the right people.

HENRY

I dunno. I'm not a huge partier.

Tara fixes her with a flat stare.

TARA You're kidding.

INT. FRAT PARTY - NIGHT

The place is packed to the rafters. WRITHING BODIES grind as house music pumps and cheap beer flows. A stolen and defaced Welcome Freshmen! banner proclaims Welcome Freshmeat!

In the corner, THREE DKE SENIORS -- dreadlocked pothead KIND JOSH, muscled rugby player STUART and goofy-cute BLAKE -conspire over a freshman facebook while scanning the room.

BLAKE

I hate this song. Why do we always have to play this song?

STUART

Because it makes the fly honeys' asses bounce. As you well know.

KIND JOSH

(pointing across the room) We got a brooder, six o'clock.

ACROSS THE ROOM - HENRY slouches on a sofa next to A COUPLE sucking face, a still point in a sea of motion. The guys look.

STUART

Art rock. Troubled. Crying on the inside.

KIND JOSH

Broken but boneable. Blake, I believe this is your department.

9.

He's already gone, wading through the crowd toward Henry.

THE SOFA - Blake plops down next to her. Shouting above the din:

BLAKE

I'm Blake. You here with anyone?

HENRY

Would that make you go away?

BLAKE

I just wanted you to know, you're kind of hurting my feelings!

HENRY

Wow. We just met and you're breaking up with me already?

BLAKE

Hey, you're funny. I like that.

HENRY

No no, do the rest of your pickup line. Why am I hurting your feelings?

BLAKE

Because I planned this party. And I noticed you don't seem to be having the time of your life right now.

HENRY

Well, my roommates went to get me a drink about 40 minutes ago and disappeared. So I'm alone, not entirely confident that this alcohol they're bringing me -- if they haven't just ditched me altogether -will even be choke-downable, and meanwhile I'm probably getting some kind of necrotizing skin disease from this ratty-ass couch while I wait.

BLAKE

(surprised laughter)

Now you really are hurting my feelings. You sure there's nothing else bothering you?

HENRY

(wincing as if in apology) Actually ... I hate this song, too.

Blake can't help but smile. with practiced speed, he whips out his PDA, punches a few buttons and THE SONG CHANGES.

Henry can't help but be a little impressed. Blake stands, offering his hand with over-the-top chivalry.

10.

BLAKE

Now, milady. Allow me show you where we keep the good stuff.

She hesitates a moment, appraising him. Finally, she shrugs.

HENRY Ah, what the hell.

Henry takes his hand. She looks a little dizzy as the blood rushes from her head. He PULLS HER INTO THE SURGING CROWD.

HENRY'S POV - a blur of sweating bodies. Their hands slip apart and Blake seems to FALL AWAY.

A STROBE LIGHT flashes, hypnotic. Everything spins and melts together in a surreal haze. Henry's eyes glass over.

She stumbles, bouncing off dancers like a pinball.

Amidst the bodies, between the strobe flashes, appear THE ARMS -black, spectral, snakelike.

As inhuman limbs TWIST through the crowd to snatch her --

INT. FRAT HOUSE - BLAKE'S ROOM - EARLY MORNING

__ she WAKES UP SCREAMING in BLAKE'S BED.

Blake JOLTS AWAKE in a sleeping bag on the floor.

BLAKE

What? What's going on?!

HENRY (catching her breath) Where am I? What is this?

BLAKE

It's Blake -- you're in my room. Do you always wake up screaming like this?

HENRY

The fuck am I doing in your room?

BLAKE

I think someone dosed you last night.

She takes a moment to process this.

HENRY

Did what?

BLAKE

Put something in your drink -- sometime prior to you hitting the floor like a bag of wet cement.

-~ --~-~--~-----

11.

Figured you'd rather sleep it off up here than get molested by drunks all night downstairs.

HENRY

Shit. Well -- thank you.

BLAKE

Not at all -- standard practice. Way too early in the year for frosh to start getting date-raped.

(Why did I say that?) Sorry. God. That was not funny.

Weak sunlight peeks through blinds. She peels off the covers.

HENRY What time is it?

BLAKE

(looking at his watch) Uh, ten after ... seven.

HENRY Dammit. I'm late.

She gropes for her glasses, leaps out of bed.

BLAKE

wait a sec, you're gonna miss my legendary hangover-cure breakfast

She heads for the door as he stumbles out of his sleeping bag.

HENRY

Sorry. Gotta go to work.

She dashes out. Stuart pokes his frizzy head into Blake's door.

STUART

No return on your investment, huh?

BLAKE

These things take time.

EXT. COLLEGE CAMPUS - EARLY MORNING

Dawn pinks the stately campus as pockets of tired students herd themselves to early classes.

Henry scurries by in a blind rush, tying on an APRON.

INT. DISHROOM - MORNING

The opulent dining hall's loud, steamy underbelly, employer of townies and work-study students alike.

12.

Henry toils in an apron and hairnet, rinsing an endless stream of DIRTY DISHES that scoot past on a conveyor belt.

Across the room, muscled ARMS lift heavy racks from a huge industrial dishwasher. They belong to REGGIE, mid-30s, a humorless townie with jailhouse tatts and a HEARING AID.

REGGIE (appraising her) Up all night, huh?

He winks at her. She ignores him, grabs a plate from the conveyor. Does a double-take -- someone's written

on the plate in mustard. She rolls her eyes and rinses it off, but the next plate has a MESSAGE too, spelled out in jalapenos:

HOT STUFF

suspicious, she looks down the conveyor belt. Sure enough, coming toward her are five more food-message plates, reading:

She laughs despite herself, bending down to peer through the conveyor porthole to the CROWDED DINING ROOM on the other side.

BLAKE peers back, flashing a shit-eating grin.

INT. DINING HALL - LATER

Breakfast over, the hall is nearly empty. Blake sits on a table, waiting, as Henry emerges through a door marked employees only.

BLAKE

You look good in a hairnet.

HENRY

(removing it, embarrassed) So you're stalking me now?

BLAKE

I have this lunchlady fetish ...

HENRY

I'm not a lunchlady, asshole. (tosses hairnet in his lap) Here, keep this under your pillow.

She starts walking. He follows her.

BLAKE What're you up to?

13.

HENRY

I've got class in 30. How are you at walking and talking?

BLAKE

So good. Jordan-level.

HENRY Oh, really.

BLAKE

I can also climb stairs and stand on one foot.

She laughs. His charm offensive is starting to work.

HENRY

Those're some impressive motor skills, fella.

EXT. CAMPUS - MAIN PATH - DAY

A symphony of green lawns unfold in every direction to meet ivycovered lecture halls and dormitories. Henry and Blake stroll.

BLAKE

So you're from around here?

HENRY

Yep. Just a redneck from down by the river, here to get me some fancy book-larnin'.

BLAKE

I doubt that. Bet you stuck out like a sore thumb in high school.

HENRY

God, I couldn't wait to get out. I used to come up here just to hang out and make-believe I was in college.

BLAKE

Then you're living the dream!

HENRY

I guess it was kinda pathetic

BLAKE

Nah -- at least you wanted to come here. Unlike most of the ivy-league rejects who populate this campus.

HENRY

Is that a confession?

BLAKE

Blake Sinclair senior and Blake Sinclair junior were both Hill College DKEs, so where Blake Sinclair the third wanted to go didn't matter much.

HENRY

Jesus Christ. You're a the-third?

BLAKE

Yeah, well. It's my cross to bear. What about you?

HENRY

My family? God, they're like something out of a horror movie.

BLAKE

Inbred cannibals, huh? I knew you had a dark secret.

HENRY

Worse -- I come from a long line of Jesus freaks. My dad's a preacher. And so was his dad, and his dad.

BLAKE

Uh-oh ...

HENRY

Don't worry, I'm not going to wash you in the blood or anything. I'm about as over that shit as you can get.

BLAKE

And how does dad feel about his daughter attending this palace of sin?

HENRY

We don't really talk about it. In fact, ever since I told him he could stick the idea of me living at home and going to Prosperity Bible College up his holy asshole, we don't really talk about much of anything.

BLAKE Does that bug you?

HENRY

I think he and his church are a bunch of mouth-breathing cretins. They think I'm going to spend eternity drowning in a lake of fire. So, you know. It works out.

BLAKE

I see.

14.

15.

HENRY

Who knows. Maybe they're right.

INT. COUNTRY CHURCH - DAY

Drums and cranked-to-eleven guitar accompany 50 or so CHURCH MEMBERS as they finish a SONG, their creaky voices careening from one note to the next, hands clapping like metronomes.

CHURCH MEMBERS (SINGING) There are those who'll laugh and not believe / until they feel that touch on their sleeve / The Devil had a hold on me, a hold on me ...

Buckling floorboards lead between rough-hewn pews to the front of the church, where a simple riser serves as both stage and altar. Sunlight streams through a giant STAINED GLASS WINDOW.

As the song winds down, BRAXTON leaps onto the stage, mic in one hand and an enormous Bible in the other. The years have been unkind to him: his lean, weathered face is etched with creases, hair swept into the greasy remains of a pompadour.

BRAXTON

People today'll tell you there ain't no demons left in the world! That the only evil spirits you'll find are in the Old Testament!

He paces back and forth like an angry bull, the church members performing an hypnotic call-and-response as he preaches.

CHURCH MEMBERS Help 'em, Lord!

BRAXTON

Well let me tell you somethin. There's darkness at work in this world whether you believe in it or you don't!

(Amen! ) Evil don't care! (NO, Lord!)

We got to guard ourselves against it! (Help us, Lord!)

Got to put on that Holy Ghost armor!

We PAN the angular faces of the congregation. They have the handme-down look of hard-living hill people: women in ankle-length floral dresses, men in polyester and denim.

BRAXTON

They say we're fanatics! (NO, Lord!)

They say we've gone crazy! (NO, Lord!)

Well, they're right!

16.

We've gone Bible crazy -- and I've got the papers here to prove it!

He waves his huge, dog-eared Bible in front of him like a weapon as the crowd ERUPTS into rapturous chaos.

TILT from the crowd to the large STAINED GLASS WINDOW above. At its center, red-orange panes depict a GIANT INFERNO.

The sound of HOT-BURNING FLAMES.

CUT TO:

INT. BURNED CHURCH - THE PAST - DAY

Silence.

The melted remains of a stained glass window.

The camera begins an unbroken POV, walking slowly through the STILL-SMOKING WRECKAGE of the burned church. Looking here and there as snowflakes waft through gaps in the ruined ceiling.

Creeping toward the BAPTISMAL FONT. Blackened, full of snowmelt. Slower as we draw close. One step. Then another.

Just at the edge of hearing, like a bad memory, SCREAMS echo. Growing steadily LOUDER as we lean to peer into THE FONT, overflowing with BLACK WATER --

__ HOWLS that suddenly become UNBEARABLY LOUD as

A BLACKENED HAND rockets out of the water and GRABS OUR ARM.

INT. LECTURE HALL - DAY

Henry JOLTS AWAKE with a GASP --

__ a RED HANDPRINT fading from her arm.

She sits at a desk, disoriented, breathing hard. STUDENTS around her scribble notes as a SLIDE PROJECTOR cycles through images of CAVE PAINTINGS: primitive FACES and crude human FIGURES.

A natty professor in seersucker, EUGENE KULLMAN, 50s, steps into the projector's beam, blocking the screen. Looking right at Henry -

PROFESSOR KULLMAN

Speaking of dreams -- Miss James, now that you're awake, perhaps you can tell us about the function of cave painting in the ancient Americas.

Caught off-guard, Henry fumbles for an answer. All eyes on her.

17.

HENRY

It, uh ... people painted what they saw in life, things that happened to them?

PROFESSOR KULLMAN

I'm afraid you're exactly wrong.

(to the class)

These early painters were seers, not historians. They did their work in profound states of trance, thought to be spiritual journeys, and painted what they saw on cave walls.

Kullman starts to PACE, unblocking the projector's beam.

PROFESSOR KULLMAN

Caves were the cathedrals of the stone age. The cradle of human religion. And the paintings inside them represent everything from horny adolescent graffiti --

SLIDE - a cave painting of a male figure sporting a huge PHALLUS.

PROFESSOR KULLMAN

to humanity's earliest visions of a world beyond our own.

ANOTHER SLIDE - GROTESQUE ARMS reaching upward, primitive black pigment on a red cave wall.

Henry GAPES in shock. They're not exactly like the hands from her nightmares -- but close enough to send a chill down her spine.

The overhead LIGHTS flick on, blanking the projector screen.

PROFESSOR KULLMAN Remember, essays are due next week!

As students file out around her, Henry sits lost in thought.

INT. CLASSROOM BUILDING HALLWAY - MOVING - DAY

An oak-paneled hall lined with trophy cases and old photos. Henry JOGS to catch up with Kullman.

HENRY

Professor Kullman? Sorry to bother you, I just wanted to ask about one of the slides you showed us in class

He doesn't acknowledge her question -- or even slow down.

PROFESSOR KULLMAN

I understand you're here on a rather prestigious academic scholarship, Miss James.

18.

HENRY That's right.

PROFESSOR KULLMAN

Then I trust you're not laboring under the delusion, as many freshmen do, that students who sleep through their classes can also expect to pass them.

HENRY

Not at all, I just --

PROFESSOR KULLMAN That's good. Because I hate to see promising futures go to waste.

He walks off down the hall. Henry stands dumbfounded for a moment, then steels herself and CALLS AFTER HIM:

HENRY

Professor! You said those cave paintings were inspired by spiritual journeys ... to where?

Over his shoulder:

PROFESSOR KULLMAN Where else? The underworld!

INT. PSYCHIATRIST'S OFFICE - DAY

Books and papers piled everywhere, more nest than office. DR. BARRY ROSENBLUM, early 40s in years but early 80s in style, sits at a cluttered desk shuffling through FILE FOLDERS. Henry sits opposite, half-disappeared in a dangerously overstuffed chair.

HENRY

I need something to keep me awake. Something strong.

DR. ROSENBLUM

I hear that from a lot of students, and I tell them all the same thing. Speed is illegal.

HENRY

I'm not here to scam drugs.

DR. ROSENBLUM

We'll see about that. Are you taking any medications at the moment?

HENRY

Propanolol, Trazodone, Remeron, Klonopin. Risperdal for awhile. And Flintstones vitamins.

19.

DR. ROSENBLUM

I'm impressed that you're even coherent right now. What are you being medicated for?

She hesitates.

HENRY

I don't like to talk about it.

DR. ROSENBLUM Then we have a problem.

He waits. Finally

HENRY

I had a bad accident as a kid. After that I started ... seeing things.

DR. ROSENBLUM What sort of things?

INT. GROCERY STORE AISLE - DAY - SILENT FLASH

l1-year-old Henry wanders down a brightly-lit aisle behind HER FATHER. She comes to a tall LOBSTER TANK and peers inside.

Nose to the glass, she watches lobsters skitter. Behind them, BLACK HAIR waves in the tank's artificial current.

HENRY (V. O. )

A girl.

Reveal THE GIRL, pretzeled into the bottom third of the tank, face and hands smashed grotesquely against the inside glass.

The girls SCREAMS. The sound muted by water; a flurry of BUBBLES. Henry stumbles away, eyes rolling back. Every neuron in her brain firing at once.

JARS OF MILK SHATTER in refrigerators. THE TANK SHATTERS. Brackish water and milk swirl together around her feet.

At the end of the aisle, Braxton SPINS to look, mouth agape.

His POV - Henry stands frozen in a soup of glass and liquid, lobsters scurrying in every direction. But THERE IS NO GIRL.

Henry COLLAPSES to the wet linoleum, convulsing. INT. PSYCHIATRIST'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS

Henry gets quiet, shaken by the memory. Rosenblum reads her file.

DR. ROSENBLUM

I see that your mother passed away around that time, as well.

HENRY (bitterly)

You mean killed herself.

DR. ROSENBLUM

Do you think the trauma of that event might've had something to do with your hallucinations?

HENRY

I don't know. Maybe.

DR. ROSENBLUM

And did the medications help?

HENRY

I stopped seeing the girl, and I stopped having seizures, or whatever they were. Instead I had trouble staying awake, concentrating -- which was fine in high school, high school was easy as hell. But now ... I can't be like this anymore. I need some kind of military-grade caffeine pill or something. Or I'm seriously fucked.

He leans forward a bit, very serious.

DR. ROSENBLUM

Henry, the last thing you need is more pills.

HENRY But I can't --

DR. ROSENBLUM

(can't hide his disgust)

You don't put a child with traumainduced hallucinations on meds like these. You put them in therapy.

HENRY

Not in my town you don't.

DR. ROSENBLUM Country doctors. Unbelievable.

HENRY

He was a friend of the family. (her face clouding)

Of my father's.

Reading her chart, troubled --

20.

21.

DR. ROSENBLUM

To make matters worse, someone actually upped your dosages just before you started school here.

HENRY They what?

DR. ROSENBLUM

I'd take you off them today if I could, but going cold turkey after such heavy exposure could be very destabilizing.

Henry stands, trembling with cold anger. Heading for the door --

HENRY

Thanks. That's all I needed to know.

DR. ROSENBLUM Henry, wait. You can't just

But she's gone.

INT. BRAXTON'S HOUSE - HALLWAY - DAY

A PHONE RINGS. An ANSWERING MACHINE on a table blinks to life.

ANSWERING MACHINE

This is Brother Braxton James. I'm not home so leave a message. God bless.

For a moment, silence. Then a SNIFFLE. Finally Henry's voice, shaky from crying, squawks tinny through the speaker.

HENRY (ON ANSWERING MACHINE) I know you're not going to pick up.

I just want you to hear something.

The sound of a TOILET FLUSHING.

HENRY (ON ANSWERING MACHINE) If you thought you could keep me slow and stupid all my life, you were wrong.

(beat, getting angrier)

If you thought you could make me fail so I'd come crying back home, the prodigal fucking daughter begging forgiveness, you were wrong.

The sound of pills rattling. Another FLUSH.

Reveal BRAXTON standing a few feet away, conflicted.

HENRY (ON ANSWERING MACHINE) You don't control me anymore.

22.

In a rush of impulse, Braxton goes for the phone

BRAXTON (INTO RECEIVER) Henrietta!

But he's too late -- a DIAL TONE.

He hangs up slowly. Worry etching his face.

INT. DISHROOM - EVENING

Steam billows from industrial dishwashers.

Mounds of dirty dishes truck toward Henry on the conveyor. She handles them like a pro, rinsing and sorting -- all while SCANNING A TEXTBOOK propped at eye level.

ACROSS THE ROOM - Reggie watches her, subtly impressed.

INT. DORM HALLWAY - NIGHT

Not a creature is stirring, not even a frat boy.

INT. DORM COMMON AREA - NIGHT

A SEXILED GIRL in kitten-themed PJs tosses fitfully on a couch.

INT. HENRY'S ROOM - NIGHT

Tara and Krissy sleep soundly under satin sheets.

Hunched over her desk, Henry burns the midnight oil. She's got three books open and SCRIBBLES FURIOUSLY in a spiral notebook.

EXT. CLASSROOM BUILDING HALLWAY - EARLY MORNING

Nearly deserted; classes don't start for an hour. Wiping sleep from his eyes, PROFESSOR KULLMAN shuffles toward HIS OFFICE.

He sets a small cardboard BOX labeled ESSAYS outside the door, starts to dig in his pocket for keys when

A 20-page PAPER lands in the box. Surprised, he looks up to see HENRY standing before him, chipper and smiling.

INT. FRAT PARTY - NIGHT

Strobing lights, a surging CROWD of revelers.

We PUSH through them to find Henry on her knees, head buried in an enormous cooler filled with icewater and beer cans.

Stuart, Kind Josh and a dozen PLEDGES chant encouragement.

She finally PULLS HER HEAD OUT, soaked from the neck up, a BEER CAN dangling from her teeth by the pull-tab. The crowd goes wild!

23.

stuart and Josh LIFT HER UP and she CROWD-SURFS across the room while sucking down the beer she snagged from the cooler.

Suddenly, ARMS WRAP AROUND HER MIDSECTION, PULLING HER DOWN.

Landing on her feet, she finds herself face to face with BLAKE, smiling and drunk.

HENRY Well, hello there.

INT. BLAKE'S ROOM - LATER

Henry and Blake lie sleepy beneath rumpled sheets, post-coital. Henry giggles quietly to herself. Blake's eyes open a crack.

BLAKE What's so funny?

HENRY I can't sleep!

BLAKE (yawning)

You're cute. But you're nuts.

HENRY

You know what they say -- crazy in the head, crazy in the bed.

He kisses her neck, goes back to sleep. Henry's smile persists.

INT. HENRY'S DORM ROOM - DAY

Henry bursts in, radiating manic energy. Krissy and Tara are in couch potato mode, watching TV on Tara's bed.

HENRY (sing-songy) Bitches, I'm home!

KRISSY Well, look who it is.

TARA

The frat whore du jour.

Krissy and Tara cackle, surprised by their cleverness. Henry ignores them, hits PLAY on the flashing ANSWERING MACHINE.

DR. ROSENBLUM (ON ANSWERING MACHINE) Henry, it's Doctor Rosenblum. Listen,

I know you're upset, but what you're

doing is a supremely bad idea --

Henry hits DELETE. Tara and Krissy exchange a suspicious glance.

24.

TARA

Uh, I hate to sound nosey, but --

HENRY

(changing the subject fast) You guys are boring. Wanna do something fun?

KRISSY Fun like what?

HENRY

I don't know, what do sophisticated city girls like yourselves do for shits and giggles?

TARA

I don't know, what do cousinmarrying townies do?

HENRY (devilish smile)

You really wanna find out?

EXT. WOODS - LATE AFTERNOON

Henry leads the girls along a BARELY-DEFINED PATH up a hill.

TARA

Is this the part where we get buttraped by guys with concave foreheads?

KRISSY

The second we get back to civilization, I'm transferring to NYU.

A BLOOD-CURDLING SCREAM in the distance. Krissy and Tara freeze.

TARA What. The fuck.

KRISSY

Was that.

ANOTHER SCREAM. The girls are about to foul their pants.

HENRY (enjoying this) You'll see ...

EXT. CAVE ENTRANCE - MOMENTS LATER

Rounding a corner, the girls are confronted with

THE MOUTH OF A CAVE. Henry marches right in, then stops, realizing that Tara and Krissy aren't following her.

25.

TARA

Fuck no.

HENRY

It's only for like 40 feet. See the light on the other side?

She points to a glimmer of DAYLIGHT deep inside the tunnel. In reply, Tara does a 180 and marches back into the woods.

HENRY

Did you leave a trail of breadcrumbs, or do you actually remember the way back?

Tara whips out a FANCY PDA.

TARA

My trail of breadcrumbs is a satellite, bitch.

MOVING WITH TARA - she taps a button. Shakes the PDA impatiently. Its screen GOES BLANK, and she STOPS.

TARA

Great.

INT. CAVE TUNNEL - DAY

The girls follow Henry grudgingly through the dim tunnel.

They reach a T -- on one side is A LOCKED GATE that leads deep into the dark heart of the cave system. A sign reads NO ENTRY.

On the other side, DAYLIGHT glares through a CAVE EXIT. Heading toward it they pass -- unseen on a wall high above -- a RED HANDPRINT. Painted in negative. Fading. Ancient.

Finally, they emerge from the cave onto a

EXT. PROMONTORY - CONTINUOUS

-- off of which a fat DKE PLEDGE promptly HURLS HIMSELF. Tara and Krissy listen in horror as his HOWLS grow distant:

PLEDGE

WOOOOOO- HAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

A faraway SPLASH. Peeking over the promontory edge, they see

A WIDE RIVER below -- but no sign of the pledge --

__ until he finally SURFACES, grinning dumbly and GASPING.

A whooping CHEER goes up on an adjacent section of promontory. The girls turn to see

A few DKES and a dozen PLEDGES crowding around a JUMP SPOT.

26.

EXT. JUMP SPOT - CONTINUOUS

Blake and stuart sit on a rock, sipping beer and officiating.

BLAKE

Josh, show 'em how it's done.

KIND JOSH

I can't get my dreads wet, man.

STUART

Then we need a pledge -- Simakis!

Skinny SIMAKIS shuffles his feet and looks at the ground.

SIMAKIS

Ahh, you know me and heights. And water. And leaping off things.

STUART

And chronic masturbation.

Some chuckles.

HENRY (O.S.)

Is there a line for this ride?

Heads turn to see Henry striding confidently toward the jump spot, Tara and Krissy trailing meekly behind.

BLAKE

Sleeping beauty! You came!

Henry peels off her shirt, revealing a bikini top. Kisses Blake.

TARA

Our roommate's about to commit ritual suicide. Who wants to watch?

The crowd CHEERS enthusiastically, parting to let Henry through.

KRISSY

I'll do it if Henry goes first.

Henry pulls off her shoes, flashes Tara a devilish smile and CLAMBERS OVER A GUARDRAIL planted mere inches from the edge.

TARA You're both insane.

Henry hooks her arms around the rail behind her, toes dangling over vertigo-inducing empty space. The guys CHANT --

GUYS

Jump! Jump! Jump! Jump!

ON HENRY - suddenly feeling her nerves. Closes her eyes.

27.

STUART (O.S.) I knew she'd freeze up.

The rhythmic chanting and clapping FADE to a SUBLIMINAL THRUM. The lonely sound of WIND whistling through trees.

Henry starts to SHIVER. A few SNOWFLAKES blow past her face. She opens her eyes slowly.

HENRY'S POV - SNOW BLANKETS THE LANDSCAPE. She looks down.

THE RIVER BELOW IS FROZEN SOLID

-- and in the distance, on the ice, is THE GIRL. Running toward her in blind terror, slipping and sliding.

Henry TREMBLES, paralyzed with fear and freezing cold. Behind her the crowd still CHANTS, but their voices are hollow and faraway-sounding; signals bounced off the moon.

The rumbling thrum of chanting and clapping twists into something more sinister -- a POUNDING from below --

__ of HANDS smashing against the underside of the ice all around the girl as she runs, trying to break through and grab her.

The girl FALLS, skidding to a stop below Henry.

A skin of ICE has formed on the ledge under Henry's feet. HER FOOT SLIPS -- SHE FALLS

__ but CATCHES the lower railing. She hangs by two hands, clinging desperately to the rail.

POV through Henry's dangling feet - the girl struggles to get up. A BLACK ARM BREAKS THROUGH THE ICE below and GRABS her ankle.

GIRL (MOUTHING SILENTLY) HELP ME, HELP ME

HENRY

I can't!

On the ledge, THE CROWD sounds normal again. There's NO ICE anywhere now; only Henry sees the girl and the winter world.

TARA

What the hell is she doing?

BLAKE

Just let go, you'll be fine!

HENRY (voice shaking) I can't, I can't!

QUICK CUTS BETWEEN HENRY'S FROZEN-WORLD POV AND "REALITY"

28.

ON THE FROZEN RIVER BELOW

TWO MORE SPECTRAL ARMS SHATTER through fist-sized holes in the ice, tearing at the girl's hair and dress as she KICKS at them.

ON THE LEDGE

Blake reaches down and GRASPS Henry's forearm. She SCREAMS.

BLAKE Help me pull her up!

Krissy drops to her stomach next to Blake, reaches over the edge and GRABS Henry by the shoulders. Struggles to pull her up.

ON THE FROZEN RIVER BELOW

MORE ARMS PERFORATE THE ICE, wrapping themselves around the girl like boa constrictors -- finally PULLING HER UNDER.

ON HENRY

Her eyes ROLL BACK in her head. She goes limp, Krissy and Blake the only things keeping her from falling.

One of the BLACK ARMS from below GRAPPLES onto Henry's leg -climbing her -- as Krissy reaches down further to pull Henry up.

Feeling the dead hand, Henry begins to SCREAM, SHAKE and KICK. Blake struggles against her movement, almost losing his grip.

The DEAD HAND creeps up Henry's back --- and GRABS KRISSY'S ARM.

Krissy PULLS AWAY, gasping as if snakebite A HAND-SHAPED BURN blacking her arm.

Henry's weight is too much for Blake. She PLUMMETS ICEWARD ... but SHE HITS WATER, NOT ICE, her limp body doing an horrendous, echoing BELLY FLOP into the river.

Silence. The crowd gapes at the foaming spot where she fell.

STUART

Well Jesus, someone go get her!

INT. RIVER - UNDERWATER - SAME

Henry limp and sinking fast, staring blankly into the void.

Suddenly A HAND GRABS HER ARM. She TWISTS, SCREAMING --

__ but IT'S ONLY BLAKE, his reassuring face urging her upward.

29.

EXT. RIVERBANK - NIGHT

Everyone huddles around a BONFIRE, drying off and getting lit. Henry sits damp and shivering on a log next to Blake, his jacket around her shoulders. Approaching from the woods, VOICES SHOUT:

TARA, STUART AND JOSH KRISSY! KRISSY!

They stumble out of the dark, beer and flashlights in hand.

STUART

No sign of her. She probably just went back to her room.

TARA (incredulous) In the dark? Alone?

JOSH

She's got her phone -- if she was in trouble she would've called.

TARA

Then why isn't she answering it?

HENRY

I'm sure she's fine.

Tara chucks her half-empty beer into the fire.

TARA

She would be if you hadn't dragged us out here. Psycho hillbilly bitch.

HENRY (standing up to go) Fine, I'm out of here.

BLAKE

Henry, wait. She's drunk.

TARA

Yes I am. But she is batshit loco and should be in a medical single. You all saw what happened earlier.

BLAKE

At least let me walk back with you. I'll get your stuff.

He goes to grab her wet shorts, draped over a nearby rock

and finds KRISSY looming in the outer dark, motionless.

BLAKE God, you scared me!

30.

TARA Krissy? Is that you?

Krissy moves past Blake, a strange, hollow-eyed expression glazing her face. She comes into the flickering light, revealing her disheveled state -- clothes streaked with mud, hair wild, scratches raking her arms and face. Shocked MURMURS from the boys.

TARA

Omigod, what happened? Are you OK?

Krissy stares into the fire. Then, in a flat, croaking monotone --

KRISSY

She needs your help, Henry.

Henry stares, breathless, a chill running through her. As the others exchange baffled glances, Krissy repeats --

KRISSY

She needs your help, Henry.

STUART

What's going on here? Is this a joke?

KRISSY

It's cold down there, Henry. She's stuck and she needs your help.

Tears stream down Krissy's expressionless face. Tara grabs her, hysterical. Shakes her.

TARA

What happened? Who did this to you?

Stuart pulls Tara away, trying to calm her.

STUART

Just let her be for a minute.

KRISSY

A girl.

TARA

A girl -- what girl?

KRISSY

Henry's friend. The girl in the river.

Henry's jaw drops. Krissy looks straight at her. Through her.

Krissy's lips move soundlessly, as if she's forgotten how to speak. Her EYES ROLL BACK and she goes ragdoll limp, FAINTING

BLAKE CATCH HER!

31.

-- but before anyone can react, she FALLS INTO THE BONFIRE.

A PLUME OF SPARKS EXPLODE as flaming logs collapse under her.

STUART

GET HER OUT, GET HER OUT!

The guys BURST INTO ACTION - Stuart and Simakis YANK HER OUT by the legs, LIFTING Krissy onto a blanket a few feet away.

KIND JOSH What the fuck happened?

BLAKE

Water! SOMEONE GET WATER!

Krissy's eyes flutter. She's soot-blackened, half-conscious.

Simakis pours bottled water gently over her face. Black ash runs off in rivulets. Stuart bends to her tenderly, voice shaking --

STUART

Krissy, say something ...

She raises a weak hand to her face, pressing it against her filthy, reddened cheek.

KRISSY

Am I ...

She pulls her hand away. MELTED SKIN PULLS WITH IT.

STUART Oh, Jesus Christ!

SIMAKIS (stumbling away) I'm gonna be sick •..

Krissy SHRIEKS WITH PAIN AND PRIMAL FEAR. CLAWS AT HERSELF.

KRISSY

QH GQD GET THEM OFF ME GET THEM OFF

The boys scramble to HOLD HER ARMS. Horrified, Henry covers her ears and DASHES into the woods

EXT. WOODS - MOVING - NIGHT

__ TUMBLING through the dark as fast as her legs will take her. Ducking under low branches. Underbrush lacerating her arms.

INT. HENRY'S ROOM - NIGHT

Henry BURSTS into her empty room, red-faced and panting.

Snatches her purse from the desk and plucks out the PRESCRIPTION BOTTLES. popping them open, she finds only PILL DUST.

32.

She DUMPS the purse, searching its contents like an addict after a fix. Finds half a broken pill and dry-swallows it, wincing.

Suddenly, Henry's DOOR FLIES OPEN -- it's Blake.

BLAKE'S POV - Henry tipping a pill bottle into her mouth.

BLAKE What are you doing?!

Ignoring him, Henry drops to all fours and feels desperately around under her desk -- then under her bed -- for stray pills.

HENRY

There's gotta be more ...

BLAKE Stop it! Just stop!

She's losing it, searching like mad. He grabs her. A STRUGGLE.

HENRY It's my fault!

BLAKE

You need to calm down!

She knocks over the desk chair, arms flailing. Hyperventilating.

HENRY

Why won't she leave me THE FUCK ALONE!

He holds her arms. She finally quits struggling.

BLAKE

Get ahold of yourself! Listen to me! What happened back there -- it had nothing to do with you, alright?

HENRY

Yes it did -- you don't understand

BLAKE

Then make me understand. I can't help if you won't tell me what's going on.

Henry collects herself. Wipes her teary face on her shirt.

HENRY I know. I know.

(a shaky breath)

I'd say you'll think I'm crazy, but it's probably too late for that.

BLAKE

I would never say that about you.

33.

She looks him in the eyes. Decides to take a chance.

HENRY

Ever since my accident, I've been seeing this little girl. Reaching out to me for help from ... I don't know where. A bad place. But I never thought she was real. When I started taking meds, I learned to just ignore her. Tune her out.

(with a twinge of guilt)

I'd have nightmares sometimes. About her, calling to me. But that was it. I know this sounds ridiculous.

BLAKE No, it doesn't.

HENRY

Then a few days ago, I went off the meds. Cold turkey. I just couldn't sleepwalk through my life anymore, you know? And it's been amazing, Blake, like my whole brain has just been ... waking up ...

(beat)

But today I saw her again. In the river. But it wasn't like in a dream -- for the first time in years, she was really ... there.

(haunted)

I know because Krissy saw her, too.

BLAKE How do you know?

HENRY

What she said. The look in her eyes. Like this girl got inside her.

BLAKE

It was definitely freaky.

HENRY

She's real, Blake, and somehow she's connected to me. I can't ignore her anymore.

BLAKE

Who is she then? What does she want?

HENRY

I don't know. But I have to find out.

Blake nods slowly, considering. Henry fiddles with the hem of her shirt. Nervous about what she's going to say next.

34.

HENRY

I don't know who else to trust. will you help me?

BLAKE Of course.

She hugs him, shaking with relief.

BLAKE

When's the last time you saw her?

On Henry, remembering --

INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - SEVEN YEARS AGO - NIGHT

Soft blue light and the whir of machines. It's very late. ll-YEAR-OLD HENRY endures a fitful sleep under thin sheets. Her mother sits folded into an uncomfortable chair nearby, snoring.

Henry's eyes flutter open. She SITS UP suddenly. Her eyes go to THE WINDOW, heavily fogged, in which a MESSAGE has been traced, clumsily and backwards, from the other side of the glass:

HELP ME HENRY HELP ME

Henry's breathing quickens. She peels back the covers, climbs slowly out of bed. Pads toward the window, then STOPS HALFWAY

-- A FACE PEERS IN from the other side. unmoving, blurred by the fog, but definitely STARING AT HER.

Young Henry starts to hyperventilate. Barely manages a WHISPER:

HENRY

What happened to you?

Reflected in the glassy whites of Henry's eyes: A FIRE.

She moves toward the window again, utterly hypnotized. The face in the fogged glass SINKS further out of view with each step.

Henry reaches the pane, clears away the fog with her hand.

THERE'S NO ONE OUTSIDE -- just ten stories of vertiginous empty space between Henry and the ground.

Snow flutters past the window as she stares into late-night nothingness, vainly trying to glimpse something, anything --

-- when an impossibly long ARM ROCKETS up from nowhere and SMASHES THE WINDOW, Henry SCREAMING as glass and snow SHOWER in.

Lissa WAKES with a start, shouting, falling out of her chair.

35.

Her daughter lies prone on the floor, glass everywhere. She scrambles to Henry's side. Looking in her child's eyes

LISSA

Baby, are you hurt? Say something!

Henry's expression is BLANK, her mouth working soundlessly. Lissa takes the girl in her arms, desperate.

LISSA Sweetie, wake up!

Henry's EYES ROLL BACK. She CONVULSES gently in her mother's arms.

Lissa is horrified. A deer in headlights.

A COLD WIND blows in from the broken window and Lissa looks up sharply, as if someone had called her name.

She pales, staring at SOMETHING beyond the window.

A SHADOW passes over her face. She reaches out, hypnotized.

INT. HOSPITAL HALLWAY - THE PRESENT - DAY

A DOCTOR washes BLOOD from gloved hands at a scrub-up station. Blake and Henry wait nearby, Henry outfitted in a plastic gown, gloves, rubber cap and shoe-covers. To Henry, over his shoulder:

DOCTOR

It's good you came. Her mother's flying in tonight, but you're the only one she's been asking for.

HENRY How is she?

He strips his gloves into a bio-waste can. Starts walking fast. They FOLLOW HIM down a busy hallway.

DOCTOR

Krissy sustained third-degree burns over 40% of her body. We're treating her for an infection-induced fever and giving her narcotics for pain management. So you'll understand if she's not feeling quite ... herself.

Blake and Henry exchange a look.

DOCTOR

Can you handle the sight of blood?

HENRY I think so ...

36.

DOCTOR

Good.

They reach a door marked BURN UNIT.

DOCTOR

Then you should be able to handle the smell.

He hurries off. Henry looks at Blake, apprehensive.

BLAKE You'll be fine.

HENRY

I just need you to believe me.

BLAKE I'm trying.

He KISSES her. She goes in.

INT. KRISSY'S ROOM - BURN UNIT - CONTINUOUS

Henry enters tentatively. The rhythmic sound of a VENTILATOR and the WHIR of a large air purifier fill the room. A half-drawn PRIVACY CURTAIN around the bed obscures the patient's face.

Henry inches forward, afraid of what she might find.

A penetrating SMELL hits her. She grimaces, covers her nose.

Reveal SOMEONE in the bed - an unrecognizable nightmare of ruin:

Brackish gray blood OOZES through bandages wrapped like a mummy. ONE GOOD EYE stares unblinking at Henry. A BREATHING TUBE in the patient's nose forces ragged BREATHS from a slack mouth. The arms are strapped to the sides of the bed, hands clenching and unclenching as if trying to grasp something just out of reach.

Henry recoils. Steals a glance at the CHART hanging nearby:

KRISSY REGAN

It's her. Henry's eyes well with hot, guilty tears. Krissy just stares, her good eye tracking Henry impassively.

Henry pulls herself together. Trying to sound normal:

HENRY

I tried to sneak in your fashion magazines, but I guess they're total germ Nazis here.

(nervous little laugh)

That's a good thing though, right?

37.

KRISSY

I've been waiting for you -(ventilator breathes in) -- a long time.

Krissy's voice is nearly unrecognizable; a strange CROAK interrupted by the unnatural rhythm of her ventilator.

HENRY

I'm so sorry. I came as soon as I could.

(an awkward beat) They treating you okay?

KRISSY You have to save me (ventilator)

-- from this awful place.

HENRY

We'll make sure they take good care of you, I promise.

KRISSY It's cold here. (ventilator) It's dark.

Henry leans in, squeezes Krissy's hand gently. In a low voice

HENRY

Krissy ... I need you to tell me what happened to you down by the river. (whispered)

I need to know about the girl.

A strange SMILE blooms on Krissy's face, and without warning she GRABS HENRY'S WRIST with a grip so hard it's PAINFUL.

KRISSY I'm so happy -(ventilator)

you can finally hear me -(ventilator)

Henrietta.

A chill runs through Henry. This isn't Krissy she's talking to.

HENRY Who are you?

Something WRIGGLES beneath Krissy's sheets. Henry tries to pull her hand away, but the bedridden girl's grip is like IRON.

PUSHING UP from under the sheets -- wet, squirming FORMS bleed black stains through white cotton to spell, for a brief moment

38.

-- then wriggle out of shape, turning like SNAKES as Krissy lets out a gurgling CRY and her eye ROLLS BACK in her head.

Adrenaline pumping, Henry YANKS her arm away so hard she almost pulls Krissy out of bed, but FREES HERSELF, tripping backward.

THE SHEET FALLS AWAY, partially revealing

CHARRED ARMS wrapped around Krissy, squeezing the life out of her.

HENRY

WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?

Her hands struggling desperately against their restraints, Krissy SHOUTS IN A VOICE NOT HER OWN --

KRISSY

OUT OF THE DARKNESS, INTO THE LIGHT! I SLEEP IN THE RIVER OF ENDLESS NIGHT! OUT OF THE DARKNESS --

She lapses into SEIZURE as TWO NURSES charge into the room. One holds Krissy while the other INJECTS HER -- and she GOES SILENT.

Stumbling toward the door, Henry casts a quick look back

THE ARMS ARE GONE.

INT. HOSPITAL HALLWAY - MOMENTS LATER

Henry CRASHES into the hallway, disoriented. BLAKE GRABS HER.

BLAKE

Are you alright? What happened?

Henry throws her arms around him, sobbing. He holds her, baffled, until she loosens her grip on him, looks him in the eyes.

HENRY

Lucy.

(a shaky breath) Her name was Lucy.

INT. ANCIENT ELEVATOR - NIGHT

An ancient, creaking elevator rattles its way down, down, down. Henry and Blake stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the tiny car.

THUMP. The car rocks, but keeps descending.

HENRY

God, I hate elevators.

with a piercing squeak, the car stops and its doors slide open.

39.

INT. LIBRARY SUBSTACKS - CONTINUOUS

They emerge into a dungeon-like maze of BOOKSTACKS. Blake pulls

a folded-up library map from his pocket just as A VOICE croaks --

VOICE (O.S.) Excuse me!

Henry and Blake turn to see JEREMIAH, an embittered, pony-tailed grad student who looks like he's been down here for years. He sits inside a caged carrel labeled HELP DESK.

JEREMIAH

You can't have those bags in here. Or fountain pens, food or cellphones.

Henry hands over her bag while Blake unfolds the map.

BLAKE

I wonder if you could help us out.

We're looking for some information on --

JEREMIAH

Do I look like a librarian?

Blake and Henry look at one another. What's this guy's problem?

BLAKE

You don't work here?

JEREMIAH

Yeah, I work here. On my book-length graduate thesis. Not on helping lazy under grads find ...

He rolls his hand in the air dismissively. Henry takes his cue --

HENRY A dead person.

Jeremiah's ears prick up. He laughs weirdly, grabs the map.

JEREMIAH

Why didn't you say so? You're looking for Archives D. Tax maps, obits, death certs ... not exactly beach reading.

He points to an indecipherable SMUDGE on the map.

JEREMIAH

D's pretty hairy, though. Not too well organized.

(leans forward, quieter) What kind of dead person you looking for, exactly?

Henry and Blake exchange another glance. Can we trust him?

40.

INT. LIBRARY SUBSTACKS - MOVING - LATER

Henry and Blake follow Jeremiah through the dank stacks,

JEREMIAH

Might've died in a fire, might've been a student, might've been named Lucy. Doesn't exactly narrow it down.

They round a corner, come to a shelf loaded with BOXES.

JEREMIAH

But if your girl kicked this mortal coil any time in the past century, she'll be in one of these boxes.

Blake helps Jeremiah lift one of the boxes onto the floor. Opening it, we see that it's brimming with MICROFILM CANNISTERS.

JEREMIAH

I assume you know how to use a standard Bell and Howell microfiche reader?

BLAKE

Shit, we'll be here all night.

JEREMIAH

Pimpin' ain't easy, friend.

Jeremiah slaps Blake on the back and slips away into the stacks. Blake and Henry regard the boxes with dread.

HENRY

So how do you want to do this?

BLAKE

You know what? I got it.

HENRY

Not in a million years!

BLAKE

How many days since you slept?

HENRY

Uh -- three? I think?

BLAKE

Exactly -- you're no good to anybody. Go get some rest, doctor's orders.

She hugs him. They kiss.

HENRY

You're a lifesaver. Even if you don't believe me yet.

41.

BLAKE

Hey, I'm working on it.

Henry starts walking. Then, over her shoulder --

HENRY

Some guys really will do anything for pussy.

BLAKE

For the right pussy? Yeah.

INT. PARKED CAR - CAMPUS - NIGHT

A SHADOWY FIGURE in the driver's seat watches HENRY exit the library. She joins the lonely MAIN PATH that leads to her dorm.

EXT. MAIN PATH - CONTINUOUS

Henry trudges through pools of deep shadow between streetlights. The FIGURE appears some distance behind her, walking fast. Henry hears his heavy footsteps and glances back. Walks a little faster.

The figure speeds up. Half-jogging.

Henry fumbles in her purse for something -- PEPPER SPRAY. Grips it in a clenched fist, at the ready.

Drawing closer, the man finally CALLS OUT --

MAN

HENRIETTA! We got to talk!

Henry breathes an irritated sigh of relief. IT'S HER FATHER.

HENRY

(over her shoulder)

I've got nothing to say to you!

She doesn't slow. JOGS toward her brightly-lit DORM up ahead.

BRAXTON

Listen to me, you got to keep takin' those pills!

HENRY

I'm done taking orders from you!

Desperation tinging his voice --

BRAXTON

I heard about what happened to your friend. You think it's a coincidence?

Henry STOPS in front of the door to her dorm, pissed. He's touched a raw nerve. Turning to face him

42.

HENRY

For the first time in my life, I'm close to figuring out what's wrong with me. And I'm not running away from it now.

BRAXTON (threatening)

You're making a big mistake.

She SWIPES her KEYCARD and SLIPS INSIDE the dorm lobby. Through the closing door--

HENRY

Save the sermon for your sheep.

The door SLAMS in Braxton's face. He tries the handle -- LOCKED. He BANGS ON THE GLASS as Henry walks away. She doesn't look back.

INT. LIBRARY STACKS - NIGHT

We CREEP through the claustrophobic stacks. Ceiling pipes leak into buckets. The sewing-machine WHIR of a microfilm reader.

BLAKE is wedged into a microfilm reader cubby, scanning through page after page, fighting sleep. He's about to call it quits when

SOMETHING GRABS HIS ATTENTION. He hits PRINT on the reader.

THE PAGE as it's being printed - a very old black-and-white PHOTO of the still-smoking RUINS OF A BURNED BUILDING.

FADE TO:

EXT. BURNING CHURCH - 1880 - NIGHT

CLOAKED FIGURES stand silhouetted against FLAMES pouring from the church's roof. Watching it BURN as a gentle snow falls.

SCREAMS ring out from inside. Unheeded.

THE STAINED GLASS WINDOW - A MISSING PANEL

Just big enough for A GIRL trapped inside to press her face through, gulping the freezing night air in panicked breaths.

IT'S LUCY. Scared out of her mind.

INT. HENRY'S ROOM - NIGHT

The door swings open. Tara stumbles into the dark room, drunk. She kicks the door closed, throws an empty beer can toward the trash -- misses -- and FLOPS into her bed, instantly asleep.

In the other bed, HENRY lies rigid, dreaming with her eyes open. Her breathing heavy and ragged.

43.

On her face - the sound of an INFERNO mixes up. It's HER DREAM.

Metal and glass objects in the room begin to RATTLE - the lamp on Henry's desk, the window in its frame. The glass bead of the SPRINKLER HEAD in the ceiling.

INT. BURNING CHURCH - 1880 - NIGHT

The fire RAGES nearby as Lucy tries desperately to BREAK OTHER PANES out of the stained glass window -- just enough to escape.

Behind her, several YOUNG MEN stalk her like animals in sootblackened uniforms. Leering at her with pure, insane HATRED. They don't care if they die here -- as long as she dies, too.

She turns. Before she can run, they DESCEND upon her, howling.

INT. HENRY'S ROOM - NIGHT

Metal and glass objects rattle violently. Henry's EYES ROLL BACK.

The SPRINKLER HEAD SHATTERS --

-- and COLD WATER FLOODS DOWN as the FIRE ALARM SHRIEKS to life.

Tara bolts upright in bed, shocked and wet.

TARA

What the fuck what the fuck!

She sees Henry -- still in bed, still dreaming.

TARA Henry, wake up! Fire!

Tara leaps out of bed, sputtering, shielding her face from the water raining down. Henry's eyes flutter but she doesn't move.

TARA

GET UP, YOU CRAZY BITCH!

In the corner of her eye, Tara sees SOMETHING MOVING under Henry's bed. She bends down and cocks her head.

A LITTLE FACE. A little girl, cowering under the bed. LUCY.

Tara's jaw drops. She stares as Lucy reaches out her hand, pathetic, wordlessly begging for help.

TARA

How'd you get in here, sweetie?

She moves closer. Drops to her knees. Lucy is crying.

44.

TARA

Take my hand. Come with me, it's gonna be okay.

Tara reaches out for Lucy's hand. But before she can touch it,

A BLACKENED ARM rockets out and GRABS Tara's hand.

She SCREAMS and pulls away, launching herself backward across the floor. Eyes wide with animal fear. Her own hand BLACKENING.

MORE ARMS slither toward her from under the bed.

Whimpering, Tara gets to her feet -- water pooling everywhere -and RUNS OUT THE DOOR.

INT. DORM HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS

Tara SPRINTS down the empty hallway, stomping through DEEP PUDDLES, lights flickering, fire alarm wailing.

She's the only one in the hall. Where is everyone?

Tara reaches the elevator at the end of the hall. Desperately punches the call button, breathing hard, looking over her shoulder for anything that might be coming after her.

TARA Come on, come on!

Finally, the doors open. Still looking behind her, she steps ln

-- but there's NO ELEVATOR CAR, and she FALLS SCREAMING INTO THE DARK SHAFT, tumbling through black space, and then

SPLASH -- two floors down she hits WATER. THE SHAFT IS FLOODED. Tara thrashes to the surface, gulping air in the near-dark.

BLACK ARMS come out of the water all around her. Wrap themselves around her chest. Her face. PULL HER UNDER.

INT. HENRY'S ROOM - NIGHT

An R.A. bursts into the room and SHAKES HENRY in her bed.

R.A.

FIRE ALARM! GET UP!

Henry JOLTS AWAKE. Realizes where she is.

INT. DORM HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS

Henry runs down the hall, CROWDED WITH BLEARY-EYED STUDENTS.

The hall is dryas a bone. Henry's is the only room getting wet. She follows people through a door marked EMERGENCY STAIRS.

45.

EXT. DORMITORY - LATER

Crowds of tired FRESHMEN congregate, made temporarily homeless by the alarm. Henry talks to a FIRE MARSHAL.

FIRE MARSHAL

We can't let you sleep in your room tonight. Anywhere else you can stay?

Henry nods groggily.

INT. FRAT HOUSE COMMON AREA - EARLY MORNING

BANG BANG BANG. Someone pounding on the front door. Stuart stumbles toward it, half-asleep. YANKS the door open.

It's HENRY, wet and shivering. He BELLOWS into the house:

STUART BLAKE! BOOTY CALL!

INT. BLAKE'S ROOM - LATER

Pacing in Blake's DKE sweater, Henry talks a mile a minute. Blake sits on the edge of his bed, hazy with sleep.

BLAKE

wait, there was a fire in your dorm?

HENRY

No no, I saw a fire but wasn't really a fire was a fire alarm

there

well, there

BLAKE Wait a minute --

-- but I a fire not in my

HENRY

mean there was at some point dorm, but --

definitely -- I mean,

BLAKE

You gotta slow down. You're making me dizzy.

HENRY

Sorry.

She quits pacing, plants herself in front of him.

BLAKE

So Lucy wasn't in a fire?

46.

HENRY

She was in it, but so were a lot of other people. Crazy people. And I think they're who killed her!

Blake's eyes widen a bit. He mutters aloud, mind racing:

BLAKE

OK, wow. That's interesting ...

HENRY

What?

BLAKE

This is all kind of making sense now.

HENRY

Blake, don't fuck with me! What did you find out?

Blake grabs his messenger bag, pulls out a stack of MICROFICHE PRINTOUTS and rifles through them.

BLAKE

So check this out. Back in the 1840s, Hill College started out as a seminary. To train preachers to go out and tame the Indian savages with Christianity or whatever.

He pulls out a copy of an OLD PHOTO -- young men in black seminary clothes BUILDING A CHAPEL. A river runs behind them.

BLAKE

But around 1880, the school's chapel burned down -- with something like 30 people inside. Still the worst tragedy in Hill College's history.

He hands her a printed PHOTO of THE CHAPEL'S CHARRED RUINS.

HENRY Holy shit.

BLAKE

Yeah. But that's not even the weirdest thing. Apparently, a few months before the fire, seminary students started going insane.

He hands her a printout of a NEWSPAPER CLIPPING from 1881. The headline reads Hysteria to Blame in Unexplained Chapel Fire?

BLAKE

Babbling, hurting themselves. Just a few of them at first -- until it started to spread.

47.

HENRY

Like what -- mass hysteria?

BLAKE

Probably, except back then they didn't have a word for it. In fact, they thought it might be contagious. So the powers that be quarantined the crazies in the most secure building on campus.

HENRY The chapel.

BLAKE

Exactly.

Hands shaking, Henry picks up the first photo, of the seminary boys working. They pose woodenly for the camera with tools. There's something EERILY FAMILIAR about everything from

THE BOYS' FACES to their homespun black UNIFORMS.

HENRY

(a freaked-out whisper) It's them. They killed her.

BLAKE

You're right. This explains everything.

She embraces him, voice quavering:

HENRY

Thanks for believing me. You don't know how much it means.

He disengages from the hug, takes her gently by the shoulders. This is really painful for him.

BLAKE

What I believe is that you grew up two towns away, and sometime in the last fifteen years, you heard this story. Maybe even saw these pictures.

HENRY No! I didn't!

BLAKE

You don't remember. But you did.

She jerks away from him and stands up, pissed.

HENRY

Fuck off! Then how do you explain LUCY, is she just a repressed memory, too?

48.

BLAKE

I don't know. I couldn't find anything on her -- no death record, no obituary, nothing.

HENRY

That doesn't mean she never existed!

BLAKE

Henry, we're talking about an allmale seminary. There wasn't a teenage girl within fifty miles!

HENRY

(close to tears)

You don't know what it's like! To have this girl suddenly just appear in your life out of nowhere, and she's in trouble, something terrible happened to her, she needs help -- and you want to help her, but you don't know how.

BLAKE

I know exactly what that's like.

All the fight seems to drain out of Henry. She sags.

HENRY

Jesus, listen to me. You're right. This is fucking crazy.

BLAKE

I never said that. Just sit down, will you?

HENRY

No, I ... I think I'm gonna go.

She moves toward the door. Blake starts to follow.

BLAKE

Henry, I want to help. Please.

HENRY

I'm only losing my mind, Blake. I don't need your help with that.

He watches her go, befuddled and regretful. INT. KULLMAN'S OFFICE - DAY

Bizarre-looking Native American artifacts bedeck the walls. Kullman listens to jazz while grading papers at his desk.

A KNOCK at the door.

49.

PROFESSOR KULLMAN Come on in.

HENRY opens the door a crack, sticks her head in.

HENRY

You wanted to see me?

Kullman instantly SOURS, silences his music.

PROFESSOR KULLMAN Ah, right. Take a seat.

She does. He pulls her ESSAY out of a desk drawer.

KULLMAN

You need to explain this.

HENRY What? It wasn't good?

(off his stony silence)

I'm sorry -- I've been going through some heavy stuff lately.

PROFESSOR KULLMAN

I'm sure you have. But it's not your dismal performance in my class that concerns me.

(flatly)

Miss James, I need to know how you got through the gate.

HENRY

The what?

PROFESSOR KULLMAN The gate to the Indian caves. Which one of my irresponsible teaching assistants let you in?

HENRY

I'm sorry, I don't understand.

He's losing his patience.

PROFESSOR KULLMAN

Do you even know what you turned in?

He nods toward the essay. She picks it up, flips through it.

It starts off as a neatly handwritten essay, but gradually her tidy script becomes less readable --

-- then becomes an illegible SCRIBBLE.

A few pages later, the scribbles become almost HIEROGLYPHIC.

50.

Henry's HANDS SHAKE as she turns to the FINAL PAGE. It isn't filled with words at all, but compulsive little PICTOGRAMS, repeated ad infinitum, of grasping HANDS connected to twisting, knotted ARMS. Clogging the page.

She looks up at him, tears welling. Baffled.

PROFESSOR KULLMAN

You're telling me you've never been inside the Indian caves by the river. Never seen the paintings.

HENRY

I -- I thought I was writing words ...

Kullman stares at her, unconvinced. Awkward silence. He pulls an 8x10 PHOTO from his desk and slaps it down in front of her.

KULLMAN

My team discovered these inside the caves last year. They've been carbondated to the late stone age -- three times older than the pyramids.

THE PHOTO - Kullman in caving gear stands in front of an enormous CAVE WALL. Behind him, rendered in ochre and black, is a giant, primitive PAINTING OF IMPOSSIBLY LONG, TANGLED ARMS

-- dozens of them, reaching 30, 40 feet toward the ceiling. THEY LOOK ALMOST EXACTLY LIKE HENRY'S DRAWING.

PROFESSOR KULLMAN This hasn't been published yet, Miss James. Do you understand?

I need to know where you saw this.

Henry stares, dumbstruck. He finally reaches over and pulls it back to his side of the desk. She looks at him, hesitating.

HENRY In my dreams.

Kullman balks, then turns back to his pile of essays.

PROFESSOR KULLMAN

I don't have time for this. You've got until Friday to turn in a makeup essay. Typed.

Henry stands to go, confused and freaked out.

HENRY

It won't happen again. I promise.

SHE GOES. When the door closes behind her, Kullman picks up her essay again. Runs his finger over her drawings. Fascinated.

51.

INT. HOSPITAL - EXAM ROOM - DAY

Henry stands behind a screen, changing into a thin HOSPITAL GOWN. A NURSE pops her head through the door, rattling some PILLS in a Dixie cup.

NURSE

Henry? Got your medication here. And when you're all changed, the doctors are ready for you.

Henry reaches around the screen and takes the cup.

HENRY

Thanks. I'll just be a sec.

The nurse leaves. Henry hesitates, looks suspiciously at the pills in her hand. Finally --

HENRY Oh, fuck it.

She POPS THE PILLS and dry-swallows them, grimacing.

INT. MRI LAB - DAY

LOW POV on Rosenblum and DR. FEATHEROFF, looking down benignly.

DR. ROSENBLUM

I'm really glad you decided to take this step, Henry.

REVEAL - Henry INCHES INTO AN MRI MACHINE on an electric GURNEY. A TECHNICIAN tapes wired monitors to her head and chest.

HENRY

I just want to get back on track and finish the semester. That's all I care about.

DR. FEATHEROFF

We're gonna make sure that you do.

HENRY And the pills?

DR. ROSENBLUM

They should just be starting to kick in. Though I hope that between this neurological diagnosis and our therapy sessions, they won't be necessary at all soon.

HENRY (pessimistic) Yeah. Hope so.

52.

DR. FEATHEROFF

You're not claustrophobic at all, are you, Henry?

HENRY

Only in confined spaces.

DR. FEATHEROFF

(missing her joke)

Just concentrate on your breathing, and you'll be fine. These procedures are painless -- an MRI is just a big magnet that lets us peek into your brain.

HENRY

(pointing to her head) It's kinda scary in there, I'm warning you.

The doctors go out. The technician slips an EYE MASK over her face, then whispers --

TECHNICIAN

Do you have any metal surgical implants? Plates, screws?

HENRY

No ...

TECHNICIAN

(not very reassuringly) Good, good.

INT. MONITOR ROOM - LATER

A COMPUTER-PACKED room, partitioned from the lab by a door and a plexiglass wall. Featheroff and the tech calibrate the machines.

TECHNICIAN Magnet housing is in place.

DR. FEATHEROFF Send a test pulse when the isocenter comes online.

Rosenblum stands awkwardly at the back, out of his depth.

INT. MRI LAB - DAY

Henry's fully inside the MRI now, only her feet poking out. She's alone, blinded by an eye mask and deafened by EAR PLUGS, which are supposed to -- but could never totally -- block out the MRI'S

HORRIBLE CACOPHONY of BANGING, GRINDING and CLANKING SOUNDS. It's like being inside the speakers at a Ministry concert.

53.

DR. FEATHEROFF (OVER INTERCOM) Sorry about the noise, Henry. Everything's normal. Just relax.

A CAMERA MOVE starts at Henry's feet and slowly CREEPS UP HER BODY, into the MRI tube with her.

She concentrates on breathing. In the nose, out the mouth. As the ANGLE MOVES OVER HER BODY, she starts to SHIVER.

INT. MONITOR ROOM - CONTINUOUS

Blissful QUIET; thick panes of plexiglass block out the noise. A cross-section of HENRY'S BRAIN spreads slowly across a screen.

Henry's HEART MONITOR BLEEPS FASTER -- then FASTER STILL.

HENRY (OVER SPEAKERS) Dr. Rosenblum? Can you hear me?

Rosenblum pushes a button and speaks into a small microphone:

DR. ROSENBLUM

I'm here.

HENRY (OVER SPEAKERS)

The pills aren't working. Something's not right.

DR. ROSENBLUM (INTO MIC) I don't understand.

HENRY (OVER SPEAKERS) (a frightened whisper)

I think there's ... someone else in here wi th me ...

The men look at one another, concerned.

DR. ROSENBLUM (INTO MIC) Just concentrate on your breathing, Henry. You're doing great.

No response. Only NOISE over the speakers.

DR. ROSENBLUM (INTO MIC) Henry? Can you hear me?

Nothing.

DR. ROSENBLUM I think we should stop.

DR. FEATHEROFF

Two minutes and we'll have an image.

Rosenblum shakes his head, deferring but uncomfortable with it.

54.

INT. MRI LAB - CONTINUOUS

Inside the lab, THE NOISE IS PROFOUND. WORLD-CRACKING.

Ever so slowly, the CAMERA ANGLE MOVES up her torso. Henry's chest pumps up and down -- she's HYPERVENTILATING.

As the CAMERA creeps further, THE MRI NOISE STARTS TO DAMPEN.

THE CAMERA HOVERS ABOVE HER HEAD, LOOKING DOWN. It's clear this is more than just a camera move -- IT'S A POV, inches from her face.

THE SOUND OF THE MRI ABATES COMPLETELY.

HENRY Who's there?

All we hear is BREATHING: Henry's ... and SOMEONE ELSE'S.

HENRY

No. You're not real.

A NEW ANGLE reveals

LUCY FLOATING ABOVE HENRY IN THE MRI TUBE. The dead girl nearly a MIRROR IMAGE of the living one:

- BLACKENED ARMS REACH AND SQUIRM over Lucy's body, imprisoning her, just as MONITOR WIRES snake across Henry's.

- Their bodies perfectly aligned, nose-to-nose, toes-to-toes.

- HANDS COVER LUCY'S EYES like the EYE MASK covers Henry's.

A SINGLE DROP OF ICY WATER drips from sodden, blue Lucy onto Henry's pink cheek. She GASPS.

The HANDS covering Lucy's eyes PEEL THEMSELVES AWAY

-- and REACH DOWN to PULL AWAY HENRY'S EYE MASK.

Henry and the hovering spectre above her gaze into one another's eyes. Trembling, paralyzed, Henry manages to croak:

HENRY

I made you up. You're me.

Ever so subtly -- as much as the constrictive HANDS will allow -Lucy SHAKES HER HEAD: no ...

Henry's eyes ROLL BACK in her head as we FLASH TO:

INT. CHURCH - NIGHT

In a hallucinatory flash, IDENTICAL TWIN BOYS in black seminary uniforms, 15, stand side-by-side before a STAINED GLASS WINDOW.

55.

They move and speak in perfect, uncanny synchronicity:

BOYS

Beneath us. Beneath us.

INT. MRI TUBE - CONTINUOUS

Henry stares into nothingness in wide-eyed cataplexic SHOCK, mouth open in a silent scream, channeling unfathomable darkness.

The HANDS pry themselves from Lucy and SLITHER TOWARD HENRY. Metallic equipment begins to RATTLE and SHAKE.

INT. MONITOR ROOM - DAY

The three men hover over the monitor displaying HENRY'S BRAIN.

TECHNICIAN

There's ghosting. It's no good.

DR. FEATHEROFF

The machine is shaking. Something's not balanced.

From the MRI lab, a PIERCING SCREAM. They SNAP TO ATTENTION.

IN THE MRI LAB

Henry SCRAMBLES out of the tube and TUMBLES to the floor, then

DIVES toward the monitor room door while TEARING at the suctioncupped wires that connect her to

a stand of MONITORING EQUIPMENT nearby.

IN THE MONITOR ROOM

Rosenblum BOLTS for the door connecting the two rooms.

DR. ROSENBLUM Something's wrong! Let her out of there!

DR. FEATHEROFF

NO, WAIT!

The technician makes a WILD GRAB for Rosenblum --

TECHNICIAN

THE MAGNET'S STILL ENGAGED!

__ but TRIPS OVER AN OFFICE CHAIR as Rosenblum UNBOLTS the door and PUSHES IT OPEN into

THE MRI LAB

56.

DR. ROSENBLUM Henry, it's okay! Let me

Just as Rosenblum BENDS to detach Henry from the wires, the OFFICE CHAIR set in motion by the technician ROLLS IN --

TECHNICIAN

LOOK OUT!

and, PULLED by the immense power of the MRI's magnet, starts to ROLL but in no time is FLYING toward the scanner --

CRACKING knelt-down Rosenblum in the head and REVERSE CLOTHESLINING him into the WIRES stretched between Henry on one side and the monitoring stand near the door,

RIPPING the wires from Henry's head and chest as she SCREAMS --

the office chair CRASHING INTO THE SCANNER

and the monitoring stand TOPPLING to the floor, TORN from its industrial-strength Velcro mooring by Rosenblum's weight.

Rosenblum begins struggling to his feet, but almost instantly

The MONITORING STAND IS PULLED TOWARD THE SCANNER LIKE A MISSILE, wrapping the wires around his NECK and DRAGGING HIM ALONG.

HURTLED AT AMAZING VELOCITY, the monitoring stand PUNCTURES THE MRI SCANNER which immediately triggers

A DEAFENING BANG

tiny pieces of SHRAPNEL fly, SLICING Henry's leg

and CLOUDS OF GAS VENT FROM THE MRI AT HIGH SPEED.

All of which unfolds with such jaw-dropping quickness that Henry hardly has time to STUMBLE away from the disaster into the

MONITOR ROOM

before the pressure of the venting gas SLAMS THE DOOR SHUT behind her, again separating the two rooms.

DR. FEATHEROFF GET HIM OUT OF THERE!

He and the tech SLAM their shoulders to the door, to no avail.

TECHNICIAN

The gas pressure's holding it shut!

Through the plexiglass - Rosenblum WRITHES on the floor, struggling with the choking wires around his neck while

57.

THICK CLOUDS OF GAS quickly FILL THE ROOM, OBSCURING HIM.

Henry joins the Featheroff and the technician at the door

DR. FEATHEROFF ON THREE! One, two

They all GRUNT as they HEAVE against it -- but even three people can't budge the door.

TECHNICIAN

The helium has to vent first!

DR. FEATHEROFF

Goddamn it, we can't just wait while he freezes to death! Do you know how cold that gas is?

They watch helplessly as ICE CRYSTALS form on the plexiglass. Henry PEERS into the roiling HELIUM CLOUD, straining to see something, anything --

-- briefly, the barest glimpse of LUCY hovering above the floor

and then WHAM

-- ROSENBLUM'S FACE AGAINST THE PLEX -- MOUTHING

H E L P M E

Henry JUMPS BACK, shocked.

Rosenblum horrible with HAUNTED EYES and tongue lolling grotesquely, WIRES digging deep into his bleeding throat

TEARING AT HIMSELF WITH HIS HANDS

DR. FEATHEROFF Oh dear Jesus ...

-- his BLOOD FREEZING, skin an unnatural BLUE. Rosenblum opens his mouth to SCREAM -- but we can't hear him through the plex.

Desperate, he BASHES his arm against the window --

-- and the outside of his forearm, flash-frozen, SHATTERS, exposing a pulsing, unfrozen CORE OF PULP AND BONE within.

Sickened and terrified, Henry DASHES out into the

HOSPITAL HALLWAY - MOVING

We FOLLOW a trail of Henry's bloody footprints, then

58.

CATCH UP WITH her, RUNNING full-tilt, thin gown flapping, bare feet slapping the lino floor, past a sign that reads BURN WARD

-- finally coming to a door and shoving past a MALE NURSE into

TARA'S HOSPITAL ROOM

MALE NURSE

Hey! You can't go in there!

Ignoring him, Henry moves around a drawn curtain

... only to find A WOMAN sitting motionless on a STRIPPED BED.

HENRY (out of breath)

Where's Krissy? I have to talk to her!

The woman turns to face Henry. She's a wreck: red-eyed, makeup running, up-alI-night hair. Her voice numb and emotionless --

WOMAN

She died.

This shell of a woman has to be KRISSY'S MOTHER. The news hits Henry like a shockwave, and she crumples to the floor, repeating

HENRY

I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry

KRISSY'S MOTHER (distant)

It was nobody's fault.

Henry shakes her head, crying.

INT. DORM LOBBY - DAY

A MAINTENANCE GUY rips an OUT OF ORDER sign off the elevator. Wedges the tip of a CROWBAR between its doors and PULLS, grunting.

The doors open an inch, grinding in protest. He wrinkles his

nose -- a strong SMELL wafts through the barely-open doors.

He gives the doors another mighty PULL and they OPEN completely, exposing the dark workings of the empty shaft.

Now the STENCH hits him with a new intensity. covering his nose and mouth, he leans in. Peers cautiously down into the shaft.

Going instantly pale --

MAINTENENCE GUY Oh, Jesus.

59.

INT. CHURCH OFFICE - DAY

A tiny room stacked with books and papers. Braxton sits at a cheap desk reading a NEWSPAPER CLIPPING. Fuming mad.

He KICKS the wastebasket by his desk. Trash goes flying.

DEWEY ( 0 . S . )

Brax?

Braxton turns to find Dewey, his mild-tempered friend and assistant pastor, poking his head through the door.

DEWEY Everything alright?

Braxton quickly hides the clipping under a framed PICTURE.

BRAXTON

I'm busy in here, Dewey.

DEWEY

(not taking the hint)

Seems like something's had your tail the last couple days. Care to talk?

BRAXTON Not particularly.

Dewey pulls up a chair next to him. Lowers his voice.

DEWEY

I think I know what's bothering you.

He reaches for the picture covering the clipping. Sets the frame upright. It's a picture of Braxton's dead wife, LISSA.

DEWEY

It's the anniversary, ain't it?

Braxton palms the clipping, subtly hiding it in his fist.

BRAXTON

Not for another month.

Dewey puts his hand on Braxton's arm. Ministering to the minister.

DEWEY

She was like a sister to us all. I only wish the Lord had let us keep her a little longer.

Braxton yanks his arm away testily.

BRAXTON

Wasn't the Lord that took her.

60.

DEWEY Of course it was.

Braxton's about to press the point, then stops himself. Instead:

BRAXTON

You believe in fate, Dewey?

DEWEY

Like how?

BRAXTON

As in there are some things that are supposed to happen. And no matter how you try to change them, they're gonna happen anyhow.

DEWEY

I believe Jesus is comin' back, and there's nothing we can do about that. But then, there's nothing I'd want to.

BRAXTON

But what about bad things? You think they can come back again, too?

DEWEY

Bad things ... like what?

He hesitates. Then, as if entrusting Dewey with a dark secret --

BRAXTON

Like what happened 100 years ago.

Dewey looks confused -- then disappointed. He stands.

DEWEY

You were doing so good, Braxton.

(a lecture he's given before) Drink never solved a single problem, never answered a single prayer.

As Dewey heads for the door, Braxton begins to protest. Dewey cuts him off --

DEWEY

Just keep it outta the church.

Dewey goes. Braxton unclenches his fist, smooths out the clipping. A HEADLINE reads - HILL COLLEGE COED DIES IN ELEVATOR SHAFT FALL.

From the back of his desk drawer, Braxton pulls out A FLASK.

61.

INT. HOSPITAL - ROOM IN PEDIATRIC WARD - LATE AFTERNOON

We DESCEND through grinning fish in a hypercolor reef -- a cartoonish mural of an UNDERWATER SCENE that fills the frame.

Off screen we hear Henry's voice, emotionless, answering questions.

VOICE (O.C.)

Any changes in your sleeping pattern lately?

HENRY (O.C.)

No.

VOICE (O.C.)

Have you had thoughts about hurting yourself or others?

HENRY ( 0 . C. )

No.

Reveal Henry sitting on a child-sized bed, leg bandaged. A twenty-something PSYCH RESIDENT stands with a clipboard, machinegunning through a routine psych evaluation.

PSYCH RESIDENT

What about hallucinations? Things nobody but you can see.

HENRY Sure. All the time.

The resident rolls his eyes, and the DOOR OPENS -- it's BLAKE.

BLAKE

I came as soon as I heard.

PSYCH RESIDENT

Excuse me

HENRY Give us a minute.

The resident is about to protest when his PAGER goes off. He lets out an annoyed breath -- and leaves.

Blake sits on the bed, unsure whether he should touch Henry.

BLAKE Are you alright?

HENRY Not really.

A heavy pause. Finally

62.

BLAKE

(re: the childish decor)

Well, I love what you've done with the place. Very classy.

She puts her arms around him.

HENRY I missed you.

BLAKE (choking up) Yeah.

A long embrace. They needed this. Finally, she whispers --

HENRY

She's real. I'm not crazy.

BLAKE

I know. Sorry about all that.

HENRY

Don't say that. Not unless you mean it.

BLAKE I mean it.

(a new seriousness)

Henry, I went back to the records after you left, and -- well, it was right in front of me before, I don't know how I missed it --

HENRY

What?

Blake glances toward THE DOOR - the RESIDENT stares in at them.

BLAKE

This probably isn't the place to talk about it. How are you, can you travel?

HENRY

Please get me the hell out of here. Where are we going?

BLAKE

How would you feel about a little trip back home?

INT. HOSPITAL HALLWAY - LATE AFTERNOON

Blake distracts the annoyed psych resident in the hall while Henry, now in her street clothes, slips out of the room.

63.

EXT. COUNTRYSIDE - DRIVING - MAGIC HOUR

Blake's hand-me-down Saab TEARS down a country road.

INT. BLAKE'S CAR - MOVING - EARLY EVENING

HENRY

Behold the big town of Prosperity.

Blake TURNS onto the main drag of a depressed HICK TOWN, lined with sagging clapboard houses and low-rent mom-and-pop stores.

BLAKE

You might be a redneck if ...

HENRY

I've heard all 764 of those jokes, and none of them are funny.

BLAKE

Oh come on. Yes they are.

They pass a vegetable stand manned by two GOOD OL' BOYS in faded overalls. A crude sign advertises "FRESH PRODUSE"

HENRY

So why don't you tell me why I'm on this forced march down memory lane.

Blake nods, gets serious.

BLAKE

Did you know that Hill College wasn't always on the hill?

HENRY

No ...

BLAKE

I didn't either. But back when it was a seminary school, mid 19th century, it was down here by the river. Of course, this was all just frontier land then -- Indian country.

HENRY

So where'd all the buildings go?

BLAKE

Well, you should know.

HENRY

The fire.

Blake turns down a little dirt road.

64.

BLAKE

Ding ding! And when the trustees decided to move the school away from the scene of the tragedy and recast it as the secular Hill College we all know and love today, a group of holdouts -- survivors of the disaster -- stayed behind.

HENRY There were survivors?

BLAKE

About a dozen. They rebuilt the burned chapel and formed their own church.

HENRY

No, this is too weird ...

Blake pulls to a STOP in front of --

EXT. COUNTRY CHURCH - EARLY EVENING

BLAKE Look familiar?

HENRY

Oh my God. How did you

BLAKE

It's obscure, but it's public record.

No one ever told you what happened here?

HENRY

I was just a kid. How do you explain to a nine-year-old ...

She shakes her head, can't say it aloud.

HENRY

I can't believe all those people died here. And I never even knew about it.

He takes her hand and squeezes it.

BLAKE

Except that you did. In a way.

She stares at the church's huge STAINED GLASS WINDOW, mesmerized.

HENRY

What do you think made the seminary boys lose their minds?

BLAKE

I don't know. But I'll bet the answer's buried around here somewhere.

65.

Something triggers in Henry's mind. Voice thin and haunted:

HENRY Beneath us ...

CLOSE ON Henry - thousand-yard stare, out of it.

HER POV: the TWIN SEMINARY BOYS from her MRI vision stand side by side in front of a stained glass window, STARING at her. Suddenly they BURST INTO FLAMES. Blackening, melting. Staring.

Blake SHAKES Henry's shoulders

BLAKE

Henry, don't wig out on me!

__ and the boys are GONE. Henry sags into Blake's arms.

HENRY

I've seen this place.

BLAKE Of course you have

HENRY

No. It was like a -- a message. Twins, in old clothes, standing inside the church. And they said

BLAKE "Beneath us?"

HENRY

It means something.

(sits up, mind racing) What if Lucy's still in there?

BLAKE

There's only one way to find out.

EXT. CHURCH GROUNDS - MOVING - MAGIC HOUR

Blake and Henry walk toward the church's front door, keeping an eye out for anyone who might be watching them.

HENRY

Doesn't look like God's house is open for business at the moment.

HENRY

I know a secret way in. Come on.

INT. CHURCH BATHROOM - NIGHT

A tiny, dark bathroom. Henry's legs slide through an unlatched window above the toilet. She lowers herself into the room, feet just touching the top of the toilet tank, then hops to the floor.

66.

HENRY Your turn.

with a grunt, Blake awkwardly HOISTS himself halfway through the window, then turns and lowers his legs toward the toilet tank. His foot touches it -- then SLIPS OFF, sending him

CRASHING to the floor, one foot splash-landing in the toilet.

BLAKE Shit shitting shit!

HENRY (stifling a laugh) You okay?

BLAKE

My foot is wet with shitwater.

INT. SANCTUARY - NIGHT

They tread carefully down the aisle across an uneven floor.

BLAKE

You sure there's no security here?

HENRY

Not that I remember.

Blake doesn't look particularly reassured.

HENRY

In my vision, the twins were here

She moves toward a spot in front of the huge STAINED GLASS MURAL. Strong moonlight gives it an ethereal GLOW.

BLAKE

Henry, look. It's the fire.

THE WINDOW - a FLAMING CHURCH with a gem-blue RIVER tracking alongside. Below it are snippets of BIBLE VERSES.

HENRY

I wish my dad would get rid of this window. It's creepy.

Blake TAKES A PICTURE with his PDA.

BLAKE

So does this place have a basement?

HENRY

Huh?

BLAKE

"Beneath us." A basement.

67.

INT. CHURCH BASEMENT - NIGHT

Impenetrable darkness and fumbling FOOTSTEPS.

BLAKE Stinks in here.

CLICK - Henry pulls the chain on a bare hanging bulb, throwing piss-yellow light everywhere. She and Blake descend RICKETY STEPS into a subterranean room choked with broken pews and castoff junk, everything caked with brick dust from crumbling walls.

BLAKE

So what exactly are we looking for? A chalk outline? Colonel Mustard in the parlor with the candlestick?

HENRY

All I know is she led me here.

Blake reaches the floor with a SPLASH. Inch-deep PUDDLES of stagnant water spread everywhere. Shaking water from his shoes

BLAKE

Poured concrete. Guess we're not digging.

They sift through the junk, Blake TOSSING things left and right. Henry tips out a box filled with small plastic HANDS -- all crucified, nails through their palms. She grimaces, moves on.

Blake holds up a deflated basketball.

BLAKE It's all junk.

HENRY

We just have to keep looking.

Henry stoops to look inside a disintegrating cardboard box -and triggers AN EXPLOSION of sound and movement. They SCREAM as

A FAMILY OF BIRDS SCATTER, feathers flying, and DART out a window. They take a moment to catch their breath, hearts racing.

HENRY

This doesn't make any fucking sense! If I'm going to see horrible disturbing shit all the time, can't it at least mean something?

BLAKE

What did you expect? Her body on display with an apology note?

68.

HENRY

I don't know -- those lost death records? An old journal? Something.

BLAKE

(rustling through a box) How about some old pictures?

That gets her attention. He hands her a FRAMED PHOTOGRAPH. She blows away layers of dust, revealing a yellowed picture of 70- odd STUDENTS AND TEACHERS standing in neat rows in front of THE CHAPEL. Class of 1881 is handwritten along the bottom.

BLAKE

Bingo. It's the whole gang. Pre-fire, of course.

HENRY

Holy shit. I know him.

She points to a serious-looking MAN off to the side.

BLAKE

Doesn't look like a student.

Henry traces her finger down to a tiny column of NAMES written below the photograph, landing on Farragut James.

HENRY

Farragut James. My great-grandfather. My dad said he built this place.

BLAKE

He must've taught at the seminary. Then stayed on to rebuild after the fire.

Henry peers at the photo. Her eyes fix on A YOUNG MAN in the front row. She GOES PALE.

HENRY

It's -- it's one of --

She searches the photo, anxious, then points to AN IDENTICAL BOY a few rows behind the first.

BLAKE

-- the twins!

(peering at them) God. They're iden~ical.

Henry and Blake stare, eyes bouncing between the two boys. They are identical -- down to their facial expressions.

HENRY

Too identical. Look at their shirts.

The boys have THE SAME STAIN on both their shirts.

69.

BLAKE

I need a knife, something to get this photo out of its frame ...

Henry SMASHES the frame against the table, shattering the glass.

BLAKE

Or you could do that.

She dumps the broken glass and lays the picture flat. Runs her hand lightly across the surface of the photo, and quickly finds

AN EDGE subtly peeling around the boy closest to Farragut.

HENRY He's not a twin. (breathless) He's a copy.

Henry slowly PEELS UP the boy's photo --

BLAKE "Beneath us" ...

revealing SOMEONE ELSE hidden below.

LUCY. 11 or 12, pretty in a white dress, smiling at the camera.

BLAKE Is that ... her?

Henry just stares at the picture, overwhelmed. Finally, she NODS.

She touches Lucy's time-yellowed face gently with her finger, then traces down to a single row of NAMES at the bottom -- the rest obscured beneath the thick frame's edge. PUSHES the photo so it slides UP in the frame, revealing MORE ROWS OF NAMES.

BLAKE Henry, look ...

His finger lands on one of the revealed names: Lucy James.

They look at one another, eyes wide, then shift their gaze to FARRAGUT -- his hand resting paternally on Lucy's shoulder.

HENRY

Oh my God ... she's

CLOMP - a THUDDING noise from upstairs makes them JUMP.

BLAKE

What the fuck was that?

They hunker in tense silence, waiting.

70.

HENRY Maybe it was just

CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP - the unmistakable sound of HEAVY FOOTSTEPS. with each one, silty DUST plumes from the floorboards above.

BLAKE

Shit! You said there was nobody here!

HENRY

We've gotta turn that light off!

The bulb hangs across the room, halfway up the staircase.

BLAKE

I'll do it. You hide.

Henry ducks behind a broken pew as Blake TIPTOES toward the bulb. Footsteps ECHOING above them.

At the bottom of the steps, Blake REACHES for the bulb's chain -but it's too high. The footsteps THUDDING CLOSER.

Blake mounts the bottom step, cringing as it lets out an awful CREAK -- the bulb still out of reach.

He gingerly climbs one more step -- CREAK -- as the FOOTSTEPS from upstairs seem to head straight for the basement door.

Blake strains upward, arm extended, on tiptoes. His fingertip brushes the bottom of the bulb's pull-chain --

__ and he extends a little more, grabs the chain, and PULLS. The chain SNAPS BACK and the bulb SWINGS WILDLY -- but DOESN'T TURN OFF -- throwing crazy, moving shadows across the walls as

THE DOOR at the top of the stairs begins to SCRAPE OPEN.

Blake DIVES off the steps, hiding under a nearby folding table. ONE BOOT CLOMPS onto the creaking stairs, then another. Their owner, visible from only the knees down, stops. Listening.

There's a moment of quiet ...

... finally shattered by that most distinctive of sounds:

CHUH-CHAH. A SHOTGUN RACKING.

Boots descending stairs, one by one. Henry, shaking on the floor behind the pew, looks across at

BLAKE, cowering under the table near the base of the steps. Henry presses a finger silently to her lips: sssshhhh ...

The man reaches the floor. He wears filthy overalls, work boots. His face dark, silhouetted by the swinging bulb behind him.

71.

He moves slowly. His limping step passing just inches from Blake, who dares not breathe.

The man steps in BROKEN GLASS. Stops. Looks around.

LIGHTNING-FAST:

He SPINS and KICKS OVER BLAKE'S TABLE. Blake frantically tries to SCRAMBLE UP THE STAIRS, but

the SHOTGUN BUTT CRASHES DOWN ON HIS FACE. Clutching his head, Blake rolls down the bottom steps and lets out a sickening

BLAKE

Ughhh •••

-- as the man expertly FLIPS the gun and presses the end of its long barrel against Blake's NECK.

Henry JUMPS UP from behind the pew, frantic --

HENRY

NO! WAIT!

-- and the man WHIRLS AROUND and POINTS THE GUN AT HER.

Henry SCREAMS and throws her hands up, half-expecting a BLAST -__ but there is none. She slowly lowers her hands, and for the first time, SEES THE MAN'S FACE. Her voice trembles.

HENRY

Daddy?

IT'S BRAXTON. Staring like Henry's some strange new life form.

BRAXTON

Henrietta? What the hell are you -I almost --

Hands shaking, Braxton lowers the gun -- but not all the way.

HENRY

I know. I'm sorry. (beat)

Why do you have a gun?

BRAXTON

We been broken into three times this year. Never know who you're gonna run into around here at night.

He SWAYS on his feet a little, clearly DRUNK. Blake MOANS on the floor by the stairs.

HENRY

I should get him to a doctor.

72.

BRAXTON

You and I got things to discuss first. Like what in the hell you're doin' down here.

HENRY

I'm doing a ... genealogy project. For professor Kullman.

BRAXTON Professor who?

HENRY I swear -- look!

Henry points at the old pictures. Braxton glances over --

-- and his eyes fallon LUCY, staring back in black and white. The blood drains from Braxton's face. He knows.

BRAXTON

Can't you lie better than that? Now tell me what you're really doin' down here ...

(glancing at Lucy's photo)

... before you go and do something that can't be undone.

Henry takes a breath, works up her confidence.

HENRY Who was she, daddy?

(a twinge of guilt) What did we do to her?

He takes a limping step toward her, and she STUMBLES back. He's got her cornered -- in more ways than one. They lock eyes.

BRAXTON

She ain't nobody. But it ain't none of your goddamn business anyhow, hear?

HENRY

She's a James, isn't she?

BRAXTON

Girl ain't no kin to us!

His voice echoes. He takes a moment, reins it in.

BRAXTON

My granddad found her on the riverbank one day like baby Moses in the goddamn basket. So he took her in and raised her up like any good Christian would've. And that's all there is to it.

73.

HENRY No. There's more.

BRAXTON

You know, I think I liked it better when you didn't want nothin to do with me or this here church.

HENRY

I just need to know what happened.

He fixes Henry with a creepy stare. She squirms under his gaze.

BRAXTON

Girl had the devil in her. They say she never spoke a word in her life, and yet people swore they could hear her voice, talkin to 'em.

(beat)

Then other voices, too.

HENRY (whispered)

We killed her, didn't we?

He takes a SWIG from a pocket flask. THUNDER sounds outside.

BRAXTON

I ever tell you how your mother died, Henny-pen? I mean, really died?

HENRY

stop it.

BRAXTON

Poor woman lost her mind. You were still in the hospital. She would scream and carryon about fire and demons and God knows what, until one cold night she rolled out of bed, went outside in nothin' but her nightclothes, and never came back.

HENRY

I don't believe you.

BRAXTON

We found her in the woods, froze solid. Damned if she wasn't ripped to shreds. Boys in blue thought wolves had got to her -- but the coroner said no. She did it to herself.

Henry cries, quiet but hard. Shaking her head.

HENRY

You're drunk! You're lying!

75.

Blake stands frozen with fear and disbelief. It's real.

He can't move. LIGHTNING FLASHES from outside reveal LUCY IN SILHOUETTE, staring up at Blake from the bottom step.

LUCY (IN BLAKE'S HEAD) (hypnotic)

Blake. Blake. Blake. Help me, Blake.

An ARM disengages from around her waist and SNAKES TOWARD HIM.

On the landing - Henry draws a sudden, deep breath. Her EYES ROLL FORWARD AGAIN, alert and awake, and at that moment

Lucy and the arms VANISH. Blake snaps out of it, reeling, and staggers up the last few steps to join Henry.

INT. HOSPITAL WAITING ROOM - NIGHT

Angry rain pelts a dark window.

On a MUTED TV bolted to the wall: an old Hammer horror flick in fuzzy black-and-white. In a movie-set graveyard, a grasping HAND bursts forth from the ground. An actress SCREAMS.

Reveal Henry on a plastic bench, emotionally hollowed, beyond tired. A few PEOPLE doze on benches around her.

Blake emerges through a swinging door, face bandaged, shirt bloody. Henry gets up and runs to him.

They embrace, wordlessly, for a long time. Finally --

HENRY

You know I love you.

He hugs her tighter.

BLAKE

I know. I do, too.

(getting used to the words) I love you too.

HENRY

That's why you have to stay away from me.

He looks at her in disbelief. They speak in hushed tones.

BLAKE No. No way.

HENRY

My father's right. I'm not safe to be around. And I won't let you get hurt.

76.

BLAKE

You don't understand -- I saw her, too. In the basement.

Henry wasn't expecting this. She flushes, shocked.

HENRY

Then you know how dangerous this is. (kisses him)

She's my burden, not yours. I have to do this alone.

She tries to pull away, but he holds her. Takes something out of his pocket -- his PDA.

BLAKE

At least take this. In case you ... need me.

She nods. Takes it. Then goes.

EXT. CAMPUS - CANDLELIGHT VIGIL - EVENING

A CROWD huddles under umbrellas outside Henry's dorm. Dozens of candles gutter in the rain under a banner that reads REMEMBERING TARA KOWALCHIK. Their R.A. READS ALOUD from a binder:

R.A .

... a girl who loved having fun, loved her friends, loved life •..

As she drones, we find HENRY standing beyond the outer edge of the crowd, no umbrella, letting the rain soak her.

From the crowd, STUART AND JOSH spot her -- and GLARE.

Henry can't meet their eyes. She turns and slowly walks away.

INT. HENRY'S DORM ROOM - NIGHT

Henry sits at her desk, poring intensely over a TEXTBOOK.

THE OPEN PAGE - an old, grainy PHOTOGRAPH of a TRIBAL MAN in a trance, shouting, EYES ROLLED BACK.

THE CAPTION below reads: WHEN THE MIND ITSELF BECOMES A DOOR

Blake's PDA suddenly VIBRATES on the wooden surface of the desk. She JUMPS in her chair, startled, then realizes what it is.

The caller ID reads BLAKE SINCLAIR - HOME. She watches it vibrate, torn.

Finally, it stops.

77.

INT. KULLMAN'S OFFICE - NIGHT

Kullman sits at his desk working. There's a KNOCK at his door, and HENRY peeks inside.

Kullman peers over his bifocals at her.

PROFESSOR KULLMAN

Miss James. I had a feeling you'd be back to see me again.

HENRY

I'm in trouble, professor. I think you might be able to help me.

PROFESSOR KULLMAN I'm sorry, I can't do anything about your grade. It stands.

HENRY It's not that.

He leans back in his chair, tenting his fingers expectantly.

HENRY

It's about the hands I drew. The ancient ones, from the caves. (pleading with her eyes)

This is going to sound strange, but I have to know more. What are they?

PROFESSOR KULLMAN Well, there are theories. Strong ones, but that's all they are.

HENRY

Anything. Anything would help.

He nods thoughtfully. As if he'd seen this coming.

PROFESSOR KULLMAN

Alright then. The ancient people who lived in this area believed the arms were, quite literally, appendages of the underworld. They held the spirits of the dead in place, and when a living person died, they came to harvest the soul.

HENRY

But what did it mean if a living person saw them?

PROFESSOR KULLMAN

It meant one of two things. Either you were a seer -- a rare, special person with one foot in both worlds or you had the misfortune of making contact with spirits that a seer had channeled into our world. In which case you quickly went insane; the uninitiated mind simply couldn't handle visions of the underworld.

HENRY

So the arms would come for them. To tear away their souls.

PROFESSOR KULLMAN

In a manner of speaking. Of course, they came after the seers as well -but seers had the power to withstand that kind of psychic onslaught.

HENRY

And how did someone become a ... seer?

PROFESSOR KULLMAN

Simple. You had to die -- and then come back from the dead. What we refer to now as a near-death experience.

EXT. FROZEN POND - SUDDEN FLASH

Eleven-year-old Henry lies blue and motionless on the ice.

HER PUPILS fixed and dilated. Lifeless.

INT. KULLMAN'S OFFICE - CONTINUOUS

PROFESSOR KULLMAN

If you could survive that journey, they thought, your connection to the dead would never fade. Which is why seers were sought after both by the living, to help contact departed relatives -and by the dead, too.

Henry leans forward, intense.

HENRY

But how can a seer help someone who's already dead?

PROFESSOR KULLMAN

By crossing into their world. But the underworld is a personal thing, and so are its crossing points. Finding the right one can be tricky.

78.

81.

BRAXTON

Yes I did, son. And you know how I beat 'em?

Braxton holds up his ragged Bible, soaked now with blood.

The boy SQUEALS and pulls away from him, running back to his friends. People start turning around, and the SINGING STOPS.

Dewey drops his hymnal and RUNS to Braxton.

DEWEY

Brother James! My God, what happened to you? Where have you been?

BRAXTON (flatly) Downstairs.

DEWEY

(under his breath)

You been on a bender? You know you can't come in here like this, brother!

BRAXTON

I got somethin' to say now.

He goes for the microphone. Dewey tries to keep it away from him --

DEWEY

No, I can't let you

__ but Braxton is stronger than he looks, and RIPS it away. Murmurs ripple through the congregation as Dewey stands helpless.

BRAXTON PEOPLE, I NEED YOUR HELP!

His amplified voice ECHOES. He preaches like a man possessed.

BRAXTON

Evil is coming, but it ain't got no wings or no hooves! Demons are coming, but they ain't got horns or a tail!

He stalks the aisle slowly, staring each listener down.

BRAXTON How do I know?

(suddenly frightened)

Because I can see them. They're among us in this church even now. God help us, they're everywhere.

Sensing trouble, a few FAMILIES lead their kids out the back.

100.

PROFESSOR KULLMAN Miss James? Is that you?

She breathes a sigh of relief. RUNS to him.

HENRY

Professor, thank God! Are you alright?

PROFESSOR KULLMAN

Well, I'm alive. I had the pleasure of meeting your father, who threw me down here when I wouldn't tell him how to find you. He's not at all well, you know.

HENRY (frantic)

I know. And he's coming now -we've got to hide! Can you move?

KULLMAN Good heavens, no.

HENRY

Then tell me what to do. Is this the crossing point? The "river of night?"

Kullman LAUGHS strangely. Delirious with pain, he seems increasingly detached from reality.

KULLMAN

You know, I'd always hoped I'd meet a seer one day. I just never imagined she would be one of my own students.

HENRY

Please, we don't have much time!

BRAXTON'S VOICE ECHOES -- not far away now

BRAXTON (O.S.) HENRY! I'M COMIN' FOR YOU!

She pales. Kullman touches her hand reassuringly.

KULLMAN

Don't worry. Everything will fall into place.

Kullman reaches up and TURNS OFF THE WORKLIGHT. INT. CAVE - ABOVE THE MAIN CAVERN - CONTINUOUS

In obvious pain, Braxton squeezes onto the LEDGE above the cavern. He shines the Maglite's beam around --

101.

-- onto the top of the ROPE LADDER a few yards away. To the river's steep DROP-OFF in the distance, and then onto

KULLMAN, staring up at Braxton from the cavern floor.

BRAXTON Where is she?

INT. CAVE - MAIN CAVERN - MOMENTS LATER

Braxton reaches the bottom of the rope ladder and limps toward Kullman, flicking the flashlight around nervously.

BRAXTON

I heard her voice down here. Tell me where she's at.

PROFESSOR KULLMAN You're hearing things.

BRAXTON

Ain't no use in protecting her. Eventually she'll poison you just like she poisoned me. Except you won't have the Holy Ghost by your side to fight for your soul.

Kullman SPITS at him. Losing his patience --

BRAXTON Alright. Fine by me.

He PICKS UP KULLMAN'S BROKEN LEGS and starts to DRAG HIM. Kullman HOWLS in agony.

Braxton SPEEDS UP -- Kullman SHRIEKS LOUDER -- heading toward the underground RIVER'S EDGE.

ON HENRY - cowering in the dark, tortured by his screams.

Braxton DROPS Kullman in a pathetic heap at the chasm's lip. Holding Kullman's BELT, he pushes the professor's head OVER THE EDGE. Below, the river ROARS MALEVOLENTLY.

BRAXTON

You sure you're ready to die for her? You know the evil she's brought into this world?

PROFESSOR KULLMAN GO TO HELL, MADMAN!

Enraged, Braxton LETS GO of Kullman, who STARTS TO FALL.

BRAXTON No, you go to hell.

102.

Kullman scrambles to hold on, SLIPPING into the chasm -- and CATCHES the edge just in time, dangling by one hand.

Desperate, HENRY'S VOICE echoes in the darkness:

HENRY (0. S. ) STOP! I'M HERE!

Spinning around, Braxton's flashlight exposes HENRY, cringing with hands in the air near a FOREST OF SHARP STALAGMITES.

Braxton CHARGES toward her.

She's terrified. But instead of running, Henry picks up A ROCK -and as he's about to tackle her, SLAMS him in the face with it.

Braxton STAGGERS. His legs buckle, and he FALLS --

__ but GRABS HENRY as he goes, DRAGGING HER to the ground. They struggle. The Maglite goes spinning.

HENRY

You bastard! You can't do this!

BRAXTON

You wouldn't listen! There ain't no other way!

She KICKS him in the stomach -- UGGHH -- and tries to ROLL away. Braxton grabs her legs and PULLS HER BACK.

HENRY

NO --

He jumps on her, pinning her legs. She throws wild PUNCHES --

BRAXTON STOP! STOP, DAMMIT!

__ and finally CONNECTS with his jaw. He snatches at her arms.

HENRY

You don't understand -- if I just help her, this'll all go away!

BRAXTON

Don't you know you been tricked? Don't you see you been touched by evil?

He PINS her arm beneath his knee -- it HURTS

BRAXTON

Infec~ed since the day you was baptized. We tried to give your soul to Jesus, but devils took it instead!

103.

HENRY

wait -- you don't have to --

He GRABS her free arm, PINS HER COMPLETELY. She squirms, helpless.

BRAXTON

(voice trembling with hope) But we'll all be made clean in Heaven -- you, me, your mother -Jesus'll wash this poison away!

AT THE CHASM'S EDGE - KULLMAN'S OTHER HAND GRASPS THE LEDGE.

ON BRAXTON - shaking, he WRAPS HIS HANDS around Henry's throat.

HENRY

(choking, sputtering) Please -- don't --

Tears rolling down his cheeks, Braxton begins to RECITE LOUDLY:

BRAXTON

And it came to pass that God did test Abraham, and said to him, take now thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and make of him an offering!

Henry's struggles grow weaker. She can't get all the words out --

HENRY

I need to help her -- please, Daddy -- she was just a girl like me --

Unable to look at her, Braxton RECITES LOUDER, drowning her out.

BRAXTON

And Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order --

THE CHASM'S EDGE - A THIRD HAND REACHES UP. CHAR-BLACK. DEAD.

It slips wet fingers over Kullman's hand, and HIS EYES ROLL BACK. ON BRAXTON AND HENRY - suffocating, Henry's mouth moves but no sound escapes. Braxton shakes and trembles.

BRAXTON

-- and bound Isaac his son, and took the knife to slay him, when an angel of the Lord said ABRAHAM! STAY THINE HAND, FOR NOW I KNOW THOU FEAREST GOD!

WEEPING, he casts his eyes toward Heaven and BEGS

BRAXTON

STAY MY HAND, LORD! STAY MY HAND!

104.

Suddenly, as if in answer, LIGHT FLOODS THE WALLS, revealing

HANDS, ARMS ALL AROUND THEM--

__ PAINTED everywhere on the walls, intricate, snaking, ancient, spotlighted by a dozen of Kullman's hot, bright WORKLIGHTS.

Braxton LETS GO OF HENRY and LEAPS UP, stumbling, mind reeling. Henry GASPS FOR AIR like a fish out of water.

Braxton spins in a circle, gaping at the walls in shock and horror. EVERYWHERE HE LOOKS is the stuff of his nightmares:

Primitive screaming FACES; giant grasping HANDS at the end of countless painted ARMS, covering every wall. Braxton UNHINGED

BRAXTON

What is this -- WHAT IS THIS --

KULLMAN'S VOICE BOOMS, its location impossible to pinpoint:

KULLMAN (0. S . ) A CHURCH, MISTER JAMES.

Braxton SPINS again, looking for Kullman. A deer in headlights.

BRAXTON

This ain't no church of God!

KULLMAN ( 0 . S . )

Not your God. The spirit worshipped here was somewhat less benevolent.

Kullman's voice seems to come from behind -- then elsewhere --

BRAXTON

Come out! Show yourself, devil!

KULLMAN (O.S.)

The people who lived here tried to keep it imprisoned in the underworld. They even sent their dead to hold her down -- legions of them.

BRAXTON

Girnme strength, Lord. Gimme strength, Jesus.

KULLMAN (O.S.)

But the spirit was clever. Their arms couldn't hold her forever. Somehow, she always slipped back into the world ...

Kullman emerges from the shadows, standing on his badly broken leg, seemingly in no pain. His ears bleeding. Eyes ROLLED BACK.

KULLMAN/LUCY ... one way or another.

105.

BRAXTON

Didn't I kill you already?

KULLMAN/LUCY Not quite.

Braxton LUNGES for Kullman, who DEFLECTS him with one blow. Braxton CRASHES to the ground and Kullman LEAPS at him, possessed with OTHERWORLDLY STRENGTH.

They ROLL across the floor, grappling. A HOT WORKLIGHT gets KICKED and FALLS on them, setting the cuff of Kullman's pants ON FIRE.

As Braxton tries to JUMP UP, Kullman PUSHES HIM HARD. Braxton stumbles backwards -- FALLS --

and is IMPALED ON A RAZOR-SHARP STALAGMITE.

He SCREAMS, pinioned and helpless, stone penetrating his heart.

HENRY staggers out of the dark, looking on in total shock. Kullman turns to her. She takes a trembling step backwards.

HENRY

Why?

The FLAMES spreading over him throw FLICKERING LIGHT on

THE CAVERN CEILING, revealing AN ENORMOUS CAVE PAINTING

A FEMALE FIGURE, raven hair and piercing eyes, STARES DOWN.

Even rendered with primitive lines, she's terrifying. The ARMS along the walls around them STRETCH UPWARD onto the ceiling, all grasping at, but none quite touching, the fearsome diety.

Kullman's voice is no longer his own; it's that of A GIRL

KULLMAN/LUCY It's in my nature.

A SUDDEN FLASH

INT. HILL COLLEGE CHAPEL - DAY - 1880

A CHURCH SERVICE. The pews are packed with SEMINARY STUDENTS. On the dais before them, A CHOIR SINGS. We don't hear them.

PANNING the singers, we stop at a YOUNG MAN who stares down into the congregation as he sings, a strange look on his face.

Gradually, he STOPS SINGING.

IN THE PEWS - LUCY stares back. Piercing, malevolent eyes. The boy's ears TRICKLE BLOOD. His eyes defocus and ROLL BACK.

106.

INT. HOSPITAL ROOM - SEVEN YEARS AGO - NIGHT

Henry's mother kneels on the floor, her convulsing daughter in her arms. She cries

LISSA Sweetie, wake up!

Henry's EYES ROLL BACK in her head. A cold WIND blows from the room's broken window, and Lissa looks up slowly, PALING, to see

LUCY floating just outside the shattered window, snowflakes swirling ethereally around her, nothing but space beneath her.

Lucy holds out her hand.

Henry's mother reaches back. Hypnotized -- and doomed.

INT. CAVE - MAIN CAVERN - CONTINUOUS

THE BURNING SPECTRE. Fire seeming to consume not a man, but LUCY.

HENRY (weeping)

You bitch ... why can't you just leave me alone?

KULLMAN/LUCY

Because, Henry. You're the only one who can save me.

Ghostly vapors fill the air. On the ground, things SLITHER --

-- and a pair of spectral ARMS, stretching from the chasm's lip and sliding silent through the muck, CURL AROUND HENRY'S ANKLES.

Henry shakes her head dumbly, tears streaming down her face.

HENRY No -- I won't --

Suddenly, A VOICE IN THE DISTANCE:

BLAKE (o.s.)

HENRY!

BLAKE stands on the LEDGE above the cavern floor, his glowing phone a pathetic, makeshift flashlight.

HENRY

BLAKE! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!

Overwhelmed by fire, the spectre finally COLLAPSES.

As the flames consume it and SNUFF OUT, the flickering, ancient image of LUCY on the ceiling fades once more into darkness.

107.

ON BLAKE as he clambers down the rope ladder.

BLAKE

JUST HOLD ON! STAY WHERE YOU ARE!

He reaches the main cavern floor, dashes toward the chasm into the strange green gloaming.

HENRY SCREAMS in the dark. Blake runs toward her voice

BLAKE

BABY, WHERE ARE YOU? TALK TO ME!

-- and finds her barely CLINGING TO THE LEDGE of the chasm.

BLAKE

HENRY!

He DIVES for her, GRABS HER HANDS just as she's about to lose her grip. It takes all Blake's strength not to tumble in himself.

BLAKE

I'VE GOT YOU! GRAB ONTO MY ARMS!

But she just looks at him, face etched with sadness and fear.

BLAKE

Baby, you don't have to do this -we'll find another way!

From the corner of his eye, Blake detects MOVEMENT below Henry's waist. Peering over the edge, he sees that

HER LEGS are encased in a writhing harness of mud-camouflaged ARMS from the black river below, slowly moving up her body.

Tears filling her eyes, Henry whispers:

HENRY

You have to let me go.

The dead arms TENSE, squeezing the air from her lungs --

__ and YANK HER OUT OF BLAKE'S HANDS, leaving him in shock, grasping at empty space.

She plummets silently toward the black river -- and disappears.

BLAKE

NO!

without thinking twice, BLAKE LEAPS AFTER HER.

108.

INT. / EXT. UNDERGROUND RIVER - CONTINUOUS

After a long fall, Blake CRASHES into the water, narrowly missing some ROCKS, and vanishes under the choppy surface.

The black river's roar, reflected and magnified, is deafening. Finally he SURFACES, gasping. Looks around frantically --

BLAKE

HENRY!

__ but there's no sign of her. Sucking in his breath, HE DIVES

BELOW THE SURFACE

__ searching in the dim phosphorescence for Henry, for anything.

Finds nothing. No arms, no girl, no bottom. The river's strong current begins to carry him downstream.

FADE TO:

EXT. BURNED CHAPEL - EARLY MORNING - 1880

The morning after the catastrophic fire. Smoke rises from the chapel's smoking ruins as

SEMINARY STUDENTS sift hopelessly through the rubble. INT. BURNED CHAPEL - EARLY MORNING - 1880

FARRAGUT picks through the wreckage, pain etched on his face. Snow falls through gaping holes in the caved ceiling, settling gently on THE DEAD, blackened and unrecognizable.

He EYES LOCK onto something he can't bear to look at -- but can't look away from. He bends down, hands working.

Uncovering something we can't see, his jaw drops in HORROR.

INT. UNDERGROUND RIVER / UNDERWORLD

Henry descends past strange, submarine FORESTS of kelp-like ARMS, waving eerily in the phosphorescent current.

Blake is nowhere to be seen.

The arms tighten their grip around Henry. SHE'S CROSSING OVER.

EXT. RIVERBANK - DAY - PRESENT

It's a bright blue day. Sunlight glints off the water.

The spot where the river emerges from its lightless prison the base of a hill, where dark water eddies and churns.

109.

Breaking the calm, BLAKE EMERGES into the daylight, GASPING loudly, carried along by the swift current.

He pulls himself onto the sandy riverbank, half-drowned and bonetired. Lies there sucking air like a shipwreck survivor.

EXT. FROZEN RIVER - DAY - 1880

HIGH ANGLE - FARRAGUT drags a heavy, burlap-covered BUNDLE across the ice. It leaves a soot-black TRACK in its wake.

He moves like a pack animal, head down, leaning into THE WIND.

Reaching the middle of the river, he stops. Loosens the rope that lashes the bundle and pulls AN AXE from under the burlap.

Shivering, he starts to CHOP A HOLE IN THE ICE.

EXT. RIVERBANK - DAY - PRESENT

Blake sits up, dazed. Stares hopelessly at the churning water. Grits his teeth. Begins, quietly, to cry.

And then SOMETHING CATCHES HIS EYE.

A BODY TURNING in the current. He staggers to his feet. INT. UNDERGROUND RIVER / UNDERWORLD

As Henry descends into darkness, a PALE FORM resolves below her:

LUCY -- entwined like Henry in a web of spectral arms. Henry STOPS as she reaches Lucy, who floats limp, eyes closed.

Running out of air, Henry STRUGGLES. Beginning to DROWN.

EXT. FROZEN RIVER - DAY - 1880

Breathing hard, Farragut finishes cutting a hole in the ice. The wind blows harder, picking up loose snow -- WHITEOUT.

He picks up the rope. PULLS the bundle toward the hole. But the wind TEARS away the burlap, loosening the rope, and HE FALLS.

Farragut gets sorely to his feet. Walks to the exposed BUNDLE. Full of dread, he can't help but LOOK DOWN AT IT --

An object so grotesque and monstrous it's almost alien -- the CORPSES of THREE SEMINARY BOYS, rigid and carbon-black, their arms entwined around, melted to, FUSED WITH LUCY in a gruesome tableau.

Lucy's charcoaled face half-obscured at the center, eyes closed. BLOOD tracks from Farragut's ears. His haunted eyes reflecting a horror that's hardening into something permanent, mind-blanking.

110.

He reaches down and WIPES THE SOOT from LUCY'S FACE. Gentle, almost fatherly. But then his eyes get WIDE AS PLATES --

Beneath the layered soot, SHE IS UNSCATHED. As if merely sleeping.

EXT. RIVERBANK - DAY - PRESENT

The body FLIPS in the current. IT'S HENRY.

Shocked from his stupor, Blake DIVES INTO THE WATER.

EXT. FROZEN RIVER - DAY - 1880

Farragut on his knees, PUSHING the charred corpses into the water.

THE HORRIFIC MASS AS IT SINKS

As Lucy descends into the icy river, a prisoner

HER EYES OPEN. She glares up at her jailer malevolently. Farragut on his knees, face black with corpsy soot, watching it go.

His mind going with it.

EXT. RIVERBANK - DAY - PRESENT

Blake has Henry's waterlogged body laid out on the riverbank. He kneels over her, frantically GIVING HER CPR.

He pumps her chest.

He breathes into her mouth.

INT. UNDERGROUND RIVER / UNDERWORLD

LUCY'S EYES OPEN.

As she revives, the life goes out of Henry -- her eyes turn glassy. One last bubble of air escapes her lips.

THE ARMS IMPRISONING LUCY SLACKEN.

She begins to swim upward, wriggling out of their grasp LUCY IS FREE. NOW HENRY IS THE UNDERWORLD'S PRISONER.

Lucy rises, lofted by the current.

EXT. RIVERBANK - DAY

Blake pumps Henry's chest. Breathes into her mouth. Crying.

INT. UNDERGROUND RIVER / UNDERWORLD

Lucy ACCELERATES upward, away from darkness, toward the light.

AS SHE SURFACES --

lll.

EXT. RIVERBANK - DAY

-- HENRY SPITS UP WATER, coughing violently.

BLAKE

Oh thank God -- thank God --

Like a newborn's gasping first breath, she starts to BREATHE.

BLAKE

Baby, I thought I lost you --

In the periphery of his vision, Blake notices

ANOTHER BODY FLOATING IN THE WATER. He looks up

-- it's A MAN, dead, face frozen in a rictus of terror.

BLAKE

Oh my God

A second later ANOTHER BODY surfaces, wearing the same terrible expression. Before Blake can react,

TWO MORE BODIES pop up -- and then THREE MORE, bloated, stinking. LEGIONS OF THEM. FILLING THE RIVER WITH DEATH.

Blake looks on in stunned horror as they WASH ASHORE. Dressed in tattered clothes both ancient and modern -- the river vomits forth GENERATIONS of Lucy's victims.

Blake turns back to Henry, shaking. What have you done?

She fixes him with piercing eyes. A Cheshire cat smile.

A stranger's voice.

HENRY/LUCY Hello, Blake.

In shock, Blake opens his mouth to speak. Nothing comes out.

And ever so casually, a dead arm reaches out from the river --- and curls long fingers around his throat.
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