DOLLHOUSE

Payback

INT. KITCHEN - LATER

Courtney has a blanket around her. She's shaking, and she can't decide if it's from the cold or the fear. Aiden has prepared some hot tea for the two of them.

AIDEN You slipped and fell?

COURTNEY Yeah.

AIDEN I feel like you're being dishonest and I do not like it.

COURTNEY That's what happens. You tell the truth, nobody buys it.

AIDEN Since when are you a poet?

COURTNEY Right now. 

AIDEN Honey, what happened in there?

AIDEN (cont'd) You can tell me everything you know that. So please tell me.

COURTNEY What could have happened? I was by myself and I fell. Simple as that.

AIDEN Alright.

Aiden goes upstairs. The phone RINGS. Courtney is frightened. What if it's the sketchy man again? Courtney wants to pick up the phone. But she's hesitant. She recalls what happened last time... She makes the choice of ignoring the phone call.

INT. MALLORY'S ROOM - AFTERNOON

Lucy's here. She tells jokes and stories. Mallory laughs, but Bellarose is unable to understand them. She feels left out.

LUCY (to Bellarose) Why aren't you laughing?

Avamay walks into the room.

AVAMAY Cause she didn't understand the joke.

LUCY What did you not understand?

BELLAROSE I... don't know.

MALLORY Forgive her she's normal.

LUCY Now that Avamay is here can you tells us one of the scary stories from your book?

MALLORY Of course.

Bellarose follows Mallory as she goes to grab the book. They have a private conversation.

BELLAROSE I thought you said you stopped reading them.

MALLORY When did I say that?

BELLAROSE When you told mom about Miss Linda yelling at me.

MALLORY What happened that night was you telling mom on me and then me telling mom on you. I never said I'll stop reading the book or tell ghost stories.

BELLAROSE Mom told us not to scare people.

MALLORY Yell I'm not scaring anyone except you aren't I? If you don't wanna hear the stories you can leave.

BELLAROSE I'll stay.

MALLORY Then don't make a fuzz about it. They sit down again with Lucy and Avamay.

Bellarose is uncomfortable. She really wants to stay and bond with her sisters but she can't handle ghost stories.

MALLORY (cont'd) Who wants to hear a story?

LUCY I do!

MALLORY Great because this story is a very scary one.

MALLORY (cont'd) It takes place in a small town of San Francisco, in a house like this... 

BELLAROSE Don't we live in a small town in San Francisco in a house like this?

LUCY Quiet.

MALLORY Anyway. There lived a nurse. She was very loving and caring. She had a daughter, who she loved very much. But after moving into this house she claimed to hear noises and sounds telling her to harm the baby. She wanted to move out, away from the voices. But she couldn't afford it. Day by day the voices wouldn't leave her alone. They drove her crazy, till one day she set the house on fire while her baby was inside. It never made it out alive. Once she realized what she's done she killed herself in the nursery. It is said that she haunts the house ever since.