The next day, Nora tries to observe Carol Ann from a distance. Too many unexplained things have been happening and Nora is beginning to doubt her own children. While doing relatively routine chores, a thought comes to mind. She goes to the phone and calls information for a locksmith. "Would it be possible to install a lock on a bedroom door today?" pause..."Oh thank you. 3:00 this afternoon. Great." She hangs up. A look of relief crosses her face.

[the next page is missing]

Sweeny has fallen asleep in the rocking chair next to the bed. A thoughtful look crosses her [Nora's]face as she grabs her robe and heads for the door. A huge back-hoe can be seen past the gentleman at the door. "We've come to start diggin' the pool area, ma'am." Nora, with a slight look of embarrassment, "Oh, I'm so sorry, I completely forgot it was Saturday-I"ll show you around to the back yard." The door closes. As she comes back in, the rest of the family has come to life, the record player is already full blast up stairs, Carol Ann transfixed herself in front of Saturday morning cartoons. Nora exits the kitchen, where Angel has already started breakfast. "Hi mom, I didn't know they were going to start digging the swimming pool today?" Nora, "I totally forgot. I even forgot what day it was. God, I wish your father would come home." Angel, "I can't wait for a pool." She can tell that Nora isn't really listening, her head buried in the refrigerator. Angle (while turning the bacon), "Mom, what happened last night? I heard screaming. Sweeny said you'd had a nightmare. It must have been terrible. Do you remember any of it?" As she is saying this with her head still buried in the refrigerator, Carol Ann wanders in, bunny in tow, and slides unnoticed under Nora's arm to peer in the refrigerator. Nora goes to close the refrigerator, catches a glimpse of Carol Ann and lets out a blood-curdling scream. Carol Ann, obviously frightened, drops to the floor and bursts into tears. Angel at this point also screams and sends the spatula and bacon grease flying everywhere. Nora, more embarrassed than anything, bends down to comfort Carol Ann, she looks up at Angel. A big grin spreads across her face and they burst into hysterics. Nora:" I guess I'm still a little shook from last night."

Later that afternoon, nerves still a little frazzled, Nora mentions to Sweeny that it might not be a bad idea for him to take the other kids to a movie that night. Sweeny is not overly thrilled about the idea, but also senses the urgency in his mother's voice. He agrees and they all head off that evening to see "Fantasia" at the local theater, leaving Nora and Elmer home for a quiet evening. Nora is obviously relieved. She settles into a good book and a warm fire and we're aware that it has begun to rain. She calls Steven and gives him a run down on the events of the day but doesn't mention the series of events with Carol Ann. They discuss the new pool, Nora "With all this rain, I hope we don't end up with too much mud for the cement to set in...when are you due home? I really miss you. You know I hate staying in this house when you're not here." We hear him mumble a response. Nora, "I know the kids are here and Elmer's right here keeping me company but it's not the same...." They both say goodbye at the same time a deafening clap of thunder goes off, startling Nora. It's now pouring rain. Nora flips on the television for some company and heads to the kitchen for a cup of tea. Then Elmer begins to act very strange. He sits staring at the wall as he's been known to do on occasion. At this point though, it makes Nora nervous. She calls his name several times with no reaction. He then suddenly bolts for the backdoor. She follows him and looks out into the pouring rain. She tries the outside light but the bulb is burned out. Leaving the door slightly ajar, she grabs her tea and heads for the living room. Very shortly afterward she doses off. She wakes with a jerking motion. She sits up, some sitcom is blaring away with canned laughter, we still hear the pouring rain, she looks at her watch, the kids will come home in an hour or two. Nora rises to stretch and suddenly out of nowhere the 19th Century record album begins blaring away from Carol Ann's and Angel's room. Noticeably disturbed and turning lights on as she goes, Nora heads upstairs to check. As she slowly enters the bedroom, the arm of the stereo ejects over to the side and the stereo shuts itself off. Nora nervously cases the room. Satisfied that it was nothing overly unusual as the girls have left the stereo on before, she heads for her bedroom and gets ready for bed. She stares at herself in the bathroom mirror. Slowly she reaches up and touches the dark circles that have begun to appear under her eyes, she then pulls slightly at the corners as if remembering what it was like without the little wrinkles that now appear there. Then she opens the cabinet, pulls out the jar of cold cream and begins slowly removing the makeup from her eyes and face, staring lethargically in the mirror. The tap water goes on and she begins rinsing her face with several handfuls of water. As the splashing continues we see at the far left corner of the mirror a very small trickle of blood begin to spread in very fine lines along the natural ridges in the glass of the mirror. Her face covered with water she swings around with her eyes closed to grab a towel. Dries her face and reaches over to turn on the facets in the bathtub. Still not noticing the trickling blood on the mirror, she reaches underneath the sink for her favorite bubble bath. She then climbs in the tub, pours plenty in for lots of bubbles. She then adjusts the force of water from the taps, settles back, eyes closed and totally relaxed. As the bubbles begin to rise in the tub (and for the first time in our frame) we see that they are pink in color. Nora, eyes still closed, sees nothing. Moments later we hear Elmer barking up a storm. This rouses Nora. She opens her eyes, sees blood now pouring from the faucet instead of water, screams and flies out of the bath. As she grabs a towel she sees the mirror-hysterical, she runs to the bedroom and grabs her bathrobe. By now Elmer is not only barking but whining as if hurt. Nora goes tearing downstairs out the back door yelling "Elmer, Elmer.." It's raining so hard that Nora is soaked within seconds. She hesitates for a moment and almost heads back inside, but Elmer cries again and she strains to make out his shape in the distance. It's pitch black as she edges her way out onto the patio. Suddenly the ground gives way and she plunges into the freshly dug pit for the new swimming pool. She attempts to grab the side but the freshly tilled soil is now thick and gooey muck. Nora sinks quickly up to her waist in the quick-sand-like mud. She sees one of the pool lights hanging by a wire and struggling, tries to grab it. It has now begun to rain even harder and panic is definitely beginning to set in with Nora. Desperately she grabs at the light wire, catches it and pulls as hard as she can. At that moment, a wagon wheel comes tumbling through the mud along with a sea of skeletons and mummies. One after the other she tries to push off them off of her as they bob up and down out of the thick gooey mud falling in all directions. Many of the skeletons have severed limbs, old bullet holes through the chest and head. Nora is beyond the terror that allows you to scream and is consumed with panic. A bolt of lightning strikes very close to the pool area and suddenly all the pool lights (just hanging by wires, no covers) go on,  illuminating this sea of decay. Nora finally gets out a loud scream which dissolves into sobs....we cut to:

The kids coming out of the theater. Carol Ann is sound asleep in Sweeny's arms. Lawrence is beside himself about the film. As they make their way back to the house, we hear bits and pieces being reenacted by Lawrence. They all clamor inside the house, whispering and giggling "Shh...Don't wake Mom." As a few houselights go on, we are faintly aware of streaked mud on the carpet and hand prints on the wall. The children stare stunned and frightened. Sweeny directs everyone into the living room. Carol Ann, who remains sound asleep, he stretches out on the sofa. He motions to Lawrence and Angel to stay with Carol Ann. He then makes his way up the stairs, following the trail of mud along the banister, hand smudges on the wall, mud covering the door knob and light switch into Nora's room. Dresser drawers are thrown open, a bathrobe covered in mud is draped on the bed. Sweeny then follows the trail into the bathroom. Horrified by the bathtub full of blood, he jumps back and turns to run out of the bathroom. He just catches a glimpse of the mirror as he smashes right into Angel (who had wandered up the stairs in search of Sweeny), they both scream. Lawrence yells from down below. "What's wrong?" Sweeny and Angel grab each other, Sweeny shudders and Angel begins to cry, "Oh Sweeny, what's happened to Mom?" Comforting as best he can he leads her down the stairs back to the living room. Carol Ann still sleeps soundly. Sweeny moves over to the picture window and realizes Nora's car is gone. A bit relieved, he turns back to Angel. "The car is gone...Mom should be alright. We gotta call Dad." He rushes to the phone and dials. Steven answers the phone. Sweeny with a slight loss of control in his voice now, "Dad, oh God Dad, you've gotta come home tonight!" pause, "No, Mom's gone." Pause, "I don't know but there mud everywhere and blood," (he chokes a little bit), "It's awful, and we can't go to the neighbors, they all think we're possessed." Long pause while Steven talks, Sweeny, "Ok Dad, yeah they're all fine, we're in the living room, Carol Ann is sleeping," pause..."Bye...please hurry." Sweeny hangs up the phone and looks into Lawrence and Angel's frightened faces, "He's on his way. Everything's going to be OK. Dad said about an hour and a half, he'll try to call the police but I'm sure they won't come..." Under his breath "they never believe us anyway."
Cut to:

 Nora driving in a transfixed stare, headlights lighting her face from ongoing cars. We see that her hair is caked with mud along with her arms and face. She pulls into a Motel 6 about 30 miles outside of town, checks in, and immediately goes to call Steven. There's no answer. She dials again, still no answer. She looks at her watch, it's 11pm. Frustrated, she grabs her bag and heads across the street to a little local dive cafe called Indian Palms. She fumbles around with the menu. Nothing looks very good, the page flips back revealing a historical overview of Indian history in the area with a map and pictures from the early 1800's. Nora barely pays attention to what she's looking at until she sees a small picture of a ghastly massacre, an artist's conception of the actual event. She continues reading and realizes that the massacre took place at the exact location of their sub-division. She stuffs the menu in her purse and peels out of the parking area back toward town. We cut to the children at the house. All the younger children have dosed off, Sweeny lies wide awake cocking his head at every sound. Finally he gets up and walks into the kitchen. He opens the refrigerator and the light from inside spills onto the floor in front of him. The storm front seems to be moving on and the pounding rain has turned into a howling wind. He reaches in to grab some milk just as the wind gusts through the back door, then slams it shut causing Sweeny to jump and drop the cartoon of milk. Sweeny moves toward the back door, tries the light switch, nothing happens. He slowly opens the door, "Elmer, hey boy...where are you?" He then sees pool lights, or rather an eerie glow emanating from the freshly dug hole in the back yard. As he steps out onto the patio, cautiously moving toward the illuminated pit, he gets within a few feet and a skeletal head emerges slowly over the edge. Horrified, Sweeny loses his balance and falls backward into the mud along the edge. He quickly scrambles to his feet, sliding across the patio and into the house, never looks back. He then slams the door shut and locks it. He runs to the living room. He sees Carol Ann sitting up, her back to him. All we hear is a humming lullaby. He moves around to the front of her. She doesn't look at him, only stares out the window, singing to her bunny, "It's night time, it's night time..."Still panicked, he wakes the other two kids, "C'mon we gotta go!" He looks at Carol Ann, hesitant at first, "You too, let's go." He reaches out to grab her hand. She looks at him sternly and says, "No."  Sweeny stares for just an instant and then reaches over to pick her up. Angel steps in and says,"Here Carol Ann, I'll hold your bunny." Carol Ann turns to both of them and in a low rumbling male voice says, "NO," then pulls the head off her bunny, stuffing flying everywhere. From Carol Ann's POV looking at the shocked faces of Sweeny and Angel, we see a ghost fire burst into flames in the neighbor's house and Jim and Joannie Bender come running out into the street. Then headlights come through the living room window playing across the wall and over to Carol Ann's face. Sweeny, Angel, and Lawrence turn to run toward the door and it too bursts into flame, just as we hear Steven's voice from outside the door,"Sweeny, are you in there?" Sweeny terrified, "Dad, we've got to get out of here. She'll burn the place down."  His voice trails off as we hear a chair come crashing through the picture window. Quickly Steve helps all the kids outside. He yells for Carol Ann, Sweeny grabs his arm, "No!" he screams. "She should stay." Steven looks at Sweeny dumbfounded. Just then, Nora drives up and comes running to the four of them. Steven starts to go in after Carol Anne, Sweeny practically tackles him, "No Dad, please." Nora rushes over, "Oh God, believe him he's right..."she buries her head in his chest. We look up and see Carol Ann get up and walk slowly, still humming, toward the back door and out into the yard, moving toward the pit. Steven and Nora grab the kids and head for the car. We then realize that ghost fires have started throughout the neighborhood, even in those houses that have not yet completed construction. People are running with few belongings to their cars, some screams and crying can be heard.

Cut to:
Morning. We pan past a "No Trespassing" sign and reveal a huge digging site in progress. To end similar to "The Birds," with no real answer in sight.

For the final revisions:
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