"Huh?" "You sure you got that?" "Don't strain yourself." "Well, that's it." "Turned in my key." "Yep." "No turning back now." " You still think this is a good idea?" " What, me driving this thing?" "I told you, I'm more than happy to let you drive." "No, this, moving in with you." "Having..." "Having this baby." "Jessie, you're the best thing that ever happened to me." "I've been ready for this for a long time." "I just remembered the weirdest dream I had last night." "It's the last chance to remove it." "A little more suction, please." "Can't see a thing in there." "It's skull." "It's part of the guy's skull." "Intertrochanteric fracture in your hip." "Your left clavicle and three ribs are shattered." "You've got compound fractures in your right and left tibia." "Good news is you will walk again within three or four months of therapy." "My b... my baby?" "I'm sorry." "I know it's been a long haul for you, Jessie." "But we'll still need to send a physical therapist to you at home." "Can someone come pick you up?" "Your mother or father?" "My mom died of cancer when I was a baby, and my father gave me to my aunt to be raised after my mom died." "I haven't seen him in years." "Miss Laurent, can he come here to pick you up?" "Dad?" "Thanks for picking me up, Dad." "Glad I could help." "Sorry about your boyfriend." "This was your mother's room." "You're gonna have to stay in here." "The other bedrooms are upstairs." "Let's get you in bed." "When your aunt passed away, they... they gave me some things you had there." "Clothes." "You hungry?" "I could make you a sandwich or something." "No, I'm fine." "Just tired is all." "Oh, yeah, the water out of the tap sometimes comes out bad." "You just let it run a little, it'll clear up." "Preston." "Dad?" "You here?" "I live in America with a pair of Payless shoes" "The Upper Peninsula and the television news" "And I've seen my wife" "At the K-Mart..." "Oh, my word." "Thank you, Mama." "Hello, Jessabelle." " Mom." " I went back and forth a hundred times whether or not this was a good idea." "Making these tapes." "But as you can see, here I am." "It is March 14th, and it is 1988, and I am seven months pregnant with you." "I love you, Jessabelle." "I love you." "If you're watching this, it means I'm gone." "But I don't want this to be a day of sadness." "I want it to be a day of happiness." "So I'm not even gonna talk about me." "The only thing that's important is that you know that I love you." "And that..." "I have been watching over you, always." "Okay." "So, enough of that sad shit." "I told your father that I wanted him to give you this tape on your 18th birthday." "So for you, it is 2006." "Happy Birthday!" "Happy Birthday, baby!" "I thought about having a cake, but explaining all this to Mrs. Davis just would have been a little too weird." "Mrs. Davis is our cook, and if she's there, could you tell her I said hi?" "She's so sweet." "That ought to freak her out, though." "She is scared of ghosts." "Anyway, I wanted to make this tape because I wanted you to get to know me." "And I wanted to give you a birthday gift, a birthday reading with my cards." "I am really good at this." "I'm always right." "You can't cut the deck, so this will have to do." "Here we go." "I still have your bracelet, Mom." "Okay." "So this is Death." "But it doesn't mean "death" death." "It means transition." "And this year, your 18th year, is gonna be a year of transition." "You know what it says here?" "It says that you've never left St. Francis and that you're never gonna leave." "Baby, you've gotta get out there and see the world." "There's so much great stuff out there." "Suits of Cups." "That's the water sign, and water is pragmatic." "It goes the way of least resistance." "But this is a lot of water." "Are you a swimmer," " or do you do something with the sea?" " I can't even swim." "You're a homebody, just like your mama." "Wrong again." "You're terrible at this!" "Well, it says here that you're not alone." "That there is a presence in the house with you." "It's not a bad thing." "There are guardian angels everywhere." "Maybe I'm seeing me." "Yes, so she's a she." "It's a female." "She wants you out of the house." "She says it's hers." "Jesus, Dad!" "You scared the shit out of me!" "Where did you get that?" "I asked you a goddamn question!" "I said, "Where did you get that?"" "I found it in my room, in Mom's room." "Don't, Dad!" "Don't!" "What are you doing?" "Dad?" "Dad, what are you..." "Dad, what are you doing?" "Oh!" "No, Dad." "Oh, God, Dad." "No more snooping around." "Dad?" "Dad?" "Dad." "Dad!" "Dad." "It's past your bedtime, sweetie." "There is a presence in the house with you." "Who are you?" "Jessabelle." "I made... made breakfast." "Look, I'm..." "I'm sorry about last night." "I was a little drunk." "It's not gonna happen again." "It's all right." "That was your mother's old chair." "It was out in the shed." "Didn't expect to see your mother last night." "That tape, I didn't know she made that tape, that she actually went through with it." "You just found that one tape?" "Just one." "Hello, Jessabelle." " I love you." " I love you too, Mom." "It's been three weeks since our last reading." "There was so much weird stuff in there, so I asked Moses about it." "Not Ten Commandments Moses, but my friend Moses from my church on Jerry's Creek." "Don't tell Dad." "He'd kill me." "Moses taught me how to read cards." "So I showed him your reading, and he said something interesting." "He said that the two presences in the house, the two females, they're both you." "You've been having nightmares, right?" "And when you see it, this presence, it's broken, right?" "It's a demon, but it's an inner demon." "You were in some sort of accident or something, or maybe somebody you know was." "Now, I want you to listen to me." "It wasn't your fault." "Stop blaming yourself, sweetheart." "It wasn't your fault." "Okay?" "Now that we know that's what that last reading meant..." "I mean, that's what Moses says." "So, we're gonna get you a new one." "All right." "Death." "That means transition." "You really don't have to worry about that." "I see a very horrible death." "Dad?" "Miss Laurent?" "I was knocking, but I know you're in a wheelchair, so I got in." "Hi." "It's just Jessie." "The hospital told you I was coming, right?" "No." "Yes." "Yes." "You must be Miss Arlenna." "Rosaura." "You can call me Rosaura." " It's great to meet you." " Let's get started." "Okay." "Okay." "You feel good?" "I'll be back and check on you, okay?" "No, no!" "Dad!" "Dad!" "No!" "What the hell's going on?" "Just calm down." "Settle down." "It's nothing." "It's nothing." "Where the hell were you?" "I'm sorry." "I'm so sorry, Mr. Laurent." "It was only five minutes." "Get out!" "Now." " Get out!" " I'm sorry." "What did you mean by "nothing", Dad?" "What's nothing?" " What are you doing?" " It's her goddamn tapes!" "She's got you scared out of your mind." "I told her not to do this." "But, Dad, it's Mom." "It's all I have of her!" "That thing on these tapes is not your mother." "Five weeks into her pregnancy, we found out she had tumors in her brain." "She wouldn't do chemo." "Nothing." "Nothing to help herself." "It ate her mind, the cancer." "It just wasn't her anymore." "But, Dad, I want to watch them!" "Why?" "So she can scare the shit out of you some more?" " I'm gonna burn these tapes." " Dad, no!" "No, Dad!" "Don't, Dad!" "Dad!" "Dad." "Oh, God!" "Dad!" "Dad!" "Jessie!" "Jessie!" "No!" "Dad!" "Dad!" "Goodbye, Leon." "May your soul finally find peace." "Thank you." "Hey, Jessie." "Preston." "How you been?" "That was a really stupid question." "I heard you were in town last week." "I would have come over, but I figured I should call first." "I tried you a few times, but no one picked up." "I'm sorry." "My Dad's phone is upstairs, and it's gonna be a few more weeks before I can walk upstairs to answer it." "Right." "I'm sorry." "It's really good to see you, Preston." "It's good to see you, too." "I'm really sorry about your dad." "Jessie?" "Jessie, you okay?" "Hey." " Morning." " Good morning." "You stayed here all night?" "Yeah, well, I figured I'd stick around, make sure you're okay." "Thanks." "You didn't have to." "Well, I guess I should get going home." "But I'd love to see you again, though." "Be okay if I come by some other time?" "Yeah." "Yeah, I'd like that." " All right." "You take care." " Wait, wait." "Please don't go." "What?" "If I don't talk to somebody, I'm gonna go crazy." " Maybe I already am crazy." " Okay." "I don't gotta go anywhere." " I'll stay right here." " Thank you." "But you think we can get the hell out of this place?" "Kind of gives me the creeps." "Yeah." "Pretty much everybody's still here." "Rick Foster just got back from Afghanistan." "But he's going back, I think." "He's still married to Shawna." "If I was married to Shawna, I'd be going back, too." "Mary Kimball's been married and divorced twice." " Twice?" " She's got three kids." "Lives in that new subdivision over by the quarry." "The quarry." "So, the quarry's still there?" "Yes, well, you know, it is a big, giant hole." " You can't really move a big, giant hole." " Smart ass." "Cut me some slack." "Yeah." "Nothing's changed, really." "Marriages and mortgages." "I can see why you couldn't get out fast enough." "Preston, I'm..." "I'm so sorry." "Hey, you don't gotta explain to me." "If I'd gotten into college, I would've left this town and never looked back." "Never would have given it a second thought." "That's not true." "I thought about this place a lot." "I missed you." "I'm sorry I didn't call more." "I just wanted a clean breakaway, I guess." "But me leaving never had anything to do with you." "It's okay." "I understand." "How have you been?" "Married." "Where did she think you were last night?" "Oh, I told her the truth." "I told her I was with a Make-A-Wish kid." "So tell me what's going on." "You seemed so scared back there." "Okay." "I've been having nightmares." "I've been having really bad dreams, and they're so real that I think I'm going crazy." "I dreamed there's this girl." "She looks dead, and she's trying to get me, kill me." "And there's this man." "It looks like he's been burnt to death, and he looks at me like I did it." "Like whatever happened to him, it was my fault." "Well, after everything you've been through, it would be weird if you weren't having nightmares, right?" " Have you thought about seeing a shrink?" " I can't afford it." "I mean, if I had any money at all, I wouldn't have come home to live with Dad." "I'm flat broke." "And there are these tapes." "Now that we know that's what that last reading meant..." "I mean, that's what Moses says." "So, we're gonna get you a new one." "I really don't think you should be watching these anymore." "It's no wonder why you're having nightmares." "It's not good for you." "Would you watch them if it was your mom?" "Your only chance to get to know her?" "Yeah, I would, but I'd wait, wait until I was recuperated." "Not when I was still stuck in this house... where she died." "I mean, it's just... it's just weird." "And besides, she's wrong more than she's right." "She said you never left town, you love to swim." " She said Dad was gonna die." " No, she thought you were gonna die." "She said 10 things that were wrong, and you picked one that was almost right." "Jessie, she didn't predict your dad's death." "She thought she saw your death, and she was wrong about everything." "Now, look, I've been thinking about your dreams." "That girl you keep seeing, it's you." "And the guy that burnt in the fire, you're having a nightmare about your accident." "Shit, that's my wife." "I'm sorry, but I've gotta go." "Here." "That's my work cell." "It's got my home phone number on it." "You call me any time, day or night, all right?" " Promise?" " Okay." "I'm sorry." "I gotta go." "Thank you, Preston." "Yeah, of course." "Now you take care." "This is beautiful South Louisiana." "And here is the belle of South Louisiana." "That's right." "Here she is." "I'm gonna send this..." "I'm gonna send this to Mr. Hugh Hefner, and I'm gonna make me some money on the side." "The most beautiful woman" " in South Louisiana." " Bad." "This is the family portrait." "Wait a minute." "Wait." "I might just send me some tapes to that Mr. Hugh Hefner." "These bugs are eating my ass up!" "Let's see those feet." "Where'd they go?" "There it is." " Oh!" "There she is." " Baby!" "Hey, baby, you can't improve perfection." "Look at that." " What are you doing?" " Recording for posterity." "Those who don't remember the past are doomed to repeat it." " Okay, well, let's go into the future." " Merry Christmas!" "Yeah!" "Now, listen, I want to show you how to use it." "You just take it, point it, and shoot it." "You got it?" "Okay, you got it?" "Just hold it." " Merry Christmas!" " Merry Christmas!" "Mrs. Davis, I think these people are about ready to eat." "They're gonna eat the furniture if we don't sit them down and feed them." " I'm gonna do the thing." " What?" "Okay." "Let's work with this, okay?" "Excuse me." "Before you unwrap the presents and get into some funky music," "I just wanted to take a little second here to brag about something." " Oh, yeah, surprise." " How very unlike you, Leon." "Now wait a minute." "Now wait a minute." "It has come to my attention that my lovely, devoted wife is with child." "I'm pregnant!" "Raise your glasses and toast to Leon and Kate!" " Congratulations." " I can drink." "You're already dead, Jessabelle." "You're already dead!" "Preston?" "I'm sorry." " I know I said I wouldn't call, but..." " Who is this?" "It's Jessie, Jessie Laurent." "Who is this?" "Come closer." "Closer." "Yes." "Hey." "You all right?" "Sam just told me you called last night." "I'm all right." "I'm so sorry." "I just..." "I just got scared." "Everything okay at home?" "Well, "okay" is stretching it a bit, but I'm fine." " Well, I'm glad you're here." " All right." "Well, tell me what happened." "Oh, you see that, too?" "Yeah." "What is that?" "I don't know." "I think somebody's out there." "There was somebody definitely out there last night." "You think that old boat still works?" "Sure." "What is that?" "Some kind of voodoo or something." "Half the cemeteries in this parish are full of that kind of shit." "But why would they put it on our land?" "Yeah, someone's definitely been out here, all right." "That's pretty fresh." "What?" "There's something down there." "What is that?" " What are you doing?" " This isn't my first time in the bayou." "That's weird." "That's my birthday." "Why would someone want to spook you like this?" "Or maybe that's a real gravestone." "Maybe you had a twin sister or something." "I never had a sister." "And why would we both have the same name?" "I don't know." "I've got cousins with two Beauregards in their family." "They just like the name." "But who killed that chicken?" "And who brings flowers?" "Do you think there's something under that stone?" "All right." "I guess we'll go back to your house and see what kind of tools you've got." "You don't recall any mention of your parents having another little girl?" "Well, you were right to call us." "I suspect it was a stillbirth." "We'll run some tests, find out if she was a relative of yours based on your DNA sample." "Of course we have a sample of your daddy already from his autopsy." "So we'll give you a call when we find out who this infant was." "Thank you, Sheriff." "We knew we had to call you right away." "Remind me again the nature of your relationship with Miss Laurent." "We're old friends from high school." "Y'all have a good night, then." "Thank you, Sheriff." "You know you can't stay here, right?" "I've got nowhere else to go." "Yeah, you do." " You all right?" " Yeah." "Hey, honey." "Hey, Sam, this is Jessie." "Jessie, this is Sam, my wife." "It's almost 1:00 a.m. I gotta work tomorrow." "Yeah, I know." "This is my fault." "I'm so sorry." "I'm the one who dragged him all into this." "We don't have an extra room." "Hope the couch is okay for you." "Yeah, it's fine." " I need to get to bed." " Thank..." "I'm sorry about that." " Undo these." " Yeah." " Okay, now." " Yeah, thanks." "All right." "Well, just let me know if you need anything else." "Thank you." "Night." "I'm sorry for getting you in trouble last night." "That's all right." "That's what old friends are for." "You're just lucky you were asleep when she left for work this morning." "I see." "Yeah." "So why do you wanna go to Woodbury?" "Well, I think there's somebody who might know who that baby girl is." " Do you remember Scott Davis from school?" " Yeah, I remember him." "His mom, Abbey, used to cook for my mom and dad back before I was born." "Well, if she's still alive, I'll take you there." "Excuse me, sir." "Abigail Davis live here?" "Thank you." "Mrs. Davis?" "Hey, Mrs. Davis." "I used to go to school with your son, Scott." "It's Preston." "Remember me?" "Me and Scott used to play together when we were little." "You used to yell at us for jumping off your garage." "Remember?" "Preston Saunders." "You're gonna break your arm up there, and I'm gonna laugh my ass off." "It's good to see you, Mrs. Davis." "It's been a long time." "There's someone else here to see you." "This is Jessie." "Jessie Laurent." "You used to cook for her folks." "Jessie Laurent?" "Jessabelle!" "Mrs. Davis." " God, is she all right?" " What did she say?" " I don't know." " She say..." ""Rain wet us, Mama." ""Sun dried us, Papa." ""The betrayers are evil." ""Call down Djowou." "Call down Djowou will deal with them."" "What's that mean?" "It's an old song from Haiti." "They sing it to call the spirits to possess someone." "Tell Moses Jessabelle get what's coming to her!" "You okay?" "Goddamn voodoo shit." "I always hated Scott's mom." "Jessie, don't worry." "It's just some crazy old lady." "Probably says shit like that all the time." "What does that mean "they call the spirits to get possessed"?" "On purpose?" "Well, yeah." "In voodoo, possession ain't a bad thing." " What?" " Yeah, it's part of their ceremonies." "You call down the spirits, and they possess you, and you dance around." "That's what they do." "How do you know that?" "Come on, you grew up here, too." "There's voodoo all around this place." "They really get possessed?" "Well, that depends on who you ask." "I think it's like hypnosis." "You know, like faith-healing, speaking in tongues." "If you're raised to believe that, that's what you're gonna think is real." "Plus they've got drums going, people dancing around." "They rub blood on you." "You think you're possessed." ""Moses"." "She said, "Tell Moses."" "I don't know." "Voodoo mixes all kinds of religions," "Catholic, African." "It's all the same to them." "No, my mom knew a Moses." "She said that on the tape." "She learned tarot cards from Moses at her church." "I think her church was somewhere out near Jerry's Creek." "God damn it." "Well, I guess you get to see my patented 175-point turn." "No, wait, wait, wait." "What's that?" ""Moses Harper." ""Born December 12th, 1952." ""Died June 12th, 1988."" "What the hell is going on?" ""Legba, open the gate." "Legba, let Moses back in."" "Get out." "I'm Preston." "This here is my friend..." " Let's go, Preston." " Look, now, we don't want any trouble." "Hey!" "Stop it!" "Wait!" " Preston, you all right?" " Go!" "You're not coming back here." " Ever." "There's no way." " Preston..." "You're not gonna stay here." "You go in." "Get whatever you need." "You can stay with us again." "Your wife's gonna be thrilled about that." "You could stay at my mom's." "My mom always liked you." "You know that." "She's still got our prom pictures up." "That's another reason why Sam's not so crazy about you." "She knows... she knows I still think about you." "And she knows we're probably gonna move on." "But you didn't do it, Jessie." "Not you showing up right now." "It's just weird timing is all." "All right." "I'm gonna get you out of here." "Ready?" "Yeah." "Excuse me." " All right, let's get you packed." " Would you grab me that bag?" "Yeah." " Here you go." " Thank you." "I'll get this over here." "Preston?" "All right." "Be right back." "Hey, you ready?" "All right." "Preston?" "Preston?" "Preston!" "Your boyfriend is in shock, but his blood pressure is okay." "He should be fine when he comes to, but they're running him to the hospital" " just to be safe." " He's not my boyfriend." "We were just friends from high school." "Miss Laurent, do you mind telling me what the hell's going on here?" "We don't have the results back on the DNA yet." "But that infant we found, we do know was a female." "The date on her gravestone was probably about right." "Well, then was she a stillborn?" "No, she wasn't." "She was born alive." "They know that." "Then she was murdered." " What?" " From the nature of the fractures and the splintering of the vertebrae, it seems like somebody just picked her up and snapped her over his knee like a piece of firewood." "She was murdered." "Miss Laurent, I don't know what the hell is going on around here, but clearly, you are one very frightened young woman." " She doesn't want to hurt us." " What?" "She needs our help." "Who?" "Sheriff, would you mind calling me when Preston wakes up, please?" "All right." "Please call me when you know he's all right." "All right." "I know you were murdered." "What are you trying to tell me?" "Who were you?" "Please, I wanna help you." "Who are you?" "Jessabelle." "What do you want from me?" "Hello?" "Hello?" "It's Sheriff Pruitt." "Your boyfriend's come to." "He seems all right." "I thought you'd wanna know." " Oh, he's all right?" " The paramedics said he should rest." "He won't even go to the hospital for an exam." "He wants me to take him back out to the house to protect you from something." " That you know what that is." " Sheriff?" "Sheriff, I can barely hear you." "Miss Laurent, we also just got the results back from the DNA test." "That deceased baby girl that you dug up was black." "What did you say?" "She was black?" "I don't understand." "Does that mean she was my half-sister?" "They crossed your DNA with your father's, with Leon's..." "What?" "That's you crying." "You're crying 'cause you're scared." "You don't know where you are." "You don't know who you are." "You don't know shit!" "I'm gonna tell you who you are." "Because that's what good mothers do." "Jessabelle, you're dead." "Your father's dead." "Moses." "Hush-a-bye" "Don't you cry" "Go to sleepy, little baby" "When you wake" "You shall have..." "All the pretty little horses" "No, it's all gonna be all right, isn't it?" "I need you, sugar." "I need you." "Good girl." "You're gonna come back." "I'm gonna hold the door open for you." "Jessabelle, you're gonna get what's coming to you!" "The unwanted presence in the house." " When you see it, it's broken, right?" " It wasn't the ghost." "It was me." "You were telling someone else's fortune, weren't you?" "You know what it says here?" "It says that you've never left St. Francis and that you're never gonna leave." "Your real daughter, not me." "You gave your life for Jessabelle." "Didn't do chemo." "But when the baby was born, it wasn't Dad's." "No, no!" "He killed her, didn't he?" "Moses taught me how to read cards." "Look at those." "Don't tell Dad." "He'd kill me." "So Leon adopted a baby girl..." "to cover the crime?" "A white girl, me." "Your church..." "Moses' church." "Get out." "They gave her the grave." "What do you want from me?" "What can I do?" "Moses." " What are you doing?" " Payback." "What?" "What?" "No!" "No." "It's not my fault!" "Somebody!" "Help!" "No!" "What do you want from me?" "All Jessabelle wants is what's coming to her." "Somebody!" "No!" "No!" "Let me go!" "What is..." "No, no, no!" "No!" "Please, stop." "Where are you taking me?" "No, God!" "Please." "Please!" "Jessie!" "Please!" "Let me go!" "No!" "God!" "Stop it!" "Oh, my God!" "Hold on." "Hold on." "You all right?" "I thought I lost you." "Take me home, my love." "Miss Laurent?" "Are you all right?" "Miss Laurent!" "It's Jessabelle."