"Are we burning some midnight oil?" "Hi Mom, I didn't hear you coming." "I guess I kinda got caught up in it." "Something new?" "I'm just experimenting." "Following the music." "I'm just going to work for a couple of minutes and then I'm going to turn in." "Okay, sweetheart." "Pleasant dreams." "You too." "I love you." "I love you too." "Sorry, Mom." "I think that stereo has a weird electrical short or something." "I'm okay, I'm just really into it tonight." "Stop now, okay?" "Mom?" "Hello?" "Okay." "My goodness, that girl." "Hey." "The stereo's really loud." "Bethany, it's really late." "Are you okay?" "Why are you sitting in the dark?" "Bethany, answer me." "Bethany?" "Bethany!" "My God, my God, please let me in!" "Let me in!" "Baby?" "Baby, baby, where are you?" "Bethany?" "Bethany, baby?" "Where are you?" "Don't..." "Don't..." "Don't, don't what?" "Let him get me." "Bethany, baby, please, who?" "Don't let who get you?" "Just a second." "Just a second." "My gosh." "My gosh!" "I know." "What are you going to do?" "Sorry, I just found out 15 minutes ago." "Right, well, shit!" "Yeah." "And you haven't told Buckley?" "My God, no." "I gotta figure some things out first." "Are you guys having problems?" "No." "I don't know, he keeps bringing up moving in together again." "And that's a bad thing?" "It's just a step I'm not sure I'm ready to take." "Wait wait." "So, in summary, you're in a positive, healthy relationship with a solid, gainfully employed guy, who actually wants to commit to you, whose child you're now carrying." "Tell me where I send the condolence letters to." "I guess I got a lot of stuff left over from how I grew up, and..." "I've been taking care of myself for so long, and now with this baby, I, I don't know." "I'm not comfortable rushing myself into any kind of giant commitment." "Yeah, but I think after almost three years, you're just dragging your feet." "Crap, I'm going to be late." "Yeah, that meeting with Senorita Spooky?" "Yeah, it's gonna be a long day." "Well, hey, call me if you need me, okay?" "Thanks." "Bye." "Thank you for your time today, Professor Kern." "Your expertise will be a great asset to my thesis on the relevance of parapsychology in modern psychiatry." "My pleasure." "Before we start, may I ask what drew you to the subject?" "I don't get many inquiries like yours." "I guess I've always been a bit fascinated by the human condition." "Do you believe in the supernatural?" "Atheist searching for a miracle." "So just for the record, will you please state your name?" "Dr. Lois Kern, head of the Parapsychology Department of Columbia University." "And how long have you been investigating and researching claims of the paranormal?" "Over 20 years." "I did my undergraduate at Princeton University, magna cum laude in the Classics, and trained in Psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine, before moving into field studies." "And how many cases would you say you've covered?" "Personally, I've overseen 200." "How many were you able to scientifically verify?" "Three." "Out of 200, yes?" "You seem disappointed." "You have to admit, it's a very small percentage of the whole." "Miss Carpenter, Veronica, I'd be remiss if I didn't admit the majority of cases are either outright hoaxes or, when held up to the scrutiny of rigorous and regimented examination, fall under clearly explainable means." "And science has given us answers to primal fears." "What we once referred to as monsters are now mutations." "The nature and order of the world and the human body can be seen in cells under a microscope rather than the pages of fairy tales." "But you do believe there were three cases that have held up to your rigorous and regimented experimentation, and were verifiable beyond natural explanation." "Levittstown, Pennsylvania in '95." "I witnessed a woman who undoubtedly possessed strong telekinetic abilities, especially when emotionally provoked." "Small things, lights flickering, drawers opening." "Though her grandmother claimed on a good day she could levitate the household pets at will." "2001, in Yonkers, I was on a team investigating a haunting." "The McKutcheons." "A family bought a two-story fixer-upper, claimed multiple instances of ghostly activity?" "A group of four, and myself, spent several days in the house investigating incidents." "What about the third case?" "The third." "The Clovitz case." "The little boy, Jacob Clovitz, ten years old, you're aware of the case I'm referring to?" "It's the hallmark of my work." "Your study was the first to officially medically validate an actual case of possession in the New Oxford Review." "You witnessed his non-sanctioned exorcism?" "Yes." "Previous to the case, because of my background in clinical psychiatry, I'd been brought in to assist as a medical doctor." "So this wasn't the first time." "I've been party to seven." "Exorcism has a history in several cultures." "Psychologically it's sometimes useful as a pure placebo." "The victim believes they're under duress from forces." "Performing the ritual, under proper supervision, helps the psychosis cure itself by the same suggestive means." "So these seven individuals were all suffering from psychosis." "You know, spinning heads, pea soup." "No." "I'm afraid not." "But do you believe that Jacob was different, that he was under the prevalent influence of multiple malevolent demonic entities?" "Have you ever seen true evil?" "I'm sorry, Professor, I'm not sure I understand the question." "Well, in personal experience," "I have interviewed prison inmates, convicted of rape and murder, misogynists, deviants, killers." "My boyfriend has done some work for the police forensic unit." "He once photographed a six month old boy with broken ribs, whose mother happened to be holding him at the inopportune time that she got into a physical domestic spat." "I even masochistically watch the evening news, so I am fully aware of the horrible things that human beings are capable of." "I do not, however, believe in evil as an entity or consciousness beyond that." "All people are capable of darkness." "True evil, something else altogether." "It's not merely a collection of badly wired brain impulses, or everyday brutality." "It's more." "It's the absence of light." "Tell me a little bit more about Jacob Clovitz." "On the surface, it appeared to be another, albeit rare, case of abelobscene." "Tremors and convulsions soon developed into violent outbursts, expressionless gazes, uncontrolled speech." "He needed psychological evaluation and treatment, but his devout parents felt he was beyond modern medicine." "They petitioned the Church for intervention several times, but lack of evidence, previous hospitalizations, and a potential PR nightmare for a scandal-plagued diocese..." "And how did you initially become involved?" "His Aunt." "A nurse, and personal friend." "And she believed the parents, that the child was under some sort of possession?" "No, she thought he was neglected until the day she called me in hysterics." "She'd been watching him that day when he somehow found a metal spike, and began carving into his own arm." "She was unsure, and feared for his life, and asked me to visit him." "I agreed." "He was sweet." "He didn't disassociate, was unaware of what he said or did during his fits, but knew that he had them, and that it worsened." "His states of lucidity dwindled in relation to these episodes." "It was like he was disappearing." "And you were there the day of his exorcism." "Jacob's parents contacted an unlicensed specialist." "An excommunicated priest, Father Santiago." "What did you see?" "Help me." "I don't think I can explain what occurred." "I can tell you nothing in my lifetime, my work before or after, could have prepared me." "I've spent the last 12 years trying." "Is that your tape recording?" "I couldn't listen until months later." "Are you sure you want to hear this?" "Thank you, Professor, I can handle it." "Yes." "Seven hours later, no change." "I took a much-needed break." "After only a few minutes of having left the room, he violently attacked his father and jumped out a third floor window." "The boy died, correct?" "Yes, but not from the initial fall." "He made it three blocks on severely broken legs before running directly..." "In my expert opinion, this boy was under the control of something that was true evil." "Can I get a copy of that tape?" "What are you doing?" "Professional, smart, sex goddess." "I'm trying to focus here." "Sorry." "Sorry." "Very interesting." "It's research." "I'm meeting up with that professor again tomorrow to investigate this lady's claims that her house is besieged by evil spirits." "You're kidding me." "You buy into any of this stuff?" "Of course not." "Not even a little bit?" "We don't live in the dark ages anymore." "What?" "I'm totally sleeping with a heathen." "Shut up." "Like you're so righteous?" "Hey, my family's from North Carolina." "We're some God-fearing folk." "I don't know, I guess if anybody could make me a true believer..." "She's debunked way more than she's proven to be true paranormal events." "Fellow academics lovingly refer to her as the miracle killer." "But now she believes in this?" "Maybe even more than people who had just jumped to conclusions, you know." "It's like she's actually looking for real evidence that there's something more out there." "One case in particular spooked her pretty bad." "This kid died in a botched exorcism." "Yeah." "She played me the craziest tape." "I got a copy for my notes." "Well, this is all pretty enthralling pre-bedtime material." "There was something else I kinda wanted to talk to you about." "I was just wondering if you'd thought any more about what I asked you about last week." "I, I just, I really have a lot of reading to do." "I mean, it just makes sense, right?" "We're both in new periods of growth." "I'd really like to come home to the same place as you every day." "Officially." "We are in a really good place right now." "We can talk about it again soon, I promise." "This is so crazy." "Look at these statistics." "Sixty percent of Americans believe in ghosts?" "Another twenty percent claim a personal experience." "Hey." "Forty eight percent..." "Buckley, stop." "I can't control myself." "Buckley!" "There is no Buckley, only Zool." "No wait, look, look at this." "Five stages of a haunting." "Okay, stage one." "Cold spots, noises, odors, hearing footsteps, and feelings of being watched." "It's so weird." "Stage two, gets more advanced, right?" "Whispers, laughs, moans, shrieking." "Moans, shrieking, now I'm interested." "Moans and shrieking and moving shadows." "Stage three, lights and other electrical appliances turning on and off." "Unseen hands grabbing or touching." "Writings or pattern markings." "Doors that open or close themselves." "Stage four, the appearance of full apparitions, movement or disappearing of objects, windows, mirrors or other household objects breaking for no reason." "And, stage five, here." "The culmination of all the events previous but with more intensity." "The entity has gradually moved up into clear consciousness from the energy it's been building, and then things get violent." "Mom!" "Mom!" "Mom!" "Sorry if I kept you waiting at all." "The trains were death this morning." "Good morning." "I hope you got a good rest." "Why, is there a decathlon portion of the day I'm not aware of?" "These investigations can be very taxing emotionally on all parties." "It's best to enter with a clear mind and a full battery." "Well, I've got my little cup of go-go juice here, so let's not waste any time." "You've got a lot of spirit." "You'll have to forgive me, this is all pretty new to me." "I'm still trying to wrap my head around it all." "I've been working doubles at the hospital with everything happening." "We're both a little on edge." "Sugar or milk?" "No, this is fine, thank you." "Please, just from the beginning." "Well, it started maybe a month ago." "Not enough to really notice at first." "I would come home." "It was freezing." "My daughter thought the pipes were broken, because of this loud clanging and banging." "Then, there were the other sounds." "Um, what kind of sounds?" "I feel silly saying this." "I mean, it's crazy." "It's okay, Ms. Mills." "Joan." "Joan, just be as detailed as you can." "Mocking sounds." "Whispers, laughter, things would be moved." "I'm scared." "Have you or anyone in the house been attacked or physically assaulted?" "Bethany, my daughter, she was thrown from the bed a few weeks ago." "I went in the room." "I couldn't see anyone." "But I felt it." "Right behind me, I felt this anger." "And my girl, she hasn't been herself." "She won't eat, or sleep." "Sometimes she's just zoning out." "Have you ever experienced anything like this previous to a month ago?" "No, we've been in this house over 20 years." "After my husband passed, he had bone cancer when my daughter was very young." "We've never had anything like this." "Has your daughter always been in the house with you?" "Last year..." "She was in a bad accident." "The driver wrapped his car around a tree." "Died instantly." "We weren't sure she was..." "I'm sorry, you just go through this with your husband, and then with your own child." "I'm not a very religious person, but I prayed to every deity I could remember, and then made up some the day that she opened her eyes and came back." "What kind of injuries did your daughter sustain in the crash?" "Severe swelling, hemorrhaging, she was in a coma a few weeks." "Terrible migraines." "Um, what kind of medication was she on?" "Pain killers, mostly." "Any permanent brain damage?" "No, no, thank God." "All scans and tests came back perfectly fine." "I think the doctors were even surprised." "Is she home now?" "May we speak to her?" "Ms. Mills?" "Where's your daughter?" "I can't seem to get her to come up." "She says it's not safe for her to come up." "I want to tell her she's ridiculous, that it's perfectly safe..." "But you don't believe that?" "I don't know what I believe anymore." "May we go down in the basement?" "Hi, Bethany." "My name is Lois Kern, and this is my associate, Veronica Carpenter." "We'd like to talk to you about what's been going on in the house." "I see." "Your mother's filled us in on what you've both been going through, but we'd like to hear from you as well, if it's okay." "I'm not sure what I can tell you." "This is really lovely work." "Is this yours?" "Yeah, um, I'm not sure where it's going right now." "It's, it's kind of a mood piece." "They say that artists are always channeling what's going below the surface." "In art school it was all mastering technique and discipline, and then stripping that away and returning to intuition." "It seems like a long way around to get back where you started from." "Agreed." "Do you spend a lot of time down here?" "Sometimes." "Lately, yeah." "Your mother says you've been spending more time down here since the incidents started." "It's safer down here." "What do you mean safer?" "Do you feel safer down here, Bethany?" "I won't let it hurt her." "Who?" "Don't do that." "What?" "That." "It's condescending." "I apologize." "I didn't know." "You know." "You know there's something very bad here." "Do you believe your house is haunted?" "I don't know about all that." "I..." "I just feel sorry for my poor mother." "She's stressed at work, and she's scared for me, because she knows..." "What does she know, Bethany?" "I'm the one they really want." "My father was my protector." "He..." "Would scoop me up if I had a nightmare." "And he would tell me that everything was going to be okay, and that no one would hurt me." "You know, if there was something in the closet, or under the bed, he'd save me." "When he first got really sick, they took him to the hospital ward." "And I couldn't sleep through the night, because, my protector was far away, and the things in the dark could get me." "I visited him once." "He looked so sick and weak." "But," "he told me about this light." "And that, he was only moving on to somewhere that he could look after us better." "That he was never gonna actually leave." "And I could sleep again because, when I saw sunshine or a flame I'd say, there he is." "He's watching over us." "But now, with all this stuff, it was a lie, wasn't it?" "Maybe there's no light, there's no after this." "There are still things in the dark." "What kind of things?" "Hungry things." "Do you know what's in this house?" "It's darkness." "Blacker than the blackest." "I thought I was going crazy, and I'm still not sure I'm not, but I just don't understand what," "I don't understand why it's happening to us." "I mean, did we do something?" "Did I do something?" "You didn't do anything, Bethany." "I'm sorry, I guess I'm a little bit of a mess here." "It's okay." "It's, it's okay to fall apart sometimes." "We pick ourselves up." "Stay strong and..." "Is your family particularly religious?" "Like church and stuff?" "No, I mean, we went to church a few times, and Mom prayed a lot when Dad..." "I guess it didn't stick." "We often find strengths in the unlikeliest of places." "I have something dear to me that might help you find strength." "Something given to me that" "I'd like to offer you." "Don't you dare fucking cross me with that again." "I'm so sorry." "I'm sorry." "I don't know what..." "I, I, I don't know what..." "Bethany." "Bethany?" "Bethany." "We need to call an ambulance." "Please help me." "What are you gonna name it?" "Name what?" "The baby." "I'm sorry." "I'm not." "Excuse me." "Are you okay?" "What?" "Yeah, I was just getting a little stuffy in there." "What did she say?" "Nothing." "It was just a misunderstanding." "So, Joan and her daughter's story seem to fit most of the five stages of a haunting as per your research outline." "I don't think we're dealing with a haunting." "You think they're making it up." "I wasn't sure myself, I mean, the mother's been working herself to the bone, and the daughter's severe head trauma would account for any personality shifts, but that thing with the nail?" "I'm afraid we're dealing with something else." "I'm not following." "A haunting at its most basic is leftover energy from a human presence, their experiences." "I'm now believing that whatever is in this house has never been human." "Baby." "You have to eat." "Keep your strength up." "I'm not hungry." "Baby, please, try." "Please try just for me." "No!" "I said I'm not hungry!" "I'm so.." "I'm so sorry, I'm, I, I," "I didn't mean, I..." "It's okay, baby." "It's okay." "It's okay, I'll make something else." "Sh, sh, sh." "It's okay." "It's okay." "I wish Dad were here." "I know." "I know, I miss him too." "You miss him?" "I do." "I do, so, so much." "Yes." "The way he..." "Trusts you!" "Buckley?" "What are you doing?" "Turn it off, it's not funny." "I said, turn it off!" "Hey, Christ, you scared the shit out of me." "Is everything alright?" "I didn't know you were coming over today." "Yeah, I got done at the studio early." "I figured we could order in, watch a movie." "Hey, what's going on, you okay?" "I'm fine, I just..." "Look, I gave you the key to the apartment, but it would still be nice to know when... you're gonna be here instead of just showing up." "Hey, is this about the tape?" "I was just..." "It was out, I was curious." "I mean, can you blame me, how often..." "It's just not respectful to enter someone's home and start going through all their things." "A little civility would be appreciated." "What if I just came to your studio and started going through all your bags and your equipment?" "What are you doing?" "Come on, Buckley." "No, no, not when you get like this." "I know enough to just exit stage left." "I guess this is the one perk of us still having separate places, right?" "You can just bail when it gets heavy." "Buckley." "Hello?" "Hello?" "Jesus." "Yeah." "Do not come back to me now." "Who is this?" "Please, me safe." "Listen, Keeley, if this is some kind of stupid joke, it's not funny, okay?" "Listen, I'm gonna call the cops." "She belongs to us, and she's ours." "No." "God, my God." "My God." "Who are you?" "What do you want from us?" "Just leave her alone!" "Just please leave her alone!" "Please, please." "She invited us." "And we like it here." "But she invited us." "Invited us." "You know what he did to her, didn't you?" "Didn't you?" "Bethany." "Every night." "Every night, you know what happens?" "Every night?" "Ms. Mills." "Something's happening." "You're sure you heard her right." "She said Gahenna." "I thought it was just a rain of sound at first, but it was so clear." "My God, her eyes." "If you saw her face, it wasn't her." "Veronica, stay up here with Ms. Mills." "Well, why?" "What's going on?" "I'm going downstairs to check on Bethany." "So, then I should go with you." "No, no, I need to be sure of something." "Wait, what..." "What is Gahenna?" "It's Hebrew." "It's the word for Hell." "This is crazy, you..." "Just stay with Ms. Mills!" "You were to observe and assist." "Now, I'm asking you to by staying here." "I'll be, I'll be right back." "Bethany?" "Bethany?" "Who are you?" "Who are you?" "Who are you?" "Like he said, my names are legion." "For we are many." "Who are you?" "Professor Kern?" "I said, who are you!" "Tell me your name!" "What is your name?" "Lois!" "You!" "Professor Kern?" "You need to go to the hospital and have that properly looked at." "Do you hear me?" "Professor Kern." "Lois." "Did you see her face?" "Did you see it?" "I'm worried you're in shock." "You need medical attention, and we need the proper authorities to come and deal with what's going on here." "We're not dealing with a haunting." "I know." "That's what I'm saying." "This is a demonic infestation." "This house, Bethany, it's connected." "It's... strong." "I, I know that deep down you really believe in these things." "And I know I don't have your years of experience, or your guilt." "But what is happening in this house is not supernatural." "That doesn't make it any less tragic, though." "There is a very sick young woman downstairs." "She has already suffered terribly, and she will only hurt someone else or very well herself, unless she is treated by trained professionals." "As a medical professional you can see rationally what needs to happen in this situation." "You still don't believe, do you?" "In ghosts and devils and the ethereal world?" "No." "No, I'm sorry, I don't." "I can't." "I agree with you that she's in danger." "Mortal danger." "But there's nothing anyone from the medical community can do about it." "There's no help she can be offered for what oppressing her now." "You will have to forgive my inability to make unnecessary leaps of faith, when there is a clearly more rational answer sitting right in front of me." "I will not turn a blind eye to the fact that Bethany is a clear danger to herself and to others, just to give credence to some half-baked notion that this family's problems are anything beyond explainable science." "It's gone quiet now down there." "That isn't my daughter anymore, is it?" "Of course it is, Mrs. Mills, please understand." "I know my girl." "A mother always does." "Whatever's in that basement, maybe it looks like her, sounds like..." "It's not her." "It's still your daughter, Joan." "But it's corrupting whatever's left of her." "Soon it's going to be taking over completely." "What?" "Professor, please don't." "A Gahenna demon." "They were the most feared, the first fallen, they'd linger where dead bodies were disposed, where children were sacrificed to Caananite deities." "They have no desire but to spread fear and suffering to all they encounter, especially those they inhabit." "Then, then what?" "Lois, please." "Possession." "The demon, unable to remain without dominion here, latches itself." "It infects, corrupts, and rots the host out from the inside until there's nothing left." "This is so wrong." "Then, what, what is it doing?" "Stop it, you are upsetting her!" "What is it doing?" "Someone tell me what it's doing to my little girl!" "It's killing her." "I'm sorry, Joan." "No, no, don't be sorry, don't be sorry!" "Help me!" "You have to!" "You have to!" "Joan, please, Mrs. Mills," "I understand, I do." "My mother suffered from severe mental illness." "She spent my childhood hospitalized." "She couldn't tear herself out of bed." "That was hell." "That was mine." "I watched it eat away her, until she, she never got the help that she needed." "And I, promised myself." "I promised that I would have a better understanding of what she went through." "I wouldn't watch one more person slip away without getting the help that they needed." "Mrs. Mills, please, if you love your daughter, you will let me help her." "Today." "You can't stop it if you don't know it." "Is that what it's going to take?" "Is that what it's going to take to make you both see that we are dealing with mental illness?" "Veronica, wait!" "Don't!" "No, this ends right now." "Mrs. Mills, call an ambulance for Professor Kern." "I am going downstairs to talk to your daughter, and prove that there is nothing more to this." "And then, I implore you, please, don't further feed your daughter's psychosis." "We need to break the cycle and get her proper treatment." "And if neither of you will do it, I will do it myself." "Please, if you insist on going down there." "Humor me." "That's all I'm asking." "This ends when I get back up here." "Bethany?" "Bethany can't come out to play right now." "Bethany, Bethany, it's Veronica Carpenter." "We met the other day." "We know who you are." "Disbeliever." "We've been expecting you." "We have something for you." "A gift, from us to you." "A gift." "What is that?" "Faith." "Faith?" "True faith." "We know you don't believe in us." "You don't want any of us to be your shaman." "You don't believe in the works of the filthy old drunk whore upstairs, do you?" "You smell the alcohol on her breath, and the desperation in her voice." "Disgust, that a medical professional could let a child die, and believe in fairy tales." "Or is it something else you're disbelieving?" "Look." "Today is a day of miracles, for we walk amongst you." "Who are you?" "You keep saying we." "How many are you?" "Rush rush rush, rabbit." "First we have a favor we want to ask of you." "We want you to see us, to know us, write our gospels for us." "Will you be our messenger?" "How can I do such a thing if I don't know with whom I'm speaking?" "Am I to believe I'm speaking with the devil?" "Unh unh, try again." "Then, who am I speaking to?" "Nothing." "Why are you here?" "Because we wish to be free." "Free?" "From what?" "Gahenna." "From hell?" "You're all so pathetic and human, you know." "Hell, to use an abstract concept of a mere word." "You hear it and you think fire and brimstone, torture, darkness." "It's all so much worse." "It's a continual flaying of the psychic nerve endings." "A solitude and a darkness so whole and complete." "Can you imagine eternity in that?" "No, you can't fathom how long an eternity is." "There is no time or matter in eternity." "Echoes in the abyss." "We are the unspoken ones who dwell there." "Our only respite is to cloak ourselves in this flesh." "So if you are what you say you are, and there is such a great evil, then there must be an opposite." "That means there's a god." "Is there a god?" "Shoos!" "You didn't answer my question." "Is there a god?" "If you speak of the great thing again we'll rip out your tongue and feed it to you." "I only ask because you seem to wish me to write about you." "In which case there are some questions that need to be answered, wouldn't you agree?" "Why do you question what you don't know?" "Do you wish to know a pig that sits silently while atrocities are being committed here?" "I'll change the subject, then." "What do you want with Bethany?" "To make her suffer." "To make every breath an indignant agony." "But why?" "Because we can." "Because she let us in here." "No, no no, I didn't." "I didn't, I swear." "Shut up, you bitch!" "She let us in, when she was by the roadside, bleeding to death, drifting into darkness." "It didn't take much." "When confronted with darkness, you will question, argue and barter." "Consequence be damned." "So we made her an offer." "We would restore her, as long as we were allowed to hitch a ride." "So now here we are." "So you tricked her, then." "No, she let us in willingly!" "Why is it you all are so unwilling to admit your flaws and weaknesses?" "Sins, carry them around like you're full of fear, or lies that you tell everyone." "Tell yourselves." "He touched me." "I never told anyone, but it's true." "He touched me in..." "Bad ways." "Bethany." "My protector." "He came in at night, and he held me down." "And he did things." "Your father?" "What did he do to you?" "He fucked her!" "So, that's all." "There's not an inch that he didn't lick." "Not a crevasse that he didn't." "The old bitch upstairs knew all about it." "She pretended to be asleep every night." "She just denied it." "And she blamed her own child." "She blamed her own child!" "How do I know you're telling the truth?" "Because you know it." "Do I?" "You could very easily be lying, or manipulating half-truths." "We have no reason to lie." "The truth cuts deeper." "We know all secrets." "Even yours, Veronica." "You're ripe with fear and doubt." "It shouts to us." "Sings choruses." "You don't want the child you're bearing." "Useless, incon..." "Do you hate it?" "Or are you just afraid?" "Incapable of loving it like your mother wasn't loving you." "You don't know anything." "Maybe." "She's in hell, you know." "Your mother." "She's in hell." "With us." "I don't know what you're talking about." "She slit her wrists, didn't she?" "Foolish bitch." "And now she burns." "Now she suffers." "Please, please, I'm in so much pain, please Veronica, please!" "She cries in the darkness." "Agonizing daily as we torment her." "As we tear the flesh hungrily from her bones, gnawing." "My, my, my." "What have we done now now now." "All those years, wasted, trying to save her through others though you know you never can." "She'll always be in that tub, bleeding out, trying to escape this world, and you." "It was too much for her." "All over you." "You don't know anything about me or my family." "We know everything." "Why you cannot attach yourself to this small being." "You fear the darkness in her rests in you." "Some day it will be too much for you too." "You'll give up, lose your desire to live and you'll end up alone in the darkness." "Alone, with us." "Like her." "You're sick." "You are sick and you're full of shit!" "Do you miss me, Veronica?" "We all do." "Bethany." "Don't fight it, we will help you through lack of faith." "Let us show you, let us in, let us in." "Let us in!" "She is ours, we will never let her go!" "Rotten curse on your womb!" "Are you okay?" "What?" "What?" "I'm sorry." "I have to go." "You have to, but, but." "Wait, she's gonna be alright, isn't she?" "You can do something to help her, yeah?" "Please!" "Veronica, you saw it now, didn't you?" "I know what it's like when the darkness looks back into us." "Given years hoping it was in my head." "But it's back." "And I can't watch this again, not without fighting." "And we can stop it this time." "I can't." "I'm sorry, I just..." "Veronica, wait!" "Veronica." "Are you ready to come play with us again?" "We've been waiting a long time for you to come and play with us." "You're not in this room." "We had ever so much fun last time." "I'm not going to let you do this again." "We can wait as long as it takes." "Forever, if need be." "And it'll still be us, and you." "In the dark together." "We have so many things planned." "No more." "I'm going to stop you this time." "Do you hear me?" "I'm going to stop you." "We've been waiting for you, little sheep." "We've been waiting for you, Veronica." "Waiting for your child." "We all are, and you'll never get away." "Please, please, please don't hang up." "Please don't hang up." "Thanks for meeting me." "Hey, no problem." "You sounded pretty wrecked on the phone." "I'm just starting to think this isn't about our fight." "Or us at all." "What's going on?" "I don't know..." "I think..." "I feel like I'm losing my mind." "I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm doing this." "I, you know me right." "You know I always try to be, rational." "And understanding, and..." "These last few days I have seen and felt things that I don't know how to explain." "With the professor?" "I'm not crazy, right?" "I'm not my Mom?" "I know it's real, and I know it's true." "Of course, of course." "Hey, hey, I'm here." "I'm here now, okay?" "You can tell me what it is." "I'm pregnant." "Pregnant?" "How long have you known?" "I don't know, maybe a week." "I guess I knew before that but I just confirmed it, so..." "Do you know what you want to do, or..." "I don't want to hurt you." "You can't." "You won't." "You're not alone, you know?" "We can work this out together." "Whatever you decide, I'm with you." "I'm with you." "Shit." "I have shoots with clients in 40 minutes." "I'll cancel it." "That's fine, you should go." "No, this is important." "No, it's fine." "Buckley, you should go." "You sure?" "We can talk about this." "Okay?" "We want you now, cheff." "You'll never get away." "You're ours, you're ours!" "Veronica?" "Are you there?" "Yes." "You know what it really is." "What we're dealing with?" "It's evil." "True evil." "Yes." "Do you know now you can't just walk away?" "Veronica?" "Yes." "How do we stop it?" "This is all I could find." "It'll work, thanks." "In ancient times, salt was used to consecrate, and ward off evil." "We can hopefully contain it long enough to complete the ritual." "Jacob's exorcist left this to me when he died." "It's very old, very special." "Talisman meant to bind and banish a demon back into the pit." "Its elements are rare." "And it's blessed." "But understand, our combined faith and strength alone is going to defeat this entity." "Without that, we have nothing." "Now whatever you hear, whatever happens," "I need you to remain upstairs." "Once we start, we can't stop until it's finished." "It'll become more reckless, defensive, and violent." "Stop at nothing to remain here." "Faith." "Wait." "I have something I want to show you both." "My sunshine." "I was so scared when she was born." "Loving something that much." "Beyond even yourself." "I failed her." "I've made mistakes in my life." "Maybe this is punishment." "I don't know if I deserve forgiveness, but my baby's innocent." "Whatever's in that basement, it thinks that it can break me." "Take the love I have for her." "It has no idea how strong a bond between a mother and her child." "It has no idea." "Now, you go down there, and you bring me back my little girl." "You save her." "I need to know you're gonna be okay down there." "I am scared." "Me too." "But it's the only time we ever get to be brave." "Here we are now." "Entertain us." "That smell!" "Sulfur, ignore it." "You're not going to win." "By the powers, principalities, thrones and dominions," "I bind you." "By the powers, principalities, thrones and dominions," "I bind you." "By the powers, principalities, thrones and dominions," "I bind you." "You were always such a disappointment." "You break the circle, bitch." "You break it now, or it's gonna be so much worse for you." "I will drag you kicking and screaming into the pit, and stuff your mouth with your own excrement." "You can't win, bitch." "You couldn't save little Jacob, and you can't save her." "She is ours." "You hear me?" "Shut up!" "You'll have nothing!" "Nothing!" "This is where you put your faith?" "This old bitch?" "She couldn't save little Jacob." "We did play with him so." "After he did his vile acts and carved into himself?" "We stayed forever and dropped the fear as we threw him in front of that car." "We want Jacob's bones!" "Lois, the circle!" "How dare you." "How dare you!" "Stay with me forever, or leave me now!" "And you're wimping out if you don't shove it down your throat." "Stop!" "Bethany!" "You let her go right now, you son of a bitch!" "You leave my daughter alone!" "Wait your turn!" "We have special plans for you, you deceitful bitch." "Baby, please." "I know you're there." "I know you're still there." "Baby, please, I know you're there." "Bethany, I know you're in there." "I know you're in there, and I'm sorry." "I'm sorry for what happened to you." "For what he did to you." "I'm sorry, I didn't know." "Liar!" "I didn't know!" "I'm sorry." "I should have protected you!" "Lies!" "Everything, you knew everything he did to her, and you did nothing." "Nothing!" "You pig!" "I know you're still in there." "I know it." "I know you're fighting." "And I'm not going to leave you this time." "I am not going to leave you." "You bitch!" "I won't let you be alone." "Your daughter can see and feel everything we do in this body." "And we are going to rip you apart piece by piece." "I'm not going to leave you." "Mama?" "Bethany, fight!" "No!" "She is, she is ours!" "Ours!" "No, no, no, no." "She's free now." "It's okay, it's okay." "You saved her." "You took a..." "You, you did it." "It knows you." "We tell stories and try to rationalize the darkness that surrounds us, and name the kind that dwells within us." "But for all of our collective fears of the unknown evils that lay just outside the harsh light of day, perhaps our greatest fear is merely to acknowledge the darkness capable in our own hearts." "Our own sins." "We're afraid to see it to touch it, terrified that it will consume us." "Or, perhaps..." "Perhaps we are afraid that if we see the darkness," "it will then see us."