Agnes & Nora

This is a scene from a script I wrote back in College. The screenplay as a whole sucked, but i liked this scene

  FADE UP

INT.

LOOKING OUTSIDE A WINDOW

LATE NIGHT

Winds blow through the forest trees of Callaway's Woods; partially obstructing the view of the town, Adamsville below.

 

Agnes Callaway stands in the darkened attic's floor-length window of her mansion, looking down at the lights of AdamsVille.

 

She gently fondles an old book in her soft hands.  She opens to a book marker and reads her favorite passages to herself.

 

AGNES
(softly)

"The desert mountains and dreary 

glaciers are my refuge.  

I have wandered here many days..."

 

As she continues, a tear falls from her eye.  She captures it with a claw-like finger and stares at it, puzzled.

 

AGNES

"...and the caves of ice, which
I only do not fear, are a 
dwelling to me, and..."

 

NORALYN (O.S.)
(interrupting)

"...and the only one which man 
does not grudge." 
Frankenstein, chapter twelve?

 

Agnes smiles but does not move.  She expected the old woman to show herself again. 

 

AGNES

Ten, actually...

 

Noralyn glides in from the darkness and into the moonlight of the window. 

 

Agnes doesn't move.  Noralyn floats beside her to also stare out the window.

 

NORALYN

How could words of such passion 
come from the lips of someone who 
claims to be so dispassionate?

 

AGNES
Words. -- Simply words I can 
spurn to appropiate the moment.

 

Agnes glides from the window and lights a single candle at a dresser. The candlelight casts wicked shadows in all directions.

 

AGNES
(facing away)

Why have you come at this hour, old woman?

 

Noralyn simply turns to face Agnes who's silhouette partially eclipsing the large moon.

 

NORALYN
For the same reason I have come 
to you many decades before, child.

 

AGNES
(smiling)
To stop me?

 

Agnes turns to face Noralyn.  In a display of power, the remaining candles around them explode to life. 

 

The display does not impress Noralyn.

The new light reveals the two women to be beautiful in appearance.

 

AGNES
You haven't learned, have you?  
You cannot stop me. 
My task is a ‘just’ one.

 

NORALYN
The senseless deaths of 
innocent mortals is not 
a righteous task.

 

AGNES
(biting down)
Innocent mortals? -- You dare 
speak the words 'innocent' 
and 'mortal' in the same breath?!

 

As Agnes' rage flares up, an unsettling wind filters through the attic. The candles flutter as she vanishes and instantly appears in front of Noralyn.

 

Agnes' eyes burn with a sinister red glow, but Noralyn is uneffected. She stares into the crimson storms.

AGNES
You call them innocent, 
my sweet Nora?

 

Her expression turns into uncontrollable anguish.

 

AGNES
(enraged)
I call them wicked!  I call them 
vile and corrupt and wetched for 
what they have done to me!

 

She turns to look out the window toward AdamsVille.

 

AGNES
Can't you hear them, Nora?  
Can't you hear what they call 
me? They think they are safe 
from my wrath!

 

Agnes closes her eyes and frowns; she shivers as if struck by an artic wind.  She retreats from the window into a corner of the room.

 

AGNES
(hurt)
They rebuke me like -- 
like some kind of demon.

 

She looks over her shoulder at Noralyn.

 

AGNES
(softly but forcefully)
They call me the devil, 
but it is they who are evil.

NORALYN
No, they are merely human...

AGNES
(insulted)
THEY - ARE - EVIL!

 

The candles explode again with Agnes' coming rage.  She trembles from the cold chills.  Tears run from her bloodshot eyes.

 

With a gently breeze, Noralyn glides across the room and rests her hands on Agnes' sholders in comfort.

 

NORALYN
(softly)
You are not bound to this 
world, child.  You must let go 
of the hate. -- Let go of the rage.

 

Nora turns Agnes around to face her.  Agnes stands about a foot taller than her so she elevates herself to eye level.

 

AGNES
Why did they do it?  
I was not a witch.  
I was not a devil.

 

NORALYN
I know child.

 

AGNES
(frantic)
I..I told them.  I told them 
I did not live there.  
I told them it was not I who 
slaughtered the chldren.

 

Agnes looks down at her hand as if ashamed of what happened next.  

 

AGNES
(softly)
But they would not listen.

 

Agnes tries to pull away, but Noralyn follows close to comfort her.

 

AGNES
(frantic)
They tied me to that rock and 
-- and -- burned me!

 

 

Noralyn feels the winds of anger building again.  Agnes' eyes flare with bright crimson once more.  She stares upon Noralyn with orbs of pure hatred.

 

AGNES

They laughed at me while my 

skin singed in the flames!  

They spat on me when my eyes 

popped under the heat!

 

(two beats)

And I remember it all.

The pain, the hate -- all of it!

And I - will not - forget!

 

A look of pity falls upon Nora's face.  She tries to comfort Agnes once more.

 

NORALYN

I once called you my daughter,

Agnes. And that is why I am still here.

I can be your path to the light.

It is time to let go of the pain.

 

AGNES

Not yet.  Adam and his brood 

must pay for what they did to me!

 

NORALYN
(frustrated)

Adam and the others have long passed!

 

AGNES
(enraged)

But their decendants still live!  

His tainted blood still runs through 

Adamsville's kindred.

 

Agnes pushes Noralyn away and walks to the window.

 

AGNES

They must pay.  They all have to

pay for what was done to me! 

 

Agnes turns to face Noralyn.

 

AGNES

This is why I am still here.

I will make them all pay.  

And if you try to stop me, 

you too will feel my wrath!

 

Noralyn's comfort and concern slowly begin to wash away.  She glides back to the place where she first appeared.

 

NORA

You know I cannot allow this

massacre to continue, child.

 

Agnes boasts a look of stern amorality written across her face. Then she grins with carelessness.

 

AGNES

Do what you must, old woman.

 

Suddenly, all the candles around them go out and Noralyn disappears into the shadows.  It is like their conversation never happened.

 

AGNES
(amused)

Oh, how I do love your

parlor tricks, Nora.

 

Agnes smiles and turns to face the window again.  The chills race through her again, but this time they excite her.

 

She picks up her copy of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein and gently opens it to another passage.

 

AGNES

"I was benevolent; my soul glowed

with love and humanity; but am I

not alone, miserably alone?"

 

She closes the text and crushes it with her massive claws. The book slowly disolves through her fingers.

 

AGNES

Ah, mother.  When will you learn? 

Your little girl died the day they

burned her to carbon.  And I am what is left.

 

She refocuses her attention on the lights below. She watches as some of the lights start to fade; its occupants turning in for the night.

 

AGNES
(grinning)

Sleep through the night, Adam's kindred.

Sleep the sleep of Angels. Soon you will

know the curse of your ancestors. Soon you you

know why I am still here.