13/12/2016
Witchet and Susan is a little story I scribbled in the middle of the night after a scary dream. This is exactly how I wrote it in 2016, mistakes and all.
It's hot, 1970s, a party in Brooklyn, like a garden BBQ. A guy in a vest is mingling, a Johnny Depp type, enigmatic style and charisma. He arrived earlier with a pretty young pregnant girl, Amy. She doesn't seem very happy. It's hot. Johnny just wants to party with his friends, he's happy mingling. Amy gets a little wound tight and breaks away from the main crowd. She takes a look around the main house.
It's old, maybe Victorian. She finds the staircase and climbs it. Maybe she just wants to rest for a moment. She finds a door ajar and creakily enters. The room is dusty, there's a single bed, it's bare and looks like it hasn't been slept in for many years. There's a kitchenette attached with papered up windows. Opposite the bed is a door to maybe a closet. The whole room looks like it hasn't been used for 50 years. As Amy looks around, behind her the door she came in begins to close, slowly. Silently, which is weird.
Johnny pushes it open as he enters. He checks on her. They talk for for a minute, it develops into crossed words as Jonnys frustration at having to be a young dad begins to rise. Amy is tired, she just wants to sit down. Johnny turns away from her in anger. Amy stares at the empty bed for a moment.
Suddenly there's a rattle and a dull thud from the closet door. The two are jolted from their own thoughts and whip their heads around to focus. Another thud. They look at each other, Amy pulls he hand up to her cheek, crossing her other arm over her belly. She feels feint and reaches back to the bed to balance herself.
There's a very old large brown purse sitting on the bed.
The door thuds and rattles again. The pair jump and shoot a stare at the closet, then each other. Johnny tilts his head and raises his eyebrows at Amy, shrugging off his own fear. She nods towards the door, instructing Jonny to open it. Jonny reaches out his hand to.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you", echoes a gravelly voice rom behind them.
The two jump out of their skins and spin to face the bed. An old creepy lady dressed in white, maybe, a nurses outfit, sits considering them carefully.
The closet is quiet.
The Johnny's mind races with questions as Amy trembles, clutching her unborn child.
Then a dishevelled little girl appears from the kitchenette, making the young couple jump with fear. The girls is very creepy, she looks like she fell out of 'The Ring'.
"AWhatvthe fuck!! Who are you?" Amy cries.
The old lady rises and opens the closet door, which is now full of vintage stuff. She grabs an elaborate hat from inside and turns to leave.
"That's Witchet. And she's your problem now" The old nurse croaks before vanishing through the unopened bedroom door.
© David Garvin 2020
'The Ring' Gore Verbinski
Comments