Fri. Mar. 27, 1970
A terrible atmosphere of impending doom hangs over the Great House at Collinwood. On this night, Carolyn Stoddard Hawkes has had a frightening dream, in which she witnessed the death of her husband, Jeb, on Widows' Hill. Believing the dream to be an omen of tragedy, Carolyn has left Collinwood and gone to Widows' Hill...
The fog rolled over Widows' Hill, as a young woman with long blonde hair called out at the edge of a cliff overlooking the Atlantic ocean. "Jeb! Jeb?" she raised her voice pitifully, but no one answered. How silly I am, she thought to herself, believing in a dream. Jeb isn't here. She heard someone rustling through the shrubbery behind her, and spun around. "Jeb!" she cried out hopefully. But hope quickly turned to fear when she saw who it was. "No!"
"Yes, Mrs. Hawkes," a tall man with wavy black hair sneered. "I am here, even though Jeb is not. You see, Nicholas did not show you all that is going to happen. He spared your feelings, knowing that you would not want to witness your own... death!"
The young woman screamed out in terror as he strode toward her. She started to run, but the man grabbed her by the shoulders and spun her around. "I am afraid, Mrs. Hawkes," he grinned, "That there is no escape!" He let go of her shoulders and grabbed her by the throat with both hands. She screamed, grabbing at his hands to try and pry his fingers from her throat...
Act One:
Carolyn Stoddard Hawkes managed to extricate herself from Sky Rumson's grasp, but he quickly grabbed her again and started to pull her towards the edge of the cliff. "No!" Carolyn screamed and struggled as she saw the waves crashing on the rocks far below her. "No! Help!"
Just then, a voice shouted over the sound of Carolyn's screams, "Let go of her, Sky!" A tall, curly-haired blond man rushed towards them, pulling Carolyn away from Sky's grasp.
"You're too late, Jeb!" Sky shouted from the edge of the cliff, his back towards the Atlantic. He intended to kill both of them, it didn't matter who was first. Jeb Hawkes rushed towards the fiend, but Sky was ready for him. He turned and pushed Jeb away from him before the blond man could make contact, sending him plummeting the one hundred feet to the water below.
Carolyn screamed with horror as she watched her husband's body disappear into the black waters below. "Oh no!" she clutched at her face, "What have you done!" It was questionable whether she was asking Sky or herself. She turned and ran back into the woods behind them. "What have you done..."
Sky stared down at the waves, wondering if maybe Jeb Hawkes could have possibly survived the fall. It just seemed too easy-for the former Leviathan Messiah to be destroyed by just a push-but, when no body came to the surface, Sky decided he had fulfilled Nicholas Blair's final order.
Finally, he turned away and realized that Carolyn had bolted. Sky hurried into the woods after her, following the sounds of the wails of grief emitting from the young woman.
Meanwhile, in the Drawing Room of the Collins mansion, Barnabas Collins paced, deep in thought, worried. Although he had the appearance of a forty-year old man with black hair, Barnabas was in fact much, much older than most people would have even dared suppose. He stopped to stare at the fire burning in the fireplace, when he heard the front doors open and slam shut. Barnabas turned to see who it was.
Dr. Julia Hoffman closed the doors behind her, a concerned looked on her face. She hung up her plaid coat on one of the hooks in the foyer. she was a handsome, middle-aged woman with short, curly red hair and a deep, raspy voice. Julia saw Barnabas standing in the Drawing Room, and walked over to where he waited, still clutching her medical bag in one hand. "Barnabas," Julia began, trying to control her emotions, "I have just been to the cottage... I examined Sabrina-she is very weak, Barnabas!" she said accusatorily.
Barnabas turned from his friend's stern expression, ashamed. "I'm sorry, Julia."
Julia shook her head with exasperation. "Oh, Barnabas, why? Why did you do it?" She walked past him towards the window and then turned around. "Now, Quentin told me that you'd given him your word that you wouldn't go to her again!"
"But I gave him my word!" Barnabas tried to explain, "I stayed at the Old House... and fought the urge to leave... And then she came to me..."
"And you couldn't help yourself," Julia finished, trying to give her friend the benefit of a doubt.
Barnabas finally turned to face her. "Do you think I do this by choice?" he demanded.
"No, Barnabas," Julia grimaced as she shook her head. "I'm aware of that!" She walked towards him. "I know what you're going through! And I know... the injections are responsible."
"Don't blame yourself, Julia!" Barnabas tried to reassure her. "It's just a thing that's... just happened."
"And until the effects wear off, Barnabas, you... you're in danger!" Julia reminded him, "Of exposure. People in the town are being... worried about the attacks, now."
Barnabas turned his head sharply. "And you're afraid that I will kill Sabrina before... before the effects wear off... Well, I'm quite aware of that," he said bitterly.
"Oh, Barnabas! There... there must be something we can do! Some way of controlling your need for blood!"
"Julia, for the past hour I've been thinking about that room in the East Wing..." Barnabas revealed.
"What does that have to do with it?" Julia could not follow Barnabas' thought patterns, sometimes.
"By my calculations, the rising sun should shine directly into that room... at dawn," Barnabas said pointedly. He looked into Julia's eyes, hoping that she would realize what he planned to do.
Julia looked sternly back at him. "Do you think that staying in that room, staying until... until you're consumed in the sun's rays..." Julia's voice cracked. "Oh, Barnabas, after everything we've done!"
Barnabas looked away with shame, and paced towards the Drawing Room window. "But... it might be a way of saving Sabrina's life..."
"Barnabas," Julia pleaded, "Barnabas, once we did find a way of having you live in the daylight... We could find a way again, Barnabas!" Julia made her way to his side. "Barnabas, you belong in this lifetime, with us!"
"Perhaps I do..." Barnabas pretended to agree with her. But, he had already made up his mind over the past hour of contemplation.
Just then, they were interrupted by the sound of a slamming door. The duo turned towards the Great Hall. Carolyn stood there, tears streaking her face, one hand clutching at the opening of her coat. "Mother, where are you?" she called out.
Barnabas hurried into the Great Hall, Julia close behind him. "Carolyn, what's the matter?" Barnabas asked. He had never seen her so upset.
"There was nothing I could do..." Carolyn said slowly, not even looking at them. "It happened so quickly."
"What happened so quickly?" Julia asked. The sound of footsteps sounded down the staircase, and Carolyn turned to meet her mother at the foot of the stairs.
Elizabeth Collins Stoddard came rushing downstairs as soon as she heard her daughter's voice. As usual, Elizabeth was immaculately turned out, her dark brown hair perfectly hair-sprayed, wearing a black evening dress and her usual string of white pearls wrapped around her neck. Although Elizabeth was sixty, most people assumed she was a good ten years younger.
"Mother!" Carolyn cried out. She flung herself into her mother's arms and sobbed. "Jeb is dead!"
"What?" Elizabeth was shocked. She had been worrying about Carolyn and Jeb all evening, but she never expected this.
"Jeb is dead! He's dead," was all Carolyn could say between sobs. "He's dead!" Barnabas and Julia looked towards each other with shocked expressions. "I can't believe I lost him!" Carolyn cried. "But, but I saw it!" Carolyn started to collapse, but Elizabeth caught her.
A shocked Julia regained her composure. She placed a hand on Barnabas' shoulder. "Take her into the Drawing Room." Barnabas hurried to help Elizabeth with Carolyn.
While Elizabeth and Barnabas helped Carolyn sit down on the sofa, Julia walked over to the small table where she had set her medical bag, and began to rummage through the small black case.
Elizabeth sat next to her daughter. "Carolyn, why don't you tell us what happened?" she asked soothingly.
"I-I knew the dream would come true," Carolyn gasped, "And I-I tried to stop it... I went to Widows' Hill, but there was nothing I could do! Oh God, why was he taken from me?" Carolyn exclaimed.
"I better give her a sedative," Julia said, retrieving the syringe from her medical bag.
Carolyn stood up and screamed at her. "I DON'T WANT A SEDATIVE! I only want Jeb!" the young woman shrieked. Elizabeth put an arm around her and brought her back down to the sofa. "I only want Jeb back!" Carolyn sobbed some more.
"Oh darling," Elizabeth soothed, "Darling, tell us about it. Try to," Elizabeth rubbed her daughter's back. "How did it happen?"
Barnabas leaned over the back of the sofa. "Carolyn, can't you tell us something more?" he asked.
Carolyn turned and glared up at Barnabas. "You, you've always hated Jeb! You're probably glad he's dead..."
"Darling, that isn't true," Elizabeth tried to console her. "Barnabas knew just as I did that you were happy with Jeb-that's all that matters!"
"I went there," Carolyn tried to regain her composure, "After the dream..."
"To Widows' Hill?" Elizabeth prodded, continuing to rub Carolyn's back.
Carolyn nodded. "And Jeb wasn't there... And I thought, it was only a dream. It didn't mean anything. Then, I saw Sky Rumson."
"Sky Rumson!" Julia exclaimed. Angelique's husband, she thought to herself.
"I couldn't imagine what he was doing there," Carolyn continued. "And then he told me... He had come there to kill me!" Elizabeth turned towards Julia with alarm. "And he tried to... And then Jeb got there, and saved me! And Sky pushed him... And Jeb went over Widows' Hill!" Carolyn turned towards her mother and cried into her shoulder.
Barnabas knew then and there what he had to do. While Julia prepared the syringe for Carolyn, he quietly walked out into the Great Hall, retrieved his inverness cape from the coat rack near the front door, and then silently made his way out into the dark shadows of night...
Act Two:
"He's gone..." Carolyn said drowsily on the Drawing Room sofa, the sedative working it's magic. "Jeb is gone..." she murmured, closing her eyes.
Julia studied Carolyn's face and nodded at Elizabeth. "She's asleep now..." she said quietly. Julia plopped a couple of throw pillows behind Carolyn's head while Elizabeth brought her daughter's feet up to rest on the sofa.
"We should have taken her up to her room," Elizabeth commented. They had not even bothered taking Carolyn's pea-coat off.
"No," Julia answered, "No, she'll be all right here, I think she'll probably sleep through the night."
"I don't understand any of it!" Elizabeth exclaimed, frustrated at the whole situation. "Why would Sky Rumson want to kill Jeb?"
"I don't know, Elizabeth, but if it's true and she did see him, then Carolyn is in danger until Sky Rumson is caught!" Julia admonished.
"We better call the police right away!" Elizabeth decided. She rushed into the Great Hall for the telephone on the big table in the middle of the room, while Julia closed the Drawing Room doors. "I'd like to speak to the Sheriff, please," Elizabeth said into the receiver as soon as someone answered. "This is Mrs. Stoddard..."
Julia glanced around the Great Hall, realizing for the first time that Barnabas was not present. "Elizabeth, did you see Barnabas leave?"
Elizabeth, who was still waiting on the phone, turned to Julia with surprise. "No, I didn't..."
Julia stared off into the distance. "I didn't either... I wonder where he could have gone?"
Back at the late Bruno Hess's apartment, a paranoid Sky Rumson locked the front door and quickly closed the curtains on the front window. He had tried following Carolyn through the woods back to Collinwood, but the young woman had been too quick for him. Now, he expected the police to show up on his doorstep at any moment.
Sky shoved his things into his suitcase, not bothering to fold any of his clothes. When he was finished, he forced his suitcase shut and picked it up to leave. He would go back to his mansion on Little Windward Island, tonight.
"Going on a trip, Mr. Rumson?" Barnabas asked sarcastically.
Sky was shocked. "Ah-ah... Ah, how did you get in the house... here?" he stammered. He had not heard him come in. It was as though Barnabas Collins had appeared out of nowhere.
"I can do many things ordinary people can't do," Barnabas explained. "You should know that!"
Sky began to sweat. When he had decided to avenge Nicholas Blair's death, he had not thought about Barnabas, or his vampiric powers. "Look, I-I... I gotta get out of here, I'm leaving..."
Barnabas stepped and stood in Sky's way. "Why are you in such a hurry, Mr. Rumson?"
Sky turned away, not daring to look in Barnabas' eyes. "I have important business... in Boston!"
"But, I only have one question," Barnabas told him. "Surely you have time for that..."
"All right, what is it?" Sky turned to look at him.
"Did you kill Jeb Hawkes, tonight?" Barnabas asked bluntly, but Sky just stood and stared at him, unsure of what to answer. "Well, answer me, Mr. Rumson!" Barnabas demanded.
"What do you care about Jeb Hawkes?" Sky asked. He knew that Jeb had been responsible for Barnabas' current affliction.
"I care about Carolyn!" Barnabas bellowed, "And I've seen what this has done to her!"
"Well, he would have died anyway!" a nervous Sky was grasping at straws now. "He should have died after he destroyed the box and the-the shrine!"
"Maybe he should have," Barnabas conceded, "But he didn't! He married Carolyn and... And she was very happy with him!" Sky turned away from Barnabas, looking for another escape route. "You're not going to leave this room tonight!" Barnabas told him.
"Look! I didn't have any choice!" Sky tried to play the sympathy card. "Nicholas made me do it!"
"What has he made," Barnabas asked, "What has he promised you in return? Surely he's promised you something?"
Sky paced the room. "He just said it was my duty!" Sky pleaded with him.
Barnabas smiled. "Perhaps the things I'm about to do is my duty! You are not going to leave this room alive."
"No!" Sky shouted. "You can't do that!" Sky backed away, but Barnabas stepped closer to him. "Stay away from me!"
"Don't let me frighten you!" Barnabas grinned. "You wouldn't have gotten out of her tonight even if I hadn't come!"
"What do you mean?" Sky continued to back away, but Barnabas kept coming closer. Sky had already set his suitcase down and was inching his way towards an object hidden in a drawer.
"There's someone else who has a score to settle with you!" Barnabas explained. "Angelique! And I'm almost sorry I haven't given her the pleasure of killing you, herself!"
Sky was desperate now. "Nicholas!" he shouted to the dark corners of the room. "You promised you'd help me! I did what you asked! You've gotta help me!"
"Even if Nicholas were here," Barnabas snarled, "He has no power over me!" He came towards Sky, ready to strike, but Sky ducked out of the way and finally reached into the drawer for the gun Bruno had kept for such emergencies.
"All right, Barnabas," Sky aimed the gun right at Barnabas' heart. "I'm leaving and you're not gonna stop me!" Barnabas began to walk towards Sky again. "I'm warning you! Stay away from me!" BLAM! BLAM! Twice, Sky shot at Barnabas' heart, but he did not fall over.
"No! No!" Sky said in dismay, as Barnabas chuckled. He stared down at the gun he had just fired. "I don't believe it..."
"Why has no one ever told you more about me?" Barnabas asked sarcastically. "But then, of course, Nicholas and the others never did tell you very much, did they?" Barnabas glanced down at the gun still in Sky's right hand. "I'm glad you have a pistol... It will save me the trouble of killing you myself!"
"Please, Barnabas!" Sky pleaded, "Let me live!"
"Just turn it in towards you!" Barnabas commanded, forcing Sky to press the gun against his own heart.
"No!" Sky shouted. It was though his right hand had a mind of its own. "Please..."
"There will be pain, but only for a moment," Barnabas told him, "And soon it will all be over!"
"Please!" Sky pleaded one last time, before pulling the trigger and shooting himself in the chest.
Barnabas smiled as Sky collapsed to the floor, the pistol he shot himself with still clutched in his right hand...
Act Three:
"Thank you for calling, Sheriff," Elizabeth said into the phone in the Great Hall of Collinwood. She hung up the as Barnabas and Julia looked on.
"What is it, Elizabeth?" Barnabas asked, already guessing what she was about to tell them.
"The police can't find Jeb's body," she answered, pacing towards the grandfather clock that stood next to the entrance of the Drawing Room. "They've searched the entire area below Widows' Hill and found nothing."
"Is it possible it could have washed out into the sea?" Julia asked, feeling concern for what Carolyn would do when she found out.
"That's the conclusion they've come to," Elizabeth answered, "He couldn't possibly have survived that fall." Elizabeth was also wondering what Carolyn would do when she found out.
"Well, they've found Sky Rumson, then?" Julia had deduced as much from Elizabeth's part in the conversation with the sheriff.
"Yes," said Elizabeth, "They found him at Bruno's house-dead." She turned towards Julia.
Julia looked dumbfounded. "Dead?" she whispered.
"He was lying on the floor," Elizabeth continued, "With a revolver in his hand." She paced across the hall. "They've listed it, as a possible suicide."
"Possible suicide?" Barnabas asked, trying to pretend to be surprised.
"The sheriff said that there was only one thing that puzzled him," Elizabeth told them, "He died of one gunshot wound, and yet there were three bullets fired from the revolver. I don't understand it!" Elizabeth turned quickly to Barnabas.
"Well, we shouldn't try to understand it," Barnabas countered. "Obviously the man was deranged."
"Yes," Elizabeth agreed. "I don't even want to think about it. My main concern is Carolyn-how she's going to survive all this..." Elizabeth stepped into the Drawing Room to sit by Carolyn.
After Elizabeth shut the Drawing Room doors, Julia turned quickly towards Barnabas. "Barnabas, you never did say where you were going when you left earlier..." Julia gave Barnabas the side-eye.
"Didn't I?" Barnabas asked, realizing Julia was too smart, as usual, to avoid telling the truth to.
"You went to find Sky Rumson, didn't you?" Julia tried her best to be stern with Barnabas, although she privately felt that Sky deserved it. "And, you found him..." Julia nodded, narrowing her eyes.
"You heard what the police said," Barnabas replied, trying not to look her in the eyes, "I'm sure his death will eventually be listed as a definite suicide."
"He was not the kind of man to take his own life," Julia persisted, wanting Barnabas to just admit the truth to her. She had met Sky Rumson before. He seemed more like a former college jock turned businessman-a piece of tall, dark eye candy for Angelique to parade around with like a trophy husband. Not a sensitive intellectual, at all.
"But, apparently he did so!" Barnabas said with some finality, wanting Julia to just accept his word. "So, there's no point in discussing it further!"
"I'm not condemning you, Barnabas" Julia insisted, "I'm just..." Julia stopped, noticing an odd look overtake Barnabas' face.
Barnabas quickly walked away from her. "You'd better go to Carolyn and Elizabeth!" he said shortly.
"It's starting again..." Julia guessed.
"Yes! There's no way I can control it..." he turned back to her. "Julia, the urge is becoming overwhelming. I can't stay here any longer!"
"But, where can you go until dawn, Barnabas?" Julia asked.
"The room, in the East Wing... Maybe that was always the answer-maybe the rising sun is my only escape!" Barnabas hurried up the stairs.
Julia rushed towards the staircase, but she stopped at the foot of the stairs. "Barnabas! Barnabas wait! Wait!" She did not want to see Barnabas destroy himself in this manner. She had to find a way to make him find refuge in his coffin before the morning's light.
Meanwhile, in the Drawing Room, Elizabeth sat before the fireplace, watching as Carolyn slept. She decided she might as well get ready for bed, and check on Carolyn later in the night. She got up and pulled the green-and-pink afghan off the back of the couch and placed it over Carolyn's body.
Elizabeth gave Carolyn one more glance before going out into the Great Hall.
But, Carolyn was not sleeping peacefully. A voice echoed through her head. A familiar voice...
"Carolyn! Carolyn, where are you? I must see you one more time. Carolyn! Carolyn! I must see you. Carolyn! Carolyn, can you hear me? Can you hear me?" the voice resounded through her mind.
Once again, Carolyn stood upon Widows' Hill. "I can hear you, Jeb," she said, smiling with joy. "But where are you? I want to see you."
"I'm over here, Carolyn," Jeb appeared before her, as if out of thin air.
"Jeb," Carolyn breathed a sigh of relief. "You've come back to me..."
"To tell you something. But then I must go," Jeb told her firmly.
"No, I don't want to lose you." Carolyn stepped forward.
Jeb put a hand up to stop her. "No, don't come any closer, Carolyn."
"Why not?" she frowned slightly.
"Because I don't really exist."
"Oh, but you do. I can see you," Carolyn said giddily. "You're alive. And everything's going to be alright now."
For the first time, Carolyn noticed that a light illuminated behind Jeb's head, almost like a halo. "Listen to me, Carolyn," he smiled. "I want you to know how much I love you."
"I know that, Jeb. And I love you," Carolyn said softly.
Jeb looked more serious than Carolyn had ever seen him. "I couldn't die without telling you that someday we're gonna meet again, and you'll know when it happens. And I will know. And it will be different then."
Carolyn's smiled faded. "No, I don't want to lose you, Jeb."
"I must go. But remember what I said," Jeb commanded.
"No, I don't want memories. I want you!" Carolyn cried.
"We will meet again. We will meet again..." Once again Jeb fell away from her, and Carolyn screamed as he fell into the black void beneath Widows' Hill...
Back on the sofa in the Drawing Room, Carolyn tossed and turned, moaning his name in her sleep. "Jeb... Jeb... Jeb... Jeb..." Suddenly, Carolyn sat straight up and gasped. "Jeb!" she called out loud into the darkness of the room, but she was all alone...
Cast:
Elizabeth Collins Stoddard... JOAN BENNETT
Barnabas Collins... JONATHAN FRID
Carolyn Stoddard Hawkes... NANCY BARRETT
Dr. Julia Hoffman... GRAYSON HALL
Sky Rumson ... GEOFFREY SCOTT
Jeb Hawkes... CHRISTOPHER PENNOCK