2
A GRAND RECEPTION ROOM.
Rain hammers against the windows. Ianto aged ten, looking hunted, runs in looking for somewhere to hide.
He springs behind a curtain. John Reid enters; a fourteen year old, his stomach bursting out of his fancy clothes. He is holding a riding crop as if it is a sword "Come out, rat. I know you are in here. Come out now and I won't punish you."
Ianto watches him pass by. He practises a perfect lunge. "Rat."
He exits. Ianto breathes a sigh of relief. He slowly pulls the curtain across, making the window a private sanctuary. There is a book lying on the seat. He opens it.
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Ianto is sitting cross-legged, completely absorbed in his book - a beautifully drawn picture of a cormorant. He runs his finger over it. We hear the sound of great waves plunging on to a shore.
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Ianto, aged ten, is sitting cross-legged on an isolated rock, his eyes locked with those of a stooping black cormorant. Stan-Lee's voice comes from a long way away.
Stan-Lee's voice as if the breeze in the distance "Diana, Mary help me get him upstairs..."
The cormorant raises its wings like a great black cloak.
Ianto watches as it takes off and flies away.
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Ianto has his eyes closed. A great Atlantic wave hits the sash window behind him, drenching it with foam and brine. Suddenly the curtain is pulled back. John Reid stands in front of him. Ianto shrinks back.
"I have been looking for you these last ten minutes." He snarls, "Did you not hear me calling you ya bloody twat?"
"What do you want?"
"Say forgive me, Master Reid"
"I have done nothing wrong. Master Reid." Ianto replies with open fear.
John grabs the book. "Who gave you permission to read my book?"
"I wasn't aware it was yours."
"Everything in this house is mine. You're lucky to live here with gentleman's children like us. Your father had nothing. You should go and beg."
Ianto stares him out. John can sense his contempt. He belts him with the book. Ianto hits his head on the window clasp, drawing blood. he is shocked.
"That's for the look you had on your face. You bad animal."
Ianto snaps. He throws himself upon him, the rage in him released; pummelling, scratching, hurting him in any way he can. He is barely coherent. "Wicked and cruel - you are a slaver - a murderer…"
"I shall tell mother …"
"I hate you John Reid. I hate you"
John is flabbergasted. Like all bullies, he is terrified. "Mamma! Mamma! There's a rat! Rat!"
Ianto bites him. Hard. At that moment, Mrs Reid appears on the scene. John screams. We see Mrs Reid's shocked face. She is an overweight woman pushing forty in a bright, elaborate dress.
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Dinah and Mary are gently taking Ianto's soaking clothes off; one at each side of him. Ianto is distressed, approaching a delirium. He resists them.
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Ianto is carried in and set down on a footstool by two servants, Miss Abbot and Bessie - one at each side of him. He is still resisting.
"For shame, hitting your master."
"If you don't sit still you must be tied down!"
The fight goes out of Ianto. He sits, defeated. Bessie, young and plump, quickly wipes his bleeding forehead. She has some compassion. Miss Abbot has none.
"What we do is for your own good. If you are passionate and rude like this, your Aunt Reid will send you away." Bessie sighs.
"You're worse than us servants. We work for our keep; you do nothing." Miss Abbot snorts "Pray for forgiveness Miss Jones or something bad will come down that chimney and fetch you away!"
The door slams. They are gone. Ianto slowly grips the edge of the stool. The room is chill, silent. Red walls and curtains, murky in the fading light.
In front of Ianto, a stone fireplace gapes like a mouth. Beside it, a full length looking-glass in which his pale reflection stares out. Behind him, a bed supported on pillars of mahogany, hung with red.
The piled up pillows and mattresses glare in cold white.
Ianto's breathing is the only sound in the room.
A sudden gust sends rain pelting against the windows like fingernails. A distant moan of wind seems to breathe out of the black hearth. Ianto averts his nervous gaze to the pitted mirror. His eyes lock on the small figure trapped in the mirror's visionary hollow; his white, bleeding face, his eyes glittering with fear.
It is a phantom. The eyes are black, the skin a deathly grey. Blood. Ianto's breathing becomes choked with terror. He can't get his breath. We hear blood rushing through his ears. It sounds like the beating of great wings.
Slowly, a light appears over him. It may be something shining in from outside. But to Ianto it seems as if it is surrounding him, enveloping him. The figure in the looking glass opens its mouth. The scream, held in so long, finally rips from Ianto's throat.
At the sound of the scream, Mrs Reid, slumbering, almost jumps out of her skin.
Miss Abbott almost drops the tea tray she is carrying.
Ianto is banging on the door, screaming, hysterical with terror. Bessie rushes to the door and unlocks it. Ianto flies into her arms.
"Master Jones what is it?"
"Bessie!" Ianto wails, inconsolable.
"Have you seen something?"
"There was a light." Ianto points back into the room.
We see Bessie's own fear as she glances into the dark room.
Mrs Reid is storming towards them, furious. "Bessie, I gave orders that he was to be left in the red room until I came."
"But he screamed so loud ma'am."
"It is play-acting. Let him go. I know your tricks Ianto Jones and I abhor such artifice. Loose Bessie's hands, child." Mrs Reid prises Ianto away from Bessie as she speaks. "You will now stay here an hour longer."
"No - Aunt," Ianto wails "have pity…"
"And only when you are perfectly submissive will I let you out."
"Please - I cannot bear it"
"Silence." She roars "This violence is repulsive."
"I shall be killed"
"Get back!"
"Have mercy, have mercy I beg you…"
Mrs Reid throws him back into the room, slams the door and turns the key. We hear Ianto's unspeakable howls of terror, his anguished bangs upon the door.
Bessie is looking at Mrs Reid aghast. Mrs Reid withers her with a frozen glare.
Dusk. We see Ianto in his distress, hitting his head on the door. He falls back. On the floor, his arms and legs move beyond his control. He is having a fit. When it is over, we see Ianto unconscious. He is lying in a pool of ghostly light.
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Through the light, Ianto sees Mary and Diana Rivers at his side.
"He's awake." Mary says softly.
Stan-Lee approaches in his parson's collar, blocking out the light as he looks down. Ianto gazes at him remotely. "I'm sure we'll find he's simply had a misunderstanding with his people. I hope he's not done anything deplorable; there's nothing so sad as a fallen young man."
Mary whispers "Look at the suffering in his eyes. They're like dark pools"
Diana smiles at Mary's tendency to over-dramatise.
"He has a peculiar face; I rather like it." Diana admits.
"He's not at all handsome." Stan-Lee frowns.
"He's so ill, Stan-Lee." Diana argues.
"Ill or well, he'll always be plain." Stan-Lee sniffs.
Ianto's eyes slide away from him and close.