ACT IV
-fade away to the outside view of the house; the night sky fades away, and the morning sun shines on the house, morning birds are singing-
In the distance, a wood-paneled station wagon made its way over the rocky, dirt road and pulled in front of the house. A thin, wiry man with thick-rimmed glasses stepped out of the car and made his way up the broken sidewalk toward the door. Maggie was standing there at the door as she heard the loud engine-ring of the approaching vehicle.
The man removed his hat and smiled warmly, "Hello, Maggie." Maggie did not return his smile, but nodded politely, "Dr Guthrie."
Dr Guthrie asked, "Is Jeff here?" Maggie nodded, staring intently at him. "He's gone back in that room again. He locked himself in last night."
Dr Guthrie's face frowned, and his voice grew grave with disappointment. "Back in the gallery? Is he still having those nightmares? I thought they had stopped."
Dr Guthrie's shoulders went back and a deep sigh of disapproval found its way through his pursed lips. "Come on then. I'll get him out."
Maggie interrupted. "Wait. Before you get him, I have to tell you something first. We...we have a visitor-a boy from Collinwood. I was his governess when I was there. We survived the...attacks...together, but he disappeared."
Dr Guthrie squinted his eyes in confusion and looked away as if trying to make some sense of this news. "A...a boy? How did he know you were here?"
Maggie couldn't answer, but she told him, "Jeff attacked him last night. He couldn't see his face. He pulled a gun and shot him...it didn't go through, it only grazed his arm, but I'm scared, Dr Guthrie. I don't feel safe here anymore."
Dr Guthrie's eyes stared deeply into hers as he asked, "Because of the boy or because of Jeff?"
Maggie hesitated for a moment and turned around, staring at a wedding picture hanging on the wall. "Because of...both. The boy, David, brought a book back with him. Why would he come all this way to bring a book? Why couldn't he just send it if he knew where we were?" A tear rolled down her cheek, and she cupped her shaking hands over her mouth. Choking back sobs so hard, her trembling voice was almost a whisper. "I just don't understand what's going on here. Jeff almost killed him last night, then he attacked David when he showed him the book. I even tried to stop him, but he threw me down on the ground.
Dr Guthrie's eyes grew large, and his face grimaced. "Threw you to the ground? Are you hurt, Maggie?" he asked, looking her up and down for any bruises. Maggie shook her head, "I'm fine, I'm fine. I just want to know what's inside that book. I just...I just get a bad feeling...like something bad is getting ready to happen." Maggie felt her eyes burning, and she embraced Dr Guthrie, sobbing uncontrollably. He somewhat returned her embrace, and rubbed her arms with his hands. "Maggie, I...I'm sorry..."
Maggie apologized, "No, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fall apart like that." She tried to smile and compose herself. "Who wants to be welcomed by such a sad-sack woman? I just have to..."
Dr Guthrie interrupted, "Shhh, it's alright, Maggie. I know you didn't mean anything by it. I'm not going to keep you here since I can see that living here is not going well for you at all. My understanding from Jeff, the last time we spoke, was that everything was going fine. I suppose I should have known better. I'm so sorry, Maggie. Don't worry, I won't leave until we come up with a plan to get you to safety and where you feel comfortable, okay? I'm going to speak with Jeff in a moment, but where is David?" Maggie pulled some tissues that were on a stand by the door and dabbed her eyes and cheeks. "He's over by the fireplace. He said that's where he wanted to stay. He used to sit by a large fireplace at Collinwood. It's always been something he's liked to do."
Dr Guthrie smiled warmly, "Well, it sounds to me like I know why David sought you out. You sound as though you two were really close." Maggie stifled a laugh. "Well, he wasn't that close to me until..." her face washed over with great fear. "...until that...that day...then he disappeared."
Nodding and shrugging his shoulders, Dr Guthrie replied, "Well, at any rate, I think I'd like to take a look at that book. Wait with David by the fireplace, Maggie. I'm going to bring Jeff out, and see if I can shed any light on this book." With a strong sense of determination, Dr Guthrie pounded on the wooden door of the gallery that Jeff had locked himself in.
"Jeff? Jeff, open the door. I need to speak with you." He knocked again and there was no reply. "Jeff? I have a key to the door. If you don't open it, I will come in regardless. Are you going to let me come in?" Dr Guthrie paused, and he heard footsteps creaking across the old wooden floor inside the gallery. The sound of hinges creaking and grinding sounded after the click of the latch released, and Jeff's sullen face peered from behind the door. "I...I had those dreams again, Doc. This book...this book, it's...it's evil."
Jeff held the weathered black book out and handed it to Dr Guthrie, and he asked as he took the book in his hands. "What's evil about it, Jeff? What's inside it?" Jeff only shook his head. "I...I don't quite know, Doc. I couldn't open it. I only know that something evil...something powerful...gave it to me in my dream last night."
"Your dream? Jeff, I'm an expert on these kinds of phenomena, and you know what we talked about before. There is a very slim-to-none chance that these dreams you keep having are ever going to happen. Have any of them happened yet? Remember we talked about this?"
Jeff shook his head in agreement, "I know, I know, I know, Doc, but this time...this time it's different." Maggie was joined by David and they both stood back, keeping their distance from Jeff and Dr Guthrie as the volume of his voice grew louder and stern in its tone. "Jeff, you must learn to separate the fantasy from the reality. The reality is that your wife is frightened by your behavior. You attacked this boy last night and you started to attack her, too. She doesn't feel safe right now. You've got to snap out of this, Jeff. I'm not going to allow this to continue. I'm going to get this all resolved today, and I'm not leaving until we come up with something that will be better for all of you. I gave you this house so that you could feel safe and get away from the fear."
Maggie felt a responsibility to defend Jeff. "Dr Guthrie, we've been through a lot lately, and I know that Jeff is on edge like the rest of us. He would never really hurt me, Doctor. He's not a monster. Really." Jeff made eye contact with Dr Guthrie and stepped toward him, and his voice quivered with fear and uncertainty. "Can I show you, Doc? Show you all of my dream?"
Dr Guthrie nodded and walked inside the gallery. David and Maggie followed behind the two as they stepped inside. Along the floor were scattered paint stains and brushes, and some paintings of the most erratic and grotesque images. They all depicted disturbing images of Collinwood and the village nearby.
There was an image of a monster in the shape of a man with large fangs that were dripping with blood. There were images of a beautiful young girl with black hair riding a train into a pitch-dark tunnel. To his right, a canvas depicted a man struggling to breathe as he was buried alive next to a decayed female body in a white dress. When they came to the end of the room, Dr Guthrie looked on in complete shock, and Maggie quickly turned around and was horrified at Jeff's image that he had painted.
Maggie turned around with tears in her eyes, and tried to usher David back out the door. "David, why don't you come with me?" David replied and brushed her hands away. "I'm not scared anymore. I want to see."
David stepped closer to the canvas and stared at the grisly image. In it, a deformed and decrepit man was burning on the floor of what appeared to be an art gallery, and he was not alone. A beautiful blonde-haired woman was also covered in flames, and her visage was twisted into one showing great agony and torment. In the image, Jeff had painted a portrait with a black sky and two cold eyes staring at the man and woman as they burned.
David stood still and stared at the eyes. Dr Guthrie and Maggie stood there as Jeff explained his dream to them, and pointed out each detail in the portrait he painted.
Dr Guthrie looked at Jeff after he finished telling the dream to him. "Jeff, I would like to take a look at that book. Right away if you don't mind. Now, David, you said you went back to Collinwood and found this there?"
David replied respectfully. "Yes, sir. It was around this cave at the bottom of Widows Hill. I used to walk around there all the time, and I thought I would go in there and look around."
Dr Guthrie nodded. "Okay, thank you, David. Jeff, why don't you start bringing in some fire wood, and I'll start examining this and see if it's anything for you to worry about. If I find nothing, we're all going to have a long discussion about what we're going to do from this point. I'm sure there's nothing in here to validate this dream or any of these others. Will you trust me to evaluate the situation myself?"
Maggie and Jeff both nodded in agreement. "Alright, then. Jeff, go get us some firewood. Maggie and David, why don't you come into the living room while I look this over in the kitchen? I'd like to be alone for a few moments while I take a look, if you don't mind, but not until after I take a look at this young man's arm first."
"I'll be right back." Jeff told them as he walked out the door. Maggie tried to sound cheerful as she offered, "I'll get us something for breakfast. We don't have much food left, but I'll find something. David, do you want to come with me?"
David's eyes stayed glued to the portrait. "I...I'd like to stay for a moment and look at these. I'll only be a minute. Can't I stay?"
Dr Guthrie stared as Maggie pleaded, "David, please, it's not healthy for you to be here. There's nothing here but...gloom and doom, and you don't need to stay in here."
Dr Guthrie agreed. "She's right, David. Why don't you come out with us?"
David said, "I will, I promise. Just give me a moment, okay? I just want to look for a minute."
Maggie sighed. "You never listened to me at Collinwood, so why should you start now?" She shook her head and gave a half-smile, pointing her finger at David. "I'm timing you. One minute. Then I want you back out there with us."
David answered, "One minute. That's all I need." Maggie shook her head, and she and Dr Guthrie went out the door.
("The Secret Room" by Robert Cobert begins to play)
While walking around the room, David stared intently at the images around him. When he came to the newest portrait, his eyes fixed on the beautiful woman in white burning.
As David walked toward the door, he looked back at the burning woman again. His face formed an ominous and satisfied grin as he stared. As he closed the door behind him, he regained his composure and rejoined Dr Guthrie and Maggie.
((I do not own the rights to Dark Shadows. My fanfic is only meant for the enjoyment of the reader))