ACT VIII

-as Dr Guthrie, Maggie, Jeff, and David approach the door, the music "A Darkness at Collinwood" is still playing-

Dust and cobwebs covered the entrance of Collinwood, and the odor of mold and dust seeped through the cracks around the door and windows.

Dr Guthrie was at the door first, and he turned to see if everyone had caught up with him. Before trying the door, he looked at David, Jeff, and Maggie. "We don't know what's in here, only that we have less than half an hour to find Judah's body and destroy it. The journal mentioned something about his body being buried by the bushes somewhere outside the house, so wait here for me. I'm going to check it out and see if there are any signs of anything before we go in. I'll only be a moment."

Dr Guthrie pulled his pistol from his long coat pocket. "Jeff, here. Keep David and Maggie covered while I look around the house. I'll be right back. I'll come back the way I came, so you'll know that it's me, alright?" Jeff nodded.

As Jeff loaded the gun and began looking around, David asked. "Can't we just go in? Why do we have to wait out here since we're in such a hurry?"

Jeff quickly hushed him. "No, David. Doc knows what he's doing. You don't know what's in there. Hopefully, we...we won't have to go inside. If we can find the body and destroy it without going in there, then the better off we'll all be."

"But I want to go in." David sighed. "I just want to see inside."

Maggie pleaded with him. "David, please? Not now."

David shrugged his shoulders. He looked up at the sky and noticed the tint of the sky had darkened quickly since they stood on the hill in front of the mansion.

(music fades as the scene cuts away, and Dr Guthrie is at the back of the house, looking around the bushes. He pauses, and the camera zooms in on his face as he stares down)

-music cue "Night of the Pentagram" by Robert Cobert plays suddenly-

There at the back of the house was a hole about six feet deep and wide. Dr Guthrie stared inside of it for any clue as to what was once there. With the icy sting of the wind howling against his face, Dr Guthrie turned to run back around the house. The leaves crunched beneath his feet as he passed across the grounds.

Hearing the rapid rustling of leaves, Jeff raised the gun. Maggie gripped his arm, and David stared into the direction of the sounds of someone quickly approaching.

"Jeff! It's me!" Dr Guthrie shouted as he came around the corner. "The body...it's gone! If Judah was buried there, he's got to be inside the house! We're going to have to go in."

-music stops-

"Wait, Doc! What did you see back..."

Before Jeff could finish his sentence, Dr Guthrie interrupted him. "There's a hole in the ground where your ancestor must have buried him, Jeff. Judah is here...I can feel it." Dr Guthrie looked back at them.

Suddenly, without any warning, the door to the mansion opened in front of them.

Maggie held tightly to Jeff, and David's eyes grew wide in disbelief.

Dr Guthrie stood in front of the door and faced the three. His voice was absolute in its tone. "No turning back now, and nobody goes their own way. We have to stay together. I don't know what's in there, but I know that if we split up, we have no chance of leaving this place alive. Come on, and just...stay close to me."

-music has stopped, all is silent-

The four of them stepped inside, and Maggie held on tightly to Jeff's arm. David walked ahead of them a few steps, seeming more curious than afraid. The four of them walked past the organ and down the hallway toward the set of stairs that lead to the upper levels of Collinwood.

(an overhead view of the stairway is shown, and the four of them stare up toward the top as they walk to the bottom set of stairs)

"Doc, this is the set of stairs from my dream. All the way up there...that was where I saw that woman in white. That must have been the witch, Angelique. She went into that room at the top of the stairs." Jeff reminded them.

"Then that's where we should go. We have to go there." David said. As he spoke, he started up the stairs alone.

"David, stop! You've got to wait for us. We have to stay together, you hear me?" Dr Guthrie scolded him.

"But we don't have time to be careful! The sun is almost gone!" David retorted.

They paused for a moment, but Maggie broke the silence.

"Let's just hurry so we can get out of here. Please? I don't want to be here anymore." Maggie said as she started up the stairs and stood beside David. Saying nothing, Jeff and Dr Guthrie followed them up the stairs.

When they reached the second floor, they stopped in their tracks and looked at each other in fear and bewilderment. The house was suddenly filled with the sound of a piano playing from downstairs.

-music cue "Memories of a Lifetime" by Robert Cobert plays and echoes throughout the house-

"What's that?!" Dr Guthrie whispered as he turned toward the stairs, startled.

Jeff answered. "Did someone follow us here? Do you think it's Judah, or maybe...Barn-?"

Maggie quickly interrupted the name. "No, it's not him. That's impossible. Don't say his name, Jeff!"

Dr Guthrie shook his head. "Sshhh!...I don't know what or who it is. Should we go check it? What if this is something else? Maybe a...a spirit of some sort?"

Maggie looked up at the gallery. "But the dream...Judah was up there, and that's where we should go so we can get this overwith and leave."

After a few seconds of silent indecision, Jeff whispered. "I'll go. I'll just take a quick look, and come right back. Keep going up, and I'll join you in just a minute."

"No, we have to stay together, Jeff. You can't go by yourself! You don't know who or what's down there!" Maggie protested.

Dr Guthrie sighed. "No, Maggie. We're on borrowed time as it is and have only moments left." He shook his head in disapproval. "So much for our plan of staying together. Come right back, Jeff. We'll wait for you at the top of the stairs."

Setting the load he was carrying down on the ground, Jeff opened the bag and grabbed a flashlight. From his coat pocket, he pulled out Dr Guthrie's handgun that he had been holding. "Take this. I'm only going to be gone for a second. Protect Maggie and David, Doc. I'll be right back."

Maggie reached for Jeff as he turned to go back, but Dr Guthrie held her back and whispered to her. "Let him go, Maggie. He'll be right back. It's going to be okay. Come on, I'll help you up the stairs."

Cupping her hands over her mouth, Maggie buried her face in her hands. Dr Guthrie placed his arms around her and helped move her forward up the stairs. "It's alright, Maggie. He'll be right back."

(camera cuts away to Jeff going down the last set of stairs)

After Jeff reached the bottom of the stairs and the end of the hallway, the piano playing stopped.

Jeff walked toward the grand piano near the entrance, and he saw an oval-shaped gold ring with a black stone set inside of it. His eyes grew wide with fear, and his face was covered in perspiration. He knew this ring. There was only one like it, and he knew whom it belonged to.

From the basement corridor, Jeff was startled by the sound of a woman crying. He shined his flashlight in the direction but saw nothing. The door to the basement level of the great house was open, and the crying was coming from within. Rather than turning back, Jeff wondered who was there. "Is it a spirit? Is there someone else in this house?"

Jeff crept slowly down the stairs leading to the lower levels, but the darkness made his flashlight seem almost useless. The crying and wailing grew louder as Jeff walked down the stairs. When he reached the halfway point of the creaking staircase, the door slammed shut behind him, and he dropped his flashlight as he turned around, leaving him in complete darkness. He fell down the remaing stairs, hitting his head on the ground, leaving him unconscious. His flashlight was broken from the impact, and he lay there alone in the pitch black of the lower levels of the great house.

(camera cuts back to the stairway where the three of them are standing)

David, Dr Guthrie, and Maggie reached the last set of stairs, but Maggie walked ahead of them to look out the window. Only the top of the sun was barely visible, and the moon was covered in clouds.

-music cue, "Night of the Pentagram" by Robert Cobert plays-

With a sudden crash, the chandelier hanging above the stairwells gave way with a loud rattling of glass breaking and debris falling. Much of the ceiling hanging above them fell with it. The impact forced David and Dr Guthrie to fall backwards, and Maggie stood on the other side of it.

The pile of debris stood high in front of them. It was too heavy to move and impossible to simply climb over. Dazed from their fall, David and Dr Guthrie stood back and noticed that Maggie was gone from where she stood and was out of sight.

Dr Guthrie repeatedly called out to Maggie, but there was no answer.

(Camera cuts to Maggie standing in front of the gallery door as Dr Guthrie is calling out to her. Her eyes and face show a blank expression, indicating that she is under some kind of hypnotism as she steps to the front of the gallery door)

The gallery door opened on its own and, as Maggie walked inside, it shut behind her.

**I do not own the rights to DARK SHADOWS. My fanfic is meant only for the enjoyment of the reader**