FATHER kisses MOTHER again and exits, leaving MOTHER sitting at the table again looking distratced and despondent.

BOBBY

Mom...

MOTHER

Go play, honey, OK? I'll take care of your plate.

BOBBY

But..

MOTHER

Just go, Bobby, OK?

BOBBY exits slowly, hurt. MOTHER drops her head and starts to cry.

Int. DIning room. night.

MOTHER and FATHER are having a discussion in hushed tones at the dining room table. ALICIA is descending the main staircase; she stops and listens to her parents' conversation.

FATHER

It's nothing to worry about.

MOTHER

Yes, it is. This is real. It happened to my mother when she was around my age.

FATHER

But she showed signs way earlier. And besides, there are better treatments now...psychiatry has come a long way in the past few decades.

MOTHER

Yeah, now I can just be doped up the rest of my life.

FATHER

That's not true. You're not crazy.

MOTHER

What I saw in the kitchen this morning...

FATHER

Was brought on by stress from the move, and jet lag, and being in this old creepy house.

MOTHER

I love this house.

FATHER

So do I, but, you know, it's old, and you're tired...

MOTHER

I know, I know.

FATHER

You have enough to worry about without thinking you're going crazy.

MOTHER

Gee, thanks.

BOBBY appears on the stairs, descending, a picture book in his hands.

ALICIA

Don't bug them right now, twerp.

BOBBY

But I want Mom to read me a story.

ALICA

They're busy, OK? (She softens) C'mon, I'll read to you, alright?

They exit up the stairs.

Int. kitchen staircase. day.

BOBBY is in the upstairs hallway at the top of the kitchen stairs, starting a slinky on its way down. It goes from the top step to the first one down, then stops. BOBBY steps down, resets, tries again. Slinky moves one or two stairs, stops. BOBBY tries on more time, following the slinky until he is well inside the staircase. Suddenly, both the top and bottom dors to te staircase slam shut, enveloping BOBBY in darkness. He starts screaming; a scuffling sound is heard, along with moaning/groaning, a whoosh of wind, clattering sounds on the stairs, etc. BOBBY is very faintly visible as he tumbles -- perhaps pushed by an unseen force -- down the stairs, brusiing himself repeatedly until he comes to rest at the bottom, where the door swings slowly open and all is again quiet, except for BOBBY's whimpers. He picks himself up and looks back; the slinky is halfway up the staircase. BOBBY suddenly turns and runs away.

INT. ATTIC, BUTLER'S ROOM. DAy.

ALICIA is poking around, looking for a place to hide a pack of cigarettes, when BOBBY enters unannounced.

BOBBY

What are you doing?

ALICIA

(hidiing the cigarettes behind her back)

Nothing. What are you doing up here? Oh my God, Bobby, what happened to you?

The bruises are still forming on BOBBY's arms/face; there are visible scrapes and blood as well.

BOBBY

I fell down the stairs.

ALICIA

Are you OK?

BOBBY

Yeah.

ALICIA

What a trooper.

BOBBY

(indicating what's behind ALICIA's back)

What's that?

ALICIA

Nothing, kiddo.

BOBBY

Are you trying to hide it?

ALICIA

No..well, yeah, do you think we could find a good hiding spot up here?

They begin searching the room for a hiding spot. ALICIA opens one of the drawers in the dresser and discovers a stack of newspaper clippings and old photographs. She leafs through tehm silenetly as BOBBY continues rummaging about the room. The photographs show a Victorian era family -- Mother, Father, several older children including a girl around Alicia's age, and a young boy about Bobby's age. A butler and maid are also visible holding ahnds off to one side fo the photograph. This is set aside to reveal a headlinefrom a very old newspaper: "Family Murdered by Maid, Butler Dies Defending."

ALICIA

Oh my God!

BOBBY

What?

ALICIA

Nothing, Bobby.

BOBBY

What are you looking at?

ALICIA

Just some old stuff about the family that used to live here.

BOBBY

(pointing at the photograph)

Is that them?

ALICIA

Yeah, that's them.

She goes back to the drawer whre she found the itmes, and removes a wooden plaque with the hand carved words, "May His Spirit Rest Here Forever." Meanwhile, BOBBY has picked up the photographs/clippings and is leafing through tehm reading what he can.

ALICIA

(about the plaque)

Weird.

BOBBY

Does this say the family that used to live here was killed?

ALICIA

That was like, over a hundred years ago.

BOBBY

(Pointing at the butler in the picture)

He did it.

ALICIA

No, the article says it was the maid.

She scans the article, delivering information as she absorbs it.

ALICIA

They were married, and apparently the maid was jealous and killed the family in order to rob them...her husband -- thet's the butler, whose room we're in -- caught her with the youngest son, but it was too late for him.

BOBBY

What happened to her?

ALICIA

They think that the butler tried to capture her at the top of the kitchen stirs, but she stabbed him and they both fell down the stairs, nd were dead on the kitchen floor when they were found. It looks like they kept the butler's room the same way out of respect for what he tried to...

And in the kitchen.
ALICIA

What do you mean?

BOBBY

The kitchen feels weird -- like someone's always after you. It caught me on the stairs. It pushed me.

ALICIA

What pushed you?

BOBBY

The butler. Or the maid.

EXT. House. evening.

FATHER is outside on his cell phone, a business call. ALICIA approaches from the back door.

ALICIA

Dad?

FATHER

Just a minute. (into phone) I'll call you with the details in a few days. Alright. Bye. (hangs up; to ALICIA) What's up? Are you geting used to this English air?

ALICIA

Sure, I guess.

FATHER

I know this move hasn't been easy, but it'll get better, you'll see.

ALICIA

I don;t know how easy it'll be in a haunted house.

FATHER

What are you talking about?

ALICIA

Bobby keeps talking about how the kitchen feels weird, and today he says something pushed him down the stairs

FATHEr

Bobby feel down the stairs? Is he OK?

ALICIA

He's fine, Dad, but he says he didn't fall, something pushed him, and today in the attic room I found father

Your mother told you not to go up there! What were thinking?

alicia

Look, I'm sorry, OK, but thepoint is a whole family was murdered here and...

FATHER

Whatever happened here happened a long time ago, and there's no such thing as ghosts. We live here now, and you're just going t have to deal with. Stop brekaing your mother's rules, stop scaring your little brother, and grow up, Alicia!

FATHER stroms back into the house, leaving ALICIA alone outside.

Int. bobby's room. day.

BOBBY is playing on the floor when ALICIA enters.

ALICIA

Hey kiddo.

BOBBY

Hey.

ALICIA

Whatcha doin'?

BOBBY

Playing.

ALICIA

Wanna play someting else?

BOBBY

(wary)

What?

ALICIA

Mmm..how about a ghost hunt?

BOBBY

You mean in the kitchen?

ALICIA

or on the stairs.

BOBBY

I dunno...

ALICIA

C'mon, it'll be fun. I'll protect you.

INT. HALLWAY, top of kitchen staircase.

The door at the top of the stairs is closed; ALICIA and BOBBY are huddled in the hallway next to it.

ALICIA

Now, let's stop and think for a minute.

BOBBY

What are we gonna do?

ALICIA

I'm not sure. I'venever done this before.

BOBBY

Me neither.

ALICIA

No shit, Sherlock.

BOBBY

You're not supposed to say that.

ALICIA

I know. Sorry, kiddo. What were you doing when you got pushed?

BOBBY

Just playing on the stairs. My slinky's still there.

ALICIA

Well, let's get it back.

She pulls open the door, and suddenly BOBBY is yanked by his arm into the space. ALICIA only just manages to grab his other hand before he disappears entirely into the darkened staircase. BOBBY begins screaming.

ALICIA

Hold on, Bobby! I've got you!

The struggle continues, then there is a soft sighing sound and evidence of a gentle breeze around ALICIA; she looks around panicked but obviously feels something helping her, as BOBBY is slowly brought back into the hallway. The presence leaves ALICIA and the door slams shut on its own; it begins rattling violently as ALICIA and BOBBY run back to BOBBY's room.

INT. BOBBY'S ROOM. DAY.

ALICIA

Are you OK?

BOBBY

My arms hurt.

ALICIA

Sorry, buddy. It looks like they're still attached though, huh?

She is rewared with a smile. Suddnely, though, BOBBY's face turns serious.

BOBBY

It was the butler, Alicia.

ALICIA

What do you mean?

BOBBY

The butler was the one grabbing me, and he's the one that killed everbody.

ALICIA

How do you know?

BOBBY

I just do.

ALICIA

Something was helping me pull you back -- maybe that was the butler.

BOBBY shakes his head in a solemn "no."

ALICIA

Well, I know what place we might be able to find out.

INT. ATTIC, BUTLER'S ROOM. DAY.

ALICIA has the photographs/newspaper clippings spread out on the bed; BOBBY is poking around in the closet.

ALICIA

The whole story is right here, Bobby. The maid and the butler were married, and lived with the family for years. Tehn the maid snapped, apparently, and went around stabbing everyone before her husband caught her. She stabbed him too; they fell down the stairs and she broke her neck, and that was that.Bobby?

A muffled scream is heard from the closet, then a tearing/crashing.

ALICIA

(rushing to the closet)

Bobby!! !

int. attic, maid's room.

BOBBY has fallen through a false wall into what used to be the other half of the servants' quarters. Teh artifacts of the maid's existence are here, torn and disfigured by those that boarded up the room.

BOBBY

Oops.

ALICIA

Whoah...look at all of this! They destroyed her!

BOBBY

Who?

ALICIA

The maid. The one that killed everybody.

BOBBY

It was the butler.

ALICIA

Whatever.

The two continue exploring. ALICIA finds a loose board and pries it up; undernetah is a small box with photographs of the youngest son in the family from the time he was an infant through to his final age of six years. Also in…