THE HUNGRY ONE Episode 2
By
Frank Juchniewicz
2021 Frank Horror, LLCTHE HUNGRY ONE EPISODE 2
SCENE 1: THIS WAS YOUR GRANDAD’S
EXT. GRANDDAD ABBOTT’S HOUSE - DAY
NARRATOR
This is the story of how it all began. When Justine was
eight years old. When she first realized that monsters
are real.
(A PAUSE)
NARRATOR
Driving west across the verdant, rolling hills of
Pennsylvania to reach Granddad’s house took just over
four-and-a-half hours. That’s also if you don’t factor
in stops for lunch and bathroom breaks. Sherri would
take her daughter on this trek once a year, usually in
the summer. But for some unspoken reason it had been a
few years since the last visit. Justine remembered that
visit pretty well, but before that just vague
impressions - how Granddad would sit her in his lap and
sing to her; how he would make a show about taking out
his teeth and how she, trying to imitate him, failed,
frustrated to near-tears over how his teeth slid right
out but hers didn’t. She was old enough to know the
answer to that now, that the ace up Granddad’s sleeve
was a set of fake teeth. She also remembered him
fawning over her about how she looked a lot like
Grandmom. Sadly, Justine didn’t remember anything about
the woman because she was still an infant when her
Grandmom died. And now it was Granddad’s turn.
SOUND: A FEW SPARSE AND DISTANT BIRD CALLS.
SHERRI
This is getting all overgrown. We’ll have to have
someone come out to take care of all this before we
sell... This looked a lot different when you were here.
The last time you were here was three years ago. You
were five then, do you remember that?
YOUNG JUSTINE
I remember.
(A BEAT)
YOUNG JUSTINE
Why aren’t we going in, Mommy?
(CONTINUED)CONTINUED: 2.
SHERRI
We don’t have keys, honey. Your uncle Jake is coming to
let us in and give us keys. He’ll be here soon; he’s on
his way... At least it’s a nice day out.
(A PAUSE)
YOUNG JUSTINE
Was this all Granddad’s yard?
SHERRI
All this and more. See that tree way down there? That
tall pine.
YOUNG JUSTINE
Uh-huh.
SHERRI
Follow that with your eyes all the way up to the road
over here, and then look back to the curve in the road
there and all the way down to that field. That was all
Granddad’s property.
YOUNG JUSTINE
Wow, that’s big.
SHERRI
Yeah, it’s a lot of land. You see that little patch of
woods right over there? Your Uncle Jake and I used to
play Ghost In The Graveyard with some of the local kids
in there. We used to have a tire swing hanging from
this tree right here. And see that field right there
behind the house? Right past that there’s a little
stream where we used to dig for crawfish.
YOUNG JUSTINE
What’s a crawfish?
SHERRI
It’s like a little lobster. Only about this big, and
they live in fresh water. They burrow down into the mud
beneath the creek, so we would try to dig them out. One
of us would always end up getting pinched by their
little claws.
SOUND: PICKUP TRUCK TURNING ONTO A GRAVEL DRIVE AND
APPROACHING
YOUNG JUSTINE
It’s Uncle Jake!
SOUND: TRUCK COMES TO A HALT AND THE ENGINE CUTS OFF. THE
TRUCK DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES AND A PAIR OF BOOTS WALKING UP
ON THE GRAVEL DRIVE.
(CONTINUED)CONTINUED: 3.
YOUNG JUSTINE
Uncle Jake!
UNCLE JAKE
There’s my favorite niece in the world!
SOUND: THE SHUFFLE OF JAKE CROUCHING TO THE GROUND TO HUG
HIS NIECE.
UNCLE JAKE
Ohhh, that’s one mighty hug!
YOUNG JUSTINE
Mom was just telling me about how you would dig for
clawfish.
UNCLE JAKE
You were???
SHERRI
CRAW-fish, honey.
YOUNG JUSTINE
CRAW-fish.
UNCLE JAKE
(STANDING UP TO HUG SHERRI, HIS TONE GROWING SOMBER)
Hey, sis.
NARRATOR
When Sherri had come into Justine’s bedroom last week
to sit down and explain that Granddad had died, she
seemed sad but Justine hadn’t seen her cry. But now,
when Uncle Jake wrapped her up into a hug, the facade
she wore briefly cracked. Tears welled at the rims of
her eyes and streaked down her cheeks in a race to her
chin. She momentarily caught Justine’s eye and, as if
embarrassed, she blinked a few times, quickly and then
turned away. When Justine next saw her face it had
returned to normal with little outward trace of her
grief.
UNCLE JAKE
You okay?
SHERRI
(SNIFFLING, BRUSHING IT OFF)
Yeah.
(A BEAT)
(CONTINUED)CONTINUED: 4.
UNCLE JAKE
Let’s get your bags and get you all settled inside.
SCENE 2: THE EMPTY HOUSE
INT. GRANDDAD ABBOTT’S HOUSE - DAY
NARRATOR
Entering the house feels odd. Seeing Granddad’s bedroom
off to the left with its open door and neatly made bed
- it no longer felt lived in. Justine remembers these
rooms once filled with voices, with laughter. Now
empty, there’s a stale kind of stillness that’s claimed
the house. The three of them delve further into the
building, their muted silence a gesture of respect.
Only the aged wooden floorboards dare to squawk in
defiance.
SOUND: FOOTSTEPS ON A CREAKY, OLD WOODEN FLOOR.
NARRATOR
Only after they reach the first guest room - what used
to be Sherri’s room when she grew up here - only then,
setting Sherri’s bags down on the bed, does Uncle Jake
find his voice.
UNCLE JAKE
So, how was the ride?
SHERRI
Not too bad. A little over four-and-a-half hours. At
least it’s a nice day.
UNCLE JAKE
Why don’t you come on over for dinner tonight, once you
get settled?
SHERRI
All right. That would be nice. Do you want me to stop
and pick up anything?
UNCLE JAKE
No, folks have been dropping off all kinds of
casseroles and dishes. Guess they figure they can show
their condolences with meals.
SHERRI
Makes sense.
UNCLE JAKE
Anyway, we got more condolence food than we can eat in
a week. So we’re more than covered.
(CONTINUED)CONTINUED: 5.
SOUND: JAKE HOISTS ANOTHER DUFFELL BAG OFF OF THE FLOOR AND
TAKES A FEW STEPS AWAY WHERE HE PUSHES OPEN A CREAKY DOOR.
UNCLE JAKE
(SLIGHTLY FARTHER OFF)
And this is where you’re staying, young lady.
SOUND: JUSTINE’S SMALL STEPS AS SHE QUICKLY JOINS HER UNCLE.
YOUNG JUSTINE
I remember this room. This is where I stayed the last
time we came to visit Granddad.
UNCLE JAKE
Best room in the house.
YOUNG JUSTINE
It is?!
UNCLE JAKE
Absolutely, it is. Because this is the room that I grew
up in.
SOUND: SETTING DOWN HER BAGS.
UNCLE JAKE
Sun comes up on this side of the house. In the
mornings, you get to wake up with that warm, bright sun
just streaming in through the window here.
SOUND: JUSTINE RUNNING BACK INTO THE FIRST GUEST ROOM TO HER
MOTHER.
YOUNG JUSTINE
Hey Mom! I’m sleeping in the room Uncle Jake grew up
in!
SHERRI
I know, honey.
SOUND: A FEW SLOWER, METHODICAL STEPS AS JAKE STEPS UP TO
THE THRESHOLD OF THE GUEST ROOM.
UNCLE JAKE
Listen, uh... You need a little time? Alone? Carolyn’s
got me running some errands in town for her. I can take
Justine here along for the ride.
YOUNG JUSTINE
Can I, Mom?
(CONTINUED)CONTINUED: 6.
SHERRI
Go on. Have fun.
(A BEAT)
SHERRI
Thank you.
UNCLE JAKE
Mmm-hmm.
SCENE 3: THE GRIEF OF CHILDREN
INT. UNCLE JAKE’S PICKUP TRUCK- DAY
SOUND: THE STEADY HUM OF UNCLE JAKE’S PICKUP TRUCK ENGINE AS
HE NAVIGATES THE WINDING COUNTRY ROADS.
NARRATOR
With the windows of the pickup truck rolled down, the
wind catches Justine’s hair and smooths over her face.
The scent of earth and trees, both woody and sweet,
fills the truck’s cab. Uncle Jake steers them through
roads that thread their way up and down through dense
forest. Every now and again they slow for a stop sign
marking a lonely crossroads where they would turn and
take an equally windy road through a seemingly
identical patch of forest. How the locals can tell any
of these roads apart is a mystery to Justine; there are
no landmarks to distinguish them other than rocks,
trees and more trees. On the surface the woods appear
serene and unperturbed. But that is just a veneer for
the multitude of life and survival dramas that play out
behind its curtain of foliage. Justine tries to imagine
the variety of animals - all the different species that
must be living in these vast stretches of woodlands,
hidden from view. Do the animals have families like we
do, she wonders, and what happens when one of them gets
eaten or gets sick and dies? Does their animal kin
grieve them the way that we do when we lose a loved
one? Do animals feel sadness?
YOUNG JUSTINE
Uncle Jake?
UNCLE JAKE
What’s that?
YOUNG JUSTINE
I’m not sure about tomorrow.
(A BEAT)
(CONTINUED)CONTINUED: 7.
UNCLE JAKE
No? What are you not sure about?
YOUNG JUSTINE
I’m not sure I want to see Granddad in the coffin.
(PAUSE)
UNCLE JAKE
Well, I suppose you don’t have to if you don’t want.
Maybe it’s more important you remember him in your own
way... You could change your mind, though. There’s no
right or wrong about it. Whatever you want to do is
okay.
(FADE OUT)
SCENE 4: ALL OF THE OTHER REINDEER
INT. UNCLE JAKE & AUNT CAROLYN’S HOUSE, DINING
ROOM - NIGHT
SOUND: OCCASIONAL SOFT CLINKING OF SILVERWARE ON PLATES AS
THEY WIND DOWN WITH DINNER.
NARRATOR
How can adults stand it to talk about such boring
things as insurance companies and mortgages. Justine
didn’t understand about any of it, nor did she care to.
She decided right then and there that when she became
an adult she wasn’t going to care about those things at
all. Nor would her friends, because they would be more
interesting than that. Even though she sat here at the
table with her mom and Uncle Jake and Aunt Carolyn, she
felt pushed out by their adult conversations. So she
she pushes the remainder of her mashed potatoes and
peas around the plate, spreading them thin so it
appears as if she ate more than she really did. Uncle
Jake put two leaves in the dining room table that
night, lengthening it to accommodate all seven of them.
But three of those seats now sat vacant. Seats that
belonged to Justine’s cousins, Mikey, Laura and Danny.
While they were already off in the basement having fun
Justine was stuck here playing with her food.
AUNT CAROLYN
Sherri, would you like some more wine?
SHERRI
Oh, no. I probably shouldn’t. Tomorrow’s the big day.
(CONTINUED)CONTINUED: 8.
AUNT CAROLYN
You sure? I’m planning on opening another bottle. It’s
no trouble.
SHERRI
Well... I mean, if you’re going to open it. Maybe a
little more.
AUNT CAROLYN
Give me your arm so I can twist it.
AUNT CAROLYN, UNCLE JAKE & SHERRI
(ALL CHUCKLE)
UNCLE JAKE
I got it, hun. You sit.
SOUND: CHAIR BEING PUSHED BACK FROM THE TABLE.
UNCLE JAKE
(LAYS A HAND ON JUSTINE’S SHOULDER)
You all done with this, kiddo?
YOUNG JUSTINE
I’m not real hungry.
SHERRI
Don’t take it personally. She’s normally a pretty picky
eater.
AUNT CAROLYN
Well, my kids scarfed their food down just so they
could run off downstairs. If you’re all done why don’t
you go play with them.
YOUNG JUSTINE
Can I, Mom?
SHERRI
Yes, you’re excused. Go play.
SOUND: AUNT CAROLYN AND JUSTINE CHATTING IN THE BACKGROUND
GROWS FAINT AS JUSTINE PADS DOWN THE CARPETED STAIRS. THE
DISTANT SOUND OF KIDS PLAYING VIGOROUSLY AT A FOOSBALL TABLE
GETS NEARER AND LOUDER.
MIKEY
Dammnit!... DAMMIT!!!
YOUNG DANNY
YESSSSS!
(CONTINUED)CONTINUED: 9.
MIKEY
That was a lucky shot.
YOUNG JUSTINE
What are you playing?
YOUNG DANNY
Foosball. It’s like a little miniature soccer game but
you have to control the players like this.
YOUNG JUSTINE
How do you win?
YOUNG DANNY
Just like soccer. You have to get the ball down the
field into your opponent’s goal. It’s a lot of fun.
YOUNG JUSTINE
I want to play!
MIKEY
No! We’re in the middle of a tournament. And I’m ahead.
YOUNG JUSTINE
Can I be in the tournament?
MIKEY
No way! It’s going to mess everything up.
YOUNG LAURA
We could play teams.
MIKEY
Laura, you’re just saying that because you’re in last
place.
YOUNG LAURA
Not everything is about winning, Mikey.
MIKEY
Uh... I’m pretty sure it is.
YOUNG JUSTINE
Come on, let me play! I’m telling if you don’t let me.
MIKEY
I don’t care. Do whatever you want, canary. Go sing
like a canary for all I care.
YOUNG JUSTINE
I’m not a canary! What’s that mean anyway?
(CONTINUED)CONTINUED: 10.
MIKEY
It was on a cop tv show. You wouldn’t understand.
YOUNG LAURA
Justine, why don’t you just watch? You can try to pick
who you think is going to win. We can make a game out
of it.
YOUNG JUSTINE
I don’t wanna just watch, I wanna play!
SOUND: MORE SOUNDS OF THE FOOSEBALL RODS BEING PUSHED,
PULLED AND SPUN.
NARRATOR
On the verge of his pre-teen years, Mikey was the
oldest of the three and the one with the least patience
for the eight-year-old Justine. Laura, the middle
child, usually tended to play the peacekeeper. And
Danny, who was just a year older than Justine acted as
Mikey’s little shadow. And right now, frustrated with
all three of them ignoring her pleas to join in the
game, Justine runs up to Danny’s side of the table.
Latching onto two open grip rods, she yanks and spins
them with a wild fury.
YOUNG DANNY
HEYYY!!! Stop it! You’re messing me up!
NARRATOR
Danny wrenches her hands from the rods, but she
immediately reaches up and grabs them again. Once
again, he overpowers her, ripping them free with more
force to get his point across.
YOUNG JUSTINE
(LETS OUT A FRUSTRATED SHRIEK)
MIKEY
Justine! Get lost!
YOUNG LAURA
Guys, just let her play. Mom’s going to be pissed if
she goes upstairs all upset. And then we’re all going
to be in trouble... There’s four of us. We can play
teams.
MIKEY
Are you kidding me? She’s not going to be any good,
she’s too young.
(CONTINUED)CONTINUED: 11.
YOUNG LAURA
Then we give her a handicap.
YOUNG JUSTINE
(STILL IRRITATED)
What’s a handicap?
YOUNG LAURA
It’s like a headstart. You get to cheat because you’re
too young to be as good as us... Come on, Mikey.
Otherwise we’re gonna get in trouble.
MIKEY
Fine. She’s on your team, then. I get Danny.
YOUNG DANNY
Yesssss!
MIKEY
And since I was in the lead, I win the the last
tournament... All right Justine, you can play. But only
if you listen when we tell you to do stuff.
YOUNG JUSTINE
Okay!
NARRATOR
Justine doesn’t care if she’s being bullied. She
doesn’t care they they were right about her being inept
at Foosball. She’s just excited to play, to hang out
with the older kids, to be part of their game.
Afterall, the alternative was slow death by boredom
upstairs with the adults.
SCENE 5: OPEN CASKET
INT. FUNERAL HOME - DAY
SOUND: LOW ORGAN OR PIANO PLAYING FUNEREAL MUSIC. PEOPLE
MUMBLING IN HUSHED, REVERENTIAL TONES.
NARRATOR
For what feels like hours, Justine lingers around the
sitting area, a safe distance from the viewing room
that houses the casket. Some relatives she recognizes,
others she doesn’t make a point to approach her and
make brief small-talk before joining the procession of
attendees in line to view the casket. Justine’s mom,
Uncle Jake and Aunt Carolyn spend most of the morning,
standing by the casket to greet the attendees and
accept the condolences heaped upon them. Predictably,
her three cousins - Mikey, Laura and Danny - remain
clumped closely together and slip off somewhere on
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)CONTINUED: 12.
NARRATOR (cont’d)
their own, leaving Justine to her own devices. She
watches while the line to the casket eventually peters
out and all the people cluster into small groups
engaged in conversations. With boredom and curiosity
now overruling any remaining hesitation, Justine
wanders into the viewing room and approaches the open
casket.
SOUND: THE COLLECTIVE MURMOR OF VOICES GROWS SLIGHTLY
LOUDER, AS DOES THE FUNEREAL MUSIC AS JUSTINE WANDERS INTO
THE VIEWING ROOM.
NARRATOR
A glance across the sea of people and she spots her mom
mingling in a small huddle. An old woman she doesn’t
know is hugging her deeply while another woman,
standing alongside, dabs at the corners of their eyes
with a handkerchief. Justine turns her attention to the
casket, to her Granddad dressed in a crisp gray suit,
his eyes closed as if sleeping, his broad hands clasped
in front of him. The man laid out in the casket has the
features of her Grandad, but he doesn’t look real. The
heavy makeup caked on his face, the way his cheeks sink
in slightly - he resembles a wax figure more than the
man Justine remembered. She reaches for his hand, but
finds it cold and firmer than it should be. Not
natural. So she quickly withdraws her hand as if she’s
touches something forbidden. Throughout the viewing,
she’s observed people crying, some openly weeping,
especially as they stood over the casket. She wonders
if maybe she should be crying like the others, but she
doesn’t really feel sad. She doesn’t feel like crying.
Forcing tears doesn’t seem like the right thing to do
either. So instead, Justine studies his body with a
morbid fascination. This is what death looks like.
Strange, unnatural. Like an intruder that shouldn’t be
here.
(FADE OUT)
SCENE 6: WALKING WITH JESUS
INT. GRANDAD ABBOTT’S HOUSE, BEDROOM - DAY.
NARRATOR
After the viewing, after the funeral itself and what
amounts to a long, strange day, Justine lays down for a
nap back in Uncle Jake’s old room in Granddad’s house.
She awakens with her stuffed bunny, Mr. Socks tucked
into the crook of her arm. When she emerges from the
room still clutching her stuffed animal, she finds the
door to her mother’s room closed and the soft sound of
sobbing on the other side of the door.
(CONTINUED)CONTINUED: 13.
SHERRI
(SOBBING QUIETLY TO HERSELF)
NARRATOR
Justine pushes the door open gingerly, careful not to
disturb the delicate display of grief.
YOUNG JUSTINE
Mommy?
SHERRI
(REACHES FOR HER)
It’s okay. You can come in.
YOUNG JUSTINE
Do you want to hold Mr. Socks?
SHERRI
(SNIFFLING BACK TEARS)
Yes,honey, I do. I think that will help very much.
Thank you.
(A BEAT)
YOUNG JUSTINE
People said things to me today. They said that Granddad
is in Heaven now with Jesus.
SHERRI
Some people believe that. People have different
thoughts about what happens after you die, and that’s
okay because no one really knows for sure.
YOUNG JUSTINE
What do you believe, Mommy?
SHERRI
...Well... I believe that the people we love and care
about are never really gone. We keep them in our hearts
and in our minds. When we think about them, they live
on through our memories. That’s how we keep them here
with us.
(A LONG PAUSE)
YOUNG JUSTINE
Are you going to die, Mommy?
SHERRI
...Eventually, yes. We all die eventually.
(CONTINUED)CONTINUED: 14.
YOUNG JUSTINE
I don’t want you to die.
SHERRI
Well it won’t be for a really, really long time honey,
so don’t worry. Okay?
YOUNG JUSTINE
Do you promise?
SHERRI
I promise.
NARRATOR
That night in bed Justine holds her stuffed animal, Mr.
Socks, extra close. In this room the bed is pushed
against the exterior wall, so as she lies there, the
window hovers directly over her. A thin, pale curtain,
aged and worn now, to the point it’s almost sheer,
strains to cover the window but through it she can see
the blackness of this rural night. Out here there are
no streetlights, just darkness so unyielding it’s
oppressive. Out here there are no sounds of traffic or
distant sirens to fill the emptiness. Darkness and
silence are a breeding ground for worrisome thoughts to
run, unchecked, into fearful territories. This night,
lying here sleepless in this unfamiliar bed, marks the
first time Justine fully comprehends and begins to
truly fear death.
SCENE 7: NOT ANOTHER WORD ABOUT IT
INT. UNCLE JAKE & AUNT CAROLYN’S HOUSE, LIVING
ROOM - DAY
NARRATOR
The next day, as Carolyn drifts into the living room to
straighten up a bit before their visitors arrive, it
strikes her how unusually quiet the house seems. With
three young kids, quiet is not a commodity to which
she’s accustomed. And as if on queue, a sudden and
reassuring commotion breaks that serenity as Mikey
comes barreling through the room.
MIKEY
(PANTING)
SOUND: THE CLAMOR OF RUNNING FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING.
AUNT CAROLYN
Hold on, hold on! Where are you off to? And where are
your brother and sister?
(CONTINUED)CONTINUED: 15.
MIKEY
(STILL PANTING)
We’re going to go explore.
AUNT CAROLYN
Uh-uh. Aunt Sherri and Justine are on their way over.
MIKEY
But Mom, Danny and Laura are already down in the yard.
They’re waiting on me.
AUNT CAROLYN
Well you just tell them to wait for your cousin. You’re
going to include Justine today.
MIKEY
Come on! Justine is a pain in the rear.
AUNT CAROLYN
She’s your cousin. And they’re our guests here. They
drove here from Philadelphia, so you and your brother
and sister are going to spend some time with them.
MIKEY
Mom, no! This is where I draw the line.
AUNT CAROLYN
Excuse me? You better un-draw that line right quick. Do
I have to get your father involved?
MIKEY
No...
AUNT CAROLYN
You ever say that to me again and you’re grounded for a
month, do you hear me?... DO YOU HEAR ME?
MIKEY
(SULKING)
Yeah.
AUNT CAROLYN
You’re taking Justine with you and I don’t want to hear
another word about it. Now go gather your brother and
sister and get back inside.
SCENE 8: TAGALONG
EXT. WOODS BEYOND THE PROPERTY - DAY
SOUND: THE SWISH OF FOUR KIDS’ FOOTSTEPS AS THEY TRUDGE
THROUGH TALL GRASS, WITH THE OCCASIONAL TWIG CRACKLING
UNDERFOOT.
(CONTINUED)CONTINUED: 16.
NARRATOR
A footpath behind their property meanders through the
woods towards a creek before splitting off into several
tributary paths. The oldest two, Mikey and Laura, lead
the way with Mikey making a point to be the vanguard of
the group. He carries a four-foot branch, using it as a
walking stick. Danny, emulating his older brother,
holds a similar but smaller branch. Instead of using it
as a walking stick,though, he mostly bats it at the
underbrush as he goes. Justine follows behind them,
just pleased to be included in this adventure.
YOUNG DANNY
(TO JUSTINE)
See that? That’s poison sumac. You don’t want to go
anywhere near it.
YOUNG JUSTINE
What’s poison sumac?
YOUNG DANNY
It’s like poison ivy. My friend Johnny Moody is so
allergic to it, he doesn’t even have to touch it to get
the rash from it. If the wind blows it in his direction
and he’s like five feet from the sumac, he gets a
rash.
YOUNG JUSTINE
Why?
YOUNG DANNY
I don’t know. It’s his weakness, I guess. Everybody
has a weakness.
YOUNG JUSTINE
(DEFIANT)
I don’t have a weakness.
YOUNG DANNY
Yeah, you do. Everybody has a weakness. Even Superman
has kryptonite.
YOUNG JUSTINE
Superman’s not real.
MIKEY
Let her touch it then, Danny. Who gives a crap?
SOUND: THE FORWARD PROGRESS OF FOOTSTEPS COMES TO A HALT. A
FEW LONE BIRD CALLS SOUND IN THE DISTANCE.
(CONTINUED)CONTINUED: 17.
NARRATOR
The group comes to a halt while Mikey sizes up the fork
in the path ahead. Of course, Mikey and his siblings
are familiar with these trails. Nevertheless, the
forking path demands a decision be made.
YOUNG LAURA
Which way?
MIKEY
Why don’t we take the old deer trail. We can head down
to the tracks and turn around there.
YOUNG LAURA
That’s pretty far, Mikey. And we’ve got Justine with
us.
MIKEY
(RESENTFUL)
If that tagalong can’t keep up, that’s her problem.
YOUNG JUSTINE
I can keep up!
MIKEY
You heard her. She can keep up.
NARRATOR
The procession once again comes to a halt, but this
time it’s not due to a fork in the path.
YOUNG LAURA
Ewwww!
NARRATOR
Justine sidesteps the others, jockeying for a vantage
point to see what’s caused the commotion. Several feet
ahead she spots the decomposing carcass of a small
mammal. The children all fan out and form a semi-circle
around the dead animal in order to get a closer look -
the body appears deflated. The matted pelt and darkened
flesh have peeled back, exposing its teeth and patches
of its skull, its yellowed ribs and sections of spine.
Whatever blood its body held had long since dried up.
YOUNG LAURA
What is it?
MIKEY
It’s a fox.
(CONTINUED)CONTINUED: 18.
YOUNG DANNY
Whoa! Look at the ribs sticking out.
NARRATOR
Stepping up to it, leaning over the carcass, Danny
prods its hide near the exposed ribs with his stick.
YOUNG LAURA
Danny! Don’t touch it.
YOUNG DANNY
Why? You think it’s gonna wake up?
YOUNG LAURA
Shut up, Danny!
YOUNG JUSTINE
What happened to it?
MIKEY
I think I know. I think I know exactly what happened to
it.
YOUNG DANNY
I’ll bet a hunter shot it and it ran off and died
before he could find it.
MIKEY
Uh-uh. This was no hunter... We must’ve taken a wrong
turn on the path back there somewhere and got turned
around... Shit. We shouldn’t be here; this is HER
territory.
NARRATOR
The look in his eyes, the hushed pall that falls over
Mikey’s voice... Deeply Spooked,justine sidles up
closer to laura.
YOUNG JUSTINE
Who...?
MIKEY
The Hungry One.
YOUNG JUSTINE
Who’s that?!
MIKEY
They say she lived here in town a long time ago, like
in the 1900’s or something. The story goes that her
husband died in a freak horse riding accident. She
clung his gravestone and cried and hollered for days
until her voice gave out, and she never spoke again
(MORE)
(CONTINUED)CONTINUED: 19.
MIKEY (cont’d)
after that. Now, she had three kids to take care of but
no money coming in, with her husband dead and all. So
she had to leave her house and she moved into a rickety
old shack in the woods outside of town. It’s out here
that she starts hearing voices in the woods. They were
evil spirits whispering to her at night, telling her to
do things - telling her that if she wanted to survive
the winter and not starve to death she would have to
eat her kids. So she did what the voices said. She
killed and ate her own kids.
YOUNG JUSTINE
(TERRIFIED)
Mikey, stop. I don’t want to hear this.
YOUNG DANNY
Go on. Tell it, Mikey.
MIKEY
She went completely insane out here. And bloodthirsty.
She had a taste for human flesh, especially little
kids. She should have died a long time ago, but the
evil spirits of the woods turned her into something
else -- something not even human. The Hungry One.
(A BEAT)
She stalks animals... like this one. But what she
really has a taste for is human meat. Especially young
children... like you, Justine. She’d eat any one of us,
but she’d take you first.
YOUNG JUSTINE
(CRIES)
I want to go home!
MIKEY
Shhhh! Keep your voice down. What’s left of her rotting
old cabin isn’t too far from here. We must’ve
accidentally wandered into her territory. Let’s get out
of here. Now.
NARRATOR
They turn around and double back in a hasty retreat.
Justine’s body trembles involuntarily, tears pushing on
the backs of her eyes, blurring her vision. All the
while she clings to Laura’s lower back, clutching a
fistful of her tee shirt. Her mind conjures images of
an awful, feral cannibal-woman devolved into some kind
of backwoods demon. "The Hungry One" was the name Mikey
used. The notion of The Hungry One lurking out here in
these very woods right now squeezes at her fluttering
heart. Just Then, Mikey, in the lead position, suddenly
freezes and they all stop dead in their tracks.
(CONTINUED)CONTINUED: 20.
MIKEY
DID YOU SEE THAT?!
YOUNG LAURA
What?!
MIKEY
Right over there!
YOUNG JUSTINE
(DREAD-FILLED WHIMPER)
NARRATOR
Justine, not sure where he’s pointing, snaps her head
around to the woods on her left and right there, in a
gap between the trees, the skulking horror of The
Hungry One - just as frighteningly inhuman as she had
feared. She sees it, and it sees her.
SOUND: A CHILD’S RACING FOOTSTEPS THROUGH THE TALL GRASS.
YOUNG JUSTINE
(PANTING AS SHE RUNS)
NARRATOR
Justine is running now, before she realizes it, dashing
through as fast as her eight-year-old legs can carry
her, tearing off down the trail, her heart slamming
itself against the inside of her ribcage, her pulse a
chaotic roar in her ears. She is adrenaline and dirt
and terror and tears in a mad-dash for the house. She
is a prey item blindly scattering from the herd and
fleeing through the hills.
SCENE 9: THE PACT
INT. UNCLE JAKE & AUNT CAROLYN’S HOUSE, BASEMENT -
DAY
YOUNG DANNY:
(SLIGHTLY DISTANT AND HALF-WHISPERING)
Justine?... Are you in there?
NARRATOR
When Danny finally finds her, she’s downstairs in the
basement, wedged beneath the utility sink in the
laundry room like a dog cowering from a thunderstorm,
all shivers and fear-instinct devoid of reason, her
lips moving but forming no words, no sounds, just
vacant, saucer-eyed panic.
(CONTINUED)CONTINUED: 21.
YOUNG DANNY
Justine!... Guys, she’s down here! In the laundry room!
SOUND: TWO SETS OF HURRIED FOOTSTEPS DESCENDING THE STAIRS
AND RACING ACROSS THE FLOOR TO THE JOIN THEM.
NARRATOR
She’s at once both surprised and a little relieved to
see Mikey and Laura converge on the little laundry
room.
YOUNG JUSTINE
I thought she got you.
YOUNG DANNY
We ran right after you did, but you were just faster!
YOUNG JUSTINE
(HYSTERICAL)
She saw me! She looked right at me like she wanted to
eat me... She... She...
NARRATOR
She. Mikey had referred to The Hungry One as a "she".
But there was nothing human about that monstrosity they
encountered out there. Maybe it had been once, but no
longer. No, that thing she saw wasn’t a "she"; it was
an "it".
YOUNG LAURA
Don’t worry. She didn’t follow us. We lost her. We’re
safe.
MIKEY
Justine, you can’t tell your Mom about her. You can’t
tell anyone what you saw. If you talk about her, she
might hear you... and then she’ll come. She’ll come for
you AND your Mom or whoever else is talking about her.
YOUNG DANNY
That’s why she came after us, Mikey. Because you were
talking about her!
MIKEY
Well that stops now. None of us EVER talks about her,
or any of what happened here today ever again. You
understand?... Swear it! I mean it. Swear.
YOUNG LAURA
I swear.
(CONTINUED)CONTINUED: 22.
YOUNG DANNY
I’m not saying a word, I swear it.
(A PAUSE)
MIKEY
Justine... If you don’t want it to come back and get
you--
YOUNG JUSTINE
I swear.... I swear.
SCENE 10: BACK TO THE PRESENT
INT. ABBOTT HOUSEHOLD, HALLWAY - NIGHT
NARRATOR
That was sixteen years ago. And here she was now, all
these years later, hundreds of miles away. But distance
and time didn’t seem to hold any sway. Once she found
out Mikey, now a grown man, was moving to this area for
work with his pregnant wife, the memories of that
encounter returned. Those memories churned into
obsessive thoughts and secret dread, the burden of
which she could hardy bear, so she told the story to
her work friend, Allie. And now with the tale of the
Hungry One fresh in her thoughts and on her lips, she
felt its inevitable return. So on a sleepless night
like this, her anxiety propels her through the house in
the dark to check all the windows, to ensure they are
locked tight.
Starting with the kitchen, Justine moves window to
window throughout the house, checking them each in
turn, ensuring that her mother - true to her word -
did, in fact keep them closed (and latched) as agreed.
Roaming the house, in the midst of her inspection, with
her back to her mother’s room, Justine fails to sense
the stir of air as the bedroom door creeps open behind
her. She fails to spot the movement of a shape emerging
from the darkness within, ambling up behind her.
Justine turns to click off the hallway light, turns
just enough to catch a glimpse out of the corner of her
eye. But it’s too late - before she can react, an
extended limb reaches her, grasps her by the
shoulder....
JUSTINE
(SCREAMS)
SHERRI
(SCREAMS)
(CONTINUED)CONTINUED: 23.
NARRATOR
It takes a few moments for the surge of Justine’s
terror to retreat enough to allow her mind to work, for
her eyes to recognize the familiar face of her mother
in the darkness, her hands clamped over her ears, her
own eyes wide with shock.
JUSTINE
OH MY GOD, MOM!!!!!
SHERRI
You scared the SHIT out of me!
JUSTINE
What are you doing?
SHERRI
(PANTING)
I heard you moving around out here. What are YOU doing
up?
JUSTINE
I just... I couldn’t sleep.
SHERRI
Oh my heart! It’s pounding!
(A BEAT)
SHERRI
You screamed at me!
JUSTINE
I didn’t-- I didn’t-- didn’t expect anyone. I didn’t
recognize you.
SHERRI
(STARTS TO GIGGLE)
Don’t ever do that again please.
JUSTINE
(GIGGLING)
You should have seen your face.
SHERRI & JUSTINE
(LAUGHING NOW)
SHERRI
I just about fell over dead, Justine.
SHERRI & JUSTINE
(LAUGHING MORE NOW)
(CONTINUED)CONTINUED: 24.
SHERRI
(SIGHS, REGAINING HER COMPOSURE)
Hoooooooo... Oh, boy! It’s really not funny.
NARRATOR
It is a moment of levity they enjoy, where the tension
of fear is supplanted by laughter. But it is the last
such moment of levity that Justine would ever share
with her mom... Things were about to get worse. Much
worse.
TO BE CONTINUED