SCENE OPENS on a closed door in a hallway. A moment later, Jillian (Lexi Lore) opens the door and turns off the bathroom light as she comes into the hallway. The house is completely quiet as she softly walks down the hallway back to her room. Suddenly, from somewhere off-screen we hear a soft tapping. TAP. TAP. Jillian stops, looking behind her towards the source of the noise. The tapping continues, getting increasingly louder. Suddenly the tapping turns into a loud THUMP. Jillian jumps. Fear crosses her face, but she has now discerned where the noise is coming from: the attic. She moves toward the attic. Suddenly the house is oppressively silent. The quiet seems to squeeze the air out of her as she approaches the attic door.
As Jillian’s hand reaches up to grasp the cord that hangs from the attic door, she seems to be holding her breath. But suddenly, a dark figure standing in the hall startles her. She yelps in terror, moving away from the figure. But then…her shoulders sag with relief when she sees who it is: her father, Stan.
When she theorizes that the attic is haunted by the ghosts of her father’s first wife and unborn offspring, who both died, Stan dismisses her concerns harshly. ‘I mean, GHOSTS?! Jesus Christ, you’re 18 YEARS OLD! GROW UP, for god’s sake! I’m your GODDAMN father, so why don’t you start LISTENING to me and LEAVE IT ALONE,’ he continues, shaking his head in apparent disappointment. She recoils in the face of his outburst, looking shocked and puzzled, as if his words have made her look at something in a new light. O-ok dad, Jillian stammers, thoroughly rattled. She turns to go back to her bedroom. ‘And Jillian? DON’T tell your mother about this. I don’t want you putting any of these ridiculous ideas in her head. You KNOW how confused she gets,’ Stan adds. Jillian silently nods. She reaches her bedroom door, opening it. Before she goes back in, she looks back into the hall, her gaze fixed on the attic door.
