1220 - February 26, 1971

[bunniefuu]

[mysterious music playing]

NARRATOR:The great house at Collinwood in parallel time.

And once again, the unknown demons

who have haunted the Collins family for years

demand their due.

Still another Collins must spend the night

in the terrible locked room.

The reason for this ritual of death and madness

is buried deep in the past.

But every Collins knows

that there is no escape from the lottery.

And Catherine, who has recently married Morgan,

is learning each day the awful responsibility

of being a Collins.

She has tried to keep her sister, Daphne,

from entering the family, but has not succeeded.

Today, a radiant Daphne is Bramwell's bride,

but Catherine knows that for the Collins family,

even the happiest moment

can hold its own terrifying secret.

[knocking]

Catherine.

CATHERINE: Where's Daphne?

You've offered your congratulations,

let the matter rest there.

I cannot.

Where is she?

BRAMWELL: She's gone to the village.

Then may I come in?

It's you I must see, and speak with.

Alone.

Before at Collinwood, when I fainted,

the doctor told everyone that it was just a dizzy spell,

and that was all.

He did not tell the truth.

The truth is I'm going to have a child.

And the child is yours.

[waves crashing]

[eerie music playing]

Are you sure?

Yes, I felt that you had to know.

I haven't told you this to hurt you.

Hurt me?

Do you know how long I've dreamed

that you and I would have a child?

But why did it have to happen this way?

I know. I'm sorry.

Sorry.

Catherine.

Is there a possibility?

No, it is not Morgan's child!

But why didn't you tell me before?

I didn't find out until today.

But Bramwell, I knew that you shouldn't have married Daphne.

Something deep inside of me kept saying no.

No, it must not be.

And I tried to warn you, but you wouldn't listen to me.

I don't know what I'm going to do now,

I don't know where to turn.

There's only one thing to do.

You and I, our child,

we will leave Collinwood forever.

Where will we go?

Wherever you want to go.

I may not have the wealth that Morgan has,

but we'll manage somehow.

We'll go to the South of France, it's beautiful there.

We'll rent a villa, and we'll watch our child grow up.

We'll have other children.

The respectable Mr. and Mrs. Collins.

No one will ever know or care.

It all sounds so simple, doesn't it?

But we'll know that we're the wrong Mr. and Mrs. Collins!

Poor Daphne.

She's always been so trusting.

Everyone is always taking advantage of her.

And now that she's your wife,

you will have to look out for her.

At this moment, I would send her to hell

if it would solve anything.

In the first place, you don't mean that,

and in the second,

she'll find hell enough here where she is.

I have to go back, they're expecting me.

Catherine, why did you come here?

What do you want from me?

Nothing.

Just let me go back to my husband.

No, he already has you, but he cannot have my child.

My child.

As far as the world is concerned,

his father will be whoever I say it is.

And you will say nothing.

Are you so sure of that?

Yes, I am.

You and I have always been able

to look deep into each other's minds and hearts.

And I know that you will never say a word

about what we've talked about.

And neither will I.

Then Morgan will never know the truth.

No, never.

Never, Bramwell, never.

Daphne married to Bramwell?

When did they get married?

Early this morning.

Julia, we must decide on a gift.

Something from the family.

Julia, this family is not obligated to Bramwell.

Bramwell is a Collins.

And when any Collins gets married,

it's customary for the family to send a gift.

We have more important things to worry about right now

than wedding gifts!

Morgan, it is simply a gesture.

We are not going to dwell on it,

we're just going to do it.

Oh, Quentin.

We've been waiting for you.

Sorry, I took so long, but you can blame brother Gabriel.

Have they found him?

What do you think?

I've been to every sleazy boarding house

on the waterfront.

Nothing.

No one's given him any seamen papers,

no passage, and no forged passports.

Well then, he must still be in Collinsport area.

Well if he is, he's found a very ingenious hiding place

because he's got the police baffled too.

You went to the police?

Mm-hm.

After I couldn't find him on the waterfront,

I went back to the carriage house,

he wasn't there, so I stopped by the police.

Just to see if there were any missing bodies.

Anybody that was missing, that happened to be unidentified.

Nothing there.

Oh, I did see Kendrick Young there.

Still insisting that Gabriel k*lled Stella?

Yes.

After he left, Lieutenant James apologized to me

saying that certainly he couldn't believe

a stranger's word over a Collins' word, how could he?

But he is intent on finding Gabriel

because he has some questions to ask him.

Yes, we must find him before he harms anyone else.

I just don't understand how it's possible

that no one's seen him.

He has to sleep and eat.

QUENTIN: Not if he's dead.

You think he might be dead?

Mother, we have to consider it a possibility.

Yes.

Yes, I suppose we do.

Well, then I'm afraid with or without Gabriel,

we'll have to hold the lottery again.

Tonight?

No, we can't wait that long.

I feel the danger is too close.

We will hold the lottery this afternoon.

This afternoon?

I know how you all feel.

And I am no more anxious than you are

to go through with this.

But I am afraid of the consequences

if we wait any longer.

The rules will be the same.

Mother, Morgan and I have decided

that we will share the risk.

I said the rules will be the same.

The participants will also be the same.

Except there will be five of us instead of six.

If only we had some idea of what secret that room holds.

If only Gabriel had been able to tell us something.

Maybe there is someone who can help.

Carrie Stokes found a letter in the basement of the cottage,

and it was addressed to James Forsythe,

and signed only by an A.

Let me see it.

I don't have it.

What do you mean?

Well, I put it aside after reading it to question Carrie,

and the strangest thing happened.

It went up in flames.

We were there alone.

She said someone else had joined us.

An angry and crazy spirit had joined us.

We know nothing about James Forsythe.

Hundreds of people have been through Collinwood

since it was built.

There's no reason to think he knows anything

about the locked room, or its secrets.

Now listen to me.

We've got to find out everything we can about that man.

Now, if there was one letter down there,

there may be others.

Perhaps James Forsythe can tell us what Gabriel will not.

You really think you can break the secret of the curse?

I don't know. But we must try everything, mother.

Only if it will end that lottery.

It's been going on well over a century now.

You think you can stop it in a few hours?

MORGAN: A few hours?

That's all the time you have!

We'll all meet here at three o'clock.

Including Catherine.

She should've been here now.

I know.

She wasn't feeling well,

and I told her that she might take a walk and get some air.

Will she be back in time?

Well of course she'll be back, why shouldn't she?

[wind blowing]

I'll take you back.

I'd rather you didn't.

I've been gone too long already,

I've probably missed the meeting.

What meeting?

Now that Gabriel is gone,

a new decision has got to be made about the lottery.

Now, surely that concern you any longer.

My wealthy relatives may permit their women to face danger,

but not when it comes to having children.

Now, if you talk to them...

I intend to tell them nothing.

I will not permit you to endanger my child!

Bramwell, I have told you I will tell them nothing!

And I am endangering no one.

Don't you understand there is no real danger?

But people have d*ed in that room.

And others have gone mad.

So, I have no choice but to do what you won't do.

What are you saying?

BRAMWELL: If necessary, Catherine,

I will go to that house

and tell them that you're having a child.

No, you can't do that.

You gave me your word.

I won't tell the whole truth.

I'll tell them just that you're pregnant.

But don't you see?

That is telling them the truth.

Each of them will ask himself how you came to know

that I was going to have a child.

No, Bramwell you can't stop me that way, or any other way!

You must have faith in me.

I have my own good reasons for what I'm going to do,

and I intend to do it!

[papers shuffling]

How long have we been here?

Stop asking and keep looking.

We have been looking!

The only thing we've found is bits and pieces

of the Collins family for the last half century.

Dance programs, letters, fans.

We've been for everything, and we've found nothing.

Oh, maybe you're right, and we're just fooling ourselves.

Wait a minute.

- What? - What is this?

Begun this year of our lord by James Forsythe

of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in hopes of prospering.

James Forsythe.

What's it say?

Not very much.

He was some kind of a merchant.

There are entries, profit columns, losses, not much else.

Let me see.

If only the numbers could tell us something.

Now, look here there's more than just numbers,

there's some notes in the margin.

I can't make them out.

Here, let me see.

Their majesty's vessel, Anna Creon,

arrived from the Virginia colony bearing...

I can't make out the rest.

Oh, here's something about a lost boat

arriving from St. Astasia.

And here's something about Brutus Collins.

Brutus?

I can't read it all, but there are a few words here.

In league with Brutus Collins.

In league with.

What could that mean?

They may have had some kind of a business partnership.

What's this?

James, things are not always what they seem.

Others would tell you to look elsewhere for truth.

You must know that it lies within me,

and through me, it must reach you, A.

It's signed A.

What could A, what could it be?

Well, I don't know, but maybe this may be her.

Five yards fine wool stuff to Mistress Amanda,

and a pewter tea set to Mistress Amanda.

Wait a minute.

Brutus' wife, her name was Amanda.

I read it in the history.

Yes, yes, it was.

But what does that mean?

With the A, who was so anxious to speak to--

All right, now, wait a minute.

Let's assume that A was Amanda, and it was Brutus' wife.

Now, James Forsythe, did he have a wife?

Let's see if there's any other renderings in here.

Well that's odd, the last full entry completes accounts

for February .

There's a page started for March,

but he never wrote anything on it.

Morgan.

March , that was exactly years ago.

MORGAN: The time the curse began.

Exactly.

Now, what could a man who's just an ordinary merchant

have to do with all the terrible things

that have been happening in this house?

Well, she says that that

things are not always what they seem.

Hey, listen.

I just wonder why the spirit didn't burn this letter.

Maybe he knows what we're trying to learn,

and he knows we won't learn it.

You mean that perhaps he's laughing at us.

Silently.

And all of our frantic attempts to save ourselves.

You think? That may be, very well be.

That's right, there's no one here.

The meeting is over.

You missed it.

CATHERINE: Was anything decided?

Everything was decided.

The lottery will be held this afternoon at three o'clock.

Do you intend to be here?

Why, of course.

Do you feel well enough?

Why, certainly.

Morgan said the doctor had come to see you.

Morgan fusses over me much too much.

What did the doctor say?

Why, nothing that I didn't already know.

That the first few weeks of marriage

can be a difficult and upsetting time.

With everything that's happening,

with the lottery like a shadow over all of us.

It's no wonder that I had a moment of weakness.

I'm sorry to disappoint you.

I haven't been a Collins very long.

I'm afraid that I'm still subject to those moments.

Perhaps Morgan believes that sweet little girl story,

but I don't.

Not for a moment.

Why, what do you mean?

I want you to tell me the reason you fainted.

The real reason!

Julia, I've already told you the reason.

I don't know what more I can say.

You're a very strong person, Catherine.

You've got a strong mind, and a strong body.

It was true when you were a child, and it's true now.

Now, I've known you for a long time.

When you were a child, you never cried.

Other children cried, but you didn't.

Other brides could faint, but you never would.

Now, what is wrong?

Tell me.

Nothing is wrong.

I'm just much more defenseless than you seem to think.

I did cry when I was a child,

I was just like other children.

Julia, you've got to get to know me as I am,

not as you've always thought I was.

More than anything, I want to make Morgan a good wife.

And I will do that, you'll see.

And I would like to be your friend.

Willing to wait and see, on both counts.

What is that?

A ledger that once belonged to James Forsythe.

Well, we found out that he was a merchant,

and he knew Brutus Collins,

but that's about all we've found out.

There's still many questions to be answered.

Then, you found nothing out about the curse.

No, nothing.

Then, we will have to hold the lottery, won't we?

[clock chiming]

Are you sure you're all right?

Morgan, of course I am.

Don't forget, I've always been very strong.

[door opens and closes]

I have prepared the slips, and placed them in the vase.

As before, we will each come to the vase, and take a slip.

Four of the slips are blank.

One is marked with an X.

Whoever draws the X, will be the one to go into the room.

Before we start the draw, I must ask a question.

Is there anyone who will refuse to do what has to be done

if he or she is chosen?

I think that one Gabriel in this house is enough, mother.

Very well.

We must begin.

I have drawn a blank.

Blank.

Blank.

It's you Catherine.

It's you.

Yes.

I have drawn the X.

[eerie music playing]