1226 - March 8, 1971

[bunniefuu]

NARRATOR:The Great House at Collinwood

in the world of parallel time.

On this night, Melanie Collins,

an adopted member of the family,

has been given some news of a disturbing

and startling nature

concerning her own origins.

She has heard it from the man

she has fallen in love with, Kendrick Young.

Kendrick intends to keep investigating

until he learns the whole truth about Melanie's past.

He is unaware that shortly he will discover

Melanie's most frightening secret.

[eerie music]

[door slamming]

Why has everyone been lying to Melanie all these years?

About her background, about where she came from?

And the identity of her real parents?

No one knows the identity of her real parents.

The only person that knew was Justin Collins

when he adopted her from the Concord Orphanage near Boston.

You do lie with such ease, Ms. Collins.

How dare you?

I might as well tell you,

I've been to the Concord Orphanage.

There is no record of her there.

Now what is the truth, Ms. Collins?

What is everyone trying to hide from Melanie?

I think you better leave now.

That will solve nothing, I intend to follow this up.

Mr. Young, this is the last warning I will give you.

You are to leave here and not return,

or I will not be responsible for what happens to you.

Are you trying to tell me

that I will get what Stella got?

I will see you to the door.

Death is the only answer

until there is no one left,

until the curse has been appeased.

Perhaps we can talk for a few more minutes.

What's wrong, something is wrong.

- JULIA: Nothing. - There's something out there

you don't want me to see.

Oh, that's absurd.

Well, then I'll look in the foyer.

No, I insist that you--

You insist, I don't care what you insist.

Melanie?

Melanie, what's wrong?

Melanie, say something.

You're not a Collins, who are you?

Who am I?

You shouldn't be here, you don't belong.

All in this house

are destined to die.

All right, Ms. Collins, tell me what's wrong with her.

Tell me!

[suspenseful music]

[waves crashing]

[eerie music]

You can stop shouting, Mr. Young.

You will be told.

Melanie, look at me.

Take your hands off me.

Melanie, I said look at me.

Now Melanie, you know where you must go, don't you?

I will take you there, and you will rest.

Now come along.

I can walk by myself

with no help from you.

I'll be back in a moment, Mr. Young,

if you'll wait in the drawing room.

[dramatic music]

[clock chiming]

Well, Ms. Collins?

Now you know, Mr. Young, why we have sheltered her.

What is it, what's wrong with her?

That's a question I cannot answer.

No one knows what is wrong with her.

KENDRICK: How long has she been that way?

years.

KENDRICK: What's been done to help her?

There's nothing that can be done.

I cannot believe that.

Mr. Young, if it were a physical ailment,

she would've had the finest doctors available.

But it is a condition of her mind.

When this happens to her, her whole personality changes,

and she actually becomes someone else.

I've never seen anything like it.

She was a totally different person.

That is the reason I've tried to discourage you

from seeing her.

Will you go now, Mr. Young?

Oh, no, I want to know more, lots more.

Can't you see how impossible the entire situation is?

I know the other Melanie, the real one,

the one I care about.

I will decide whether the situation is impossible or not.

There is nothing more I can tell you.

You can tell me the cause and how it started.

Melanie was always very fond of Justin Collins.

She loved him as much as if he had been her real father.

years ago, Justin Collins suffered a stroke.

The experience sent Melanie into a state of shock.

What you see now is the result.

Are you telling me that Justin Collins

is the cause of her illness?

That seems to be the only cause we can see.

I cannot believe that, I will not accept it.

How often do these transformations occur?

There's no set pattern.

They just happen from time to time.

Ms. Collins, is it possible that Melanie

can be under a spell?

A spell, I don't know what you're talking about.

Then let me be more specific, Ms. Collins.

Could Melanie be under some kind of a curse?

Oh, I believe such things happen only in fiction.

Perhaps they do,

but ever since I've been in Collinsport,

I've heard rumors and stories about a curse

on the Collins family.

There's always been talk about a curse,

but that's all it is, just talk.

The villagers don't seem to think so.

I think you should begin to take their heed seriously.

You're wrong.

The villagers have nothing better to do with their time

than to make us the prime target of their gossip.

Now I've told you enough, now will you please go, Mr. Young?

Kendrick, why are you still here?

I thought you'd left for the village.

Kendrick, has something happened?

Goodnight, Melanie.

[dramatic music]

Julia, what's wrong with him?

Why did he just leave like that?

Julia, you said something to him,

or did something, what was it?

No, dear, I didn't do anything, it was you.

Me, what do you mean?

You had one of your att*cks, Melanie.

He saw you change.

No, oh, no, that can't be true.

JULIA: I'm afraid it is.

Oh, Lord.

What did I say, what did I do?

Julia, did I try to hurt him?

No, no, you didn't, but he did see

your personality change.

Oh, oh, poor Kendrick.

What a terrible thing to happen to him.

I should have told him before.

We knew it was bound to happen sooner or later.

But if I had told him, it wouldn't have come as a shock.

Now you understand why I've been encouraging you

not to see him.

Julia, Julia,

he hasn't gone away forever, has he?

JULIA: I think it's best if he has, Melanie.

But he didn't say that.

He didn't say he would never see me again?

- No, no, no. - Because I couldn't stand

it if that happened.

I would wanna die if it did.

JULIA: Melanie, Melanie, you've got to

face this realistically.

Julia, I love Kendrick.

He's the only man I've ever loved.

I can't let him go just like that.

Oh, there's no way you can stop him, Melanie.

Melanie, it's not right for somebody with your secret.

You can't love anyone.

That's not true, Julia.

I love Kendrick.

I can't help myself.

I'm going to go to him.

I'll face him and tell him how I feel.

JULIA: No, you can't do that.

Julia, I love him.

If I'm going to lose him, I must hear it from him.

Melanie, that's absurd.

That's the worst thing you could do.

I don't believe that, I believe he'll listen to me.

Melanie, Melanie, come back.

Melanie, Melanie, Melanie, come, come back.

Julia, what's happened, where's Melanie?

She's on her way to the village.

The village, what on earth for?

Kendrick Young was here.

He saw her while she had one of her att*cks.

Oh no, was she violent?

No, no, but it was a shock all the same.

And now Melanie has gone to the village

to explain everything to him.

We'll get Quentin and have him go after her

before she gets to town.

[wind howling]

[suspenseful music]

Kendrick, Kendrick is that you?

Kendrick, it's Melanie, please answer me.

[leaves crunching]

[Melanie gasping]

Gabriel.

How nice to see you, Melanie.

MELANIE: Please don't touch me.

Don't run away, I won't hurt you.

I'm very happy to see you.

You are?

Yes, yes, I'm very pleasantly surprised.

Well, I didn't think you'd be running around

the woods at this hour, and here you are.

What are you doing here?

MELANIE: I was looking for someone.

Oh, Kendrick?

Oh, Kendrick, yes, I heard you call him.

Well, that can wait, can't it?

No, I'm afraid it can't.

It's very important that I see him.

Oh, I have some very important things

on my mind, you know.

I mean, I'm in desperate need of some help,

and I need,

I need your help, that's why I'm glad

that you were here in the woods.

MELANIE: Gabriel, what do mean?

Well, you'll find out.

Gabriel, where have you been all this time?

That would take so long to tell you.

Melanie, I've been running.

Always running.

I'm so tired of running, Melanie.

Let me take you to Collinwood.

Oh no, no, no, I can't go there.

The police, they'll find me.

MELANIE: I know, but there you would have

Mama and Julia to protect you.

No, no, no, now listen, listen to me.

There's something that I want you to give Mother.

This letter, give this to Mother,

and make sure no one else sees it.

- What is that? - You understand?

Never mind, but give it to Mother,

and make sure she reads it.

Now you will do this, Melanie, won't you?

Yes, yes, Gabriel, I will do it.

[dramatic music]

We just better pray that Quentin finds her

before she finds Kendrick.

The state she's in, she's liable to tell him

more than you did.

There was nothing wrong with what I told him.

Julia, there was no reason to tell him anything at all.

After what he'd seen, oh, I had to say something to him.

How do you know that he won't repeat what he's seen

and heard to everyone he meets?

JULIA: Well, I don't know, but it was better

than not saying anything about it.

Oh, we should've found some way of dealing with him

a long time ago, we always knew

something like this was inevitable.

Well, I tried to deal with him, I even offered him money.

And he refused?

Yes, he said he wouldn't take any amount of money

to not see Melanie again.

Do you think that the incident that took place tonight

will shock him so that he'll never come back?

I don't know, I don't know.

There was no way of telling

what he was thinking when he left.

Well, we'll have to face it.

If it didn't shock him enough he'll be more trouble

than ever, and if he really is in love with Melanie,

we'll never get rid of him.

We'll have to keep trying.

We must convince him that the situation is hopeless.

Yes, but we must be careful.

We don't want to happen to him what happened to his sister.

Yes, I know.

Tell me, tell me, how is Morgan?

There's no change.

Catherine's been upstairs with him all evening.

He just sits in a chair and stares out the window.

He hasn't said one word to her.

Is there nothing anyone can do for him?

Oh, God.

FLORA: Melanie.

Hello, Mother.

You haven't been to the village

and back so quickly.

I know, I never got to see Kendrick.

Where have you been?

MELANIE: With Gabriel.

[dramatic music]

You've seen Gabriel?

Yes, I was frightened at first.

Where did you see him?

MELANIE: In the woods.

He didn't try to hurt you, did he?

I was afraid he might, but he didn't.

I told him where I was going, but he told me I couldn't go

because he wanted me to come back here

and give you this.

A letter.

MELANIE: He said you're the only one

who is to read it.

Dear Mother, I am so desperate for help,

and you're the only one I can turn to.

And the only one I'm willing to talk to.

You have never failed me in the time of need.

I am confident you will not fail me now.

I am so alone, so terribly alone,

and confused about things.

I beg you to meet me at midnight

in the gazebo.

I need your guidance and advice.

I will be waiting at midnight.

Love, Gabriel.

You're not going to go, are you?

Yes, I will go.

You can't, Flora, you can't take a chance like that.

Julia, I have no choice, he's my son.

This may be our only hope of getting him back.

But he could get violent.

That's a chance I'll have to take.

But you can't take that chance.

I mean, he could even k*ll you.

He must have been all right when he wrote the letter.

It's quite coherent.

Melanie, how did he seem to you when you saw him?

Well, he seemed fine.

JULIA: But you said he frightened you.

He did, but he promised not to hurt me,

and I believed him.

Was he lucid, I mean, did everything he say make sense?

Yes, he knew what he was talking about.

In fact, I began to feel quite sorry for him.

There was a sadness about him,

a terrible sadness.

Yes, but there's every possibility

that that could change by midnight.

The matter is settled, Julia, I'm going.

JULIA: Well, at least wait until Quentin gets here

and have him follow you.

No, and I want your word.

I want you to promise me, both of you,

that Quentin will hear nothing of any of this.

How can we promise a thing like that?

Julia, I am still head of this house,

and I want your word now.

I want both your word.

I'll say nothing, Mama.

All right, I'll say nothing.

[dramatic music]

[suspenseful music]

[gasping]

GABRIEL: Are you frightened of me, too?

No, of course not, you startled me, that's all.

GABRIEL: You look so pale in this light.

How do I look?

You look tired, Gabriel.

And so very troubled.

Do you think it was easy,

running from place to place,

and then stopping for a moment to rest,

and then running again?

Why, yes, I'm tired.

My poor Gabriel, but the worst is over.

I'm here now.

Yes, Mother.

Indeed you are.

[suspenseful music]

[eerie music]