04x02 - Nightmare on Chestnut Street

[bunniefuu]

It was kind of our last year of freedom and fun.

Before the rest of our lives began.

Hey, did you come up to my room last night?

Something in my room completely changed.

It gave me this creepy feeling, like I was being watched.

I was becoming so paranoid, it was overwhelming.

And I kept saying, "stop watching the horror movies."

I had the sense that...

Will you stay with me tonight?

I wasn't alone.

[screams]

[dramatic music]

Lindsey!

It wasn't my roommates.

It wasn't me.

There was something in the house.

[growls]

[screams]

It was just a dream.

It was fall of 2004, and I was heading into my final year of art school.

I'm an artist.

I love color, obviously... my hair.

I was really looking forward to still having some parties and fun times, not having to worry about life stuff.

Hey.

[gasps]

Hey, honey.

So easy.

Lindsey and I knew each other in high school.

How has your day been?

Not bad. You?

Lindsey was the life of the party.

She influenced us, you know, with that, and helped me develop who I was, you know, just by being her friend.

And she was just a blast.

Me too.

Reba, you know, I loved her.

No matter what time of day it was, if you had a problem and you needed to talk, you know she would sit down with you.

Where's Amber?

We met Amber in the dorm.

We just became best friends, all three of us.

Ah.

The three of us got along great.

It's okay. We haven't been waiting long.

We enjoyed spending a lot of time together.

We always had fun.

Don't ask.

Wasn't gonna.

From the moment we met Amber, we just loved her.

You know, she was just such a fun person to be around.

We are three completely different people, but we were kind of like the three musketeers.

Okay, amigos.

Today we nail this, okay?

Both: All right.

I like this one.

It was very difficult to find a three-bedroom place.

That's a no.

We really went back and forth.

We were, you know, coming up with ideas, and none of them seemed to work.

I'm not doing that one.

We just kind of pounded the pavement, and it was starting to look pretty bleak, like, "okay, maybe we're not gonna have this work out."

Oh, hi.

Hi.

Welcome.

I'm Lindsey.

Nice to meet you.

I'm Rebecca.

Finally we ended up at the realty office in Kent.

You as well. Have a seat, ladies.

First thing she said was...

These have all been rented already.

My heart just sunk.

And I thought, "are you kidding me?"

You're just a little too late.

How can there not be three bedrooms?

This seems crazy.

Um...

Actually, I may have one.

Hang on one second.

She opened a drawer, and she pulled a folder.

Okay.

And she flipped it open.

And the first thing she said was, "this could work."

Okay, it is a three-bedroom house.

The house itself was beautiful.

It looks great.

Any three girls in a college town, I mean, that's the kind of house you want.

I like it.

It looked perfect on paper.

You know, it had everything that we wanted, and we really couldn't understand why she wouldn't offer this up from the get-go.

Actually, I'm not sure it's a perfect match for you.

Why was she being so negative?

Why didn't she think this would work out?

What's wrong?

And she said, you know, they had had issues with tenants in the past.

Well, we're good people.

Yeah.

Okay. Okay, I'll talk to the landlord.

Thank you.

Is this your bag?

Yeah, you can just put it on the ground.

So we got the keys.

We were extremely excited to move in.

We really thought we got a great deal.

We were excited that we were able to find a place together.

It just seemed like the perfect house.

Hey.

Hey.

How you liking it?

Oh, it's great.

Right? [chuckles]

My boyfriend, Adam, was a big help in moving us in.

We'd been dating for a year.

We just got along, and it was a very easy thing.

She made me laugh, and she was always joking.

Don't I deserve a kiss for helping you move in, yeah?

Later.

I don't know how she managed it, but somehow Lindsey got the best room in this house.

After unloading stuff in my bedroom and I shut my bedroom door, I noticed something odd.

There were two deadbolts...

Adam.

On my bedroom door.

Come check this out.

Not just a little lock...

Two large, large deadbolt locks, one, two.

Two deadbolts on the back of the door, and you would think maybe... It's a college place.

You live with some shady roommates, and they might be taking stuff, so you want to have that privacy.

In this case, the lock wasn't on the other side.

It was on the inside.

And it was very odd to me, as if, you know, somebody was trying to keep themselves locked in or something locked out.

[clock ticking]

It had been a long day.

You know, we were pretty exhausted.

And we went to bed.

[clattering noise]

[clicking]

All of the sudden, the room was really cold.

You could feel a breeze blowing past your face.

[clicking]

What's up? [clicking stops]

The fan turned on.

Oh.

I rubbed my eyes, clicked off the light, and we went back to sleep.

[fan whirring]

Click, click, click, click.

You could hear the fan blades again.

As soon as she flipped the switch...

It stopped.

This is ridiculous, right?

So I got out of bed.

He just stopped dead in his tracks.

He was standing there looking towards the floor.

The plug is laying right there on the floor.

It's not plugged in, and yet we heard it and we felt it.

[door rattling]

We heard the door.

The door was literally moving, shaking.

[door rattling]

I had called out...

Rebecca?

[door rattling]

Amber.

Hello?

[door rattling]

And it was still moving.

Hello?

[door rattling]

Like somebody trying to come in.

[door rattling]

[rattling intensifies]

Rebecca?

[door rattling loudly]

Amber?

[door rattling loudly]

Rebecca?

[door rattling loudly]

Amber?

As soon as I go to put my hand...

On the door...

[rattling continues]

[rattling stops]

It stopped.

Just stopped moving.

Adam opened the door.

Hello?

Hello?

Nothing.

There's nobody there.

There was no way that somebody could come up those stairs or go down them without you hearing them.

And I couldn't understand that.

You know what? This was just something odd.

Don't worry about it.

We were exhausted. We were tired.

And we didn't give it any more thought than that.

I was sitting at my desk, needed to write a paper.

It was due in the next few days.

I took my studies very seriously, and I worked really hard.

[pounding noise]

All of a sudden, I heard this loud pounding sound, and it was like, "thump, thump, thump, thump."

I really had no clue what it was.

[pounding noises]

It sounded like somebody going up and down the stairs.

Guys, come on.

I just thought, "oh, it's Adam and Lindsey."

[pounding noises]

It was really close.

Adam, Lindsey, seriously.

Nobody was there.

Lindsey, is that you?

I felt like they were playing a joke on me.

Adam?

I just stood there totally stunned, like, "okay, what am I missing here? Did somebody run off?"

I thought it had to be Lindsey and Adam or one of two of them, because they were the only ones that would go up that staircase.

I was so tired.

I had finally gotten to sleep.

[footsteps]

[voices whispering]

It seemed as quickly as I had fallen back asleep, I realize I'm dreaming.

I couldn't move my arms, couldn't move my legs.

I was pinned.

I want to scream.

I want to scream at the top of my lungs, "help me."

But I can't.

In the shadows, I can see a figure.

[gasps]

[panting]

She was shaking.

It's okay.

She was beside herself.

Everything's okay.

I realize it had only been a dream, but my heart was still pounding.

I was covered in sweat.

My hair was wet.

I was just trying to kind of bring her back down.

That feeling that something was in the room in my dream was actually still with me in my bedroom.

That was so scary.

And I was terrified to look around.

It felt real.

One afternoon, I was taking a nap.

Turned over and was facing the wall.

You know how you can tell when somebody's there?

I slowly opened my eyes.

There was a giant black spider...

[gasping]

Right next to my bed.

[screams]

I was totally terrified.

It gave me this creepy feeling, like I was being watched, like something was watching me through it.

It had a silver diamond on the back.

Straight down my wall faster than anything I've ever seen move.

So I jumped out of bed.

I tore the sheets off.

I was tearing my room apart.

I combed through my whole room.

I had to get rid of it.

And I couldn't find it.

I was so spooked by this that I, you know...

I had to figure out what this thing was.

You know, hey, you know, I should be able to find this in a book.

So I went to the library, got a bunch of spider books out, looked through all the pictures.

And I couldn't find anything that looked like that, not in Ohio, not in any other state, anything that was the right size or the right color.

I went back to the house.

Nobody, that I knew of, was up.

I heard it again.

[pounding noise] Thump, thump, thump.

And then I heard a cackling laugh.

[faint laughter]

I thought for sure it was Lindsey playing a joke on me.

[door closes]

I was really upset because, you know, she was my oldest friend, and now all the sudden she's behaving like this.

Reba came out of her room and just said...

So what was going on last night, guys?

Pardon?

"You know, you guys are just so disrespectful."

The noise all night from 1:00 A.M. to 4:00 A.M.

And the night before.

Hey.

You didn't hear anything?

She starts just kind of yelling.

I have a big test today, and I haven't slept in two nights now.

Rebecca, I have no idea...

What you're talking about.

Running up and down the stairs all night.

Rebecca, I wasn't even here last night.

Lindsey looked genuinely puzzled.

Her face kind of said it all.

But still, you know, in the back of my mind, I kind of built it up, you know, as it's got to be them.

So I'm the only one that heard this?

They're pretty much all staring at me at this point, looking at me like I'm totally nuts.

Yeah, right.

It was very out of character for Reba to kind of be that confrontational.

Somebody has been working too hard.

I really felt like I was on my own at that point.

I shut myself off, you know, didn't really talk to anybody, didn't trust them.

And for them to not take me seriously...

At least that's what I felt when I told them these things...

It really hurt my feelings quite a bit.

All of the sudden, we move into this place, and it's like, poof, it's just like everything's different.

[laughs]

Like, oh, they must be, you know, trying to play a trick or whatever on me.

Why would I think that of her?

Something was driving me to think that way.

And I really... I really think that it was something in the house.

Rebecca started to become very distant.

She didn't socialize anymore.

She wasn't part of the group.

She was not normal Reba.

It come to a point we weren't even speaking anymore.

These are a group of girls who were extremely close, and now they're extremely distant.

Becca was the first to move out.

It was sad.

The house that was supposed to bring us so much joy and bring us together and be the best year of our college was tearing us apart.

I was just so tired.

I was so exhausted.

The minute I put my head on the pillow, I fell asleep.

[TV static hissing loudly]

I woke up.

[static continues]

My television had turned on full volume to just static.

The static was just shaking, rattling my room.

It was so loud.

[static hissing loudly]

And I walked back to bed.

Suddenly...

This horrific sound.

[TV screeching loudly]

I was being sucked into the darkness, back into the nightmare.

Sometimes you're in a dream and you can talk yourself out.

There was no way out.

In the shadows, it was a woman.

She's coming towards me.

I did not want to see her face.

Her hair was covering me.

[muffled scream]

[screams]

It was visceral.

It was tactile.

I could feel the tension, and I could feel the fear.

[panting]

And I was so terrified that what had just happened in a dream was about to happen to me for real.

[wood creaks]

Lindsey.

She was so scared.

It happened again.

And she needed someone to confide in.

Adam wasn't there.

And I still couldn't figure out why she was so scared.

I feel like I'm losing my mind, Amber.

Every time I go to sleep, I see her.

I just kept telling her...

You've got to calm down.

Lindsey, I'm sure it's just your imagination.

"Lindsey, there's really... There's really nothing going on. You know, you have to stop scaring yourself."

It was just a dream.

I kept trying to reassure her, you know, "This isn't happening."

"I'm not seeing this."

"There's no logical reason for any of this stuff to be bothering you."

Can you stay with me tonight?

[people cheering on television]

One night, the girls are all at class.

I kind of had the place to myself.

I was looking forward to it, just having a night, having control of the TV for once.

[ominous music playing on television]

For some reason, I just... I didn't feel comfortable.

Lana. Lana.

I could feel the... kind of the air pressure around me kind of building and building and building.

Submit yourselves, therefore, to god.

I'm a college guy, right?

I'm a young dude, supposed to be masculine.

I was becoming, like, so paranoid.

It was overwhelming.

Why am I feeling like this?

As a child of god, get thee behind me, Satan.

[screams]

I got up.

Dad?

Dad?

[sobbing] Dad?

Dad?

All Lindsey's paintings in the living room were just staring at me.

I just snapped.

I had this feeling of being watched.

I didn't want to look up.

It was almost like a chant in the car.

"Do not look up at that window.

Do not look up at that window."

This was real.

This woman was real.

I called Lindsey. Hello?

Lindsey, Lindsey. I saw her.

I saw the woman, the woman in your nightmare.

As if that woman stepped right out of Lindsey's dreams and right in front of me.

Maybe I'm not going crazy.

She was standing at your window, just like you said she was.

I had seen her in my dreams, and now he had seen her in the flesh.

Lindsey, I'm scared.

We both knew at that very moment that this was real.

I started worrying about Lindsey's safety.

I come from a pretty religious family.

My father was a subdeacon in our church.

Adam said, "I think that he's the one to talk to."

Lindsey, how nice to see you.

I don't know where to start.

Dreams keep recurring over and over.

He didn't seem to be judging me.

I'm scared to sleep.

He believed me.

I think I may have something that will help you.

100%.

"I'm going to give you a lot of holy water."

This holy water will help to purify your house.

He gave us this small icon.

And he said...

This holy icon will help to protect you against evil.

"This will prevent anything from ever coming in your bedroom again."

The icon he was giving us had to do with a patron Saint who was known for kind of warding off evil spirits.

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

I thought I'm gonna go from the bottom to the top of the house.

Both: It will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Hey.

At this point, I thought they were nuts.

You guys have got to get a grip.

Quit watching so many movies.

It's just a house.

They had such fear and such, you know, anxiety.

It was starting to get overwhelming.

There's something not right here, Amber.

Yeah, you guys are not right here.

I thought, "Is everyone losing their mind?"

Both: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.

Do you think that's enough?

I think so.

I took the icon, and I hung it just beside my door.

Something in my room completely changed.

The air in that room was different.

It was the first time I felt safe in my own room.

You all right?

Yeah.

For whatever reason, it felt different.

It felt lighter.

It felt like a weight had kind of been lifted.

I was upstairs sleeping.

Lindsey was downstairs.

Thud!

I remember just hearing this bang...

And then hearing, like...

Thud!

Two other bangs.

[clattering]

Boom, boom, boom.

[clattering]

Lindsey's paintings had fallen on the floor, every single painting except one.

[clattering] [distant scream]

Lindsey!

Lindsey!

Are you okay?

The paintings that I had been hanging in every single room...

What happened?

Had fallen off the wall.

Whatever was in the house was angry, was violent.

It did not want us there.

You see now?

It can move things.

Adam kept telling me, "do you see now?

It's strong. It's showing us what it can do."

And I kept saying, "Adam, you're talking crazy."

Maybe the nails just weren't secure.

Come on, are you serious?

All the paintings fell down upstairs and down here.

Look.

Amber was clearly still in denial, even after she saw every single painting.

Like, what coincidence is that?

It doesn't necessarily mean what you think it means.

You have got to be kidding me that you do not believe that this is the house.

I thought it was a little weird, but there was nothing to explain it.

One night, I came home from class.

I had a very small window of time to get from class to work.

I rushed home, got changed, got something to eat.

[creaking noise]

[rustling noise]

I yelled out... Lindsey?

To see if Lindsey or Adam was in the house.

Adam?

No one was in the house.

[clicking noise]

So I get into the car.

I start the car, and something draws my attention to the house, something telling me to look up.

[ominous music crescendos]

Oh, my god.

I could very clearly see a woman standing in the window.

I'm staring at her, her staring directly back at me.

Everything everybody has been telling me was true.

Lindsey?

This woman was real.

Okay.

I believe you.

Everything that you've been telling me, everything that you've been trying to explain to me.

I saw her.

She said, "I saw her."

I'm so sorry I didn't believe you.

It was a bittersweet moment, because she was scared.

But it was good for me, because someone else saw her, proving that I hadn't lost my mind.

It united all of us.

We are now on the same team.

There's no more Amber thinking that we're crazy.

Everybody take one.

I had the idea that we've all seen this figure, so why don't we all sit down, and why don't we draw what we saw?

Let's put pen to paper.

Ready?

Flip your papers over, and let's see what we got.

One...

Two...

Three.

All of us have the same figure on the piece of paper.

The dark hair.

The gnarly, nasty teeth.

At that point, I couldn't believe that we were all experiencing the same thing.

For Amber, you know, I think it was the biggest revelation, because she went from being a complete skeptic to somebody who absolutely believed.

If anyone was gonna have any information about the house, it was gonna be the historical society.

Your property is one of the oldest houses in Kent, if not the oldest.

And I thought, "wow, he knows our house."

And he said...

Over 90 years ago, a doctor lived in that house with his wife.

Their marriage broke down, she became unfaithful, and he lost his mind.

When he said that, my heart began to b*at so hard in my chest.

Now, I have some very disturbing things to tell you.

He att*cked her, stabbed her, mutilated her face, and then he k*lled her.

[screams]

All the pieces fit.

That's the woman.

Everything made sense to me.

She's the one we've been seeing.

This woman was real.

This is the woman that's been haunting us.

I'm sorry to have had to tell you this.

This woman had been k*lled in our house, had been m*rder*d in our house...

You okay?

Suffered who knows what kind of brutalities.

I looked at Amber, and I said, "Amber, I think she wanted us to suffer like she suffered. I think she wanted me to feel the fear she felt."

[thunder booming]

And this was the woman that we had all been seeing.

There was no doubt in my mind, not at all.

This was who Amber had seen, who Adam had seen, and who I had been dreaming about.

[water splashing]

[thunder booming]

I flicked off the light.

[lightning crackles] [screams]

[lightning crackles] [screams]

I lost all control.

I ran.

I turned the corner to my stairs.

[screams]

I literally feel two hands grab my ankles and pull me down so hard.

Adam!

Lindsey!

Adam!

I am just completely frozen.

She starts to growl.

[growls]

Like, animalistic, from-your-gut roar.

[roars]

And I kicked.

[roars]

I slam it shut.

[gasping]

[panting]

I began to hear violent scratching.

The door moved. The door handle was turning.

Oh, my god.

Oh, no. [crying]

[door rattling]

[panting]

It got quieter and quieter and quieter.

[growls]

[cackling]

And it all tore us apart.

It took a toll on us.

It was several years before any of us were able to truly talk about what happened to all of us in that house.

The best thing to do was to just leave the house.

They had been friends since they were teenagers, and this situation just completely shredded all of that.

Ready?

Yeah.

What we went through in that house, you know, it changed us forever.

It altered every single one of us.

This woman had caused some pretty long-term damage.