VINCENT 002: Echo
// THE MARSCAPONE SCHOOL OF MAGIC //
It is night when we arrive back at the school.
VINCENT
THANK YOU FOR COMING HERE.
STRAUD
IT IS OF NO CONSEQUENCE.
We enter through the basement apartment.
STRAUD
WHERE WAS THE LAST PLACE YOU THINK HE MADE AN IMPRESSION?
The sound of footsteps comes from above our heads. It’s Myrtle, making her descent. She opens the landing door and lays eyes on her husband, Vincent Marscapone and Count Vladislaus Straud IV.
MYRTLE
COUNT.
WELCOME.
The Count bows deeply.
STRAUD
MRS. MARSCAPONE.
I’M SORRY MY VISIT MUST BE UNDER SUCH DIRE CIRCUMSTANCE.
MYRTLE
NO…
I’M GLAD TO SEE YOU.
STRAUD
WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF THE BOY’S DISAPPEARANCE?
MYRTLE
THE DOORS WERE LEFT OPEN.
STRAUD
WHICH DOORS?
MYRTLE
THE FRONT DOOR WAS CRACKED, AS WAS HIS BEDROOM DOOR.
STRAUD
WAS ANYTHING ELSE DISTURBED?
MYRTLE
I DON’T THINK SO BUT IT’S HARD TO KNOW EXACTLY.
STRAUD
TAKE ME UPSTAIRS.
The three of us walk upstairs to where Kevin’s bedroom flanks his mother’s.
STRAUD
THIS IS WHERE THE BOY’S BEDROOM IS?
MYRTLE
YES, IT’S RIGHT OVER HERE –
STRAUD
I DON’T NEED TO GO THERE, JUST…
We go silent, listening. Candles cast an amber glow over the quiet.
He steps over to a nearby table with a number of focusing crystals laid out for viewing.
STRAUD
THESE CRYSTALS. HE WAS SORTING THROUGH THEM.
All attention goes to Straud as a supernatural chasm seems to ripple through our consciousnesses.
It is the sound of a silver bell.
STRAUD
THE DOORBELL.
KEVIN HEARD THE SOUND OF THE DOORBELL.
AND HE ANSWERED IT.