PAGE 3
PANEL 4 (full horizontal): A flashback. Four kids sitting in a living room. A girl, 13 and two boys aged 9 and 7, while a little boy who is obviously Justin, also 9, sits on the floor in front of the couch, although it is big enough for four kids. He is playing with a G.I. Joe doll. The children on the couch are dressed much better than Justin.
GIRL: Justin, you’re not allowed to play with that, it's Elijah's!
9-year-old boy: Yeah, go away! We don’t want to play with you anymore.
PANEL 5 (rest of page): A man, Justin's uncle and the other children's father, comes into the living room with a frown. He looks down at Justin and sighs. The living room is fairly nice, though it could be better kept. Toys and action figures litter the floor.
MR. REED: Justin, are you bothering the kids?
KIDS: Yes!
JUSTIN: No, I’m just playing with the doll!
PAGE 4
PANEL 1: Same scene, but the uncle is grabbing Justin by the arm and dragging him away from the toys and the living room.
MR. REED: If you won’t behave, you’re going to the basement.
JUSTIN: But I didn’t do anything!
MR. REED: Shut up, Justin!
PANEL 2: The basement is furnished in 70’s style wood paneling with a hideous carpet. There are windows near the ceiling that let in grungy light through the dirt. A dirty old couch sits against one wall, and half of the room is taken up by a sewing workshop. Justin’s uncle has plopped him on the couch and is walking away. We only see his back. Justin is now crying. All the furniture and drapes and carpet are red.
CAPTION: The day my uncle put me down there…
CAPTION: I saw my aunt’s ghost.
PANEL 3: Justin is throwing a fit on the couch. He’s upset at being punished for something he didn’t do. It starts to storm.
JUSTIN: I didn’t do anything!
JUSTIN: Let me out of HERE!!
CAPTION: My uncle has always hated me, but wouldn’t admit it while my aunt was still alive.
CAPTION: My aunt took me in after my parents were killed in a car accident.
FX: Thunder and lightening.
PANEL 4: The storm picks up intensity. It’s raining heavily now and the lights go out, leaving Justin more or less in the dark. He stops crying, but still looks scared and upset.
PANEL 5: We see the faint shadow of a person, female, older, by the sewing machine. Justin looks terrified.
JUSTIN: AAAH!
PAGE 5
PANEL 1: Mr. Reed comes back down to the basement to see what happened to Justin. He looks alarmed, but not necessarily worried. Justin’s fainted, and is lying on the couch.
MR. REED: Justin? What happened?
PANEL 2: Mr. Reed sees that Justin has fainted and picks him up off the couch.
CAPTION: After that, he decided to send me off to military school.
CAPTION: He didn’t want to deal with me anymore.
PANEL 3: Back to the present, at the school. Justin is out of class and walking back to the cafeteria. He’s got his book under his arm and has his head hung. He’s trudging.
CAPTION: I’m kind of glad, actually.
CAPTION: I’m 18 now and I never have to see him again.
CAPTION: Once I graduate from here I can start my job as a groundskeeper at a mansion.
