﻿1
We're not getting a bike, love, not at the moment.
- CHRIS: But, Mum... - But nothing.
- Please. - I said not at the moment.
Maybe next year, okay?
Sweetie, I said maybe next year.
Stewart Macken says our Jeep looks like something
a fedophile would drive.
Who's Stewart Macken?
In my class.
- Is he your friend? - He's an ass face.
Hey.
Can I say "anus face"?
- No. - But it's a science word.
Mum, look out!
(TIRES SCREECHING)
Are you all right?
- Chris, are you all right? - Yes.
Don't move.
Are you okay?
I didn't see you, you came out of nowhere.
(WHISPERING INDISTINCTLY)
I'm Chuck, the strongest soldier in the whole land.
And you're nothing, buddy...
(HIGH-PITCHED) No, please, leave me alone.
(MAKING FIGHTING SOUNDS)
You finished?
Chris.
It's gone cold.
- Put some more cheese on it. - I don't like that dust cheese.
Then don't put more cheese on it, just finish it, please.
Three.
Two.
One!
(LAUGHING)
Mum wins, you know the rules.
Oh.
(SPOON CLATTERING)
CHRIS: Mum!
What is it, sweetie?
(HURRIED FOOTSTEPS)
(CHRIS YELPS)
Chris?
There's another one.
You're getting far too big to be scared of them.
What if it comes back inside?
She won't.
How do you know it's a girl?
Eight legs and no willy, see?
Why don't we just kill it?
What's she ever do to you?
She croached into my personal space.
It's "encroached." And I don't think she did it on purpose.
Dad would kill it for me.
I'm not Dad.
Why did we move here without him?
It's not that simple, sweetie.
Why?
It's just not, okay?
Why? You said he'd be right behind us.
You're a liar.
- Liar! - Chris.
- Liar! - Sweetie...
Chris. Wait.
Christopher!
(PANTING)
Chris?
Christopher!
Chris?
(WIND HOWLING)
- (RUMBLING) - Mum?
(RUMBLING STOPS)
Never run off on me like that again, okay?
I'm sorry.
Me too.
I know that Dad makes you sad.
Love you.
I love you, too.
Mum?
What is that?
Nothing.
Come on, let's go home.
(LOW RUMBLING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER ON TV)
(SIGHS)
(DOOR CREAKING)
(LOCK CLACKING)
(DOOR CREAKING)
(DOOR CLOSES)
(CHILDREN SHOUTING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
BOY: Hooray!
Are you gonna show me that?
You should sign up.
Might be a good way of making new friends.
Don't wanna make new friends.
You know, when I was your age, I moved town once, too.
I was really scared about going to this new place
where I've never been before.
But, when I got there, my mum signed me up for the Brownies,
and before I knew it, I had a whole group of new friends.
So maybe that might happen to you if you sign up for this.
Maybe.
You'll settle in, sweetie.
We're gonna be happy living here.
I promise.
JAY: Well, no, he had one of those faces, you know,
you just want to punch (SMACKS FIST) over and over again.
- You know, like this? - (LOUISE CHUCKLES)
ROB: You've never punched anyone in your entire life.
JAY: I punched Tom Drum.
ROB: Why, that poor kid who always had the mustachioed dried snot under his nose?
That's the one, yeah.
Yeah, I punched him square in the forehead, remember?
Why?
(FLAPS LIPS) It was years ago, look, it doesn't matter.
But the thing is, he gets out of his car.
And he's walking towards me and he's screaming at me that I cut him off,
- and he's raging... - You want a bloody degree to open this thing here.
- (GRUNTS) -(SIGHS) That's you folks, though, isn't it?
Ha! And when do you planning on graduating?
Jay's a permanent student.
- JAY: I'm a lecturer. - Assistant lecturer.
I am shaping impressionable minds.
LOUISE: Sarah studied teaching, too.
Oh, well, I only did a year, I, uh,
had to drop out.
I got pregnant with Chris and I took a different path.
Well, I'm glad your path took you down here,
best employee I ever had.
JAY: How is that junk shop of yours anyway?
Rob, tell your brother he's an asshole.
Ow. You're an asshole.
So what happened to the guy who hit your car then?
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So anyway, he comes over to the car, right?
And he puts his hand on the bonnet.
Right, and I swear he's not gonna budge an inch,
and he's glaring right at me and you can see...
ROB: Sounds like Walkie-Talkie.
- LOUISE: Mmm-hmm. - JAY: Who's that?
Walkie-Talkie, it's this crazy old lady
lives up on the hills near here.
Near the bridge by your house.
You must have seen her by now.
JAY: Oh, yeah, that's the one you told me murdered a kid.
She didn't murder him.
- No? - No.
Tell the story.
There's no story.
No, go on.
LOUISE: Her son James was in my class, used to sit across from me in school.
He was really nice, friendly, really into nature, I remember.
He used to have, um, ants in a pencil case under his desk.
Anyway, when we were around eighth, Noreen,
Noreen Brady is her name,
she came bursting into the classroom.
Out of control, screaming insane things about him.
It took three teachers to drag her into the principal's office
and lock her in before the police came.
Nobody knew what was wrong with her.
He was taken out of school for a while and
she went away to have her head fixed.
And then, a few months later...
She got out,
got a car and mowed the kid down.
LOUISE: No. No, that's not what happened, it was an accident.
It was an awful tragedy.
LIL: That poor woman.
(WIND BLOWING)
(DOOR SLAMS SHUT)
(CREAKING)
(DOOR SLAMS)
(CLATTERING)
Chris?
(DOOR SLAMS)
Sweetie?
What are you doing down here?
(DOOR SLAMS)
(CREAKING)
(WIND BLOWING)
(DOOR SLAMS)
(GASPS)
(BREATHING UNEVENLY)
(PANTING)
(GASPS)
Christopher?
(PHONE RINGING)
MAN: Emergency.
Is this the police?
No, but I can connect you to the police.
What's the emergency?
It's my son, he's missing.
What's your address, please?
Uh... I don't, um...
There's no number on the house.
Tell me what town you're in.
No, someone might've taken him.
You're gonna have to stay calm and tell me where you live
if you want me to help you.
Okay?
(CREAKING)
Hello?
- Hello? - Mummy?
- Hel... - (PHONE BEEPS)
Where were you?
Chris.
Where were you?
- Here. - No, you weren't.
Are you okay, Mummy?
DOCTOR: How long you been in the area?
Um, just a few weeks.
And has it only been since the move that you felt like this?
Any history of anxiety disorders in your family?
No.
Have you ever been on medication before?
- No. - And how about that scar?
May I see it, please?
That's quite the bump.
Yeah, I was in an accident.
Not so long ago by the look of it.
About a year ago, but it just sometimes gets irritated.
This is three weeks' worth.
It's not too heavy but best to take before bed.
Check back in with me then and we'll see how you're doing, okay?
(INDISTINCT CHATTER ON TV)
Sweetie, dinner's ready.
You shall have diamonds.
(GASPS)
(EXCLAIMING)
Sparkling eyes of yours.
- (EXCLAIMING) - White diamonds.
- Chris. - Mummy?
(STARTLED GASP)
I thought you were upstairs.
You called me.
- Must be pretty hungry. - I'm starving.
- (CLANKING) - (SIGHS)
Good morning, Mummy.
Where'd you get those?
The garden.
You know you're not supposed to go outside on your own.
I wanted to surprise you.
(SIGHS)
Let me see.
They're beautiful. Thank you.
I can hear your heart beat.
How does it sound?
Peaceful.
(CHILDREN CHATTERING)
What are your new friends' names?
Michael and Peter and Sam and Stewart.
Stewart? Stewart Macken?
I thought you didn't like him.
I don't have to be his friend?
No, no, making new friends is good, remember?
It's okay, sweetie.
(CAR HONKING)
Stay here, okay?
Excuse me?
Can you move off the road, please?
(WHISPERING INDISTINCTLY)
Mrs. Brady?
(WHISPERING INDISTINCTLY) Mrs. Brady?
It's not your boy.
DES: Noreen?
I'm sorry. She...
She likes to wander.
I told her to keep to the side, but, uh,
she's not a great listener.
Des.
Sarah.
And what's that's little man's name, eh?
I should get going.
If you ever need anything...
Oh, thanks.
He's not your son!
- DES: Noreen! - He's not your son!
Not your son.
Here. Come here.
- DES: Noreen. - Not...
(ENGINE REVVING)
(CHANNELS SWITCHING ON TV)
(MUSIC PLAYING ON TV)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER ON RADIO)
I'm just gonna stop for one minute.
Don't move a muscle, okay?
(CROWS CAWING)
Noreen?
(CAWING CONTINUES)
(WINGS FLUTTERING)
MAN: "I then approached the woman.
"She was crouched down on the ground in front of her house.
"I thought she was looking for something, maybe something she had lost.
"But when I got closer, I saw that her head was buried in the ground.
"And I tried to dig it out
"but I was... I was terrified."
Ms. O'Neill. Are you happy to sign this?
Ms. O'Neill?
(CHRIS LAUGHS)
- Ms. O'Neill? - CHRIS: I'm strong.
Do you want to change anything I've read back to you?
(MAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
(DOOR OPENS)
Morning.
Hey.
I thought I told you to take a few days.
I know, I'm just not good at sitting around the house.
Oh, I hear ya, why'd you think I opened this place?
- So, how was your weekend? - Fine.
Must've been quite a shock.
Finding her like that.
Is it true?
The way she was?
Sorry, I don't mean to probe, sorry.
- It's so bizarre. - I know.
And how's Chris?
Yeah, he's fine, thanks.
Do you ever look at your kids and not recognize them?
Yeah, twins are usually hidden under a layer of shite
or food or both.
And as for Saiorse...
Jesus, it's all about the eyebrows these days.
Not how they look, but how they are.
Their personalities.
Of course.
They swing from monsters to angels and back again in the blink of an eye.
You all right?
Yeah.
Just a funny few days.
(CREAKING)
DES: Sarah.
Sorry for your loss.
I'm just glad she's at peace now.
They wanted me to put a lid on,
but she'll be in the dark long enough.
Will you join me?
- (DRINK POURING) - Okay.
Thanks.
James. He, uh...
lost that tooth playing hurling.
(CHUCKLES) he thought it a badge of honor.
He's cute.
He was.
(TAKES DEEP BREATH) I remember the day he was born.
Noreen said she finally understood what life was all about.
We both did.
You? Did you get that same feeling when your little man was born?
And what's his name? I didn't catch it the last time we met.
Christopher.
Chris.
She didn't mean him any harm, you know.
Why did she say he wasn't my son?
That's what Noreen did.
Just after his eighth birthday, Noreen started to say that
James was different.
She saw tiny, insignificant things only a mother would notice.
It was like little pebbles rolling down a hill, you know?
Then you blink and it becomes a landslide.
A specialist gave some fancy name for whatever
fuse had popped,
but putting a label on it didn't make her any better.
She was convinced.
Of what?
That he was an impostor.
Wasn't her son.
I suppose when she saw your Chris,
it reminded her of her James.
What happened to him?
He was hit by a car.
My car.
I didn't see him dart out on the road.
Well, here I am, eh?
Maudlin as that bunch of
professional mourners lurking out there.
I almost think it's better to
remember happier times.
Thanks for coming by.
(RUMBLING)
Do you remember those beautiful flowers you picked for me
in the garden?
CHRIS: Yes.
Have you been going anywhere else?
No.
Like the forest maybe?
No, Mummy.
So, how's Chuck doing?
Haven't seen you play with him lately.
Still your favorite, right?
(SPOON CLATTERING)
Are you sure you haven't been going into the forest on your own?
- (DRAWER OPENS) - No, Mummy.
Then how did he get out there?
No more lies, Christopher.
- I'm not. - Tell me the truth.
- I am. - Tell me the truth.
- I am!
Stop lying to me.
I'm not lying!
I'm sorry, Mummy.
(WATER DRIPPING)
(GRUNTING)
(FOOTSTEPS RUNNING)
(SOFT RUNNING FOOTSTEPS)
(RUMBLING)
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
(FOOTSTEPS SHUFFLE)
(CHRIS SHUFFLING)
(SARAH PANTING)
(SARAH GASPS)
(FLOORBOARD CREAKING)
CHRIS: Mummy?
Is that you?
(DOOR CREAKING)
Mummy?
Chris.
Where are you?
In bed, why?
(FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING)
Good night, Mummy.
Good night, sweetie.
(FOOTSTEPS DEPART)
(EXHALES)
And in...
And out.
DOCTOR: And in...
And out.
And a big, deep one.
(INHALES DEEPLY)
And out.
(EXHALES DEEPLY)
DOCTOR: It's not the most unusual thing I've heard of a kid eating.
Yeah, but he usually is petrified of them.
There's something not right with him lately.
I can't put my finger on it, but I know.
I just know he's not himself.
DOCTOR: And how are you feeling?
Is the medication helping?
May I ask you a personal question?
Yeah.
Chris' father, is he around?
And that scar on your head...
Was it actually an accident, Sarah?
(BELL DINGS)
(BEEP)
(GIGGLING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER ON TV)
(TV CHARACTERS CONVERSING INDISTINCTLY)
MAN: (ON TV) Hired me, right there on the spot.
(GIGGLING)
So, which one of you boys can sing?
(BEEP)
(DOOR CREAKING)
What are you doing, Mummy?
Washing.
Morning.
I finished it.
Are you hungry? Come on.
You know I love you very much, sweetie.
I'm sorry if I've been acting little strange lately.
It's just that... (TAKES DEEP BREATH)
sometimes when you're a grownup,
life gets all blocked up with worry.
Then I look at you,
and I remember what life is really all about.
Chris.
(GROANING)
(CHRIS VOCALIZING) ♪ La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
♪ La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
♪ La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la ♪
TEACHER: Next up, we have My class.
So please, put your hands together
for the Rattlin' Boggers!
(PIANO MUSIC PLAYING)
♪ O-ro the rattlin' bog, the bog down in the valley-o
♪ Now in that bog there was a hole
♪ A rare hole, a rattlin' hole
♪ The hole in the bog, and the bog down in the valley-
♪ O-ro the rattlin' bog, the bog down in the valley-o
♪ Now in that hole there was a tree, a rare tree, a rattlin' tree
♪ The tree in the hole, and the hole in the bog and the bog down in the valley-
♪ O-ro the rattlin' bog, the bog down in the valley-o
♪ Now on that branch there was a limb
♪ A rare limb, a rattlin' limb
♪ With the limb on the branch ♪
(SPEAKS CREEPILY) And the branch on the tree
And the tree in the hole
And the hole in the bog
(VOICE DEEPENS) And the bog down in...
The valley-o
(PANTING)
(RATTLING)
(HEART BEATING RAPIDLY)
LOUISE: (FAINTLY) Sarah.
Are you all right?
Sarah.
(HEARTBEAT SLOWING)
He's not my son.
Chris?
Whose son is he?
I don't know, but it's not Chris. It's not him.
I don't know what you're...
I know I sound crazy, but if it was yours, you would know.
Okay.
Let's go for a walk.
Sarah.
Let's get some air.
Did you see me?
Mummy?
What's wrong?
Wasn't he brilliant?
Sarah.
- (HEART BEATING) - You okay, Ms. O'Neill?
(DISTANTLY) Mummy?
(HEARTBEAT INCREASES)
Mummy?
(TAPPING ON CUP)
(KNOCKING CUP, POURING)
(DES CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
DES: I've seen myself grow old from too many angles.
Even after 30 years,
she still checked me every day.
Checked you for what?
That I was still me.
The mirror always tells the truth.
That's what she'd say.
(BEEP)
I need to show you something.
What was wrong with James, I think it's happening to Chris.
There was nothing wrong with James.
Please, just look at it.
CHRIS: (ON CAMERA) What are you doing, Mummy?
Please.
SARAH: (ON CAMERA) Washing.
Why don't you stay up here and play with your toys?
SARAH: Do you see it?
That can't be my son.
Tell me you see him. Tell me.
I'm sorry. I can't see anything.
Noreen was right.
- No. - He wasn't your son!
- Enough. - Chris isn't Chris, and James wasn't James.
(SHOUTS) Enough!
(PANTING)
Then tell me I'm wrong.
Tell me I'm crazy. Tell me.
I can't.
(INDISTINCT VIDEO SOUNDS)
Mummy?
Why did you run away from me at school?
I wasn't feeling too good.
Do you feel better now?
Yeah. Much.
You won't run away from me again, will you?
No.
I don't like being left on my own.
You hungry?
I'll make your favorite.
I love you, Mummy.
I love you, too.
Dinner's ready.
Come on, before it gets cold.
Don't you want some?
You know I don't like the dust cheese, remember?
(TV CHARACTERS CONVERSING INDISTINCTLY)
You know what we haven't played in a while?
Our game.
Our favorite.
Three.
Two.
One.
You're not my son.
You're not Chris.
You're not my son.
(VOICE QUIVERS) What's wrong with you, Mummy?
You're not my son.
(GRUNTING)
(SARAH WHIMPERING)
SARAH: Get your hands off me.
- (PUNCHES LANDING) - (SARAH MOANING)
SARAH: Don't, please!
(CRIES OUT)
(MOANS SOFTLY)
(SARAH GASPS)
(CHRIS PANTING)
(GASPING, COUGHING)
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
(DOOR CREAKING)
(CHRIS BREATHING RHYTHMICALLY)
(SNORING SOFTLY)
- (HISSES) - (GASPS)
What have you done with him?
(LOUDER) What have you done with him?
(SCREECHING)
(GASPING)
(GAGGING)
(GRUNTING)
(SARAH PANTING)
(SHRIEKING)
(MUFFLED SHRIEKING CONTINUES)
(SHRIEKING INCREASES)
(SHRIEKING SUBSIDES)
(SHRIEKING STOPS)
(PANTING)
(SARAH COUGHING)
(COUGHS)
(BREATHS RAGGEDLY)
(COUGHS)
(PANTING)
(GRUNTING)
(PANTING)
(KICKING)
(CONTINUES KICKING)
(PANTING)
(GRUNTING)
(KICKING)
(GRUNTS)
(WATER DRIPPING)
(GASPS)
(BREATHING RAGGEDLY)
(GASPS)
(BREATHING RAPIDLY)
It's me. It's Momma Bear.
(EERIE GROWLING)
(SNARLING)
(MONSTERS SNARLING AND GROWLING)
(GROWLING CONTINUES)
(ROARING)
(GRUNTING)
(SARAH GASPS)
(GRUNTING)
(ARM SQUELCHES)
(PANTING)
Chris, wake up.
Chris.
Wake up. Wake up.
Come on.
Chris, wake up.
- (SOFT MOAN) - Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
(PANTING)
Okay, okay.
(PANTING)
You stay here, okay?
(DOOR CREAKING OPEN)
(WEAK BANGING)
(BANGING CONTINUES)
FAKE CHRIS: Mummy.
Mummy.
(DOOR RATTLING)
(FIRE CRACKLING)
(CRYING)
(SOBBING)
(INAUDIBLE)
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)