From: ephemeral@ephemeralfic.org Date: 23 May 2001 18:28:41 -0000 Subject: Collectors (Teaser) by xedout Source: direct Reply To: xedout1@yahoo.com Title: Collectors Author: xedout Classification: Case File Rating: PG-13. Discretion advised. Parts of Act Two and Four: R. Gory scenes. Imagery may be disturbing to some. Not suitable for younger readers. Disclaimer: The X-Files is the property of 1013 Productions. Spoilers: Minor references to Never Again, The End, The Calusari. Summary: Mulder and Scully uncover a deadly secret long buried in the art world and find out that sometimes a picture paints more than a thousand words. Notes: In modified teleplay format. I have directed parts of the story because of the nature of the material and the story's concept. The disclaimer et al will appear only in the Teaser. Thanks to everyone who has been a part of this project from its beginning and their support and encouragement. A special thanks to everyone from the X Files discussion group at Filmfodder.com, especially XQueequeg and JM. Thank you both for your patience. And a very special thank you to Mountainphile. You have thrown far more than your share of life preservers my way. Thank you so much for keeping me afloat during the course of writing this little tale. I have few words to express my gratitude and appreciation to you for your belief in me ever getting this work finished. Feedback: Yes, please! Distribution/Archiving: With notification and consent of the author. (c) Copyright 2001 TEASER FADE IN Night. Automobile INT. Toronto, Canada. 9:20 p.m. Hwy. 401. A man is in a sports car (Lexus SC430, Porsche Boxster?), driving eastbound on the freeway that runs east-west across Northern Toronto. He is exiting to the collectors to eventually get on to the Don Valley Parkway to take him down to his home in Rosedale. Car radio is playing softly. He is tuned into a lite-rock station - CHFI 98 FM. Playing is Corey Hart's "Sunglasses at Night". The man is agitated and impatient. His driving is erratic, bordering on careless. He is in a hurry and the rain outside is only adding to his behavior. There is a thunderstorm and his car's windshield wipers are struggling against the torrents of rain. Slightly ahead of him are red taillights reflecting through his windshield into his car's interior, casting an eerie red and shadowy glow. Our vision of him is obscured in a semi-shadow. >>>and i wear my sunglasses at night so i can so i can forget my name while you collect your claim and i wear my sunglasses at night so i can so i can see the light that's right before my eyes<<< RICK WATTERS How could I have been so stupid? Gotta get home before it's too late. Gotta get rid of it. Sorry, Corey. You're hitting a little too close to home tonight. He begins to flip stations, going through typical radio fare - commercials, jokes, parts of songs - ending up on the rock station Q107 (107.1), which is playing the Manic Street Preachers' "Found that Soul". The song remains continuous throughout the course of the scene and the next time we see him. >>>Show me a wonder you can't be sure of I exist in a place a self-made vacuum But still stranded here With all the scum So clean - so lost - so beautiful<<< RICK WATTERS Missy, please don't be home. Oh, God, please don't let her be home. Please, don't let them take her. Why didn't I listen? He reaches for his cellular phone and tries to call home. It rings four times. There is no answer. CAMERA moves to the cell phone to note its battery level indicator. He does not see that the battery level is dangerously low. RICK WATTERS Come on, come on.... Missy.... pick up! EXT. Night. 9:25 p.m. Establishing shot of a house (276 Chestnut Drive) in the affluent Rosedale neighborhood. Heard through the rain is a woman screaming and an unintelligible montage of voices. CAMERA enters the house through the living room window in search of the source and reason. INT. Watters Residence. Living Room CAMERA slowly travels through the living room. The room itself is softly lit and its furnishings are typical of upscale art collectors. There is a fireplace on one wall. On its mantle are various photos, including a wedding photo of the home's owners. We are already familiar with the man in the photo. He was furiously driving to get home. CAMERA stops at this photo for a moment, then resumes its journey. Two sconces illuminate a particular painting hanging above the fireplace. CAMERA lingers on the painting and pans horizontally. The painting is of a French country garden and celebrates La Belle Epoque. CAMERA also shows its title on a small gold plate under the framed canvas - "Le Jardin d'Abolique" - Jean Engare. INSERT CLOSE-UP of painting. There are several men and women in the painting, which is in the style of Renoir. Impressionist. All seem to be enjoying a lovely summer day in late 19th century France. As per the Impressionist style, the faces shine with light and the figures sparkle with dappled color. Also noticeable is the addition of a partial new figure in the painting, strangely resembling the woman in the photo. CAMERA then pans to show an interesting and extensive collection of paintings adorning the walls before finding the source of the screaming. In the middle of the room stands the woman in the wedding photo in a state of absolute terror. She is in her early to mid 30s. Surrounding her appears to be several dark, wispy, semi- transparent, yet opaque human- like shapes resembling wet paint, or it is perhaps the play of shadows resulting as the trees surrounding the house wave in the strong wind and driving rain. The effects of the storm (i.e. lightning and thunder) coupled with the way the room is lit makes it unclear as to what we are seeing. The woman herself appears to be almost fully brushstroked in various dark colors of paint. MELISSA WATTERS Nooooooooooooooo. Help! Somebody, please, help me. Help! VOICE 1 (male) It's no use screaming. Nobody can hear you. MELISSA WATTERS Please, don't do this. VOICE 2 (female) There, there. Everything will be all right. You'll see. MELISSA struggles against the shadows that are around her and tries to escape her apparent captivity. MELISSA WATTERS Let me go! MELISSA puts her hands on her head, trying to escape the noise in her mind. All these months you've been in here. Whispering, laughing. Trying to make me become one of you. Making everyone think I was losing my mind. And now it comes to force? If nothing else has worked, now this? VOICE 3 (female) You're the one. MELISSA WATTERS I still don't understand. Why? What... what do you want from me? VOICE 1 You will understand. You know perfectly well what we want. You've been far too difficult. MELISSA WATTERS Nooooooooooo. I won't. I won't be part of the collection. TELEPHONE rings. With great effort, MELISSA maneuvers to it but finds that the shadows she appears to see block her every move. After four rings, it stops. VOICE 3 Did you think that you could get away? Did you think that he could help you? SHADOWS grab her again and try to drag her towards the painting. She struggles against them. MELISSA WATTERS Get away from me! VOICE 4 Not so fast. You belong to us now. MELISSA WATTERS No, I'll never belong to you. With great effort, MELISSA breaks free from her apparent attackers and tries to plot her next move, one made on the seeming brink of insanity fused with the horror of her perceived situation. The shapes she envisions appear to follow her, dripping paint as they move. She attempts to make her way out of the house, but finds that the shapes anticipate her every move and block and seal the doors as she approaches them and tries to open them and then tries to force them open. Any move results in failure. She tries the telephone but it does not work. The windows become black and impenetrable. She screams out the window anyway. Any object she tries to throw through it fails. The shapes appear to just pick them up and pull them away from her, teasing her, taunting her, increasing her torment. Her terror then compounds with a sense of hopelessness at the impossibility of her escaping her apparent fate. She makes her way to the kitchen, opens a cupboard under the sink, and removes a bottle of a flammable substance. She then opens a drawer by the sink and takes out a package of matches. VOICE 1 takes the matches from her. VOICE 1 Well, if you play with fire, you will get burned. INT. AUTOMOBILE. Rick Watters then panics and dials 911. "Found that Soul" is still playing. <<>> RICK WATTERS Operator, it's - it's my wife. Melissa. Melissa Watters. I think she's in trouble. Something's wrong at home. She's not answering the phone. Her life... is in danger.... They're... they're... going to kill her.... Gotta stop them.... before it's too late. RICK WATTERS Yeah, I know there's a storm. Yeah, the lines might be down. But you don't understand. They're going to kill her. RICK WATTERS Who? I don't know. You wouldn't believe me. RICK WATTERS No, I know, I can't hear you either. Please, you have to help. CAMERA moves to the cell phone to show that the telephone's power has depleted and that its battery has died. It moves back up to RICK WATTERS. RICK WATTERS Please, you have to help. Send a police car. Her life's at stake. 276 Chestnut Drive. Hurry.... RICK does not realize he has said it to himself only. RICK WATTERS Almost there. Missy, hold on.... it won't be too much longer. I'll be home soon. HE appears relieved at first, glances at his cell phone, and sees that it is dead. A tear falls from one eye, as he wonders if his efforts were all for nothing and in vain. EXT. WATTERS RESIDENCE. The house has been set ablaze. INT. AUTOMOBILE. >>> Show me a wonder Show me a wonder Show me a wonder Show me a wonder>>> RICK WATTERS Missy! Am I too late? HE puts his foot on the gas pedal and his speed increases. He tries to slow down but cannot. He then tries his brakes. They are stuck. What the? HE skids on the slippery road and loses control of the vehicle. EXT. Day. The next afternoon. Approximately 3:18 p.m. A FIRE crew inspects the burned house to determine the cause of the blaze. Curious onlookers and neighbors are milling about. FIRE INSPECTOR is talking to one of the onlookers while he makes notes in his casebook. POLICE OFFICER drives up to the curb, exits his car, quickly surveys the scene, and then approaches the FIRE INSPECTOR, who is moving towards the house. POLICE OFFICER Wow. What happened? FIRE INSPECTOR Possible suicide. Judging by the neighbors' accounts, perfectly stable, good members of the community. Nothing to warrant burning yourself alive. Sometimes you wonder what makes people do something like this. One of the neighbors did say that Rick Watters told him that some strange things were going on in the house and that his wife hadn't been feeling well lately. Maybe we'll find out more when the Coroner's office has finished its investigation. What brings you here? POLICE OFFICER This is a weird one. Strange that you mentioned Rick Watters. Looks like we have two victims. Single vehicle crash on the 401 last night. He was killed instantly. Body was identified earlier this morning. Couldn't reach the next of kin. Guess I have a reason now. Speed and slippery roads make for a deadly combination. Seemed like he was in a hurry to get home. Wonder if we'll ever find out why. POLICE OFFICER AND FIRE INSPECTOR begin to walk through the remains of the burned house, examining the damage and surveying the extensive art loss. POLICE OFFICER Art collectors eh? What a waste. MOVES to the living room and looks at the destroyed artwork. Picks up one or two ruined paintings and looks at them sadly. I'm sure some of these could have hung in a museum. Not any more. FIRE INSPECTOR Careful where you walk. We'll see what can be saved. Fire apparently started in the kitchen. A bottle of a still- to-be identified substance was found near the body. Could have been an accelerant. LOOKS at a splotch on the floor. Bends down to examine it. Hmmm. Looks like paint. Still wet. Wonder if they were redecorating. NOTICES a painting partially covered by a charred board, and moves toward it. What's this? PICKS UP the painting with the garden scene on it. He gives it a quick glance. It is in perfect condition and untouched by the fire. No damage. Nice. I'll be sure it's put in with the rest of the salvageables. Let the estate deal with it. Once arson is ruled out, this case should be wrapped up pretty quick. Don't know if you guys will be investigating. POLICE OFFICER Looks pretty cut and dried. We'll just wait for your report to see if you come up with anything unusual. THEY LEAVE the house, go to their respective vehicles, and DRIVE OFF. INT. NIGHT. Art auction house storage room. New York, two months later. A painting has been uncrated and is ready for cataloguing and an upcoming auction. CAMERA reveals it to be the painting discovered in the Toronto fire. CLOSE-UP of painting reveals it to be lacking one figure, that of the latest "addition". A dark SHAPE appears to step out from the painting and unfolds into a shadow-like being. INT. Night. Fox Mulder's bedroom. 12:29 a.m. FOX is asleep and in REM dream state. His sleep is disrupted and agitated, as if he is having a nightmare. He is talking incoherently. MULDER I know you. we've met before. something went wrong... You couldn't take her... She wasn't the one. They had to die... no... no. MULDER'S agitation at his nightmare has increased. He startles himself awake, and wakes up sweating, disoriented, and a bit shaky. We see him in half-light. VOICE 1 and MULDER deliver the following almost simultaneously as he jumps up from his pillow. It will appear to be almost like a superimposition of the two scenes/settings. In the lighting used to capture the effect, we are to see that MULDER and VOICE 1 have in a way become the same person in a type of bookpage effect. Dark versus light meeting in shadow. VOICE 1/MULDER / ... No mistakes this time. FADE to opening credits. TAGLINE - Know Your Enemy Song Titles: Hart, Corey. (1984). "Sunglasses at Night". Taken from First Offense. Corey Hart. Bradfield, Jones, Moore (2001). "Found that Soul". Taken from "Know Your Enemy". Manic Street Preachers. Virgin Records, Sony Music Entertainment (UK) Ltd. Video and audio of "Found that Soul" can be found at www.manics.co.uk ACT ONE FADE IN INT. Night. MORRISON RESIDENCE. FOUR MONTHS LATER. 2:34 A.M. The house and its furnishings should be one right out of a decorating magazine. Taste, style, elegance. CARYN MORRISON is asleep in the library. ADAM MORRISON, her husband, enters the room. In his hand he has a paintbrush that is covered in paint. Quietly talking on his cell phone, he walks toward her. ADAM Yeah, this oughta do it. Your idea is brilliant. Yes, you were right all along. It's almost.... foolproof. Didn't think I could pull this off so easily. Even the tape is convincing - almost like she's really losing her mind. The info you gave me about the painting was priceless. Too bad it has to cost this much. Yeah, the payoff will be worth it. You think I should call them yet? You're right. See what Caryn does first. Guilty? Me? Almost. He moves back to CARYN and gently paints a small mark on her exposed leg. He then hangs up, quietly leaves the room, all the while smiling at his handiwork. VOICE 1 He's even more clever than we hoped he'd be... Child's play this time. VOICE 2 What do you think he's up to? VOICE 1 Does it really matter? Ssssh. She's waking up. Hearing voices, CARYN then wakes up. SHE is frightened. SHE screams when she sees a dark bruise-like mass on her leg. CARYN Adam! Momentarily, ADAM MORRISON frantically enters the library. ADAM Caryn? What is it? What's wrong honey? CARYN Look at my leg. Look at this. They're...They're going to do something to me. Child's play. I heard them. Adam, I heard them. Ever since we got that painting. We have to get rid of it. ADAM Caryn, no one is going to do anything to you. Did you have that nightmare again? Everything's fine. It just looks like some dirt on your leg. Nothing that a little soap can't take care of. Nothing is wrong with the painting. It's just your imagination. Come on darling, let's go back to bed. I'll fix you some warm milk. By morning, you'll have forgotten all about your dream. THEY leave the room, CARYN close to tears and ADAM being the comforting husband. VOICE 3 And what he doesn't fix, we will. INT. DAY. FOX MULDER'S office. 9 A.M. THREE WEEKS LATER. SCULLY is sitting comfortably at Mulder's desk, feet up, heels on desk, facing towards the "I Want to Believe" poster. She is cradling a sketchpad in her lap with her left arm and is completely engrossed in drawing. Her pencil skillfully moves across the page. She looks at her subject thoughtfully, pausing before adding to its shading. There is a slight trace of a smile as she surveys her work. CAMERA draws closer to her. It is curious and tries to travel over her shoulder to capture what she is doing. She appears to sense that she is being observed and moves in the chair to avoid the camera's eye. CAMERA changes focus as the office door opens. MULDER enters the room. He notices the determination, fascination, and almost childlike joy in SCULLY'S face. For a moment, he smiles wistfully, as if he was taken back to a place back in his own childhood; a time before innocence lost and conspiracies found. His eyes appear to twinkle happily as he watches his partner. It is a side of her that he has seen only on rare occasions. MULDER slowly walks to his desk, and quietly drops a relatively thick file on it. Startled, SCULLY looks up at him. She then regains her composure. MULDER Morning, Scully. Whatcha doing? HE begins to move to where she is sitting and in order to peek at the drawing in her sketchpad. SCULLY Nothing. SHE CLOSES the pad and puts the pencil down on the desk. MULDER NODS to and INDICATES the sketchbook. I didn't know you could draw. SCULLY I haven't in a long time. Not since college actually. I was sitting here not long ago, catching up on some files, and then the idea just sort of hit me on the head. Like a sign. From above. ON CUE, a pencil drops from its perch on the ceiling on to the desk. MULDER grins and softly laughs. SCULLY half-suppresses a giggle at fate's comedic timing. MULDER So when do I get to see it? SCULLY It's just a doodle. NOTICES the thick file on the desk. Whatcha got? MULDER PICKS UP file and waves it seductively. You know, the artist in you just might be interested in this one. Sometimes art's a crime. SCULLY Uh-huh..... Mulder, you're getting that look. MULDER What look? SCULLY You saw the white rabbit, ran after him, chased him down the hole, apprehended him, stuck his haunches to the wall and yanked out a file marked X from his trembling ears. That look. MULDER You forgot to mention that he was looking at his watch and kept saying "I'm late". MULDER looks at her wrist. SCULLY gently pulls the file from his hand. SCULLY Every detail. As SCULLY takes the file, MULDER gazes at the closed sketchpad. MULDER then proceeds to gently tug at it. SCULLY pulls it back. This goes on a few times. He stops for a moment as she peruses the file. Thinking she is unaware of his movements, he tries to smoothly slide the sketchpad away from her notice. Sensing his motion, her hand comes down on his and slaps it as she looks at him disapprovingly. Caught red-handed, he looks sheepishly at her, removes his hand from the pad, gently holds and softly touches her hand for a moment, and entwines his fingers with hers. After a moment, she loosens his grip, firmly takes his hand, and puts it far away from the sketchpad. MULDER I see you've been working on your grip. Sketchpad sits enticingly on the desk. SCULLY Do you know how many people suffered serious pencil-inflicted stab wounds last year? And do you know how many head traumas are caused by blunt objects, such as sketchpads, coming into contact with people's skulls? MULDER Quietly accepts defeat for now. HE moves behind her. SHE takes her feet off the desk. Scully.... All right, all right. SCULLY What am I looking at? MULDER Possible X File. Go to page 4. SCULLY FLIPS to the page. LOOKS at photo of a painting. Mmmm. Pretty painting. Impressionist. Le Jardin D'Abolique. What kind of an X file? Art forgery or someone getting ripped off at an auction isn't quite enough to lure the fox to the henhouse. MULDER AMUSED at the irony of the situation and her use of the word "Fox". Caught me ruffling feathers again? SCULLY tries to suppress a laugh but cannot. Don't know. The painting's current owner, Adam Morrison, has approached the Bureau for its, and especially our, assistance. Ever since he purchased the work a few months ago, strange things have been going on. He says his wife Caryn claims to hear voices and sees shapes or some sort of creatures (CAMERA notes SCULLY's skeptical reaction) in the house, and that they're out to get her - they being unknown. Ordinarily, this case seems psychological. SCULLY Looks like Wonderland has crashed to the ground. MULDER LAUGHS softly with a touch of sarcasm. However, what could turn this into a possible X file is the painting itself. SCULLY Let me guess... MULDER CUTS her off. What's in the file regarding this particular piece of artwork shows that anyone who has owned it at least during the past 20 years has disappeared without a trace or died in a horrific manner. The previous owner, Melissa Watters, apparently set herself and her house on fire. Case was closed as a suicide. No hard evidence to suggest otherwise. SCULLY But... MULDER But, nothing except the end result justified the case being closed in that manner.What's also peculiar about that case is that her husband Rick was killed in a single vehicle crash that same evening. Brake failure on a brand new car. It was almost too perfect, too tidy (GAZES at the organized chaos of his office), too convenient. Complete erasing of any evidence to suggest otherwise. Scully, something strange, possibly connected to that painting, was going on in that house. It's all in the file, along with the complete Metro Toronto PD report. Read the transcript of Rick Watters' 911 call that August night. Read the psychiatrist's report. Melissa Watters was desperately trying to get away from some one or some thing the night she died in that fire. SCULLY Like what? It's all conjecture and speculation on your end, Mulder. Sometimes X doesn't mark the spot. All I see here are some comments from their neighbors, attesting that Mrs. Watters wasn't feeling well. (SCULLY flips through the file and scans its contents.) And the report from her psychiatrist at the Clarke Institute, obtained under warrant, I might add, noting Melissa Watters had suffered a breakdown a few months before she died. She claimed that she believed that someone was going to kill her and that there was some sort of evil presence in their home. Apparently, she had begun therapy but her doctor indicates that her condition had severely deteriorated since her first visit. Overall, the report appears to be thorough, except on page two where the investigating officer observed a few inconsistencies concerning Mrs. Watters' apparent suicide. MULDER Inexplicable paint splotches on the floor... Why that painting was the only item that wasn't burned and the only item salvaged from the house. Scully, something's missing.... Now, there's something... almost familiar about this case and the painting itself. I'm sure I came across a file on it a few years ago or something. Too bad I wasn't able to save them all from the fire. SCULLY Once upon a dream, Mulder. Chances are there's a completely rational explanation for this. Most likely psychological, as you pointed out. Schizophrenia? SCULLY remembers her own experience. Or, it could simply be a hallucinogen in the paint itself. The tox screens don't appear to show any signs of substance abuse. Only drugs in her system were her prescription medication. MULDER We all go a little mad sometimes. No, Scully, that's not it. Melissa Watters was playing with something and it wasn't madness. It kept changing the rules and she lost. We'll learn a lot more when we get to LA. SCULLY LA? The case makes perfect sense now. EXT. DAY. LOS ANGELES. MALIBU. 9:42 a.m. The next day. MORRISON RESIDENCE. Agents MULDER and SCULLY arrive at the front door. SCULLY rings the doorbell. ADAM MORRISON answers the door. MULDER retrieves his FBI badge from his jacket's inside pocket and flashes it to him. MULDER Adam Morrison? I'm Special Agent Fox Mulder from the FBI, and this is my partner, Dana Scully. ADAM We've been expecting you. INT. Living Room. SCULLY Mr. Morrison, from the vague information we have about this matter, your initial contact with the Bureau via Assistant Director Skinner indicated that some strange things were going on here in your home. Can you elaborate on them for us? CARYN (O.S.) Screams. ADAM Caryn! Are you all right? CARYN MORRISON enters the room. SHE is distraught. CARYN Adam, it's.... it's nothing. I'm fine. She LOOKS hesitantly at the visitors. ADAM Caryn, these are agents Mulder and Scully from the FBI. They're here to talk to us about the painting. CARYN Please forgive me. I don't usually make such a dramatic entrance. It's a pleasure to meet you. ALL take a seat. SCULLY What has been going on since you bought the painting? CARYN It started just after we brought the painting home from the auction in New York. We were very happy to purchase a work of its quality. There have been some stories about the possibility of it being an unknown Renoir. As you no doubt know, Impressionism was once considered the dishonor of France. SCULLY Yes, the Impressionist style was at first received with bewilderment, suspicion, and abuse. SCULLY and MULDER exchange a humorous look. MULDER Did you not find it a bit peculiar that it has been auctioned at least 6 times in the last 20 years? ADAM A bit, but these sorts of things happen all the time in the art world. We were lucky that we were able to add it to our collection. SCULLY What happened after you bought it? CARYN Well, at first, it just felt like I was being watched. I thought it was because the painting seems so lifelike. It has this way of mesmerizing you and drawing you into it. You'll see for yourself when we go to the library. About a month after we bought it, the voices started. MULDER What kind of voices? (In psych mode) CARYN Whispers. I couldn't make them out at first. I thought I was imagining things or that maybe there was a movie or television crew filming in the area. Very sweet. Very almost... seductive, I guess. I'd hear my name and I would turn around and there would be no one there. Like a caress. Then not long after that the voices started to have no emotion. I felt cold anytime I heard them. They started to get louder (indicates her head pounding and puts her hand to her ears as if they were screaming at her even now). They talked about wanting to be free, and about being humiliated the last time or something, and that this time they would succeed. That they were going to do something to me. Even kill me if they had to. Can't you hear them now? They're here, Agent Mulder, and Agent Scully. In this room. Watching you. Studying you. Laughing at you. Look in the corner. SHE indicates a shadow cast on one end of the room by a piece of furniture. ADAM She's been like this for a while. I don't know what's going on. I certainly don't hear anything or see anything. CARYN Adam, they're there. I too believed I was imagining things when it started. But then I found myself doing weird things. SCULLY What sorts of things? (polite, but disbelieving) CARYN Well, going upstairs to bed at night and finding myself in the library the next morning without a reason. No idea how I got there, or how long I was there. Feeling very very tired all the time. And then, just a couple of weeks ago, I noticed this. She LIFTS her pant leg to show a bluish-purplish-black mass on her lower leg - it appears to be a rather large bruise. It was this small. Until just now, when I changed clothes. SCULLY May I have a look at that? I'm a doctor. CARYN nods. MULDER Have you been under any stress lately, Mrs. Morrison? CARYN No, nothing out of the ordinary. MULDER Do you drink or take any drugs? CARYN No, no drugs. Hard to believe in this town. An occasional glass of wine. Because Adam works for one of the networks, we go to functions all the time. I'm not imagining this, Agent Mulder. MULDER Mrs. Morrison, I'm just trying to see if there is a rational explanation for what you seem to be experiencing. SCULLY looks up at him questioningly. She pulls out a pair of latex gloves from her bag. She puts them on and begins to examine the bruise-like marking on CARYN MORRISON's leg. SCULLY LOOKS at the mark and gently TOUCHES it. It resembles a bruise, but it definitely isn't. Have you seen your family physician about this? CARYN About a week ago. It wasn't healing the way it should if it was a bruise. And now, it's even larger. SCULLY LOOKS closer at the "bruise". If anything, your bruise looks like paint. Perhaps you just spilled some on to yourself without noticing. Have you been painting your house recently? Do you take an art class? CARYN No, Ms Scully. I'm a collector, not an artist. SCULLY It should be fairly easy to remove with a little paint thinner. The skin around it seems pretty dry and chafed. CARYN What do you think I've been trying to do? Agent Scully, each morning I wash it off and by the next day it's back. I'm on my second bottle of turpentine. SCULLY Let me try. CARYN You're just wasting your time. It'll be back and even bigger tomorrow morning. Nothing I do works for very long. It's a nightmare. I'm covered in paint that won't go away no matter how hard I try to scrub it off my body. SCULLY Would it be all right if I could try to take a swab or some sample of it to the lab for further examination? CARYN Agent Scully, I don't know what's happening to me. Please help. I want to get to the bottom of this. I can't take it much longer. SCULLY EXITS the house to get her medical kit from the vehicle parked outside. MULDER AND ADAM MORRISON move to the LIBRARY to examine the painting. MULDER Have you been collecting for a long time? You have some interesting pieces. Mainly French, I see, with a little Italian, and some Chinese. ADAM For a few years. You have excellent eyes. "Le Jardin" is our favorite. It reminds Caryn and me of our honeymoon in the south of France. Are you married, Agent Mulder? MULDER PAUSES avoidingly and answers slowly. No. MULDER then abruptly changes the subject. ADAM smiles. You work for a television network? ADAM VP Legal. Nothing too glamorous. MULDER Legal? As in contracts? Anything interesting? Some actor hit $30 million per picture yet? Inquiring minds.... ADAM Not particularly. The same old business of money changing everything. Once upon a time, it used to be about the pictures but now it's about greed plain and simple. Everyone's out to outscrew everyone else. ADAM MORRISON opens the door to the library. MULDER follows him inside. The room is filled with a vast and impressive collection of books, artwork, and antique furniture. ADAM MORRISON approaches the painting and points it out to MULDER. ADAM The pride of our collection. INT. LIVING ROOM. SCULLY is collecting a sample of the paint from CARYN MORRISON's leg. CARYN softly moans in a dull pain as a bit of paint is being extracted. INT. LIBRARY. MULDER gives the painting an initial cursory look. He MOVES to it and touches it in a typical investigatory manner. He runs his hands across it, and touches it carefully, probing, unconsciously looking for something that would be familiar to him. As the sample of paint is being extracted the painting almost gasps/shudders in pain, as if a part of it is being removed. MULDER senses something not quite right, and although he is touching the painting at the exact spot, can't put his finger on it. INT. LIVING ROOM. SCULLY Hmmmm. It shouldn't be bleeding. That's strange. CARYN I can't wait for you to see the painting. I know you'll love it. BOTH go to the library. CARYN feels slightly uncomfortable and looks worried as she watches MULDER touch the painting. INT. LIBRARY SCULLY Is that the painting? SCULLY moves toward it and looks at it. It's even more beautiful than its photo. SCULLY gazes at it closely, but does not touch it. The addition of CARYN to the painting is conspicuously absent. There is a brushstroke that is reminiscent of a new figure but MULDER and SCULLY do not see it yet. Is it possible to take it down so we can look at it more closely? ADAM Certainly. HE moves to the painting, and with MULDER's assistance, takes it down from the wall, and puts it on the desk. MULDER LOOKS at the back of the painting. Do you have a magnifying glass? There's something written here that I can't make out very clearly. Maybe it's the painting's title... CARYN Of course. CARYN goes to the desk, opens a drawer, and takes out a magnifying glass. I'm sure everything is in order. We're fairly certain the painting isn't a fake. Except for a brief period of unknown ownership, its provenances are fairly impressive. MULDER An impeccable pedigree still doesn't rule out the possibility of forgery or fraud. You are aware that about 10 percent of all impressionist paintings are suspected of being fakes? ADAM Yes, you hear about artists signing blank pages and canvases on their deathbeds. Fraud comes part and parcel with the art world. MULDER Did you read about the recent case in England? Possibly the biggest, and most ingenious and damaging modern art fraud of the 20th century? A con artist and an unremarkable painter made fools of the art world, and by doing so, punctured its aura of perceived sophistication. SCULLY Mulder? MULDER Over a span of a decade, starting in the 80s, John Drewe systematically infiltrated some of the most reputable and security-conscious art archives in the world and altered the provenances of genuine paintings with the purpose of establishing a lineage to make way for his partner-in-crime John Myatt's often sloppy forgeries. Matisse, Braque, Giacometti, and Le Corbusier all became part of his repertoire. He faked their styles with such virtuosity that his paintings passed for the real thing. As part of the fraud, Drewe then also proceeded to seed the collections with false records to provide those very forgeries with an instant, although fraudulent heritage. He also set up a company that authenticated the paintings he had faked in the first place. The scale of the corruption in the modern art world was unprecedented. What distinguished this particular case from most of the others was how methodical Drewe was, and how well he understood the process of validation in the art world. And that he exposed the art industry as its own worst enemy; one much too reliant on sources of authenticity vulnerable to manipulation, and one riddled with conflicts of interest that invite full- scale corruption. SCULLY Mulder, one of these days you're going to strike out with that photographic memory of yours. I'm sure we don't need to hear all about something that probably doesn't relate to our case. MULDER HUMOROUSLY glares at her and continues. His train of thought will not be derailed until he reaches the caboose. Chief motivation of an art forger. Intellectual gamesmanship with the end result of exposing yourself as a genius and the art experts as fools. However, it is also known that fraud in the art world, when discovered by dealers and auction houses,is usually kept secret so that the public would continue to have confidence in the art market. Chances are that the museums, galleries, and auction houses affected will never know how much of their collections have been compromised and otherwise corrupted. SCULLY ASIDE and to herself. MULDER overhears. Same chairs, different desk. Has interest in art become nothing but a mere romanticism of names, of owning a Picasso, or Van Gogh, or a Matisse, or whomever, without caring about what's on the canvas? Considering only social climbing or status instead of the painting's intrinsic beauty? What makes a painting worth millions of dollars one day and having people practically fight to the death to acquire it and that not even one person would want to see it the next? Is it nothing more than about being or having the One? MULDER/CARYN The One? ADAM Yes, we heard about that scandal. You take your chances. SCULLY Do you have the provenances handy? We'd like to have a look at them as part of our investigation. We'll make copies and then return the originals to you later today or early tomorrow. You did know about the previous owners? ADAM Yes, they died in such a horrible manner. MULDER And you're hoping to avoid their fate. CARYN Exactly. Agent Mulder, I don't want to die just because I happen to own this painting. I'm sure I'm worrying about nothing. SCULLY looks agreeingly at CARYN. She then proceeds to look at the writing MULDER did on the back of the canvas. SCULLY Mulder? It's almost like it's been written over or something. MULDER moves closer to his partner and looks again at the writing on the canvas. As he touches the canvas, a slight, but seemingly familiar chill runs through his body. He shivers, looks up, sees CARYN, and sees her as being dark and covered in paint for a moment, with the only light spot being on the leg that SCULLY has just examined. She then returns to normal and smiles. He has a slightly puzzled look. MULDER Can't make it out. We'll have to take a photo of it and do some scans on the wording. If that doesn't work, we may have to x-ray the painting. CARYN looks upset about the possibility of an x-ray. Both MULDER and SCULLY look at the painting once more. SCULLY Except for that writing on the back of it, nothing appears to be out of the ordinary. Mrs. Morrison, an x-ray should not damage your work of art. SCULLY returns the canvas to ADAM MORRISON. He hangs it back up on the wall. SCULLY turns around, looks at it, and sees for a moment, as the sun hits it, the painting in its mesmerizing true form (as a portrait of evil and notices that CARYN has been added to its dark, rotting, and insect-infested canvas). She believes it is her eyes playing a trick on her and shakes her head in disbelief. She then looks at the painting again. It is in its sparkling, light-filled form. MULDER Scully, is something wrong? SCULLY No. Must be the sun in my eyes. SCULLY then touches the painting. MULDER notices this and finds her behavior unlike her. After she is finished, CAMERA notes her favoring her index finger and that she is touching it as it appears to be "tacky" as if she has touched some still-wet paint but a paint that has left no residue on her hand. She is puzzled. SCULLY continues to look at the painting. CARYN NOTICES SCULLY gazing at the painting. She is a bit nervous as to what SCULLY has discovered. It's pretty, isn't it. Art should be pretty. There are far too many unpleasant things in this world. SCULLY Renoir. TAKES the folder containing the PROVENANCES. We'll get this back to you within a day. MULDER Hopefully, we can find some answers fairly quickly and put this matter to rest. SCULLY If you don't mind me asking, why did you contact the FBI? Right now, there doesn't appear to be much of a case of any sort, much less a Federal one. Assistant Director Skinner should have referred you to the art theft section of the Bureau. It specifically handles these types of cases. We're well out of our jurisdiction and field of expertise. The LA Field Office or even the art history department at a university is more than equipped to handle this sort of matter. ADAM A friend, a private investigator, recommended you. He's read about your work and your reputation. He said that if anyone could get to the bottom of this, you could. You know what's happened to everyone who has owned this painting. My wife and I don't want to be next. CARYN You're the one. No mistakes. This time. INT. LIBRARY. Night. CARYN has come to the library for her regular nocturnal visit. She is in a trance-like state. VOICE 2 Are we alone? VOICE 3 Yes, he's in the study. Probably asleep. VOICE 5/CARYN I took care of them. For now. He's seen who I am becoming. He will remember soon. He was shocked when he saw me. How soon he forgets. He suspects though. She sees too. She saw who we really are. Perhaps she can be useful for a while. Only until she believes. Until she finds her proof. They won't stay away too long. VOICE 3 Long enough. I didn't like her touching me. VOICE 1 We must do this right. No mistakes. You're lucky he didn't pick up on what you said. He would have known for sure who we are. CARYN I followed your instructions. VOICE 4 What about Adam? CARYN What do you mean? VOICE 2 Oh, nothing. CARYN Please. Don't kill him. It was part of the agreement. VOICE 3 No. We keep our agreements. You become one of us in exchange for his life. VOICES become still. CARYN proceeds to fall asleep. VOICE 3 He's of value. He doesn't quite have the upper hand he thinks he has. VOICE 1 Neither does she. They're all the same. Gullible. Some things never change. We expect too much. VOICE 2 She will realize that we do keep our word. But it is a question of semantics. ALL Laugh. VOICE 4 We must do this slowly. They are here now, remember. VOICE 3 What do we do about them? VOICE 1 The intruders? VOICE 4 We must wait. Let them solve their mystery as far as we want them to and let them go home. It's up to him to decide their fate. VOICE 2 We've waited a long time for them. We must use this opportunity wisely. VOICE 4 Yes, to observe. VOICE 3 And maybe have a little fun? VOICE 1 glares at VOICE 3. VOICE 1 He is a force to be reckoned with. We must be cautious. He'll continue to dig until he gets his answers. She is getting stronger as he turns her to the dark within her. She may be even stronger than him. A more formidable challenge. We must watch her closely. VOICE 2 He has a weakness. They all do. Perhaps it is her. Perhaps something else. We will find it and turn it to our advantage. With him out of the way, she is powerless to stop us. And if we are right about her, we will take care of her too. VOICE 3 Yes, Scully does not realize how big our plans are for her and how important she is to us. She might be the key we're looking for. And the beauty of it is that Mulder won't realize what has hit him. Until it is far too late. VOICE 1 He's a sly fox. We mustn't underestimate him on any count. VOICE 3 Yes, but he's in our lair. VOICE 2 She made a mess. I think you should fix it. ALL move toward CARYN, who has fallen asleep on the sofa. VOICE 4 softly touches CARINE's leg. Another brush of dark paint is added to it. Another brushstroke of CARYN is also added to the painting on the wall. She softly moans as her life essence is entwined with those of the beings in the painting. ALL sigh pleasurably. INT. STUDY. A few minutes later. ADAM MORRISON is in the study, and talking on the telephone. VOICE 2 is also in the room, taking the form of a shadow. ADAM Yeah, the FBI agents were here today. Everything is working according to the plan. It won't be long now before our little problem is taken care of. HE hangs up the telephone and smiles. He turns off the light at his desk, gets up, and proceeds to EXIT the room. VOICE 2 moves back to the library. INT. Library. VOICE 3 Our plan is working perfectly. VOICE 3 then runs its paint tendril hand suggestively across CARINE's leg. With the touch WIPE to BLACK (like a brushstroke sweep). Notes/Nods Not really a reference to it or quote in any way, but Robbie Williams fans will recognize the words "wonderland has crashed to the ground" as being found in the lyrics of "Ego A Go Go" from 1997's Life Thru a Lens. No unauthorized use of the words is intended. "We all go a little mad sometimes" (Psycho) is one of my all time favourite movie lnes. Scully notes Caryn Morrison's reference to a famous statement made by Pierre- Auguste Renoir about Impressionism. ACT TWO FADE IN INT. Day. MORRISON RESIDENCE. LIBRARY. 8:42 a.m. The next day. CARYN is performing her morning ritual of removing the paint from her leg that was brushed on the night before. ADAM enters the room, sees her, smiles slightly, and then exhibits the behavior of a concerned husband. CARYN Is it ever going to end? Why is this happening to me? ADAM GOES to comfort her. HE holds her, hugs her and helps wipe the brushstroke away. HE then kisses her on the forehead. Caryn, once the FBI agents get the lab results back, we'll know what's going on and how to help you. You'll just have to be patient for just a little bit longer. CARYN How much longer? I could be dead by the time they find out what's happening to me. Maybe we should just get rid of the painting. That's the right thing to do. You know I never wanted it in the first place. Why you bought it.... ADAM For you, darling. Those weeks in France were the happiest of my life. I wanted you to remember them forever. CARYN You were adamant about buying it. It really was too expensive. Maybe we should call the auction house and sell it to the man who really wanted to buy it. He seemed so desperate. ADAM Let's talk about it later. HE smiles at her and abruptly changes the subject. I'll make breakfast. HE leaves her to go to the kitchen. SHE gets up from the sofa and her eye catches a book out of place and sticking out on the bookcase. She goes to the bookcase to put the book back in its spot. She's curious when she struggles to fit it into its proper place. She then moves a couple of books near it to fit it back in and discovers something quite interesting. A MICROCASSETTE RECORDER AND PLAYER. CARYN Now what is this doing here? SHE then finds the play button and turns it on, keeping the volume low but just loud enough for her to hear what is going on - various voices are on the tape, very similar to those she initially heard. She is shocked at what she hears. She then takes the cassette out of the player and slips it into her pocket. She leaves the room, with a slight hint of her being VOICE 5. CARYN Adam, you've been sloppy. Tsk. Tsk. Maybe it's time to give the devil his due. INT. Day. HOTEL ROOM. About the same time. MULDER is finishing dressing. HE finishes closing the last button on his shirt and begins to put his tie on. SCULLY watches, with a slight hint of a smile. SCULLY There's something weird going on in that house. I doubted this was an X file. You know something? MULDER ADJUSTS his tie. What? SCULLY It's the painting. For a second, I saw... I don't know what I saw... if I can even describe it except that it was almost... alive... and evil. MULDER What exactly did you see? SCULLY I don't know. For a second, the painting became dark. Instead of the pretty pastels, it was a sea of angry, raging color. Almost Expressionist. But not quite. I dunno.Maybe more Dorian Gray. Rotting. Dark. I thought I imagined it or maybe it was just the way the light hit the room. And then when I touched it, it was sticky, as if there was fresh paint on it that was still drying. That's impossible. It's over one hundred years old. And do you know what? MULDER What? SCULLY And I could have sworn I saw Caryn Morrison in it, like she's become a part of the painting. MULDER SMILES at her being open about her not-so scientific observations. Now this is a Polaroid moment. Maybe we should... SCULLY See what develops? MULDER Scully...... I had the same sensation when I touched it. There was some sort of... dark ... presence, for lack of a better word. Melissa Watters. Caryn Morrison. Too many similarities. I saw her as being black, maybe almost inhuman, if that's a way to describe it, just for a second. Almost like she was brushstroked. I thought it was just a shadow. I see things. We both don't. We just have to wait until we get the lab results back. And it was Caryn thinking she recognized me and something she said. I've never met her but there was something about her that was familiar. Too familiar. SCULLY Celluloid-familiar? MULDER No, not that familiar. No mistakes this time. I'm the one. Where have I heard that before? SCULLY Where haven't you heard that before? You know what's funny? This reminds me of the old horror B-movie "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark." MULDER laughs. SCULLY What's so funny? MULDER You. Always full of surprises. SCULLY looks away. I like it. I always suspected that under that cool scientist exterior lies a scared little kid hiding under the bed or sleeping with the lights on. SCULLY You've always out-surprised me. And I never slept with the lights on. Or hid under the bed. Until I met you. MULDER Never let it be said that I haven't shown you a good time. But, what if? What if there is some one or some thing inside that painting? Some sort of I don't know... SCULLY Like what? Lonely little creatures dragging and consigning some poor victim into their tortured world? MULDER What other explanation can there be Scully? SCULLY Definitely not a literal take on art collecting. MULDER You aren't afraid of the dark, Scully? Not even just a little? MULDER then startles her with a quick and unexpected touch, reminiscent of the hi-jinks of a 6- year-old. After a moment, SHE absently takes his hand, entwines her fingers in his and then lets go. SCULLY That's not the issue. We're here because there's a woman who believes that there may be something living in her painting and that whatever it is - that something is out to get her. Something is definitely going on. But not in the painting. MULDER What we've seen ... SCULLY ...has made me sometimes question some of my beliefs... but... MULDER ... you still haven't proven me wrong. HE gently strokes her shoulder. Something is going on with that painting, but you won't admit it because it goes against your need to hang everything on your science. Well, you know perfectly well that sometimes science doesn't have an explanation... yet. Part of you knows that some one or some thing is in that painting. You saw something. At least admit it to me if you can't admit it to yourself. SCULLY I've seen more darkness working with you than most people see in a lifetime. I'll admit it. And yes, sometimes I have been afraid. And Mulder, I do want to believe, but I still need the facts. Not simple faith in possibilities. MULDER But... what if there is something evil living in that painting? And what if it's playing a cat and mouse game and using the Morrisons as the cheese to lure us into its trap? Scully, I know it and that somehow it knows me... and you. And it's hiding. And waiting. Patiently biding its time. SCULLY Like what? What's biding its time? Mulder, come on. It's paint, it's canvas. MULDER Among others who have worked with the paranormal over history, Emanuel Swedenborg warned of the dangers of evil spirits who will use all manner of subtlety, brilliance, and affection to reach their victim. Hovering around people like phantoms, secretly infusing them with evil. Why not in a beautiful painting? Literally hanging around, waiting for the perfect opportunity. Satan himself could masquerade as an angel of light. Fairy tales use the motif all the time. Beauty and the beast. Well, what if beauty is the beast? SCULLY Does everything have to be Jungian with you? Mulder, this isn't a case of who's afraid of the big bad wolf. And besides, Swedenborg was considered a bit of a nut. For every one of your books that say one thing, there are four more that refute it. HE looks at her, impressed that she has read some of his books, but still frustrated that after all she's experienced, her mind is seemingly just as stubborn and that she still has to challenge him. C'mon Mulder. Caryn Morrison is a nice woman who's looking for a little attention. There aren't any spirits, evil or otherwise, or anything else living in her painting. Yes, I have seen evidence of the paranormal. But not in the Morrisons home. My eyes deceived me for a second when it turned dark. It could be just some clever film stunt. You said Adam Morrison worked for a television network. He could have access to all sorts of props and equipment. MULDER Why go to all the trouble? SCULLY Why not? It's the city of the Angels. Everyone is looking for their break. To get out of their everyday lives and pursue a career in fantasy. I'm sure the producers out here have seen it all and maybe the Morrisons have stumbled on to a good gimmick to get noticed. MULDER When are the test results coming back? SCULLY This afternoon. We'll expose the fraud and then we'll be on the first flight back to Washington. MULDER No, Scully, something tells me it's not some stunt. It's all a set-up. Making us the fools. INT. LA Bureau Forensics office. Afternoon. SCULLY enters the office. There is a Female Lab Tech, AGENT FIORE, inside the room. AGENT FIORE Agent Scully? SCULLY Agent Fiore. Thank you for getting these test results back to me so quickly. Is there anything in the paint sample worth noting? AGENT FIORE A couple of interesting things. Where did you get it? SCULLY Case involving a possible art fraud. AGENT FIORE What we have here are two very different types of paint. Both are oil- based. On the surface both appear to be identical. SCULLY But? AGENT FIORE They're anything but. The paint on this first slide is pretty ordinary and common, the kind you buy at any art supply store. Inexpensive. It's primarily the kind of paint that a beginning student would use. However, the second sample is highly unusual. Its chemical composition resembles the type of paint that would have been used at least 100 years ago, if not even longer. SCULLY How is that possible? AGENT FIORE Don't know. That's the $64,000 question. Do you know much about paint itself? SCULLY No, not really. AGENT FIORE Well, painters today tend to use raw linseed oil diluted with turpentine as a medium. About a hundred or so years ago and beyond, painters generally preferred polymerized oil, which is also known as "stand oil". It tended to be heated or otherwise dried and then thinned to a painting consistency by mixing it with turpentine, or sometimes even an emulsion mixed with an egg yolk. Stand oil by itself is not what's unusual. It's not common today, but some painters still use it. The pigments in the stand oil in this second sample are what's interesting. They don't exist today in a truly identical form. I've isolated two colors from the sample you provided. There are more, but in insufficient quantities to analyze. This blue color is what is known today as synthetic ultramarine, which is the exact color of the first sample. However, the tests on the second sample show it to contain lapis lazuli. SCULLY Lapis? I thought it was used primarily in ancient Egyptian jewelry. AGENT FIORE It was also used in the creation of pigments in paint. Some artists prided themselves on the colors they could create with natural materials - which ran quite the gamut. Insects to gemstones to even cow's urine. Indian cows were a particular favorite. SCULLY Until India became Hindu. And then .... Holy cow... AGENT FIORE That's one way to put it. BOTH Laugh. SCULLY then regains her composure. What about this purple splotch? AGENT FIORE This color is also highly unusual. The dye appears to have been made from some sort of insect, and most likely a specimen of the order coleoptera, species Candidae, otherwise known as the ground beetle. I'm not an entomologist, but my knowledge of art history makes me suspect that the beetle used to make this color most likely came from either Central America or India. It's rather unusual. If you need to know the exact species, I'll call in an entomologist specializing in beetles from those parts of the world to try to determine it for you. If it's a beetle that has been classified, it shouldn't be too difficult. However, there's very little of it - just this tiny fragment of what would have been its shell - and it could take some time. There's also another compound in the second sample, that, to be honest, I haven't a clue how to classify or even understand. It emulates human skin in that the skin is somehow becoming the paint. In layman's terms, it's reminiscent of some weird sort of flesh-eating disease, but one that's not bacterial. Definitely not Strep A. And that isn't even a good way to describe it. It's almost like human cells, and even DNA have in some way become a sort of emulsion, like this substance is somehow overwriting the DNA. Where did you get this from? SCULLY A bruise-like mass on a woman's leg. AGENT FIORE A leg? I was expecting an actual painting to be the source. SCULLY Yeah, she said it grew from about the size of a quarter to taking up most of her leg in a matter of moments. She says she couldn't wash it off no matter what she used. AGENT FIORE No, that's not right. The nineteenth century paint wasn't fresh. It was dry. It's been on her leg for at least a few days if not even a few weeks. There was a little blood from where you scraped it off. Wet paint wouldn't make someone bleed. The modern paint was fresh. No more than maybe a day old. A breeze to get rid of with turpentine. What's turning into a sort of "human emulsion" is beyond me. And it is growing or spreading rapidly. SCULLY That doesn't make any sense. If someone wanted to pull a fraud, could he buy this paint anywhere? AGENT FIORE The modern one, yes. The other one, doubtful. Not unless you can find a way to time-travel back about one hundred years or find a way to obtain the gemstones and beetles and the follow the exact techniques used at the time to make the pigments. And age the painting. It's not that it can't be done. You'd have to be a fairly knowledgeable about paint at that time and be an extremely sophisticated forger to pull it off. We're state-of-the- art here when it comes to art forgery investigations and we'd be likely to detect that sort of fraud. SCULLY What about someone buying some old paint somewhere or finding it in an attic or basement? AGENT FIORE It's possible but not likely. You'd be looking at decomposition. It's been a hundred years. What you have here are two very different things masquerading as one. There's definitely fraud of some sort, but not what would be typical to an ordinary art crime investigation. The real mystery is what's underneath the modern paint and why someone is masking it. Or imitating it, for whatever purpose. SCULLY's cell phone then rings. SCULLY Excuse me. SHE reaches for her phone and answers it. Scully. MULDER Scully, it's me. Did you find out anything? SCULLY Yeah, I'm starting to think like you. Don't even ask. Looks like we're not flying home this afternoon. Where are you? INT. MORRISON Residence. CARYN is searching the house, looking for more evidence that she has been the victim of a sinister game. Upon going through ADAM's walk- in closet, she discovers a shoe box containing two tubes of dark paint and some brushes. All show evidence of recent use. INT. Day. Art History Department. UCLA. Office. Small cluttered office, typical of academia. Computer, in- baskets containing student assignments and general correspondence. File cabinet against one wall. Several Impressionist prints - Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Pisarro. The door is open. SCULLY enters the office. CAMERA notes a framed degree hanging on one wall. It is from the Universite de Paris - Sorbonne. MULDER Dr. Marie-Celine LaMarche, this is my partner, Dana Scully. BOTH exchange pleasantries. DR. LaMARCHE then goes to her bookcase and pulls out a large, but thin and weathered book from its top shelf. As she is doing this, SCULLY shows MULDER the lab report and points to its findings. HE looks at it quizzically. MARIE-CELINE then moves back to her desk and puts the book on it, noting MULDER gazing at the file that SCULLY has given to him. SHE then flips the pages until she finds a picture of a painting. It is the garden scene. MARIE-CELINE Le Jardin Diabolique. Jean Engare (EN-GAR-AY). Garden of Demons. SCULLY It looks a little different. Emptier. MARIE-CELINE Until Agent Mulder showed me the photo of it, I thought that it existed only in stories and backroom gossip. I never thought I would ever come across it. SCULLY What's so remarkable about it? MARIE-CELINE What it truly is. Evil incarnate. The painting was rumored to have been destroyed about 20 years ago. Since it has appeared at least two times since then, the rumors were obviously incorrect. Your partner told me about Melissa Watters. Very disturbing. And now Caryn Morrison. The usual form the painting takes is the pretty French garden scene. It's gone through a number of changes over the years. Name changes. False provenances created to give it a lineage that would be an art collector's dream. All the while covering its death toll and adding to its unspeakable carnage. The real painting is said to be something like this. DR. LaMARCHE turns the page over to reveal the Expressionist form. INSERT dark form, again slightly emptier, missing some of the newer "additions." SCULLY Which I saw just for a second. How is this possible? We examined the painting thoroughly. MARIE-CELINE The art world has its secrets, Agent Scully. Ones that have been buried a long time. SCULLY How did the other people get into the painting? Did some other artist add them? The one here doesn't look finished compared to the one hanging in the Morrisons library. What do you mean by its death toll? A painting doesn't kill people. MULDER Scully, the extra people in the painting we saw are some of its previous... owners. They're being ... collected. You were right. Lonely, or in this case, rather evil little entities or creatures that used to be people. Consigning other people to spend eternity in their world. SCULLY Is INCREDULOUS. What? MULDER It's true, Scully. SCULLY Why? How? If it's such a secret, how do the two paintings exist? Why would these... creatures allow the real painting to be shown? MARIE-CELINE Madness. Not many people believe le fou. The fool. This book was discovered in 1943. WWII. Time of German occupation in France. The owner at the time was Etienne Fournot. A simple man, a farmer. Thought to be insane. At least after he had owned the painting for a time. He drew what he saw as being the real painting - what you're seeing. He kept a diary - this book actually - of things that happened to him and believed that it would be evidence to prove that the painting harbored what he felt were killers of a sort unknown to this world. No one ever believed him. He hid it well, so they - the entities - couldn't find it and destroy it. The diary and Fournot's body were found in the remains of his bombed- out home. The painting was not found and was presumably taken by looters. SCULLY How did you get the book? MARIE-CELINE My research interests. A few years ago, one of my students found it in an attic in a friend's home near Nice. He thought I might like a good story. MULDER The why? The paint on Caryn Morrison. The "bruise" you examined. You saw her in the painting. How? Each new addition's life force is captured and absorbed by brushstrokes in the application of paint to his or her body. MARIE-CELINE nods in agreement. Which works in tandem to tortuously transfer this force, the soul, the spirit, that which is human, that which is good, from the physical person to the physical, impressionist painting. In reality, each addition becomes non- human, dark, immortal, and predatory. What remains of the person's consciousness would stay alive, active, and evil. The real painting. What Caryn thought were the voices she first heard. The ones that plotted to kill her, or the part of her they wished to feed on, before she made her bargain, whatever it is, whatever is keeping her alive. And Adam Morrison alive. After the collection of the new addition, the requisite killings and the erasing of any evidence that would implicate the painting, it moves on to its new home, and then the occupants or entities within it continue to prey on and possess and collect other human beings. The why? Obsession. At first, finding the One that will set them free. Now, frustration. Rage. No sign of the One. All that's left is the joy of the kill, the thrill of the game. They wanted you to see. SCULLY Because I wouldn't believe. And that my scientific findings would remove any suspicion of the painting, and inadvertently, I would become an accomplice. MULDER That's too easy an explanation. They want something, Scully. And they're using you, playing you against me to get it. Or find it. MARIE-CELINE But why go to all the trouble to draw you to LA? Those living in the painting do not want the two of you. Adam Morrison has not been affected. Their goal is to complete the painting and by doing so, to be released from their damnation. MULDER You must be careful. It knows you. MARIE-CELINE smiles. MULDER and SCULLY do not notice. SCULLY Unless we can help them somehow. Finding their One. MULDER I don't think so. It's deeper than that. MARIE-CELINE Far deeper. MULDER Scully, you touched Caryn. You touched the painting. You told me you thought you had touched something sticky - maybe still- drying paint. Scully, your eyes can and do deceive you. You see people, but you rarely touch who or what they truly are. This time you did. And they weren't expecting it. SCULLY Which is why you saw Caryn as only being dark for a moment. Like attracts like. So they... MULDER They hid the truth from us. Caryn Morrison, or what's left of her, is only the illusion she wants us to see. Adam Morrison may be part of the illusion himself, or a pawn in the elaborate game she's playing along with the creatures in the painting. Or he may be playing his own game. The Morrisons wanted us here. They specifically asked for us. We have to find out why. MARIE-CELINE Would it be possible to arrange for me to see the painting? Perhaps I might be able to help somehow. MULDER unconsciously nods in agreement and picks up the DIARY. He knocks a small object over - an Eastern European craft item. Unconsciously, he notices. SHE smiles. Maybe it will shed some light for you. SCULLY Is there any way to stop the entities from their plan to collect Caryn? MARIE-CELINE If you can remove the painting from her home, it is possible that its influence on her can be stopped and that her fate can be changed. MULDER Her fate was sealed the day she took her new painting home. INT. Day. A short time later. DR. LAMARCHE's office. MARIE- CELINE is working on her computer and talking on the telephone. MARIE CELINE I've made arrangements to see it tomorrow. Yes, mon cher (my dear/my love), I played my part to the hilt. (LAUGHS) It won't be long now. The diary was the piece de resistance. It's very convincing. It always has been. The truth makes for interesting reading. At least the version we want them to know. Yeah, he took it with him. Fox Mulder? He's exactly what you told me to expect. Brilliant, intuitive mind. He hasn't put all the pieces together yet. He needs just one more clue. Yes, he knocked it over. That should trigger his memory. Yes, you were right. Your old friend is the one. His skeptical partner is another story. She's the question mark. Yes, I know, we're running out of time. (O.S.) A knock on the office door. Someone's at the door. Must run. Au revoir. Je t'aime.(Goodbye. I love you.) Un moment. Entrez. (Just a minute. Come in.) ADAM MORRISON enters the office and moves towards MARIE- CELINE's desk. HE notes her hanging up the telephone. BOTH are tense. MARIE-CELINE I've been expecting you. You just missed them. ADAM Yeah, I know. I watched them leave. Well? That was him, wasn't it? MARIE-CELINE smiles. It worked? MARIE-CELINE What did you think? ADAM Got a call from Agent Mulder asking if you could take a look at the painting and tell us how to rid ourselves of its "curse." Let me guess. He fell hook, line and sinker for that "diary." MARIE-CELINE Did you think he wouldn't? We had to do it this way. Don't be so nervous. It's for the best. Do you want Caryn to suspect? ADAM Not like she doesn't already. I'm sure she thinks I'm having an affair. With you.(pauses) Now that would be a laugh. And be the least of my problems. MARIE-CELINE Disappointing me again, Adam? Some things never change. And you should know that your gig is almost up. Agent Scully has discovered your hidden creative talents. ADAM That's all I need. This whole thing has been wrong from day one. I should have put an end to it and you a long time ago. MARIE-CELINE You know you can't get rid of me that easily. Adam, when will you ever learn? And since when have you grown a conscience? Are the paint fumes making you see some sort of twisted light? Cut the guilt Adam. It doesn't become you. We're so close. ADAM To being exposed? God help us both. MARIE-CELINE To getting what we want. Our freedom. ADAM To getting what you want. I'm only your errand boy. This has to end. The price for my freedom is too high. This wasn't part of the bargain. Caryn doesn't deserve what's happening to her. God, if it was happening for real. MARIE-CELINE You chose unwisely. You have as much at stake as I do. She must pay the price for your bad judgment. ADAM Don't remind me. And every day you squeeze out yet another drop of my soul. MARIE-CELINE You sold it far too cheaply. So quick to sign on the dotted line. Lawyers. ADAM Damn you. MARIE CELINE You damned yourself Adam. I offered you a solution. ADAM If those FBI agents knew the truth.... MARIE-CELINE We need them. It will end. Soon. They will know. Panicking won't solve this. ADAM It will end tonight. HE glares at her, leaves, and slams the door behind him, cursing his folly. MARIE-CELINE Alone in her office. Yes it will. INT. Night. 10:49 p.m. MORRISON RESIDENCE. ADAM MORRISON is alone in the library, working up the courage to come clean and admit what he has done to Caryn, so he can clear his conscience, beg for her forgiveness and find a way out of the mess he has gotten himself into. He sits at his desk, picks up his wedding photo and gazes at it. He wonders, where, in his eyes, it all went wrong. He then puts it down. The desk is strewn with legal papers. He is in no mood to work. A rare-edition copy of Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass" (Alice in Wonderland) is on the desk. CAMERA holds on the book for a moment. He picks it up, absently thumbs through it, and then puts it back down on the desk when he hears a noise. (O.S.) Door opening. CAMERA focuses on determining the source of the sound. CARYN enters the library. She is angry. She is carrying the box that contains the paint, brush, and the cassette tape. She moves closer to ADAM and THROWS the box on the desk in front of him. CARYN Aren't you a little late for your art class tonight, Adam? ADAM Caryn, I don't understand. CARYN What part of paint your wife by numbers? ADAM looks at her in shock. It was you all along. Pretending to be the concerned, loving husband. Caryn, darling, was it the nightmare again? Caryn, my precious, let me tuck you in. The paint you brushed on me every night. And helped wash off the next day. What did you do, put a hallucinogen in the milk that you made me drink? And what's this? SHE shows him the cassette she has found. SHE then goes to the bookcase, pulls a book from it, and retrieves the tape recorder. SHE puts the tape in the recorder and plays it for him. HE acts SURPRISED. Why are you gaslighting me? ADAM Caryn, it's not what you think. CARYN Really? You're not trying to drive me insane? It just looks that way? ADAM That wasn't part of the plan, darling. CARYN I want the truth. Now. Who is she? You don't think I look at your cell phone bills? ADAM Caryn, there is no other woman. I love you. Let me explain... I've wanted to. The rest of the VOICES are now noticeable, taking the form of shadows. CARYN notices them slipping out of the painting and smiles slightly. ADAM is oblivious. Note: Each word spoken reveals brushstroke after brushstroke on CARYN - this is incrementally done until her appearance is one of a figure in an impressionist painting that can flip into the expressionist one at a second's notice. Contrasting lighting (i.e. Caryn in shadow and Adam in "harsh" light) should be used in Adam's move to his discovery of the light of truth as it compares to Carine's own search for the truth - she will leave the "light" and descend further into "darkness." As the scene progresses, the lighting should reverse, although we will not see Caryn in the harshest of lights. We will see it reflected through her. She will be like a shadow looking at its reflection in the light. CARYN Liar. I paid the price. For you. ADAM What do you mean? CARYN The deal. With them. SHE points to the painting. To spare your life. Letting them have me instead of you. ADAM DOES not understand and thinks the plan worked all too well to make her crazy. There's nothing in the painting, Caryn. It was all a ruse. Everything. No one was supposed to get hurt. VOICE 1 Everything? ADAM LOOKS around the room and sees nothing. What's that? CARYN Don't you see them Adam? VOICE 1 steps out of the shadow on the wall and stands before ADAM. VOICE 1 We meet our creator. STUDIES him. Imperfect as he is. LOOKS at ADAM with a sort of contempt visible in its form and especially, tone. ADAM No, you're not real this time. We invented you. HE waves his hand through VOICE 1, of course realizing that it is just a shadow - there is after all, nothing there. VOICE 1 How could you forget the last time, Adam? ADAM She said it was over. That the painting was a fake. VOICE 4 PICKS up the book that was on the desk and throws it across the room. It starts to burn. I thought you believed in fairy tales, Adam. VOICE 3 Only the ones with happy endings. ALL shapes LAUGH. VOICE 2 Fool. VOICE 1 Come, come Adam. It's been too long since we last met. It's been what? 20 years? VOICE 3 MOVES closer to him. This allows for an eclipse-like effect to occur. Part of ADAM darkens because of the shadow, remembering what happened all those years ago. We've waited a long time for this reunion. VOICE 2 He hasn't changed much. Run Adam. Like the last time. CARYN Adam, what's going on? VOICE 2 You did your job. You've given us that which is most precious to you and more importantly, what we've sought all these years. Mulder and Scully. ADAM What do you want with them? VOICE 1 MOTIONS to the burned book. Things. What you won't dare to see through the looking glass. ADAM is confused. As for you, you've become expendable. Like all the rest. VOICE 1 It's time for you to join them. She's waited a long time. It was your turn the last time. You cheated. ADAM So Caryn's retribution for my past sins? ADAM realizes that his plan backfired, and that he underestimated Marie-Celine. That bitch. His mind is also closing in to knowing he was lied to and was little more than a pawn in her own game instead of a player. He should have suspected this all along. He feels angry and stupid. The joke he had been playing on his wife has turned full circle and he is now its victim. HE looks at CARYN, who has started to exhibit brushstrokes all over her body. SHE is trying to process what she is learning but still does not understand. This wasn't supposed to happen. Please believe me. CARYN What wasn't supposed to happen? ADAM Living the past 6 years on borrowed time. Hoping I'd never have to... MOVES nearer to the painting. Hoping I'd never have to see that again. HE becomes angry and tries to shake it off the wall. VOICE 2 I don't think so. ADAM I destroyed it 20 years ago, when I saw it for the first time. When I found out what it was. I watched it burn. The fire couldn't get hot enough to send it back to Hell, where it came from. It would never... HE breaks off, not wanting to relive what happened all those years ago. CARYN STARTS to put things together. Your family was killed in a fire 20 years ago. VOICE 1 Such a tragedy. All those innocents. VOICE 3 And now we can finish what we started. ADAM It was all my fault. They didn't listen to me. CARYN moves closer to him, wanting to comfort him and spare him the pain of the terrible memory from his childhood. THE SHAPES pull her away from him.SHE struggles. VOICE 2 He's lying to you Caryn. Do you want to know what really happened? CARYN NOT believing the shapes, TURNING to ADAM. You were only 12 years old. ADAM They died because of me. CARYN No, it was an accident. ADAM A little gypsy girl gave me that painting as a present. She said it would bring me and my family luck. She had such a beautiful, innocent smile. I believed her. I was never to tell them where it came from. I was to keep it until they came back. My parents didn't like her or her family. My father, especially. He thought they were evil. Strange things had gone on just after they arrived in town from Romania and he thought they had some sort of vendetta against our family and pretty much anyone in the town. My father argued with hers all the time. I would listen to them in my room. It was horrible. He told me to stay away from her. I didn't listen. She was my friend. After the fire, they disappeared. I never saw her again, until 6 years ago. CARYN Our trip to France. ADAM It was at one of those open-air markets we went to. A woman at one of the stalls, haggling over a small painting. She smiled at me as I looked in her direction. She was that same little gypsy girl, who remembered the little boy all those years ago. She told me she knew we'd meet again. She said she had something she wanted to show to me. That she never forgot me. She took me to her car, opened the trunk and unwrapped a large object that was in it. It was the painting. I was horrified that it still existed. I was sure it had burned with the house. She then told me she knew what I had done. That I didn't listen to her. That because of what I did, my family died. That I was to blame. And that it was time for me to start to pay for my crime. CARYN You were just a little boy. It wasn't your fault. VOICE 2 He's lying to you. He set the fire. ADAM To destroy the painting. They weren't supposed to be home. It all went horribly wrong. VOICE 3 You failed. So now, we destroy you. CARYN/VOICE 5 You had to buy the painting so you could do this to me? ADAM I was to wait until she contacted me. And then do whatever I was told as punishment for my crime. I prayed that day never came. I was to get those two FBI agents here at any cost. I hated it. I hated doing what I did to you. I had no choice. Nothing was supposed to happen to you. It was part of the arrangement. I don't know what the plan is. There is someone else behind all this who wants them for something. The real painting was supposed to have been destroyed and this one was to be a fake. VOICE 3 SURVEYS him. You were misinformed. You really don't know much about art. PICKS up the burned book and flips to the last page. And now this chapter must come to a close. CARYN/VOICE 5 This was never part of our agreement. VOICE 2 No? VOICE 1 Perhaps you misunderstood? VOICE 3 We're changing it. THE SHAPES move closer to them and swoop in on ADAM and CARYN and surround them. At a certain angle, it would look as though they are being attacked. CARYN screams and tries to run away, and to try to save ADAM. And herself. TWO SHAPES hold her back. CARYN Let me go! VOICE 1 lets go of her, but she is still RESTRAINED by VOICE 3. VOICE 1 goes to the painting and pulls something from one of the trees in it. It appears to be an apple. VOICE 1 offers it to her and seeing her turn away from it, forces it into her hand. VOICE 1 Give it to him. It as a test of truth - CARYN is to give ADAM the apple and he is to eat it. She doesn't want to. In her dark incarnation, she knows it's poison and made of acid and that anyone who bites from it will die. CARYN No. You can't do this. I won't. You can't make me. Adam, it's poison. Please, don't do this to him. He was just a little boy. Not this way. Take me instead. THEY grab ADAM and then hold him down on the floor. HE struggles to no avail and becomes a prisoner, by seemingly invisible means. THEY then push CARYN closer to him and as she resists, THEY forcibly push her down on him. Adam.... The APPLE is dangerously close to his body. Turn away. CARYN struggles to keep the apple away from him. SHAPES Make him eat it Caryn. Snakelike, one wraps itself around ADAM's neck, and lowers CARYN further on to him and the apple closer to his mouth. This would slightly parallel the Biblical story of Adam and the tree of knowledge. VOICE 3 This is the truth you've been seeking all these years Adam. Can't you almost taste it? Don't you want to really know what happened to your family? ADAM You killed them. VOICE 3 No, you did. VOICE 2 They were in the way. CARYN No! Please don't make me do this. Please let him live. It's my life you want. Take it. THE VOICES then put her hand to his mouth, hold it open, and force the apple near it, making it so that he has no real choice except to bite it. He is very much pinned and has nowhere to move. CARYN Adam, turn away. Don't do this. SHE moves closer to him and whispers Pretend to bite it. VOICE 3 Do you think you're going to pull something on us? Backing out? THE VOICES and CARYN then struggle with the apple. It rolls away from her, but VOICE 2 retrieves it. THEY overpower her. She struggles. VOICE 2 You'll just have to watch. THEY then hold ADAM down and force him to eat the apple and her to watch. As the acid from its juice runs over him, he screams in pain. His skin burns as it eats into him. He is severely disfigured in a matter of seconds. The acid and poison spread rapidly over him. CARYN tries to look away. The ENTITIES pin her down to make her watch. SHE tries to scream. VOICE 4 Do you think anyone can hear you? It's what you've wanted. For what he's done to you. CARYN It was never what I wanted. You never had any intention of keeping your side of the deal. VOICE 1 You in exchange for his life. ADAM lays dying and is in severe pain. His body convulses as the poison quickly works through his system. CARYN moves to ADAM and and caresses his acid-eaten body. SHE is in her human form once more, and is in tears. ADAM looks at her once more in love. HE then struggles to say something to her. ADAM They will.... HE then dies, apple in hand. CARYN sprawls over his body, crying. She then slowly rises from the floor. CARYN Noooooooooooo! At this point,she becomes fully brush- stroked and dark. FADE to BLACK Notes/Nods: Agent Fiore references Edith Fiore. One of her books is "The Unquiet Dead: A Psychologist Treats Spirit Posession." Dr. Fiore is a medical specialist in depossession therapy. Emanuel Swedenborg is known for his books "Heaven and Hell" and "Arcana Caelestia," which discuss the brilliant and often duplicitous nature of many discarnate entities. Mulder references Niccolo Machiavelli when he tells Scully that she sees people but rarely touches who people are. This reference is from Book 13 of "The Prince." The line "be careful" is from The Calusari. Act III INT. MORRISON Residence. 9:37 A.M. Typical crime scene investigation. Several POLICE, INVESTIGATING OFFICERS. MULDER and SCULLY arrive, cross police lines. Upon showing her FBI badge, SCULLY talks to one of the OFFICERS to obtain some information. MULDER POV to ADAM's covered body on the library's FLOOR. ADAM's body is facing the painting. MULDER sees the half-eaten apple peeking out from under the cover. CLOSE on ADAM's acid-eaten and burned hand. POV CARYN sitting on the sofa, visibly upset and in tears, talking to an INVESTIGATING OFFICER. The INVESTIGATING OFFICER is writing notes in his casebook. CARYN is in shock. SHE is numb and is grief-stricken. MULDER walks over to ADAM's body and LIFTS the cover to take a look. HE motions to SCULLY, who goes to him, squats, and starts to superficially examine the body. She has a typical horrified expression at her first look at the body. MULDER One bad apple.... The BIBLICAL significance of the apple is not lost on SCULLY. SCULLY Adam.... CARYN/VOICE 5 rises from the sofa and approaches MULDER and SCULLY. Like two faces of a coin, SHE looks at once both grief- stricken and filled with rapt pleasure. SHE breaks down into tears in front of MULDER and SCULLY. SCULLY Mrs. Morrison, I'm sorry for your loss. MULDER Do you have any idea how this happened? CARYN As VOICE 5, looks away for a second, then regains CARYN'S composure and faces MULDER and SCULLY. No, Agent Mulder, Agent Scully. Not at all. I wasn't feeling well so I went to bed early last night. Adam was working late. I took some pills to help me sleep. When I woke up this morning, his side of the bed hadn't been slept in. I was worried. I came downstairs... And then I.... he was... on the floor ... I saw him... like that. I've never seen anything so horrible in my life. TEARS well in her eyes. MULDER POV to CARYN'S leg. It is exposed and looks "normal" with no visible paint. Through her tears, CARYN appears to smile slightly at his observation. MULDER then crosses to INVESTIGATING OFFICER. Was there any sign of an intruder? INVESTIGATING OFFICER House was sealed up tight as a drum. There is a possible print, but it's a mess. Maybe forensics can clean it up and get an ID. Did find this though. Strange. MULDER Can I take a look at it for a second? INVESTIGATING OFFICER hands him the book. CARYN moves to and touches the garden scene painting. MULDER moves within earshot of her. Her back is facing him. His hand absently runs over the book. It wasn't supposed to be like this. SHE then turns and breaks down. Slight and odd trace of a smile just before she begins to cry. Unconsciously, MULDER catches this. To him, her words sound odd. HE mouths "What wasn't" as SCULLY approaches. SCULLY Adam Morrison was murdered. Several fresh contusions on his upper body evidence that he was held down and forced to eat that apple. The still-to-be-identified caustic substance appears to have run down his body, which meant he was most likely in some upright position. Typical reaction to poison around the mouth area. Can't confirm the exact cause of death til the autopsy. MULDER Mrs. Morrison, did Adam have any enemies? Did anyone want to see him dead? CARYN/VOICE 5 SHAKES her head. No. I don't know. PAUSE as she thinks. CARYN - disjointed/VOICE 5 covering her tracks Wait a minute. A couple of times I've heard him arguing with someone on the phone. I could never tell who. He always hung up and said it was no one. MULDER approaches the INVESTIGATING OFFICER to ask him to ensure that the Morrisons' telephone records are obtained under warrant. POV across the living room with his eyes' final resting place being the PAINTING. HE scans the PAINTING. Why can't I remember? CARYN/VOICE 5 smiles. CARYN You will, Mulder. A well-dressed woman arrives at the door. MARIE-CELINE. POLICE OFFICER greets her. MARIE-CELINE Bonjour, Monsieur. (Hello, Sir) I have an appointment with the Morrisons. DR. LAMARCHE notices the police lines and the investigators milling about and notes that MULDER and SCULLY are there. She innocently wonders what has happened. MARIE-CELINE Alors? Qui-est-ce? (Goodness, what has happened?) SHE tries to make her way past the police line. Excusez-moi. (Excuse me.) SHE sees a Forensics sheet covering a body. SHE sees CARYN and assumes ADAM is in another room talking to the police officers. A slight smile as the other possibility of ADAM being dead enters her thoughts. MULDER clears her entrance to the crime scene. SHE moves past the police officers. Merci. (Thank you) MULDER Adam Morrison was found dead early this morning. MARIE-CELINE Mon Dieu. (My God.) SHE sees the sheet on the floor. SLIGHT hint of satisfaction as one of her problems has been dealt with. How did this happen? MARIE-CELINE POV to CARYN. SHE approaches CARYN/VOICE 5 to comfort her. SHE leads her away from MULDER and SCULLY. CARYN/VOICE 5 They'll know I did it. You are going to get me out of this. CHANGES TACK as she looks at the painting. Get that thing out of my house. MARIE-CELINE hugs and comforts her, as if part of the performance. CARYN begins to cry, on cue. INT. MORRISON Residence. LIBRARY. About an hour later. The room is empty. ADAM's body has been removed and taken to the morgue to be autopsied. MARIE- CELINE LAMARCHE is alone. SHE moves to the painting and lovingly touches it. VOICES are soft. VOICE 3 Twenty years is such a long time to wait. VOICE 1 Now no one knows the truth. MARIE-CELINE She'll be implicated in Adam's death. VOICE 3 We'll have her by then. MARIE-CELINE Was all this necessary just to get Mulder to remember the past? He knows, and what he doesn't, he's going to remember. Soon. VOICE 2 It's not him we need, remember? He's the bonus. It's her. MARIE-CELINE Something's not right. We should have waited a little longer. Adam never even found out why his family really died. He deserved the truth. Not the lie he lived with all these years. VOICE 3 Truths and lies. They're all in the eye of the beholder. VOICE 2 Feeling sorry for him? You're getting soft. MARIE-CELINE Never. VOICE 1 He got what he deserved. We got what we wanted. MULDER enters the room and startles MARIE-CELINE. MULDER You've waited a long time. SHE looks at him questioningly. Part of her wonders if he overheard or what he really knows. The painting. MARIE-CELINE Bittersweet. A brief moment of joy on such a sad occasion. To see it with my own eyes. That it's real. ABRUPTLY changes subject. Mrs. Morrison? Is she all right? MULDER She's upstairs sleeping. MARIE-CELINE TOUCHES the painting. For a moment, she appears to morph into the painting; parts of her are covered in brushstrokes. MULDER blinks and she returns to normal. HE's puzzled. How can something so beautiful be so deadly? MULDER A painting doesn't kill people, Dr. Lamarche. Once Caryn gives her statement to the investigators, and after Adam's body is autopsied and and forensics has had some time to go over the evidence, we'll be closer to finding out the truth of what really happened here last night. MARIE-CELINE Really? Don't we already know it? INT. AUTOPSY BAY. A short time later. ADAM's body is laying on the examining table. SCULLY is in the midst of performing a standard autopsy. SHE grimaces at his acid- eaten visage. SHE notes dark spots on the side of ADAM's face and neck. SCULLY Hmmmm. Now what's this? Paint? SHE then places it under the microscope. INT. MORRISON bedroom. CARYN is asleep. SHE is dreaming - reliving ADAM's murder and her role in his death. SHE screams herself awake and finds MARIE-CELINE at her bedside. MARIE-CELINE We must hurry. There isn't much time left. INT. Hotel Room. Early evening. MULDER is sitting on the bed, looking through the diary, searching for the clue that will unlock his memory and perhaps this mystery. The DIARY is written in French with some English translations. MULDER's laptop computer is open to an Internet translation site. A notepad is near his computer. Rough hand-written notes, containing an English translation. CLOSE in on DIARY. CAMERA scans the book, focusing on particular passages. Translation to appear on-screen. C'est mon histoire (This is my story)... Un de ces jours, peut-etre quel'qun lut (maybe someone will read some day)... Le 14 juillet 1942, le jour de la Bastille... (It's July 14, 1942, Bastille Day) Tous les mois (all these months).... Ils visitent toutes les pieces (they have been to every room) dans ma maison (in my house). Comme des ombres (like the shadows)... Ceux qui nous sont malveillant (those who we think are evil)... le mort que le monde (death that the world)... ne connait pas (does not know)... Dans la peinture (in the painting)... Ils sont a l'affut. (They lie in wait)... Autrefois (at one time)... Leur banissement de la lumiere (their banishment from the light). Autant que je sache, ils attendrent quelqu'un (As far as I know, they're waiting for someone). Ils chassent (They hunt). Je suis leur proie (I am their prey)... J'ai tres peur (I am very frightened/afraid) ils me tuer (they will kill me)... J'espere qu'un jour (I hope that one day), que quelqu'un decouverte la verite (that someone finds the truth).... MULDER flips the pages, landing three-quarters to the end of the diary. Il y a sera (he will be there).... L'homme qui cherche (the seeker). Il veut reveler (He will bring to light) le crime (the crime), Il cherce la verite (he seeks the truth). Il decouvra la solution (he will discover the answer)... Selon les privisions (according to plan)... La petite fille (the little girl).... le petit garcon (the little boy).... Les horreurs (the horrors) ..... Le feu qui est furieux (the fire that rages) En dedans de la peinture (within the painting)... Le petit garcon (the little boy)... Les jumeaux (the twins).... Le mort qui est la vie (death that is life).... MULDER notes something that flicks a switch. HE sees the light that is right before his eyes. HE slams the book shut. INT. MARIE-CELINE's office. Night. MULDER abruptly enters the office. He slams the door behind him. MARIE-CELINE is startled. MARIE-CELINE Agent Mulder, what a pleasant surprise. MULDER Haven't you been expecting me? You know perfectly well that I've discovered the truth. That I've remembered. About why you led me here. MARIE-CELINE I don't understand. MULDER POV to messy, paper-strewn desk and some empty boxes. Going somewhere? MARIE-CELINE I don't know what you are talking about. We just met yesterday for the first time. It's my pleasure to help you with your case on behalf of my role here at the University. MULDER About the boxes? MARIE-CELINE Some old research materials. See for yourself. CAMERA reveals a stack of French-language art-history journal articles. MULDER rifles through them. MULDER You've been using us all along. Me, Scully, the Morrisons. What was the plan? To wait til the painting killed them both? Caryn as the bonus. Your reward for a job well done? You've wanted Adam Morrison dead for over 20 years. He found out who you really were and what you did to his family. All these years, he blamed himself for their deaths, not knowing that it was you who had already killed them before he started the fire. They knew exactly who you were. The sweet little gypsy girl was pure evil. His friend was his greatest enemy. One he was just beginning to know. They tried to warn him, but you got to them first. You couldn't let Adam find out. You were what, hiding behind the house, celebrating as his house burned to the ground? That they all had to die? That your tracks would be covered? And then you disappear all those years only to suddenly re-appear on his trip to France. Fate. Or your twist on it. Or was it part of the plan? What was it about him that you hated so much? That he made you human? Even for a moment? MARIE-CELINE Interesting story, Agent Mulder. MULDER throws the diary on her desk. MULDER This one's infinitely better. Especially the end. Never guessed it. A credit to the brilliant writer. You, perhaps? MARIE-CELINE It shed some light on the painting and maybe Adam Morrison's death? MULDER Cut the game, Dr. Lamarche, or whoever you really are. MARIE-CELINE moves to pick up her phone. You played Adam Morrison perfectly. Played his fears about the painting's history. His guilt about his parents. While slowly taking everything away from him. Everything good. To re-set the story, so it plays out on your terms. Your ending. His ending. MARIE-CELINE picks up her telephone. Calling your accomplice? MARIE-CELINE Security. MULDER takes the phone from her and moves it away. MULDER Not so fast. MARIE-CELINE I can't give you any answers. MULDER About how I fit into this? No, that part of the game hasn't been played. Yet. Your job was to only get the pieces into place. MARIE-CELINE You give me far too much credit, Mr. Mulder. Your imagination is first-rate. This is the story you come up with from the diary of a madman? That little creatures live in a painting? MULDER So you admit it. MARIE-CELINE is sullen. MULDER Not live in a painting. They are the painting. MARIE-CELINE And I'm somehow involved with these... creatures? MULDER And Adam Morrison. Playing both off against each other. Blackmailing him to ensure that he causes his wife's insanity. Ruining his career in the process. Making everything legit by having the FBI investigate a possibly forged painting, and then what makes the story even better is to have this very painting owned by people who all met horrific deaths. Put a paranormal spin so that I'll get the case. Adam didn't know your real story, did he? Never realized the sweet little girl from his past was a monster. That lived in the shadows, waiting to strike. And then there's Caryn. While Adam thought he was doing your dirty work, the joke was on him. She was the part of the plan that would destroy him. And what better way to do this than to become the monster he feared the most. And you didn't stop there. What was left was to double-deal the creatures in the painting. Playing their game while secretly planning your own escape. MARIE-CELINE You've been chasing far too many white rabbits. MULDER I keep losing the feet. MARIE-CELINE Truly see what's through the looking-glass. Baited, MULDER leaves the office. MARIE-CELINE smiles. This part of her job has gone well. SHE begins to pack up her office. SHE sees that he has left the diary behind. SHE places it in one of the boxes. SHE opens her desk drawer and takes out a shawl - Eastern European - perhaps Romanian, embroidered, a family heirloom. INT. MARIE-CELINE's almost- empty office. A short time later. MARIE-CELINE is at her desk and talking to someone seated across from her. HER hands are playing with the shawl. MARIE-CELINE It's in motion. And my freedom? INT. VEHICLE. 8:49 P.M. SCULLY and MULDER in a vehicle, enroute to the MORRISON residence. MULDER It was strychnine? SCULLY The acid was just used to cover the paint as Adam Morrison was held down and forced to bite into that apple. The bite marks match his dental records. MULDER It's never an orange, Scully. And why is that? Is it because it's neither poetic nor particularly symbolic? That nothing rhymes with it? If Eve had offered Adam an orange, would the Fall have happened? What about Snow White? Would the prince have still rescued her? What makes an apple evil? Jung had a theory that... SCULLY I don't know Mulder. So, bad apples aside, how was your meeting with Dr. Lamarche? MULDER Dr. LaMarche is an expert in this case all right. She's part of what's going on. She's using us, you, me for something. I re-checked the painting's provenances. When it was sold legitimately, although it was always sold by different art auction houses, the dealer's signature is uncannily similar. Listed as Alex Hickland or Alex Hawkins. Handwriting appears feminine. Like the dealer moved from house to house each time it was sold. Did some checking and found out she left each house shortly after the sale. Only to reappear at another house before it was re-sold or re-auctioned. Alex Hickland/Hawkins must have tallied up quite the commission from the one piece alone. SCULLY And between auctions? MULDER She disappears from the face of the earth. Poof. SCULLY And? MULDER No one disappears. Alex is Marie-Celine. She is set free from the painting for certain periods of time. It's in the diary. SCULLY Where is it? It's not here in the case file folder. MULDER I must have left it in her office. I'll see if she's still there. HE pulls out his cellphone, dials MARIE-CELINE's telephone number, and is greeted with an operator's tape-recorded message of the line being out of service. Damn. Already closed up shop. SCULLY What do you think her game really is? MULDER Ten to one, we'll find out when we get to the Morrisons' house. INT. Morrison Residence. VOICES softly and seductively whisper "Caryn" to summon CARYN/VOICE 5 awake. Prayer- like. VOICE 1 We don't have much time. They're closing in on us. VOICE 2 Caryn isn't ready. She's still in the light. VOICE 4 They'll be here soon. We can finish then. VOICE 3 She's warned us that it's too soon. What do we do with her? VOICE 2 She's useful. If it wasn't for her, we wouldn't get a good price for our hard work. VOICE 1 She'll be handled when the time is right. VOICE 3 She's made too many mistakes. VOICE 1 Patience. Let her live her illusion. Nothing lasts forever. CARYN is waking up, still drugged from sedatives. SHE screams at the shadows. CARYN No! This is a dream. You're not real. Adam! SHE remembers that he is dead. No, I won't let you. You can't. I won't do it. VOICE 3 You in exchange for his life. We've come to collect. ALL drag her toward painting. CARYN screams. FADE to BLACK ACT FOUR EXT. MORRISON Residence. Night. A short time later. Agents MULDER and SCULLY are at the front door. MULDER rings the doorbell. There is no answer. They notice some of the lights are on in the house. There is silence. CARYN is in the library. She is almost fully brushstroked. Very little of her humanity exists at this point. The collection process has begun. The shapes/shadows are around her. She stands numb and frozen. The sound of the doorbell tears ominously through the silence. MULDER rings the doorbell once again, tries the doorknob, and finds it open. He hesitates and then slowly pries the door open. BOTH move to the doorway and stand. SCULLY Mrs. Morrison? Caryn? It's agents Scully and Mulder from the FBI. Are you here? Are you all right? VOICE 2 Someone is at the door. VOICE 1 Who is so stupidly impatient? VOICE 3 (moves to the window and peers outside) It's them. VOICE 2 This isn't unexpected. CARYN They've come to take me. VOICE 1 We have been waiting for these visitors. CARYN BRUSHSTROKES appear to fade. Help me. CARYN screams. MULDER and SCULLY enter the house. INT. MORRISON residence. Darkness, illuminated by flashlight only. Low-key lighting so that the house does not appear too black and makes it appear to be populated with shadows. MULDER and SCULLY pull their flashlights from their pockets and begin to search the house, looking for CARYN. SCULLY Mrs. Morrison? Caryn? BOTH slowly make their way to the library. MULDER slightly ahead of SCULLY. She cannot see him except for his shadow, which is cast by her flashlight. VOICE 2 follows SCULLY and proceeds to brush past her, and touches her shoulder. SCULLY Mulder? Is that you? No answer. She catches up to him as they reach the library. Brushes off her shoulder. MULDER indicates that she is to enter the library from its other, opposing door. SHADOWS are inside, waiting. Silence. As he enters the library, MULDER directs his flashlight beam towards the center of the room and illuminates the shapes congregated near the painting. Or does it just appear to cast shadows from items already in the room? CAMERA notes that the painting appears empty. MULDER It looks like I've got company. Well, well, who have we got here? Silence. SHAPES do not answer the question. MULDER A picture paints a thousand words. Surely you have at least a few. VOICE 1 Your reputation precedes you. MULDER We've met before? VOICE 3 Our paths have... crossed many times. MULDER Funny. I never forget a face. VOICE 4 You've known who we are since you first came here. VOICE 2 Maybe you aren't the challenge we thought you would become. Perhaps our observations were incorrect. MULDER Observations? VOICE 1 We and others like us have been watching you for quite some time. Hoping that we would someday have an encounter such as this. MULDER Others like you? VOICE 3 We've known each other a long time. MULDER You're in my little black book? VOICE 1 What? Didn't you think you had fans? Your work has been impressive. Worth watching. VOICE 2 You didn't heed the warnings. VOICE 3 You've been careless. VOICE 4 You weren't ready to play the game when we first met. VOICE 2 You had to learn the rules. VOICE 1 So now we've found something - a game if you can call it that - that we think you'll find interesting. Chosen for the one who always wants to know the truth. MULDER CAUTIOUSLY tries to get the entities to further reveal themselves and their motives. What game is that? VOICE 1 One you will not win. MULDER Of course. VOICE 3 And don't toy with us about who we are. You already know the answer. Your persistence in seeking it from us is annoying. MULDER You won't take her. VOICE 1 We already have. VOICE 3 Everything is wrapped in appearances, Agent Mulder. VOICE 1 Deceiving is believing. CARYN/VOICE 5 steps out from the collection of shadows. There is a very slight trace of the woman left. She has become a shadowy figure that appears to be made up only of dark brushstrokes. There is just a slight touch of light in her, more of a distant reflection. Flashlight-lit, she appears even more eerie. CARYN Agent Mulder. CARYN moves closer to him and tries to touch him with what is left of her hands, which appear more like paint tendrils. She lightly places one on his shoulder. A splotch of paint drips on to him. She moves snake-like to try to touch his face, but he turns away. MULDER I don't feel like curling up tonight. Sorry. MULDER moves her hand away from him. MULDER You've been this way... CARYN From the very beginning. It was part of Adam's plan. And our plan. But you knew that. MULDER mouths "Scully". BOTH look for SCULLY. Where is she? Where's Agent Scully? SCULLY approaches the library from the opposing door. She ENTERS, directs her flashlight on to CARYN and looks in horror to see her completely constructed in paint. She reaches for her gun and points it at CARYN. SCULLY Mulder, what's going on? MULDER We're too late Scully. SCULLY MOVES closer to CARYN. Caryn? CARYN You could call me that. CARYN/her shadow-like features appears to fly toward SCULLY and stops just before her. SCULLY is spooked. As she sees MULDER nodding at her, SCULLY retreats back one step and lowers her weapon. MULDER crosses the room toward her. They stand together near the painting, facing CARYN. CARYN Forgive me. Where are my manners? CARYN picks a white rose from what would be the painting's garden. It exits/morphs from the painting and goes to her hand. She gives it to MULDER. It is fragrant and he brings it closer to his face. The petals darken and turn into a column of fire that MULDER drops on the floor. The flower extinguishes. For a split-second, his face expresses his fear of fire. ENTITIES notice. MULDER TRIES to cover his fear with a smile. A rose by any other name. SCULLY I thought dramatic entrances weren't your style. MULDER Your quarrel is with me. CARYN She believes now. Not like before. She, like you, is a worthy adversary. SCULLY Adversary for what? Who or what the hell are you? VOICE 4 Who would you like us to be? CARYN inches closer to SCULLY and notices the gold crucifix and chain around her neck. She moves toward it and admires it. CARYN How pretty! SHE then grasps it snake-like with her tendrils, snapping the chain. CLOSE on paint on SCULLY's neck. Combination of fear and curiosity in SCULLY. Oh, but we can't have any of this. Do you think your God will help you? Thy will not be done. For thine is not the power, the kingdom, and the glory. Deliver thee unto the true kingdom. CARYN forcefully throws it across the room toward the painting. The chain burns. The cross remains on the floor, inverted and upside-down. MULDER Leave her out of this. I'm the one you want. VOICE 1 She is a part of who you are to us. SCULLY Which is? VOICE 1 Why don't you tell us who you think we are? MULDER In some old schools of demonology you were known as the sixth class of demons. The shadows. The modern view classifies you as members of the lower astral realm. The typical and rather ordinary paranormal trickster. VOICE 3 You flatter us. VOICE 2 Except we're hardly typical. VOICE 1 Or ordinary. MULDER You've been slipping. VOICE 2 Yes, it is true we have met with some resistance. Collecting is a difficult and costly vocation. Far more than a simple hobby. So many unexpected variables. Fraud being first and foremost. So many forgeries. VOICE 3 The art market has become far too overpriced. MULDER I see. Supply versus demand. VOICE 2 So little value for the cost of each acquisition. MULDER For the serious collector. VOICE 3 Exactly. MULDER But that's not enough. Great art often captures the life within its creator's soul. VOICE 2 True enough. From both points of view. SCULLY Only you use humans as paint. VOICE 3 We are much more than the sum of our pieces. You will come to understand. MULDER I understand you perfectly. You're all afraid. You need the light to shine in the darkness of where you are. That's why you mask yourself with the light and color you so desperately crave. Freud called it the compulsion to repeat. You collect so that you will be confronted by your greatest fear. That you will never find what you seek. VOICE 2 We have no fear. VOICE 1 We will find the One. And then we will be complete. MULDER It's been, what, over one hundred and twenty five years? What you're looking for doesn't exist. Never has and never will. VOICE 2 Have you found what you're looking for? THE SHAPES move closer to Mulder and appear to swirl around him. Angrily. VOICE 4 Do you yourself not have the compulsion to repeat? To disguise the rot in your soul caused by your guilt? VOICE 3 You've spent your life blindly chasing a phantom. Hungering for and pursuing a truth that taunts and eludes you. VOICE 2 You're no different than us. VOICE 1 And was it enough when you thought you had found it? VOICE 2 You still want more. You still have the hunger. It's insatiable, isn't it. SCULLY slowly MOVES toward Mulder. VOICE 1 You're no closer to your truth now than you were all those years ago. For a brief moment, it is within your grasp, but then it's snatched away from you. VOICE 2 Nobility is so out of vogue. VOICE 1 Haven't you learned anything, Mulder? There are no answers. There is no truth. There is what there is. VOICE 3 You've paid too high a price for believing in illusions. VOICE 4 You're just like the rest. Man has always wanted to walk amongst the gods. He has yet to discover that he is a mere thread in the tapestry of the grandest illusion ever woven. SCULLY Mulder, don't listen to them. They're liars. SCULLY pulls MULDER away from the VOICES' influences. Don't be divided from the truth by what you want to believe. MULDER Demand versus supply. VOICE 2 Just when you were becoming amusing. VOICE 4 And as for you.... SCULLY What about me? VOICE 4 Would you like us to tell him your little secret? VOICE 2 Some things should not remain unknown. SCULLY FACES the shadows and avoids the taunt. And what secret is that? MULDER Enough of the little games. We aren't interested in playing them. VOICE 3 Do you always back off just when things get interesting? MULDER Interesting for whom? VOICE 4 Touche. VOICE 3 There is so much she should know. VOICE 2 There is so much you should know. MULDER Enough. You all are far more interesting than Scully and me. VOICE 1 But you are our visitors. VOICE 3 You're not letting us be good hosts. VOICE 2 You're not letting us tell you the story. MULDER What about your story? Your "home" was built circa 1875 by Jean Engare. Thought of himself as a contemporary of those who would be known as the Impressionists. Artistic envy on his end. Never accepted into the principal group, or by anyone, really. Spent his days on Parisian street corners. Never got more than a few francs for his paintings. Primarily to keep him from being a public nuisance. He spent more time being paid to wipe the spit from those who walked on les grands boulevards. Frustrated and angry, he took to dabbling in the black arts, and created some not so still life. That quickly gave a new and literal meaning to art collecting. Not at first of course. There was a string of unexplained murders. The gendarmerie was baffled. What few clues there were pointed to Engare. By the time the police got to him, he was dead. LOOKS in the painting. VOICE 2 Oh, he's not here. We.... MULDER Killed him. And then turned into a unique version of a serial killer. Masters of the perfect crime, with the perfect cover. After each addition or killing, you moved on. In the guise of the painting, you'd always be assured of finding another home. There would always be a chance to discover another potential piece and to brush away any incriminating evidence. The ability to kill with reckless abandon made it all the more exciting. No one ever suspected. Until now. VOICE 3 Those who did discover our plans were taken care of. Finding the One is all that matters. SCULLY At the cost of so many lives? MULDER What about Adam, Caryn? You loved him. You didn't have to kill him. VOICE 1 It was part of the agreement. MULDER That you kept changing. VOICE 5 He was on to us. He was going to get rid of us. Destroy us. VOICE 1 Like he did 20 years ago. VOICE 5 flips to CARYN They made me. I trusted them. They wanted me, not Adam. I couldn't do it. I tried to save him, and get out of the deal, but it was too late. I should have known they would break the agreement. MULDER You only traded illusions. That you'd have any control. They used you to exact their revenge on Adam. SCULLY They weren't going to let you win. You knew too much. They couldn't let you live. MULDER And if they didn't kill you, she would. VOICE 1 Marie-Celine? MULDER She legitimizes you. VOICE 3 She has many talents. We work well together. MULDER Cleaning up your messes. SCULLY What is it you want from us? VOICE 2 Mulder knows. He won't tell you. There are two sides to every mirror, Dana. You're afraid to see past your own reflection. VOICE 1 Just when you were admitting the truth to yourself. When you were turning to the darkness within you. VOICE 2 You're still a frightened little girl. SCULLY I'm not afraid. VOICE 3 Lying doesn't become you. VOICE 1 The more things change, the more they stay the same. SCULLY Caryn, you can have your life back. CARYN My life? It's over. I'll be charged with Adam's murder. They won't let me get away. Either way... MULDER You're framed. SHAPES laugh. SCULLY It's not too late. This doesn't have to happen. You can fight them. You can win. Do it for Adam, do it for yourself. Don't let his death be in vain. It can end here. SCULLY tries to touch her, to try to pry her away from the paralyzing influence of the SHAPES. CARYN contemplates her next move. SHE steps away and clears the way to the painting. MULDER moves closer to the painting and attempts to remove it from the wall. SHAPES are interested and observe. He struggles with its weight, removes it and then, like DeMille's Moses with the Ten Commandments, hoists it over his head. Go to Hell. He tries to smash it to the floor. SHAPES move towards MULDER and throw him against the opposite wall. The PAINTING crashes to the floor. VOICE 1 Not so fast. Dazed, MULDER lays on the floor for a moment. There is paint over the front of his body. His weapon is exposed. He cannot see in the darkness and gropes to find his flashlight. He clicks it on only to discover that its batteries have died. VOICE 2 Check this out. ALL SHAPES LAUGH. VOICE 2 Lights out? VOICE 1 You were easy. Predictable. Tsk, tsk. Bang. SCULLY jumps. SHE then shines her flashlight on to the shadows to find MULDER. THEY return the painting to the wall. She leaves CARYN and MOVES to him to examine him. SCULLY Mulder, are you all right? MULDER, winded, slowly sits up and then rises from the floor. SHAPES are pleased. MULDER Now that we've all exchanged pleasantries, why don't we get down to business? VOICE 2 Yes, let's. SHAPES drag CARYN in front of MULDER and SCULLY. CARYN struggles in their grasp. SHE screams. CARYN/VOICE 5 Let me go! MULDER Your terms? VOICE 1 The lady protests far too much. SHAPES pull CARYN'S hair out and throw it across the room to the painting. Canvas absorbs the material. CARYN screams. CARYN No! CARYN drops to and crumples on the floor. VOICE 1 Now, where were we? Yes, terms. SCULLY Terms for what? VOICE 1 Retribution. For not leaving things be. For interfering. For all the damage you've done. CARYN Leave them alone. Let them go. VOICE 3 Did you think we only wanted them here to watch? CARYN I don't understand. VOICE 2 Do you think we really wanted you? Did you think you were anything else except a means to an end? CARYN Using Adam as the bait. It's all been about getting what you wanted. Them. VOICE 1 Was there ever any other reason? VOICE 3 You're like all the rest. Disposable. CARYN Then let me go. No one will ever know. VOICE 2 Caryn, you know that's not so easy. CARYN I won't tell anyone. MULDER Let her go. VOICE 1 No, you won't. CARYN No. Please don't. CARYN screams. SHAPES then surround her and ponder what to do in order to up the stakes. After a moment, they surround her, move closer to her face, run their tendrils across her forehead, and over the rest of her face, before going to her eyes. With almost talon-like claws, they then begin to pluck out CARYN'S eyes. Like blood, paint runs down CARYN's face. CARYN screams as VOICE 4 take the eyes in its hands and throws the eyes to the painting. CANVAS absorbs the new addition. CARYN falls to the floor. SCULLY You bastards. VOICE 3 Now, where were we. Yes, yes. Your price. VOICE 2 He doesn't want your life. VOICE 1 Yet. VOICE 2 You do understand? SCULLY Mulder, who are they talking about? MULDER Why isn't he here? SHAPES are silent. VOICE 4 All in good time. All things come to he who waits. VOICE 1 Draw on your new beliefs, Dana. You'll find the answer. VOICE 2 Now, we must get back to business. Caryn, come here. Oh, but you can't. CARYN, in severe pain, refuses. She sobs. Dark paint runs from her now empty eye sockets. SHAPES forcefully drag her by the painting. VOICE 1 It's time. SCULLY No! MULDER and SCULLY try to pull CARYN from the shadows. They struggle, but are not strong enough. SHAPES pick her up and begin to drag her toward the painting. CARYN hesitates for a moment. Part of her struggles to turn light. The SHAPES suspect she is backing out. They will not allow their plans to be botched yet once again. They then start to viciously drag her into the painting. CARYN screams. Like carrion crows, they swoop down on her and begin to rip, shred, and consume pieces of her. Parts of her seem to fly over the room and splatter paint on the walls and floors. MULDER and SCULLY cannot stop her fate. During the struggle, MULDER's arm appears to morph into the painting for a second and contaminates it for a brief moment. VOICE 1 No contamination. The SHAPE, talons visible, forcefully lunges toward MULDER and the painting. SCULLY pulls it away and pulls MULDER from the painting's vicinity. VOICE 1 retreats. Part of CARYN cries out. It is too late. Both watch as CARINE's remaining essence is violently swept into the painting. A large paint splotch on the floor is all that remains. BOTH are upset. MULDER distant and SCULLY shaken at the horror of what they just witnessed. VOICE 1 She wasn't the One. SHAPES begin to retreat into the painting. VOICE 1 nods, signaling VOICE 3. VOICE 3 then moves closer to MULDER and SCULLY and proceeds to enter SCULLY through her back. She turns dark as the entity moves into and through her. This should resemble an eclipse. It is neither a pleasant nor unpleasant experience. For a moment, she resembles one of the shadows, but is surrounded with a corona of blue-white light of sorts. MULDER watches in horror. As the entity moves out of her and away from her, she returns to normal. Her face has become ashen, she has become shaky, and she has a look of complete devastation. VOICE 3 imparts a particular piece of information to her during her brief moment of possession. MULDER goes to her. VOICE 3 remains close to the two, watching and listening. MULDER Scully? MULDER reaches out to her. Are you all right? MULDER quickly examines her. HE moves closer to her. SHE becomes woozy, and collapses. HE catches her and holds her tightly for a moment. MULDER Don't believe anything they say. SCULLY loosens the embrace, steps away from him, averting his eyes. MULDER attempts to draw her closer to him. SCULLY It's never been about you. MULDER Scully? What is it? What are you talking about? What did it tell you? SCULLY All these years... I've been so wrong. We've been so wrong. MULDER I don't understand. SCULLY Straw houses. MULDER looks at her cryptically. Part of him understands but hopes it is not true and only part of the shapes' manipulation. He is wary. VOICE 3 Do you finally see the light, Agent Scully? Mulder turns to VOICE 3. HE understands all too well. HE is visibly upset. VOICE 3 smiles back at him. Both are facing the SHAPE. Both worried for their own reasons/motivations. Satisfied with her handiwork and the evening's events, VOICE 3 re-enters the painting and appears to fold back into her spot and dries up. The painting is in its Expressionist/natural/ rotting view and quickly flips into the disguise of the Impressionist view. For a brief moment, we see CARYN as herself pre-collection: in pastel, in the light, before the darkness. Realizing that she will be trapped forever in the painting and unknowing of the true horrors possibly awaiting her, she screams. The painting turns dark once more as she screams, and then reverses to its cover of the garden scene, complete with a new smiling figure. The faces appear glowing and triumphant. All lights in the house come on. MULDER reaches for his cellphone. SCULLY goes back to the painting, looks at it, touches it, questions it/what she learned, removes it from the wall, and flips it over. After he hangs up his telephone, MULDER then goes to CARYN's remains, squats close to the floor, touches the paint splotch and looks questioningly at the paint on his fingers. FADE to BLACK EPILOGUE INT. MORRISON RESIDENCE. Later that evening. INVESTIGATORS have departed. House is dark, silent. A woman enters the library. Although our view is obscured by darkness, we see that it is MARIE-CELINE LAMARCHE. Accompanying her is a dark-haired boy in his late teens, Eastern European ethnicity. MARIE-CELINE carries a rolled-up canvas. BOTH fumble their way to the PAINTING. MICHAEL HOLVEY Just like old times. MARIE-CELINE We have to do the switch before the guards come back. MICHAEL HOLVEY Still bugs you after all this time? MARIE-CELINE They know the truth. MICHAEL HOLVEY They know nothing. You worry too much. BOTH quickly remove the painting and switch it with an identical copy, complete with the new addition of CARYN MORRISON. MARIE-CELINE Someone has to. Michael, you're too reckless. You don't listen. MICHAEL HOLVEY Yeah, yeah, the same old story. It's not like you, you know - this remorse thing. MARIE-CELINE You're playing a very dangerous game. MICHAEL HOLVEY It's dangerous all right. For Fox Mulder. MARIE-CELINE They'll find out that what it's really been about. Your obsession. MICHAEL HOLVEY Is that what you think it's about? You think small. It's bigger than that. Trust me. Besides, I'm in control. Don't you forget it. Oh, and don't get any ideas. MARIE-CELINE You may not be as in control as you think you are. They're on to you now. MICHAEL HOLVEY They're on to Charlie. Not me. As far as they know, I'm dead. MARIE-CELINE Mulder won't let it slide. MICHAEL HOLVEY I won't let him. I don't dare disappoint my old friend. Especially when he's lying down. MARIE-CELINE Let's go. We've got what we came for. They'll never tell it's a forgery. MICHAEL HOLVEY Which one? We're not quite finished. MICHAEL motions to MARIE-CELINE. It's cold in here. I'll make a fire. HE moves to the fireplace and lights a fire. HE takes a photo of ADAM and CARYN and looks at it contemptuously. HE holds it close to the fire and drops it as it ignites. C'mon. Let's get outta here. Moments later, the house's smoke alarms sound and as they leave, the house is burning. INT. Washington, DC. J. Edgar Hoover Building. MULDER's office. The next day. MULDER is sitting at his desk, reading the morning newspaper. There are some old, dusty files sitting at the corner of his desk. His hand absently runs over one. SCULLY enters the office, drops a file on his desk. MULDER looks up. SCULLY The Morrisons' house burned to the ground last night. Everything was destroyed. Forensics found a woman's body. Severely charred remains. They're presuming it's Caryn Morrison. MULDER There was no body. We saw what happened to her. SCULLY I still don't know exactly what we saw, Mulder. MULDER Any idea how the fire started? SCULLY Preliminary reports are that it was arson. MULDER The painting? SCULLY Burned. I've asked that it be shipped here for further examination and disposal. MULDER You won't find anything, Scully. They're all gone. Anything that would tie the players to the painting. Again. The Morrisons, dead; Marie-Celine Lamarche, gone. Disappeared. I called the university. No one from the art history department ever recalled meeting her. She never existed. Her "office" had been closed for months and was used only for storage. I'll lay ten to one odds that the painting that was found in the fire is a fake. SCULLY Mulder, it's over. MULDER What if it isn't? It's like trying to destroy evil. Maybe it - evil - can never be eradicated. Maybe both good and evil need each other. In symbiosis. Some sort of ever-shifting identity. Like a weird sort of mirror. The painting has never been destroyed. Don't know if it ever can be. It'll just continue to bump around like some bad lottery ticket. SCULLY The ultimate case of buyer beware. With the unlucky art lover discovering far too late that he will pay the highest price imaginable in the hopes of adding to his treasured collection. MULDER Yeah, he's in for the acquisition of his life. SCULLY If it wasn't destroyed, it'll go underground. Far too easy for it to be traced via the legitimate market. MULDER We'll just have to wait til Alex Hawkins resurfaces. SCULLY Whatcha got there? MULDER SCULLY Charlie Holvey? MULDER Remember? The one with the dead twin brother, Michael? MULDER They warned me. I didn't listen. Scully, Michael Holvey isn't dead and he's out to settle the score. He took Charlie's place. They told you themselves. What shook you up. What you didn't understand. Straw houses. Straw houses get blown away. Bricks don't. That message was for me. Wonderland has crashed to the ground. And unlike Alice, this all won't be a dream. INT. A week later. London. W14. Office. 2:15 p.m. CLOSE on nameplate of ALEX HAWKINS on an Edwardian desk. A woman who resembles MARIE-CELINE LaMARCHE is making a deal with a young couple for a piece of artwork. Money is exchanging hands. New to art collecting, the young buyer is quite nervous about the acquisition. It is evident that this is the couple's first major purchase. The woman appears slightly bored with the technicalities of the transaction. After she receives the funds, MARIE-CELINE exits the office, goes to a storage room and retrieves a crated painting. SHE places it on the desk. BUYER This is legitimate? The previous owners... MARIE-CELINE/ALEX Perished tragically. An opportunity to purchase a work of this caliber comes but once in a lifetime. INT. Office. London. W 14. Late evening. Rain. MARIE-CELINE LAMARCHE and MICHAEL HOLVEY are at cross-purposes. MICHAEL HOLVEY is planning his next move; MARIE-CELINE is hoping it all doesn't crash down upon him and them. MICHAEL HOLVEY Everything has to be perfect. No mistakes next time. INT. MULDER's office. Late evening. Rain. SCULLY is sitting at MULDER's desk, putting the final touches on her sketch. CAMERA moves to her and reveals it to be a sketch of MULDER's "I Want to Believe" poster. It is almost finished and she has partly completed the shading of "believe". She smiles thoughtfully at her work. The telephone rings. SHE answers it, and plays with MULDER's nameplate during the conversation. She hangs up and goes back to her drawing. THUNDER rumbling in the distance. INT. BEDROOM. MULDER's apartment. 12:21 a.m. Lightning, thunder, wind, rain. MULDER is in bed and is asleep. HE is restless and tossing and turning. MULDER is rambling in his sleep, as if he is in the midst of a nightmare. Wakes up during a clap of thunder. Half-light as lightning strikes. No...... No mistakes next time. FADE TO BLACK