A OPEN ON: Rain. Lashing a windowpane. A PIANO PLAYS somewhere off screen. Charles Ive’s Sonata No 2 for piano. INT. WILL’S ATTIC PLAYROOM - DAY GEORGIE DENBROUGH (7) -- nervous, eager, sweet -- sits on the floor folding drawings of war into the form of a PAPER BOAT. His brother Will (13) is in bed, surrounded by tissues, playing video games and glancing over every so often to check on Georgie’s progress. WILL Get the wax in the basement. Georgie looks hesitant. Scared even. WILL (CONT’D) You want it to float don’t you? Georgie goes. TITLE CARD: OCTOBER 1988 INT. WILL’S HOUSE - DAY Georgie hurries downstairs, catching a glimpse of their mother SHARON DENBROUGH (30s) in the parlor playing piano. She smiles at her son running past. INT. KITCHEN - WILL'S HOUSE - DAY George's stomach sinks as he comes face to face with THE EASEMENT DOOR. He scowls to steady himself, ready to face the blackness behind it. INT. WILL’S ATTIC PLAYROOM — CONTINUOUS RIOAUKTE-TALKIE SQUAWKS next to Will. ‘The sarcastic voice of RICHIE “TRASHMOUTH” GOLDFARB (13), his neighbor, filters gh the plastic speaker. ~~ ~Revision 2 RICHIE (staticky) Oh, Willy-boy. over. Will, annoyed, picks up the walkie and looks through his rain blasted window. WILL Richie. ‘They wave at each other. Richie, bug-eyed glasses, turns the wave into a middle-finger. RICHIE (0.S.) Get your ass over here. It’s all warmed up. Over. He holds up a SEGA remote control. WILL can’t. I'm sick. RICHIE, Is it venereal? Over- INT. CELLAR DOORWAY - CONTINUOUS Plinging the door open, George ventures his arm into the DARK VOID. He gropes around and finds the LIGHT SWITCH. Nothing. George snatches his arm back. The dark basement glares back at him, taunting. will “cah-cahs” - an animal like noise that Georgie responds to with a different animal, depending on what the sound is the word ends with. For example, a “cah-cah” would need to have an “ah” at the beginning of the next call. Georgie responds with his own smoke-throated baby bird “ah- 00". GEORGIE The lights're out! INT. WILL'S ATTIC PLAYROOM - CONTINUOUS RICHIE (0-S.) What the hell was that? will coughs hard into a tissue. Half-impatient, half-joking:Revision 3. WILL Every time Georgie goes down to the basement he thinks he’s gonna die. RICHIE Seven year-olds are pussies. WILL Uh-oh, my battery-- RICHIE No wait-- Will turns off the walkie-talkie. WILL (calling to his brother) You can do it, Georgie, you're not afraid of the dark! INT. KITCHEN - WILL’S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS Peering down the stairway at the dark cellar, Georgie studies the contents of the room below. A DARK FIGURE, still and hunched over in the corner, causes him to freeze. Further examination reveals this specter to be a wooden shelf. Off his brother’s encouragement -- INT. CELLAR - WILL’S HOUSE - CONTINUOUS George scrambles down four steps to THE CELLAR SHELF and sifts through junk as fast as he can: SHOE-POLISH, RAGS, a broken FLASHLIGHT, an old can of TURTLE WAX, a dusty bag of colored BALLOONS. He grabs the BOX OF PARAFFIN near the back of the shelf, and hurries back up the stairs as we quickly track towards him, about to pounce. The door slams in our face. INT. WILL’S ATTIC PLAYROOM - DAY Will melts a chunk of paraffin with a match in a ceramic bowl, then dips his finger into the hot liquid and smears the wax along the sides of the boat. WILL I knew you weren't scared of that dark old basement. There you go, Captain. She’s all ready for ya.