CLARE
(back-peddling)
No. Sorry. I shouldn't have said that. No, no, I'm just saying, Bev having dumped you isn't the worst possible outcome.
JEFF
(sarcastic)
Cooool. Well, thanks for that.
CLARE
I'm sorry.
JEFF shakes his head and exits. CLARE is about to follow him then decides to give him some space.
CUT TO:
EXT. – YARD – DAY
The disgruntled JEFF exits the studio and wanders across the yard to the farmhouse.
As he opens the door and steps inside, Ed's car drives up into the yard and parks. MARK and PETER climb out.
ED
Ring us when yer ready to be picked up yeah.
PETER
We'll be a few hours I reckon.
MARK
Cheers cock.
ED reverses the car out of the yard. MARK and PETER walk towards the studio.
CUT TO:
INT. – KITCHEN – DAY
JEFF is making himself a coffee. He's deep in thought. He pours hot water into a mug, stirs in milk, picks it up and turns around. Suddenly he's face to face with the silver visored helmet of a crash helmeted BIKER! JEFF gives a start, accidentally spilling hot coffee on himself. The BIKER's gloved hands remove the helmet to reveal LEN.
JEFF
Shit Len. Made me jump. When did you get back? Didn't hear your bike.
LEN
I know you didn't. Coz I parked up quarter of a mile back. Didn't want Clare to know I was here.
JEFF
Why?
LEN
Sons of Witches business. I need you to come with me.
JEFF
Eh?
LEN
It's something special.
JEFF
What, right now?
LEN
Yeah. Come on.
JEFF
No, I can't. Not now.
LEN
(stern)
You don't have a choice.
JEFF
What d’yer m–––
LEN grabs him roughly.
LEN
This isn't a pissin’ pick and mix thing pal. You're a Son of a Witch. You've been called. You come. End of.
JEFF
Bev's gone missing.
LEN
What?
LEN's mood softens considerably and he releases JEFF.
LEN (CONT’D)
Really?
JEFF
She's just disappeared. I phoned the police but…
LEN
Fucking useless?
JEFF nods.
LEN (CONT’D)
Worrying innit. Are you worried?
JEFF
Course I am.
Beat.
LEN
Sons of Witches'll sort it.
JEFF
What? How?
LEN
If she's still in the area we can find her. There's enough of us. We know Pendle like the back of our hands, we can check all the pubs. Check if her car's been abandoned anywhere.
JEFF
Brilliant. Good idea.
LEN
Course if she's gone further afield… Do you think she might have dumped you?
JEFF
LEN
Come on.
LEN moves off. JEFF makes to follow him.
LEN (CONT’D)
We'll go do this ritual, then we'll find Bev.
JEFF stops in his tracks.
JEFF
Ritual?
LEN turns and nods.
LEN
That's why I come to fetch you. We're doing a ritual. We're chaos magicians. We all need to be there.
JEFF
I don't want to see the witch again. I'm stressed out as it is.
LEN
All I can tell you is, if you don't come now, the others will come and they'll find you and they'll fuck you up.
(shrugs)
So come now and everybody's still smiling.
JEFF looks at him and gives a sigh.
CUT TO:
INT. – STUDIO CONTROL ROOM – DAY
MARK and PETER are sitting on the sofa. MARK sifts through a wad of hand written notes. PETER is talking on his mobile.
PETER
Okay. I'll see you at ten thirty. Bye.
PETER switches off his mobile.
PETER (CONT’D)
Got an appointment in the morning.
Enter CLARE with a large glass of water with two soluble painkillers dissolving in it. She passes it to PETER.
CLARE
That should take the edge off.
PETER
Thanks.
CLARE
(joking)
Mark, can I get you one?
MARK
No I'm good ta.
CLARE takes a stack of tape boxes off the shelf – all marked ‘The Fall’ – and puts them down by the reel to reel.
CLARE
Which track d’yer wanna start with?
MARK
Whatever order they come up.
A series of swift C.U.s: CLARE's HANDS taking the spool from the box, placing it on the reel to reel, threading the tape through the heads onto the empty reel.
C.U. on CLARE's FINGER pressing the ‘Play’ button.
C.U. on the tape running through the head. A second later, we hear the sound of an acoustic guitar and we hear old Mary singing ‘Lo! The Bird is Fallen’.
GRAMS: ‘LO! THE BIRD HAS FALLEN’
MARY (V.O.)
(sings)
And lo! “The bird is fallen”,
Raised cheers from everyone…
PETER
(laughs)
Not what I was expecting.
CLARE
Oops not that one. Somebody's put this in the wrong box.
CLARE switches off the tape, rewinds it and removes the reel. She puts it on top of the box. It clearly says ‘The Fall’ on the box.
CLARE (CONT’D)
Sorry. Here we go.
CLARE removes another tape box marked ‘The Fall’ from a shelf, takes out the reel, threads it on the player and presses play. We hear the click of drum sticks counting in then the band starts up.
GRAMS: TRACK ONE by THE FALL
After 25 seconds or so, there's a sudden weird crackling on the tape and the sound of the band is replaced by the sound of Mary singing again.
GRAMS: ‘LO! THE BIRD HAS FALLEN’
MARY (V.O.)
(sings)
And so it was that famous day,
That Edward was called brave…
CLARE looks confused. MARK looks displeased.
CLARE
This is weird.
MARK
What's going on?
CLARE
I'm… not sure.
CLARE stops the tape, presses ‘fast forward’ then ‘stop’ then ‘play’. Again Mary's singing comes from the speakers.
MARY (V.O.)
(sings)
For many a loyal soldier's life,
C.U. on CLARE's puzzled face.
CUT TO:
EXT. – ABANDONED BARN – DAY
There are four motorbikes parked up outside. LEN drives up on his bike with JEFF riding pillion. LEN cuts the engine and they dismount. LEN takes out his mobile and checks it.
LEN
Can I see your mobile?
JEFF hands over his mobile. LEN immediately flings the mobile over the high wall and out of sight in the field beyond.
JEFF
What!?
LEN
It's important. Come on.
LEN grabs JEFF's arm and leads him into the barn.
CUT TO:
INT. – ABANDONED BARN – DAY
The barn door opens and LEN enters holding JEFF by the arm. JEF
F is surprised to see the barn is empty. A shaft of light shines down through a large hole in the roof, illuminating a patch of ground.
JEFF
Where's everybody else?
LEN
Don't fuss.
JEFF
When you say ritual…
LEN
Jeff. Don't fuss.
JEFF
(sarcastic)
Don't fuss? Sorry I don't know the etiquette for bike gang rituals!
LEN's heavy gloved hand grabs JEFF by the throat.
LEN
(hisses)
This is a sacred time. So shut yer fuckin’ cake hole!
LEN relaxes his grip on JEFF. JEFF rubs his neck. They hear a creak from across the barn. They both turn to look.
JEFF's POV: At first we cannot penetrate the darkness of the far side of the barn. Then five figures appear out of the darkness and walk slowly toward the shaft of sunlight. There are FOUR BIKERS in leathers and silver visored black helmets.
Between them they are leading a fifth figure. It's a VEILED WOMAN. She wears a black cloak covering her body and a thick black veil concealing her face. It is her slender neck and bare legs and feet which tell us the figure is female.
JEFF looks up. His initial reaction is shock. He speaks to LEN in a hushed tone.
JEFF
What's going on?
(to Len)
Please tell me you're not gonna kill her?
LEN
Course not. It's a sex ritual.
C.U. on JEFF's concerned face.
CUT TO:
INT. – STUDIO CONTROL ROOM – DAY
C.U. on the tape spool rewinding. CUT TO REVEAL a worried looking CLARE standing examining a couple of tape boxes labelled ‘The Fall’.
MARK
So, let's get this straight. Have you recorded over our track?
CLARE
No. No, definitely not.
MARK
Well that's what it fucking sounds like.
Doubt descends on CLARE's face.
CLARE
No, that couldn't have happened. I recorded Mary before you arrived.
CLARE stops the tape and presses fast forward then stop then play. Again Mary's singing comes from the speakers.
GRAMS: ‘LO! THE BIRD HAS FALLEN’
MARY (V.O.)
(sings)
In honour of this noble deed…
CLARE
Shit!
CLARE switches off the tape, rewinds it and removes the reel. MARK and PETER exchange a look.
MARK
Unbelievable.
CLARE
All I can think, is somebody has come in here and deliberately done it as a prank. And when I find out who…
MARK
(sarcastic)
Yeah, let me know when you find out.
CLARE takes another tape box off the shelf. This one is also marked ‘The Fall’. CLARE threads the reel on the player and presses play. After a second, we hear Mark's voice intoning, close mic'd and.
GRAMS: TRACK THREE by THE FALL
MARK (V.O.)
Its truth was amazing. O Joy!
Solaris-like!
CUT TO:
INT. – ABANDONED BARN – DAY
GRAMS: (CONTINUE)
The VEILED WOMAN is standing in the shaft of moonlight. The FOUR BIKERS stand around her facing outward. JEFF and LEN stand a few feet away, looking on.
MARK (V.O.)
White and translucent foams.
The VEILED WOMAN drops her cloak. She is completely naked.
MARK (V.O.)
It squirmed unfettered, energised
in wondrous coil.
JEFF is embarrassed by her nakedness and turns away from her.
At that moment the sound of the band kicks in.
CUT BACK TO:
INT. – STUDIO CONTROL ROOM – DAY
GRAMS: (CONTINUE)
MARK, CLARE and PETER are listening to the recording. Suddenly there's more crackling on the tape and the sound of Mary singing cuts in replacing The Fall.
GRAMS: ‘LO! THE BIRD HAS FALLEN’
MARY (V.O.)
(sings)
His name through all the country…
MARK
What the fuck's going on? This is quite disrespectful actually.
CLARE
(confused and worried)
This can't be right.
MARK
No, it isn't right.
CLARE
It's not possible.
CLARE stops and rewinds the tape. We hear Mary's singing and guitar playing at high speed in reverse. The spools run to an end and CLARE turns to MARK. She's shaken and very apologetic.
CLARE (CONT’D)
Mark, I am so sorry. We've never had a problem anything like this before. I can't understand what's happened.
MARK
What's happened love, is you have wasted The Fall's time. We've been coming here for a fucking week and wasting our time!
CUT TO:
INT. – ABANDONED BARN – DAY
JEFF stands staring at the VEILED WOMAN and the BIKERS. The BIKER with a crazed visor pulls the cloak from the VEILED WOMAN revealing her nakedness. JEFF turns away in embarrassment and speaks quietly to LEN.
JEFF
I'm not… the sex ritual type.What are we supposed to be doing?
LEN
(nods to the bikers)
Each of us is gonna fuck her. Then you're gonna fuck her.
JEFF pulls a face.
JEFF
(pulls a face)
Ur. No, sorry this isn't me.
LEN
It is. You're a Son of a Witch.
JEFF
Who is she anyway?
LEN
A cleaner.
JEFF
A cleaner?
LEN
A cleaner. She's up for it.
JEFF turns back to glance at the VEILED WOMAN and a look of recognition settles on his face.
JEFF
That's Bev!
LEN
No it isn't.
JEFF
It bloody is! I've been with her for five years. I know what her body looks like!
JEFF marches over and pulls the veil off the WOMAN's head.
F/X SHOT: C.U. on the veil as it is pulled away revealing not Bev, but the burning WITCH! She hovers a foot above the ground, holding her broom, burning and silently screaming!
JEFF recoils in fear.
HARD CUT TO:
INT. – DARKENED CONFINED SPACE – NIGHT
E.C.U. on BEV's unconscious face. She has been gagged with a biker's handkerchief. After a split second, she blinks into sudden, wide-eyed consciousness. It is very dark, but BEV spots something close by and squirms in horror.
CUT TO REVEAL she is tied up in the fetal position in the confined space. Her body is in fact resting on top of the corpse of the murdered, blood stained CYCLIST.
C.U. on his dead face, his eyes soulless, his slack mouth hanging open.
The gagged and helpless BEV is on the verge of panic.
HARD CUT TO:
INT. – ABANDONED BARN – NIGHT
JEFF is frightened of the hovering, flaming WITCH, but unable to move.
F/X SHOT: Suddenly, the flames which cover the WITCH are reduced to a gentle flicker. There is a sudden quiet in the air.
F/X SHOT: JEFF glances around to see that it is as if he and the WITCH are in an area of glistening light separated from LEN and the BIKERS. The WITCH speaks in a broad but croaky Lancastrian accent.