Friends in Low Places

11

[Playthings]

EXT. PIERPONT INN - NIGHT

A slow wind blew, creaking in an ancient sign that read "Pierpont Inn, Est. 1930". There was a beautiful mansion/hotel and the large van pulling up in front of it.

INT. PIERPONT INN - NIGHT

A large, friendly man followed a young woman, Susan, down the dim hallway inside and up a set of stairs.

"Most of the stuff is up here," Susan said.

"I still can't believe you're closing this house," the man told her. "You know my parents got engaged here? My grandparents, too."

"Yeah, a lot of people did." They reached the top of the stairs. "The boxes are at the end of the hall. Need any help?"

"Oh, no ma'am, I've got it."

Two little girls — Tyler and Maggie — in old-fashioned schoolgirl outfits were sitting in the railing that overlooks the entryway.

"He's gonna take our toys?" Tyler asked.

"Only the ones you don't play with anymore," Susan replied. "It's not like you don't have enough already."

Maggie said quietly, "Son of a bitch."

"Son of a bitch," Tyler repeated.

Susan said to Tyler, "Watch your mouth!"

"Maggie said it first!"

Susan, long-suffering, added, "Watch your mouth too, Maggie."

INT. PLAYROOM - NIGHT

Tyler went into a large room filled with rather creepy dolls and a large dollhouse - an exact replica of the hotel. She began placing dolls into their beds.

"Good night, Tabitha," Tyler said.

She looked over, confused, when a doll wasn't where she had just placed it. She leaned over and saw it lying on the floor of the dollhouse, body facedown but head twisted up. She picked it up slowly. Below, her mother screamed.

Susan spoke on the phone. "Oh God. Yes, yes, are you there? Oh, you have to send someone right now, right now!" She began babbling. "I don't know, he-"

On the floor at her feet was the man, lying in a pool of blood and contorted like the doll. As Tyler came to the railing, Susan saw her and gasped.

"Tyler, don't look!" Susan cried. "Don't look!"

She continued babbling into the phone as Tyler looked down calmly; the man's eyes were staring, his mouth still pulsing in a horrifying gape.

INT. MOTEL ROOM - DAY

PEORIA, ILLINOIS

Blues music played on the radio. The motel room walls were covered in maps, hand-written notes, and a MISSING poster showed Ava's face.

Sam spoke on the phone. "Yeah. Okay. Thanks, Ellen."

Dean, entering, asked, "What'd she have to say?"

"Oh, she's got nothing. Frankie and me, we've been checking every database we can think of — federal, state, and local. No one's heard anything about Ava, she just... into thin air, you know?"

"Huh." He handed over one of the three cups of coffee he was carrying to Sam and another to Francesca.

"What about you?"

"No, same as before. Sorry, man."

"Ellen did have one thing."

"Hmm?"