RESIDENTS

The Next day

Emily wakes up to make a hangover drink for George , with a nice breakfast, Tiwa already in the living room , George wakes up banging his head , dragging his feet to the living room as Emily hands him a cup of honey and warm water

George; Oh my head is killing me (groans )

Tiwa : Dad , aren't you late for work?

George : (takes the mug from Emily ) Thank you .

(Emily sighs )

I'm sure I'm late honey ..... ( goes over to Tiwa and kisses her on the head )

How are you feeling Tiwa ?

Tiwa ; I'm all better now...thanks

George ; (George goes over to Emily who's not saying much , but is busy dishing out the breakfast she made, George stands beside her and whispers)

Last night, I hope I wasn't a mess

Emily; (looks behind at Tiwa who is focused on her tab and her headset , Emily carries Tiwa's plate and puts in front of her , leaving George Wondering if he'd made a bigger mess than he thought, he goes to sit at the table too, waiting to be served )

Put that down now Ti....It's breakfast time , you continue later

(Emily turns and sees George ready for breakfast, she carries his plate too , and hers , they all sit to eat, George , reading Emily's facial expressions and body languages, lifts his brows and sighs)

George : Thank you Mommy , you're a blessing!

Emily ; (rolls her eyes at George and sighs)

Thank you Lord for breakfast

Tiwa and George : Thank you Lord

Tiwa: We haven't prayed in awhile

Emily; We'll do more of that now .... with everything happening, we need to pray more

( she pours juice in everyone's glass as Tiwa stares at her curiously, the juice finishes and Emily shakes the container a bit , lifts her brow , gets up and puts the container in the trash bin, then she returns to her sit )

Tiwa; Mommy, did something happen?

Emily; No baby , like how you got sick. we need prayers to prevent that from happening again....you know

Tiwa: Right, that was some scary stuff

George: (whispers to Emily)

Something happened last night , honey?

Emily; (casts a serious look at him, turns her head to him)

Yes something did

(she whispers, then turn her head back to her food and eats )

(A while later , Emily walks to the room , and finds George isn't dressed for work, but instead is on his phone making a work call)

George; Alright , thank you, I'll see you tomorrow.....

Told them I'm not coming in today.

Emily; What , Cause you have a bad hangover ?

George ; Exactly, so I'm just gonna stay and spend some day time with my wife

(makes a cute look and smiles)

Emily; Last night you were drunk, so drunk I had a tough time bringing you in, have you even wondered how you entered this house last night?

You banged on the door so hard I thought there was going to be a break in or something

George; I'm sorry , the wine was too strong , you know I'm not like that.... it won't happen again

Emily; The security guy as you call it , Dora's husband or the ghost whatever

the voice , I saw it last night , it was out there, while I tried to bring you into the house

George ; What ??

Emily; It said , Can't keep your husband in at this time or whatever , then it started coming close , God it was terrifying

George : Oh goodness , Okay this is getting serious

Emily; It is indeed serious. But there's something more serious happening

(sits beside George on the bed)

George : What is ?

Emily: I need to know we're on the same page , cus you've been seeing all these as nothing until now

George : You think I believe ghosts exists? Or you think I think whatever you saw last night and what possessed the neighbor is the same guy that calls after you sleep walk ?

Emily; (frowns curiously)

Do you not ?

George; (chuckles) Of course I do, I think they're the same person or spirit or whatever , but it doesn't make any sense honey ..

Emily; (faces George , getting more intense)

Listen Babe , this estate is Dead , and so Is everyone in it , only a handful of people are normal like us . We need to leave , we can go to my Mum's

George; Go to my in-law , oh common !

Emily; Then your Mum's?

George : You think I want everyone to know my financial situation? Oh no no no!

Emily; I think it's important that we're safe first, our daughter even had a seizure, which has never happened to her , will you really have us endangered to save your ego?

(this time George snaps and gets up from the bed , unable to take it anymore he walks to the window, as the sunlight gently lightens the room , he stares out , sighs , controlling what could be his anger )

George; Why are you always out to attack my Personality Emily ?

Emily; I am sorry honey, I shouldn't have said that !

George : (turns to face Emily , staying as calm as he can manage )

I try , I try to put in my best effort , but you don't ever see it, and you won't appreciate it. But you honey me , and babe me , and you won't even let me have you , I feel like I lost my purpose alongside the money we saved up to buy a house , I am still your husband so why, why make me feel that way?!

Emily: (gasps , her eyes swollen and red for tears at the realization of how much her husband must have been hurting, her face turns bitter , and she struggles to utter any words, George walks up close to her where she stands as though trying to touch her , but then he simply brushes past her shoulder, and Emily gasps as her shoulders fall even deeper at guilt, then silently she mutters the words)

I'm sorry !

(bang, the door sounds as little tears fall down Emily's cheeks , completely touched ... She sits on the bed again, and picks up her phone and dials her mom)

Hey , Mom , how are you ?

Receiver; I am okay my dear , how are you ?

Emily; We are well ! . The ring on my husband's finger , the ring you gave me to give my husband , I want to know about it .

Receiver : It is a family heirloom, I told you.

Emily: This ring is more than just a family heirloom.... Please tell me what I need to know , mom

Receiver : Did something happen to the ring ? are you alright my dear ?

Emily; Something almost happened, please just tell me already!

Receiver; The Ring belonged to your grandfather, he often put it on then, he gave it to me to give my husband when I married your father , he did say it will protect us

Emily; So , was there ever any time at all, that the ring reacted to anything or protected Dad? or us ?

Receiver : None that I noticed, but we were always alright .

If there is anything going on with you, Emily you should let me know ! I could help!

Emily; (sighs , folds her lips in , her eye lids closes softly as she breathes in )

Mom , this estate isn't normal, a lot of things aren't normal, we've been having disturbances and they're mostly spiritual, last night I saw a ghost

Receiver : You should get out of the place , quick , I can arrange a truck to bring you our things, tell George , or maybe I'll have to call him myself

Emily : Mom , you know my husband won't budge , I've tried talking to him. I don't know what he plans to do

Receiver ; You shouldn't be seeing ghosts, or spirits or even demons Emily, Your grandfather warned me ! Oh Heavens !

Emily: What do you mean , grandfather warned you ? Mom !

Receiver ; If there ever comes a time you claim to have seen a ghost or spirit , it means you're in danger , you must leave that estate , I will come to you Emily!

Emily; Mom , I need you to relax , George and I will fix this , okay, the ring did protect us from the ghost last night so I believe we're safe as long as we have that ring , we will put things together and leave , soon!

Receiver : Did you bring the box with you to the estate, your grandfather's box ?

Emily; I did, you told me to always have it close

Receiver: Good , keep it safe and close !

Emily; Mom , you mustn't worry about anything, okay ?! , I'll call you again , I'm getting a call

( Georges phone vibrates and rings from the dressing table where he left it , Emily rises to take the phone , and sees the name of the caller, it reads "Roseville security" Emily frowns , as she attempts to pick the call, George enters , seeing the phone in Emily's hand , he holds out his hand to revieve the phone, Emily picks the call and gives George the phone , the couple become tense and curious)

Security: Well , well well, good to have you both listening to this !

(laughs weirdly )

(Emily and George stares at each other , a striking panic cuts through their faces )

My cheek still hurts from the punch the other night, and just last night again you bounced me off with that ring, when I'm just trying to be friends with your family.

(George opens his mouth to speak and Emily hurries to hush him silently, putting her index finger on her lips)

Security ; hush , hush George , listen to your wife !

(This time Emily begins to panic , panting and George speaks up)

George ; Who are you and what do you want with my family?

Security ; Like you both know, I am with Roseville security, we keep this place safe for you beautiful families, and I'm just trying to make friends .

Emily; You are not security, you can't be , because you're not even alive !

Security: Yes I'm dead , thanks to you ! And so is every other person in this estate , and guess what , you'll be dead too soon enough, like us , then ,your husband can play with us . you just need to get rid of that stupid ring !

Emily: (moves close to George and hangs up the call as the ghost security guy laughs maniacally)

( Emily sits on the bed , flips her hair backwards, taps her feet on the ground, breathes in and out)

You even saved his number ?

What Roseville security? Are you kidding me now ?

George ; What's this about the ring , this ring ?

( touches the ring on the smallest finger of his right hand , and tries to remove it)

Emily: (snaps , and gets up quickly, touching Georges hand)

Do not remove it , it's the only thing between us and them right now ! you must keep it on at all times!

George ; I've been doing so ever since you told me to, but now there's obviously more to it , isn't there ?

Emily: Listen, the ring was my grandfather's, he gave it to my Mum who gave it to my Dad, then my Parents gave it to me to give to you.

George : Yeah I'm familiar with that story !.

Emily; Last night while I tried to pull you in to the house, you suddenly raised you right hand as the ghost approached , and that somehow made it disappear, just like the other night with the neighbor,

remember he was possessed, but when you punched Dora's husband's face , he suddenly became normal.

The ring is supposed to protect the family if the head of the house wears it.

George : Okay , that makes sense !

Emily; Well, not just that, more things makes sense, the fact that this estate is Dead, and everyone in it , the fact that that security guy whose number you saved in your phone is a ghost, and the fact that I see ghost, which I normally shouldn't!

That means not just him, but others that I've seen must have been ghosts, I mean most of them

George : Okay I get it ! I get it , we will leave , I've had enough of this ... It is not a must for us to remain in this Estate . I'll make arrangements.

Emily; One more things is , they do hear us , they see us, we're being watched !

George : You mustn't let this stress you,

( he leans forward to her , places his hands on her shoulders)

You mustn't sleep walk now, we must avoid that at all cost ! Okay ?!

Emily nods twice and a knock on their door, disrupts their little moment , she looks in the direction of the door, wondering who it might be , George shows her the ring, and nods, pats his chest as a sign of "we got the ring, relax okay" , Emily sighs and smiles and heads for the door, Tiwa is studying in the living room with her headset on, Emily opens the door )

Emily; Rachel ! (smiles) How are you ?

Rachel: (smiles too ) I am well, I thought we agreed to see each other at the Dinner party last night ? I didn't see you

(they stand on the porch )

Emily; Oh I was too tired , so my husband decided to come alone

Rachel ; He wasn't alone after all was he ?

Emily ; What?

Rachel ; I mean he had company (she smiles)

Emily: (brows lift , eyes widens then she breaks the ten seconds silence wit gasp)

Oh , yes , the clinic assistant, I know her

Rachel : I'm sure you do

( suddenly, at Dora's, the couple's commotion slightly catches the attention of Rachel and Emily, they starr and wonder what might be going on, Dora's husband is seen on the balcony, and what seems like Dora runing up to him, then he flips himself down from the fifth floor , thrashing into the ground lifeless and blood gushing out his skull , Rachel and Emily Panics, hurrying to the scene, Dora arrives at the balcony , sees her husband's lifeless body, and screams , George barges out of the house, Mary snaps from her apartment as her dead husband sits in the couch , and their daughter , stands at the window , Mary flings the door open , stands at her porch , other neighbors and passerbys halts at the scene ,

Emily pants heavily, Dora continues to scream, George stands beside Emily, Rachel looks at Emily and George, and a sea green color energy flows around them like a ring , extending to their house where Tiwa is at , Rachel sighs , staring at the couple with a mean demeanor,

Emily sees the ghost security stands right beside Dora's husband body, smiles manically and says , "Now he can play with us " , Emily Panics ! )