The moonlight shines through a large windowpane, illuminating the room. Silken purple curtains hang from the windows, beneath which is a window seat. A closet door stands SL and a tall bookcase filled with girls' dolls, some books, and various small trinkets stands SR of the window.
The bedroom door, SL, opens to look directly at the Queen-sized bed covered with a blood red bed cloth and a gothic headboard pressed against the SR wall. Poe's trunk sits at the foot of the bed. His dressing robe hangs from the US bedpost. US of the bed is a night stand.
The door opens and Poe stumbles in, carrying a candle. He closes the door and locks it behind him. He shuts his eyes and breathes heavily.
His eyes open to see the trunk at the foot of the bed, which he stares at for a drunken moment. He sets the candle on the window seat and kneels down in front of the trunk. He opens it.
He reaches in and pulls out his writing notebook and tosses it on the bed, absentmindedly. Then he reaches back in and pulls out the shovel. He inspects the dried blood and bits of hair that cling to it. He touches the blood and tastes it. Satisfied that it is real, he sets it down into the trunk, then closes and locks it. He stands, swooning, and moves to the window where he parts the curtains enough to open a shutter and let the cool air waft in, rustling the curtains.
He breathes in the clean air and stands in front of the window, relishing the feel.
Poe unbuttons his shirt, turns to the bed, and decides to forego changing into his bedclothes. He lies down on the bed and sighs. After a moment, he stands, blows out the candle and thumps back down in the bed.
The wind rustles the curtains.
A cloud uncovers the moon, illuminating the room in a ghostly glow. The wind comes again, with a whisper like a woman's sigh.
Poe shifts in his bed.
LENORE
"Here I lie, my soul on Heaven's shore/Dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before."
Poe mumbles from bed.
LENORE
Do you remember, Allan?
Poe rolls over and shoves himself further under the covers.
LENORE
It was at your aunt's funeral. You had come up from school and we went to the burial together. They were beautiful services at the church.
A woman's shadow creeps from the shadows, the fingertips moving along Poe's body.
LENORE
We watched as they lowered her into the ground. I remember the dirt being thrown onto the top of the casket making a horrible hollow sound. It reminded me of my parents' funeral.
Poe is uneasy in bed.
A beautiful young woman emerges slowly from the shadows.
LENORE
When the crowd began to disperse and walk back to the house, you took my hand and led me away. It was November, and the grey sky had been hanging heavily all morning. You took me deep into the cemetery, away from all eyes. And then you kissed me.
Poe moans in his drunken stupor.
LENORE
You had never kissed me that way before. It frightened me. It excited me. You brought me to the ground and I could feel the tiny sting of the grass blades through my dress. My head was full of so many thoughts and all I could think of was the color red. At the first crack of thunder, you entered me.
Lenore moves to the bed.
LENORE
The clouds opened up and I remember the first raindrop striking my face just as I began to cry. You stopped kissing me and I was left with your mechanical motions and the cold wind against my thighs. I turned my face from the weeping sky and saw the tall tombstone looming over us. There was a skull engraved high atop the stone and an epitaph etched carefully into the granite: "Here I lie, my soul on Heaven's shore/Dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before."
Lenore stands above Poe, watching him sleep.
POE
(murmuring)
You shouldn't be here.
LENORE
Neither should you.
POE
You're not here. I've ...... I've dug. You're nowhere to be found. You're not real.
LENORE
The sleep of reason produces monsters.
Poe opens his eyes and looks up at Lenore.
POE
Oh, God.
Lenore smiles at him.
POE
Lenore.......
LENORE
You must leave, Allan. Tonight. While you still can.
POE
I.....
Lenore leans in and kisses him. Poe breathlessly sinks into the kiss.
POE
I'm so sorry.
Poe opens his eyes and looks at Lenore.
LENORE
I know.
POE
I loved you. I had our future planned. We would marry and move away from this place, away from the memories that haunted us. I was prepared to do anything for you. Nothing would stand in my way. Until I found them.
Lenore stands and walks away from Poe.
POE
Why did you keep them!? You must have known that they would be found eventually! If not by me, then by someone here at the house!
LENORE
There was no one here at the house.
POE
The caretaker, a maid, someone would have found them!
LENORE
But it was you.
POE
How could you do this to me? I've loved you since we were children! Why him?
LENORE
We've had this conversation before, in this room. Are your intentions the same on this night, I wonder?
POE
Why did you do it!?
LENORE
Because I loved him. As I love him still. What you have done cannot break the bonds I share with Monty, bonds we have shared our entire lives. You call it unnatural. You were a part of the beginning, Allan. You remember: the three of us out in the worker's shed together. The innocent games we played, the curiosity. But you went away, Allan. We lived a lonely life here, Monty and I, and there were few children in town. We needed each other.
POE
As companions! As a brother needs a sister!
LENORE
We needed more.
A beat.
POE
Did you never love me?
LENORE
I loved you deeply. The two men in my life who have protected me and nurtured me after the death of my father were the two men whom I
loved unconditionally: as fathers, as brothers, as lovers. My affair would have ended had you asked for my hand, Allan. I was capable of making a choice, but you never offered one.
A beat.
POE
I couldn't. Not after... Not after reading his letters. And not after our weekends here together. It's not right! I didn't plan for things to end the way they did! I didn't mean to.... I didn't....
LENORE
I know.
POE
But where are you? I came here for you, but you've gone..... I was... digging... someone must have found you. Dudley? He seemed so sure... Where are you?
Lenore slowly moves to the bedroom door, silently taking Poe's notebook from the edge of the bed.
POE
You must still be here. There's been no investigation. The authorities haven't been contacted, so.....
LENORE
You must leave, Allan.
Lenore slides her hand into the pocket of Poe's robe and palms the small key.
POE
(not hearing)
Whoever moved you has kept it a secret. But who would keep the secret of a dead body discovered in a cellar....... Unless..............
Poe looks up at Lenore as she opens the bedroom door and slips out into the hallway.
POE
Oh, God.
LENORE
Monty knows.
From down the hall comes the drunken, blood-curdling scream of Monty in his chambers.
MONTY
LENORE!!!!!
Lenore slips out of the room, leaving Poe staring in horror.A cloud covers the moon and the room slips into darkness.
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