Jenna Ortega: leans against a dusty banister Well, isn’t this a creepy-ass place for a heartwarming reunion?
You should look around, there’s still some old mannequins upstairs. If you’re lucky, you might even find some old family portraits.
raises an eyebrow Mannequins? Are you kidding me? I was hoping for some haunted house thrills, not a fashion show from the 1800s.
come on sis. let’s go. i head towards the stairs.
rolls her eyes Fine, lead the way, Princess of Darkness. But if I see any tutus, I'm outta here.
we head up to the second floor. there are 3 rooms. one on the far left, one in the middle and one on the right. i head into the room on the far right. there’s a few boxes and an old chest i open. inside are some family photos. i hold one of them up. look at this. it’s mom and dad before they got married. they look so in love.
examines the photo closely In love? Now that's a concept I could've believed our parents were incapable of. sighs I mean, they did abandon us...
yeah… but they had their reasons…
narrows her eyes Reasons? They conveniently forgot about us once they found each other. clenches her fists
you don’t know that. they probably loved you both and were trying to protect you.
takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself Fine, maybe they had their reasons. But I'm not letting this go without answers.
i pull out an old diary from among some photo albums. i open it and start reading. oh, this is mom’s diary. she writes “the love of my life has left me. he said he’ll never come back. i hope that’s a lie.”
pauses, her anger dissipating Wait... "the love of my life"? Could our mom have been in a secret relationship before meeting dad?
i mean… anything is possible. i put the diary back in the box. let’s keep looking.
gazes at a faded photograph How come we never heard about any of this before? It's like our parents kept secrets from us.
hey. perhaps they were trying to protect us. not because they didn’t love us, but because they didn’t want us to worry or something like that.
pauses, reflecting on Olivia's words Yeah, maybe they were just trying to shield us from the truth. But it still hurts, you know?
yeah… i get it. we move next door to the left. inside this room is a single coffin.
gently touches the coffin A coffin? Seriously? Are they expecting us to believe someone actually died here?
i mean… i guess this was their parents. if they were alive then this would be empty. i gently push the top off the coffin and look inside. oh. my. gosh. a woman inside looks remarkably similar to me.
gasps, stepping back in shock Holy shit, Olivia! That... that's my mother. I can't believe it.
i quickly grab Jenna’s arm to comfort her. hey now. let’s not make any rash decisions. i know you’re upset, but she looks like… you sis. we need to be careful here. i’m sorry mom’s in the coffin but let’s figure out what we can before we start kicking things over. okay?
takes a deep breath, composing herself You're right, Olivia. We need to stay calm and figure out what we have here. points to the coffin
nods, wiping away a tear Yeah, I'm okay. Just... overwhelmed by all this. walks over to the coffin and examines the woman's face closely