Subj: Designing Shadows Part Nine
Date: 1/15/01 8:29:38 AM Central Standard Time
From: N.E. Collins

"NO! NO!" Julia Hoffman shouted out in a horribly shaking voice. She screamed in a deep shattering fashion and it brought Anthony and the rest of the workmen running to her aid. Charlene continued her stalking advance and the knife glistened and gleamed menacingly at her nearest victim. She was just about to thrust it downward when she saw one of the workmen who bore a striking resemblance to Elvis Presley. The spirit of Beth Chavez was immediately thrown loose, her hold over Charlene's mind was nothing compared to Charlene's adoration of the King of Rock and Roll!

As Charlene came back to her senses she absentmindedly dropped the knife and it clattered to the stone floor harmlessly. "Where, where am I? How...did I...get here?"

She was confused and disoriented as Julia Sugarbaker took the initiative to question her. "That is JUST what I would like to KNOW! CHARLENE, what in the WORLD is wrong with YOU! You scared poor Dr. Hoffman to DEATH with your little game. And WHERE did you get those old clothes? I swear, can't we just do the job we have been hired to do just once without getting all involved in things that do NOT concern us?"

She said this last thing to no one really as it was a mere rhetorical comment, but the ghost of Beth Chavez had retaken over Charlene to supply an answer. "But you ARE involved! And now, there can be no escape! He is coming. He is coming!"

Eerie music begins to sound from the upstairs of the great house and it moves towards the group gathered in the foyer. Julia Hoffman screamed in horror again and made a mad dash for the front door as she proclaimed, "We HAVE to get OUT of here! He's coming, HE'S COMING!" She wrestled with the doors, but they are stuck fast shut. She began to bang on the doors and quite lost control. "HELP! SOMEONE HELP!"

Julia Sugarbaker spun the doctor around and slapped her full and hard on the face! "What IS going on around here?"

Julia Hoffman explained in short gasping sentences as best she could. "Quentin, it's QUENTIN. He's a...ghost! He has...taken over...Collinwood...and he's....he's..." The sound of the music reached a peak in its growing swell and the ghost of Quentin appeared at the top of the landing. "...he's HERE!"

Julia Hoffman fainted into Julia Sugarbaker arms. Charlene possessed by Beth looks at Quentin fearfully, but with love.

Suzanne Sugarbaker enters the room at just this moment and took in the scene. "WELL, Julia! Who are THESE people? What is it, some kinda costume party? And what's wrong with her? What was she hollerin' about earlier?" Suzanne proceeded to talk aimlessly as was her forte and the ghost of Quentin faded from view, but he would return. The music played on.

Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production.