Demons
TEASER
In the opening scene, we see a young college student entering her dorm apartment alone. She looks around the room a bit nervously, then shivers. She turns up the heat and gets ready for bed. As she stands looking in the bathroom mirror, she sees the shower curtain move slightly. She pulls it back and peers inside the shower, but sees nothing. Just before climbing into bed, she kneels in prayer, then instead of getting into bed, she sleeps on the couch. Later in the night we see her awakened my groaning noises in her room. Soon her furniture is moving around the room under its own power. The girl looks around, terrified as the bed shakes and lamps and photographs fall to the floor.
ACT I
When we next see the girl, Peggy is knocking on her door. The girl, Allison, apparantly had some incident of hurting herself in the past, and Peggy was assigned her case. Allison refuses to let Peggy into her door room saying "it's a bad time" for them to talk. Peggy goes away, but leaves Allison her business card. That night as Allison studies in the campus library, books begin to fly off the shelves, seeming to aim at Allison. Afriad, she flees the library. But the next day Miranda hears the story of the "haunted library" and passes it on to Declan, who is intrigued, of course. He goes to talk to Allison at her dorm and bumps into Peggy, who advises him that Allison is her patient, and to leave her alone. As they bicker outside, they both hear screams coming from the dorm house. Peggy and Declan burst into Allison's room to find her entire apartment in disarray and Allison cowering on the floor in fear. When they ask her what's happened, Allison can only say "they're angry with me."
ACT II
Later in Peggy's office, Allison explains that she believes that demons are trying to get inside of her. She's had that feeling since childhood, but feels the move from home into a big city without the protection of her parents and church has made the situation worse. In the meantime, Declan gets a call from Allison's next-door neighbor saying that he's been hearing strange noises coming from Allison's apartment. When he arrives, the student tells him that Allison isn't home, but that he heard funiture moving around and that he found Allson's door open. When Declan and the student, Andrew, enter the room they see the words "Abandon Hope" painted on Allison's ceiling in what appears to be blood and a few minutes later a chair slides accross the floor by itself. Declan and Andrew try to leave just as Allison comes home. She's angry to find them snooping around her home univited and throws them out. Later, as Declan recounts the tale of what he saw at Allison's apartment to Peggy, she gets a phone call. Peggy and Declan once again rush to Allison, who is a changed woman, for the worse. She has dark circles under her eyes, kicks Declan when he approaches her (knocking him across the room) and speaks in a foreign tongue. Declan and Peggy are mystified. Peggy has Allison hospitalized for her own safety
ACT III
While Allison is in the hospital, Declan asks Miranda to do a little snooping around Allison's apartment. Miranda complies, bringing lots of equipment with her. She soon discovers the reason for Allison's "possessed" apartment. There is freon being pumped in to make the air colder. There are speakers and wires hidden all over the room to make the groaning noises and move the furniture and books. When Miranda shares all of this with Declan, he immediately knows who is to blame. He goes nextdoor, pulls Andrew out of his apartment and roughs him up. Andrew admits to rigging Allison's apartment as "a little joke". Declan is furious and drags Andrew down to the hospital to apologize to Allison. Unfortunately, the rational explanation doesn't faze Allison at all, and she is still convinced that she is possessed by demons. Her parents share this belief, particularly when the "demon" speaking through Allison tells them that their daughter is pregnant.
ACT IV
Peggy gets the test results back confirming Allison's pregnancy. She also tells Allison's parents that the girl is suffering from mental illness brought on by stress and fear. Her "possession" is the only way the girl knows to cope with the issue of her much unwanted pregnancy and her fear of her parents anger. Later, Declan talks to the parents himself, recounting a time when he learned that "there is no worse hell than a guilty conscience." The parents seemed moved by his story, and soon go to Allison's hospital room and tell her that they forgive her mistake and that they will love and support her no matter what. After this show of faith, Allison is once again "herself" and hugs her parents, grateful for their understanding and forgiveness