THE BLYTHE’S CURSE

An original radio drama by

Billi-Ella Bushell
 THE BLYTHE’S CURSE

CAST

CRYSTAL a girl who finds out about her family’s curse

DOROTHY Old woman who died from guilt
CALLIE Woman dedicated to making sure her kids are raised the same
way she was
ALICE A young girl who recounts the tragic loss of her brother in her
old diary

THE BLYTHE’S CURSE

SCENE ONE: INT. HOUSE – 2022

(Crystal)

SOUND: PAGES FLIP

CRYSTAL: It had been a long time since I had returned to the house. If it
were up to me, I would have never gone back. But with the
recent disappearance of my brother-in-law, Bernard, I was left
with no choice.

SOUND: FOOTSTEPS, FOLLOWED BY DOOR OPENING

CRYSTAL: Everything about the house was exactly the same as I

remembered it. Even the scruffy carpeted floor looked the same
as I remembered, from the dents in the walls to the blood stains
at the bottom of the stairs. Nothing had changed.

MUSIC: OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYES QUIETLY ALONG WITH

THE QUIET SOUND OF WIND FROM OUTIDE

CRYSTAL: Walking into the old house I felt the familiar chill shoot down
my spine just as it had always done when I was young. As a
child I could never quite put my feelings about the house into
words. Though now I knew. It was fear. (BEAT) I had always
known there was something unusual about my childhood home,
though I had never quite known just what it was. Until now.

SOUND: PAGE FLIP

CRYSTAL: When I arrived at the house, my intentions were set. I was

going to sell. However, the more I learned about the tragic
things that happened here, the less inclined I grew to do so.
(BEAT) I decided to begin my clear up in Dorothy’s room. I
had hated everything about my mother, and Callie missed her
too much to even look at the room, so it had remained
completely untouched since the day she died. Though when I
reached the door, I noticed it was locked.

SOUND: STRUGGING TO OPEN DOOR

CRYSTAL: I could only assume that it had been Callie’s doing. She wanted
to preserve everything she could about our mother. There was
 no doubt she had locked it to keep the twins out. (BEAT)
Thankfully, I remembered the key hidden under the floorboards
just outside the room, an old secret I had learned as a child.

SOUND: LOCK CLICKING, DOOR OPENING, FOOTSTEPS,

CREAKING FLOORBOARDS

CRYSTAL: I began to search through her room for things to keep and
things to sell. However, in the midst of my tidy up, I stumbled
upon a notebook left wide open on her bedside table. The
handwriting was scruffy, almost impossible to read, as though
she had rushed to get it written. I had never remembered my
mother being, much of a writer, so I picked it up out of pure
curiosity. As I began to read, I realised it wasn’t just a letter, it
was a confession. A suicide note.

SCENE TWO: INT. HOUSE – 1997

(Dorothy)

SOUND: PAGE FLIP

DOROTHY: I don’t remember how the argument started, I don’t even

remember what it was about. The last thing I do remember was
Wilfred telling me to calm down. He said something about my
father. I don’t know what it was. But he sounded angry.

SOUND: MUFFLED SHOUTING

DOROTHY: We argued for a while. I remember that. I remember feeling

angrier than I ever had in my life. Then, when I finally came
back to full consciousness, I saw my husband lying in a pool of
his own blood at the bottom of the stairs, and a knife in my
hand.

SOUND: WOMAN SCREAMING

DOROTHY: As I am writing this, my husband lies dead at the bottom of the

stairs. I’m scared. I can’t stay here. (BEAT) I have to join him.

SCENE THREE: INT. HOUSE – 2022

(Crystal)
SOUND: PAGE FLIPS

CRYSTAL: Reading my mother’s note reminded me exactly why I had left

this house in the first place. Nothing here was safe. Not even
the people. My own family were just as dangerous as I thought
they were. I was afraid and I hated it.

MUSIC: SAD MUSIC

CRYSTAL: Callie woke up the next morning after the argument to find our
mother and father dead at the bottom of the stairs. In a panic,
she called me, she was screaming and crying, begging me to
come home.

SOUND: PHONE RINGING

CRYSTAL: I hated my mother. Part of me was relieved to hear of her

demise. I was hesitant to go back to my childhood home. I had
moved on from that life. I had never wanted to go back but I
cared about my sister. So, I packed a bag and headed home.
(BEAT) I looked after Callie until she was 18. She refused to
move out of our mother’s house despite knowing how I felt
about the place. I left the day of her 18th birthday. I never got to
see her again.

MUSIC: OMINOUS MUSIC

CRYSTAL: Callie’s story was sad and simple. She died building the very
thing that killed her son. (BEAT) I wasn’t able to find anything
that recounted the exact tale of my sister’s demise. However,
when searching through the house, I discovered a diary in the
twins’ room. A diary that belonged to Alice Blythe. Callie’s
daughter. She wrote it the day that her brother died.

SCENE FOUR: EXT. SWING – 2014

(Alice, Austin)

SOUND: PAGE FLIP

ALICE: December 17th 2012. Dear Diary, something terrible has

happened. Austin is gone. Forever. And it’s all my fault.
 (BEAT) It all started when we were out playing on the Callie
Swing, by the cliff.

SOUND: CHILDREN LAUGHING, WIND

ALICE: Austin was on the swing, Daddy doesn’t like it when we go on

the swing, he says it’s where Mummy died. But we didn’t care.
Daddy was scared of everything.

SOUND: WIND GROWING LOUDER

ALICE: Me and Austin were playing the dares game. Until he dared me
to climb Mummy’s tree. I didn’t want to. I knew it was
dangerous. I didn’t want to tell him but I was scared.

SOUND: ALICE FAINTLY YELLING NO

ALICE: I decided to distract him, so I dared him to go all the way

around on the swing. I didn’t think he would actually try. But
Austin never turns down a dare. If I never dared him in the first
place, he wouldn’t have lost the game.

SOUND: CREAKING SWING, WIND GROWS STRONGER

ALICE: It wasn’t his fault. The wind picked up and he couldn’t hold on
any longer. I saw him fly off of the swing and land in the sea. I
tried to call out to him to see if he was ok. When I looked over
the edge, I could see his body floating on the water and I
screamed.

MUSIC: SAD MUSIC

SOUND: CHILD SCREAMING IN THE DISTANCE

ALICE: Daddy heard me, and he started yelling a lot. He asked me what
happened but I couldn’t talk. I think he would have pushed me
off the cliff too if I didn’t run away. (BEAT) He locked me in
our bedroom. All of Austin’s things are here. But Austin isn’t. I
miss him already.

SCENE FIVE: INT. HOUSE – 2021

(Crystal)
SOUND: PAGE FLIP

CRYSTAL: I had heard on the news about Austin’s death. I should’ve

called Bernard. I should’ve done something. I knew Bernard
was an anxious man, I should’ve expected him to react. But I
had nothing to do with my family anymore. There was nothing
I could do to help them. (BEAT) Alice and Bernard’s missing
posters are littered all over the house. I don’t know who put
them here. As far as I’m aware I’m the only person who’s been
here since they disappeared.

SOUND: PAPER IN THE WIND

CRYSTAL: After seeing the house in this state and finding out exactly what
had happened to each of my family members, I couldn’t bring
myself to sell it. The stories, the history of my family- our
family. It’s all here. (BEAT) I never wanted you to see this
place. It’s not safe for anyone here. I’m sorry I never told you
all this before. I wanted to protect you from the things no one
had ever protected me from. But if you’re reading this, it means
I’m not around to protect you anymore.

SOUND: BOOK CLOSING AND BEING PUT ON SIDE

OLDER ALICE: Who are you?

CRYSTAL: Alice?

MUSIC: OMINOUS MUSIC FADES IN