At first, after the discussion she had with Martin before he left for work in the morning, Beth was starting to wonder if that feeling of uneasiness she's had since moving into this house ... the feeling that someone or something's been watching them ... that there's something terribly wrong with this place that the people in town know about but are refusing to tell them ... could it all have actually been a case of her just being overstressed from the move.
Could Martin have been right when he told her that once things settled down and she had the chance to relax, she would finally be able to say, 'You know what, there really isn't anything wrong with this place; that everything's going to be okay'?
There was a seed of self-doubt planted in Beth's mind. Maybe it wasn't so much that she was convinced by what Martin had told her, but perhaps that she needed to believe that herself ... that she reached the point where she needed to convince herself that nothing was wrong and that everything was going to be okay; to convince herself before she lost her sanity...
But then, the kitchen incident occurred ... with everything in the cabinets and drawers in there having been moved around ... and the blood-filled egg yolk.
And despite all this, there was still an inkling of a shadow of doubt still lingering in Beth's mind that perhaps this all may be a fabrication manufactured in her mind by her own anxieties.
Of course, it all reached its pinnacle when Beth was subjected to the ominous pounding knocking at both the front and back doors, followed by the mysterious child's footsteps heard from above her as they moved back and forth along the second floor. Although, in the case of these incidents, Beth first believed that Mary was most likely the culprit behind them ... but Mary was nowhere to be found after the occurrence.
Beth still has her suspicions about Mary possibly being behind some of, if not all of, the strange, inexplicable events that have been occurring in the house ... or at the very least, even if she's not directly involved, Mary has to know something about what's been going on out there.
One thing Beth is certain of now ... that uneasiness she's been experiencing ... that feeling that someone or something's been watching them ... the feeling that there's something terribly wrong with that place ... it's not just all made up in her mind: it's real ... and it's really happening.
And later that afternoon, after coming home to find a clearly agitatedly rattled Beth, Martin took it upon himself to check out the entire house from top to bottom, but found nothing out of the ordinary ... no smudges or indentations indicating a hand, or fist, having been forcibly pounded against either door; no footprints or scuffed markings of any kind on the second floor where a child had supposedly been running ; and of course, the phone was working perfectly fine now.
The only indication that something had occurred earlier that day was a highly upset Beth.
Meanwhile ... as Martin was 'investigating the scene of the crime' ... and Beth was starting to reorganize the kitchen back to its original state ... Mary had a little 'heart to heart' with Anna; intentionally, and ever so subtly, providing Anna with some deceptive 'seedlings' of her own, designed to confuse and mislead Beth ... hoping to create more self-doubt in Beth's mind. Mary does this realizing that Anna will without a doubt unwittingly pass on these 'seedlings' to Beth; unaware that this was part of her nefarious plan all along.
And as all this conspires ... Chelsea remains lurking about nearby, observing while concealing herself within the dense foliage of the woods abutting the Lazinski's backyard.
************
Martin's been sitting quietly at the kitchen dinette table sipping on a beer, watching Beth agitatedly rearranging things about within the drawers and cabinets; sometimes slamming an item or two during the process. And other than the occasional aforementioned collision of items, there has remained a lingering, tension-filled silence permeating the room. He finally breaks the silence...
"So ... just wondering ... have you taken your medication today?"
Beth comes to an immediate halt, and without even turning to look at Martin, she vehemently declares in a sharp tone, "I'm not crazy, Martin ... I'm telling you; someone was in this house!"
Beth goes right back to hurriedly shuffling things about in the cabinets.
Martin takes another sip of beer, then assures her, "I don't think you're crazy, Beth; I was just..."
Beth brusquely cuts him off, "Just asking if I took my medication ... like I'm some sort of delusional crazy person who sees things if I don't take my pills? Those pills are meant to calm my anxiety, Martin; they're not anti-hallucinogenic drugs ... I don't see things that aren't there."
"I never said that you did. And I never meant to imply that either. I was only asking because you're really upset now and..."
She cuts him off again, "Of course I'm upset, because someone was in this house ... I swear, someone was in here, Martin."
Martin takes another sip from his bottle of beer; then proceeds to foolheartedly say, "Well, no one was here when I checked, so..."
Totally infuriated, Beth angrily lashes out while slamming down the dishes in her hands, shouting out one word at a time, "Someone ... was ... in ... this ... fucking ... house!!"
The ceramic plates shattered upon impact, cutting several of Beth's fingers, causing blood to begin to trickle from some of the lacerations.
Martin jumps up from his chair, rushes over to Beth and quickly guides her over to the sink to wash away the blood and flush away any tiny shards that may be in the wounds. He then grabs a handful of paper towels and hastily rips them off the roll on the dispenser, bunching them up in the process, and wraps both of Beth hands with them; quickly followed by applying pressure in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
Martin shakes his head in disbelief, "Jesus, Beth: look what you just did to yourself."
Now appearing as if she's gone totally numb and unaware of what's happening ... seemingly like she's fallen into an almost semi-catatonic state ... Beth just says in a 'matter of fact', soft monotonic tone...
"Someone was in this house, Martin."
Martin exasperatedly huffs before trying to reassure her, "Fine, whatever Beth; but they're gone now; so, you have nothing to worry about. Everything's going to be okay; it's over now."
Still in that disturbingly distant-appearing state, conveying a far-off gaze, Beth once again speaks in a soft monotonic tone, "No, Martin; everything's not going to be okay. It's not over. They're still here."
Martin's totally confounded by Beth's bizarre behavior, and has no idea what she's talking about...
"Beth, I don't understand; what do you mean ... who's still here?"
Before Beth's able to give Martin an answer, Anna enters the kitchen and immediately notices her father pressing onto the paper towels around her mother's hands. She quickly rushes over with a look of concern etched upon her countenance ... not to mention deep concern apparent within her tone's inflection...
"Mommy, are you okay; what happened to you?"
Martin immediately lets go of Beth's hands and steps forward to intercept Anna. Once having gently grasping hold of Anna's shoulders to keep her in place, Martin reassures her...
"Mommy's okay, Anna; don't worry, it's nothing, she's fine." He releases his hold from her shoulders and tells her, "Listen, pumpkin; Mommy doesn't feel like talking right now. Why don't you go back inside and watch some TV. We'll be in there in a while; okay?"
Anna, still conveying a concerned expression on her face, briefly looks over at Beth, then slowly nods and turns around; then starts to walk away. Beth suddenly snaps out of that seemingly semi-catatonic state...
"No, it's okay; I'm fine. ... What is it, sweetie?"
"About before..." Anna stops speaking, appearing hesitant about telling Beth; who's clearly upset, and not looking like her normal self.
Beth can sense her daughter's apprehension, so she delivers a reassuringly tender smile to Anna in an attempt to put her more at ease...
"It's okay, sweetie, you can tell me anything; you know that, right? ... Now, what about before?"
Anna bites down on her lower lip for a brief moment ... an instinctive, involuntary action that she takes when nervous or anxious about something, sort of like a nervous tick ... then takes in a breath before continuing...
"I asked Mary why she didn't come back down to the kitchen for juice, and she told me that she decided not to use our bathroom and just went back home. She said she's sorry she had us waiting around thinking that she was going to come back."
"That's okay, sweetie; it's fine. You can tell Mary not to worry about it; she doesn't have to be sorry for that."
Anna bites down on her lip again, then begins to hesitantly tell Beth in a sheepish manner...
"And ... she also told me ..." Anna bites down on her lip, then informs Beth, "she's also sorry for upsetting you this morning."
Beth's a bit confused now. "Wait ... what do you mean ... she's sorry for upsetting me this morning? What did she say she did that upset me?"
Once again, Anna bites down on her lower lip before explaining...
"You know ... with everything being moved around. When I told her that you were asking me if me or Daddy moved things around in the kitchen, she said that she was the one who did it."
Anna bites down on her lower lip while waiting for an evidently flabbergasted Beth to find the words to respond to what she had just told her. And, after a moment of uneasy silence...
"Hold on ... wait a minute ... you're telling me, Mary told you that she moved everything around?"
Beth felt compelled to reiterate that point aloud in an attempt to try and wrap her mind around what Anna had just informed her. Meanwhile, Anna bites down on her lower lip, then responds by slowly nodding her head. Beth begins rambling aloud...
"Seriously ... Mary ... Mary did it? ... I don't understand. ... When? ... How? ... But wait ... Why; why would she do that?"
Anna tells Beth, "She said that she just wanted to put things away the way her mom used to have them when they lived here before. She said she did it because she misses her mom, that's all."
A completely lost Martin breaks his silence and joins in on the conversation; unfortunately taking out the frustration brought on from his confoundedness on Anna with a harshly stern inflection in his tone...
"What's going on here, Anna?! Why is Mary breaking into our house and upsetting your mother by moving things around ... why would you let her do that?!"
Upset by the 'scolding', Anna bursts into tears; heavily sobbing, "I'm sorry, Daddy, Mommy ... I'm sorry. But I didn't let her do it, I swear ... I swear, I didn't even know that she did that. I didn't."
Beth rushes over to Anna, drops down on both knees, and tightly embraces Anna; then begins to tenderly stroke her hair while soothingly whispering aloud in her ear...
"Shh ... don't cry, sweetie; it's okay. Hush, hush; it's alright. Mommy's not mad, it's okay. This isn't your fault. And Daddy didn't mean it; he's sorry for yelling at you. ... Isn't that right, Martin?"
A befuddled Martin is still at a loss and now starting to have a persecution complex, feeling as if he's somehow being painted as the bad guy again in this scenario for some reason. He defensively retorts...
"But I didn't really yell at her, I just..."
Martin instantly shuts up after receiving an icy cold, rebuking glare from Beth; like the proverbial daggers being thrown from one's eyes ... fiercely directed at him. He immediately concedes...
"Yes, Daddy's sorry; pumpkin. I shouldn't have yelled at you or blamed you for something that Mary did. I'm sorry."
Anna stops crying but remains sniffling. Beth gently wipes away the tears from her daughter's face, then tenderly strokes her hair. She lovingly smiles at Anna, who reciprocates with a smile of her own.
Beth delivers a soft, gentle kiss to Anna's forehead before standing back up. She then asks Anna...
"Sweetie; Mary told you that she used to live here before?"
Anna slowly nods.
"And did she happen to tell you where she lives now?"
Again, Anna slowly nods.
Beth takes in a breath before asking, "Anna ... sweetie ... where does Mary live?"
Anna bites down on her lower lip, then remains silent as she slowly walks over and opens the back door. Then she steps out onto the back porch; with Beth and Martin following behind. Anna slowly raises her arm, stretching it out forward and pointing...
"Out there ... in the barn."