Anabelle

**Anabelle** is Melody's best friend. She goes with her to the Visser building only to meet Cassandra Wall and being handed paint which made her a Spirit Receiver.

## History

Dan gets home and starts working on the tape. He was able to digitize it and sees a woman named Melody on it, who was a doctoral candidate in sociocultural anthropology at NYU. She wonders if the people involved in her project would talk to her and Anabelle encourages her, saying that maybe she should go with her for protection, but Mel doesn't know what she needs protecting from. The film ends with Mel's friend wishing her luck.

In the middle of the night, Dan wakes up startled. He plugs a USB into his computer and watches Mel and Anabelle talking again. He zooms into a picture of her and looks at the dog in the photo, which looks a lot like his family's dog. He tells Mark that the dog could be his, but he does not understand how. Mark says that to him, 13 unrecovered bodies meant that they died, but Dan is not sure since he had looked for Mel and could not find her. Mark asks if he was asking all of this because of Jill, but Dan says that he was not, telling him that he had saved up three weeks of allowance to buy his dog Cleo a red dog collar, but Mark does not believe it. Mark tries to convince Dan not to take the job, but Dan sees the picture as a sign and says that he will accept it.

In Melody's apartment, she finds Anabelle waiting for her. She says that she she missed her and the two hug. Anabelle records herself saying that Melody had been kissing a man outside, so Melody starts making some tea. Melody turns around and asks why she had given Dr. Turner her number to which anabelle replies that he had asked for it and wonders if she had had sex with him. Samuel walks in and leaves the whiskey on the counter, saying they could have drinks some other night.

After watching the tape, Dan rolls it back to when Anabelle closes up on Melody's face. He walks out and sees the rat, which he calls "Ratty" had made a mess with paper. As he grabs a broom, he sees that the pantry wall is very thin, so he clears it out and uses a big tool to hit the wall and break it. He shines a light through the hole and sees a big space and some stairs which lead underground. In there, he sees a lot of files locked behind a bunch of different doors. At the end, he makes it to a big room, where he looks at a pew with engravings in it.

After that, Dan goes to work on the next tape in which he sees Melody breathing shakily hearing some faint chanting coming from the air conditioning. She tries to wake Anabelle up, but she does not listen, so she turns the light off and walks downstairs. She reaches the community room and hears a woman sepeaking an ancient language through a speaker. As she keeps walking, she sees the tenants chanting. Samuel opens his eyes as Dan is confused while watching. The tenants are all chanting while looking forward at statue of a creature in the middle. They start breathing heavily until they stop suddenly and get up, greeting one another afterwards. Melody hides in the coat closet and walks out once everyone leaves. When she heads up, she heads to the statye, but hears a Samuel and Tamara approach, so she hides. Alone, Samuel and Tamara make out and start moaning until Samuel climaxes and suddenly there is a large buzz, which hurts Dan's ears.

Melody walks back up to her apartment, waking Anabelle, who thought she was back from visiting Samuel. However, Melody says that there was something happening in the building - something very fucked up. She tells Anabelle about the tenants singing their horrible song and the statue, so she says that they should leave, but she says she cannot leave. She tells her that the reason she was there was because of her birth mother, who was not Lila. She shows Anabelle a letter that was given to her by St. Joseph's, saying that a woman named Julia Bennett was looking for her. She needs to find her because she really wants to know who she is, so Anabelle tells her that they would stay and find her.

Melody gets a knock at her door, which Anabelle tells her not to answer. However, she gets up and sees nobody there. Dan remembers when he knocked on a door in his dream and Melody opened up as the tape cuts.

Dan starts working on the next tape, where Anabelle tells Melody to make it official, so Melody is in the community room telling Anabelle about the cabinet with a sort of totem inside and a recording of some strange voice that came from a stereo, which plays a normal song. Anabelle says that maybe Jess knew something, but Melody feels bad about dragging a 14 year-old into the situation. Cassandra walks in and pins something on the bulletin board; Melody greets her, but gets no response as Cassandra walks up to Anabelle and starts smelling her, telling her she is lovely. Melody asks if she had seen her there the night before, but Cassandra says that she does not think so. However, when Melody asks about her meeting with Samuel and other people, Cassandra simply asks if she plays canasta because they could sign up on the board.

Anabelle does not think Jess's mother would appreciate Melody taking her daughter to a shrink, but Melody wants to help since she knows that the Catholic church would not help. She wants to take Jess to Dr. Turner since he owed her a favor, but recognizes that he really helped her out and was a good person.

Melody tells Anabelle that she wants to meet Father Russo, saying maybe she could enlist him to get Jess some real help. Melody sits through mass and waits until the end until Father Russo approaches her. Melody asks him for an interview, which he agrees to. She sees a cabinet, which sparks her interest and asks him what is inside, but he simply tells her that she would be surprised how many forbidden texts are kept by the Church in their vaults. He says that he had been in St. Albert's since 1987 and there have been less people coming to mass. She asks him about Julia Bennett, who he says he does not recognize. He tells her that he noticed she did not take the Eucharist even though she was raised Catholic. He tells her that he did not care for school either since he had a lot of darkness, but after years spent outside of God's grace, he realized that the answers were within the Chuch, but she says that that had not been her experience.

At a drug store, Melody and Anabelle walk around grabbing some things for Jess. Melody grabs a small bunny for Jess and wonders if her mother would finally get her some help. She tells Anabelle that she is a good person, which she agrees with. Anabelle asks her if she remembers Auntie Mame from the community room because she is rich and an art collector, who wants to see her stuff. Melody says that maybe she would buy something so Anabelle could pitch in for rent.

Melody walks to Jess’s apartment, where they hear her calling for help. The furniture scrapes as Tamara opens up her door, complaining about the volume of Jess’s television. She tells Jess that Father Russo was there and was blasting the television as he usually did; Melody tells her that they need to go in, so Tamara hands her a key. Melody and Anabelle have a hard time opening the door, but once they get in the room, they see Father Russo making Jess drink something, so she pushes him out of the way after seeing Jess in pain. Jess begs her mom to stop, as Father Russo asks her to have courage. Suddenly, Samuel shows up and yells at them to stop, telling Father Russo that he was done there. John Smith grabs Father Russo and pushes him outside as Samuel asks Jess how she is doing. He tells Jess’s mother that Father Russo is a fraud and he has friends from Columbia who are experts in pediatric neurology, which he can pay for. They accept as Melody and Anabelle leave the room.

Dan goes to the basement and works on the next tape in which Melody tries to comfort Jess, who says she is fine. Jess says that she would stick to her exercises, but Melody says that one of her exercises is watching Secret of NIMH. Jess says that she has homework and talks about a comet which would be visible in a few weeks. She tells Melody that Samuel got her a new telescope so that they could watch the comet together. Anabelle knocks and tells Mel that they have an interview, so they visit Cassandra.

Cassandra tells them that she had moved there with her sister Eleanor in 1974 because she thought it was spiritual, which Anabelle finds funny. She also tells Anabelle that most of the objects in her house were irreplaceable and she only sells them when the need arises. Melody finds the cabinet that was in the community room, which Dan catches as well. Melody tries to open it and is told by Cassandra that it was one of a kind and Estonian - inside was a sculpture, but she misplaced the key. Melody asks what Cassandra finds spiritual about the Visser or if any other tenants found it spiritual like the group that meets in the community room. Cassandra tells her that she is asking about the cult, but is interrupted by Anabelle, who asks about a painting - a portrait of Cassandra.

Cassandra explains that her sister belonged to a group of artists who called themselves Spirit Receivers, who believed that mysterious beings spoke through them to manifest art, beauty and truth. Cassandra says that some people called them a cult, which is probably what Melody was referring to, but Mel says that that was not what she meant. Cassandra tells Anabelle and Melody that watching Eleanor paint was beautiful since they had no idea who she was communicating with. Melody notices a pendant in the drawing, which Cassandra had on her as well. She says it is Kharonite, which is very rare and said to have come from a comet. Cassandra grabs a jar and gives it to Anabelle, saying that Eleanor would want her to have it. After that, Anabelle asks Cassandra for Julia Bennett, but she says that her memory is not what it used to be and invites her to a dinner party, since a lot of old neighbors would be there and one of them might know Julia.

On the elevator, Melody tells Anabelle that Cassandra was not over her sister's death, but Anabelle tells her that they were obviously lovers and Eleanor drowned herself in the Hudson. They find Samuel knocking on Mel's door, who asks if she had seen Jess. Melody says that she had and took her some stuff, thanking Samuel for what he had done. Samuel wonders if she still has the key, which she goes inside to get for him. In the hallway, Samuel greets Anabelle, who asks him about the "after-hours Satanic choir practice", but Samuel does not understand the question until he finally admits that Tamara had not thought that her performance had gone very well, so she tried out some new material. Anabelle does not believe him, but Samuel simply says that she was his ex and gets handed the key. Melody says that it does not matter, but he says it does and apologizes.

Anabelle paints and likes the black color, feeling that she was travelling to Eleanor's soul. She wonder's who Melody is seeing in her dreams and she describes them as conversations. Melody walks up to Cassandra's and sees Jess, who says she is there because Cassandra wanted some young energy there. Melody tells her that her necklace looks good on her. Cassandra notices that Melody had brought her camera and wonders where Anabelle is. Melody tells her that she would be there later and the dinner party begins.

Melody goes back up to her apartment and asks Anabelle where she had been al night only to find she had been painting nonstop since she had left. She asks what she is doing, but Anabelle does not respond until she asks what the paintings are. Anabelle turns around and tells her that there is someone in there. As the camera keeps recording, demonic hissing starts taking over.

Melody reaches the 6th floor and knocks on apartment 6C, where Anabelle paints obsessively. Anabelle tells her that the building is special and feels connected to it. Melody says that she thinks they should leave, but Anabelle does not listen. Melody repeats that they should go back to Brooklyn, which confuses Anabelle since she thought Melody wanted to find Julia, which she says she does, but does not think the building is safe. However, Anabelle tells her that she needs to stay and prepare for her show that night, inviting her, but also locking her out of the apartment.

At a telephone booth, Melody calls Dr. Turner, leaving him a message and telling him that the Baldung were witches and it was a coven. She says that her mother's ring has the same markings, wondering if her mother was part of the cult. She hears Dan calling her again, but cannot contact him. She walks back to the payphone, where Anabelle asks her where she is, so Melody says that she would be there soon.

Melody makes it to the art show, where Anabelle introduces her to a woman named Gabby; however, Melody wants to tell her something, saying that she could not go back to the Visser. Anabelle says that home is where the heart is and she was her heart, but she tells her that they would both leave the Visser. Anabelle takes her to see her paintings, which were of people who she did not know, but she felt her in the paintings. Anabelle tells her that it was "the other place" which the paint let her see, telling Melody that she was now a Spirit Receiver just like Eleanor. Melody pulls out her camera and starts recording the paintings, which worried her. She touches one and recognizes that it was the mold Chris was talking about. Tamara asks what the paintings are, but Melody wonders that herself. Tamara tells her that it was the same person as one of Eleanor's crazy spirit visions and had maybe given Anabelle a peek.

After that, Melody sees Anabelle yelling at Gabby, telling her that her paintings were not for sale and were not there to share them with the world in order to show them where she was. Gabby tells her that people had already paid, but Anabelle tells her to give it back, but the buyer wanted to stay anonymous, so Anabelle starts taking them down. Melody tells her to calm down, but her friend tells her that if she was not going to help her, she should stay away and shoves her to the ground, saying that Cassandra was right, so Melody leaves.

After the police leave, Melody is called from Stuyvesant Health Center concerning Anabelle. When Melody gets there, she sees Anabelle on a bed. Melody asks her what happened, but does not get an answer. Melody asks why she is handcuffed, but Anabelle simply says that a woman has a message and was stuck inside. The doctor walks in and says that Anabelle had broken someone's jaw and stabbed a security officer in the eye with a nail, but Melody says that Anabelle was normal, asking about Mold. Melody says that there was a sort of mold that affected Anabelle when she started painting, which the doctor says could be possible, but he needs a sample.

Melody and Dr. Turner walk down the hall into a room, where Anabelle is painting obsessively on the wall. Anabelle turns around and sees Melody, hugging her and happy she was there. Melody says that she had meant to visit her again, but is interrupted by Dr. Turner, who locks Melody in as well. Melody asks why she was painting on the walls and Anabelle says that it was because she was not brought any paper. Melody recognizes the woman, saying she had done something terrible a long time ago, murdering someone, which makes Anabelle say that she could not be let out then. Anabelle starts drawing lines on the face, saying that she was not dead but in the other place, "The Otherworld". Anabelle says that Iris calls her and wants to go home, which she knows because the ferryman has arrived. Anabelle says that he cannot be seen anymore, but was up there - the comet opens the door. Melody realizes that the ritual would happen that night and wants to leave, but Anabelle tells her to stay with her. Melody says that she needs to go back with Jess and leaves through the window.

### Present

Walking into Rockland, Dan and Mark are taken to Anabelle. She asks if he is Dan and he asks if she knows him. She asks what took him so long and opens the door for him. Inside, Anabelle tells him that "she" had been waiting for him, which he does not understand until she mentions Melody, who was painted all over her wall. Dan wonders where she is and Anabelle tells him that in the Otherworld just like Iris was and tells him that he needs to get her out.

Anabelle tells Mark and Dan about how Melody escaped and Dan asks if she is sure that his father was not working with Samuel, but she says that that was what she remembers. Anabelle says that she has been painting Melody for a long time and hears her calling. Mark tells Anabelle that Melody died in a fire at the Visser, but Anabelle says she did not and wants to go home, needing Dan to find her. Anabelle also says that Jess left something for Dan and hands him a box of tea bags, which she wanted to keep safe. Mark says that he looked up Jessica Lewis but did not find anything and Anabelle lets them know that her new name is Sister Mary Cecilia and went to Haiti just recently. Dan wonders what is in the tapes, but Anabelle does not know.