ADAM AMANDA ANISHA CALEB CAROLINE CORRINE DAN FRIEND FRIENDS ISSIE KENNY MIRIAMA MITCH NATASHA SAM STELLA TOM ISSIE: Bye Gunther. Don’t say a word, ok? ISSIE Anisha, Midison, I’m coming home. I’m not staying in this hell hole any longer. There’s nothing to do here. I hate it. And ever since Dad died we’ve done his birthday in Cornwall. I’m not gonna forget it just because mum’s forced us to live out here. ISSIE No buses? Stupid town! MIRIAMA What can I get you, hon? ISSIE Where can I get a bus to Auckland? Like asap. KENNY That’s an accent from out of town if ever I’ve heard one. Irish is it? ISSIE English. KENNY Ah. The land of the shortbread. MIRIAMA Ah, that’s Scotland, Ken. ISSIE So, the bus? MIRIAMA Oh, well on a Sunday, you’d be lucky. There’s one from Greenfield. ISSIE Okay. MIRIAMA Oh, no, but you need to catch a bus to Greenfield though and it’s a Sunday. KENNY Yeah, it’s a problem you see. MIRIAMA Yeah. ISSIE Argh, why is the transport so rubbish in this town? MIRIAMA Oh, he’s the mayor, you should ask him. KENNY Well it’s a good question. I just don’t have a short answer. ISSIE Right. Thanks. You’ve been really helpful. CORRINE Was thatMITCH’s granddaughter? MIRIAMA Yeah. I think so. ISSIE Argh, useless bike. Come to New Zealand Issie, you’ll love it. It’ll be so much fun. ISSIE Hello? AMANDA Issie. You ok? Where are you? ISSIE I just. I went for a walk. AMANDA Well. Come home darling. ISSIE It’s not home though. Is it? AMANDA Please, just give it a chance. Your Gran’s cooking, lunch. You might want to pick up a sandwich. See you soon? ISSIE Fine. NATASHA Hey. Were you just at the stables? ISSIE No. SAM You’reMITCH’s granddaughter, right? ISSIE Wow. News really flies around here. SAM Yeah. NATASHA I’m Natasha. This is my Dad. SAM Sam. You got a puncture? Do you want a lift? ISSIE Um. Yeah. Sure, thanks. SAM Throw it in the back. NATASHA So, you’re from London? It must be a bit weird coming out here, the middle of nowhere. ISSIE That’s an understatement. ISSIE Are there horses in the forest? NATASHA No. There are horses at the stables. Come by if you like. You can meet my horse, Aramis. Dad’s in charge of that big water bottling plant down the road. SAM Alright, mate. ISSIE Oh, right. NATASHA But he sold it to Hexronn. It was an amazing deal. He made like… SAM Natasha. NATASHA …heaps. SAM Alright girls. Why don’t we take the shortcut toMITCH’s? NATASHA Yeah. SAM Alright. Hold on. MITCH Gunther. Come on. I’ll change the music. Gunther. Come back inside. ISSIE What’s up with Gunther? MITCH I wish I knew. We were half-way through his acupuncture session, and he just, walked off. We must have struck a blockage. Gunther, you get back here. AMANDA Yeah. Mum. That pig, oh good, you’re back. Oh, hello. SAM Hi. Ah, Sam. You must be Amanda. AMANDA Yeah. ISSIE No secrets in this town apparently. SAM How, how are you settling in? AMANDA Um, we’ve been here over a month and we’re still unpacking. SAM Natasha and I moved house ten years ago and I’m still looking for the spoons. ISSIE Thanks for the lift. SAM No worries. ANISHA Hi Is. I cannot believe you’re leaving us. Well, here’s a little video we put together to remind you how much we love you. FRIEND You’re gonna have Christmas in Summer? That is so twisted. ANISHA I can’ t believe you’re leaving me, I’m actually distraught. FRIENDS Apparently people there are proper unstable, so, you should fit right in / Oh my days, what am I actually gonna do, who am I gonna bunk off PE with? And I’ve got all this… AMANDA So this is still how it’s going to be? Every time we have a row you run away. ISSIE Came back, didn’t I? AMANDA I promise we’ll do something, we’ll do something good next weekend, we’ll do something Dad would have liked. ISSIE No we can’t. We can’t do the wild swim on his birthday. We always do the wild swim. It was his favourite thing. AMANDA Yeah. That man did not feel the cold. ISSIE And now we can’t even go to his grave. AMANDA Issie, I know it means a lot it’s just, England’s such a long way away. ISSIE Yeah. Whose fault’s that? MITCH Oh. I wouldn’t if I were you. ISSIE Why? MITCH It’s chilli and eggshells. Gunther’s favourite, tastes like, feet. ISSIE Ew. ISSIE Can you give me a lift? AMANDA Yeah, sure. What, you want to hit the shops? We could have a look around town? ISSIE That would take all of five minutes. I want to go to the stables. AMANDA Stables? As in horses? ISSIE Yes. Problem? AMANDA No. ISSIE Good. AMANDA I didn’t see that coming. MITCH Didn’t see that coming either, did you? AMANDA Oh. AMANDA Do you want me to come in with you? ISSIE No. AMANDA He looks like he’s in charge. Why don’t I go and have a word with him? ISSIE It’s fine. Just go. AMANDA Ok, ok! I’m going. Give me a call if you want me to pick you, up. ISSIE Hi um. TOM You looking for the kids? They’re in there. ISSIE Oh, thanks. NATASHA Hey Issie. We’re in here. NATASHA This is Issie. She’s from London. STELLA Hi, I’m Stella. ISSIE Hey. CALEB Hey. CAROLINE We’ve been to London. I met this really cool band in Camden. CALEB You met a busker outside the tube and gave him like $20 for his terrible CD. CAROLINE Yeah, I think he recorded it in his bathroom or something because someone flushes the toilet at one point. ISSIE Are you two… CAROLINE Twins. NATASHA This is Caleb and Caroline. DAN London to Kauri Point? Who does that? ISSIE My mum apparently. DAN I’m Dan by the way. NATASHA Anyway, you’re probably dying to see the horses. CAROLINE This is Lord William III. Or Treacle. He’s part Welsh. STELLA So how long have you been riding? ISSIE Oh, actually I haven’t ever. ISSIE Oh. DAN Hey, don’t worry. Everyone’s been sneezed on by Treacle. He actually sneezed in my ear last week. Like right inside it. CALEB Just, stop, that is revolting. DAN It’s fantastic, it’s like an achievement, it’s like an award. STELLA One of the perks of being deaf. CALEB That is so gross. DAN I think it’s still in there, look. ISSIE Stop. NATASHA Honestly Dan, you’re such an idiot. TOM Hey, have you kids done the hay nets yet? How many times do I have to tell you? DAN Sorry, Tom. CALEB Sorry Tom. NATASHA Sorry. TOM Just get on with it eh? ISSIE That horse, that’s the horse. NATASHA Oh, wow. ISSIE Whose is it? DAN It’s not from here. CALEB It could have come over from Laurieston farm. TOM I don’t think so. ISSIE He’s the one I saw yesterday. It was in a real state. TOM Where did you see it? ISSIE On the road that goes through the forest. I think it was running away from someone. This maniac with a trailer. He nearly ran me over. DAN Could be a horse rustler. ISSIE Seriously? Horse rustler? TOM Horses are strong currency round here and when people get desperate. I’ll make some calls. NATASHA Y’know I saw a horse float the other day that seemed a bit suss. It was heading up the track to the old chicken farm. STELLA What did it look like? NATASHA I don’t know, like dark and grey, but with a stripe on the side. ISSIE A blue one? NATASHA Yeah. ISSIE That’s the same one. I’m pretty sure. CAROLINE And it was going to the old chicken farm? That is so creepy. ISSIE Why? CAROLINE Because it’s haunted. CALEB That’s an urban myth, Caroline. CAROLINE No, it’s not. ISSIE Where is this chicken farm? DAN Why? ISSIE ‘cause maybe he’ll go back there. NATASHA Why would he do that? ISSIE I dunno. But he might. DAN Well if he did come back we can get a photo of him. Show it to the cops. ISSIE Exactly, we should try and stop him. STELLA We should all go. CALEB Ok. We, we, we, why do we all keep saying we? CAROLINE Don’t be such an old man, Caleb. DAN Yeah, if things kick off I know a couple of moves in Tae Kwon Do. ISSIE Two whole moves eh? DAN Yeah, so you can stand behind me. Although one of them’s just bowing. NATASHA Imagine if he came back while we were there though. If he can kidnap horses, then you can… ISSIE Why is it so hard to get anywhere in this country? NATASHA It really isn’t. STELLA How did you get around in London then? ISSIE On the tube like a normal person. DAN You don’t seem that normal to me. ISSIE Thanks. I’ll take that as a compliment. DAN Thought you would. NATASHA I’m cold. NATASHA You’re so warm. Like a racehorse. STELLA Yeah, or a rabbit. DAN Thanks, Stel. ISSIE So what’s the deal with this place we’re going to? CAROLINE It was an old battery chicken farm and there was a fire in the 80s. And everything was burnt to the ground, except for one warehouse. And like only a few chickens survived and they say that at night you can still hear their strangled squawks. CALEB “Strangled squawks”, gimme a break. CAROLINE Yeah, you won’t be laughing, when like a, zombie chicken comes tearing out of the forest and tries to eat your brains. NATASHA Is anyone else starting to feel a bit creeped out? CAROLINE No. I mean, they’re just chickens. CAROLINE Anyway, I’ve just remembered, I have to go. CALEB Why? CAROLINE I have to help Dad, he asked me to paint his boat. DAN Now? CAROLINE Yeah. Well, I should get started. CALEB Why are you painting dad’s boat? CAROLINE Because he’s giving me 25 dollars. CALEB 25 dollars? CAROLINE Ok, see ya later. Bye. CALEB Hang on, that is not fair. 25 dollars! Caroline! Caroline! ISSIE Are they always like that? DAN Yep. STELLA Yep. NATASHA Well, that’s it. ISSIE Doesn’t look too bad. ISSIE No sign of anyone. STELLA Oh come on. DAN What? STELLA Gotta go. NATASHA Why? STELLA My brother has a game tonight. DAN Hold up Stel. I’ll come with you. There’s nothing here and I’ve still got heaps to do for Tom. STELLA Come on then, I’ll walk you back. DAN Thanks Stel. You two be ok? ISSIE Of course, we’ll text you if we find anything. DAN Sweet. ISSIE Ok. We might as well have a look. Unless you’re too freaked out? NATASHA Hardly. Come on then. ISSIE Ok. This is super creepy. NATASHA We should have just gone with Dan. ISSIE Are you and he like? A thing? NATASHA No. ISSIE Oh. NATASHA I mean, it’s complicated. ISSIE Sure. NATASHA He doesn’t really have time for girlfriends, you know. He’s totally focused on his work at the stables. ISSIE Oh right. NATASHA So, you know, I wouldn’t bother. ISSIE He’s like, not my type anyway. NATASHA We’re not cool enough for you out here, eh? ISSIE Wow. I so wasn’t saying that. What is your problem? NATASHA I don’t have a problem. I just know what you’re doing. ISSIE What? What am I doing exactly? NATASHA Coming in and totally taking over. ISSIE No I’m not. NATASHA You’ve only been here all of like, like five minutes. You’re making us all follow you about, and now we’re trespassing. ISSIE No, I said I was coming out here. I didn’t ask any of you to follow me. ISSIE Wait. Where are you going? NATASHA Home. ISSIE Wait, what if he turns up? NATASHA You seem to have all the answers, I’m sure you’ll figure something out. ISSIE Natasha. NATASHA Natasha! ISSIE Ok, well this is peachy. ADAM Hey, shut up. Shut up. ISSIE Good, dangerous doggie. ISSIE Shhh. ADAM Oi. Give me those. ISSIE Go away. ISSIE Stop. Stop. Help. ISSIE Stop. TOM Hey, are you okay? ISSIE There was a man. He was chasing me. TOM Just get in the car eh and we’ll have a look. TOM No sign of him. ISSIE How did you know where I was? TOM Natasha phoned me. ISSIE Oh. TOM Hey, hey, hey. Wow, wow, come on. Come on, hey, come on. TOM Stay here, stay here, come on. ISSIE Is she ok? ISSIE I think he drugged her. TOM I’ll call the vet. Can you stay with her? Be careful. ISSIE You’re ok. You’re gonna be ok. TOM We’re gonna meet the vet back at the stables. ISSIE Where’d it go? TOM What? ISSIE The horse. TOM It’s right in front of you. You ok? ISSIE Yeah, I just saw. Nothing. ANISHA What? So, you’re trying to tell me this random horse just appeared out of thin air? ISSIE Yeah. It was, weird. It was like it knew that the other horse was injured and, I don’t know. Wanted to protect it, or something? ANISHA What, like a mystic horse? ISSIE No. Well, yeah. ANISHA Ok, so you’re seeing ghost horses now. ISSIE No. ANISHA Wait. Have you drunk enough water? Cause this one girl, Leila, she got really dehydrated, she went to Westfield and she thought this movie poster was an actual polar bear. ISSIE Oh. I gotta go. See ya Nish. ANISHA Alright. Stay safe. Drink water. AMANDA Hey I know, I know this move, it’s a big change for both of us. But we’ll get the hang of it. I promise. ISSIE I don’t think so, Mum. I don’t like it here. There’s strange stuff happening. Can’t we just go home? AMANDA Oh darling… MITCH Just checking Gunther’s not in here. He’s done something unspeakable in my gumboot. I’ve told Lesley that’s the last time I’m pig-sitting. Nigh night. ISSIE I miss dad. AMANDA I know. So do I. AMANDA What are you doing out here darling? ISSIE Mum, look. AMANDA Yeah, it’s beautiful. ISSIE So you can see it too? AMANDA Yeah. I’ve always wanted to live by the ocean. And now we’ve got it at the bottom of the garden. Come in, it’s cold. ISSIE Yeah, I’ll be in, in a minute. ISSIE So no-one else can see you?