Run: 2026-02-16-01KHM5M97P03JBDJQTHZZAWRQT

**Voice Sheet** **Location:** The Spotted Owl Cafe, Alborn, MN. Late afternoon sun filters through the window. **Characters:** * ISABELLA (30, Italian, female): Voice is warm but currently laced with anxiety. Speaks only Italian. * HUNTER (35, detective, male): Voice is flat, direct, and slightly weary. **(SCENE START)** **(SOUND of cafe ambiance: quiet chatter, clinking cups, soft indie music. ISABELLA is seated alone at a small table, nervously scrolling through photos on her digital camera. HUNTER approaches. His footsteps are heavy, deliberate.)** **Hunter:** "Excuse me, ma'am. Detective Hunter, Alborn PD. Mind if I ask you a few questions?" **(ISABELLA looks up, startled. She gives a small, polite smile but her eyes are guarded. She doesn't understand.)** **Isabella:** "Mi scusi? Non parlo inglese. Parlo solo italiano." *(I'm sorry? I don't speak English. I only speak Italian.)* **Hunter:** (Sighs quietly, pinching the bridge of his nose.) "Right. Of course." *(He pulls out his notebook, pointing to a date scribbled there.)* "Wednesday night. The Apple Festival bonfire. Were you there? Taking pictures?" **(He mimes holding a camera and clicking a shutter. ISABELLA’s eyes widen slightly. She looks down at her own camera, then back at him, her expression clouding with distress.)** **Isabella:** "Il falò... sì, ero lì." *(The bonfire... yes, I was there.)* *(Her voice drops to a whisper.)* "Ho visto... qualcosa. Nei miei scatti. Dopo, nella foresta. Non era... normale." *(I saw... something. In my shots. After, in the forest. It wasn't... normal.)* **(She turns the camera screen toward him, her hand trembling slightly. The image shows a blur of the bonfire crowd, but in the tree line at the edge of the frame, there's a distorted, shadowy smudge. HUNTER leans in, squinting. He clearly doesn't understand her words, but he reads her fear.)** **Hunter:** "I need you to come down to the station. Bring that camera. We can get a translator." **Isabella:** *(Shaking her head, becoming more agitated.)* "No, no, aspetta. Guarda questa." *(No, no, wait. Look at this one.)* *(She scrolls to another photo, a daytime landscape of the woods near the festival grounds. She points a shaky finger at a patch of disturbed earth near some birch trees.)* "Questo non c'era il giorno prima. La terra... è stata scavata. E poi, quella sera, ho sentito un suono... come un lamento." *(This wasn't there the day before. The earth... it was dug up. And then, that night, I heard a sound... like a moan.)* **(HUNTER’s phone begins to vibrate loudly on the table. He holds up a finger to ISABELLA.)** **Hunter:** "Hold that thought." **(He answers the call.)** **Hunter:** "Hunter... Yeah. Where? ...The old mill road bridge? Got it. Ten minutes." **(He hangs up, standing abruptly. He digs in his pocket and slaps a business card on the table next to her camera.)** **Hunter:** "I have to go. Stay here. Do not leave town. And *do not* go back into those woods. Understand? No woods." **(He gives her a firm, pointed look, gestures emphatically toward the window and the direction of the forest, then shakes his head "no.")** **Isabella:** *(Watching him, utterly confused and now more frightened.)* "Ma... cosa sta succedendo? Per favore!" *(But... what is happening? Please!)* **(HUNTER just taps the card on the table twice, gives her a last curt nod, and strides out of the cafe, leaving ISABELLA alone, staring at the troubling images on her camera screen.)** **(SCENE END)**