Radio Revelry: Thirteen Skulls

Content warning: Body horror

We are already getting excited for Halloween with this eerie episode of Radio Revelry!

This is a horror story focusing on a mother and son, Nessa and Dale, who are hired to assist an elderly woman living alone. Dale and his miscreant friend, Gareth, quickly begin to realise that there is more to Beatie than meets the eye, and that some things should be left a mystery for everyone's sake. 

Credits
In Thirteen Skulls by Paul Robbie Stoyle
Dale was played by Jack Ayres
Nessa by Dominique Flook
Beatie by Noni Lewis
And Gareth by Geraint Pickard
It was directed by Rosie Beech 

All other parts were played by members of the cast and crew

Transcript

Hello and welcome to Radio Revelry, this is the show where we bring you wonderful plays to delight your imagination. 

Paul Robbie Stoyle is a queer plastic taffy living in South Wales, who loves horror, gardening and knitting. He bagged a Master’s degree in theatre studies from Anglia Ruskin and continued to explore dramatic writing at the Brighton Academy of Creative Training. In 2016, he was awarded an honorary placement within the Brighton Fringe for his first comic horror play ‘A Fraction of the Price’ with the Rialto Theatre. Since then he has worked with various theatre companies across the UK including WriteOn, Thunder Theatre and The Other Room. 

Thirteen Skulls by Paul Robbie Stoyle

Scene 1 

Sound FX- A shrill electronic beep follows the sound of a ringing mobile phone.

Sound FX- A short beep

Auto- Operator: Hello and welcome to your voicemail inbox. You have four messages. Message one. Sent today at 4.pm.

Annie: Hiya Ness. It’s me. I’ve got those cotton ground sheets you wanted from Aldi. Aztec swirls? Those the ones you wanted? We’ll settle up down the Con later. Bye love.

Sound FX-  A short beep

Auto- Operator: End of message. Message Two. Sent today at 7.pm.

Claire: Hi Claire. Sorry to ring you so late, but I was wondering if you could come into the kitchens a little earlier tomorrow morning ‘cus I’m short staff and…

Sound FX-  A short beep

Auto- Operator: Message deleted. Message Three. Sent today at 7.15. pm.

Agency Temp: Hello. Have you mis-sold PPI?

Sound FX-  A short beep

Auto- Operator: Message deleted. Message Four. Sent today at 10.25. Pm.

Dale: (Out of breath) Mam?!? Help me! Mam! It’s the pig lady! The pig lady! She’s... 

Sound FX- Shrill pig squeals can be heard from afar. Followed by the sounds of something heavy falling to the ground.

Sound FX-  A short beep

Auto- Operator: End of messages.

Scene 2.

Sound FX- A light rain can be heard followed by the sounds of a small bus stopping beside a country road. Metal doors screech open.

Nessa: Cheers drive. Oi, when’s the next bus back then?

Driver: ‘bout twenty past. 

Nessa: An hour? 

Driver: Sorry love.

Nessa: Jesus Christ! You sure there ain’t another service?

Driver:  Sorry love. Won’t be another one before the 172.  Deserted around here, you see?  

Nessa: Great! I’m stuck out ‘ere. It would start to rain an’ all! 

Driver: Weather’s gonna be hellish tonight love. You gonna alright? 

Nessa: Yeah, I got a bronc in bag by ’ere and Dale’s keeping me company. What you say Dale? You ready or wha’?

Dale: Yeah, whatever.

Driver: You look after your Mam now.

Nessa: I wouldn’t hold my breath. 

Driver: Watch how you go now

Sound FX- The doors of the bus shuts with a thump. The bus pulls off. Nessa and Dale walk up a gravelly country road. 

Nessa: I’m gonna bloody kill that Claire one of these days! Oh all the bloody nerve! Asking me to work nights. She knows I loves my zumba on a Friday. You mind holding on to that bag while I check I’ve got the right meal? That Claire keeps using Sharpies on the tins and the names always smudge.

Dale: Suppose so... Aw Mam, my phone doesn't have any signal up ‘ere! Why the hell did I have to come out ‘ere with you? It’s bloody freezing an’ all!

Nessa: Stop moaning and pull up your hoodie. Stupid bloody thing. I told you in the shop it was too thin for October. 

Dale: But everyone’s wearing them at school. Gareth’s got two of them.

Nessa: Not surprised. Bloody spoilt brat he is. Where’s that lovely brown jacket Gran got you last year? Bloody lovely coat that was. Hold on to one of these tins. That’ll warm you up a bit.

Sound FX- We hear the metallic clunking sound of Nessa passing Dale a large canteen. 

Dale: Ergh! What’s in ‘ere? Smells like sick?

Nessa: Shut your face. It’s corned beef hash and gravy. I made it and it’s bloody lovely. Now shove it up your jumper.

Sound FX-  Dale stuffing the tin under his hoodie.

Dale: This is stupid. Why did I have to come with you? 

Nessa: Because you're 14 and you're a bloody header, that’s why. Last time I left you, you locked poor Stacey Thomas out of her own house and pissed through her letterbox.

Dale: That wor me! 

Nessa: I know it wasn’t you, dullo. It was that Gareth, but you're the one who called her up while her Mam was out.  Asked if she fancied some “proper power necking”?  Bloody idiot. Her mother had to break-in through her own front door just to be  greeted by a piss-soaked welcome mat! Meanwhile, you two were watching the whole thing from across the road. Grinning like a couple of twats. Five hundred pounds you cost me that day. And did I see one penny from Gareth’s parents? Did I bollocks!

Dale: I know Gareth is a proper header and tha’, but I swear down that Stacey knew we were just having a laugh.

Nessa: I don’t want to hear Dale! Every time you two are together I always end up footing the bill. I swear to God. From this moment forward, any more trouble out of you and I’ll personally cart you off to the “Green School”! Do you remember tha’? The school where all the rooms are green? And all the pens and the pencils? The place where you can only eat green food and....

Dale: Oh Mam, that’s kiddie bollocks. 

Nessa: Used to scare me to death when I was a girl. Dad would only have to mention it and I’d go all stiff. You were the same. 

Dale: Yeah, maybe when I was six. Look, I’m nearly 15. A full  grown man. You can’t scare me anymore with stupid ghost stories and kiddie shit. 

Nessa: Oh really?

Dale: Yeah.

Nessa: By any chance did you look at who’s tins you're carrying then? Go on. A quick look before the gravy stains your top.

Dale: Ah MAM! Why didn’t you say these bastard tins leak?

Sound FX- Dale takes out the canteen from under his jumper.

Nessa: Oi! Less of that language if you please. Where off to see a new client and she’s a very respectable older lady. Very timid. So shut your filthy mouth or you’ll give her a heart attack or something.

Dale: Who is she then?

Nessa: You can read. Check the tin.

Dale: (Slowly) Creatie Mis-tear? No wait.  B-eattie...Fischer? Jesus Christ!  Not Beattie Fischer?!? 

Nessa: Still feeling like “a grown man” are we?

Dale: Let’s just go home. 

Nessa: No.

Dale: Mam, you don’t understand. Everyone knows about Beattie Fischer. 

Nessa: Oh really? What do they know?

Dale: Well...she’s just...weird. Gareth says that you can see her walk over to the old barn. She puts out weird candles and tha’ on Halloween.

Nessa: So? Probably just old turnips or swedes. It’s very traditional. Back in the day, my granny used to...

Dale: No! Gareth says they look more like...skulls. Human skulls with big black candles stuck between their teeth! 

Nessa: Oh don’t talk so bloody daft! She’s 89 if she’s a day! Human skulls? She can barely open a can of beans with her arthritis. Besides the fact that she’s nearly half blind.

Dale: What about the smell? 

Nessa: What about the smell? Old people smell. End of.

Dale: No, her whole house smells. You can smell it for miles. Gareth says it’s absolutely bumping. It’s all the bodies she’s got hidden away. 

Nessa: You’ve been watching too many horror films. I’ll cancel Netflix when we get in. Listen ‘ere lovely boy. Beattie Fischer never killed anybody.

Dale: She killed her husband.  

Nessa: That was just a rumour. Look, I know people from around ‘ere have been saying stuff about her for years. Granny used to tell me stories about Beattie eating raw meat and dancing naked under the full moon. I used to believe her stories, but that’s all they were. Just stories. Things people gossip about after they’ve had a few too many cans or when they overhear something interesting in the butchers. Things just got muddle up over the years. Her social worker told me the real story last week. It all happened just before the war...

Sound FX- A distant clap of thunder can be heard distantly in the background.

Nessa:Mr Fischer. Her husband. He used to take his pigs up north to trade at some market or something. That’s where he meet her. Love at first sight and all tha’. Next thing you know, he gives her his Mam’s wedding ring and tells her to move down ‘ere. Anyway, Beattie was over the moon ‘cus her family was dirt poor and he was offering to whisk her away to this massive farmhouse. Anyway, Beattie said she needed a few days to sort herself out. Say goodbye to her family and tha’. Well, Mr Fisher tells her to take her time and gives her a train ticket back down ‘ere. Train station used to be on the other side of James Street back then. Beattie took the train ticket and Billy returned back to the farm, but the first thing he found on his doorstep was his draft papers. Enlisted and all tha’.

Sound FX- The sound of the rain is getting heavier.

Nessa: So, Beattie comes down a week or so later and finds the farm completely abandoned. All the pigs had been collected by the Ministry and Billy was nowhere to be seen. Poor bitch got a letter telling her that Billy had been shot at Dunkirk. Thing drove her half mad. She burned down the barn and that wasn’t the best way to greet her new  neighbours. They all said she was a proper header. 

Dale: But why’d she burn down the barn for?

Nessa: Dale, people do strange stuff when they grieve. I couldn’t stop smoking Pall-Mall after your Grandad died. 

Dale: You still smoke Pall-Mall.

Nessa: I’ll quit next year.I swear.

Dale: Yeah right.

Sound FX- The sound of thunder and lightning grows closer. The rain is now pouring in torrents.

Nessa: Look, I ain’t got all day to play history teacher. I’ve got these dinners to deliver and I’d rather not get electrocuted doing it! So move your bloody arse! Come on!

Sound FX- Nessa breaks into a run.

Dale: Mam! Hang on! Wait up!

Sound FX- Dale chases after her.

Scene three

Sound FX- We hear Nessa and Dale hurriedly walking across  a paved driveway and up some concrete steps. Nessa is panting. 

Nessa: Come on! 

Dale: Egh! These bastard tins have leaked everywhere! 

Nessa: Get a grip! It’s only a bit of gravy! Go swill in under the tap when we get in her house.

Dale: Bloody rice pudding everywhere!

Nessa: Ssssh! Hey? What’s this door knocker supposed to be, by ‘ere? 

Dale: I think it’s supposed to be a pig or something?

Nessa: Really? He’s bloody ugly, ain’t he? Righty-o. Let’s give him a bash.  Here piggy, piggy...

Sound FX- Nessa heavily pounds the large door knocker. 

Nessa: MRS FISCHER!

Dale: Mam? Why are all her lights off?

Nessa: No ‘leccy.  Her social worker says she’s got very old fashioned ways. 

Sound FX- Nessa knocks the knocker again.

Nessa: MRS FISCHER! I’VE GOT YOUR DINNER BY ‘ERE! 

Silence. 

Nessa: Bloody brilliant! We’ll go  and catch our death of cold ‘cus that old bitch has gone and taken one diazepam too many.

Sound FX- The door sharply creaks open and we hear the clink of a large metal security chain. 

Beattie: (Slurred) I don’t believe in pills. Hard work and prayer is the only true medicine. Who are you? What do you want?

Nessa: Oh? Hiya! My name is Nessa and I’m ‘ere from Meals on wheels. Your social worker Sophie sent me? Would you mind letting that chain off the hook so we…

Beattie: (Slurred) That mendling cow? I didn’t ask for any meals! Bugger off!

Nessa: Really? But I’ve got a lovely corn beef hash for you with lots of creamy mash and a velvety onion gravy.

Pause.

Beattie: (Slurred)What’s for afters?

Dale: Rice pudding.

Sound FX- The door slams shut with a loud bang.

Nessa: Bloody charming! I come all over ‘ere and…

Sound FX- The sound of the chain being slipped, followed by the turning of a  heavy lock and the creaking open of the door.

Beattie: (Slurred) Come on in then. I haven’t got all night!

Nessa: Aw, cheers.

Dale: (Whispers) Mam? What’s wrong with her face?

Nessa: (Whispers) It’s just a stroke. Keep your mouth shut and get in.

Nessa and Dale enter the house.

Sound FX-  The sounds of a small coal fire can be heard along with an elderly grandfather clock ticking gently.

Nessa: Here you are then. Give her the tins Dale. Sorry about the pudding, we had a bit of an accident on the way up ‘ere. 

Sound FX-  Dale giving Beattie the tins.

Beattie: (Slurred) These are all wet.

Dale: Yeah...it’s raining.

Beattie: (slurred) and  cold.

Nessa: Oh sorry lovely. Here, give me those tins and  I’ll have them piping hot before you know it. Er...Dale? Why don’t you ask Mrs Fischer nicely where her toilet is so you can sort yourself out?

Sound FX- Nessa takes the tins from Beattie.

Nessa: There isn’t an oven  in the world I can’t handle. Back through ‘ere is it?

Sound FX- Nessa walks off to the back of the house.

Dale: ’cuse me. where’s your bathroom?

Beattie: (Slurred) Never had one.

Dale: Wha? How’d you wash then? 

Beattie: (Slurred) Old copper outside. The privvy is right next to it. Go through the hall and make a left then it's the second door to your right to get outside. Stay on the right. 

Sound FX- Dale starts to walk away. 

Dale: Cheers. 

Beattie: Stay to the right!

Dale walks off.

Scene Four

Sound FX- The sounds of the fireplace and grandfather clock are very distant. Dale walks across the creaking wooden floorboards of a large hallway.

Dale: (To himself) Right...first door on the right was it? Or the second left? 

Pause.

Dale: Let’s be having this one.

Sound FX- Dale tries the handle, but the door is locked.

Dale: Bastard thing! I’m dying for a pee! Come on mun!

Sound FX- Dale sighs and walks farther across the hall.

Dale: Let’s see what’s behind door number two.

Sound FX- The door opens with a creak.

Dale: Success! Right. Where am I now then?

Sound FX- Dale steps into the room. He kicks something over.

Dale: Ow! My fucking foot! Why have a room full of stones for…is that a skull?

Beattie: Pig skulls.

Dale: JESUS CHRIST!

Beattie: (Slurred) I thought I told you to stay to the right?

Dale: I...did...I tired, you see. What it was, was…

Beattie: (Slurred) Did you touch any of these? 

Dale: No. I swear down.

Beattie: (Slurred) You’d better. They’re very precious to me. These skulls.

Dale: What are they for?

Beattie: Hwch ddu gwta. Ar bob camfa. Yn nyddu a chardio Bob nos G’langaea.

 (A cutty black sow, On every stile, Spinning and carding Every Allhallows’ Eve)

Dale: Wha’?

Beattie: (Slurred) Simple boy. No need for the welsh knot with you? Eh? 

Dale: I’m not stupid enough to have a room full of skulls on the floor for anyone to trip over.

Beattie: (Slurred) There's no just skulls. They’re protection.

Dale: Protection from what?

Beattie: Hwch ddu gwta. (slurred). The Cutty Black Sow. Many years before your lot were first spawned, the first day of winter was called Calan Gaeaf. The night before it was called Nos Calan Gaeaf. Spirit Night. The year’s most frightening time. Spirits are abroad. People avoid churchyards, stiles and crossroads. These are the places where spirits are bound to gather. Families from far and wide used to build bonfires and place white stones with their markings to ward off those who walk between the shadows. 

Dale: (low) You're off your fucking nut…

Beattie: Come here you little basdun! Teach you to go a’round messing with things you don’t know about!

Sound FX-  Beattie and Dale have a scuffle.

Dale: Ow get off me! Let go of me! Mam! Help! Mam! She’s gone mental!

Nessa comes rushing up the hall.

Nessa: (From a distance) Dale?

Sound FX- The door creaks open.

Nessa: Hey! What you doing to him? Let him go.

Beattie: (Slurred)  Your son is raising hell! 

Nessa: Look, whatever he’s broken I’ll pay for it. No need to go ragging on him. 

Beattie: Get out!

Nessa: Hey, I said I’d pay for whatever he...

Beattie: Get out! Get out of my house! Both of you! Take your grotty little dinners and your grotty little brat and bugger off!

Nessa: Fine then. Please yourself. Come on Dale.

Sound FX- Dale and Nessa walk into the hallway.

Nessa: Enjoy your dinner presh. Hope you choke on it. 

Scene Five

Gareth speaks through a mobile phone.

Gareth: Oh my days! I can’t believe you were in Freaky Fischer’s farmhouse! Is it true? Is there like loads of pictures of dead kids on walls and tha’? Does she wear a wig? Does her whole house smell like shit?

Dale: Na, just the kitchen. Mam said it was absolutely bumping. She said she probably hadn’t been cleaned in like, thirty years. Scutty bitch. 

Gareth: And she went mental at you for kicking over some rocks?

Dale: No. Pig skulls, the room was covered in them. But yeah, the weird cow went mental at me and tried to grab my arm and tha’.. 

Gareth: Does she have loads of things like coffins and tha’? 

Dale: She’s not  a bloody vampire. Besides, too dark to see anything else. She doesn't believe in electric.

Gareth: So she probably doesn't have a phone or anything? 

Dale: I didn’t see one.

Gareth: Sweet.

Dale: What’s sweet?

Gareth: Devils Night!

Dale: What are you talking about? 

Gareth: Devil’s night.  It’s this thing from America. It’s the day before Halloween. People egg houses and tha’. You don’t even have to dress up for it! It’s gonna be proper laughs!

Dale: You're not thinking of going up there are you?

Gareth: No. I’m thinking about going together.

Dale: Fuck that!

Gareth: No listen, you gotta help me. Carl Davies has dared me to go.

Dale: Carl Davies is a dick. 

Gareth: I know, but he called me a pussy in Maths last Thursday ‘cus I didn’t want to get that flu jab they were giving out. He said “only pussies are scared of needles”. I said “I ain’t no pussy” and then he dared me. 

Dale: Gareth, that bitch is a proper header. No joking. Besides, how are you gonna prove you been there?

Gareth: You said she had a big old ugly door knocker on her front door? We’ll grab that!

Dale: No way!

Gareth: Listen, all I need is you to act as a  distraction so I can pull that knocker off 

Dale: Why me?

Gareth: You’ve been round her house. You know where her backdoor is

Dale: Kinda. I never really made it outside. That place is huge and…

Gareth: Shut up now. Look, all you have to do is knock on her backdoor and then hide when you hear her coming. Meanwhile, I’ll be at the front door with a screwdriver. 

Dale: I don’t know about this?

Gareth: Look, it’ll be dark. 

Dale: Gareth I….

Dale: Don’t be a pussy on me now! Be round mine at eight.

Scene Six

Sound FX- The sounds of a bus stopping beside a gravel path. The buses doors slide open. Gareth and Dale alight.

Gareth: Cheers drive.

Dale: Cheers drive.

Driver: You boys look after yourselves now.

Sound FX- The doors slam shut and the bus pulls away.

Gareth: Right. Which way do we go now?

Dale: Up over there. Weird. Why is it covered in candles? 

Gareth: I told you she puts them out and tha’!  Come on! Let’s see if she’s naked!

Sound FX- Gareth runs up a gravel path followed by Dale.

Scene Seven

Gareth and Dale stop running. They are out of breath.

Gareth: Let's wait... over here. No one will see us...by the wall. Ach-y-fi! My side is killin’ me!

Dale: Yeah...mine too. 

Dale: Look, those are the skulls I told you about. The pig skulls. She’s got black candles burning in their mouths and tha’.

Gareth: Sick! Budge over. Let me look. 

Dale:  There’s hundreds of them!

Gareth: Sick! Right, change of plan.

Dale: Huh?

Gareth: I’ll slip round the back and grab one of them.

Dale: What the skulls? 

Gareth: Yeah, easy as. Those old windows just need a push....or a smash. Meanwhile, I’ll need you to bang the fuck out of the front door. That way she won't know which side of the house to go to first. 

Dale: How about if she goes to my side first?

Gareth: You run as soon as you knock. Meet me back ‘ere. I won’t be long.

Dale: How about if she goes to the back first? How will I hear the smash? There’s no signal up ‘ere! How will I know when you're in place? 

Gareth: Will you stop being such a whiny little bitch? Look, it's a simple strategy.  I’ll head off now and count to 100.  You count to 100 too, but start making a move towards the front door when you reach about 50. On the first count of 10, I’ll smash the window. You knock the door when you count down to number one. Got that?

Dale: 100, 50 and one.

Gareth: Don’t fuck it up cus I’m not coming back for you. Right, you ready or wha’? 

Dale: Er..yeah?

Gareth: Okay. 100, 99, 98, 97,96….

Gareth continues to count as he creeps towards the house. The counting slowly fades as the wind howls over the hills.

Scene Eight

Dale creeps up the concrete steps towards the front door. The wind is howling furiously. 

Dale: 15, 14,13,12,11...oh God!

Sound FX-  A small shrill pig squeal can be distantly heard.

Dale: (To himself) Gareth? Wait. Just stick to the plan Dale.Okay.  Ten, nine, eight, seven...oh  be at the back. Please be at the back...six, five, four, three, two...one.

Sound FX- The door creaks open with a long whine.

Gareth: (Distant) Enter.

Dale: (Quietly) Gareth? Gareth is that you?

Sound FX- Dale steps into the entrance way. The grandfather clock is gently ticking. A small fire is dying.

Dale: Gareth? Are you alright? 

Gareth: Here…

Gareth’s voice has changed. It’s deeper, slower and richer. It is a voice that has not been used in centuries. 

Sound FX- A door creaks wide open. 

Gareth: Croeso.

Sound FX- A small tinkle of china can be heard as Gareth sets a teacup on its saucer. In the backmall squeals and muffled grunts.

Dale: Gareth?  You alright?  Did she hurt you?

Pause.

Dale: Is that a cup of tea? 

Gareth: Why, yes it is. Would you like one? 

Dale: Wha’? No! You know I don’t like hot drinks.  What’s wrong with you? Where’s Beattie?

Gareth: I’m afraid the old girl has been taken quite ill. She’s weakened. Old bones. Old skin.

Dale: Wha’ you talkin about? Come on, let’s go. You got that skull?

Gareth: Of those pesky things? Never did like them. Coch I ferch, du I fachgen. People always used to forget that part. Red for a girl, black for a boy. White candles, never work on either. Mr Fischer knew that. Clever little man. Knew how to keep her out till he could escape. Thirteen red candles in thirteen skulls. Must have killed all his livestock in order to do it. 

Dale:  How do you know about Billy Fischer? 

Gareth: Twpsyn bach. I was there! A lovely early winter wedding if ever I saw one. Oh Billy and young Beattie made such a fine couple that night. Head over heels in love and sauntering around the churchyard not a care in the world. We watched and waited. We crept upon them. Beattie was nought but skin and bone. A tight fit for my sister. Billy ran for the hills. I gave chase, but not fast enough. He ran into the church and set off back down here at daybreak. My sister promised me a shell to walk through the daylight hours. But Billy knew some of the old ways. He knew how to protect himself. Six days she waited for him in that barn and on the seventh she let her guard slip.Them the fat turd slipped through and she knew my wrath would be terrible come next Nos Calan Gaeaf. So the little bitch thought she would play me at my own game! The next year I returned and she put black candles out to stop me in my tracks! Me, her own brother! However, I knew Beattie’s body couldn’t hold her forever. Our kind tends to wear out a soul over the years. 

Dale: Where’s Gareth?

Gareth: I am Gareth.

Dale: Don’t lie.

Gareth lets out a small squealing laugh.

Gareth: Lovely boy, blew out the candle for me when he smashed the window. All I needed was one tiny way in. I’m very grateful to be reunited with my sister and to show her there’s no hard feelings... I’ll let her wear you. Annwyl chwaer, your new Halloween costume is here!

Sound FX- fleshy pig  trotters scraping against a  hardwood floor. Followed by painful inhuman squeals and yelps. 

Dale: Oh my God! Wha’ have you done to her?

Gareth: Nothing, like I said we have a tendency to wear out a body. This one is near the end. But never fear, sister dear. This lovely young man is dying to meet you.

Beattie/Pig: No!!!

Gareth: What?

Beattie/Pig: No! We..don’t...belong...here. Things...have...moved...on! Dale...I tried to protect you...protect the...village (squeals) FROM HIM!

Gareth: You ungrateful wretch!

Sound FX-Gareth issuing a sharp kick to the  flesh of Beattie followed by a shrill squeal. 

Gareth: Take him! Take the boy! 

Sound FX-More kicks and squeals.

Beattie/Pig: NO! DALE! RUN! 

Beattie/ Pain growls in anguish as she charges at Gareth. 

Gareth: What are you doing you old sow! Ah!

Gareth cries in pain as Beattie/ Pain mauls him.  

Sound FX-broken furniture, smashed glass and squealing fills the air.

Beattie/Pig:DALE! RUN! 

Dale screams and runs across the wooden floor. 

Scene Nine

Sound FX-A shrill electronic beep follows the sound of a ringing mobile phone.

Sound FX-A short beep

Auto- Operator: Hello and welcome to your voicemail inbox. You have four messages. Message one. Sent today at 10. am.

Agency temp: Hello. Have you been miss- sold PPI?

Sound FX- A short beep

Auto- Operator: Message two. Sent today at 10.15 am

Anne: Hiya. It’s me. Bloody hell! Did you hear those fire engines going up the hill last night? Keeping me up till two in the morning they were! Silly old bitch must have left her chip pan on! I swear to Christ that Beattie Fischer gets worse with….

Sound FX- A short beep

Auto- Operator: Message three. Sent today at 11. Am

Claire: Hey Nessa. It’s Claire. Sorry to bother you. I know you’ve got your hands full with Dale, but we're down two pairs of hands today. Could you call into the kitchens? Cheers babes. By the way, Beattie’s social worker just stopped by. I gave her your number, I hope you don’t mind? Anyway, I hope Dale feels better soon. Bye love. 

Sound FX-A short beep

Auto- Operator: Message deleted. Message four. Sent today at 11. 25. Am

Dyfed: Oh good afternoon, My name is Dyfed Protheroe calling from Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council. This is a message for Nessa Hughes. Hi Nessa, I’ve just passed on your number to bereavement services and they should be calling you within the day regarding Mrs Fischer’s estate. Just to let you know it’s not a big problem...it’s just a bit... weird is all. She left a few items to your son. To tell you the truth I’m not sure whether you’d want them or not? They've totally spooked everyone in the office. I mean, it’s not something you’d give to a fourteen year old boy, is it? Pig skulls? Thirteen pig skulls dipping in red and black wax? It's a bit creepy if you ask me…

Sound FX- A short beep

Auto- Operator: Message deleted. End of messages.

Credits

In Thirteen Skulls by Paul Robbie Stoyle

Dale was played by Jack Ayres

Nessa by Dominique Flook

Beatie by Noni Lewis

And Gareth by Geraint Pickard

It was directed by Rosie Beech 

All other parts were played by members of the cast and crew

This has been a Yorick radio production