14. Cracking Act Two
8 April 2025
Alison Rocket Ross
Aaron (35) Landscaper needs to be pushed.
Act Two is a beast. The middle, the meat, this is really where the pressure builds for the big explosion in Act Three. Act Two is also where most stories lose it. Especially features
So let’s review our story so far:
Act One:
Aaron has ants in his apartment. Is frustrated. Goes to work.
At work, he is planting a tree and the Yellow House and digs up a human skull.
Instead of going to the police, he tells no one and plants the tree.
He then goes to trivia night where Brooke notices something is wrong.
Brooke eventually gets it out of him, now she’s invested.
She does research to uncover if the skull is a murder victim, or something of historical significance — it’s murder.
Brooke’s detective skills lead her to think the murder victim is Fred Corbin who went missing 15 years ago and lived across the street.
Brooke convinces Aaron to talk with Mother Corbin who still lives across the street from the Yellow House.
Mother Corbin is out for blood and threatens NATHAN who is the son of the people who live in the Yellow House.
The threat is so real that Aaron and Brooke go to the Yellow House to warn Nathan and tell him about the skull.
Nathan is clueless about the situation, fires Aaron and his landscaping crew, throws them out of his house.
Aaron and Brooke retreat — there’s nothing more they can do. Aaron wants to go back to his normal life and he is already facing consequences for getting his crew fired.
Mother Corbin goes to the Yellow House in a fit of rage and shoots Nathan with a shotgun.
There’s an investigation. Nathan is dead. Mother Corbin is in custody. They do an entire forensic sweep on the Yellow House.
The Yellow House Daughter comes back to town.
Aaron and Brooke are interviewed after Mother Corbin names them.
The cops are suspicious of them, floating the idea of a conspiracy.
The Yellow House Daughter steps up to represent them and tells them to say nothing.
Ok, that’s the story so far. Some of that came out as I was writing the bullet points. I like the idea of the Yellow House Daughter being a lawyer. It plays into her self-preservation.
I’m officially sick of typing “Yellow House Daughter” so let’s give her a name.
How about Katie? Katherine. Katherine and Nathan Thompson are the children of Heather and Jerry Thompson. The Yellow House Neighbors.
Ok, good. And Mother Corbin is… Veronica. Veronica Corbin, Ronnie for short. I like that. That’ll make my life a lot easier now.
Back to Act Two
We’re wiring the bomb here… so… Last time we talked about the cop who had a crush on Katie in high school. He’s got to be the one that interviews/interrogates Aaron and Brooke. Then Katie comes in to represent them and throws the cop off his game.
Note: Katie represents them not knowing who they are because when she is told what’s going on, she knows that these two found something in the yard they shouldn’t have found. She’s not doing it out of the kindness of her heart, she’s doing it to protect herself and her family.
Aaron and Brooke’s involvement looks bad. Almost as if they set Nathan up to be killed. The cops throw out motives like Aaron getting upset Nathan fired his landscaping crew. But it’s all circumstantial and the motives are paper thin. However, if Aaron tells them he dug up a skull and didn’t report it… that looks even worse. Might even get him a party-to-the-crime charge of some sort.
It’s looking bleak and Aaron is rightfully freaked out.
Scene Flash: In the police station, Brooke is on the phone with her dad. Aaron looks at his phone, considers calling his parents, but decides against it. Just a little character moment where we see Aaron’s distrust and lack of communication with his family.
Katie becomes somewhat of a hero character for Aaron. She presents herself in such a way that convinces him he can trust her. She is, after all, helping him.
He doesn’t yet know the story of skull. He’s got questions, but he won’t ask them. Not yet.
What happens next…
Scene Flash: In Act One when Brooke is still trying to get Aaron to tell her what’s wrong, they’re at the hardware story buying ant traps.
Aaron is going to learn the story of Fred Corbin through the cops. He will say nothing, but get the details as the cops try to trick him into confessing something.
At some point Katie will ask him what he knows. And he’ll tell her. He’ll tell her everything in private. He’ll put the pieces together after the forensics come back that Fred Corbin’s blood was found in the Yellow House. Katie, of course, will deny it and Aaron will believe her… for now.
Until he’s approached by the cop who warns him that Katie has a dark side. That’ll get the gears turning. That will push us into Act Three.
I would say as the tension ramps up, Aaron pushes Brooke away to protect her. That drives her crazy. She wants in on whatever is happening, she wants her adventure no matter how dangerous it is. Aaron keeps her in the dark as long as he can. And I’m going to say she has to be sidelined until the very end.
Alright, next time we can look at the ending again and see where we want to go. We’re making good progress and we’re almost to the fun part.
-Rocket