Skyla Arndt
1. Wil goes to the police station to show the offficers the picture she took of the local preacher tearing apart a rabbit on the edge of the woods. They have dealt with her just about everyday since her mom disappeared a year ago. She tries to tell them the picture shows a ritual sacrifice, but Sheriff Vrees points to his own hunting pictures and says it is common in the upper peninsula of Michigan. He tears up the picture and tells her he won’t be lenient on her stalking behavior anymore. She tells him she is done coming to them at all. Wil gets her bike free from the frozen ground and snow and takes off down the road glad for the cold because it makes their local woods full of dead animals smell less than warmer months. She goes to the diner where her best friend Ronnie is working. Her ex-boyfriend, Lucas Vandenhyde, is trying to convince her to get back together with him and that they were broken up when he made out with his lab partner. Lukas’ friend, Kevin, is trapped in the awkward situation. When Lukas grabs Ronnie’s arm, Wil steps in. Ronnie used to be a popular girl, but the death of her father and the disappearance of Wil’s mother brought them together. Lucas makes a comment about Wil abandoning her previous best friend, Elwood, and she tells him he has no idea what he is talking about. He then goes in to say her trauma isn’t an excuse for her behavior. Wil sees red.
2. Elwood’s father is the preacher and expecting him to follow in his footsteps. He is talking to his congregation and making a big deal about Elwood turning 18. He calls his son up next to him and talks about how the rabbit they brought was available to them because it was white and blended in with the snow so other predators couldn’t find it. Elwood stays quiet and stares at the back of the room trying not to think about his fear of public speaking. If his father knew he was planning on sneaking out to go to a party with his friend Lukas, he would kill Elwood instead of the rabbit. Lucas convinced Elwood to have one night of normalcy, but he keeps thinking about how he will be sinning.
3. Wil spends most of her Friday nights watching the Clarke’s house. Usually nothing happens, but that night, she sees Elwood climb out of his bedroom window and sneak off to Lukas’ party. She goes to Ronnie and begs her to get her into the party. When they arrive, a bit in cowboy boots, Harvey, tells Wil they no one wants her there. Ronnie steps out from behind her and tells him she was invited and changed her mind about coming. He lets her in and she says Wil is with her. Once they are inside, Harvey offers Ronnie a drink. Wil says she’ll have a beer and he tells her to get it herself. When she starts to walk away with Ronnie, he says he’s joking and gives them each a beer. They make their way through the trashed house to where most of the party is happening. Most kids are drinking, dancing, or making out with someone. A chanting starts urging someone to drink. They follow the sounds to find Elwood doing a keg stand.
4. Elwood feels guilty for sneaking out of his room and going to the party. As it really starts to go, he wishes he was sleeping in his bed, but he knows he only has one more day until everything changes. He drinks liquor straight from the bottle and the next thing he knows, he’s doing a keg stand. Luka starts to freak out because Ronnie showed up. Elwood is drunk and tries to tell him to just be honest with her as he leads him to her. Elwood is taken by surprise when Wil comes right up to him and grabs him by the shirt to drag him out back. He is in love with her, but when she told him to choose between her and his own family, he did. She is pissed off and starts asking him what his family is doing trying to buy the hotel. Elwood doesn’t know what she is talking about, but she doesn’t believe him. He tries to defend his family and points out that his family organized the search parties to look for her mom. She tells him his abusive parents are not the saints they pretend to be. She is surprised she said it and he is just as surprised when he replies back that it isnmt the first time her mom ran off. Wil’s mom left when she was just a baby. She was all smiles when she came back to town and people think she liked the attention and just ran off again. She lets go of his shirt and goes back inside. Elwood falls and the. Realizes he is going to be sick. He rushes upstairs and starts opening doors until he finds a bathroom. He throws up in the toilet and when he looks down into it, he sees a strange looking moth. When he gets up, everything goes bright and then black.
5. When Wil gets back inside and to Ronnie, she is crying and barely keeping it together. She asks if they can leave and they head out to Ronnie’s car together. She drives carefully and gently asks Wil what is going on. Wil tells her about Vrees closing her mom’s case. Ronnie is upset that they would close it that quickly. Wil says she needs to find out how the Clarkes are involved and sitting in the bushes isn’t going to do it anymore. Ronnie is surprised that is what she has been doing. She tells Wil not to break in to the house. When they reach the Green Family Motel, Ronnie asks Wil if she wants her to stay the night. Wil sends her off and goes to talk to their only employee Cherry, an older woman who had bonded with Wil’s mom. They talk about how Wil’s dad sold the motel to the Clarkes and she yelled at him for it. Cherry warns her that life isn’t fair and to leave the Clarkes alone. Wil lies and says she will. She goes inside and turns her drunk father on his side. He is surrounded by their belongings from the house they had to sell. The site of it all makes Wil even angrier. She layers up and heads out into the woods towards the Clarkes’ house.
6. Lucas and Kevin help Elwood up, give him water and Tylenol, and apologizing for not easing him into drinking. Lucas starts to drive them carefully home and the conversation of college comes up. The boys suggest Elwood might be able to go to college before becoming a preacher, but he insists his mind is made up. He doesn’t tell them he almost applied to the Michigan University. When they reach his house, they say their goodbyes. Elwood crawls back in his window, but his parents are waiting for him. They turn on the lights and start lecturing him about disobeying them. Instead of beating him — which he was prepared for — his dad starts smashing his frames of the butterflies and moths he’s been collecting and displays on his walls. Everything is ruined. Elwood is so heartbroken he doesn’t even register the pain when he accidentally cuts himself on the glass. His parents leave him there when Sheriff Vrees comes tot he door. Elwood can overhear them talking about posting guards around the house. Sheriff Vrees mentions Elwood and asks if Ezekiel loves him. The preacher says he doesn’t and Elwood is just a means to an end. Suddenly, Elwood realizes he isn’t being sent away to become a preacher. His own dad is intending to sacrifice him that night. He crawls back out his window and starts running.
7. Wil starts to realize there isn’t enough planning in her plan to get into the Clarkes’ house. She feels like she cannot turn back, but the cold is starting to get to her. She trips over a shoelace that has come undone and lands in the snow soaking her jeans. She leans against a tree and feels blood on it. She looks up and sees her mother’s corpse, but when she looks again, she sees it is actually a dead rabbit hanging from the tree. She screams out her frustration. Suddenly, she sees someone running towards her in the woods. She quickly realizes it is Elwood, but he doesn’t seem to see her until he just about runs into her. He tells her they need to get out of there immediately, but she isn’t keen on the idea of going anywhere with him. Suddenly, his family comes around with flashlights looking for him. They hide behind the tree with the dead rabbit hanging in it and hold each other close in fear. When the other people are gone, they run to the motel. Elwood wants them to barricade the door, but Wil knows it isn’t possible and takes grim to her room: 103. She throughs the junk from the spare bed into the floor and has him sit there while she cleans up his wounds. She goes to get him clothes from her dad. He admits he is afraid to be alone and she promises to come back because he owes her an explanation.
8. Elwood takes in the stark differences between his clean, tidy room and Wil’s mess all around him. He goes to the bathroom and takes a shower. He sits and cries long after the water goes cold before he gets out. He looks in the mirror and sees a loose flap of skin in his nose and he pulls it. It unravels all of his skin until he is a big. He screams and falls in the floor that is covered in bugs and they crawl all over him. Wil busts in and everything goes back to normal. She averts her eyes and give shin the clothes. He goes out tit he bed and gets under the covers. Wil gives him coffee and he chokes it down. He tells her about the bug hallucinations and she thinks he is in drugs. He tells her he isn’t, but she doesn’t seem to believe him. He tells her about his father talking to Vrees about killing him when the sheriff’s baby is born. Wil is surprised to learn of Vrees’ involvement in the cult. She says she will hide him from his parents if he helps her get dirt in them. He is reluctant to go against his parents at first, but he realizes he doesn’t have another choice. They trace the constellations of glow in the dark stars in the ceiling. Elwood says Wil’s mom loved her. She scolds him for talking about her in past tense and won’t accept his apology because it won’t help anything. She punctuates that she still hates him and he feels it like he couldn’t before when they were distanced from each other. Elwood falls asleep.
9. Wil wakes up to Elwood freaking out about the realities of his situation. She goes to the kitchen to get them breakfast and figures he won’t be moving from the bed anytime soon. She is surprised to find her dad awake and at the table in his ratty bathrobe. He asks if she had a friend stay over and she doesn’t feel like she is lying when she says she didn’t. Elwood comes into the kitchen shortly after and her dad is a bit surprised to see him. Suddenly the lobby door opens and Elwood panics. Wil mouths to her dad that no one can know Elwood is there. He motions for them to get in the pantry and they do. Ezekiel Clarke and Sherrif Vrees have come to look for Elwood. Mr. Greene tells them Elwood and Wil had a falling out about a year ago and he wouldn’t be there. When they suggest they are going to search the place, he first tells them it will be easier to search after they have demolished the place. He then tells them they cannot search without a warrant. The two other men get all huffy and leave. Mr. Greene comes back to the kitchen to let Wil and Elwood out of the pantry.
10. Mr. Greene had dreams of making the motel into a bed and breakfast and would get up early every morning to cook for all their guests. Now he burns chocolate chip pancakes for the three of them and tries to ask if his daughter is having sex with Elwood. Wil tells them she is only hiding Elwood from his family and that is all. Will goes back to her room and Elwood follows. She tells him they now have to get evidence against his family and pulls a shoebox out from under her bed. She empties the contents to show him the pictures she has taken of his family in the past year. She tells him they don’t have much a choice but to search his house because the only other places Ezekiel goes is the church and the library. Elwood says his father keeps track of the town ledger for history. Wil decides that is where they will start. She calls Ronnie and Lucas answers her phone. She isn’t surprised that Ronnie hooked up with him as her best friend has trouble giving things up. It is a while before Lucas gives Ronnie the phone and she puts it on speaker. When Wil asks for a ride to the library, Lucas points out that is is closed. Ronnie asks if it can wait. When Will says it can’t, Lucas says they are on their way (to Wil’s dismay).
11. Elwood keeps quiet while Lucas and Wil fight over what they are doing. They picked up Kevin because he works at the library and can let them in. Elwood remembers meeting Lucy’s shortly after Wil made him choose between her and his family. His girlfriend had just broken up with him and poured milk over his head. They were both sitting in the hall against the lockers reeling from their experiences. Elwood gave Lucas his lunch. Elwood admits he ran away from home, but has trouble explaining. Wil tells them the story and he starts to doubt it himself. Ronnie’s mom is the Garden of Adam (GOA) church as well. Ronnie admits that the church is very secretive until people turn 18. They arrive at the library and Kevin lets them in. Elwood searches his memory of where his dad used to go and leads them to a door labeled as a janitorial closet. Kevin says he doesn’t have a key tot he room, but when he checks his ring, he finds he has the wrong keys and does have the key to that door. With Elwood’s approval, he opens it and the inside doesn’t look like a janitor’s closet.
12. They all make their way down a set of steps and into a basement. Elwood takes the ledger from a glass case and puts it on the table. Kevin is surprised the book actually exists. He says Wil’s mom used to come in and ask for it, but the librarian, Mrs. Beasley insisted it didn’t exist. Kevin takes a look at it and notices there are two sections from which pages seem to be missing. Elwood finds the entry for his uncle’s birth, but can’t find anything for his death. All he knows is that his uncle died shortly before he was born. And now he is supposed to be sacrificed before Vrees’ baby (the next sacrifice) is born. Lucas tries to find information about Elwood’s uncle, Alderwood (also his full name) on the internet, but nothing comes up. There is a passage about the founding of the town and what the people had to do to survive that winter, but the next few pages are missing. Elwood reads aloud a prayer his father said in the last service about how they use blood and bone to fertilize the land and live for eternity. He is now certain his dad was going to sacrifice him and wonders how they planned to do it. Wil asks him if he knows where the missing pages might be. He thinks they are hidden with the sacrament at the church. Lucid is against going to see, but Kevin points out they wonky know for sure unless they check.
13. Wil and Lucas argue over Elwood as they make their way from the car hidden in the woods to the back of the church. Kevin warns them to be quiet as they reach their destination. Lucas uses the crowbar they brought to open up the back door enough for Will to unlock it. They sneak in and Elwood leads them to where he has seen the paper. He pulls out an old box and says there is a trick to opening it. He moves the box around and Wil uses a couple of Bobby pins to pick the lock. Elwood finds the page they are looking for talking an out how James Alderwood met an angel they told him to sacrifice his son to save the starving town and survive. He did and started preaching that they would have to keep doing the same to survive. They are all shocked to see it written out so clearly. They hear footsteps of several people and Elwood realizes the night service is coming.
14. They hide and I’m pulls out her phone to record the church meeting. Elwood has never been allowed to attend the night service before, so he is also curious about what goes on. The congregation arrives dressed in masks made from animal skulls and foliage. Ezekiel iterates that he knows they must find Elwood. Vrees pipes in to say that the Clarkes’ time as leader has come to an end. Ezekiel’s brother was an issue and now so is Elwood. He points out that his wife is about to give birth to the next “seed” and their sacrifice is already late. Ezekiel promises to plant something at the Greene Motel to give them access tot he building the next day. Ronnie’s mom points out that Wil is a problem just like her mother was. Ezekiel promises they can “take care of” Wil just like they did her mother. They say that Elwood is dangerous and the ceremony needs to happen right away to save them all. Suddenly, Wil’s phone goes off alerting the entire congregation.
15. Wil fumbles with her phone and gets it muted, but it is too late. She mouths at the others to run and they do. She and Elwood are the last and Ezekiel catches them. He indicates the two of them are going to kill the entire town before they run. They make it to Lucas’ car before he takes off because Ronnie made him wait. Wil tries to deal with knowing that her mother was murdered as Lucas drives them to the motel. When they arrive, Lucas rants about how he can’t do it. He can’t be involved. Ronnie tells him it isn’t about him. She, Elwood, and Wil all just learned horrible things. Kevin suggests they stick together, but Lucas yells at him that it isn’t a movie. Wil gets out and tells Lucas that all of the rumors going around about him being shallow and only caring about himself are true.
16. Inside the motel, Wil finds her dad passed out. He has a gift for her in his hand and she opens it to find it is the key to her mother’s office. They go and she unlocks the door, but doesn’t find anything unusual. She asks Elwood about his time with her as his counselor. He says he always knew his future, but when other kids started talking about going off to college, he started feeling like everything was pointless. She could see the potential in him and how his dad was trying to run his life. When she called Elwood’s parents in for a meeting, he told her to mind her own business because Elwood’s life was dictated by god. She didn’t let it end there. She went to church meetings where Ezekiel would preach about minding your own business and stare straight at her. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Wil finds a chip in the floorboard and pulls it up to reveal a secret compartment. She pulls out a VHS and plays it on the old box TV with the VCR. At first, it is of Wil playing as a kid, but the. It cuts to darkness and her mom saying she is about to do something dangerous. She films a meeting of the GOA at the tree. The tree reaches out to Vrees’ wife. Vrees is pleased that god has chosen him. He says the seed needs to be removed from Elwood and out into his son. Ezekiel insists there was some kind of mistake. Elwood’s rage seems to change him into a monster. There is foliage and branches snaking out that shake the room. He comes back to himself and approaches Wil. She flinches at first, but rhen grabs his wrist to pull him out of the room. They run to the other side of the motel just as the side they were hustling in collapsed. All evidence of what happened slowly fades away. Wil needs a distraction. She tells Elwood it doesn’t mean anything and then kisses him.
17. He remembers Wil asking him if he wanted to kiss under the bleachers freshman year to see what the hype was all about. After their kids, Elwood spent a lot of time thinking about it. He wants their current kiss to mean something. When it is over, Wil says it was a mistake. He lies and says he agrees remembering that she hates him and that he doesn’t want to hurt her anymore than he already has. They get her bike and take off with Elwood holding onto Wil from behind. They get to a downhill slope and have to get off the bike to walk it down. When they get back on, Elwood offers to pedal. Wil accepts and they get going through the woods. Elwood has to come to a stop when his father appears in front of him. Elwood is tempted to give up and go with his father until Wil yells at him not to. Elwood pedals away as hard as he can while Wil gives him directions. They arrive at Cherry’s house and make their way to the door.
18. When Cherry opens the door, she is hesitant to let them in. She asks what Elwood is and Wil tells him human. She decides to let them in and that she can trust Elwood if Wil does. Cherry says she has wards in place, but Wil still bolts the door shut. Wil and Elwood sit in the chaise lounge. Wil warns him about Cherry’s cat Starlight having a tendency to bite people. The cat crawls up in Elwood’s lap and makes itself comfortable. When Cherry comes back into the room, she is surprised to see it. She knew who Elwood was as soon as she saw him from what Wil and her mom had said about him. She had warned Mrs. Greene not to get involved. She says there are too many auras in the room and she needs to talk to Elwood alone. Wil reluctantly starts heading to the basement.
19. Elwood sips the tea that Cherry gives him. She points out that the plants around the room follow him and his emotions. He admits he feels guilty of Sophia Greene’s death because she was trying to help him. Cherry tells him that she made her own choices. She pulls out some tarot cards and has him pick out the ones that call to him. She tells him that he is in a state of trouble now, but change is coming. He interprets the cards more negatively than she does. He goes down to the basement to tell Wil of his doom. He talks about going back to his family to keep everyone else safe. She tries to tell him it is a bad idea and admits she has feelings for him. They get close and start to kiss.
20. As they kiss and undress, he tells her about how long he has liked her. Finally, he tells her he loves her and she doesn’t have to say it back. She feels the same, but isnmt ready to say it. They have sex.
21. Elwood dreams that he has become the monster and it is killing Wil. She tells him to just do it and he does. He wakes up to find a vine reaching towards Wil and orders it to stop. It snakes around his own wrist and grips tight enough to leave a red mark before dying. He realizes he has to stay as far away from Wil as he can to keep her safe. He uses a new tube of lipstick to leave her a note on the mirror. When he goes upstairs, Cherry is sitting in a chair. He tells her he is leaving and she lets him know he isn’t a prisoner there. He asks her to keep Wil from coming after him, but they both know Wil will do whatever she wants. He thanks her, but she thinks letting him go might be her biggest mistake yet. He takes off running out the door and into the night.
22. Wil wakes up and reads the message from Elwood on the mirror. She rushes upstairs and is furious with Cherry because she let him go. Cherry stops her from leaving and says she owes her a conversation before she leaves, just like Elwood. Wil agrees to it and Cherry shows her the plants Elwood creates out of her things that don’t normally have plants. She says Elwood clearly cares for her, but he belongs to the woods. Wil looks at the teacup Elwood had used and sees a skull. Cherry told her when she checked it after Elwood drank the tea, she saw toads. Wil gets ready to run out the door again. Cherry tries to convince her that she can’t go up against the whole town alone, but that is exactly what Wil will do if she has to. She runs out the door and hears Cherry slam it behind her.
23. Elwood faces his father in the church and tells him he is giving himself up. When his father asks about Wil, Elwood tells Ezekiel to leave her alone. He reminds himself he is doing this to save her. Ezekiel says he doesn’t need to worry about Wil. Once they take the motel, she and he father won’t have any reason to stay in the town. Ezekiel loves the pulpit aside and reveals a trap door. Elwood follows him inside and finds there are bodies everywhere. Ezekiel explains the tunnels run under the entire city. This explains the rotting smell being everywhere. Elwood mentions how his father never loved him or his brother. Ezekiel shows his son his scars from when he tried to help his brother. Alderwood had ended up causing the scars. That was why he knows Elwood is so dangerous. Elwood is disgusted with his father, but justifies staying to save Wil. He is willing to give up everything for her. Ezekiel leaves him in the dark tunnel alone.
24. Wil runs through the woods realizing there is too many places Elwood could be. She is furious that Cherry was right; she can’t save Elwood on her own. Lucas pulls up in his Honda civic and tells her to get in. She is actually glad to see him. Once she is in the car, he apologizes for flaking earlier. He says he also needs to apologize to Elwood. Wil is crying and admits she hated him because she was jealous of him. She felt like he stole Elwood away from her and Ronnie was always pining after him. Lucas admits he was jealous of how much attention Elwood and Ronnie gave her. The agree on a true and saving Elwood.
25. Elwood has been chained under the church for hours. He is cold and parts of him have gone numb. HE screams out to the monster inside of him to show itself. He would rather have a quick death. He pictures a door and starts banging in it until it opens. There is a meadow on the other side and he sees where it all started. A boy is screaming as his father kills him to rip the seed out. He is then shown a second door that opens for him. He sees his grandfather rip the seed out of his own son and put it into Elwood. He is slammed back into his own body. His skin is translucent and he can see the seed in place of a heart.
26. Wil, Lucas, Ronnie, and Kevin sit in Lucas’ parent’s living room with whatever supplies they have been able to gather including a crossbow. Wil draws out a map on the back of a takeout menu and they try to decide where Elwood would be. Wil starts flipping through the pictures on her phone. She sees one of the large tree the rabbit was skewered on and thinks that is the place. The doorbell rings. Wil and Lucas look at each other and quietly decide Lucas will open the door and Wil will take the crossbow. They answer the door to find Wil’s dad. He tracked her phone and has been trying to get a hold of her through Cherry and her friends. He tries to talk her out of going, but when he can’t, he insists on going with them.
27. Ezekiel comes back for Elwood. He keeps him shackled, but makes it so he can move with him. They start going through the tunnels. Elwood asks why his mother isn’t there. Ezekiel says she didn’t want to watch it and Elwood is surprised because she didn’t seem to have any qualms about it previously. Elwood stops when he sees Sophia Freene among the dead bodies. He falls to the ground and cuts his knee. Ezekiel keeps him moving and they come to a cuddly made ladder.
28. Wil and her group decided to drive most of the way through the Morguewood and walk the last mile or so to the tree. The mark trees with a Sharpe as their tracks are quickly being covered up by fresh snow. Ronnie’s mom, Patricia, comes up to the. Trying to convince them that Elwood is about to become a monster unless the ceremony happens. She begs Ronnie to leave. Ronnie says she is nothing to her anymore and they continue on their quest to find Elwood. Wil thinks about what Patricia telling them Elwood is becoming the monster.
29. Ezekiel and Elwood arrive and the large tree where Prudence Vrees is about to give birth. Elwood is tied the tree with rope and hoping this is all just an intricate lesson his father is trying to teach him. Ezekiel pulls out a knife and plunges it into Elwood’s chest.
30. Wil finally sees Elwood, but it’s too late and the screaming starts.
31. Elwood becomes the monster and can’t really understand the humans around them. He still has a spark of rage towards them. He starts picking up men and eating them. One of them being his father. Suddenly, he sees five new humans and starts going after them. He grabs one and hears Wil tell Lucas to help her dad. Lucas stabs him with a knife in the side. Wil throws snowballs at him to keep his attention on her. She runs and he chases her. Elwood’s memories of him and Wil together come back in flashes. He makes a tree root lift to trip her. She falls and her blood pools in the snow. She tells him she loves him. He says her name.
32. Wil sees the monster and how it resembles the butterflies Elwood loves and constantly talked about. She tells him how she feels in detail. He turns back to mostly human, but not completely.
33. Elwood can taste the blood in his mouth and feel the dirt under his fingernails. He sees the scrape of her knee and knows that he did that to her. He holds onto Wil not sure how long he will be himself. He realizes he is made for the woods. He kisses her and tells Wil something before taking off into the air and flying through it with his wings.
34. Wil is left with Elwood’s words to come find him in the trees because he will be waiting for her. Once he is gone, she screams out in grief. She makes her way back to the others that are all looking worse for the wear. The bodies of Ezekiel and Vrees are buried in the snow. Cherry is there and has delivered Prudence Vrees’ baby. Lucas asks about Elwood and she just tells them he is gone. Branches and vine reach out to draw the church into the forest and destroy it. The Clarkes’ house is next.
35. Wil waits in the hospital until she is able to go see her dad in his room. He admits he thought he lost her when Sophia’s room in the hotel collapsed. He did everything he could to find her. Wil tells him he wasn’t there when she needed him and it was like she lost both parents at once. He apologizes and they hug. He will be in the hospital a few weeks, but he plans to get back to cooking after that.
36. The town is investigated and makes the news. They say an earthquake uncovered the bodies from the Garden of Adam cult and destroyed the buildings. A few months later, the group is celebrating Kevin’s birthday together with a cake Wil’s dad made. She is worried about telling Elwood her news. Lucas cuts her a piece of cake to take to him. She leaves the party early and goes into the Morguewood. Elwood appears in a new form with antlers and slowly transforms back into his human form. She rushes to hug him and accidentally smashes the cake. They lay down in a clearing and she asks if he is able to leave. He tries to explain that he is not trapped and that he doesn’t want to leave. He realizes Wil is bringing this up because she doesn’t to leave. He tells her to go and see the world and bring him back souvenirs. He says he will wait for her. They profess their love for each other.