Rain Harper is an older adolescent girl who hitchhiked across America from Boston to Seattle after her father raped her. Her first night in Seattle she goes to the club, Reverb, and meets Traci, a younger teen runaway, and catches the eye of the lead singer of the band playing that night, Nightmare of Reason. After the band’s set was finishes, Rain asks Traci if she knew of a place she can stay without pay and Traci invites Rain to stay in an abandoned house where she’s been staying because nobody goes there, not even the police.
Rain decides to stay with Traci and over the course of a week, Rain begins to think her life can begin to settle down as she starts making friends with the band and takes care of Traci… Even though she’s been called on to be a witness to the the spectral Juris‘ proceeding which take place in the pantry. The Juris is composed of five spirits from five different points in time. They call on those who harbor great secrets and judge them with the aid of a living witness. If found guilty, their souls are sentenced to eternity in the basement which itself is a portal to hell.
On separate occasions, Rain witnessed the judgement of an elderly woman who, in her younger years, had murdered her ailing sister whom she had promised to take care of for the rest of her life. Rain witnessed the judgement of a little girl who disobeyed her mother and cost a man his life because his foot was stuck on a railroad track and the girl didn’t tell anyone because she wasn’t supposed to be out at night or talking to strangers. Rain was called to return the soul of one who had been judged previously without a witness present. Rain demanded to see the man’s secret and disagreed with the judgement, setting him free from the house.
The last judgement Rain witnessed was that of Erik, the lead singer of ‘Night of Reason’. Pfaultz, one of the Juris, had him brought to the Court of Secrets mainly out of spite due to Rain overturning the escaped soul’s judgement. Pfaultz slowly dragged out Erik’s little secret’s which each of the Juris agreed were necessary to witness the larger secret. That main secret being that one night while Rain was downstairs being a witness, Erik was upstairs raping Traci. Rain read the Juris’ verdict and agreed with it but Erik shouted it down, saying Rain owed him since she’s been in Seattle. Rain stopped the judgement and Erik out of the pantry. Saying, ‘I do owe you’, Rain quickly took Erik by the head and pushed it into a spiked door.
Afterwards, Rain and Traci stayed the night at Ben‘s house. The next morning, Rain woke up, took a shower, and decided it was time to leave Seattle as people were starting to leave their mark on her, even though she knew it would be tough for Traci to handle a rape for the first time. Rain walked through the street market, grabbed a bagel and cup of coffee without paying, and tried thumbing for a ride when she felt a familiar pull. She knew what was happening so there was no use fighting it. Rain was called back to the house to reveal her secrets.
When Rain was in fourth grade, her brother Ryan in third grade, one day both their parents were gone from the house and the two of them decided to leave from the house to play without locking up. When the two of them came back, they found their mother crying over the silk drapes and their father looking at what happened to a painting. Apparently, a group of street punks had come into the house and made a mess of things. Since Rain is the oldest, her father decides it’s all her fault and goes outside and picks the longest stemmed rose he could find. Clipping the flower off, he lashes Rain’s legs with the thorny stem, leaving scratches up and down her legs.
As time went by, Rain’s mother began slipping into madness and catatonia. Without mother, Rain did anything to get attention. She drank so much in four hours she was taken to the hospital for alcohol poisoning. When Rain’s mother died, Rain was very angry. Having told the house her secrets, Rain felt the better for it and walked outside, having not decided whether to stay or leave just yet.