Hello?
I'm sorry. I-- I didn't mean to scare you.
- David, don't do that. - I'm sorry.
I just wanted to catch you before the meeting, to, uh...
To what?
Happy Birthday.
Oh, David, how did you know my birthday is next week?
I don't know what to say. Um...
thank you.
- [DISTANT LAUGHTER] - Um, we're late.
- I'll open it after the meeting. - OK.
OK. Come on.
- Ta-da! - You're such a talent.
You jerk! I could have choked.
Go ahead. Take your best shot.
Come on, guys, lighten up.
Sorry.
What happened?
You should have wanted two more minutes.
Eric was going to deck Frank.
Yeah, in his dreams.
Start fast. The natives are restless.
My story's got to do with two kids who don't get along
because they're so different from each other...
and a love that is so strong it can survive anything,
even death... forever.
Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society,
I call this story...
[DAVID] It was the beginning of summer vacation,
and every kid in town was psychoed--
every kid except Amanda Cameron, that is.
We're here. Everybody out.
[DAVID] Her mom and dad were some kind of scientists
who had to travel up north to study unuit stone carvings,
so Amanda was shipped off to her Aunt Dottie's place
for the summer.
Oops. Oh, shoot.
Sweetie, what in the world did your mother put in here?
Books.
Books? Feels like you've got
a whole set of encyclopedias.
Beth!
Beth, Lovey, your cousin Amanda's here.
Could you give us a hand? Beth?
She must be on the phone again.
We'll just do this ourselves.
[David] Unfortunately for Amanda,
spending a whole summer with Cousin Bethy
was going to be even less fun
than staring at a bunch of old rocks.
with her mom and dad for two months.
I'll get this.
[POUNDING]
- What was that? - What was what?
It's like banging coming from over there.
Oh, not that place, sweetie.
No one's been in there for years.
I should know. I'm the real estate agent.
I can't even get people to look at the place.
I wish it would just--
Huh!
Sometimes I think this house just doesn't want to be sold.
Come on. Let's get you inside and unpacked.
You should see what she's wearing.
My mom better not expect me to babysit that dweeb all summer.
- [KNOCK ON DOOR] - Uh, she's here. I got to go.
Look who's here, honey. Come on in, Mandy.
- Hi, Beth. - Hi.
You'll be sharing Beth's room so the two of you
can stay up all night giggling and talking.
This is where Nanny used to sleep when Beth was little.
Well, I'll leave you two alone to get reacquainted.
Have fun.
I suppose she told you
we're going to do all sorts of fun stuff together.
- Yeah. - Wrong.
If you think I'm going to hang with you all summer,
you're nuts.
I don't think she means for you to hang with just me.
We could do stuff with your friends.
You don't even know my friends.
They could get to know me.
Why? It's not like just anyone can hang with us.
You have to prove you're not a zeeb.
How does one prove that they're not a zeeb?
OK, look. You want to hang with us,
- you got to follow the rules. - What rules?
OK, first off...
I don't even want to know that you're here.
That means putting my animal collection back
every day in the exact right places.
In fact, I don't feel like having my room
look like a disaster all day, so do it now.
And you can't go crying to Mom or Nanny ever,
no matter what happens.
Fine. I'll put everything back
in the right order every day, and I won't snitch.
Easy.
Then there's the most important thing.
What's that?
The initiation.
- Initiation? - Oh, yeah.
Anyone who hangs with us has to spend a night alone
in the place next door.
It's haunted.
Dear Mom and Dad,
I hope you're having a good time.
I am, too.
[CREAKING]
You must... be Amanda.
I'm Nanny.
No!
If you touch her conteminated, wrinkly old hand,
I'll never let you touch my things again!
- Don't you ever talk to her! - Who is she?
My nanny, and I want her gone.
Why?
Because I'm too old for a nanny, and she's so weird.
I hate how she's always watching me.
She seems kind of sad to me.
She's crazy-- really crazy.
I know for a fact there's something funny with her
and the haunted place next door.
I heard my parents talking once.
I think she must have been driven insane by the ghost.
Which reminds me--
there's a pool party at Sally's on Saturday.
I suppose you want to come.
- Sure. - Don't get too excited.
You can't come unless you go through the initiation.
- The night in the haunted house? - You got it.
Tomorrow night. Pleasant dreams.
Are you OK?
You dropped this.
Thank you.
Is that Beth's laundry?
Oh, that's OK. It won't take me long.
Don't worry. I won't tell anyone.
She's so weird, and I'm too old for a nanny.
Why doesn't she just leave? I'm not going to argue.
I told you before, she has nowhere to go.
I wish she did, but she doesn't.
There you are, honey.
Sleeping in?
Now. Beth, I don't want to hear any more rudeness.
[DOOR SQUEAKS]
I'm going roller-skating.
Don't touch my stuff.
[DOOR SLAMS]
[AMANDA] Why does everyone think it's haunted, anyway?
[BETH] They don't think it's haunted.
They know it's haunted. And this is why.
A long, long time ago,
there was a little girl who lived there.
All the kids made fun of her because she couldn't talk.
Why couldn't she talk?
I don't know. She just couldn't.
Maybe she was deaf.
It doesn't matter. Just listen!
Sorry.
Anyway... one day, her mom got a letter
that her dad, who was away in the war,
has gotten sick, so she sent the little girl
to stay with her grandmother
while she went away to take care of him.
- [OWL HOOTS] - Only the little girl
didn't make it to her grandmother's because on the way,
some mean kids surrounded her and teased her.
She ran back home to get away from them,
and they followed her,
followed her right to her very own home.
They locked her in her bedroom, and she didn't escape alive.
What happened?
No one knew she was there.
her mother didn't come back for weeks,
and her grandmother didn't even know she was coming.
When they found her, she was dead.
And that's where you have to go-- her bedroom.
We'll know you're in there by the light from this.
The keys to the front door.
- Won't Aunt Dottie miss them? - No way.
No one ever calls to see the place.
It's just too scary.
You could turn chicken
if you'd rather spend the whole summer alone... reading.
No. I'm going in.
I don't believe in ghosts anyway.
Neither did we, until we spent the night in there.
She really thinks we all did this.
[OWL HOOTING]
[POUNDING AND FAINT CHILDREN'S LAUGHTER ]
Very funny, you guys.
I know that's you trying to scare me.
[LAUGHTER]
- [POUNDING] - What was that?
[SCRATCHING]
It's backwards.
Help me?
Aah!
Aah! Aah!
Very creepy.
Where did Beth go?
Beth went to Sally's for the whole night.
Aunt Dottie was working late.
That means Amanda was home alone with Nanny.
She should have stayed with the ghost.
- Now she's alone with a lunatic. - Nanny isn't a lunatic.
Beth just told Amanda that to scare her.
But you probably didn't get that.
Guys, come on. So what happened, Dave?
When Aunt Dottie came home,
Amanda told her everything that had happened.
- What are those for? - I'm very disappointed in you girls.
I don't know who did the writing on the wall--
I didn't.
And I don't want to know,
but you two girls are going to go over there
and scrub it off before I get back.
Will you come with us?
I will not. I have two open houses today
and a closing at 6:00.
If you two girls went over there last night,
you can go over there now.
- But there's a ghost. - Oh, please.
You can do better than that.
Now, come on. Come on, let's go.
This is all your fault. You're such a chicken.
I'm not, and I don't want to be in your lame old group anymore.
Good. I wasn't going to let you in anyway.
And you're a snitch, too. You're a chicken and a snitch!
I couldn't stand being you.
Oh, give me a break. It's not even dark.
You can't be scared now.
One thing's for sure-- I'm never inviting you
to do anything with us ever again.
Hello.
Wow. No wonder Mom was so mad.
You did this just to get me in trouble, didn't you?
I didn't do it. It wasn't like this last night.
Yeah, right. If you think
that I'm going to clean up a mess that you made--
Now what?
Beth, come on, let's go.
Wow. Look at all the dolls and stuffed animals.
What an awesome collection.
It's even bigger than mine.
Beth, no!
Aah!
Aah! Oh, my--
Open the door!
Open up! Help!
Someone let me out!
No! Leave me alone! Open up!
Help! Leave me alone!
Please! [SOBBING]
Leave me alone.
[SOBBING]
Who are you?
It's-- it's Nanny.
Your-- your mother?
Nanny's your mother?
"Help me"? Help you?
I... I...
I can help you, yes.
Please open the door, and I can help you.
I'll get her. I will.
Please open--
Thank you. I'll get her.
No, don't go, Amanda! You have to help me.
I'm stuck in the mirror! Amanda, can't you see me?
How am I going to get out of here?
Nanny?
Nanny, where are you?
Nanny!
[CAR DOOR CLOSE]
Nanny! Oh, no. What--
No, Nanny, no. Don't leave!
Nanny, wait!
Please don't go.
You have to come with me.
Where? What are you saying?
Over there. Come on!
Oh, no. I'm not going in there.
Too many bad memories.
You girls can go and play your jokes on someone else.
No, it's not a joke. Please.
No, I'm leaving. I'm not wanted here anymore.
Yes, you are. Look!
Where did you get this?
No. No, no, I can't.
You can. You have to.
No, it's too hard. I can't.
I can't.
- You can. - No.
Yes, it's OK.
Huh!
My baby!
My poor baby!
I didn't know you were here.
All this time...
Oh!
Oh, nothing bad will ever happen to you again.
Yes. Yes, I'll go with you.
Oh...
Amanda!
Amanda, help me!
Beth?
Amanda, help me. I'm stuck in the mirror.
Amanda?
Where's Beth?
Her mom said you guys were both over here.
Please, Amanda, help me!
Are you going to stop bossing me around?
Yes.
Are you going to stop bossing your friends around?
Yes.
Well, OK. I'll let you out.
You know, Beth, I think we're going to have
to make some changes in this group.
The End.
So what happened with Amanda and Beth?
Amanda had a great summer.
She even let Beth hang with the group.
Good story, Dave.
Excellent. Really cool.
I declare this meeting of the Midnight Society closed.
Next week, everybody.
See you guys later.
Come on, Zeeb.
I'll buy you a soda to cool you off.
Ow, ow, ow!
- Kristen? - Yeah?
Aren't you going to--
The present! Oh, I'm sorry, Dave.
Your story was so good.
That's OK.
A locket like in your story.
You like it?
I love it. It's beautiful,
but you shouldn't have gotten this.
What do you think?
Perfect. I knew it would be.
I'll think of you every time I wear it...
forever.
Let's catch up.
Captioned by Grant Brown