02x04 - The Ghost Within

[bunniefuu]

My name is Melinda Gordon. I just got married. Just moved to a small town. Just opened up an antique shop. I might be just like you. Except from the time that I was a little girl, I knew that I could talk to the dead. It's all right, honey. "Earthbound spirits" my grandmother call them. They stay here because they have unfinished business with the living, and they come to me for help. To tell you my story, I have to tell you theirs.

H- help me.

Can you get me out of here? Can anybody hear me?

I can hear you.

And I know your secret.

What secret?

That you are seriously in touch with your inner child.

What can I say? Easily amused.

No, I love that about you.

You know, large shoes, big, red nose, and I'm all set.

Where did Ned go?

Hey, houdini.

How about making an appearance?

You said I wouldn't have to stay.

Yeah. I also said... that you would have to explain why.

I have a really important math project due tomorrow.

I was actually counting on another pair of hands today.

Will these do? I'll stay.

I hope you're not upset.

As long as you're ok with it.

Cool. Thanks, mom. Thanks, Melinda.

If he even cracks a "c"
on this project, I can live with getting a "c" on my parenting.

So, what do you need me to do?

Close up. We're going shopping.

...This place for the last 20 years I never thought I'd have to leave.

Business is that slow?

Ever since ebay, dead as a doornail.

Well, you could sell your stuff online, too, or... get somebody else to do it and sell your stuff from the comfort of your own home.

Aw, nah. I'm too much of a people person. I'd miss talking to folks.

Melinda, you have to look at these.

See what I mean?

Oh. I didn't know that I had put those out.

Are these not for sale?

Uh, n-no. No, they're for sale. Everything must go.

I can understand why you wouldn't want to part with them.

They're gorgeous.

Wow. Hand-painted on the front.

Are they christmas ornaments?

Oh, well, could be, or whatever you like.

If you don't get these, I'm gonna get them for the store myself.

Ok, I'll take them.

You have a good eye, Delia. You can go shopping with me anytime you want.

Oh, you're gonna be sorry you said that.

So where do you want me to put these?

Oh, we don't have to do that now.

Are you kidding?

I haven't been this jazzed since I sold my first house.

Seems like a thousand years ago.

And please don't tell Ned.

I want him to think that covering his hours was a huge sacrifice for me. you know what? I think this shelf isn't level.

You wanna put a piece of wood right underneath this leg.

You know, maybe we could just keep the ornament in the box for now.

P.O.P.- "Point of purchase. "

You always wanna put some out front where everyone can see them.

I'll think about that.

That's the point.

You don't wanna think. You just wanna buy.

Can you just put them back, please?

S- sure.

I didn't mean to-

it's just sometimes when I have new things, I like to hold off on putting them out until I'm really sure where they're going.

I understand.

Melinda, I am so sorry. I just... get carried away sometimes.

Me, too. I guess I'm just a little on edge.

I know it's not easy being your own boss.

I used to think that I was gonna open up my own place, have a little store like this one.

I was either gonna call it delia's decorations or the curbside curator.

And why didn't you?

I got married, I had ned, and then the concept of someday just becomes a little more abstract.

Uh, how did you get into real estate?

When my husband died.

I had to think of a plan "b" in a hurry.

There's no time to grow a small business.

I had to get out there and make some money, so... got my real estate license.

Could you grab some newspapers and maybe check for estate sales?

Sure. No problem.

As soon as you can, before they run out.

On my way. Want anything else?

No. Thanks.

Ok.

Who are you?

What's going on?

What's happening? Talk to me. I can help.

Stop it. Don't do that.

Just please stop it.

Please. Stop it! Aah! Stop! Please.

Can you see me?

So you can see and hear this ghost, but he can't see or hear you?

Yeah. How's that for a cruel twist of fate?

Maybe this ghost is deaf and blind.

It's like he's trapped here, being tormented by these christmas ornaments.

Not everybody likes the holidays.

He's definitely trying to get rid of them. It's like they're alive, breathing.

I've never seen anything like it.

Where are they now?

Well, I was hoping the answer was hidden, you know, deeply away somewhere in the store.

Well, they're pretty.

I wish you could see this.

Let me hold you.

Can't I touch you?

No!

Don't do that. No. Stop it!

Leave me alone! No. Stop it!

Come on. Keep breathing.

Stand up. You're all right.

What happened?

You tell me. You just blacked out there for a while.

I- I felt scared and really angry. It was overwhelming.

Maybe you should sit down.

No, I don't think I can.

I should walk it off.

Did you see anything?

Yeah, I did. 2 people hitting each other and some kind of fight.

Ok, I want this ghost out of here.

If the ghost wants to destroy these ornaments, he can't do it himself, fire is the best way that I know to destroy something made of wood.

If I do it for him, he can cross over.

Is he gone?

Yes.

Come on.

Oh, I am so hungry.

Ey're back.

So is he.

Professor payne?

Professor payne.

Go away!

I changed my mind! No student office hours today!

I'm not a student. It's melinda gordon. You helped me before.

Ow! Note to self-

stop helping people.

What are you looking for?

Well, before I hit my head, I was looking for my lunch.

It's in a paper bag.

Oh. Brown-bagging lunch. That doesn't sound like you.

Ms. Gordon. All right. What do you have for me, huh?

Bunch of ambiguous questions that you probably already know the answers to?

You give me too much credit.

Maybe not enough credit. Hmm?

In your studies, have you ever come across a situation where a spirit can make an object appear in our world?

Materialization?

I guess.

What I'm talking about is an object that the spirit can see and touch and that we can see and touch, too.

Let's hope it's jewelry and cash then, huh?

Yes or no?

Look, I've heard of it, but I don't believe it.

And why not?

Because I don't believe in ghosts!

How can you study this stuff and not believe in it?

I don't study the stuff, ms. Gordon.

I- I study people's need to believe in the stuff, people like you standing in front of me, looking...

Looking beautiful. And smelling delicious is what- that perfume, is that french?

Let me smell it.

Ok, let's just assume for a minute that spirits exist and they can move objects.

Yeah. They called apports.

It's from the french word apporter. It means "to bring. "

Bring what?

More of that perfume you're wearing, 'cause seriously, it's making me bananas.

I'm kidding. Unless I'm not.

Ok, I'm kidding. Um, it brings clarity, deeper understanding, aside from the literal, you know, interpretation that an apport is sent from beyond to the living, maybe it's a manifestation of something that's so important, you know, something really symbolic.

So if a ghost couldn't talk, they would maybe make an object appear as a way of communicating.

And can these apports move on their own?

Yeah, and cats can water-ski.

Is that why they glow?

Cats don't glow!

Apports.

I know you're talking about apports!

Why are you yelling?!

I'm not yelling.

I'm yelling, right?! I make that mistake.

I'm sorry. I tend to disassociate.

That's an understatement.

Wh-what do you want?

Why are you here? Do you have an apport at home, and it's just glowing with ghostly energy? Whoo!

Well, if that's true, why don't you bring it in so we can test it?

Why would I have an apport?

I mean, there's no such thing. It's make-believe, right?

Ah. You... you baffle me! You little minx.

Aw, I had a feeling you'd be back.

Really?

I know a repeat customer when I see one.

Still got a few things left.

Any more ornaments?

No, don't worry. You've got the only ones.

I was hoping you could tell me where you got them.

Why?

In case they have any more.

Well, I doubt that there are.

Yeah. Pretty unique.

Well, I don't know where they came from.

If I did, I'd let you know. Now, if you excuse me, I gotta get back to my packing.

Maybe the ornaments just appeared out of nowhere.

How do you mean
"just appeared"?

Last night, a set of ornaments just like the ones that you sold me just appeared on my kitchen table.

I thought I was going crazy.

You're not.

I racked my brain trying to remember if I picked 'em up from someone yesterday or if I saw someone drop 'em here at the stall.

What about a man in his mid-thirties, um, short, brown hair, stubble, pale skin, a little disheveled, doesn't like to look you in the eye?

Shifty I tend to remember, but no, no, he's not ringing a bell.

If I see anybody like that, I'll let you know.

Please.

Melinda... Wait.

I just found this.

I'll buy it from you.

Uh, no, no, no.

Y- you take it. I- I think you should have it.

Ok.

I need your real-estate expertise to find this house.

It sounds like an amazing house, but you don't remember where it is?

Uh, I've never been. A client of mine told me about it.

He can't remember the address?

He's not from around here. Is he looking to buy?

Do I have a shot?

Uh, I'm not so sure he could swing a mortgage, but he's got me curious. I'd love to see it.

This is the website that tracks all of the residential properties in the area.

You can go ahead and use my account number and just put in as many details as you can and then search the database and see if you find the house.

If you convince him to buy, will you steer him my way?

Thank you.

Well, at least now the ghost is, uh, communicating with you.

Oh, yeah. We're like this.

He won't talk to me, look at me, or even acknowledge my presence.

Well, you did say it takes some longer than others to adjust to death.

Yeah. Everybody deals with death differently.

I think delia's having a hard time with it.

Oh, yeah? Did you talk to her?

I've been meaning to, but I haven't really had the chance. Oh.

That's it. That's the house.

Hello? Is anybody home?

Hello.

Hello.

Miss.

Give me a minute.

She ok?

Physically, she's fine.

She's just completely withdrawn. She won't talk.

Sounds like somebody else I know.

The woman's christine nelson.

Found her picture I.D. Inside. And he's, um-

well, he was dennis hightower. I don't know if that does you any good.

Something terrible must have happened in this house.

I mean, do you remember the first vision I had?

2 people fighting.

I have to get him to talk to me.

Look, you found his body.

Maybe that's all he needed to resolve before he could cross over.

But he's still here.

Yeah, well, the police will be, too, so...

Dennis Hightower.

Are you surprised that I found out your name?

Your name?

Melinda.

It's really nice to meet you.

Everything's gonna be ok now.

We found your body. You can cross over.

All you have to do is go into the light.

Dennis, can you see the light?

You see the light?

No. I can'T. Only you can.

Is there something else that you need?

Something that I can help you with?

Tell me what happened to you.

What happened to you.

You know that you're dead, right?

Right.

Who did this to you?

You. You.

Why don't you understand me?

Understand me.

Coroner's report says it looks like dennis was poisoned.

Why didn't he tell me about that?

Maybe I'd be better off if I talked to christine.

Let the police do that.

I mean, he obviously led me to her for a reason.

She might be an important part of his life.

She might be an important part of his death.

No. You think?

Dennis and christine might be the 2 people you saw fighting in your vision.

Why would she poison dennis and then stay with the body?

Guilty don't always run and hide.

Maybe dennis led you to the house not to help christine, but to help you find his k*ller.

Why didn't he cross over?

You're right. You should try and talk to christine.

Do you have an appointment?

No. I'm, uh, looking for a patient, christine nelson.

The emergency room at mercy hospital told me that she was taken here.

This morning.

And why was she moved?

Too many heads, not enough beds.

If your condition isn't serious, life-threatening, or fatal, you get turfed out. Follow me.

Christine, you have a visitor.

We met yesterday at your house.

I'm melinda gordon.

I should get back to my desk.

I know that the police were here and you wouldn't talk to them.

I'm not the police, and I need you to talk to me.

I knew dennis.

I think I know how he died, but it would help to know why.

Christine, can you hear me?

It's gonna take some time before christine's communicatmmn skills are back to where they were.

Ms. Gordon, dr. Hillary sloan.

I thought that she didn't suffer any physical damage.

She didn'T.

But this kind of change is a lot for a person with autism to process.

Wait. Did you just say that christine is autistic?

Do you have a minute?

As you can see, they like puzzles and games.

Pacing, hand flapping, rocking back and forth-

they are all coping mechanisms for people with autism.

You know, there are high-functioning people with autism who've learned to behave in a more socially acceptable way.

A lot of them are loners.

They relate better to objects than they do to people.

They don't like to talk.

Or look you in the eye.

They don't follow a lot of our social rules.

Dennis is autistic.

Christine and dennis had lived together since their twenties.

They were a couple.

Yes. They had a home-care worker who came over once a week.

Other than that, dennis took care of her.

Where did she get this?

Oh. Um, that's mine.

I sell those in my store. She must have taken it from my purse.

It's beautiful.

It was the oven.

I'm sorry?

I know how dennis died.

Wait, if it was carbon monoxide poisoning, how come christine wasn't affected?

Because it's her ritual every time she comes home to open up all the windows.

I saw it in a vision.

She's not a m*rder*r.

Murderess.

Touche.

Question is why is Dennis still here?

I found christine. She's safe. What more is there?

What I wanna know is why is dennis still autistic.

If he's dead, he should be cured, right?

Mmm, technically, yes. Every soul is perfect.

When they cross over, the handicaps they had in life no longer affect them, but if they're earthbound, sometimes they cling to the familiar.

They can't let go of who they were.

He did answer your questions at some point, didn't he?

He's been mimicking me. It's called echolalia.

It's when they echo whatever you say so you know that they can hear you, even if they can't respond.

Ok, so all this time, he has been communicating with you, ... just in his own way.

Yes, through the ornaments.

The last one that I touched showed me how he died.

Let's hope the answer to why he's still here is in one of those.

These objects, they don't vibrate any more or less than your average object.

And you can't see or hear anything coming from inside them?

Like what? What, a movie?

What am I gonna see, a movie? Listen to, show tunes? It's wood. It's like my head.

Lady, it's normal.

There's nothing normal about them.

So your "friend" said she felt transported after she held these ornaments?

Yes.

Ok. Well, I held these ornaments.

I'm still here.

What time of day did your friend say she had these visions?

Why is the time of day important?

Well, yeah. If she did it right after happy hour, I'd say it's very important.

Yeah, that's real funny.

I thought you would at least have a professional curiosity about this.

Oh, I'm curious.

I have a lot of curiosity about you, about what you're doing here.

I just wanna know if you can see anything in these ornaments.

Melinda, you haven't touched any of these ornaments since you've been here, not directly, not one.

I wanna know what happens when you touch these ornaments.

I don't know.

Yeah, well, I'd like to find out.

This one, the bunny, had a higher energy rating than the other ornaments.

What happens when you touch that guy?

You know, I thought you were a man of science, and there's nothing scientific about this.

What's more scientific than collecting my own empirical data?

No! Stop it! Mami... Don't leave me!

What? What happened?

What did you see?

I saw a child being taken from her mother.

Are you telling me the truth?

All I can say, professor, if I could walk out of here knowing that everything we've talked about was made up, I would be the happiest girl on earth.

Wait. Psychometry.

What you're talking about is called psychometry.

It's when you get visions or flashes of the past from touching these objects.

That makes sense.

Easy for you to say.

Maybe if you did some more tests on the ornaments.

I'd like to actually do some tests on you, melinda.

Thanks for your time.

Melinda, I'm not talking about root canal here.

I'm talking about very scientific, controlled tests.

They could-
they can help us.

I'm not an experiment.

Melinda, listen.

When you get a chance, just come by.

Come by and talk to me some more.

This is important.

I don't think it's about him. I think it's about both of them.

Oh, that's on sale, by the way.

It's like it's his memories of their life together, you know, how he died, when he first saw her.

That makes sense.

Well, whatever dennis wants, it has something to do with christine somehow.

It's too bad she won't talk to you.

Maybe she'll respond to the ornaments.

I thought that I would take them down to the hospital and see if it could spark anything Besides, if I leave now, I can still make visiting hours.

Well, I'd offer to mind the store, but... it's ok. I know that you're busy saving lives while I'm saving the dead.

Bye.

See ya.

Hey.

Hey.

How'd, uh, ned do today?

Oh, I sent him home early.

Really?

What did he do now?

Oh, no. Nothing.

It's fine. It's just I had to close up.

I have an errand to run.

Well, don't let me keep you.

You just let me know if he causes you any trouble, ok?

You know, what I hate is when people ask if you're ok when you're so obviously not.

Yeah. I hate that, too.

So, are you ok?

I-
no. It's just...

I don't know. It's just been one of those days.

I am so sick of selling houses.

Every time I turn around, there's this new couple buying their house for the first time.

They're arguing about where to put the office or the guest room.

And if it's not newlyweds, then it's new parents, and... they're trying to figure out where the baby room goes.

Everybody has their whole life ahead of them.

How long were you and charlie married?

Sometimes it feels like we're still married.

He's been dead for 3 years now.

I've just been having such a hard time moving on.

And ned's been acting out.

I know he needs me, and I am doing everything I can to be there for him.

I understand.

Anyway-heh.

Why don't you tell me your secret?

Oh, well, having work that you love takes your mind off things.

Ah. Well, my work does just the opposite.

Well, maybe you should try something new.

Like what? Brain surgeon? Fighter pilot?

Heh. I was thinking of something even more challenging, like... why don't you come and work with me?

What?

I need the help really bad, and I can't pay as much as one of your sales commissions, but it's a steady check every week, and I think you'd really like it.

You're serious?

Yeah.

What?

I just can't figure you out.

You're like some kind of... guardian angel or something.

Promise me that you'll at least think about it.

Bunny.

Tree.

Butterfly.

Cake.

House.

Bike.

Rocking chair.

What do these mean to you, christine?

Bunny took me to school.

She wore a butterfly around her neck.

She taught me how to ride a bike.

We sat under the tree in front of the house.

Who is bunny?

Who wore a butterfly necklace and took you to school?

She did. who is she?

Mommy. Mommy is she.

It's her mother.

These ornaments symbolize mommy to christine.

Is that what you wanted me to do... find christine's mother?

F- find christine's mother.

I did.

Oh, no. No, no, no. They're faceup. That's- that's the wrong way.

This is a puzzle?

This is a puzzle.

Bunny.

That's her mother?

I believe these were meant for you.

Why did you give christine away?

You have to understand that back when christine was born, people didn't know that much about autism.

Can you imagine having a child that won't look at you or smile, a child that starts to cry every time you try to touch her?

I took christine to a doctor, and he told me it was my fault.

He said the reason she was autistic was because I was a bad mother.

That's terrible.

Well, I wasn't the only one.

Said we were refrigerator mothers because we were so cold and frigid that our children had no one to turn to for comfort, so they turned inside themselves.

So you let them take her.

I tried to see her, to visit, but they said I couldn't, said if she was ever gonna get any better, I had to stay away.

Didn't you see her when she was a grown-up?

Once.

She was living with a young man.

He was autistic, too.

But it ended up in a fight...

Leave me alone!

I saw that fight.

Wh-what?

It's not important.

What is important is that you have to try again with christine.

She needs you.

It's my baby girl, all grown up.

She's still in her own little world.

Christine, your mother's here to see you.

C- christine, it's-it's mommy.

I am so sorry.

I am so sorry.

It's ok. She hears you. Just tell her how you feel.

She's not holding a grudge, and I promise that she is not angry with you.

Doesn't make one bit of difference to her whether I'm here or not.

That-
that is not true.

S- say, "love is patient. "
Say, "love is patient. "

You just have to be patient.

Sweetheart... liz, liz, wait.

This was a mistake.

She needs you now more than ever.

My child doesn't need me. She never has.

Everyone needs their mother.

But she will never be able to love me, melinda.

She doesn't even know what love is.

That's not true. Christine loves. She just doesn't know how to show it.

Her boyfriend, he was teaching her how.

You can't teach somebody how to love. They either feel it, or they don'T.

Ask her.

Do you love christine?

I want to, but...

I don't know how if she can't love me back.

Well, then you have to show her love first, even if it means she doesn't know how to love you.

I think all dennis wants is just for you to be in christine's life again.

That's what I want, too.

Thank you.

I hope this is what you wanted. This is what you wanted, right?

Right.

Are you ready to go?

Where?

Into the light. Can't you still see it?

Mm-hmm. I see the sun.

No, not the sun. The light.

The sun is the light.

I thought you could see the light.

Is there something else than I can help you with?

You know what love is. What is love?

What does it feel like?

Dennis, what you did to bring liz and christine together, that's what love is.

It's not about what we say. It's about what we do.