"My name is Melinda Gordon." "I'm married." "I live in a small town, and I own an antique shop." "I might be just like you." "Except that from the time I was a little girl," "I knew that I could talk to the dead." "It's all right, honey." "Earthbound spirits, my grandmother called them." "They're stuck here because they have unfinished business with the living." "And they come to me for help." "In order to tell you my story, I have to tell you theirs." "Well, it was definitely worth the trip." "I mean, they wanted to do the estate sale so fast." " There was very minimal haggle." " The haggle factor is very important." "Yeah, I'm going to have to hire a truck to go up there next week." "Damn, this road is really dark." " Hey, be careful." "How far out are you?" " I have no idea." "We've got to get a GPS." "Hey, Grandview, 19 miles." "And other signs of civilization." "Hey, an old fruit stand." "You know what, I think we stopped by there and got apples once." "Yeah." "And, well, a car." "Sort of." "Well, that's weird." "Mel?" "I think I just went in a circle." "Mel?" " Jim?" " Mel?" "Jim!" "Redial." "Redial." "Redial." "Great." "Great." "Okay." "Okay." "Okay." "No..." "I'm talking to the police right now and they're going to be here any minute." "Are you okay in there?" "Yeah." "Yeah, I'm okay." "Sorry if I scared you." "Are you stuck?" " Yeah, it died." " Pop the hood." "Okay." " Are you looking for it?" " Looking for what?" " Someone's going to die." " Who?" " Try it now." " Okay." "You're a miracle worker." "How did you do that?" " You need anything else?" " How do I make it back to Route 47?" "You're all turned around." "Just hang a U-ie, look for signs for 86 South, and then 47 should be about a mile after that." "Okay, thank you." " Bye." " Bye." "Can you see us?" "I just don't remember you ever being haunted by an actual skeleton before." "Oh, it was a ghost, believe me." "Don't they usually look the way they did when they died the first time they come to you?" "Yeah, so let's not even think about what happened to this guy." "How about let's stay off that road so we don't ever run into Halloween man again, huh?" "I love the Jim Clancy simple approach." "Avoidance." "It's worked for guys for centuries." "He said that someone was going to die." "That doesn't exactly lend itself to avoidance." " All right, what does it mean?" " I don't know." "I'll try and figure it out." " How?" " Don't know." "See you for lunch." " Same time?" "Same bench?" " Yeah." "All right." "Wow, what a haul." "Straight sale, no consignment." "Yeah, well, the problem is I want to buy most of it for myself." "You are my best customer." "Yeah, I need to find a way out of that cycle." "What are you doing?" "Just trying to avoid the physical labor I know must come." "Hey, is Ned coming by?" "No, he's doing a study group with three kids from school." "They take turns at each other's houses." "That sounds like a good way to make friends." "Well, I keep volunteering my house for all the sessions so I can basically sit in the middle of the floor and stare at them." " Just as a precaution." " Yeah, is that too much to ask?" "But, you know, of course they didn't bite." " I sense an issue." " It's all starting to be about his friends." "That's what he calls them." ""They're my friends, Mom."" "No names." "Sounds like he's turning out to be a very normal kid." "I guess so." "Hey, you know, you never told me what happened on your date with Tim." "Well, there would have actually had to have been a date in order for me to tell you about it." "What happened?" " He didn't show." " What?" "It's no big deal." "Melinda..." " Melinda?" " Sorry." "I'd really appreciate it if you wouldn't tell Jim." "Right." " Are you okay?" " I'm fine." "You're the one who looks like she just saw a ghost." "Why is it harder when you're trying to get lost?" "You're doing great." "I have no idea where we are." "Didn't we used to have a map in here?" "Hey, thanks for doing this." "Did you think I'd let you come back out on this road again by yourself?" " Map." " Hey, do these mean anything to you?" " 1-9-0-2-0-6?" " What's left on our mortgage?" " No." " Last plumber's bill?" " No again." " I have no idea." "What was..." " Gas?" " No, I have half a tank." "Do you see that?" "What does that mean?" "I was hoping you'd tell me." "It wasn't here the last time." " Got the brake!" " It won't move!" " Your feet off the gas?" " Both feet are on the brakes!" "Damn it!" "It's going to be all right." "It's okay." " Pop it into neutral." " Help, help, help." "Okay." "Keep your feet down." " I'm trying!" " It's all right." "It's all right." "All right." "What?" "Looking for The Midnight Circle?" " What?" " Someone's going to die." "See, now I know we're going the wrong way." "We're all the way on the other side of town." "Well, if I can just get the adrenaline that's still coursing through my veins to slow down," " I might figure it out." " Sorry." "Why can't we just go home at night and watch DVDs like normal couples?" "Hey, look, we can stop and ask for directions." "No, I don't need directions." "I got it figured out." " I just need to find this one road." " Wait a minute." "That's the girl who helped me on the road last night." "Engine seems fine." "Just running a little hot, I think." "Anyway, if you want to leave it here, I can run some diagnostics." "No, I don't think there's anything wrong with the car." "Wow, that's cool." "Do you mind?" "It's got the roll bar, the magnesium wheels, four-inch exhaust, right?" "Your husband knows cars." "Cool." "While he's distracted, will you please tell me how to get back to Route 47?" " Yeah, let me write it down for you." " Thank you." " So, how long have you worked here?" " I own it." " Seriously?" "I mean, not that that's..." " No, it's okay." "My father, he loved cars, he didn't have a son." "Fast forward, here I am." " Or something like that." " Wow, I'm in awe." "I don't know the first thing about cars." "Well, we don't deal too much with everyday car stuff." "Most of our clients are serious racers, real car people." "The road that you found me on last night, do you know if there have been any accidents there?" "You know, like serious people-dying accidents?" " Not that I know of." " Any other weird things?" " Weird like how?" " I don't know." "Weird like cars going haywire, seeing strange things on the road." "Sorry, other than the odd road kill, not much goes on out there." "Anyway, here's the directions and my number's on there if you have any more car trouble." "Thank you so much." "Have you ever heard of The Midnight Circle?" " What's that?" " I don't know." "Me neither." " Okay, Joe, it's ready." " Okay, Cindy." "Time to peel your husband away from my cars." "Honey, can we just move in here for like a week?" "What do you think?" " Business?" " Directions." " The midnight what?" " The Midnight Circle." " Is it a name, a place, a thing?" " None of the above." "All of the above." " Well, did you check the phone book?" " Yeah, there was no listing." " Thank you." "I'll see you next time." " Thanks." " Hey, Mom." " Hey." " How was school?" " I need $ 10." " For school?" " No." "Well, then, for what?" "I don't know, with my friends." "In case we stop for pizza or something." "Are there children at this Midnight Circle?" "Because if not, please take me there now." "Hey, do you know what it is, Ned?" "The Midnight Circle?" "No, never heard of it." "So, Jim is working tonight, and I am starving." "You want to go to Lento's and grab a bite?" "I would love to, but I really have to make sure that Ned's doing his homework." " Can I get a rain check?" " Yeah, no problem." " Good night." " Good night." "It's my treat, okay?" "Like..." "Shotgun!" "Six slices is like 10 bucks..." " Yeah, whatever." " What?" "You don't belong." "They were just giving me a ride home." "I don't want you in a car with people I don't know." " Those kids are too old for you, Ned." " They like me." "They're my friends." " Wait, that's your study group?" " What's the big deal?" "The big deal is I'm your mother." "I want to know who you're with" " and where you are." " You want to control everything I do." "Most of it, yes." "That's my job." "You are not an adult yet, Ned, as much as you think you are." "And don't blame Melinda." "She told me because she cares about you, not because she wanted to get you in trouble." "I could tell things, too." " Hey, where are you going?" " Home to prison." " Ned." " I keep your secrets." "Hey, that's not what this is about." "Who were those guys?" "They go to my school." "They help me study." "Now I look totally lame." "Look, there was a bumper sticker with numbers on it." "What does it mean?" "Hey, I know when I talked about The Midnight Circle yesterday," " that you knew what it was." " I don't." "I'm not playing around, Ned." "There's a ghost attached to your friends or The Midnight Circle, whatever it is." "A dangerous ghost." " You have to tell me." " I don't know anything." " Hi, I'm..." " Melinda Gordon, yes." "I know all about you." "I'm Kate Payne." " I'm so glad to meet you finally." " Are you?" "Well, yes." "Get on there." "Get on there." "I'm telling you to get on there!" "Maybe I chose a bad time." "No, he's in a bit of a bad mood, but don't let it bother you." "It was lovely to meet you." "Get on there." "Just do me the favor and just get on there." "Get on there!" "You do realize that's an inanimate object that can't understand you." "It understands me." "They all do." "They understand every word I'm saying." " Who?" " Who?" "Who?" "The nail, the picture frame, the hammer." "The hammer understands me." "Them bastards had the whole thing planned out." "I was warned you were in a bad mood." "Yeah, I'm in a bad mood because some people really know how to get under my skin, okay?" "Now, where's my hammer?" "I don't even have my hammer now." "I had my hammer right here." "I'm losing my mind." " Looking for this?" " Yes, I am." "And you know what," "I've had just about as much aggravation as I can stand for one day." " Thank you." " Okay, sorry." "Bad timing." "And I don't want to talk about it, okay?" "So please don't try to drag it out of me." " Okay." "No problem." "I'll see you." " It's about my wife, if you must know." "Well, I don't "must" know." "So, if you'd rather not talk about it..." "Thank you." "I feel so much better." "Now, what can I do for you, Melinda Gordon?" "Do you have any idea what these numbers mean?" "1-9-0-2-0-6." " Map coordinates?" " Checked it already." "Doesn't add up." " Well, it adds up in numerology to nine." " Meaning?" "Meaning nine." "Nine is the divine number." "The number of completion, the eternal number." "The Chinese considered it the celestial number." "And there's the famous nine-course meal at my favorite Vietnamese restaurant, beef or fish." " Is any of this helping you?" " Not really." "Of course not, because none of this has anything to do with numerology." " It doesn't?" " No, it doesn't, but that doesn't stop me from going on and on with all the minutiae I know, does it?" " It's a date." " It's a date." "Challenge me next time you come in here, won't you?" "Nineteenth of February, 2006." "That's a year ago next Monday." "It's a significant date." "February 19th, 1945, was the Battle of Iwo Jima." "The phonograph was invented in 1878." "Paul Simon writes Sounds of Silence 1964, February 19th." "Big make out song for me." " How do you know all that?" " Well, while the other kids were out" " playing baseball..." " You were studying." "No, I was chasing girls." "I never had to study." "Studying I never did because knowledge came so easy to me." "Girls, not so much." "Okay, have you ever heard of The Midnight Circle?" "A knitting club for insomniacs?" " You're hilarious." "Yes or no?" " No." "No?" "That's it?" "Wait, there's no medieval significance or minutiae?" " No, I don't know anything about it." " Okay, then." " I have a picture to hang." " Great." "You know, if you do ever want to talk," "I'm a really good listener." "I don't know if I have any training for that." "Yeah, I didn't think so." "Keep it in mind." "I can't lose tonight." "No way." "Who wants in?" "You want in?" "Cindy, she's the bomb!" "Yes!" "Let's get this party started!" "Yeah!" "Oh, thank you." "Thank you." "Eat my dust." "All right!" "Yeah!" "Ready?" "Go!" "I can't believe you lied to me." "It was a secret." "I had to promise I wouldn't tell." "And that was The Midnight Circle?" "There's nothing else?" " 'Cause no more games, Ned." " It's a race, a couple of times a month." "They race for money, pink slips, stuff like that." "And there aren't any rules." "Where does your mom think you are?" "In bed." "I climbed out the window." "You have no idea how much trouble you're in." "Delia was furious." "I mean, she was so embarrassed." "Here she is thinking that her son is asleep in his bedroom." "I thought you said you weren't going to go out on that road again without me." "I had to go when I had the chance." "Is that where you saw the ghost?" " Yeah." "He was in the car that crashed." " You think he caused it?" "I don't know what to think." "I mean, I know that the ghost is attached to this world, but it's all so secret." "You should have seen the way they all scattered when they heard the sirens." "You think he's trying to hurt the racers?" "Yeah, and I'm really worried about Cindy because he said that somebody's going to die." "Well, maybe that's the way he died, in a crash." "I keep checking online, but I don't have a lot to go on." "I don't know his name, I don't know what he looked like," "I don't know when he died." "I'll check the records at work, ask around." "Look, no offense." "It's just not something we talk about." "Yeah, I understand." "But people may get hurt." "Well, that's half the thrill of the whole thing." "For some people." "Okay, you could've gotten killed last night." "Last night?" "I don't think so." "I was at home in bed last night." "I don't know what you're talking about." "Sorry, Melissa, is it?" " Melinda." " Yeah, well, I've got to run." "There's coffee and pastry in the break room." "Help yourself." " Thanks for coming by." " Yeah." "He died in an illegal street race, 19th of February last year." "In the same spot where my car first broke down." "Yeah, it says he owned Pike Custom Motors." "He was racing a guy named Ray Peters." "There were no charges filed." "There's nothing else." "Look at the bottom." ""Survived by his fiancé, Cindy Brown." Cindy, Cindy." "Exactly." "Now I know who the ghost is and who he's attached to." " What's he trying to do?" " Protect her?" "I don't know, maybe he's going to wipe out all the people who race against her." "Sounds like a true romantic." "All right, what are you going to do?" "I've got to find this ghost, tonight." "Are you doing anything?" "Cool." " Just stay in the beam of the headlight." " Yeah, I'll wave if I need you." "I know your name." "Gordon Pike." "I know that you died in a car race." "I can help." "I think I know what's going on." "This has to do with Cindy, doesn't it?" "Yeah, it's about Cindy." "Well, I can help you talk to her if you want." "If it'll help you cross over, but you can't stay here." "You just can't." "I trained her, taught her to race." "Everything she knows is because of me." "Okay, but that doesn't mean that you can protect her forever." "I don't want to protect her." "I'm going to kill her." "She thought she was as good as me." "She wanted to prove she was better." "I don't understand." "I thought you two were a couple." "Weren't you engaged?" "I was her first love." "She thought I was a rock star." "Most people were afraid of me 'cause I wanted to race, not her." "I never had anybody look at me that way before." "Okay, so what went wrong?" " I let her drive my car." " What?" "I taught her to race, I showed her everything I know." "She was good, too." "A natural." "Then she didn't need me anymore." "She wanted to prove that she was faster and smarter." " Was she?" " Smarter, maybe." "She really knew how to mess with my head before a race." "Started with just kids' stuff." "She got too competitive with me." "Then she had to keep pushing it." "Like, sometimes she'd mess with my nitrous." "Nitrous?" "You inject it into the manifold when you need a last second boost." "Come on..." "Or she'd mess with my fuel mixture." "Little things." "But then I started losing, and it wasn't funny anymore." "The night I died, it was a big race between me and Ray Peters." "A 15K payday." "She warned me she wasn't going to let me get paid that night." "So what happened?" "I came out of the turn, hit the nitrous button, next thing I know..." "I'm floating above my car watching it burn." "And I see my body just laying there, all the skin burned off." "Do you really think that Cindy could do something like that?" "Maybe, maybe not, it's the same result." "She took things too far." "Did you cause the crash the other night?" "I was just having some fun, making Jimmy bash her around a little." "I'm saving the real thing for Monday." "The 19th of February, the day you died a year ago." "I'm sorry." "I don't mean to make fun." "No, it's okay." "I'm used to people being in tears right about now." "I can just picture Gordon running around like a ghost, still trying to win races." "What a funny idea." "You know I'm not kidding." "No, no, you seem like you really believe it." "He told me that he made Jimmy run into your car." " What did he want?" " I think Gordon's trying to hurt you." "He couldn't do that anymore than he already has." "He told me that he taught you everything about racing." "He did." "And once I got the hang of it, I could make a car do any damn thing I wanted." "My very first race, I won." "Then I won the next one and the one after that." "Cindy, you did it!" "I'm so proud of you, baby!" "It was crazy." "Right away people started to know my name." "It was so awesome!" "I won!" "Yeah!" "Gordon got so jealous." "He still thought he was better than me." "And he never let me forget it." "He even got a car straight from Japan with right-hand drive, anything to get attention." "So, naturally, I challenged him." "And I beat him, over and over again." "I wasn't just Gordon Pike's girlfriend anymore." "He was Cindy Brown's boyfriend." "He said he was your first love." "He was." "He was everything I thought a man was supposed to be." "And then he showed me what I could do." "He showed me what was possible." "I mean, I never thought I had any kind of talent, let alone this kind." " Just one problem." " What?" "Once he saw how good I was, he wanted to put the genie back in the bottle." "Like how?" "He'd do anything to keep guys from racing me." "What happened the night he died?" "Gordon was pissed." "Ray Peters had never been beaten before." "You had to wait in line to race him." "Me and you, finally." " Man, I'm shaking." " Yeah, you will be." "You're the one I should be racing, not your old man." "You're the one to beat from what I hear." "Yeah, well, you have to get past him first." "Done deal." "He was out of control after that, and I guess I wasn't much comfort." "What do you mean?" "I liked it." "I liked that Ray said what he said." "Hell, it was more of a compliment than I ever got from Gordon." "He thinks that you did something to his car to cause the crash that night." "I had nothing to do with what happened to Gordon." "Ray Peters ran him off the track, everyone knows it." "So Ray Peters caused the accident?" "The king of dirty tricks?" "He probably did it just coming out of the turn," " where no one could see." " Yeah, but Gordon's car blew up." "Look..." "I did love Gordon, even when I hated him." " You understand?" " Not really, no." "I would never have done anything to hurt Gordon, not like that." "And if he is really here, like you say he is, he knows it." "I feel like I've gone from West Side Story to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf." "It's just so weird, two people who start out loving each other end up hating each other." "How does that happen?" "The question you've got to ask is why do they keep making it happen?" "What do you mean?" "Well, I mean everybody's got a storeroom, right?" "Resentment, grudges, anger." "Most people, they open up that storeroom, they let a few of them out." "You know, they deal with them, they get rid of them." "Something tells me that your storeroom would be standing room only." "Yeah, sometimes I've got to knock down the wall into the next storeroom." "But the point is, you know, a couple, two people, they start using those bad things from that storeroom against each other." "Why stay?" "Why not move on?" "Maybe they're getting something out of it." "Yeah, they need to be miserable." "In some people, that's as strong as the need to breathe." "It's like they're feeding off each other, like they're trying to convince each other that they don't deserve to be happy." "Makes me glad I'm basically a simpleton." "Far from it." "You've got to keep these two people away from each other for good." " How are you going to do that?" " I gotta talk to a guy named Ray Peters." "Now you want me to hang out with racers?" "What I want is for you to introduce me to Ray Peters." "It's important." " Ghost related?" " Yeah, if you must know." "I like to be kept a little more in the loop." "You're unbelievable." "You could just think of me as a sounding board." "Look, are you going to introduce me to Ray Peters or not?" "Are you going to save me from my mother hanging me by my ankles?" "You're lucky to have a mother who cares so much about you." "And we are not going anywhere near cars." "Do you know where Ray Peters works?" "So, the much feared Ray Peters delivers pizza?" " Yeah." "Very, very fast." " Okay." "Why is she asking me so many questions, Ned?" "Look, she's cool." "She's with me." "Okay, I got it Ned, thanks." "I want to talk about that night." " Do you remember anything?" " Like I could forget it." "Am I happy Gordon kissed the blue wave?" "No." "Am I happy it wasn't me?" "Yes." "What about the accident?" "People said that you ran Gordon off the track?" "People can say whatever they want to say." "Okay, but did you?" "Because Cindy thinks you did." " What if I did?" " I want to know." "Not because I want to cause you any trouble, but because it's important." "Whatever happened that night is between me and Gordon." "And Gordon's dead, so I guess you'll really never know." "Will I see you tonight?" "Wait, you're racing tonight?" "You bet your ass." "I'm racing Cindy Brown, finally." "In memory of Gordon." "Now you know why I like to hang out with these guys." "You, in the store, right now." "If it was Ray Peters, how come I don't remember?" "You said yourself you didn't remember exactly what happened." "Cindy was always messing with my car." "That's the only thing that could have made my car blow up." "Not Ray forcing me off the track." "I don't think she'd do anything on purpose." " I think she still has feelings for you." " You think?" "Yeah, I do." "I don't think she would ever try to kill you." "Look, make your peace, Gordon." "Cross over, be done with it." "There's only one thing I need to cross over." "What?" "And that's for her to cross over with me." "And I'm going to make sure that that happens." "Come with me to the garage and let me help you talk to her." "You go." "Tell her I said hello." "You do this and you can forget about turning pro." "This is more important than turning pro." " What, revenge?" " How about justice?" "Nobody ever did anything about how Gordon died." "They all just let it go, and they think I don't care." "Well, now they're going to learn different." "I waited a year to do this." "Poetic justice, that's what Gordon would've liked." " People are going to see you do it." " I just gotta force him up into the wall and there's a good chance he'll roll, and he'll get exactly what he deserves." "Ray Peters killed Gordon." "Tonight I'm going to return the favor." " Cindy couldn't hurt me if she tried." " I wouldn't underestimate her." "Why?" "Because she thinks I made Gordon crash?" "No, because she thinks you made Gordon die." "She can give me her best shot." "Look, you want to know who killed Gordon Pike?" "You really want to know?" "Yes." "Gordon Pike killed Gordon Pike, that's who." " What are you talking about?" " He was trying to run me off the track." "But I knew his move, saw him do it a hundred times." "I braked on him, he shot off my fender and went into a bad spin." "Rolled over." "Maybe it ruptured his fuel tank, I don't know." "But when he hit the ditch, his car blew." "He died because he was trying to screw me and it backfired." "Is he right?" "He was ready for me." "He knew what I was going to do." "He used my own momentum to put me into a spin." "What?" "I hit the nitrous to try and power out of it." " Yeah?" " Everything went white." "Who the hell are you talking to?" "Come on!" "Let's do it." "Cindy's car." "I loosened the bolt on her steering column." "What?" "You're nuts." "Stop the car!" "Stop the car!" "Stop the car." "Stop the car, Cindy, please." "Stop the car." "Stop the car, baby, please, this is all my fault." "I'm so sorry." "I know it wasn't you." "No." "No!" "Watch out." "Watch out." "Get out of the way." "Let me in." "Watch out." "Give her some room." "Give her some room." "No, no, no." "I'm okay." "I'm okay." " What happened?" " I don't know." "The steering went out." "I swear I checked it, Cindy." "It was tight." "It was him, wasn't it?" "Tell me." "It was him!" "Okay, Cindy, please." "He knows what happened now." "It wasn't you, it wasn't Ray." "It was his own mistake." " Well, he just tried to kill me." " No, he saved you." "He knew that something was wrong, and he saved you." "Tell her I'm sorry." "He's here." "You felt him." "You could feel him in that car with you." "I did." "I did feel him." "Okay." "He can hear you." "Gordon, do you really hate me enough to want to kill me?" "You wanted to be better than me." "He knows that you wanted to be better than him." "So you turned on me?" "You made me feel like I was doing something wrong just because I got so good?" "I thought it would take you away from me." "He was afraid that he would lose you." "The more he wanted to stop me, the more I wanted to hurt him." "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry that you thought" "I could do something that horrible to you that night." "I guess I would have thought the same thing." "What does that say about us?" "Wait, is that light for me?" "It means you're ready to cross over." "Oh, my God." "Could you tell her that I needed her more than I ever wanted to, and that's why I pushed her away, and that's why I held her so close." "Tell her if she's smart, she's going to forget all about me." "She's never going to forget you." "Gordon, I don't want to forget about you." "You changed my life, made a difference." "We just couldn't handle it." "We both screwed up." "If I had one more chance..." "Tell her to take my chance for me." "Hey." "What just happened?" "He's gone." " Gone for good?" " That's up to you." "You can make a place for him and he will always be there." "Hey, there are some other things he wanted me to mention." "Okay." "Okay." "Thanks."