- Previously on "School Spirits"...
- Before we wrap up today, I'm giving you an assignment.
May I interrupt? - What's that?
- Some sample obituaries just to inspire.
- We're all just trying to cross over.
I mean, Janet did it,
and she had been here since, like, 1960.
But the alternative is Dawn.
- Mrs. Nears, I know it looks like I harmed your daughter,
but nothing could be further from the truth.
- Dawn just crossed over. - Does anybody remember
this happening when Janet left? - Nope.
- Need to talk to my mother. - Why?
- I think she may have killed me.
- ♪ I died a week ago ♪
♪ There's nothing left ♪
♪ It's caught on video ♪
♪ The very last breath ♪
♪ The internal avalanche ♪
♪ The cave-in of mines ♪
♪ Covering all evidence ♪
♪ The very last time ♪
- Where should I look?
- Try the dresser.
She used to hide bottles in her closet.
If she took that money, it'll be in one
of her usual hiding places.
She's gotten less and less creative over the years.
- ♪ Reinventing the wheel ♪
- ♪ All this searching for something ♪
- When she's really desperate she even uses my room.
- Find it?
- What?
- The history notebook.
That's why you're here, right?
You said you needed Maddie's notebook.
- Right, yes.
I found it.
I should head back to school.
- ♪ Don't forget me when I'm gone ♪
♪ Don't forget me when I'm gone, gone ♪
♪ Don't you forget me ♪
♪ Don't forget me when I'm gone ♪
♪ Don't you forget me when I'm gone ♪
♪ Don't you forget me ♪
- I know it's not what we thought we'd find, but...
- I had this when I went to look for her.
And I didn't have it when I showed up here.
Si, she couldn't...
- There could be a completely logical,
non-murderous explanation for this.
- Get her here.
I always know when she's lying.
I know all her tells.
If you can get her in a room with me...
Or with us, you can talk to her,
and we can figure out if... my mom...
- Okay.
Okay, I'll figure something out.
- Simon?
Yesterday, what you said about whether or not
us figuring it out means me moving on...
- Don't worry about that right now.
I was being selfish.
- You're never selfish.
- Maddie, if it was her,
are you sure you wanna know?
Are you insane?
- That is the worst possible idea.
- You know, play that out in your head real quick.
Hi, Sheriff, I blackmailed a teacher for money
and maybe accidentally framed my missing best friend.
You've arrested a person who couldn't have kidnapped her
because while they were being questioned,
I decided to bury my recently stolen hush money,
so you'll just have to take my word for it?
- And in addition to this all sounding
absolutely unbelievable, if we...
If we confess, then what's next?
Look, I know we messed up... bad.
But we're talking about our futures.
- What about his?
- There has to be another way. Okay?
If we go confess now without any proof to back us up,
then it's over.
- And the real killer gets away.
- And the light... - Yes.
- That she always stares at. - Yeah.
- At the same time as the goosebumps.
- It stopped flickering. - Simultaneous goosebumps.
You felt it too. - Did you guys have them?
- And the hum. The... it was this...
I mean, we... We all heard the noise.
It... it was impossible to miss.
Nothing like that happened when Janet left.
- I mean, what... what are we missing here, Mr. Martin?
- Well, no, I mean, I... I realize it's odd,
but maybe there... There's no correlation
between what happened with Janet and...
And what happened with Dawn.
I mean, maybe it's entirely different experiences.
- Was there anything weird
about the day that Janet departed?
- Was there any weird sounds or... or lights?
- No.
No. There was nothing strange
about the day that Janet crossed over.
She was simply there one moment and... and gone the next.
I'm... I'm not sure why this is any different.
- That doesn't make any sense.
After all these years,
how can you still be so clueless?
- Excuse me, Charley. I'm... I'm not sure that's fair.
- But what... what if looking back isn't a bad thing?
What if it's actually the... The key to get out of here?
Why shouldn't we at least try that?
- Because it's painful
to constantly be thinking about it!
Right?
To... to relive it all.
- Painful how?
- The day I died,
I made a mistake.
I turned my back on a student for a split second,
and there was an error, a fatal error.
There was a fire.
I managed... I managed to save my class,
but not myself.
- Doesn't that make you a hero then?
A martyr?
It wasn't even your fault.
- I was the teacher.
I should have been paying closer attention.
I should have known what was going on.
Instead my... my students had to live with the memory...
Of seeing... seeing all that.
Let's just say that I failed them,
and I don't wanna fail all of you too.
I have spent the last 60 years trying to help you all.
You know, I... I may not have chosen to be here,
but I have tried my very best to make this time count,
to make it better for you.
- He's right.
He has done a lot to try to help us over the years.
- Like mock trials and obituaries?
- I realize how disappointing it is
not to have all the answers.
I wish I could be of more help.
But this... This is unprecedented.
I wish I had more answers.
I don't.
- It's totally weird not having Dawn around
all the time, right?
Everyone is really just
upset and confused.
But you talked to her,
like, right before, um...
Poof.
- I told her I was sorry for what she saw
during the anti-séance,
you know, sorry that anyone treated her that way
when she didn't deserve it,
'cause she didn't.
It wasn't her fault.
- Yeah.
We weren't always so great to her either.
- I guess she finally just heard what she needed to hear.
What would you do if the one person
who was supposed to protect you is the one who hurt you?
Like, the person whose only job is to keep you safe?
I feel like for the first time in this whole ordeal,
I'm scared of the truth.
- Hey.
If anybody taught me how to face my fears,
it's you.
Come here.
I got you.
It's okay.
- ♪ Caught up in a moment ♪
♪ Listing to the left ♪
- How did the interview go?
- What interview?
- Your Northwestern interview.
- Uh, yeah, it was fine. It's whatever.
I don't think I wanna go there anymore.
- What do you think Maddie would think about that?
I found out last week that Maddie was selected
to receive the fall English award.
I know it's short notice, but I was thinking
maybe you'd like to accept it on her behalf.
It starts at 7:00.
You could even say a few words, if you'd like.
- No.
No, Maddie's mom should accept it.
- Okay.
- I'll let her know.
- Got it.
Anybody got eyes on him?
Yeah, just... Well, confirm it with me.
Yep.
What now?
- Was that call about Mr. South?
- What do you want, Xavier?
- Come on, Dad. There is no way
that Mr. South had anything to do with Maddie's disappearance.
I... I was with him the day that she went missing.
I... I've told you this a million times.
- Well, I'm busy.
- I also know he couldn't have been in those houses.
The person that I saw in the house
where you found the crowbar jumped out of a window.
Mr. South can barely make it up the steps
without a knee brace.
What?
- So now you're gonna come down here
and admit to me...
That you were there?
That's a bold move, Xavier,
you know, coming down here to my office tell me that.
I should be arresting you right now.
- Yeah. Yeah, Dad, maybe you should arrest me.
Or crazy idea, do your fucking job
and arrest the actual criminal!
- That's enough.
I got work to do.
Go home, Xavier.
- Hey.
- Things were weird earlier.
- I don't know, I think we lapped weird decades ago.
- Okay, what is going on with you?
Why aren't you asking more questions?
Dawn crossed over.
- Good for her.
That doesn't help me.
- Yeah, okay. But what if it could?
We were there.
Dawn found something yesterday in the séance, right?
She must have unlocked something...
Something huge.
- We never saw her cross over.
- Yeah, but we felt it.
Right? I mean, she was able
to conjure her memories, and she made it out.
- Can't you just slow down on all of this?
- See, th-this is what I'm talking about.
Where is this coming from?
You... you were in some big rush to cross over,
and... and now you wanna slow down.
- You're out of your depth, Charley.
Give it up. - You can't just shut me out.
- Just give it up, Charley!
- Rhonda, you can talk to me.
We're friends.
- Why?
Because we're stuck here together?
Get a fucking clue, kid.
- Fine.
- Are we early?
There's no one here. - Yeah.
I just thought we could take a couple minutes,
think over what you wanna say.
- No, I... I don't wanna give a speech.
- Oh, it's nothing big.
Just figured you might wanna say a few words.
We can just write a few things down.
That way you don't have to think on the fly.
Here.
- Which one was hers?
Where did Maddie sit?
- All right.
So, uh, guess we should start.
- There. This is the address.
Wait, wasn't the last break-in one block over?
- Yeah.
- Hey, is that door open?
- Maybe the cops already came by.
- It looks like it's been broken into.
- Should we go in?
- Uh, yeah, 'cause that's worked
so well for you in the past.
- Good point.
- Look, I say we just sit and watch, wait.
If there's movement or something weird,
then we got a closer look.
You know, like a stakeout.
- Awesome.
Few hours with you guys cramped in a car
is exactly how I wanted to spend my Wednesday night.
- Are you finding anything?
- Dude, this thing was old when I went here.
Dawn found something yesterday
when she looked into her past,
and Janet must have done the same.
So... so maybe if we look into their pasts too,
we can find something that could explain all of this.
What year are you on?
- Uh, 1959.
I'm trying to move backwards,
but I am not seeing Janet's name anywhere.
She died in 1960, right?
- Yeah. No, nothing of much interest
in Dawn's student file either.
You know, I...
I know we weren't super close, but...
I feel kind of awful
that we didn't get to say goodbye to her.
- I don't want it to happen that way for me.
I didn't get a goodbye last time.
I do not want to just disappear.
- Me either.
Even more reason for us to understand what is going on.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Whoa, wait. This is weird.
- What? What is?
- Uh, okay.
"Split River High School has been chosen
"for a national pilot program
"to protect students and teachers
from the threat of a nuclear strike."
- What? - Uh, "A fallout shelter will
"be built below the east wing of the school,
"the same location where fire destroyed
the former chemistry lab on January 14th, 1958."
- Wait, 1958.
That must be Mr. Martin's fire. - Yep.
- Does... does it mention him?
- I don't see... oh, yes.
Okay, uh, "Authorities determined
"the fire was accidental.
"Two people were killed in the fire
"that overtook the lab during a routine chemistry lesson.
"Beloved chemistry teacher, Mr. Everett Martin,
was one of the deceased..." - Wait, two people?
He said he was the only casualty.
- Um, "One student was also killed in the fire..."
um, "sophomore..."
- What? What... what's wrong?
- Janet Hamilton.
Why did they both lie to us?
- Maybe we start off with what this award
would have meant to Maddie.
- Not much. She always thought
this kind of thing was silly.
- Well, what do you think she would say
if she got the award?
- She would say, "What's the point
if there's not a cash prize?"
- Don't let her talk her way out of this.
Ask her what she remembers about that last day.
- Sandra, what do you remember about that day
when you came to school looking for Maddie?
- Why are you asking about that?
- For the speech.
I thought that if you remembered
something meaningful...
- She's gonna try to bail.
- I shouldn't do this.
You know what? You can accept the award
and bring it by the house or keep it.
I honestly don't care.
- I didn't mean to upset you.
- Really? Could've fooled me.
- No, she can't just leave. Ask her about the necklace.
- I... I shouldn't be here.
- Simon, ask her about the necklace.
- Why do you have Maddie's necklace?
I know you told the cops that you came to school
the day Maddie went missing, which I know is true.
I saw your car.
But you said you didn't see Maddie.
I know that's a lie,
because she was wearing this when she left study hall.
Why'd come to school that day anyway?
Maddie told me, she said that you had to go away
in some program.
Why come back?
- Simon.
- So that's why you were at the house today.
- Why do you have it?
- I remember.
- Mads.
- Hi, sweetie.
- I found her in the hallway that day.
Why did she lie?
- Why'd you lie about seeing her?
- Because I...
I was ashamed of what happened that day.
She found me and then...
- Mom, what are you doing? Why are you here?
- I don't need to be in rehab. Okay?
I'm sober. I feel great.
It was a waste of money for me to be there.
- Mom... - Listen, I have something
really exciting to tell you.
- Mom, you cannot be here.
- Maddie, stop it. - Mom, you need to go back,
please. - All right, just listen to me.
All right? - Mom, keep your voice down.
Please, come... - Maddie.
- What are you talking about? - So this guy
that I was in treatment with, Alex,
he told me about these great cabins up north.
And it's this new development,
and they're going for a really great deal.
And so I bought us one.
- That's impossible.
Okay, we don't have any money.
We had to borrow enough to put you into rehab.
We have money.
- Okay, I don't want you to overreact,
but I used the money that we put away when your dad died.
But it's for us, for our future,
so we can start over.
- That was my college fund.
- All right, well, we'll figure it out.
Okay? I mean, the schools up there
are not very expensive.
- I'm going to school in Chicago.
Mom, we... we talked about this.
- All right, well, why would you wanna do that?
That is very far away.
- 'Cause I don't wanna stay with you.
We're gonna fix this right now.
I'm gonna call him.
- You know, you are being such a brat right now
and ruining this beautiful moment.
- Just give me his info.
I'll take care of it. I'll get it back.
- Well, you know what, you can't.
I wrote him a cashier's check this morning.
You know, you just need to get over it
and realize that I am the adult here.
- Yeah?
Adults are supposed to take care of things.
They're supposed to be responsible for their lives,
for their kids.
No one has taken care of me since Dad died.
You can't even take care of yourself, Mom.
That money was...
That money was for me from Dad.
It wasn't yours to spend.
It's like every day you wake up
and you find a new way to hurt me.
I have to lie to my friends every day.
I have to pretend everything is okay.
You know, I spend so much time and energy just trying
to hide what a mess you are.
You wanna start a new life?
I've spent so long
just trying to survive this one, Mom.
You wanna take everything that Dad gave me,
go ahead.
Take this too.
You can pawn it, probably get 40 bucks for it.
Buy yourself a fucking welcome mat.
- Mad.
- Stop.
- Maddie... - Just leave.
Leave me alone.
- And so I just left her there.
I went home.
- She's telling the truth.
- I was never trying to be a bad mom.
I just was.
- Oh. There you guys are.
We're about to get started.
- Go ahead.
I'll catch up in a minute.
- She killed my spirit,
but she didn't murder me.
- Then who did?
- Simon, call me.
Like, as soon as you get this, call me.
Can you breathe quieter, please?
- Excuse me? - You know what?
Don't worry about it. - Oh, my God.
What is your problem with me?
What, I can't even breathe now?
- Guys. - Um, for starters,
maybe because you hooked up
with my best friend's boyfriend.
- Nicole. - You blackmailed me.
- You blackmailed someone too. - Great. Great.
See, right there? That's called common ground.
You both recently blackmailed someone.
- Oh, like you're so innocent. - Okay, let's not forget
the part you played in this whole thing,
thank you very much.
- Look, we are way past the point of no return here.
Now, all three of us have screwed up,
and all of us owe something to Maddie.
Well, this is what we can do to make it up to her.
No more sitting and waiting. I'm going in.
- Me too.
- Wait, I'll come too.
- No. You stay in the car,
in case we need a getaway driver.
- Dude, this place looks like it hasn't
been touched in years.
- I can relate.
The article said that this was built
where the old science wing was after the fire.
Wait.
Looks like someone's touched this.
- What? - Well, this looks like...
Looks like it's been moved.
Huh, what are these?
- Whoa. This is like
some "Raiders of the Lost Ark" action.
- What... what are these?
- These are our obituaries.
- "Subject displays paranoia and alleged memory loss.
"Unclear if subject is aware of cause of death.
Requires further study."
- Isn't this Mr. Martin's handwriting?
- Thank you, Split River Quartet.
The English department award goes to senior Madison Nears.
Her mother is here this evening
to accept the award on her behalf.
Hi. I'm Sandra.
Um...
It's funny, this is actually the first time
I've ever been in the gym here.
Um, Maddie didn't really do too many school activities,
and, um, whenever she was honored
for her grades or whatever, uh...
she didn't want me to come.
Um, I... I know, uh,
it seemed like Maddie was kind of hard to get to know,
and that's probably my fault.
But I... I hope you all know,
even if you didn't know her very well,
though maybe it didn't seem like it,
she cared so, so much
about everything...
Her friends,
going to college,
me.
She took care of me...
Probably more than she should have had to.
So I... I just hope
that all of you here know,
even if you weren't close,
that Maddie would have stood up for you.
She would have helped you if you needed it
because she was just that kind of person.
She was really, really wonderful.
And I just wish that someone had been there
to stand up for her.
I wish that I...
I wish that I had been there for her.
Excuse me. Um, thank you.
- Uh, thank you again, Ms. Nears.
Uh, how about, uh,
giving it up for the orchestra again?
The, uh, sophomore, the junior,
and the senior award winners for this year to come up
and will each receive your award.
- You know, it might not seem like it,
but you're lucky, Maddie,
lucky that you got this...
This goodbye.
- Yeah, I don't know if any of it will ever make any sense.
But maybe if my mom's ready to say goodbye,
maybe so can I.
I think I'm ready to write my obituary.
- Come on.
- I just wanna state for the record,
this is basically my worst nightmare come true.
- Yeah. But I'm here.
I got your back.
Just look around and see if you can find anything...
Clothes, food, stuff someone might have left
if they were squatting here.
- Okay.
- Did you find anything yet?
- Sorry.
- I think we're gonna get through this faster
if we just split up.
- What?
What...
Great idea. Love that.
What?
- Nicole. - What?
- There's someone in here. - What?
- I saw someone come in. - What?
- We're safe here.
Xavier!
Xavier?
- Hey! Hey!
Guys, come on!
- What... - Xavier!
- Hey!
Hey, stop!
Xavier!
Nicole, help!
- Xavier!
- Help!
Help!
Call 911.
- "Final moments are a source
"of great despair in the subject.
reliving final trauma
"to greatest extent possible may increase thinning
and provide access point."
I don't...
Char...
This was the play that killed me.
Mr. Martin's been documenting us,
and he's been documenting our deaths.
- What?
Look, this is another article about the fire.
"Grieving parents of Split River sophomore,
"Janet Hamilton, demand administration
"be held accountable for daughter's death
"after surviving students say fire was started at the hands
of her late educator, Mr. Everett Martin."
This says that Mr. Martin caused the fire,
but he told us it was a student's fault.
- Charley... none of these even mention Janet.
- Oh, thank God, Xavier.
The ambulance is coming, okay?
- Did you see him?
Did you see the guy?
- Where does it hurt?
Xavier. Xavier, look at me.
Let me see your eyes.
Does it hurt? Does it hurt?
- What the fuck?
- Xavier, you hit your head.
- Shit.
- Xavier! Oh, my God.
- No, no, no, no. Hey.
- Xavier! Xavier! - Hey, hey.
- We have to confront him.
He owes us an explanation.
- What are you guys doing in here?
I told you to let this go.
- You... you knew about this?
You knew that he was treating us like test subjects
and never really helping us.
You... you knew.
- Look, when Maddie got here and there was all that stuff
with her friend on the outside, I...
I just had this feeling.
So I started following him.
Thanks.
- Is that...
- Your game ball?
Yep.
- And my letter to Emilio?
- Sure is.
Right next to my acceptance letter from Berkeley.
He's been hoarding all the objects
we had with us when we died.
- I'm gonna throw up.
Are we sure it's him?
- Who else knows everything about us?
Who have we sat with for decades baring our souls to?
Who else has some deep, secret connection
to this stupid fallout shelter?
You know, I've been fooled by someone like this before,
and I'm not gonna let it happen to all of us again.
- Jesus.
It's locked. - Just give it a second.
It'll... it'll reset.
Why didn't it reset?
- I'm checking the hatch.
What are you doing here?
- I have to talk to you.
- Okay. I have to say something first.
When I first got here, I was asked to write my obituary
to help me move on.
And I was finally able to write it tonight.
And I wanna read it for you.
I was born.
It was all really hard.
But I had Simon.
I know why we have this connection,
why you're the only person who can see me and hear me.
Because you're the only person who's never
asked me for anything.
You've never taken more than you've given.
You're the only person I can count on,
and you're the only person I can trust,
and you've only ever loved me unconditionally.
And I need you to know that I love you too, Simon,
in a way that's bigger than high school,
that's bigger than family,
bigger than life or death.
You know, nobody makes it out of life alive.
But... I'm really grateful
that I didn't have to make it out of it alone.
Say something.
I wish that was true.
- What is that?
- That's the person who's been
breaking into houses across town.
It's who attacked Xavier tonight.
I don't know...
if this is real, Maddie.
Maybe you're just some fucked up coping mechanism
that I created to put off the pain...
To put off the pain of losing you.
But you're alive out there,
and I lost my mind.
- No.
Simon, this is real. This is me.
Simon.
No, Simon.
Simon, I'm real.
- That's my son in there. - Why don't you ride with us?
Come in. - Is it that bad?
Xavier?
- ♪ Pull the plug in September ♪
♪ I don't wanna die in June ♪
♪ I'd like to start planning my funeral ♪
♪ I've got work to do ♪
- Please, Simon.
I know I can't explain what's going on, Simon,
but I am here, Simon!
You're not crazy!
Simon!
- ♪ Pull the plug, make it painless ♪
♪ I don't want a violent end ♪
♪ Don't say that you'll always love me ♪
♪ 'Cause you know I'd bleed myself dry for you ♪
♪ Over and over again ♪
- Please, somebody help!
Help!
Please, somebody help me.
Help!
Please!
Help. Help!
No, I don't want to.
No.
- ♪ I don't get a choice in the matter ♪
♪ Why would I? ♪
♪ It's only the death of me ♪
♪ Only the death of me ♪
- Have to find out exactly what happened.
What did you feel? You have to tell me.
You have...
Don't move, Janet!
No! No!
- ♪ I don't wanna die too soon ♪
♪ I think there's good in you somewhere ♪
♪ I'll hang on till the chaos is through ♪
- Help!
Somebody, please!
- Charley?
I'm here.
- Maddie!
- I'm trying open the door.
- Maddie, the back hatch is stuck too.
We can't move it. - Maddie, be careful!
Please, you can't trust him!
- Trust who?
- ♪ I'd like to plan out my part in this ♪
♪ But you're such a narcissist ♪
♪ You'll probably do it next week ♪
♪ I don't get a choice in the matter ♪
♪ Why would I? ♪
♪ It's only the death of me ♪
- It's 25.
We prefer small bills.
- We need a name for the ticket purchase.
- Janet.
Uh, Maddie.
It's Maddie.
- ♪ Doomsday is close at hand ♪
♪ I booked the marching band ♪
♪ To play as you speak ♪
♪ I feel like throwing up ♪
♪ You sit and stare like a goddamn machine ♪
♪ I'd have liked to plan out my part in this ♪
♪ But you're such a narcissist ♪
♪ That you did it on Halloween ♪
♪ I had no choice in the matter ♪
♪ Why would I? ♪
♪ It's only the death of me ♪