Original subtitles

[mellow pop music]

- Hi, uh, can I get two tickets for "Happy Gilmore"?

CHARLIE: Becky and I became friends again

during that Midwestern winter.

SINGER: ♪ Pulling her hand ♪

CHARLIE: He didn't direct it, but he wrote it.

BECKY: And he's in it too?

CHARLIE: Yeah, him and the guy from "ER."

- Well, he's not a very good actor, I don't think.

- Who, Tarantino? - Yeah.

Clooney's kind of sexy.

SINGER: ♪ Thick and thin ♪

CHARLIE: You see that security guard right there?

We're gonna pretend that we're going in here.

And then, after she walks away, we're going to go like this.

Play it cool.

SINGER: ♪ I want to love a boy that won't love me ♪

- Okay, so I know it wasn't "Pulp Fiction"

or, like, "Reservoir Dogs," but [stammers]

the first half was pretty good, right?

I mean, there were some-- there were some funny moments.

Right? - I thought it was stupid.

- Yeah, yeah. [both laugh]

Yeah.

- You know,

when we were, like, nine, I...

I guess I kind of had a crush on you.

[hopeful music]

Yeah, I loved you.

I mean, you know, you kissed me at your parents' house party.

And, um...

But then the next weekend, you kissed Mark Mooney.

And I was...I was crushed.

- What? Mark Mooney?

- Mark Mooney. - That's fucking disgusting.

- I know. - I don't remember that at all.

♪ ♪

I'm sorry, Chuck.

If it's any consolation, I at least remember kissing you.

♪ ♪

- What are you doing?

- I'm looking for gum.

- Why?

- I'm gonna kiss you.

To make up for Mark Mooney.

CHARLIE: This would turn out to be

one of the most lasting memories of my entire life.

[both laughing]

- I had fun with you.

- Me too.

- Thanks. - Anytime.

[Becky laughs]

- You want to come over?

My parents aren't home.

- Yeah, yeah, um...

Actually, [stammers] I have a paper

I kind of have to write tonight.

Yeah, so I wish I could, but--

- No, I get it, Chuck. It's okay.

[chuckling]

See you tomorrow. - See ya.

[chuckles]

[shovel scraping pavement]

- [grunting]

Becky?

- Hey, Mr. Jablonski.

- Hey. Hey, come here.

God, you look like your sister.

I mean, with the hair and everything.

I almost didn't recognize you.

So you like records, right?

- Yeah. Sure.

- Well, with Sally off to college,

I've got her old ones just taking up space.

- Mm-hmm.

- Sorry, I'm being thick.

I'm asking you if you want them.

I mean, they're just collecting dust,

and I was gonna throw them away otherwise.

And I saw you, and I thought I'd ask.

- Cool. I'll take a look.

- Great. Yeah, just inside.

Just, careful. It's a bit slippery.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

CHARLIE: I wouldn't see Becky Monroe the next day.

Or ever again.

Colfax Police spent several days searching for Becky.

[chatter, laughter]

Some people believed she ran away to be with Casper.

I was heartbroken, confused. A nervous wreck.

♪ ♪

What happened?

[indistinct chatter]

- The girl that lived there died.

They found her body in Jefferson Pond this morning.

[Mrs. Monroe crying]

CHARLIE: Most people aren't aware of the exact moment

when they lose their innocence,

when the narrative they've in their minds

about life being fair and things happening for a reason

is destroyed.

It usually happens slowly, bit by bit.

But for me, it was all at once.

I was crossing the street on Fern Circle.

I was 16 years old.

The funeral parlor couldn't make Becky look like herself,

so it was a closed casket.

Just like that, she was gone.

A life ended before it even had the chance to begin.

[somber music]

♪ ♪

After the Monroes left town, a new family moved in

and imbued our block with life again.

And slowly, the memory of the sisters faded.

Before long, it was as though they were never there at all.

Casper Tatum never came back to Colfax.

In 1998, he was found dead from an intentional overdose

in a motel in West Texas.

He left a note addressed to Becky.

He said he was sorry he didn't come back,

and he'd hoped she'd forgive him on the other side.

[siren wails] The Monroe sisters' murderer,

Mr. Jablonski, was eventually caught.

Our neighbor, the dentist with the award-winning roses

and toothpaste-commercial smile, was a serial killer.

In a disclosure sent to the press following his arrest,

Jablonski wrote of his desire to kill

the two beautiful bundles of life he saw alive

in that home every day.

Two girls whose sheer youthful audacity

he could not help but correct.

I didn't return until 20 years later.

MAN: One, two, say "cheese!"

Good one! CHARLIE: We had changed,

but the hallways had stayed the same.

In 2002, the woods where the murder occurred

burnt in a forest fire.

Eventually, they grew back,

and somehow they were even thicker than before.

More alive, untamed.

Finding the scene of the initial crime

was impossible.

The Earth had carried on,

and more or less, we had carried on as well.

[introspective music]

♪ ♪

A piece of me still haunts those streets,

streets I've spent a lifetime trying to forget.

But I can't forget, as hard as I try.

And every night, when the streetlights go on in Colfax,

ghosts roam the avenues looking for salvation.