Original subtitles

[whistling]

[yells]

That was our dream house.

We hadn't been living in the house for more than two weeks

when the accident happened.

- [gasps] - [shouts]

The cabin was in the middle of nowhere.

Total isolation.

(woman) Is someone there?

(woman) He just...

[gasps]

Disappeared.

[screams]

(boy) The boy did it.

(man) Caitlin and I were living every parent's worst nightmare.

Charlie!

[faint whispers]

[car approaching]

[car engine turns off] [car door opens and closes]

Daddy's home.

[voices whispering]

[water boiling]

- You scared me. - [chuckles] Sorry.

Spaghetti for dinner, huh?

After about a year of what seemed like

never-ending construction,

Caitlin and I finally moved into our new house.

That was our dream house.

We built it from the ground up

on this huge plot of land.

(Caitlin) How was your day?

You have no idea how glad I am it's Friday.

[both chuckle]

Mm.

[loud thump]

[screams]

Our daughter, Haley, fell out of the second-story window,

and we couldn't understand how it happened.

Was she alone?

No.

Did he see anything?

No.

(Caitlin) She was really lucky.

Just broken legs and some bruises.

Well, it could have been worse.

She'll recover.

Yeah.

We hadn't been living in the house for more than two weeks

when the accident happened.

Caitlin and I were devastated.

[grunts] There we go.

Look, you are all set up in the living room.

Our kids are like night and day.

Haley's always the calmest kid in the room.

It's gonna be fun.

(Paul) But Charlie is insanely hyperactive.

So it doesn't hurt, right?

(Paul) All right. (Caitlin) Okay, honey, okay.

Charlie, no, no, no, no.

Only Daddy can do that, okay?

Most of the time, I just kind of found it funny.

I figured he was going through a phase.

You be gentle.

You gotta be nice to your sister, okay?

Hey!

(Paul) Caitlin had a harder time dealing with it.

[grunting]

Unh!

I figured I must have accidentally bumped the table

or something.

What happened?

Nothing. A stupid accident.

What's wrong?

Haley said Charlie pushed her.

- When, just now? - No.

She said he pushed her out the window.

- What? - Yeah.

She said she's sure of it.

She said she felt him put his hands on her back,

and then he shoved her.

He wouldn't do that.

I believe her.

You see how rowdy he gets.

We both wanted to believe that there was a logical explanation

for why Haley would say that...

[sighs]

(Caitlin) That there was no way Charlie would actually

do something like that...

I'll go talk to him.

(Caitlin) No matter how hyper he was.

But at the same time, Haley wasn't the type of kid

who would lie or make up stories.

[whistling]

(Paul) I had never heard Charlie whistle before.

I didn't even know he could do it.

[whistling continues]

Hey, pal, what you doing?

He's under the bed.

[chuckles]

There's no one under your bed, buddy.

You want me to check?

[gasps]

Haley said Charlie pushed her out the window.

What?

[whistling]

Hey, pal, what you doing?

He's under the bed.

[chuckles]

There's no one under your bed, buddy.

You want me to check?

[gasps]

[breathing heavily]

[whistling]

[whistling]

(Paul) There was no one there.

[whistling]

I need to talk to you, bud, all right?

Come here.

[sighs]

So the other day,

when you were in the playroom with your sister,

when she had her accident...

Did you push Haley?

It's all right, you can be honest with me, buddy.

It's just, I know you'd never hurt your sister on purpose.

You can tell me if it was an accident, okay?

Dad, I didn't do it.

Uh...

she said she was pushed.

Why would she say that?

Charlie.

The boy did it.

(Paul) I was sure Charlie was blaming what happened

on an imaginary boy so that he wouldn't get in trouble.

All right, bud.

(Paul) But there was another part of me that wondered

if there was some other explanation

for what was going on inside that house.

(Charlie) No. I didn't push my sister.

[sighs] It's not fair to him.

He, my new friend--

What?

He said he didn't do it.

So he stays in the closet all the time?

(Caitlin) Paul was just trying to protect Charlie,

but we had to take what Haley said seriously.

And I just didn't feel like Paul was.

He's five.

He knows he's in trouble,

so he blamed it on an imaginary boy.

How can you not see that this is a problem

and he needs counseling?

He's hyperactive.

A lot of kids are hyperactive.

Not many nearly kill their siblings.

(Paul) Everything pointed to Charlie doing it,

but something about that didn't seem right.

So I just--

I kept looking for another explanation.

(Paul) There was no way Charlie had drawn that picture,

and I had no idea who had.

I decided not to tell Caitlin.

I didn't have an explanation for it,

and I didn't want her to start worrying about Charlie

any more than she already was.

I wanted to ask him about it myself.

Hey, bud,

this was in the drawings under your bed.

It doesn't look like one that you did.

Who did this one?

(Charlie) The boy did it.

What boy?

The boy in the closet.

Uh, who are you talking about, buddy?

Is that the same boy that pushed your sister?

Yeah.

Charlie, there is no boy in your closet.

He's not in there now because you're here,

and he doesn't like you.

[sighs]

Um...

I'm sure this is all confusing for you, I just--

Good night, son.

Love you.

Hey, why doesn't the boy like me?

(Charlie) You look like Maynard.

Who's Maynard?

[plastic ball bouncing]

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

(Paul) I convinced myself that a draft from an open window

had pushed the ball out of the playroom.

Kind of like I convinced myself to ignore the whistling

in Charlie's closet.

It had been a really rough couple of days.

I was stressed out,

so I figured I just needed a good night's sleep.

[whistling]

[whistling]

[whistling continues]

[yells]

[whistling]

[whistling]

Charlie?

Charlie?

Charlie!

(Haley) Dad?

Haley, what happened?

(Haley) Charlie was in here.

He was talking to someone,

and then I heard the door open, and he was gone.

What's going on?

Hold on. Who was he talking to?

(Haley) I don't know!

It was dark!

But I heard him talking,

and then I heard the door open.

What? How long ago?

Just a few minutes.

Charlie! Charlie!

Charlie!

[whistling]

[yells]

(Haley) Charlie was in here.

He was talking to someone,

and then I heard the door open.

What? How long ago?

Just a few minutes.

Charlie! Charlie!

Charlie!

The local sheriff was there within half an hour.

But we couldn't find Charlie anywhere.

He just...

disappeared.

(Paul) We searched through the night.

(Caitlin) Charlie?

(Paul) And even though we were new to the area...

Charlie?

The entire town came out the next morning

to help us find him.

Charlie?

[indistinct radio chatter]

(Paul) Caitlin and I were living every parent's worst nightmare.

By the second night, we were really panicking.

It became...real.

[dog whines]

What do you smell?

[sniffing]

(boy) Hi.

(boy) Ohh.

[dog growls]

(boy) How was your day?

[dog whines]

[pounding on door]

Hey, buddy. Hey, buddy.

- Thank you, thank you. - You okay?

Come here, oh. Hey, buddy.

Hey, buddy.

Oh, my God.

Sir?

Smith found him talking to himself by an embankment.

He had this book bag with him.

Doctor's on his way over

to take a look at him.

Thanks.

That's not Charlie's bag.

(Caitlin) Charlie, can you tell us why you ran away?

The boy wanted to show me something.

What boy, Charlie?

The boy who lives here.

What's the boy's name?

He calls himself Calvin.

He doesn't like to be called Calvin.

He says people tease him,

but I'm his friend, so I call him Marty.

(policeman) I gotta sit down.

Uh...

Should I make some coffee?

Yeah, yeah.

(policeman) I was a rookie,

a year on the force when Calvin Martinson went missing.

People called him Marty.

Martinson, Marty.

So that was 30 years ago.

Anyway, he was walking home from school.

He'd been expelled for graffitiing

on the gymnasium wall.

You know, the kid was a talented artist,

and I remember from town he was a happy kid.

He was always walking the streets,

whistling to himself.

[whistling]

And, uh...

bad home life, you know?

Last day they saw him, he was walking

right through these woods,

taking a shortcut to his stepdad's house.

What do you mean, in these woods?

Well, right here, these were the woods.

And we searched for weeks, months, for clues.

We never did find him.

I always suspected his stepdad might have--

What was his stepdad's name?

Oh, um... Maynard, yeah.

You look like Maynard.

(Paul) At that point, I already knew.

I knew everything Charlie had been saying was true.

What's in the bag?

Let's find out.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God.

(Paul) I showed the drawing to Caitlin

after the officer left.

I told her everything that Charlie had said,

everything I'd been seeing and hearing around the house.

[children laughing]

(Caitlin) After that night, it all stopped.

Haley got better.

Paul stopped hearing the whistling.

And Charlie, he never mentioned the boy again.

(Paul) Charlie's disappearance was the worst thing

I've ever been through,

but in the end,

something good came out of it.

Back in July of 2001,

my divorce had just been finalized,

and I was looking to make a fresh start.

It's bigger than it looked in the picture.

It's the same one.

I know, it's just bigger than it looked.

Well, your check cleared,

so it's yours for the next six months.

I'll be back for this in December,

or if I die, it'll be my daughter, Claire.

(Jeanette) I wanted to celebrate my freedom,

so I found Xander's cabin online,

and I cut a check to rent it for six months.

I figured that was enough time for me to write the crime novel

that I had been pretending to work on

for the 15 years before that.

[clock ticking]

[clock chiming]

The cabin was in the middle of nowhere,

and it looked like it hadn't been touched in years.

But that's what I wanted-- total isolation.

[yells]

It's yours for the next six months.

I'll be back for this in December.

[clock chiming]

Oh, my God. [laughs]

You scared me.

One more thing.

These woods come alive at night when the sun goes down.

I wouldn't worry too much,

but you might want to keep that door--

- What? I--

I told myself Xander was just old and weird,

and I just brushed it off.

[typing]

I unpacked and started working right away.

It's really hard when you realize your life

hasn't turned out the way you thought it would.

Here I was, 35 years old and starting all over.

I'd always wanted to be a writer,

but it just never worked out, so I became a teacher.

I taught third grade.

Loved the kids and wanted kids of my own,

but he didn't.

[bell rings]

It was an old bell.

Looked like--I don't know,

maybe an old fire alarm.

Honestly, the cabin was so full of old junk,

I really didn't give it a second thought.

[creaking]

[exhales]

It was suddenly freezing.

My imagination must have been on overdrive or something.

Despite how weird that first night in the cabin was,

it actually felt great to be writing again.

The carving looked fresh.

"Merry Christmas, Conrad."

(child) Help us!

Help!

Help us! Help us!

(Jeanette) I swear that I heard them

as clearly as I hear my voice right now.

Hello?

Hello?

[child whining]

Hello?

[leaves rustle]

Is someone there?

[child whines]

[leaves rustle]

[child laughing]

Hello?

What's he looking at?

(Jeanette) The deer was frozen solid.

And as soon as I touched it--

[breathing heavily]

"Merry Christmas, Conrad."

(child) Help!

Hello?

(child) Help!

(Jeanette) What I experienced that night made no sense.

It was July.

I mean, how could an animal just freeze to death?

[breathing heavily]

I didn't know what was happening to my hand.

It was completely numb, like I had frostbite.

[exhales]

[coughs]

[window frosting over]

[screams]

[breathing heavily]

[crying]

I was terrified of the cabin.

But there was no way I was gonna go back out there to leave.

I kept all the lights on that night.

I'm not sure how, but eventually, I fell asleep.

[rustling]

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

[breathing heavily]

[thump]

It was only two nights into the six months

I had rented the cabin,

and I was seriously questioning my sanity...

And whether or not I could stay there for even one more night.

But the next morning was sunny and beautiful,

and I was actually getting a lot of writing done.

I convinced myself that it had to be all in my head...

So I decided to give it one more night.

"The day was the type of cloudy where you have no choice

"but to be in a grim mood,

"a day where strangers eye each other suspiciously

for no other reason but the gray sky above them."

[door creaks]

[pounding on door] - [screams]

[breathing heavily]

[thump]

"The day was the type of cloudy

"where strangers eye each other suspiciously

for no other reason but the gray sky above them."

[door creaks]

[breathing heavily]

[pounding on door] - [screams]

Hello?

Is anyone there?

[screams]

[children laughing]

Where did you go?

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

(Jeanette) I don't remember thinking much

except that I needed to get out of there, fast.

It was after midnight.

I didn't know where to go.

The only place open was a bar.

How's your Moscow Mule?

Where you think you are, hon?

I'll, um--I'll just have a vodka soda then.

Sure.

Thanks.

What's the matter with you?

I'm not sure what's going on with me, um,

or the place I'm renting, I--

What place you renting?

Uh, it's just a little cabin in the woods,

like, a couple minutes from here.

Oh, you're the one renting the schoolhouse, aren't you?

You dealt with my dad, Xander.

Yeah. Yeah, Xander.

So you-- you must be, um--

- Claire. - Claire, right.

Why did you call it the schoolhouse?

That cabin you're in, it was built as a schoolhouse

over a hundred years ago,

and then they closed it down after, uh--

After what?

Uh, two school kids, a little boy

and a little girl, coming home after school.

[thump]

It was right before Christmas.

They got caught up in a snowstorm.

Got lost in the woods and froze to death.

Do you remember their names?

"Merry Christmas, Conrad."

No, like I said, it was a long time ago.

(Jeanette) She didn't have to tell me.

I knew exactly what their names were.