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When Finney gets back - back home, back to life, back to what he thought would be normalcy - nothing is the same.
The first night back, he has a nightmare. He finds out those won’t go away anytime soon. His dad stops drinking, stops abusing him and his sister. Kids at school treat him differently. He keeps replaying what happened in the basement. He thinks of Robin and Bruce and Billy and Vance and Griffin. How the phone rang for them, but they couldn’t hear it.
Why could he hear it? Why him? Gwen had dreams. Was this his thing? He could talk to ghosts. Because of their mom? He knows he wouldn’t have made it out without them. He remembers how the phone rang a few times when he was younger, when he was alone in the kitchen. But whenever he answered, there was just static.
He thinks about all the what ifs. If he hadn’t made it out of that basement. If he hadn’t killed The Grabber. If he’d taken a different route home from school. If he didn’t have a power - wasn’t psychic - like his mom and his sister, some form of mediumship, he would’ve have made it out. He knows he would’ve died down in that basement, like the others. If the phone had rang at his house and he could’ve heard whoever was on the other end, maybe there was some way he could’ve known - could’ve told the police about The Grabber and saved some of them sooner.
But his power gave him one last phone call with Robin.
He thinks about all the things left unsaid, that he didn’t tell Robin. How he thought he would see him soon, but now he has to move on without him.
They had saved his life, and he had gotten revenge for them.
But he’s not the same boy that went down into that basement.
And he doesn’t know if he ever will be again.
-
He tells his sister.
About the ghosts.
About the phone.
She believes him.
She tells him she found him because of her dreams.
And because of the ghosts.
He believes her.
-
A few days after he escaped the basement, he’s sitting on the floor in the living room with Gwen, watching an episode of The Scooby-Doo Show on ABC. The night before, after he’d gotten home from the hospital and talking to the cops, all he wanted to do was go to bed. Because he can’t stop thinking the basement and Robin and the ghosts and the phone.
After a few minutes he turns to Gwen. “Did you see me?” He asks her. “In your dreams?”
She turns to him. “Once.” She tells him. “You were behind a door, banging on it trying to get out.”
“Oh.” His eyes downcast briefly before he looks back up at her.
“Did that happen?” Gwen asks.
“No.” Finney says. “But I managed to escape one night. But he - “ Finney stops, not wanting to think about it. Even though it’s all he can think about.
Gwen gave a soft look at her brother. He had managed to escape once, but The Grabber had caught him and taken him back to the basement. She knows she can’t even begin to know what her brother went through. “The ghosts - the boys - helped me find you.” Gwen tells him.
Finney smiles a little.
“I’m here, you know.” Gwen says. “If you want to talk about it.” Her voice is quiet and concerned.
Finney doesn’t say anything for a few seconds.
“There was a phone.” He starts. “In the basement.”
Gwen doesn’t say anything and lets him continue.
"It didn't work. The wires were cut." Finney says. "He said it hadn't worked since he was a kid." He paused. “The others - They said it rang for them, but that they couldn’t hear it. But I did.” His voice cracks slightly. “They told me he heard it too, but pretended he didn’t.”
Gwen didn’t have to ask who ‘he’ was. She knew he meant The Grabber.
“They talked to me.” Finney continues. "Or I - I talked to them. On the phone. And I saw Griffin, he was hanging upside down dripping blood on the floor."
"You talked to their ghosts?" Gwen asks, astonished at hearing her brother had a power like hers. "And you saw a ghost?" Then she remembered. "Wait. I heard you. Your voice. In one of my dreams. You were talking to Vance Hopper, I think." She paused. "I saw them too. They made sure I stopped in front of the house."
Finney nods. “Bruce. Griffin. Billy. Vance…. Robin.” He says Robin’s names more quietly than the others. A tone of grief in his voice. ”They helped me. They saved me. They told me what he was going to do.” He tells her, quietly. There’s something unspoken in his tone. Maybe something he’s not saying.
Gwen looks at her brother sadly.
"I - I killed him. And I saw - I saw him kill his brother.” Finney paused. “I got revenge for them. Before I -" The words 'finished it' go unsaid. "The phone rang and I put it to his ear, so he could hear them one last time.” He pauses, taking in the memories of what had happened. “Without them, I don’t know - “ He stops, his voice cracks even more.
Because the reality of what happened to him - to the others - hits him even more now that he’s talking about it. He told the cops what happened but left out the part about the phone. He knows Gwen told them about her dreams and they actually listened to her, but by the time he got around to talking to them after getting examined at the hospital, he wasn’t sure they would believe him so he didn’t tell them.
“I didn’t think… “ His voice breaks again. “I thought I was going to - “ He’s crying now as his sister wraps her arms around him, hugging him. He wraps his arms around her too, hugging her back ad he sobs into her shoulder.
After a few seconds the siblings pull back.
“They couldn’t remember their names.” Finney says, wiping his eyes. “They said it’s the first thing to go.” His voice is forlorn as he thinks back to what they told him.
Gwen looks a little alarmed at the thought of not remembering your own name. Wondering what else you forget when you’re a ghost still lingering on earth.
“But I told them. What I knew about them. So they would know.” Finney says, his voice firm. He pauses. “If I couldn’t hear the phone, he’d still be doing that - “ He pauses again, his eyes downcast. “I wouldn’t have made it out… Robin might still be - “ He thinks of when the phone rang for him when he was younger. If he had been able to talk to ghosts then, if he had known… Maybe he could’ve saved some of them - Somehow.
“But you did.” Gwen tells him fiercely. Finney looks back up at her. “You killed that fucking asshole. You heard the phone and you got revenge. For you. For Robin. For all of them. You’re like mom. Like me.” She tells her brother. Finney’s eyes widen a little at having it be actually said out loud. “Psychic. Mediumship. Whatever you want to call it. You can talk to ghosts. That’s so cool.”
“Your dreams are cool.” Finney tells her. He pauses. “The phone used to ring here sometimes. But whenever I answered, there was just static.” He admitted quietly. “I thought it was just prank calls.”
”Why didn’t you tell me?” Gwen asks.
“I thought it was just prank calls.” Finney tells her.
”Right.” Gwen smiles at her brother. But then turns serious. “I’m sorry I couldn't find you sooner. I tried dreaming and nothing happened but then I did and the missing boys and Robin helped me find you. I kept wondering where you were... What you were going through. I had the wrong house... If you hadn't walked out..." She trails off. "I'm sorry, Finney.” She leaned over and hugged her brother.
The weight of what happened was unbearable.
He still felt numb. And angry. And sad.
He killed someone. And he saw someone die. He couldn’t stop replaying everything that had happened down in the basement. The Grabber and what he'd done. His last conversation with Robin. He knows he’s grateful he at least got that, got to talk to him one last time, but he can’t stop thinking about how he could’ve saved him somehow. He thinks about how they saved him, and hopes that he helped them to move on.
None of it should have happened. They should still be alive. His grief is insurmountable. He knows he’ll probably never be the same again. Who can, after going through something so horrific. He’d been the one to hear the phone. He’d been the one to make it out. He was The Grabber’s last victim.
"I know." Is all Finney says as he hugs his sister. His tone forlorn and bitter.
After a few seconds the siblings parted.
“Do you want to go to the library tomorrow and see if there’s any information on what we can do?” Gwen asks.
Finney doesn't say anything for a few seconds. “Okay.” He says, quietly.
The two siblings go back to watching Scooby Doo on the TV.