The woman shakes her head sadly. "No, my dear daughter. That wasn't what happened at all." She looks down at the doll she holds in her hands and suddenly stabs it. Melinda hears her grandmother scream in agony from across the house.
     "No!!" Melinda screams, rushing forward to overtake the apparition. "Don't hurt my grandmother!!!"
     Her mother puts one hand up, and Melinda feels an invisible force stop her. Wayne brushes past her and runs down the hall to her grandmother's room. She hears him call with urgency, "Mrs. Plum!!! I'm on my way!" Melinda tries to come forward again, but she can't. She is frozen in place. She begins to tremble in fear and anger.
     "You do not understand. I must exact revenge on the one who took me from my daughter and my husband. Your grandmother, my mother, is responsible for my death, Melinda. She murdered me."
     Melinda shakes her head. "That isn't true. You left!! You left a note and you walked out of our lives!!"
     Her mother looks at her with pity and resumes sticking pins into the doll in her hands. Melinda hears her grandmother scream in anguish. "Stop it!" she yells out. "Oh god, please stop!!! You're killing her!!!" She is sobbing uncontrollably, unable to move, unable to do anything to prevent her grandmother's pain.
     "Did you ever read that note, Melinda? I know you didn't. There was nothing in that note. She killed me. My own mother killed me. She wanted you to herself. Did you know that she is a powerful woman, Melinda? Did you know that she used this to drive your father away? Did you know she used this to murder me?" She holds up the doll for Melinda to see.
     Melinda falls to her knees, weak with grief. "Please stop," she whispers. "You're lying."
     "No, my dear, I am telling truth. Why would I need to lie beyond the grave?" She pokes another pin into the doll, this time into its head. The accompanying scream of pain from her grandmother follows almost immediately.
     "Once I get revenge for my death, I can rest. I have waited 18 years for this. I did not want to leave you an orphan. The time is right now. The time is right for her death. Then I can rest. Then we can all rest, Melinda. You know this is right. You know I am telling truth."
     She stops and stoops down in front of Melinda. She reaches out and touches the side of Melinda's face. Her hand is icy cold. Melinda shudders.
     "She was always fond of your father, you know. She loved him. Perhaps almost as much as I loved him. Or as much as you loved him. So she drove him away. She locked herself in this cursed room and chanted over her crystal ball and her death doll. And he left. Then she came for me. She waited until I was in the bath and came into this room and chanted over her crystal ball and her death doll. She stuck pins into that doll until it bled stuffing. I had never felt such pain. My body began bleeding from open sores that appeared suddenly on my skin. The blood filled the water and stained it a rusty red. And I drowned. She buried me in the back garden, behind the gazebo. If you look, you will find my grave, dear daughter."