Charles (AYAOTD)

Charles

Background

Charles "Charlie" Pemberton Shilling III is the son of a wealthy family. His great aunts are Gretta and Maylene and his great grandfather was Charles "Charlie".

During the events of Are You Afraid of the Dark?: Season 2 Episode 7 The Tale of the Frozen Ghost played by Andrew Henry

Charles is sent with Daphne to spend a week with his aunts so his parents could go to a wedding.

Daphne asks Charles how he could be bundled up so much when it is 90 degrees in the limousine, but he says he is cold. They arrive at a large house out in the country and the Limousine Driver confirms in his notebook that they are at the right place. Daphne is excited about how spooky it looks, and the Limousine Driver notices the lights are out and wonders if anyone is home. Charles is hesitant to go to the house and worries Gretta and Maylene might be upset with them if they are sleeping and they wake them up. Daphne uses the knocker on the front door to knock repeatedly and the door eventually opens, and Gretta and Maylene greet them holding a lit candelabra. They are excited to see Charles and tell him that they haven't seen him since he was a baby. They say hello to Daphne and then invite them inside. They invite the Limousine Driver to stay and have some coffee, but he tells them he has to go and quickly leaves. They drag Charles and Daphne's luggage to their rooms and Gretta gets upset when Maylene says hosts, but she thinks she said ghosts. While Daphne is putting away Charles' clothes, she tells him that she thinks Gretta and Maylene are neat, but Charles thinks they are weird. Charles thinks he hears a voice outside, but Daphne doesn't hear anything.

While Charles is taking a bath, a hanging light starts to move on its own. He then thinks he hears voices whispering. While they are eating, a breeze blows the window open, and the candlelight blows out. Maylene says she thought they had closed the window and Gretta says they had. Maylene then says the window might not shut properly and Walter, their maintenance man was supposed to fix it but left suddenly that day. Daphne asks if Walter left because Gretta and Maylene hadn't paid him, but Maylene says it was because of the ghost. Daphne asks about the ghost, but Maylene and Gretta don't want to talk about it.

During the night Charles has a nightmare about the Criminal telling someone hiding in a tree stump to give him something back and then pulling away a red jacket. Charles wakes up from his nightmare and the window suddenly blows open in his room. He walks over to the window and looks outside and sees a Ghost Child who says that it is cold over and over again and then disappears. Charles runs out of his room and tells Daphne about the Ghost Child. Daphne thinks he just had a nightmare and kicks him out of her room. The next morning, Gretta notices Charles and Daphne are arguing, and she asks them why? Daphne tells her that it is because Charles thinks he saw a ghost and Daphne doesn't believe him. Maylene asks him what he saw, and he tells her about the Ghost Child and Daphne mentions that Charles said it spoke to him. Maylene gets excited and says the Ghost Child has never spoken to them. Daphne asks who the Ghost Child is, and Maylene says that there was a boy from a neighboring farm whose father said he used to sneak around Gretta and Maylene's house trying to find where their mother hid her cookies. Gretta says one day he was found curled up in the woodshed frozen to death.

The fire in the wood stove goes out and Maylene says there are no logs left, and Daphne offers to chop them some wood. Charles goes with Daphne to chop wood, and he tells her maybe they should call his parents so they can have them picked up. Daphne starts chopping wood and asks Charles if he would like to try and he tells her that he isn't allowed to play with sharp things. Daphne calls him a wuss and says if it was up to Charles, he would do nothing but play videogames in nice clean clothes. She smears mud on Charles' clothes, and he whines that he is going to tell his mom on her. They both hear a noise, and Charles thinks it is the Ghost Child and wants to go back to the house. Daphne goes towards the noise and leaves Charles behind. Charles calls for Daphne and footprints start appearing in the mud walking towards Charles. He turns around and the Ghost Child is standing in front of him and tells him that it is cold. Charles runs away into the woods but then sees the Ghost Child again and runs in the opposite direction. He eventually gets stuck in the mud and falls onto the ground and screams. Daphne helps him up and she also sees the Ghost Child. The Ghost Child points at a log and Charles recognizes the log from his dream. Charles walks over to the log and pulls out a red jacket and a flue hook latch handle falls out of the jacket pocket. Charles gives the jacket to the Ghost Child and the Ghost Child transforms back to the way he looked before he died and puts on the jacket and then disappears. Charles and Daphne take the latch handle and show it to Gretta and Maylene. Maylene recognizes what it is and uses it to open the flue. They hear a noise, and Charles opens the stove door and gold coins pour out of the stove.