Daphne (AYAOTD)

Daphne

Background

Daphne is a babysitter. She has been babysitting Charles since she was twelve.

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

Charles is sent with Daphne to spend a week with his aunts so his parents can 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. As Daphne walks to the front door a rocking chair on the porch starts to rock but then stops. She 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.

At supper Gretta and Maylene tell Daphne that the power is out because they haven't paid the electric bill in three months. Daphne asks them why they don't ask Charles' family for help if they are having money trouble, but Gretta quotes Shakespeare and says neither a borrower nor a lender be, which Maylene says is what their father used to say. They tell Daphne about an old feud between their father and their uncle Charlie that was caused by their uncle Charlie hiring a Criminal to work on the farm. Their father knew there was something odd about the Criminal, but Uncle Charlie wouldn't listen. Eventually the police came and arrested the Criminal and put him on a train. As the Criminal was being transported, the train crashed and killed everyone aboard it. 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 runs out of his room and tells Daphne about the Ghost Child he saw. 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 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.