History Literature / WaitTillHelenComes

* RedOniBlueOni: Molly is the imaginative, dramatic, superstitious, and intuitive sibling, while Michael is more down-to-earth, rational, and likes to have--or force--a scientific explanation for everything around him.
** Dave and Jean are also a RedOniBlueOni parental team, with Dave being the emotional, explosive, hands-on parent and Jean the more laid-back, logical, and hands-off one.

* ThemeInitials: Helen and Heather share the same initials--H.E.H.--which is what [[AccidentalPun initially]] draws Heather to Helen's grave.

* AdaptationalUgliness: In the book and movie, Helen looks like a pretty little girl, just ghostly. In the graphic novel, she looks like a withered zombie.

* DeathOfAChild: Helen was seven years old when her house caught on fire and in distress she ran into the pond and drowned. Over the years at least three other little girls, maybe more, have been lured by her ghost into the pond and drowned as well--including Mr. Simmons' cousin Rose when he and his sister were younger. The graphic novel shows the most recent death with the dead child floating in the water.

* CrustyCaretaker: The Creepy Cemetery above has a caretaker, but Mr. Simmons is [[AvertedTrope pleasant and friendly]]. He does, however, warn the children about playing under the old oak tree and around [[DontGoIntoTheWoods the old Harper Place]] (though this warning is more to do with rattlesnakes and poison ivy than ghosts).

** Heather leaves a jar of daisies in front of Helen's sad little tombstone every day.
** [[spoiler:At the end, Helen's remains are buried with those of her parents in a proper grave bearing her full name. This is what finally allows her spirit to depart in peace.]]

* {{Forgiveness}}: What ultimately frees both Helen and Heather. [[spoiler:The ghost of Helen's mother forgives her for causing the fire that killed her and her stepfather, and Dave tells Heather that he doesn't blame her for the fire that killed her mother, allowing her to forgive herself.]]

* FinallyFoundTheBody: [[spoiler:When Molly and Heather fall through the floor in Harper House into the cellar, they discover the skeletal remains of Helen's mother and stepfather buried under the floor, finally solving the hundred (plus)-year-old mystery of what happened to their bodies. In the graphic novel, the house is slightly less ruined, so their skeletons are unburied; however, the ceiling fell in during the fire, blocking off the room the skeletons were in.]]

* DueToTheDead: [[spoiler:Only after the bones of Helen's parents are buried with her--and a tombstone bearing her full name as well is placed over her grave--does she finally depart for good.]]

* NoOSHACompliance: Despite many children having drowned in Harper Pond over the years, apparently nobody has ever thought to put a fence or something similar around it!

* ThereAreNoTherapists: [[spoiler:Heather feels she's the cause of her mother's death when she was three years old. Since then she has since become more and more withdrawn and wants to cling to her dad without any others in the way--complete with nightmares, flashbacks, and emotional regression.]] But sure, let's remarry and make her adjust to much-older stepsiblings and a replacement mom, then drag her out to the middle of nowhere with no other children to interact with!

* DeathOfAChild: Helen was seven years old when her house caught on fire and in distress she ran into the pond and drowned. Over the years at least three other little girls, maybe more, have been lured by her ghost into the pond and drowned as well--including Mr. Simmons' cousin Rose when he and his sister were younger. The Graphic novel shows the most recent death with the dead child floating in the water.