Are You Afraid of the Dark?: Season 2 Episode 10 The Tale of the Shiny Red Bicycle
David tells a tale about a deceased friend who comes back after five years.
Series Index
Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1990-2000)
Characters/Groups
Ricky Hagerty - Benjamin Shirinian
Leonard Buckley - Mark Camacho
The Midnight Society
Character thumbnails with links to profiles
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Detailed Synopsis
As the rest of the Midnight Society are waiting, Gary tells Frank, Betty Ann and Kiki that they will give Kristen and David a few more minutes. Kristen and David arrive, and Gary tells David he heard about David's bike being stolen. Kiki wonders how anyone could steal a bike, and Gary likens it to having something ripped from their body. David says that he thought about how he felt and how upset he was that someone could take something that was so important to him. He says once you have the right bike, it is yours forever no matter who has it. Kristen tells the others that David came up with a story about a bike. David says his tale is about a kid and his bicycle that meant so much to him he took it everywhere he went, including his own grave.
Mike Buckley and Ricky Hagerty are racing their bikes. They end their race by the sluice gate as a worker is opening it. Water pours out of the canal and Ricky tells Mike that his dad is going to take him fishing. The wooden railing collapses and Ricky's bicycle falls into the rushing water. Ricky starts to fall, and Mike grabs his backpack, but Ricky slips and falls to his death. Mike wakes up in bed from the nightmare of what happened that day and Ben Buckley asks him if he is okay. Mike tells Ben to go back to bed, and they say goodnight to each other. At breakfast, Leonard Buckley notices that Mike looks tired and Ruth Buckley asks Mike if he is okay. Leonard asks Mike if he is sleeping okay and realizes Mike had another nightmare about Ricky's death. Leonard tells Mike to stop blaming himself for Ricky's death, but Mike tells him it isn't so easy.
At school Mike and Mike's Friend are walking to class when Mike notices a red bicycle at the bike rack which looks exactly like Ricky's bicycle. Mike's Friend asks him if he is okay, and when Mike looks back at the bike it looks different and is grey colored. In class, Mrs. Westwood is teaching about NASA's early space missions when she notices Mike isn't paying attention. She repeatedly calls his name until he finally realizes she is talking to him and then asks him to tell the others what she was talking about. Mike can't and as Mrs. Westwood continues her lecture Mike hears someone calling his name and sees an image of Ricky standing at the classroom door. Mike backs out of his desk and starts yelling that Ricky is there and is sent to the Nurse's Office. The Nurse asks him who Ricky is, and Mike tells her Ricky was a friend, but he died. The Nurse realizes he is talking about the Ricky who died five years ago and asks Mike if he is still having trouble dealing with Ricky's death. He tells her of his nightmares where he watches Ricky die and how he hopes that one time he can save Ricky and mentions that authorities never found Ricky's body. The Nurse tells Mike that even if he saves Ricky in his dream, Ricky will still be dead.
She tells Mike that she is going to let him go home early and to get some rest and if he keeps on having nightmares to have his family call their doctor. Mike looks out the Nurse's window and briefly sees Ricky standing near his bicycle. He looks away from the window and sees Ricky in The Nurse's office. Leonard takes Mike to see Dr. McBride and on their way home Mike thinks he sees Ricky riding his bicycle on Hanover Road. He tells Leonard he saw Ricky and asks him to follow the person on the bicycle. They catch up to the person and stop the car and Mike grabs the bicyclist, which turns out to be a girl. At home, Ruth takes Mike's temperature and notices he has a slight fever. Ben tells Mike he will miss not being able to go fishing with him since Dr. McBride said Mike needed sleep and then asks Mike if he really saw Ricky and Mike tells him that he believes he saw Ricky. Mike then promises to go with Ben fishing while Leonard and Ruth are shopping. During the night, Mike has another nightmare about Ricky. In the morning Ben is caught by Leonard trying to sneak into Mike's bedroom and Leonard insists he drive Ben to go fishing. Mike wakes up when he hears Ricky calling his name. He looks out his window and sees Ricky calling to him. While fishing with his friends, Ben accidentally knocks over his friend's drink and his friend grabs Ben's bobber and throws it into the same area where the sluice gate drains from where Ricky drowned. Mike confronts Ricky and Ricky tells him that he is trying to warn him about Ben who is about to drown at the same location he drowned. While trying to get his bobber, Ben gets his foot caught underneath a rock. Ricky lets Mike borrow his bicycle and before he leaves, they both tell each other they miss them. The sluice gate operator opens the sluice gate, but Mike manages to pull Ben free in time and they get to safety. Mike looks at where he left Ricky's bicycle and it is no longer red and shiny, but old and rusty.
David tells the others that the very next day, a fisherman found the remains of Ricky and says that he thinks Ricky's body wasn't there until he was able to repay a favor to an old friend. Gary then closes the meeting and puts out the campfire.