Are You Afraid of the Dark?: Season 2 Episode 5 The Tale of the Dream Machine
Gary tells Kiki's tale about a typewriter where the stories come to life.
Series Index
Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1990-2000)
Characters/Groups
Blacked Robed Figure - Tim Post
The Midnight Society
Character thumbnails with links to profiles
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Detailed Synopsis
The Midnight Society members are standing around when Kiki finally arrives. Frank says it's about time and Kristen asks her where she was. Kiki apologizes and Betty Ann notices Kiki's voice sounds rough and asks her if she is sick. Kiki says she has laryngitis and then removes the top of a typewriter case. She says she typed her story on the typewriter and asks Gary if he can read her story. Gary then starts reading Kiki's notes. He says writing a story down on paper is very different than reading it out loud as you can see it and others can read it. He continues to beware though as once the story is written it no longer belongs to the author, and it has a life of its own and for some stories that can be a dangerous life indeed.
In Literature class, Billy is sleeping in class as Mrs. Dodds reads to the class while eating a donut. As class ends, she tells the students that their assignment is to write a short story. As Sean and Jennifer are leaving class Sean accidentally runs into Jennifer and then they bonk heads when they lean down to pick up their fallen books. Billy makes fun of Sean and later at Sean's new house, Sean tells Billy that he thinks Jennifer likes him. Billy says Sean's house looks like a disaster and Sean tells him that his parents have spent a lot of money on repairing the house. As Billy is walking up the stairs towards Sean's room, his foot breaks through one of the steps. Sean and Billy discover a room hidden under the stairs with writing implements, photographs and a news article detailing the disappearance of a mystery author. Billy reads a news article from 1932 about author James Ellington who was a mystery novelist. They find a typewriter case and Billy continues to read the news article which mentions that James Ellington disappeared one year and then was found dead the year after.
Billy leaves and Sean starts typing a story he wrote entitled The Halloween Dance. While Sean is typing his story, Jennifer is sleeping in her bed and starts to dream. In the story, the school is having a Halloween dance. As Jennifer is talking with her friends, Sean walks in dressed as Dracula. He asks her what her name is, and he says his name is Count Sean. They start to dance and afterwards leave and walk to a dark area of the room. Sean leans in to kiss Jennifer and reveals large vampire teeth and then bites Jennifer in the neck. Jennifer screams and then wakes up from her dream. The next day after class, Sean says something to Jennifer, and she jumps and drops her books. She tells Sean that she had a nightmare the night before and describes her dream to him. Later Sean tells Billy that Jennifer's dream is exactly the same as the story he wrote. Billy falls asleep in Sean's bed while reading a comic book and Sean starts typing his story for class called Trapped. In the story, Billy sneaks into a crumbling graveyard during the night to search for the grave of Blind Paul. He finds the grave of Blind Paul, but as he is looking at the headstone, he hears a noise. As he is looking for what made the noise he runs into Blacked Robed Figure and falls backwards into an open grave with an open casket. As Billy falls into the casket, the casket lid closes, and the Blacked Robed Figure starts to throw dirt into the grave. Sean finishes typing and Billy wakes up from a nightmare screaming for someone to let him out.
Billy tells Sean about his dream and Sean shows him the story he typed. Billy says the typewriter must have some sort of power and Sean thinks it may be some sort of dream machine. Billy becomes excited and says they can use it to terrorize their fellow classmates and then goes home. Sean writes a story where he and Jennifer are in a land of clouds. In the story he tells Jennifer about the typewriter and its power to make people dream whatever he types. He tells her that he wants to see if it really works and when she wakes up, he wants her to call him and then kisses her on the cheek and then apologizes for kissing her. Jennifer kisses Sean and he finishes the story. A few seconds later, Jennifer calls Sean. At school, Literature class ends and Mrs. Dodds tells the class to turn in their papers. Sean, Billy and Jennifer go to Sean's house and Billy takes Sean's Halloween Dance story and starts to read it aloud. Jennifer notices the typewriter start to glow and tells Sean and Sean and Jennifer disappear and appear at the school dance. Sean and Jennifer realize they are back in the story, but don't seem to have the ability to change anything. As Sean is about to bite Jennifer, Billy realizes Sean and Jennifer are missing from the room. He stops reading the story and Sean and Jennifer appear back into the room.
Sean figures out that by reading the story it forces people into the story if they are awake. Mrs. Dodds picks up Sean's story and is about to start reading it when she discovers that she doesn't have any more donuts to eat. Sean, Billy and Jennifer run to the school and Mrs. Dodds goes to the cafeteria to look for food while carrying Sean's story. Mrs. Dodds starts to read Sean's story while Sean and the others discover that his story is not on Mrs. Dodds' desk. The typewriter starts to glow as Mrs. Dodds reads the story and Billy disappears and appears in the cemetery. Sean and Jennifer run around the school looking for Mrs. Dodds. Just like in the story, Billy sees the Blacked Robed Figure and falls into the open grave. When they can't find Mrs. Dobbs, Sean comes up with an idea. He writes a new story where the typewriter stopped glowing and all the stories written on it never came true and then has Jennifer read what he wrote. The typewriter stops glowing and Billy reappears back inside the classroom. Sean welcomes Billy back and Mrs. Dodds finds them in her classroom and asks them if she can help them with something.
Gary ends Kiki's story and David says the story was great. The members of the Midnight Society realize Kiki is gone and Frank reads from a paper that was still in the typewriter that Kiki brought. On the paper is written that the headless warrior chased down the members of the Midnight Society until they were too tired to run, and the remaining members of the Midnight Society look around and hurriedly leave.