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The Tale of the Hatching
Season 2 , Episode 12
Eplogo25
Air date September 25, 1993
Written by Chloe Brown
Directed by D.J. MacHale
Episode guide
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The Tale of the Magician's Assistant
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The Tale of Old Man Corcoran

The Tale of the Hatching is the Twelfth episode of the Second season of were You Afraid of the Dark?, as well as the Twenty-Fifth episode in total.

Cast[]

Midnight Society Cast[]

Story Cast[]

Intro[]

That night, David seems down in the dumps. He had set up there entire campfire and was continuing adding more sticks, while being quiet and not saying anything. Then as the group came in Gary applauds him for setting up the campfire all by himself. Noticing him being the way he is, Kiki asked him if he was sick. Frank taunts him telling everyone that he must want something, and what ever it was to just forget it. Betty Ann, with concern asked him if he was okay, David coldly said he was fine.

Kristen, came in and sat down next to him he asked him if he could just tell them. Frank taunting him again asked him in a teasing and patronizing way "What's the matter? Poor Davey upset about something?" David mad get's up said that's why and goes off to get more logs. Gary asked what's wrong. Kristen revealed to them all that David's family had just moved across town and he's had to go to a new school. Kiki now teasing him said "Aw, poor baby didn't like being the new kid", David came in hearing her and drops the logs feeling annoyed and ticked off.

David, then told her was she thought it was so funny, then why didn't she try changing schools? You don't know anybody, you get lost, the kids treat you like you're invisible because they already have their own friends. David then told them if that means his being a baby, then he guesses that he was being a baby. Kristen gives him comfort and told him it would get better, and Gary said that he would get used to it.

Feeling a bit better from his friends support, he walked over to and sat down on the storyteller's chair. He said he might as well make the best of it, and he's come up with a story. His story was about two kids who have to go to a new school, and it was strange for them at first too. What they find out, was this school was far stranger than they could ever imagine. He threw the campfire dust into the fire to make it burn faster. Then he submitted his story for the Midnight Society's approval, calling his story "The Tale of the Hatching" and began.

Story[]

David told the story. The story took place on a nice sunny day, starting with a street and a white poodle sniffing around a manhole. Then suddenly the manhole lifted open, the poodle whimpered in fear, then it closed, and the poodle had vanished.

A vehicle pulled through the gates of a boarding school called "The Black Brook School," supposedly one of the best boarding schools around. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, who had to go away on business for six months, thought it was the best place for their children, Augie and Jasmine ("Jazz"), to stay for the time being. Both parents seemed to find the place interesting. Then they went into the school to find the Headmasters Mr. and Mrs. Taylor and to register.

The inside of the boarding school was really nicely built almost like a castle, complete with white marble brick, arches towering on the doorways and various water fountains. This was the first time that Augie and Jazz would be going to a boarding school and they weren't very happy and excited about it. If they had only known what was waiting for them, they never would have set foot inside! The reason they were going to be staying at the school was because if they had gone with their parents, they would have fallen behind in school.

The family found their way upstairs to the administration office. Then suddenly they all heard a girl screaming, they ran over in concern to see who it was. They found in the west dormitory a girl waking up terrified from a dream. They explain to her that they're parents and they were just concerned when they heard her screaming and asked her if she would be all right. The girl said she was all right and she was just having a nightmare. Jazz seems confused about why she would be having a nightmare during the daytime.

Then a slight middle-aged couple entered the room. They were Mr. and Mrs. Taylor. Mrs. Taylor nicely called the girl Marie and said they shouldn't have left her alone. When she checks on Marie she can guess that the parents in the room were Mr. and Mrs. Wilson. Mr. Taylor claims that Marie had been sick lately and had been running a fever. Therefore she should have been in the infirmary.

Mr. Taylor introduced himself to Augie, who nicely shook his hand, while Jazz was cold and didn't want to bother. Mr. Taylor welcomed them to the school. Marie claimed she was okay, but Mrs. Taylor insisted she go to the infirmary to get better and off they go. Then suddenly a weird soft vibrating bell was heard going off. Jazz thought it was strange but was informed it was just a class change bell.

When they all met together in Mr. Taylor's office, Mr. Taylor nicely explained the school rules and codes of conduct. Then the sound of another weird soft vibrating bell goes off again. Mr. Taylor explained that it went off when a class began and ended, when a meal began and ended, when it was time to go to sleep, and when it was time to wake up. They preferred soft and soothing tones, unlike most of the loud bells that most schools have. Suddenly the alarm on Augie's watch went off beeping. Mr. Taylor began getting a really bad earsplitting headache. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson check on him and said he'd be okay. He had just been having migraine headaches lately, but they don't happen very often. Then they continued with the kids' registration.

Jazz told Augie she didn't want to stay there, because she had a weird feeling about the place. Augie told her they have no choice because their mom and dad couldn't take them with them. Although Jazz wants to try and fight her way out of the school, Augie persuades Jazz to stay and give it a chance. Then they parents leave, saying they'd visit in about a month. That night at supper time, a big bowl of what looks like rice pudding was passed along to each student sitting down at the table. Then they meet a classmate named Kit. Kit told them that every night for dessert they're served that same dessert and it was called Sponge with a U calling it Spunge and it was really good. However neither Jazz nor Augie still choose to try it.

All their classmates seemed pretty nice and enjoyed their time at the school. So they just decided to try and kick back and learn to like it there too. Still, the school seemed kind of strange, like how no one was allowed to play anything with a loud sound. An example of this, was when one day a classmate named Willy was walking around playing a noisy video game. Mr. Taylor snapped at him appearing to be in sheer agony. He confiscated the game from Willy, saying that he had warned him before about playing with noisy toys. One evening, Augie took out his battery-powered Walkman. He was about to put on the headphones when Kit told him not to let anyone see it, because no one was allowed to play music on school grounds, since the Taylors forbade it.

One evening at suppertime, the dessert bowl of Spunge was being passed around. Jazz still decided not to have any, while Augie took the spoon and considered trying some. However she gave him a look as if to say "Ew, don't." So he still didn't try it.

They learned to like the school and got used to the rules after a couple of weeks. Then one night, things took a really strange turn. The bell went off, then suddenly all of the students got up in their house coats and slippers, and headed downstairs to the basement. For some reason, Augie and Jazz didn't feel the urge to go with them. They still followed them all to see what was going on.

All their classmates went downstairs into a room like a pool house in the basement, with a green, glowing aura. The room was filled with strange machines and equipment. In the middle of the room, lower into the floor, was the pool. Suddenly, they saw Kit activating a switch, causing the water pressure below to rise up.

All of their classmates were climbing down the ladders and sprinkling some sort of unknown powder onto something in the pool. Jazz tried speaking to Marie and a few others, but none of them would answer. Jazz then found out the pool was full of hundred of giant, frozen, turkey-sized eggs. The question was what really going on in this school? Augie figured that they were all in a trance knowing exactly what to do and nothing could stop them. When they realized that Mr. and Mrs. Taylor were nearby, they decided to play along, sprinkling the powder onto some eggs.

Mr. and Mrs. Taylor watched from a distance, to see how everyone including Augie and Jazz seemed to be caring and nurturing the eggs. They seemed very happy, claiming that they knew everyone was eating their Spunge. Since no one can resist it. Seems that the Spunge places the student into the Taylors' trance and control.

Then Augie and Jazz clandestinely followed them to their office, and saw and overheard them talking. They were talking about how their work was almost finished and how soon the eggs would all hatch, as well as how their master was pleased, since she'd been patient for the past hundred years. Then Mr. Taylor said they could then shed their uncomfortable human skin. Mr. Taylor lifted up his sleeve to reveal green reptile scales on his arm, while scratching his itchy wrist. Augie and Jazz stared in shock, because they were really reptile aliens. Then the Taylors poured themselves green slime drinks, to which they made a toast to their troubled pasts and to their glorious future.

They ran off scared, Jazz said that when the eggs hatched the place would be full of aliens just like Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, and they need to ran off and call someone for help. Augie thought they couldn't and tried to just hide in his bed. Jazz encouraged him to get dressed and run away with her. So Augie gets dressed and gathers all his stuff including his Walkman. for some reason he decided to take one of the wall speakers with him.

When he knocked on the door to the girl's dormitory there was no answer. He told her he had a good idea how to stop them. Then suddenly the door swung open to reveal Jazz being held in a headlock by Mrs. Taylor. It would seem they did overheard them spying on them and talking about their escape. She told them they have been naughty and that they should have eaten their Spunge like the rest of the kids. Augie told her that she's a monster and she laughs and told him that he seen not anything yet. Jazz bit her hand and escaped. Mrs. Taylor was revealed to also have green scale like skin under her bite marks.

They ran downstairs and see Mr. Taylor in their way. He told them they couldn't leave now, because the excitement had just begun and laughs. Then they ran downstairs again, and go the other way from the route to the pool house with the eggs, thinking they might find an escape door. They instead find themselves trapped in a long tunnel with bars on the front.

On the other side of the bars, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor told them again that they should have eaten their Spunge like everyone else did. Now that they know their secret they couldn't let them leave. Mr. Taylor explained that they were the last of a race that was doomed to extinction. That was until now. Mrs. Taylor then said the students nurtured their eggs for ages. Soon they'd hatch and once again they can populate the earth. Jazz commented how they used the students to take care of the eggs. Mr. Taylor said it was a genius plan, and it was ironic because they were a race of meat eaters, all sorts of meat. So when the eggs hatch the children would serve "another" purpose. Because the young ones would be very hungry. They realized they mean that all the kids would be eaten!

Mr. Taylor told them that a few students caused the amount of problems that they have, and they always end up down where they were. They realized there was a huge monster in the tunnel. Mrs. Taylor told them that they got to meet the mother. They were both frightened when told this. At the end of the tunnel, green smoke started filling up, and the growling sound of a monster began coming. Mr. Taylor informed them that they'd stumbled into the lair of their master, who hadn't eaten for decades.

They both almost froze in fear, as the huge terrifyingly scary green monster began to approach them. Then Augie got out his Walkman and plugged it into the speaker, instructing Jazz to crank up the volume. Mr. Taylor screamed "no," begging them not to. The Taylors tried to find the right key to open the door and stop them. They cranked up the sound louder and louder until the earsplitting, full-blast music caused the master to die and explode, splashing green slime everywhere. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have died too, nothing remaining of them but their clothes and green, concentrated slime. Augie told her he knew what to do because he'd figured out they couldn't stand to hear any high-frequency sounds, just like the time his watch went off and how no one could play music in school, so it all just fit.

They went back to basement pool house and found that all the eggs had been shattered all over the floor, leaving green slime everywhere. Their classmates all walked around in confusion and didn't remember what had happened. Kit asked where they were and what had happened. Augie told him to wait for them because they'd explain everything. Marie got told she'd no longer have nightmares. Augie, upon seeing all the shattered and slimy eggshells, figured out that when they got the mother, it destroyed all of the eggs too. However, when they all walked off, the last remaining egg started moving around and seemed like it was about to hatch!

Ending[]

As the story ends, David said the end..... or was it? Gary declared their meeting officially closed. he told them all to make sure they all go straight home. Frank asked him why. Gary said Because tonight was a school night! and put out the campfire as everyone begun laughing.

  • David's last story.
  • Illya Woloshyn was famous for portraying the lead role of Jay Ziegler, in the show "The Odyssey". About a teenage boy in comatose who is trapped in a magical dream fantasy world.
  • Liz MacRae, who portrayed Mrs. Wilson later reappeared in the episodes "The Tale of the Fire Ghost" as Linda Preston. Also in the series revival's episode "The Tale of Bigfoot Ridge" as Mom/Marie.
  • Philip Spensley, who portrayed Mr. Taylor appeared years later in the first series revival three part episode "The Tale of the Silver Sight" and as Vince.
  • Justin Borntraeger who portrayed Kit (uncredited), later appeared again in the series, in the episode "The Tale of the Quiet Librarian" as Brian.
  • Heather Brown (Jazz) was also in the Goosebumps episode One Day at HorrorLand as Lizzy.

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