Original subtitles

I'm really worried about him.

Me too. I've never seen him this upset.

- I know. - He's taking it hard.

You know what he said to me?

He said he'll never write another story ever again.

- He said that? - Yeah.

This is lame! Stupid!

I'm gonna burn all this stupid stuff!

I'm so afraid that tonight is gonna, like, stifle�him

or be this wound that haunts him.

Poor little guy.

He's a creative kid,

but maybe we let his obsession with horror get out�of hand.

I guess I can see how they could consider it a little weird.

Maybe it would be easier if he was just more, I don't know, normal.

I think I heard something.

Alex?

I didn't hear anything.

Ugh.

It was�all gonna be so perfect, Lucy�

�just like one big, happy family.

Your boys

and my boys.

Great. The bloodsucking Brady Bunch.

Lost Boys?

I still want you, Lucy.

I haven't changed my mind about that.

I didn't invite you this time, Max.

Michael.

Michael, no!

Michael!

- Don't you touch my mother! - Sam, don't! No, Sam!

Where am I?

Hello?

Hello?

Anyone?

I'm trapped!

Mom!

Dad!

Hello? Help!

What is your name?

A� Alex.

Alex Mosher.

Alex.

Alex!

Please, please.

Boo.

Let's get this over with. I'm a busy witch.

Are you useful in any way?

Uh, I�

Do you see them?

The apartment lured them in.

That's what the apartment does.

Those children,

they were not useful to me.

Do you understand?

So let's try this again.

Is there anything special about you at all?

Any reason I should let you live?

And get up.

Come closer.

Goodbye, Alex.

I do write scary stories.

Did you say "scary stories"?

What's� what's that?

No more questions.

My Nightbooks. It's where I wrote my stories.

What are you doing with these so late at night?

I was�

I was gonna burn them in the boiler room downstairs.

Burn them? So they're not any good.

- No. - Goodbye, Alex.

They're good. They're very, really, really good.

Nightbooks, huh?

The title better not be the scariest thing about them.

I'm going to need a story every night.

The story better be good, and it better be scary,

or it's the last thing you'll ever do.

Hey.

It's a little kitty.

Mischievous little thing.

How'd you get in here?

What is this place?

Where's the TV?

And where'd the front door go?

Oh my God.

You scared me.

What?

- You're a kid. - And you're a genius.

I'm Alex. Who are you?

You're gonna be chatty. Great.

I'm Yasmin.

Are you a prisoner too?

No, I'm on vacation.

Okay, food's here.

Hope you like peanut butter.

I used to.

Anything in these cabinets is off-limits.

Don't ever think Natacha won't miss this piece of popcorn.

Lenore tells her everything.

Come out, you evil skin-bag.

And that's the invisible cat?

You say cat. I say Natacha's little spy-beast.

And Natacha is�

Keep up. Natacha is the witch.

Lenore is that wrinkled, hairless thing that follows you around all day,

popping up out of nowhere.

She ratted me out over a stinking cup of noodles.

I hate that cat.

Don't just stand there. Help me clean this up before Natacha gets home.

Where is she, Natacha?

I don't know where she goes or what she does,

but she can go anywhere she wants.

Talk about the ultimate passport, this apartment is it.

Come on. We both have work to do. I'll get you set up.

Ultimate passport?

The apartment travels all over the world, luring kids in.

I'm from New York. Brooklyn.

I live in Washington. Washington, DC.

Or I did before.

I wonder if we're still in Brooklyn.

The apartment moves?

When it needs fresh meat.

Not literally. Jeez.

Thought you wrote scary stories.

Not anymore.

Ta-da.

Whoa!

This is so cool.

How is�

I mean, wow!

It can't be.

Hello!

How is this even possible?

The apartment can do two things.

It lures suckers like us in,

and it has room to hold�

This is so cool.

�well, anything.

The Empty Classroom and Other Creepy Stories.

Nightdreams and Daymares.

Whispered Tales.

She does like stories.

I thought you said you weren't into that kinda stuff anymore.

- I'm not. It's my friend. - Oh, it's your friend?

He, uh� he'd like all this stuff.

But me? Nah.

- He's, like� he's really lame. - Yeah, he sounds lame.

Hmm. Cool. Okay, yeah.

So she makes me read her a stupid scary story every night,

but she says everything in here's already been read.

Everything?

Good thing you're a storyteller.

She needs you, so get to work.

You heard her. She wants a scary story tonight.

Every day, write as many stories as you can.

I don't write-

Cut the crap.

I heard you last night, talking about your Nightbook thingies.

Oh, those.

I'm over the whole writing thing.

Then you better get over getting over it and crank out some new tales,

'cause if you don't-

She'll kill me. I know.

You'll be lucky if she kills you.

This is your life now.

Forget your family. Forget your friends. Focus on being useful to�Natacha.

You wanna live?

Write scary stories.

I'm not gonna write anything,

'cause I'm getting out of here.

You're gonna die.

Come on, open.

Where are you?

Another exit.

Damn.

Every time.

You all try and run.

There's no escape.

You understand?

You understand?

Hmm. Were you purposely making me wait?

- No. I� I was doing the dishes. - Sit there.

Should I just start reading?

Give me a minute to get settled.

I mean, honestly!

What is that?

Do you know what happens to children who ask too many questions?

Do you wanna find out?

So, Storyteller,

you tried to escape today.

Yasmin, too, had a little rebellious streak.

But I am curious about one thing.

Why burn your stories?

What is that?

Read. Now.

"When� when Todd's best friend Jenny died,

his heart shattered into a thousand pieces. "

Shattered heart? I like it already.

"Everyone avoided the Foster Playground at night. "

"They all knew the legend. "

"In the hour before daylight, the dead kids would come out and play. "

Nope. No, no, no. Sorry, nope.

Everyone knows that ghosts haunt places that are personal to them,

not public places.

Uh, are� are you sure?

I'm sure.

Get on with it.

"Todd walks to the playground. He gets to the gate. "

"And as soon as his foot crosses the threshold,

children�"

"�squealing, playing. "

"Suddenly, a boy shoots out of the slide. "

"Maybe he's ten or so, dressed like a�newsie from the '20s. "

Rude. You could at least say hi.

Hey� hey.

I� I mean� I mean hi.

I'm looking for my friend, Jenny.

"�Todd says, while looking for any sign of her. "

To find her, you have to play.

"The newsie whistles, and half a dozen dead kids surround Todd. "

"Their skin is deathly white. Some of their clothes date back decades. "

"They push Todd on a swing, higher and higher-"

Stupid!

Everyone knows ghosts don't have actual physical hands,

so they could never push him on a swing.

Amateur.

The playground is� it's an interdimensional plane,

a mix between the spirit world and the real world.

Oh, so you're a quantum physicist now?

Whatever. Continue.

"And then the children laugh,

and they pull Todd to a rusty merry-go-round. "

"They spin him around and around, faster and faster,

making Todd dizzier and dizzier. "

"Then the ghosts force Todd onto a seesaw. "

"He holds on tight. "

"Suddenly, Todd realizes what they're up to. "

"Any living child still on the playground when the sun rises

is cursed to remain there forever. "

"He stumbles towards the gate, desperate to get out,

but his world is spinning, and he's tripping over his own feet. "

"The sun's almost up. He's nearly out of time. "

"All the ghost children watch in suspense. "

"Todd's not going to make it. "

"Until suddenly, someone grabs him and pulls him towards the exit. "

"It's Jenny!"

"'Jenny, I� I wanted to see you. '"

"'Get out of here,' Jenny says,

not stopping for a happy reunion. "

"Seeing his old friend again makes Todd's heart hurt. "

I miss you. I don't wanna let you go.

"But in death,

Jenny discovered something that Todd is about to learn. "

Friends never let go, Todd.

"Because friends never forget. "

I'll always be with you,

here.

A happy ending?

Are you out of your mind?

No happy endings, you fool.

Jenny� Jenny's dead. She's� she's trapped on the playground forever.

It's not happy for her.

Ghostly hands go on Todd's back.

He� he� he glances behind him,

and he's pulled into the playground.

He� he screams for help, but it's no use.

His ghostly soul is trapped there to this very day.

Happy endings are a dangerous thing.

Never forget that.

Did you at least like the story? I mean, until the ending?

Writers, always so insecure.

You're still alive, aren't you?

I'm mystified by you, Storyteller.

This beautiful darkness dances inside your brain.

You should celebrate it.

But you run from it.

Why?

I just�

I� I wanna be like everyone else.

You wrote all this today?

Uh, I had� I had trouble writing today.

What?

It's just hard to concentrate with someone staring at me all day.

I told you, show him the library and then get out.

Wait! Wait!

Not her! Not her.

You were disturbing him.

It is very important that he writes.

You know how important it is.

Wait!

It� it wasn't her fault either.

Well, if it wasn't Yasmin's fault, and it wasn't Lenore's fault,

then whose fault was it?

Mine. I'll� I'll write faster.

Lenore won't bother you again.

No more excuses, Storyteller.

Are you okay?

Leave me alone.

Yasmin, I'm sorry.

I wasn't trying to get you in any kind of trouble.

Yasmin, I'm sorry. I didn't know about the "no happy endings" thing.

Todd shouldn't have gone back for Jenny.

- He was stupid. - No, he wasn't.

He was her friend, and that's what friends do.

Maybe in fairy tales.

But in here? She's right, you know.

Happy endings don't exist.

What?

What� what is that?

This place sucks.

She wants stories? Fine. I'll give her some stories.

Yes! Yes, a haunted desk!

Haunted by the spirit of somebody who died working at it.

No, no, it's stupid. They're gonna think it's stupid.

How long you been here for?

Looks like a while.

How'd they get you?

They got me with a piece of pie and Lost Boys.

Once upon a time,

Alex stared up at the ceiling.

Then the ceiling fell on him

and put him out of his misery.

The end.

What's up there?

It's the oldest book in here.

This thing's gotta be, like, a thousand years old.

"Kinder und Hausmarchen. "

"Rumpelstiltskin. "

"Sleeping Beauty"?

Wow!

"Hansel and Gretel. "

Is that a ballpoint pen?

Wow. "Frankenstein. "

Oh my God.

It's writing.

"If I don't make it out of here, I need someone to know what happened,

even if it's only the characters in these books. "

"I saw a unicorn. "

"People said they didn't exist, but there it was. "

"I followed it into this apartment, and now I'm trapped by a witch. "

"She's mean and scary. "

"I just have to do what the witch tells me to

until Mom and Dad find me. "

"There are other kids here. Most of them are nice. "

"I'm scared, but at least I'm not alone. "

Dinner in an hour.

Hey, Yasmin,

do you like unicorns?

Yeah, 'cause that's so me.

Oh, I thought maybe that's how she got you.

Natacha, I mean.

You're right. �It's none of my business.

And I bet you weren't lured in by a stupid movie and a piece of pie.

Stupid pumpkin pie.

Fine.

It was doro wat.

What the hell is doro wat?

Chicken, onions caramelized in spiced butter, paprika, garlic,

ginger, berbere spice.

My ayate�

My grandmother and I used to make it before she died.

We even grew all the herbs and veggies ourselves.

Anyways, I smelled doro wat,

and I just so badly wanted to see my�ayate again.

But it wasn't her.

It was a witch,

an evil, wicked witch.

How's that for a happy ending?

"With the fangs came the hunger,

and Katie discovered that her hunch was right. "

"To a vampire, blood does taste like candy. "

Everybody knows it takes two days to grow full fangs.

You're stupid.

Here, Lenore, a peace offering.

Story.

There's gotta be more writing from that Unicorn Girl.

"�but it's too late. The roller coaster plunges down the drop. "

"Steel snaps, metal shrieks,

humans scream,

and the grim reaper's dog�laughs at the carnage. "

The grim reaper doesn't have a pet.

Isn't that right, Lenore?

This is gonna take forever!

"They saw their son's footprints in the snow, leading into the woods. "

"Then they saw a pair of smaller footprints,

teddy-bear-sized. "

"And they never saw their precious son again. "

Possessed teddy bears? Really?

Took me right out of the story.

Every good story hints at truth.

The more truth, the more powerful the story.

From now on, get your facts straight.

Yes!

"I don't know how long I've been here. "

"I still have the necklace Mom and Dad gave me. "

"I used to touch it to remember them,

but I stopped. "

"It made me cry. "

"I'm tired of crying. "

"I have what I need to escape tonight. "

"I'm finally going to see them again, Mom and Dad. "

"I wonder if they'll even know me. "

"Can people forget their kids?"

- "Escape"? - Alex?

Oh my God!

You did not just throw a book at me!

Uh, no. You just surprised me.

I dropped it.

Hold on. I'm coming down.

Hey, Yasmin, wait until you see what I found.

Hey, what's wrong?

This is Natacha's night nursery.

Night nursery?

Yeah. Sunlight is bad for magical plants.

Come on.

What's all this for?

Ingredients mostly, for Natacha's potions.

Don't touch anything.

What's that?

Demon silk.

Enough questions. Help me with this.

I watered the vine with rat's blood instead of bat's blood.

Now, Shredder eggs are growing on it. If one of them hatches,

it can destroy the night nursery, and Natacha will kill me.

I'm taking care of it, Lenore.

Okay. Put it gently on the ground.

Be careful. Don't jostle it.

Be careful.

Okay, now what?

Stomp it as hard as you can.

Good.

Where's the blue mist come from? Do you make it?

The mist, do you think it keeps Natacha young?

It's none of our business.

I mean, she's really pretty, but her books are ancient,

and the apartment looks like a granny decorated it.

No!

I thought for sure it was gonna-

No!

Did you get it?

It's getting away!

- No! No! - No!

It's cutting down the Shredder eggs! Stomp on them!

Sorry.

That's all the Shredder eggs.

There it is! Don't let it get away!

Alex, look out!

Thanks, Yas.

I mean, Yasmin.

Wait. Where is it?

We need to find it and kill it before it destroys the whole place.

Well, that's just great!

Get it off me!

Oh God!

Oh God.

I'm okay. �I'm okay. �I'm okay.

It's gone.

I don't know where it went.

Let's go!

- Come on! - Wait.

Gotcha.

Now let's get out of here.

You useless little twits.

You've been misbehaving in my garden.

This will hurt you far more than it hurts me.

Please, I� I can explain.

And I would let you

if I cared.

Do try to keep your eyes open.

I would hate to have to start over.

Can't you do anything right? I said keep your eyes open!

It was my fault!

I begged�Yasmin to take me to the nursery.

I thought the creepy plants might help me think of something cool to write about.

She made me promise not to touch anything, but I did.

Don't hurt her. Please.

That is very brave of you, Storyteller,

to lie right to my face.

I almost killed you.

If I didn't need you to clean up the mess, I would've.

No more chances.

Yas, you okay?

Look,

I'm sorry I got you involved.

From now on, you help yourself. I'll help myself.

Yas, we can get out of here, together.

It's not Yas.

It's Yasmin.

Shredder!

Gotcha!

Okay.

Here we go. Okay.

One�

�two,

three!

Get� get off me! Get off me! Get off!

No! No! No!

Oh my God.

No! No!�No!�No!�No!�No!�No!

Ugh! My Nightbooks.

Watch out.

Lenore's here somewhere.

- She's hurting. - You look terrible.

- You've been here all night? - Yeah, all night.

I made this. It'll help with the scrapes and cuts.

You made this for me?

Yeah, it's my own concoction.

It's a kind of aloe from a harpy plant, some dried corpse-hair vine.

That's good. Really good.

Thanks.

Uh, Lenore?

Come here.

Look what Yas made for us.

Didn't make it for her.

There you go, all better.

It's okay. Here we go.

No.

I'm in trouble.

I� I� I don't have any stories.

What do you mean you don't have any? You said you had a bunch of them.

I did, but a Shredder, it got into my room.

And I killed it, but it destroyed all of my Nightbooks,

except for this one.

I was reading to Natacha from those Nightbooks.

I've got nothing now. I� I have to escape. I have no choice!

There are two ways out. The front door where you came in and the back door-

The back door! It goes outside. I saw Natacha go through there. There's-

But Natacha's the only one that has the keys to that door.

You need to get over this escape nonsense and write something.

- I've been trying! - Try harder!

I can't write!

Look, Natacha will find out tonight.

- I'll be useless to her. She'll kill me. - She won't just kill you.

There were four of us.

Eli, Little Hwan, Claire,

and me.

Hwan was too young, but the rest of us took turns reading to�Natacha.

Afterwards, we'd all huddle together at night

and dream about escaping.

You're saying these are�

Last night, I almost joined them.

One day, the kitchen sink got clogged.

Natacha's magic couldn't fix it.

That's because I blocked the pipe myself with starstell moss.

The moss resists magic.

I wanted to force Natacha to call the plumber.

I taped a note under the sink for him to find,

begging him to get help.

But�

he never came.

Natacha found the note, didn't she?

Claire spent her last moments convincing Natacha that she did it�

not me.

Claire lied to save me.

Like� you did.

'Cause that's what friends do.

I used to love writing scary stories,

but then I decided to stop.

And now that I have to write�

the� the ideas won't come to me anymore.

Did Hwan wear a watch?

Yeah. A big, blue plastic one. Why?

- And Claire, those earrings? - They were her aunt's.

Why?

There's a way out of this place.

- "I have what I need to escape tonight. " - "Escape," Yasmin.

"I'm finally gonna see them again, Mom and Dad. "

"I wonder if they'll remember me. "

"Can people forget their kids?"

Unicorn Girl never took this off,

and none of the kids in the cabinet are wearing it.

You're right. And if she's not in the cabinet, then-

She did it. She escaped.

I've been piecing together her notes. There are bits here and there.

She hid them throughout the books, so in case Natacha found out-

She wouldn't know her full plan.

Okay, what's your plan?

Your plan sucks. We're not gonna find this today.

You need to write a story for tonight.

Like right now.

What do we do?

It'd take, like, a thousand years to search all these books.

A thousand years.

The thousand-year-old book.

The pen marks in the old book!

Come on. Please be here.

Is this the original "Hansel and Gretel"?

Grimm's Fairy Tales.

That's totally unrealistic.

No one would just eat candy off of a strange house.

I was right! More writing!

It's a recipe for a sleeping potion.

"It smells awful. "

"I need to figure out how to hide the stink so she'll drink it. "

"I'm so close. I'll put her to sleep and steal her keys. "

"I wish I had magic. "

"I'd turn her into a toad or a snail and laugh at her all day long. "

"Then I would turn her into a centipede and rip off her legs. "

"All hundred legs,

one at a time. "

I'll keep looking. You have to write a story.

I don't think I can.

You're the only one who can. You've gotta buy us more time.

You don't think I'm weird?

That I�

I like to write scary stories?

Weird?

Who called you that?

Well, they're right. You are weird.

I mean, look at you.

But the thing that makes you weird makes them ordinary.

And no one likes to be ordinary. Ordinary sucks.

So ordinary people are gonna try and take that away from you�

by calling you names like

- Tryhard or- - Creepshow.

Yeah, or Creepshow.

Thanks, Yasmin.

It's Yas.

Do you have those ingredients?

Yeah. Yeah, I do.

But she's right. Suckleweed stinks.

How did she mask the smell?

She must've found another ingredient.

The only other person who would know is Natacha,

but she would never tell us.

I do have an idea.

I could write a story to trick her into giving us

the final ingredient of the sleeping potion.

You know what happens if she figures out what we're up to?

I know what happens if we don't try.

What's the name of the story?

Not that one.

You're happy with that one.

I don't like you happy.

I want a story that'll make you squirm.

Here's the story I want.

Why burn your Nightbooks?

Uh�

You thought I forgot about that, didn't you?

I was�

I was� I just� I was�

Uh� Oh my God.

I'm so sorry. I'm so stupid.

Yes, you are. I've only been saying that for years.

Now you get it.

Where was I?

You were about to tell me to start reading.

Oh yes. Well then, what are you waiting for?

Get on with it.

"For generations, the evil sorcerer of�Quantel

sent children to mine jewels from the mouth of the great monster. "

"A thousand years ago,

the evil sorcerer had a chance to kill the odious beast,

but instead he used a powerful potion to keep the monster unconscious,

to make himself rich. "

"Odious. " Good word.

"Every morning, the sorcerer funneled his potion

down the monster's fifth ear,

and the beast remained unconscious. "

"The recipe was as old as time. "

"Dissolved rat's bones, dry-aged widow orchid,

powdered beetle shells. "

"But the most important ingredient, however, was bindweed. "

"Bindweed was the only thing

that could hide the powerful stench of the potion. "

"Without it, the rancid smell would rouse the great monster. "

"But one day, the sorcerer went to harvest more bindweed,

and he discovered that the entire field had withered and died. "

"The potion smelled worse than ever. "

"Putrid, rank, malodorous-"

Oh, yes, yes, yes. Understood. It stinks.

"The sorcerer would have to kill the great monster once and for all. "

"He reluctantly raised his mighty staff to kill the beast,

but a peasant girl came to him and promised a solution to his problem. "

I know a replacement for bindweed. Your jewel harvest can continue.

Foolish child. You know nothing of real magic.

I can prove it. And if I do, I want a bag of jewels.

If it works, you will get two bags.

If not, you will give me your life.

"The peasant girl stepped forward

and poured a mysterious dark liquid into the jug. "

"The evil sorcerer sniffed the potion. "

"The smell disappeared. The sorcerer couldn't believe it. "

"It smelled like daisies, roses, lilacs on a spring morning-"

"The evil sorcerer poured the potion

into the monster's ear�and waited. "

"The beast let out a long� �grumble

then went still again. "

"Yes! But the peasant girl had removed more than just the smell from the potion. "

"She'd also erased all of its magic. "

"The sorcerer's potion was rendered useless. "

"The peasant girl nodded to something behind him. "

"The eyes of the great monster were open. "

"The sorcerer shrieked. "

"The peasant girl watched it all, smiling. "

"The evil sorcerer had sent her baby brother into that cave,

and he never returned. "

"The peasant girl cared nothing about jewels. "

"She got what she wanted, revenge. "

"And so she walked away

as the monster's sharp teeth chomped down on the shrieking sorcerer,

silencing him forever. "

"Just as the peasant girl thought she'd gotten away with it all,

a black shadow loomed over her. "

"It was the monster's giant foot, right above her. "

"Splat. "

"The end. "

"And not a happy one. "

Bindweed?

Yeah, me and Yasmin researched for hours.

I know how important it is to get all the details right-

- No. - No?

No.

I-

Of course I made up the potion's ingredients,

but I was sure that bindweed hides odors.

- I really thought we got it right. - Well, there's your mistake.

You worked with her.

Bindweed keeps liquid from separating.

Everyone knows cinaroot hides smells,

not bindweed.

Cinaroot, of course.

Is that cinaroot with an "S" or a "C"?

# The last fire will rise #

# Behind those eyes #

# Black house will rock�#

# Blind boys don't lie��#

Okay.

Let's do some science stuff.

Tonight, we're getting out of here.

Good night, Natacha.

Oh my God. What's happening?

It's turning green. I can't bring this out there.

Some kind of reaction?

Maybe the acidity of the lemonade-

The service here is terrible.

I don't have a story.

We put two drops in the glass.

- Let's put two in the pitcher. - Will it put her to sleep?

Hmm.

Where is my lemonade?

It's coming!

What? I put it right here.

- Where is it? - What are you talking about?

Where is the potion? This has to happen.

She knows.

Uh�

So, uh�

So it's�

It's gotta�

It's�

Hmm.

Let's see.

So, um�

Any day now, Storyteller.

Yeah, yeah. It's, uh� it's here somewhere.

Spit it out.

Oh, okay.

- I just gotta find it. - Read!

Here it is.

Hmm.

Uh�

So, um, this one is, um, called "The Cuckoo Clock. "

When Scott's parents bought the cuckoo clock at an estate sale,

he thought it was just another old-timey piece of junk.

But there was something strange about the clock.

Every hour on the hour,

the little cuckoo would pop out,

and, uh, Steve started to notice-

Who's Steve?

I thought you said his name was Scott.

Sorry. Right. Uh, typo.

So� so Scott noticed that, uh, the cuckoo

seemed to look a little bit different every time it appeared.

Like, its eyes would-

- What is this? - Uh�

Where are all your stories,

the ones that you're supposed to be writing every day?

- I'm sorry. I'm sorry. - Where are your new stories?

The Shredder, it got into my backpack.

The Shredder ate your homework?

Uh, it's true. It escaped from the night nursery.

Quiet, girl.

Thorns in my side�

- No! - �since the moment you arrived.

I'll make you the recipe. I-

Please. You can barely follow a recipe.

He writes for you! You need him!

I'll write the best story for you!

Hmm, let's face it.

This is long overdue.

Please, no! No!

What?

Don't touch her. Don't touch.

Lenore.

You okay?

What's� what's happening?

Oh no. What's wrong with you?

Something's wrong.

Poor little thing. What happened to you?

Lenore put our potion in the bottle of mist.

I can't believe it.

She must've gotten a dose of the sleeping potion.

She's a prisoner,

just like us.

- Thank you, Lenore. - Alex, we did it.

We beat her.

How's that for following a recipe?

Wait. Where do you think it goes?

Home.

Never thought I'd see trees again.

Look.

I'm never gonna eat peanut butter ever again!

You can forget about pumpkin pie for me!

First food when I get back? Vanilla milkshake!

Whoa, whoa, wait, Alex. Hold up. Hold up. Just wait a second.

That's widow's grub.

That's sunken lily.

Why is that here?

No, no, no. Alex! Alex!

Alex! Alex!

The door, it wasn't the way out.

We're still in the apartment.

Evil unicorn!

Run!

Run!

Alex, it's getting closer!

It's too fast!

Oh my God.

- What just happened? - Maybe something spooked it?

Alex?

"Every good story hints at truth. "

Oh my God.

"Hansel and Gretel" was real.

Yas?

We're in "Hansel-"

It smells so delicious.

Yas?

So hungry.

Yas!

We� we shouldn't be in here, Yas.

Yas?

Hello?

Yas, what's wrong with you?

Yas?

Yas?

Lenore?

Yasmin?

Hello?

Yasmin!

Yasmin!

I'm� I'm okay.

This is probably fine.

Well, well, well!

Sleeping Beauty awakes.

Oh, wait. Wrong story.

Alex!

- Are you guys okay? - Yeah.

We're okay.

The mist, that's where it comes from.

You're harvesting it.

Who's inside that coffin?

The original witch,

who, by the way, does eat children.

We thought you were the original witch. We thought the blue mist kept you young.

I don't need the mist to keep me young.

It gives me her magic.

What?

How?

I was about your age when she got me.

There were lots of us back then.

But we weren't dumb.

We knew not to get attached,

because she got hungry.

She ate them?

Yes.

All of them.

And then I� I had to clean the oven.

I pretended to like her.

Pretended to want to be like her.

I became her favorite.

But when I was alone, I plotted my escape.

I would get her to trust me.

And then, a sleeping potion,

and I would be free.

I ran straight home�

but my parents were gone.

They left you.

I had nowhere else to go,

so I came back here.

Who cares about them?

You were just like us.

Wait.

The sleeping potion�

You're Unicorn Girl.

Ah.

You read my diaries.

Did you meet my pet?

The unicorn?

That's your pet?

I made him.

I make many things now.

She's the one who's been shaking the apartment?

If she doesn't get a story, we're all gonna die.

Stories keep her asleep.

Stories of fear and suffering and death are like sweet lullabies to her.

Tell one.

I don't have a story.

Oh, yes, you do.

Tell us the reason that you wanted to destroy your Nightbooks.

But� �that's not scary-

It was, to you.

All that pain and fear and sadness

that you've been avoiding this whole time.

Tell it!

Now, Alex!

You think I'm a bad witch?

Just wait until she wakes up and sees you.

So young, so plump, so juicy-

Okay! Okay!

There once was a boy who� who loved to write scary stories.

Every day, on his free time,

he would come up with new ways to scare his classmates.

But�

�they just didn't get his fascination with creepy things.

To them, he was just� weird.

"What's wrong with you?" they'd ask.

Many of them were cruel,

calling him names, like�Creepshow.

Except for Joshua.

Josh was his best friend

since kindergarten.

Alex finishes his latest bone-chilling tale,

and he's excited to share it.

Hey, you're gonna love this one.

Josh?

Hey, Josh?

Alex catches up with Josh after class.

Wait. My birthday's tonight.

We turned the apartment into a haunted house.

It's amazing. I've got tons of new stories ready.

Josh talks low,

not wanting the others to hear.

Cody's having a gaming party.

His dad's getting the truck and everything.

But to� tonight's my party.

�says Alex,�confused and hurt.

Alex's hope sinks. He's desperate.

He says�

You're my best friend.

Josh tries to be gentle.

Yeah, right.

Cody's my friend now too.

And you're just not�

Come on.

The way you dress, the things you like.

"All you do is talk about your scary stories. "

Everyone thinks it's weird.

That's when Cody butts in.

Yo, Josh, you comin'?

Come on, J-Man.

All right, all right. Alex, I'll see you later, okay?

The boy had written a new story about a haunted house.

He, his mom, and his dad

had turned his whole apartment into that house.

No one showed up�

not even Josh.

They made him hate the thing he loved most.

And they made him hate himself.

The real truth is, he was embarrassed to be himself,

so he decided to burn his Nightbooks.

He swore he'd never write another story again.

He could be

a new person.

Not weird.

Not a freak.

He could be normal,

like Josh and his friends.

Then he wouldn't be alone.

The boy lost all his friends,

so he decided to destroy that part of himself

that created the Nightbooks.

Then a witch captured him.

She said she liked his stories.

The witch was lying.

But being captured by her

was the best thing that ever happened to me�

�because I made new friends,

friends who love me for who I am, not for who they want me to be.

What have you done? No!

No!

No.

- No! - This is our happy ending!

No happy endings.

- Guys, let's get out of here. - Fine.

No!

Oh! No! No, you idiot!

What have you done? You stupid children.

No! No!

Oh God! Oh God!

Oh God.

You're awake.

Finally.

You've been asleep here so long, the� the candy is infecting you.

You�

You did this to me.

I have lived in fear of you for so long, but I am not that little girl anymore.

Witch fight!

- Let's get out of here! - Let's go!

Go! Just go!

Go! Go!

Help! We need help! Get us out of here!

A witch is gonna eat us!

Help!

Can anyone hear me?

Alex, move. I've seen Natacha do this.

Yas?

Yasmin?

Whoa!

You� you did it.

You did it.

- I'm home. - Let's go.

- Lenore! - We gotta go.

We're still in my building. The apartment didn't move.

- Do you have a plan? - Not exactly a plan, an idea.

Hello, children.

I'm so hungry.

This is the worst elevator ever!

What now?

We just need to make it to that boiler room.

You gotta be kidding me.

- No! No! No! No! - No! No! No! No!

No! Oh my God!

No, let� let her go. It's me you want.

Incorrect.

I want both of you.

No!

No. I'm sorry.

No!

Lenore!

No. No.

"Stories about fear and death are like lullabies to her. "

No, no, no.

No!

No!

She's read all of them.

No!

Hey, ugly.

You like stories? I got stories.

Jason couldn't decide which was stranger.

The fact that his sister died every Tuesday at 11:15

or that she always came back to life�20 minutes later.

More. Give me more.

Zachary had always thought that clowns were the scariest part of the circus.

He was wrong.

I found a package on my front porch

addressed to the woman standing right behind you.

Who? Who was it?

Who was it?

- The stories! - Push her! Push her in!

Keep pushing!

Don't let her out!

Keep it shut! Keep pushing!

- Keep it shut! - Keep her in!

Oh my God.

So that's why they call you a tryhard?

Shut up, Creepshow.

All right, skin-bag.

We didn't forget about you. Come here.

Let's go home.

Maybe we should take the stairs.

# �behind those eyes�#

# Black house will rock #

# Blind boys don't lie� #

Mom? Dad?

Alex? Oh my�

You're home. Oh!

# Thou shall not fall� #

These are my friends, Lenore and Yasmin.

- Hi. - Yas, for short.

# Cry, little sister�#

# Thou shall not fall�#

# Come, come to your brother! #

# Thou shall not die�#

# Unchain me, sister! #

# Thou shall not fear #

# Love is with your brother!�#

# Thou shall not kill #

# Thou shall not fall #

# Thou shall not die�#

Oh God, you scared me.

- Hey, Creepshow. - Hey, Tryhard.

My parents drove me up to surprise you.

- What is that? Like, your third story? - Fourth, actually.

So you could definitely use this.

Oh my God, Yas.

Check out the flowers. My next science fair project.

The effect of ultraviolet black light on photosynthetic organisms.

Still don't believe in happy endings?

I'm starting to.