History TearJerker / AreYouAfraidOfTheDark

** It was depressing before that. The old woman, Nanny, was living with the protagonist's aunt and her daughter because she had nowhere else to go. The aunt's daughter, a {{Jerkass}} AlphaBitch, frequently called Nanny a crazy old woman and frequently verbally abused her. Just seeing that tired, defeated look in Nanny's eyes as she's treated like garbage, [[TheWoobie you just want to give her a hug]] and [[KickTheSonOfABitch break a lamp over the cousin's smug face]].

** DJ Roy's (Gilbert Gottfried) line about how the afterlife is only scary and hellish for people who were terrible in life. For those who led a good life, it's "...the best thing there is." Pretty much truer and sadder in real life, as Gottfried passed away in 2022 at the age of 67 after a long illness.

* After Luke frees everyone from the lighthouse, Connor goes back for Zoey, but it turns out that she and the others have been in the shadow for too long and would disappear in the light. He holds her hand and comforts her as she walks into the light.

** DJ Roy's (Gilbert Gottfried) line about how the afterlife is only scary and hellish for people who were terrible in life. For those who led a good life, it's "...the best thing there is." Pretty much truer and sadder in real life, as Gottfried had passed away years later at 67 after a long illness.

* When Luke accuses him he hates children, Sardo argues that he's spent years ''[[JerkWithAHeartOfGold warning]]'' child after child not to go into the haunted woods, in hopes of staving off the Shadow Man. He makes a point that if he really hated kids as much as Luke believes he does, he wouldn't be so bothered [[AdultFear watching them disappear days later]].

* "The Tale Of The Shiny Red Bicycle". The protagonist, Mike and his best friend, Ricky, are preteen boys riding their bikes along a bridge. Things are fine until Ricky begins to fall off the bridge only for Mike to try [[MyGreatestFailure and fail]] at saving him from going over, and he helplessly watches him drown [[HarmfulToMinors before his eyes.]] As he screams his friend's name, he now wakes up from the nightmare as a teenager, still being haunted by that day all these years later. Even though the ending reveals that it was an accident; the bike's bent wheels caused the boy to drown and not Mike's inability to save him, Ricky's ghost acknowledges this and tells him he misses him, too and both the boy's remains and the bike itself are discovered, it's still a very sad fate, especially for anyone who may have went through a similar thing in their childhood.

** DJ Roy's (Gilbert Gottfried) line about how the afterlife is only scary and hellish for people who were terrible in life. For those who led a good life, it's "...the best thing there is." Pretty much truer in real life, as Gottfried had passed away years later at 67 after a long illness.

** DJ Roy's (Gilbert Gottfried) line about how the afterlife is only scary and hellish for people who were terrible in life. For those who led a good life, it's "...the best thing there is."

** While Hannah and Seth do their chores as punishment for their escapades, Hannah tries to urge her downcast brother to help in the chores. A melancholic Seth argues "[[HeroicBSOD What's the point if we're just going to die]]?"

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** This is driven home by Luke's AnxietyDreams of what might've happened if he had bothered to come, when he sees a darkness-possessed

* The backstory of the curse: it all started with June Murphy, the idealistic daughter of a lighthouse keeper. She overheard the Mayor of Shadowbay break the news to her father that the lighthouse was being shut down.
** Just the sight of June forlornly trying to play a board game with her father as he apologizes for having this bad news on her shoulders. It's every parent's worst nightmare to be unable to shield their child from their troubles.

* When Luke accuses him he hates children, Sardo argues that he's spent years telling child after child not to go into the haunted woods, in hopes of staving off the Shadow Man. He makes a point that if he really hated kids as much as Luke believes he does, he wouldn't be so bothered [[AdultFear watching them disappear days later]].
* After spending most of the story struggling with his insecurity about his role in the group, Jai realizes and comes to terms with having to make a [[HeroicSacrifice Heroic Sacrifice]] in order to buy his friends time to escape the Shadow Man.

** It was probably bad enough for Luke to deal with his normally joking father to [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness chew him out]]. It was possibly ''worse'' to have the knife twisted by the enemy while wearing the face of his missing best friend.

* "Connor" (the Shadow Man in disguise) [[KickTheDog telling the kids to their parents]]. What follows is the love child of AdultsAreUseless and TheDarkestHour, as their respective families chew them out and almost force them to forgo the trap they worked so hard on. Among them is Gabby being chewed out by her mother [[DramaticIrony that she doesn't care for her future]].

** When Gabby leaves to pull off the trap to stop the Shadow Man, Gabby's mother is

** His revealing that although the power to make people forget him is a blessing, it's also a curse, as it prevents him from making a name for himself like he previously wanted. If anything, he's [[NotSoDifferent not that different]] from Rachel, who knows what it's like to go through life [[FriendlessBackground without friends]].