Hello, everyone. Weird Heart here with a good scare-er for you all. Before we get started, I want to remind the readers that this fiction is rated "M" for scenes of graphic violence, adult themes and disturbing scenes. Please consider this before reading.
That being said, please enjoy The Fear Box.
The late autumn winds were chilling, and Isabella shrugged on a coat before walking across the street to the Flynn-Fletcher backyard.
"Hi, Phineas! Hi, Ferb! Whatcha… huh?"
Where Phineas, Ferb, and the makings of some unusual contraption should have been, there was instead a black box about as big as a phone booth, and a black door, almost seamlessly woven in, with a gleaming silver handle. It was an ominous entity in the normally cheerful backyard, and seeing it there was, for some reason, disturbing. It shouldn't have looked so out of place since they built countless odd things, but there was simply something about this box that seemed… wrong. Hesitantly, she slipped off her coat and placed it on the ground as she stepped forward, pulling on the handle and stepping inside.
"Ph-Phineas? Fer-?" Her voice dropped off with a gasp. Before her was an endless space, containing much more room than it should have based on the dimensions of its exterior. All of the space was sucked up by an unfillable pitch-black emptiness. There was a definite top, but the only way she knew that was because a neon green grid occasionally pulsated, rippling over the ceiling. Where Isabella stepped, a neon green grid scattered, as if outlining her steps. When she looked back, she couldn't see the door anymore. Hadn't she only gone a few feet? She gulped, her throat suddenly dry. Frantically, she called,
"Phineas! Ferb! Anyone, can you hea-?" Suddenly, she felt a sharp, stabbing, but brief pain in her neck. With an aggravated "Hey!" she pulled a syringe out of her neck to find it empty.
And then, everything was dark.
"So, you dorks think you've come up with something that can scare me? The unscarable Buford? Hah! I'd love to see that."
"'Unscarable' is not a word, Buford," piped Baljeet. Buford, seemingly unfazed, replied,
"Today, it is." Baljeet sighed.
"Nobody's unscarable, Buford-" Phineas began.
"Not a word!"
"-and today, we will scare you! Just wait until you see what we've developed!" Phineas finished. They arrived at the backyard, pushed open the gate, and Phineas ran forward to the black box.
"Introducing to you, for the very first time…" somehow, although they were outside, it became immensely dark as Phineas whispered in surprisingly ill-omened tone,
"The Fear Box."
They thought it best not to question it as daylight returned.
"I'll admit, it's got a good name, Dinner Bell. But, is it as scary as it sounds? Probably not."
"We'll see about that," Ferb said in a quiet, confident manner that would've made anyone else turn and run. But Buford swaggered forward as if accepting a silently issued challenge.
"Well, then, what is it?"
"An excellent question, Buford," Phineas responded. He led them to the side of the Fear Box, placing his hand on the smooth black service. A green grid popped up, scanning his hand. It beeped, and a control panel popped out.
"Impressive. It is as if the controls are not there," Baljeet commented.
"Yup," Phineas nodded. "Only Ferb or I can access them. Now- hey, hold on a second. Ferb, look at this."
Ferb came closer, glancing over his brother's shoulder and humming.
"Was that a good 'hm' or a bad 'hm'?" Buford asked cautiously.
"Definitely a bad 'hm,'" Phineas said, a frown clouding his features. "It seems that our serum launcher has already deployed. But that doesn't make sense. It shouldn't shoot unless triggered, and-" he stopped short, his eyes widening. He pulled out his cell phone, dialing with an unstoppable urgency.
"Isabella. Pick up, Isabella," he whispered impatiently to the phone. A chiming version of "Gitchee Gitchee Goo" rang, muffled but unmistakably close by. They ran to find the source of the song, even though they already had a suspicion of what they would find.
Isabella's cell phone glowed in her jacket pocket that she had discarded earlier on the side of the Fear Box. Phineas groaned.
"No, no, no. Please don't be happening."
Ferb placed a hand on his brother's shoulder as they raced back to the control panel. Phineas typed at rapid-fire, pulling up an on-screen projection, courtesy of a camera they had placed in the machine. It only confirmed what they were praying was not the truth: Isabella was slumped against the back wall of the small box, unconscious.
"Oh, no. Isabella, no. No, no, no," Phineas murmured to himself.
"What, Dinner Bell? What is it?" Buford asked, urgency seeping into his voice. Ferb stepped forward, scowling fiercely at the screen, a crease appearing on even his normally calm brow. Then, he spoke:
"What you have to understand, Buford, is that the Box was ready and pre-programmed for you to walk in to that room, not Isabella. That means it was loaded with Fear Serum that was portioned exactly for your body."
"Fear Serum?" Buford asked with ill-disguised trepidation.
"Fear Serum," Phineas began, taking a deep breath, "is something we developed to make the Fear Box experience more real."
"It accesses a person's deepest fears- stored in the amygdala," Ferb continued, but was quickly interrupted.
"The ama-what?" Buford interjected.
"The amygdala, Buford. It's the part of the brain that is responsible for fear," explained Baljeet.
"Oh. Then I must have been born without one," Buford declared with a smirk.
"This is no laughing matter! I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation. Depending on how far Phineas and Ferb went with their research, this could be potentially catastrophic. Please, Ferb, continue," Baljeet insisted.
Ferb nodded. Phineas had begun to frantically pull up stats on the monitor, using holographic technology to make the information 3-D.
"The serum targets the amygdala, bringing your own fears to life directly from your own brain. In a word, you provide the things that you fear so desperately-"
"-creating the perfect scare-machine," Phineas finished. "The box generates an enclosed environment for the experience and monitors vitals. If the heart rate or blood pressure were to get too high, the simulation would automatically shut down to avoid physical or psychological damage to the person in question."
"Perfect!" Baljeet exclaimed. "Then we shouldn't have a problem."
"Except," Phineas continued, "Isabella doesn't know she's just in a simulation. In a normal situation, the inhabitant of the box knows what they're going through isn't real, even if it looks and feels like it is. They can voluntarily call "Panic!" at any time if the simulation becomes too much to handle. But Isabella, she believes everything she's seeing is really happening. If the system went through a force shut-down, it'd be like pulling her plug in the Matrix."
"Finally! A reference I understand!" Buford proclaimed. Ignoring him, Phineas went on,
"She could very well go into shock from being severed from what she believes is reality. Her brain is currently connected to the machine. There may not be any plugs, but that's another part of the serum. It contains a transmitter that remotely connects her to the simulation. It would most likely… well, her brain most likely wouldn't be able to endure that kind of a blow," he finally finished, drifting off.
"On top of that, even if her vitals don't go critical, her body won't be able to handle that much Fear Serum. We calculated it precisely for your proportions, Buford. She'll… she'll overdose in approximately four hours," Ferb stated quietly, his voice almost imperceptibly choking the last part. "We can buy some time by turning off her vitals monitor, but…" he didn't finish, but he didn't have to.
The four seventeen-year-olds stood in silence, soaking in the information. The morbid tension in the air was enough to choke the most hopeful spirit, and the chilling fall afternoon suddenly felt fitting. Phineas, his face usually alight with emotion, was a completely blank canvas. It was as if someone had reached in and turned him off. Finally, after what felt like an eternity of silence, Baljeet spoke:
"Well, if we can't turn it off, and she can't pull herself out, what can we do?"
Phineas didn't seem to hear him as he pulled his arms across his chest.
"This wasn't supposed to happen. I can't believe it… it's all my fault. I shouldn't have-"
"Shouldn't have what, Phin?" Ferb interrupted, eerily calm, "Shouldn't have invented it? Maybe not, but it wasn't just you, it was both of us. We shouldn't have invented it. We shouldn't have pre-loaded it with Buford's dose of serum as a precaution. We 'shouldn't have' quite a few things. But we did. And you can't change that. But we can still do something about it." Then, he turned to the others.
"Baljeet, you're right. She can't pull herself out, but it's possible that someone else can."
At Ferb's words, Phineas started to come back to life.
"Of course! If someone could virtually 'step into' the program with Isabella and tell her what's going on, it should be enough to make her brain aware of the situation- like a lucid dream," he said, almost talking to himself as the words poured out of him like machine-gun fire.
"Okay, fine," Buford replied, "that's all well and good, but who's going to do it?"
"I will," Ferb spoke immediately.
"Ferb, you can't-" Phineas argued.
"Yes, I can. I have to. I'm the one who developed that bloody serum in the first place. You need to stay here with Baljeet to try and come up with an antidote that can counteract the Fear Serum. You know it almost as well as I do, we both made sure of that. Buford can monitor the vitals manually once we turn off automatic shut down."
Phineas began to nod, slowly. Baljeet stood as if a bird about to take flight, bouncing on the balls of his feet, ready for action. Buford cracked his knuckles.
"We have serum proportioned for each of us. Just load the launcher with my syringe. I'll get in and get out before you can say, 'Boo!' Just focus on the antidote and I'll focus on getting our girl out of there."
Phineas paused a moment before replying.
"I'm not sure what's going to happen, Ferb. We didn't test this with two people, but theoretically, you'll either connect directly to Isabella via your transmitter, going through her reality, or you may have to go through your own before your transmitter can auto connect to Isabella's. But, either way, you'll have to experience all of Isabella's fears at a faster rate than she is before you can catch up to her. I can try re-routing the system so you'll definitely bypass your own fears-"
"No time. I can face my fears, Phin," Ferb cut in. Phineas looked suddenly saddened.
"I know. I just don't want you to have to."
At this, Ferb smiled gratefully. Without another word, he opened the door to the Box just wide enough to slip inside. He also saw the endless blackness Isabella had seen, but he knew it was only an illusion. He ran his hand along the wall parallel to the door until he found a small depression. He pressed his thumb against it, and suddenly the blackness disappeared. He could see the white walls, and Isabella, right underneath him.
Kneeling down carefully so as not to lose his balance, he repositioned Isabella so that she was sitting with her knees drawn up in the corner of the Box and sat next to her. He sat there for a moment, watching her, and for a split second he could believe that she was merely sleeping. He could believe that her life wasn't in danger, and that she was at peace.
The illusion was shattered when her eyebrows began to twitch into a frown, and he could just barely hear her murmuring weakly. He frowned, determination washing over him.
It was indeed most likely that he would have to experience his own Fear Box simulation, and that was something that he desperately did not want to do. Just thinking of the possibilities of what he might find was enough to make him shudder, if imperceptibly.
But when he looked at Isabella, he was able to forget about that. He smiled fondly, brushing her hair out of her face. He knew that the gang wouldn't survive the blow that would come if they lost her.
He knew that he wouldn't be able to survive it. And the thought of never seeing her smile again steeled something in him. Praying some part of her could hear him, he leaned close and whispered,
"You are unbelievably strong. Remember that. Whatever your personal monsters are, you are stronger than them. Don't let them overcome you. If you do… you'll miss out on everything that matters. I'm coming for you, Isabella. Hold on." It was more than he had ever had the chance to say to her while she was awake. Suddenly, Phineas' voice flooded the Box.
"Ready, Ferb?"
On a whim, he took Isabella's hand.
"As I'll ever be," he affirmed in a whisper.
"Godspeed," Phineas said simply. There was a beat, and then a pointed pain in Ferb's neck that came expectedly. He tugged it out after he was certain the serum had drained, and let the drowsiness overcome him. As his leaden eyelids closed and he felt his mind drifting off, he murmured in a slur,
"See you soon."
And then the darkness stopped anything else he might have said.
And thus ends chapter one. Don't worry kids, we haven't even begun the scary stuff, yet. That'll come in the next chapter, though, so this is your final warning: this story is not for the faint of heart. Some not-so-pretty stuff is coming. With that, I leave you until the next chapter.
Remember,
To be odd is one of the greatest pleasures that life offers.
-Weird Heart