Jaune and Courage the Cowardly Dog
Chap 15: The Demon in the Mattress
I was in my bed trying to sleep. Emphasis on trying to. I was a bit restless but didn't know why. I felt like something demonic was coming to the farmhouse. But in an unexpected way that I have never heard or seen before. Both in real life and movies. But that is only partially the reason why I couldn't sleep. The other reason was that I was talking to my girlfriend Iris. I had gone out and brought a new scroll for her so we can keep in contact when she has to keep up with her duties as a storm goddess. And the final reason why I couldn't sleep surprised me a bit. Somehow, someway, my friends learned that I was dating Iris and wanted to meet her. Or in the case of Wiess and Ren, and maybe Nora, to see if that was true and that Iris is a storm goddess. I can already tell there is going to be so much chaos and headaches in the future. Yet I was not worried and the slightest as they would be from my friends and it would still be a fun time despite the chaos.
Turning to my side, I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep. But as soon as I closed my eyes, I heard Courage hurt followed by Muriel groaning. Curious, I got up from my bed, changed and went downstairs. Knocking on the door, I waited a slight moment before Muril told me I can enter.
"Is everything alright? I heard something coming from here?" I asked as I entered the room.
"Oh, it's nothing Jaune. Just some pain from this rotten old mattress. I was also just done telling Eustace that I want a new mattress and that's the end of the matter." Muriel answered with a smile before turning to Eustace and glaring at him. Looking down at the mattress, I saw Muriel's description of it did not do it justice as the bed seemed like it was about to fall apart and springs kept popping up everywhere. "Also, how is your bed treating you Jaune? No problems?"
"No problems. Everything is fine with it." I answered.
"Lovely. Well, you can go back to bed now. We'll talk in the morning. Good night Jaune.: Muriel said before laying down again and falling asleep instantly.
"Night Muriel." I told her before turning to face Courage. "Night Courage,"
'Night Jaune.' He said before closing his eyes and falling back asleep. Smiling, I went back to my room, got in my bed and managed to fall asleep.
Morning
Stretching my arms, I got out of my bed and got changed. Grabbing my scroll, I put it in my pocket before picking up my sword and shield. I was hoping to get some training done after breakfast. Speaking of which, I could smell the delicious breakfast coming from downstairs. Opening the door, I went downstairs to the kitchen and saw Muriel making some eggs and bacon.
"Morning Muriel." I greeted as I went over to the counter to pour myself some tea. Turning back to the table, I saw Courage there smiling with his bowl on the table as well. "Morning Courage."
"Good morning Jaune. Sit down and I'll have breakfast out in just a minute." She said as she continued to focus on the food. Yet never losing her smile. I nodded and went over to the table and sat down.
'Morning Jaune. Sleep well?' Courage asked.
"Yup." I answered while taking a sip of my tea. Hearing the door open, I saw Eustace enter whil holding his newspaper.
"Mattress special..." He began but stopped when he saw Courage sitting at the table. He grabbed Courage's bowl and dropped to the floor. He then took a step forward and did the same to Courage before smacking the book that was on the chair and sitting down where Courage was just at.
"Oh, a mattress special?" Muriel asked as she took the pan she was holding and poured the food into Courage's bowl where he began to eat it.
"With our mattress, we'll change your life forever." Eustace said reading the add.
'Doubt it.' I thought as that was an all-too-common ad in Vale mattress stores that just want to trick you out of your money. Hearing a near choking sound followed by spitting, I turned to Courage and saw that he just spit out the food he was eating.
"You okay Courage?" I asked worried.
'Yeah, she just put too much vinegar in it again.' He answered as he cleaned his tongue with his hands. 'But also, this ad seems too suspicious.'
"Oh, so exciting." Muriel said giddy. She put down the pan and headed to the phone on the wall nearby.
"In what way Courage. Like the cheat you out of your money way or in the something weird and dangerous is coming our way?" I asked.
'Are you ready to change your life forever?' The voice over the phone asked. Turning to Muriel, I decided to listen on the conversation a bit.
"Oh yes. I want to change my life forever." Muriel answered quickly and excitedly. That was enough of an answer for me to know that it was the later.
'This sounds too good to be true.' Courage said after hearing what Muriel just said.
"Your right Courage. Follow me." I told him before getting up and heading into the living room. We quickly made our way over to the phone next to Muriel's char. Picking up the phone, we began to listen in on her conversation to the person or creature on the other end.
'We have a special. On our deluxe life changing mattress.' The voice said in an eerily calm tone.
'Uhh!' Courage gasped already panicking.
"Oh, soft." We heard Muriel say from the kitchen thanks to the door still being open.
'It's smooth.' The voice added.
"Smooth." Muriel said dreamily.
'No lumps.' The voice said finishing the description.
"Oh, no. I don't like lumps. We got lumps." Muriel said frowning.
'We'll send it right over.' The voice said.
"My address is-" Muriel began but the voice cut her off.
'We know! We've been waiting for you.' The voice said before hanging up.
'OH!' Courage said in fear with his fur standing up.
"This is bad Courage." I told him as I began to think on what could possibly be coming our way as that voice sent numerous red flags our way.
'You're telling me.' He said before running into the kitchen. I followed him into the kitchen and saw him trying to tell Muriel not to but the mattress.
"I've always wanted a new mattress." Muriel said patting Courage on the head ignoring his warnings. "Jaune. Be a dear and help me move our current mattress to the trash."
"Of course, Muriel." I said while hiding my concern. We went up to her room and began to move the bed outside the house and to the trash before waiting for the 'new one' will arrive.
Seven P.M.
It took a lot longer than we expected. We were still waiting on the porch for the new mattress to arrive. It is currently seven at night and the mattress still has not arrived. And while normally, I would think that the driver just got lost, this time it just made my nerves increase as this could be just them trying to tame whatever they are bringing to us. Soon, we heard the sounds of a horse racing towards us with a whip sounding behind it. Turning to the sound, we saw a carriage coming towards us at high speeds.
'This can't be happening.' Courage said closing his eyes in fear. Looking closely at the carriage, I realized we seen them before.
"Courage, weren't they the same ones we took a ride with in New York?" I asked him. He opened his eyes to look and nearly screamed in fear.
'Your right Jaune. They are the—AAHHHH!' Courage began to only stop and scream in terror again while pointing at the mattress. Looking up, I saw that the mattress was being carried by the same two demonic looking creatures we saw in New York. But what caught my attention was the demonic face that suddenly appeared in the green mattress.
'I have a bad feeling about this or my name is Ivana... and it's not.' Courage said as the creatures dis appeared inside the house.
"Same here Courage." I said agreeing with him that all sorts of red flags are going up now. He nodded before going up to Muriel and try to warn her again about what could happen. But like usual, she didn't understand him.
"Doesn't it look lovely." She said before patting Courage on the head and entering the room. We were about to follow her but stopped when the two creatures came back outside the house. With the purple one hissing at us while sticking out his tongue.
'EEK!' Courage said in fear when he saw that.
"Ignore them Courage. Let's go have a closer look at the mattress." I told him. He nodded and we made our way inside the house and up the stairs to the master bedroom.
'I just can't wait to see this.' Courage said as we passed a sleeping Eustace and up the stairs. We got to the room and were surprised to see the entire room now glowing an unnatural green.
"OOH! HEE, HEE." Muriel exclaimed in joy as she bounced on the bed. We both quickly ran up to her to try and get her away from the mattress.
"Oh, you two stop it." Muriel said frowning. She then got up and guided us out of the room. "I'm going to have a lovely little nap now. I'll see you both soon."
'Oof!' Courage grunted as he immediately tried to get back in the room only to hit the door when Muriel closed it.
"Great. Now what?" I asked as I began to wonder how we can get back in without breaking the door down.
'I have an idea.' Courage said getting my attention. Nodding, I followed him down the stairs and outside to the back of the house. He then began to dig for a few minutes before pulling out a ladder.
"Okay Courage. I have to ask. What don't you bury at this point?" I asked him.
He just shrugged before giving a light chuckle. He then jumped out of the hole and went to the house and leaned the ladder against it and I instantly knew what his plan was. Grabbing Courage, I placed him on my shoulder before climbing the ladder. Luckily, it was long enough so that we could reach the second-floor window and peek inside the master bedroom. Looking inside, we saw that Muriel was in her pajamas fast asleep. Everything seemed normal for a moment aside from the green glow. But then, three strange mists came from beneath the mattress.
'OOH!' Courage screamed in fear but nearly made me fall in the process. Quickly regaining my balance, I looked back inside and saw that the strange mist was now going inside Muriel by her nose. The mist then suddenly disappeared with Muriel levitating shortly after.
'EEK!' Courage shouted in fear as his trembling began to grow even more.
"Courage be careful otherwise the ladder might... break." I began to warn only to top when the ladder did that just as I finished. We then fell to the ground hard. "Ow."
'Sorry Jaune.' Courage apologized as he rubbed his head.
"It's fine. But what should we do now?" I asked him.
'Let's wake Eustace up.' He answered before running up to the house. I followed him curious as to how he'll think Eustace will help. We entered the house with door slamming behind us which caused Eustace to wake up from his slumber.
"Oh, wake me up will you!? I'll fix you." Eustace said angrily at Courage. Instead of cowering in fear. Courage began to point up to his room before transforming into a cloud that twirled around a miniature Muriel. He then transformed into one of the creatures that delivered the mattress. Finally, he went back to himself but lying flat and floating up into the air.
"Get away from me!" Eustace demanded before going back to his paper.
'This is going to hurt. But we need him.' I thought as I moved forward and took his paper from him and quickly ran upstairs.
"HEY!" He shouted before giving chase to me with Courage right behind him.
Once on the second floor, I gave him his paper beck before telling him to open the door. He seemed curious and annoyed but opened the door either way. But as he opened the door, we got a scary and frightening shock. Inside was Muriel, but her hair was now orange while standing out in every direction. Her glasses were now yellow and her skin was now a similar shade of green that the room was now.
"Won't you join me?" She asked in a deep voice while patting the spot next to her. She then laughed while her head began turning in a complete three hundred and sixty degrees. But before she could complete it, her head came off and fell to the floor. "OH!"
"AAAAHHHH!" We all screamed in horror.
"Oh, can one of you boys give me a hand?" She asked laughing.
"AAAHHHHH!" we screamed again. I quickly closed the door and we all rushed downstairs as fast as we could. Eustace sat down in his chair breathing hard while we stood next to him. But as we calmed ourselves down, we tensed up again when we heard howling. Only to calm down again when we realized it was from an animal and not Muriel. Then the grandfather clock rang signifying that it was midnight.
"Dang mattress, Gave her nightmares." Eustace began but stopped when we heard low growling coming from above. "Well, we—We can't sit here all night."
'What do you mean we?' Courage asked scared. And nearly jumped out of his skin when the growling came again.
"She likes the both of you. Go see how she is." Eustace said pointing at us.
'I maybe man's best friend, but really.' Courage said annoyed.
"And why don't you come with us well Eustace?" I challenged.
"GET UP THERE!" He shouted which caused Courage to run back up the stairs to the room. Sending a glare at Eustace, I followed Courage up as well. Standing outside the door, we heard the growling come out again. Bracing ourselves, we opened the door and immediately felt a chill go down our spines and goosebumps form on our skin. When the door opened fully, we saw snow on the floor.
'Damn, it's so cold.' I thought as I rubbed my arms as I felt the cold hit me hard. We could even see our breath in the air. Looking up, we saw Muriel sleeping on the bed. We began to make our way closer to her but when we were about half way, we froze when she suddenly spoke up.
"Courage. Jaune." Muriel said in that deep voice again. Her head then turned to face us.
"Closer." She asked. We moved only slightly closer.
"Closer." She asked again. Steeling ourselves, we closed the distance and now stood next to her.
'What could she want?' I thought as I braced myself for whatever she could do next.
"It would be lovely if I could have a cup... of..." Muriel began while leaning closer to us. She then suddenly thew the blankets off her which caused Courage to scream in fear at what could be under. "...tea!"
'AAHHH!' He screamed in terror but calmed down when he realized it was just an ordinary tea.
"Okay demon." I began hesitantly as I was not sure what I was doing "What have you done with Muriel?"
"She's here with us." The demon answered with a smirk. But then all of a sudden, she transformed back into how she really looks like with Muriel in control.
"Courage! Jaune! Help me." She said but was quickly subdued by the demon again,
"Whoops. Ha, Ha, Ha! That one slipped out." The demon said chuckling.
'You won't get away with this!' Courage said glaring at the demon.
"OH, YEAH!? WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?!" The demon taunted.
They then glared at each other before cracking their hands. And to my surprise and confusion, they began to play thumb wars for some reason. I was confused at this as I was not expecting it at all. Courage seemed like he was winning for a moment. All the while, the demon taunted him continuously. Then at the end, the demon won the match.
"You all lose." The demon said laughing. At this, an idea came to mind. Something that we probably should have done in the beginning.
"Come on Courage. I have an idea." I told him. He nodded and we quickly left the room and back to mine. Entering it, we headed over to the computer and turned it on.
'What's the plan?' Courage asked.
"We can search online for an exorcism." I answered.
'Right, we should have thought about that earlier.' Courage said as he sat down and began typing. 'Hang on Muriel. Help in on the way.'
'Exorcist?' The computer asked.
"That's right. An exorcist is what we need or how to do one." I answered.
'Instructions for your basic exorcism... Oh my.' The computer said mocking us.
"Just give us the damn instructions you sack of bolts and wires." I demanded.
'No need to get testy. Here you go.' The computer said before printing out the instructions. 'Good luck you two.'
"Okay. Come on Courage." I said as I grabbed the instructions and turned off the computer so he can't mock us further.
'Right let's go.' Courage said and ran downstairs with me right behind him. Getting down, we saw Eustace pacing back and forth.
"What's this?" He asked when I handed him the paper with the instructions.
"Hopefully a way to save Muriel." I answered. He seemed surprised at this but adjusted his glasses before reading the paper.
"To perform and exorcism... Put on flowing garment. Huh?" He began but then got surprised when he saw Courage pull out Muriel's pajama and hat from out of nowhere. Annoyed, he grabbed the garment and put them on.
"Where did you get that Courage? Or do you always have a spare on you?" I whispered to him.
'I'll tell you later.' He answered. I nodded and turned back to Eustace who finished putting on everything and looked ridiculous. I struggled not laugh and in the back of my mind, I'm sure my friends, even Weiss might laugh at this.
"Incantation to exercise demon. What?" Eustace asked surprised. He looked back the paper and began reading the incantation. "Hullabaloo and howdy doo! Musty prawns and Timbuktu!" He paused and looked towards us confused but continued on anyway. "Yeltzy bye and hippity hoo! Kick 'em in the dishpan! Hoo hoo hoo!"
"What?" I asked confused that was part of the incantation. And judging by his wide-eyed expression, Courage was surprised and confused as well.
"Kick 'em in the dishpan! Hoo hoo hoo?" Eustace repeated extremely confused. He then looked at us for clarification.
"Yeah, I don't know Eustace." I said honestly as I have no clue why that part is in there. And quite frankly, after hearing that, I have a feeling that the computer was messing with us.
"Well, let's do this." Eustace said as he made his way up the stairs and to his room. We followed him and entered the room and saw him nervously approach the demon.
'Get that Demon! Get that Demon!' Courage chanted while holding some pom-poms.
Turning to Eustace, we saw him swallow hard before beginning to say the incantation. He struggled to even get out a few words though. After a few words and struggling to not break down in nerves and fears, the demon laughed at him and mocked him by saying that they can't hear him in the balcony. Eustace continued but stopped when the demon again mocked him by asking if what he was reading an actual incantation or just him being a fool. Eustace steadied himself and tried to continue but the demon stopped him by extending a really long tongue and started to lick him. She then retracted the tongue back into the mouth.
"Face it, sonny. You're a failure." The demon mocked before laughing.
'Yay, farmer.' Courage said as he waved a white flag around.
"Come on! Give me a break! I can do it." Eustace begged.
"Want a tip?" The demon asked.
"Yeah, sure." Eustace agreed leaning in closer. Only to get surprise when the demon's mouth suddenly expanded and gurgling was heard. And a second later, a large amount of green vomit came rushing out hitting Eustace in the face like a geyser. The demon then wiped any remaining vomit off its face with a napkin.
'Looks like it's up to us Jaune.' Courage said before running out of the room.
"I was afraid you might say that." I sighed before following him. He went outside the house and went to the water pump nearby. I was confused but then realized he buried some more flowing garments there. Once he got them, he got out of the hole and gave one to me.
'I'm so glad Yang isn't here. I can already hear the laughing, puns and new nicknames she would come up with almost immediately.' I thought as I put on the garment.
'Ready Jaune?' Courage asked.
"Ready as I'll ever be." I answered. He smiled and handed me the paper before rushing up the steps back to the room. Entering it, we saw the demon gain a confused look as we stood next to him.
"Hullabaloo and howdy doo! Musty prawns and Timbuktu! Yeltzy bye and hippity hoo! Kick 'em in the dishpan! Hoo hoo hoo!" I said trying my best ro say the incantation without faltering. Meanwhile Courage said the same thing though in his own language I would assume.
'Rabba Loo Rowdy Roo. RaRaRa Riparoo. Roo Roo! Rary Ruff Rippity Roo. Rick'em in the Ristpan, Roo Roo Roo!' Courage chanted shaking his paws up and down. An uncomfortable silence filled the air as we waited for any response from the demon.
"HA, HA, HA!" The demon began laughing at our attempt.
'Damn it.' I thought as I felt that we just made a fool out of ourselves instead of actually reading an actual incantation. Luckily, we caught a break when the demon stopped laughing suddenly and froze.
"OH!" The demon grunted as it tried to move. But then, all of a sudden, the mist that took over Muriel from earlier exited her body and now hovered above the room. Muriel on the other hand fell unconscious from that.
"MURIEL!" I shouted in fear and was about to run to check on her only to be sent flying into the wall along with Courage when Eustace suddenly kicked open the door. He was apparently going to give this another try, but this time inside a full hazmat suit.
"Hullabaloo and howdy doo! Musty prawns and Tim—OH!" Eustace shouted as he opened the door and began to walk to the bed but stopped when he saw the green mist floating above Muriel.
"MOVE EUSTACE!" I shouted as I tried to warn him. But failed when the mist easily went through his suit and possessed him.
"OH!" He grunted and tried to fight off the possession.
'EEEK!' Courage shouted in fear when he saw Eustace become fully possessed.
"HEH, HEH, HEH!" He cackled as he slowly made his way to Muriel. This caused her to wake up in time and scream in fear.
"Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha!" Eustace laughed as he climbed on the bed.
"AAHHH!" Muriel shouted in fear.
"MURIEL." I shouted and quickly raced over and tackled Eustace to the bed. I managed to hold him down for a bit but apparently being possessed meant that you now had increased strength as he easily threw me off him and to the wall. Barely missing the window.
"HEE, HEE, HEH, HEH!" Eustace mocked at me before turning to face Muriel. But shouted in pain suddenly. He then turned around to see what caused him the pain. Following his gaze, I saw that Courage had bit his ass to try and slow him down.
"GRRR!" He grunted as he began to shake himself like a dog to get Courage off. I was about to get up and try to help Courage, but luckily Muriel beat me to it by literally beat Eustace on the head with a rolling pin that she took out from the nightstand next to her. This caused Eustace to become knocked out and fall to the bed.
'Jaune. Help with this.' Courage asked as he let go off Eustace and got off the bed. Nodding, I got up and went over to him. We then rolled the bed around Eustace to trap him. Courage then wrapped some chains around the bed with me locking the lock.
"Okay, we're safe now. He won't be getting out from that." I said as I admired our handiwork.
"Thank you both for saving me." Muriel said hugging us.
"No problem Muriel. We're always here for you." I said as I hugged her back.
"Then that just leaves one thing left to do." Muriel said disappointed as she went downstairs to the kitchen. We followed her and saw that she picked up the phone and dialed the place where we got the mattress in the first place.
"We're not satisfied at all! Take your special mattress back!" Muriel shouted into the phone before slamming it down.
*Ding Dong*
"That was disturbingly quick." I thought as we heard the doorbell immediately ring after Muriel hung up.
We went up to the front door and opened it. The two creatures from before entered and in less than a moment, they were coming back down with the mattress with Eustace still trapped in it. They went outside and placed the mattress in their carriage before getting on and having the horse pull them away. We watched them leave but before they were out of sight, the purple rat like creature turned back to us and hissed one last time.
"Come on you two. Let's watch some T.V. before heading to bed." Muriel said heading into the house.
Ten minutes later
We were inside the house in the living room. Muriel was laying on the couch with a blanket over her. Courage was on top lying down. I was in Eustace's bed with a blanket of my own. Feeling the tiredness catch up wo me end my eyelids becoming heavy.
"Now, isn't this cozy?" Muriel asked as we watched the t.v.
"It sure is Muriel." I answered fighting off a yawn.
'Now, this is a bed I can sleep in any day.' Courage said before falling asleep. I just chuckled at that before falling asleep myself.
Note:
(1) Mega Muriel the Magnificent with Penny. (2) Nowhere T.V. with Glynda (3) Fishy Business with Blake. (4) Dome of Doom with Peach. (5) Son of the Chicken from Outer Space with Winter. (6) The House of Discontent with Oobleck.
How about Coco appears in both Human Habitrail and quilt club?