AN: Sorry for being away for so long. Had to write a Gravity Falls Christmas story and then life got busy after that. But as I said, I would indeed come back to the creepiness on this one. Hope to get back to this one on a regular basis.
"We are you. We are the madness that lurks within you all, begging to be free at every moment in your deepest animal mind. We are what you hide from in your beds every night. We are what you sedate into silence and paralysis when you go to the nocturnal haven where we cannot treat." — Anonymous author, "The Russian Sleep Experiment"
"There," Luz said as she finished applying the eyeshadow to Willow's upper eyelids, this being a dark green that complimented her hair, "I think that looks good."
"Agreed," Amity smiled, holding up a mirror, "It works well for you."
"Wow, thanks," Willow beamed happily, "I never thought of trying this myself."
The three of them were gathered in Luz's room, all sitting in a circle, various books, rune drawings, the makeup kit they had borrowed from Eda, and of course, the silver key Gus had found.
"Thanks for inviting me to this sleepover," Willow continued, "You two don't think I'll be a third wheel, if you get what I'm saying?"
"Nah, of course not," Luz smiled while turning to Amity, "Right, Blight?"
"N-no, you're not," Amity shook her head while blushing, "This is really partially to see if we can find anything out further about this key or if there's any difference in our dreams if we sleep in close proximity to one another."
"We'll invite Gus next time," Luz stated, "After all, I think he's got some weird dreams of his own now."
"Yeah," Willow sighed, "Just was concerned he'd be weirded out in having a sleepover with a group of girls…He's still a little younger than us, but not by a lot."
"Well," Amity shifted gears, "what I've gathered from this thing is that it's meant to unlock the gate to the Dreamlands, whatever those are, but I'm just wondering how you do it. Is there some sort of ritual involved or something?"
"I was about to say the same thing," Luz followed, "but then I started reading it's actually at certain nodes within each realm that it'll react to, almost like those are locks to be opened."
"But of course then there's the big question," Amity breathed, "Where are these nodes?"
"I guess we can look back at this tomorrow," Willow yawned, still remaining cheery despite how tired she was, "I feel like I could sleep for days. Another thought, have we actually tried using magic in our dreams?"
"I think you did with your garden the first night this happened, didn't you?" Amity replied.
"Yeah," Willow thought for a moment, "But that was of course my dream and the garden I typically go to. I'm wondering if it will work outside of that, like in any of these realms the book mentioned."
"We'll give it a try next time it happens," Luz nodded, "It would certainly come in handy if we encountered more monsters in there, the one Gus found possibly giving us some indication of what we might face in there. And I'm sorry, but I'm a little too wired to turn in just yet." She paused for another minute. "Would you like to play a human game we have at our sleepovers?"
"Sure!" Willow chimed, thinking to herself Gus would love to hear about it. She wished he was there with them to play, too.
"Uhh sure," Amity was a bit apprehensive, "I'm already pretty creeped out by the thought of going back into our dreams, but I'm open to whatever fun distraction you have for us, Luz." She gave a half hearted smile. Anything that would give her more time in the waking world and less in her worsening nightmares was welcome. She wanted to speak up and say something, namely about her last dream, but she hesitated…she could still hear the high-pitched laughing in her head…
"That's the spirit," Luz pulled both girls to their feet and beckoned them to follow her to the bathroom. "Alright, then." She then stifled the lamps within it and turned one of her papers into a small light ball, giving enough illumination as that of a small candle. "Now, just stare into the mirror for a few seconds. Think about what you see." The small soft white luminescence gave them a feeling of foreboding. It was as though all the world had stopped existing, just the three of them, the mirror, the small ball of light, and the black and empty void around them.
"I just see me," Amity raised her eyebrow, "What's the goal here?"
"I just see myself, too," Willow followed, "But I think there's going to be some sort of optical illusion, like that thumb trick you showed us, right Luz?"
"Right!" Luz answered, nodding her head, "Now…the next step is to close your eyes tight…and repeat after me…Bloody Mary…Bloody Mary…Bloody Mary…"
"This sounds familiar," Amity muttered, "I think I've heard of this spell. Something about summoning a ghost named Hungry Larry after smearing condiments on a food market ledger or something and then saying his name three times…" Luz and Willow just stared at Amity. "Right, shutting up now. Let's do this."
The other two girls did as Luz had instructed, closing their eyes and fading into the blackness. They all then began reciting the words Luz had given them.
"Bloody Mary…Bloody Mary…Bloody Mary…"
The words echoed in their heads as all they could see was empty oblivion behind their eyelids.
"Why don't we make it interesting?" Luz asked, still holding her eyes tightly shut, "We'll open our eyes one at a time and tell the others what we see.
"I'll go first," Willow beamed, and then they heard her shout, "Whoa! I thought I looked different there for a minute. Like I was some other person instead. My smile looked almost too big for my head."
"Next me," Luz opened her eyes, and Amity heard her say, "Ugh, darn. Just the normal room. I've never been good at this game."
Amity finally opened her eyes. She didn't see anything unusual at first.
Until she looked over her shoulder.
That clumpy, filthy red and black hair…the pale skin…that awful smile…Was it a smile?…Full of rotting, narrow, jagged, pointed teeth. There were no eyes on this thing; she couldn't see any from the hair that was in the way of the thing's 'face.'
And whatever it was, it was hovering right behind her.
With a yelp, Amity jumped and slipped on the bathroom tile, falling backwards and hitting her head on something hard.
"Amity! What's wrong?" Luz shouted.
Willow spun her finger in the air and turned the lamps back on in the room. They found Amity now on the floor, holding the back of her head while propping herself up with the other.
"Are you okay?" Luz asked.
"I'll be alright," Amity answered with a whimper.
"What did you see?"
"I saw…" Amity hesitated, "Something awful. But I need to tell you both something. Luz, I think you're already aware that my dreams have been getting worse. I had a similar dream to the one from a few nights ago. I was making my way through some vast desert. I continued to march through the large sand dunes with my boots sinking deeper with each step. As I continued forward, I thought I could make out some strange chanting, which only got louder as I made my way forward. They kept chanting something about, 'Eye-uh, Nyarlathotep,' or something, that same name I heard in my head from last time as well.
"Eventually, I found myself near some sort of beige walkway with large stone spikes lining it. Between these spikes were what looked like humans on their knees and bowing down to something ahead; I soon realized these were the ones chanting this nonsensical phrase. At the end of the walkway stood a large obelisk, also very similar to the ones from my last dream, with various symbols I couldn't understand. They looked almost like drawings of different animals and people rather than readable letters.
"At the very top was what looked like a triangle with an eye in its center. And as I gazed upon it, hearing these…well, I guess I'll call them cultists chant Nyarlathotep over and over again, I gradually heard some sort of high pitched, nasally laughter. It almost sounded like King's voice but not quite, more menacing than him. The laughter grew louder and louder until it was almost deafening. The cultists then started to say the name 'Azathoth,' and just then, the sky turned blood red, I heard a hideous scream…and woke up."
There was a moment of silence before Luz finally wrapped her arms around Amity's neck, Willow shortly following.
"Oh, Amity," Luz sighed, "I'm sorry you had such a bad nightmare. But we're here for you."
"We're in this together," Willow reminded her before the three girls stood to their feet, helping Amity up from the floor, "Whatever comes tonight, we'll do our best to keep you safe."
"Thanks, girls," Amity smiled before kissing Luz on the cheek and hugging both of them, "Well, I guess we shouldn't put it off any longer. Let's see if we can make it to the dream realm."
Eventually the three girls turned out the lights in the bedroom and lay on their given mats. After roughly a half hour, though, Amity scooted closer to the now fast asleep Luz and held her hand in the dark. This made her feel slightly better and finally allowed her to close her eyes and fall asleep, her anxiety fading from holding her girlfriend's hand.
It was not long before Amity found herself somewhere else. It looked like a long dark hallway made of various connected mirrors, the floor glowing with some dim ultraviolet light.
"Uh, girls?" Amity called out, "Can you hear me?!"
"Amity?!" she heard the distant voice of Luz shout from somewhere, "We can hear you! Just keep talking!"
"We're at another point here in the mirror maze!" Willow's voice rang out.
"I always hated these at carnivals!" Luz yelled, "They were always so dang disorienting."
"Well, just keep talking!" Amity shouted back, "We'll find each other eventually! This place is giving me the creeps!"
Elsewhere, Luz and Willow were at another point in the maze. They looked around at their surroundings and tried to determine the best path to Amity. Her voice sounded like it was coming far off to their right.
They both looked up past the mirrors to see an empty black void above them.
"There doesn't appear to be any ceiling," Luz said, "Why don't you make a large beanstalk or something, and we can peer over this maze?"
"Sure can!" Willow agreed before making a circle with her finger. Soon a large plant erupted from the ultraviolet floor and lifted her into the air. She looked out over the twisting winding maze. It looked like an ultraviolet nervous system winding onward into the infinite blackness above them; Willow stared further out at the horizon of the massive landscape out to where the blackness of the "sky" met the dark luminescence of the ground and wondered how far this went.
"Well," she sighed as the plant lowered her back to where Luz was, "This isn't going to be easy to navigate."
"Let's stick to the plan," Luz muttered, "Amity! Any progress?!"
"I'm just getting more confused!" Amity shouted back as she stopped her pacing, "But I'll listen closer!" She then proceeded through another winding hallway until she came to a four way cross section. All the while, passing her reflection multiple times, she couldn't help but picture out of the corner of her eye that something was behind her. When she'd glance closer at the mirror, there would be nothing there besides the blackness. She then proceeded down a path she thought was closest to where Luz was calling.
"I'll shout 'Marco' and you shout 'Polo,' okay?!" Luz's voice echoed through the maze.
"What!?" Amity shouted back
"Yeah, seriously, what?" Willow asked, perplexed.
"It's a human thing!" Luz attempted to answer both of them by shouting, "Just go with it. Marco!"
"Okay! Polo!" Amity cried back. She then walked down another passage that she thought was closest.
"Marco!" Luz called out again as she and Willow tried to follow where Amity might be.
"Polo!" Amity shouted once more. She continued down the path that seemed to twist and turn even more jagged than before. She thought for a moment that she could smell some strange incense wafting from somewhere, emanating from an unknown source. Her head grew dizzy, and the world seemed to twist and spin for a moment. Her feet seemed to echo somewhat louder than before. The path continued on at a distorted angle that defied all laws of physical understanding, a zig-zag pattern of which the angles appeared acute but behaved obtuse. For a moment, she thought of a human art book she found that focused on an artist named M.C. Escher and the optical anomalies that were the structures he drew. Her procession through these now made her feel even more dizzy to the point where she thought she would fall over before her mind came back to its normal state of being, only leaving her somewhat groggy and disoriented as to where she was.
She no longer heard Luz's call and even attempted to call out "Polo!" but her voice made no echo as it had before off the glass of the mirrors, as though the darkness above had absorbed it. Feeling further ill at ease, her feet made a few more steps before all of a sudden, a five foot by five foot square in the ultraviolet glowing floor turned a bright red, immediately filling her body with dread. She turned to look at one of the mirrors near her and no longer saw her reflection.
What she did see, however, was what she feared was following her, the very form her mind's eye had told her was there all along. Within the mirror, in a tattered dress that looked to be from previous centuries, possibly the 1700's by human aesthetics, hovered a ghastly woman with decayed flesh and filthy red and black hair. The figure raised her head, and her dark, soulless eyes met with Amity's. The entity then raised a large battle axe that was covered in dark rust or blood above her head and then swung it towards Amity. Amity flinched and shut her eyes for a moment, holding up her arms to instinctively shield herself before hearing a crashing sound and feeling tiny shards of glass flying around her. There was, however, no axe-wielding ghost in front of her any longer but something much worse. Beyond the now broken mirror was a swirling black void, and Amity thought she could make out something moving within it, making some slopping sound as it lumbered closer to the aperture.
Suddenly, black smoky tendrils like those of either an octopus or a spider's legs or a combination of the two shot forth from the void and wrapped themselves around Amity, preventing her from moving or even making a small circular gesture with her hand in order to cast any defensive spells. The abominable wrappings burned her skin with a corrosive touch as it pulled her into the stygian portal, and her mind knew no more as she entered the horrid vacuum of nothingness.