CHAPTER 9
An uneasy silence filled the room, the depths of which the bottomless pit couldn't rival, as the two 'men' stared at one another, waiting for the other's next move on the metaphorical chessboard.
"Well! I'm going to sleep," Bill stated, happily breaking the silence. "Do you humans still take part in that stupid sleeping clothes ritual? That never made any sense to me…"
"I'm not leaving," Ford practically growled. "If you think I'm going to leave you alone with Stan's body for eight hours…"
"Who said I did?" Bill retorted, shrugging nonchalantly. "Besides, I might need some help! It's been a while since I tried sleeping in a human body. Last I recall, it was when I possessed you, and I woke up next to that Fiddleford guy…"
"That's enough!" Ford exclaimed, trying to contain the furious blush that marked his face, turning him beet-red. Bill laughed as Ford struggled to maintain his composure. "I'm not helping you - I'm going to watch you, and make sure you don't do anything dangerous during the night."
"Fine by me, roomie," Bill practically sang, pulling up the sheets haphazardly and crawling in like a spider underneath them. "But since you did specify that no harm was to come to Stan, I get the bed." Ford rolled his eyes.
"I won't be doing much sleeping anyway," Ford mumbled, and he winced as he walked across the room to the armchair. He took a deep breath before dragging it back across the room, setting it down with a thud next to the door. He carefully eased himself onto it, the plush fabric at least being kind to his bruised flesh.
"Would ya mind getting the light there, Ford?" Bill asked with a little smile. Ford clamped his jaw shut, keeping an obscenity from ringing out through the entire house. He reached up and swiftly flicked off the light, the room filling up instead with the green tint from the aurora borealis just outside the window.
Ford's skin crawled as silence filled the air again. He looked over to the bed - Stan's body was stiff as a board as Bill attempted to sleep in it. Ford almost laughed at how mummy-like he appeared, consumed by the tightly wrapped sheets like ancient bandaging on Egyptian pharaohs… he shuddered at the image it conjured. Comparing his brother's stiff, unmoving body to a mummified corpse was not doing Ford any favors.
Now it was simply a waiting game. Ford glanced down at his watch, glowing faintly in the darkened room. 12:17 AM. Just a couple more hours and Bill would be deep within an REM sleep cycle… he hoped. Then Ford could sneak downstairs and send a warning to the kids, and be back in time before Bill discovered he was gone. He wondered just how long it would take before Bill was truly out for the night.
The Fearamid was inexplicably quiet. No rustle of the wind, no ticking clock… nothing but the sound of Stan's own breath and the occasional jangle of his his ankle-chain to keep him company.
Bill could've at least put a TV in here or something…
A TV would've been a nice distraction from the storm of swirling, thunderous thoughts that clouded Stan's mind, keeping him wide awake on the cold, stone floor of this prison. He would give anything to change the channel… to stop thinking about what kind of kind of fresh hell his brother was enduring on the other side of these walls… unless Ford really was on the other side by now...
Stop it, Stan! You can't think like that… Ford wouldn't want you to think like that!
He jumped as the room suddenly began to shake, and looked over to the flesh-wall as Bill's giant, yellow eyeballs slowly rolled back into the room, and quickly turned their attention to him.
Ugh, this again…
"What do you want, Bill? Come back to rub my sore butt in my face?" Stan managed to smirk as he stared indignantly into the bright yellow eyeballs, though he couldn't help the way he shivered under Bill's gaze.
"I just wanted to inform you that I'm going to sleep now," Bill said, narrowing his eyes in annoyance at that last comment, "so I thought I'd provide you with some company while I'm out for the night." With a snap, two of Bill's disturbing friends appeared just outside of Stan's cage - the one that looked like walking pair of dentures, and the tall, creepy green one with eight balls for eyes. Stan tripped and fell back in shock as the green one grabbed the bars of the cage and shook them, laughing as Stan struggled to catch his racing breath. He was suddenly very thankful for the barrier between him and the rest of the room.
"Meet Teeth and Eightball! Well, they're not really Teeth and Eightball, since we're both trapped in here, but you get the gist," Bill said as the two monsters turned to face his giant eyeballs on the wall.
"What do you want us to do, Boss?" Teeth asked, his little arms swinging around excitedly.
"Just keep an eye on our guest here 'til I get back," Bill instructed, before doing a double-take. "Wait a second, Teeth, you don't have any eyes, how do even see…"
"Bill, doesn't this seem a bit like overkill?" Stan interrupted him, eyebrow raised as he stood back up and brushed himself off. "I mean, I'm already shackled and in a freakin' cage! What could I possibly get up to that could warrant these two bozos watching over me too?"
"Don't question him!" Eightball roared in Stan's face, making him jump again.
"You guys can take it from here," Bill said as he yawned again, but this time it sounded real. "I'm off to face the highly-unpleasant state of human unconsciousness! See you guys in the morning!" With that, his eyes started slowly rolling forward again.
"Wait!" Stan yelled out, his ankle pulling on the chain as he tried to catch the demon's attention before he left. The eyeballs halted and rolled back to face him.
"Yes?" Bill asked tiredly. Stan looked away from the demon's glare, finding the strength to finally ask the bastard the question that had been on his mind from the second Stan had woken up in here, but he hadn't dared to ask… until now.
"Is… is my brother alive?" he asked quietly, his eyes squeezed closed, terrified of the answer.
Bill burst out laughing, the entire room shaking as Teeth and Eightball joined in. Stanley lurched and tried to steady himself as the floor bounced underneath him.
"Of course Stanford is alive! Who do think is going to get me out of this rotting skin-puppet, YOU?" Bill finally answered, and the weight of the world finally fell from Stan's shoulders as he breathed a heavy sigh of relief, trying not to get emotional all over again. "I may have roughed him up a little, but…"
"You did WHAT?" Stan exclaimed, his chest puffing out as his blood positively boiled. Bill glanced down worriedly as Stanley's shackle turned bright red, and started melting off of his ankle. Bill quickly rectified it, hoping Stan hadn't noticed. He narrowed his eyes at the man before taking a firm hold of the situation once more.
"HEY, YOU'D BETTER WATCH IT!" his voice positively boomed, and Stan and the monsters all slammed their hands over their ears as the voice echoed throughout the room. "If you don't fall in line, the same thing's gonna happen to you!" Even though Bill knew that the pesky deal he'd made with Ford prevented him harming Stanley, that didn't mean that someone else, like Eightball or Teeth, couldn't straighten Stanley out. "Goodnight!" And with that, Bill's eyes rolled forward and out of the room, leaving nothing but stretches of optic nerves and sinewy flesh in their place. The second he was gone, the monsters turned to face Stan, grinning mischievously.
"Uhh, evening, fellas!" Stan smiled nervously, sweating a bit. "Anyone got any cards?"
Heavy-lidded, Ford checked his watch again - 2:35 AM.
Stanford held his breath as he carefully stood up and tiptoed over to the bed. Stan's, Bill's, breathing was slow and steady. Biting his lip, he waved his six-fingered hand a few inches over Stan's possessed face. No reaction.
Time to move.
Ford slinked back over to the door and slowwwwly turned the the doorknob. He inched the door open until the gap was just wide enough for him to slip through... and then he was out. He left the door slightly ajar so it'd be easy to slip back in later.
The house was pitch black, but thankfully his eyes had adjusted to the darkness after all this time sitting in the darkened bedroom. Now all Ford had to do was get down the stairs without alerting anyone to his presence… which would difficult, as he knew the stairs had a tendency to creak. Just to make sure, he lightly pressed his foot to the first stair, testing how much weight would set it off. He pressed the ball of his foot onto the top stair...and flinched immediately as it let out a squeak. Ford gritted his teeth in frustration as he tried to come up with a solution to this.
He could always slide down the banister… he almost laughed at the idea, it seemed so juvenile. He wasn't exactly eighteen anymore. It could work though, provided that he didn't lose his balance and fall off on the way down... The more he considered it, the more he could practically hear Stanley's voice in his head egging him on to do it.
He sighed as approached the banister, awkwardly, and painfully, swinging his right leg over it and gripping the wide piece of lacquered wood with white knuckles. He couldn't believe he was actually doing this… He squeezed his eyes closed as he slowly loosened his grip on the banister, bit by bit, using just enough pressure to allow him to ever-so-slowly slide down. So far so good… As he came to the curve in the staircase, he readjusted and started to slide down again, easing up on his grip a bit as he slid to the bottom of the staircase. Ha, this was actually kind of fu - his breath caught in his chest as his legs suddenly dangled off the railing, his feet grazing the floor.
Ford swallowed the lump in his throat as he lurched forward to set himself down onto the ground. That hadn't been so bad! It had actually been a nice distraction from… from the nightmare he was living. He shivered as he took a quick look around, with a paranoid glance up in the bedroom's direction as well. There was no one in sight - perfect.
Light on his feet, he tiptoed over to the common area, where a desk with a gleaming computer monitor atop it sat. Ford took a deep breath as he took a seat in the rolling office chair, and pulled himself towards the desk. He'd used this computer once before to send an email to the kids, but he'd only gotten through that with some help from Helga. This… this was going to be tricky. He pressed the ON button.
And the loudest start-up music he'd ever heard blared from the speakers.
Ford gasped as he clammered to turn the volume on the speakers all the way down, hoping to God that no one had heard that. The computer started up, the screen bathing him in bright blue light as the computer woke up from hibernation. Ford squinted as his eyes adjusted to the bright screen, and widened them as he was met with a message asking him to enter the password.
Damn it!
Ford struggled to remember the password Helga had passed along to them the first time he and Stan had used the computer back in September. Come on, come on… think!
An idea struck. He entered the letters on the keypad: B-R-O-S-S-I.
And he was in! He breathed a sigh of relief as he watched all the computer programs load, searching for the video-chat one Helga had shown him briefly all those months ago. He grinned as he found it, moving the mouse to click on the 'Skupe' icon.
Now to log in. He still remembered the username he shared with his brother, StanSquared, but the password was a different story. He and Stan had somehow argued and compromised their way to a very long, complicated Cipher - he entered TQP-BOL-SCG-CM-ROPPCHR-TOPPOL.
Ford clicked the 'go' button, and it brought him to the contact page, where Mabel's username was displayed before him, or rather, a series of what looked like modern-hieroglyphics. Kids these days… The symbols seemed to depict various sparkles, hearts, and a unicorn next to several blazing fires. He found himself chuckling as he thought back to that whole unicorn escapade...
The unicorn escapade to keep Bill out. And now, Bill was back in their dimension, again. Ford had failed... and now his brother was probably being tormented by the demon as Ford sat there, petrified, with his head in his hands.
He shook away the thought as best he could, straightening his back and trying to stay focussed on the task at hand. He was moments away now from delivering some really, really bad news to the kids… and he had no idea how he was going to do it.
Perhaps… perhaps he didn't have to tell them at all. If Ford could handle the situation before the kids came to Gravity Falls for Thanksgiving, maybe they didn't need to know. After everything those kids had gone through with Bill… perhaps it would be kinder to let this all fade away. He could just send them an email, telling them that their Grunkles had to delay Thanksgiving, or cancel it altogether.
But then he thought of Bill, and how easy it would be for him to contact the kids and trick them.
Ford pressed the CALL button.
He sat there biting his lip as it rang through to the other line, waiting for someone to pick up. California time, it was almost 9pm. Hopefully Mabel would see the cal…
"GREAT UNCLE FORD!" Ford's grand-niece exclaimed as the video signal switched over to a view of Mabel's room, blocked by Mabel's smiling face bobbing in and out of frame in excitement. Ford chuckled as Mabel ran over to her open bedroom door, poking her head out into the hallway. "DIPPER! GREAT UNCLE FORD IS ON THE VIDEO-CHAT DOO-DAD! GET YOUR BUTT IN HERE!"
Ford could see most of Mabel's room from the camera's perspective - bright pink walls, blow-up furniture, motivational posters with cats on them… exactly what he had come to expect from his grand-niece. Mabel's head ducked back into the frame, still bouncing excitedly. He wondered just how many shots of that horrible concoction she called 'Mabel Juice' she was on...
"Great Uncle Ford! You never video-chat us! What's going o-WAHHHHH!" she suddenly exclaimed, pointing to the screen in horror at what Ford could only assume was his swollen, purple jaw and various scrapes. He sighed as worry overcame the sweet girl. "What HAPPENED to you?! Did you get in a fight with a crazy troll or something? Are you and Stan fighting again?" she asked suspiciously with a cocked eyebrow.
"Did I hear that Stan and Ford are fighting?" Dipper asked worriedly as he skidded into the room, slipping across the hardwood in socked-feet. Dipper had grown a bit in the three months since Ford had seen the boy - he was a bit taller now, and his voice was cracking more than usual too. "What did I mis-AHH! Great Uncle Ford, your FACE! What happened? Are you okay? And where's Stan? Why isn't he with you?"
"I, uhh…" Ford trailed off, his nerves starting to get the better of him from the barrage of questions, ones that had some very unpleasant answers. . This was it - no turning back now. He sighed heavily, the weight of the news he was about to share crushing him as he stared blankly at his grand-niece-and-nephew's concerned, expectant faces. "I have some… bad news. You, uh… you might want to close the door."
The twins stared blankly at the screen as they struggled to take in what their Grunkle had just told them. Tears were budding in Mabel's eyes, and Ford could see Dipper's fists clenched tight atop the desk, his head hung low as his hat obscured his face. Ford could barely look up at the screen.
"I'm so sorry…" he finally muttered, trying to stay strong for the kids as his whole body trembled. "It's my fault this happened at all. If only I had figured out what was going on sooner…"
"Don't you dare blame yourself!" Mabel exclaimed insistently, sniffing as she squeezed her eyes closed, trying to keep the tears from falling down her cheek. "This isn't your fault, Grunkle Ford… none of this is." Dipper finally looked up at the monitor.
"What can we do to help?" he asked stoically, the boy's gaze hardened. Ford met it as he finally cut to the chase.
"I need you to tell everyone in Gravity Falls about what's happened. We can't afford to let anyone be tricked by him. If Bill wants revenge, the only person he's going to be able to get it on is me." Ford said. Both twins nodded uncomfortably. Mabel sighed as her head plunked onto the desk.
"I guess Thanksgiving is cancelled, huh?" she asked glumly. Ford nodded.
"I'm sorry Mabel, but I can't put you kids in danger. I won't have you two in the same room as that demon ever again. Hopefully, after all of this is done, our dimension will have seen the last of him." Dipper looked away.
"You're really going to let him go, aren't you?" the boy asked quietly, his disapproval more than evident. Ford sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"I don't have a choice, Dipper," he exhaled heavily. "Do you think I want Bill to go free after everything he's done? But what's the alternative? Have him stay in Stan's mind, and have this game of cat-and-mouse go on forever?"
"If only Bill was a mouse… then we could just trap him in a mouse-trap!" Mabel pouted, slamming her small fist on the desk. Dipper suddenly looked to his sister.
"Mabel, say that last part again?" he asked, wide-eyed. Ford could already see the gears in the boy's mind cranking into high gear.
"Trap him in a mousetrap?" Mabel answered curiously. Dipper shot up and almost fell off his chair, scrambling to grab hold of the desk before he lost his balance and adjusting his hat as his face lit up.
"Mabel, that's it! We can trap him in a mousetrap!" Dipper exclaimed. "And the portal out would be the cheese!" Mabel looked totally confused.
"Sorry bro-bro, ya lost me," she said frankly, seriously starting to question her brother's sanity, but Dipper was only growing more excited as he locked eyes with his great-uncle from across the monitor.
"Great-uncle Ford, you said you're going to build a device that can act as an artificial gateway out of Stan's mind, right?" Dipper clarified quickly. Ford nodded. "And what tricked Bill when we finally defeated him during Weirdmaggedon?"
"Bill thought he was getting what he wanted, but he was too arrogant to see the truth for what it really was…" Ford trailed off, starting to understand what Dipper was trying to say. "The cheese…"
"Yes!" Dipper exclaimed as he and his uncle were starting to get on the same page. Mabel suddenly slapped her hands to her cheeks and gasped in realization.
"Ohmygosh, ohmygosh! So when Bill goes for the cheese… which is really the portal… whammo!" she blurted out as she banged her fist on the desk again for effect. Dipper nodded excitedly as the two of them looked to their Grunkle.
"It's perfect," Ford said, his heart swelling as he looked back at the kids, prouder than ever. "Thank you, both of you. If I wasn't four thousand miles away right now, I would wrap you both in a giant, if not suffocating, hug!" The kids laughed along with their Grunkle as Ford was suddenly filled with a shred of hope. He might actually be able to pull this off!
Bill smiled from the top of the stairs, hidden in the long shadows of the staircase.
"He's going to be so disappointed…" Bill sighed to himself as he drummed Stanley's fingers on his lap, before finally standing up and slipping silently back into the bedroom, his narrowed eyes glowing in the dark.
*** AUTHOR'S NOTE:
The keyword is STANOWAR - see if you can figure out the password ;)