Summary: Wanting to keep up his image of "Master of Fright," Stan decides to turn the Mystery Shack into a haunted house. But, things take a frightening turn when he and Echo summon Bloody Mary.
I promised you guys a happy chapter, and I sort of delivered. It's a Halloween special, and I think it turned out pretty well.
No secrets in this one.
Or, are there? Maybe you have to squint to see them.
Chapter Fourteen: Scary Mary, Quite Contrary
Gravity Falls, Oregon, 1997
Halloween was quickly approaching, and Stan couldn't have been more excited. He had been scaring the sugar out of the trick-or-treaters every Halloween and Summerween since he'd arrived in Gravity Falls, earning him the nickname "Master of Fright." Since Echo had arrived and started helping him, the townsfolk had started calling them "Partners in Fright."
So, the two of them split up and wandered through the convenience store in search of inspiration and decorations that were not cheesy. Echo was observing some zombie makeup, when she heard a familiar voice.
"Well, well," Deputy Blubbs said. "If it isn't the Mistress of Fright, herself."
Echo grinned and winked at the African American. "That's right."
Blubbs laughed and looked around. "If you're here, then Stan can't be far behind." Little did he know, the Master of Fright was sneaking up behind him, wearing a green monster mask. Echo didn't mention it. "I can't wait to see what you two come up with this year!"
Stan grabbed his shoulders and roared. Blubbs screamed and whipped around. Stan took off the mask, and he and Echo laughed hysterically. After a moment, Blubbs laughed too, saying, "You got me! You guys got me good!"
Wiping a tear from his eye, Stan said, "Come on, Echo. I got the best idea from staring at an over-sized barrel of probably-fake blood!"
Echo grinned. "I don't know what you're planning, but I love it anyway."
She started chanting, "Partners in Fright!" and Stan joined in. They stopped and stared awkwardly at Blubbs, when started doing it too.
Realizing that he was embarrassing himself, Blubbs coughed into his hand, excused himself and went to another aisle.
Once he was gone, Echo asked, "So, what's the plan this year?"
Stan grinned and rubbed his hands together, looking like a super villain stereotype. "Something truly terrifying. This year, we're summoning a beast known simply as...Bloody Mary." Lighting crashed, and Stan frowned and looked up. "Huh. I think they need to fix the lights in here."
"Yeah, but this stereo sure works," Echo said, pointing to a stereo on the shelf next to her. "It even comes with a CD of Halloween sounds." She pressed a button on it, and the lightning sound effect played again.
"Let's steal it," Stan suggested.
"So, who exactly is Bloody Mary?" Echo asked.
Stan lit a candle and sat it in front of the bathroom mirror. He put out his match and shrugged. "Beats me. Some demon-lady or something. I just know that she's scary. If she's real, we'll make a fortune at this year's haunted house!"
"And, if she's not?"
"Then, we'll put you in a wig and cover you in fake blood."
"Hm. Why not?"
Stan turned off the lights. The only light source was the tiny flame, which gave their reflections in the mirror a faint ominous glow. The acrid scent of cheap, burning wax filled the air. Echo was both nervous and excited. If this "Bloody Mary" was anything like the other Gravity Falls creatures, then she was sure to pack a punch. Assuming she existed.
Stan cracked his knuckles. "Alright. All we gotta do now is say her name three times while staring at the mirror.
Hearts racing, they chanted. "Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary." They waited. And, waited. And...waited…
After way too long, Stan huffed, "Well, that was anticlimactic. I'm gonna get that barrel of fake blood I stole."
He left to go find it, as Echo stood glaring at the mirror. Dressing up as a demon to scare people would be fun, but she was really curious about this Bloody Mary. Sighing, she turned on the lights, picked up the candle, and blew it out.
The door slammed shut. Confused, Echo put down the candle and tried to open the door, but it was locked. She called for Stan. He didn't answer. She cursed under her breath and rolled her eyes at what was surely the human trying to scare her. "Stan, open the door."
Something red dripped onto her hand. She looked up in shock. The ceiling was covered in a red liquid, and it was steadily running down the walls. Pulse gaining speed, she squeaked out Stan's name. This was a prank. This had to be a prank. A feminine giggle came from something, but Echo was alone in the bathroom.
Her shaking hands struggled with the doorknob. "Whoever you are, y-you better let me out of here right now." Red poured over her hands, and she jerked them away from the now-wet knob. Red. There was red everywhere. Echo swallowed hard. "I-I'm g-g-getting really mad!"
The giggling came again, louder this time. This was no prank. Echo hesitantly turned her head to the mirror. It wasn't her reflection that looked back at her. A woman - face hideously scarred and deformed - grinned at her with rotten black teeth.
Stan couldn't help being disappointed. Bloody Mary got so much hype that he was almost certain she was real. He sighed and opened the closet, trying to remember where he'd put that barrel. It was in the closet, right? Or, was it in the attic? Or, the basement? Damn memory. He thought it wasn't supposed to go bad until he was sixty. Of course, he was fifty-four…
A scream halted his thoughts. "Echo!" He bolted, calling her name and searching the house for her. Echo never screamed like that. Something was very wrong.
He spotted something that made his heart stop. The bathroom door was closed, and a pool of red had leaked out from beneath it. No, no, no! He threw the door open and forced himself to remain conscious. Blood covered the walls, the floor, everything, and in the middle of it…
Stan fell to his knees and cradled the bloody body in his arms, shaking the entire time. "Echo! Echo, wake up! What happened? Dammit, woman, open your eyes!" She didn't respond. It took everything in him to keep from sobbing. Then, she slowly blinked her eyes open, and Stan felt ready to faint with relief. Then, panic seized him once more. "Echo, we-we gotta get you to the hospital."
Echo smiled. Wide. Too wide. Her eyes were still black, but the white parts (Stan had no idea what they were called) were dark red. She reached up and caressed his cheek. Her voice both was and wasn't her own. "Oh, Stanley. You're so sweet."
Stan jerked back in horror and shot to his feet. "You...Y-You're not Echo…"
"Echo" giggled and stood up. "Call me Mary."
Bloody Mary was real. And, she was in Echo's body. Oh, God. Oh, frigging God!
Stan tried to back out of the room, but Mary quickly wrapped her arms around his neck and buried Echo's fingers through his gray-brown hair. He shuddered at the touch but was too horrified to pull away. It was more than unnerving, seeing Echo's face look at him with such...lust.
Feigning bravery, Stan narrowed his eyes and demanded, "What did you do to Echo?"
Mary scraped her nails against his neck. He stiffened against the sting and the trickle of what was hopefully sweat running down his neck. "Ah, yes, Echo. She's pretty. A natural beauty, and yet," she pulled away from him and looked disdainfully at Echo's orange hoodie and black yoga pants, "she wears such tacky clothing. What a waste of a beautiful body." Then she looked up at him, suddenly looking terrified.
And, her eyes were a normal color.
"Stan, help me!" Echo begged.
She blinked, and her eyes were red again. "Whoops!" Mary put a hand over her mouth and giggled. "That one slipped out."
"Get out of her." Seeing the terror in Echo's eyes… Suddenly, he was more pissed than scared. "Get out of her body, or I swear to God I'll-"
"You'll what?" Mary asked, tilting her head and grinning like they were playing some sick game. "Do you really want to hurt Juliette's body?"
"Um… Who's Juliette?"
Mary frowned. "She never told you? Echo's a nickname. Her real name is Juliette Eliza Tartal. But, what's in a name? Echo, Juliette, Mary? We're all the same."
"The hell you are!" Stan slammed the bathroom door shut and ran.
He ran for the vending machine, punched in the code, and rushed down the stairs as fast as he could without falling. Entering the elevator, he pushed the "3" button repeatedly until the doors closed. As the elevator lowered, Stan allowed himself a moment to breathe. He needed Ford's journal. Surely, there was something in there that would help Echo. When the doors reopened, he ran up to the desk, nearly tripping over some junk that he never bothered to pick up. He opened the journal and skimmed through it for something useful.
He was about to throw the book across the room in frustration, when one page caught his eye.
Turns out exorcisms aren't that difficult. The hard part is getting the spirit to stick around long enough to for you to say the incantation in its entirety. The even harder part is getting your dignity back afterwards.
In order to exorcise a ghost from a person's body, one must simply recite this incantation (I couldn't make this up if I wanted to):
Hullabaloo and Howdy Doo
Musty Prawns and Timbuktu
Yeltzy Bye and Hippity Hoo
Kick 'em in the Dishpan Hoo Hoo Hoo
Stan reread the incantation. And, then read it again, just to make sure his glasses were working properly. Kick 'em in the dishpan, hoo hoo hoo? That couldn't possibly be right.
"You know, you really should have closed that secret entrance."
Stan whipped around at the voice. Mary was smiling at him, still looking ready to hump him the first chance she got. Praying to whoever was listening, he grabbed the journal and started reciting the incantation. "Uh, Hullabaloo and howdy doo, musty praw-"
Mary swiped the journal from his hands, and it fell to the floor beneath them. He tried to lunge for it, but she grabbed his arms and somehow managed to pin him to the desk. Books, papers, and equipment fell off as he struggled against her grip. Since when could Echo's body hold him down like this? Must have been a possession-thing.
"Why are you doing this?" he asked, still fighting her hold on him.
He fought even harder when she started straddling him, but she didn't budge. "That's the question, isn't it?" she responded calmly. She dug her nails (were Echo's nails always that sharp?) deeper into his arms, and he paused in his struggle, when he realized that he was basically just helping her draw blood. "Centuries ago, I was just a girl, living in right here in Gravity Falls. But, I was never anyone special. Things got worse, when I learned that I could create fire from my very skin. Pretty, golden fire. ShimmerFlame, they call it. My parents thought I was a witch and attacked me, leaving my face dreadfully scarred. I was shunned by everyone in town, even those who didn't know about the ShimmerFlame."
Part of Stan wanted to be sympathetic, but it wasn't easy when he was being harassed by a ghost possessing his best friend. Plus, Mary didn't even seem upset about her backstory. She probably was when it happened, but now she was smiling and using a monotone that sent chills down his spine.
"The final straw was the day a couple of mean, drunk boys ripped off my dress, leaving me in only my undergarments. Then, my period caught me off-guard, and everyone saw my blood going down my leg. They chanted 'Bloody Mary' three times before they all started laughing. I'd had enough of their hatred and judgement, so used my own fire to burn myself. I was never loved like the other girls," she cupped his face in her hands, "and I've never been with a man before." She kissed him, biting his lip hard enough that he could taste his own blood.
I'm sorry, Echo. He punched Mary in the temple, and she collapsed to the floor. Stan bent down, scooped up the journal, and quickly flipped to the page with the incantation. "Hullabaloo and howdy d-"
With an inhuman shriek, Mary tackled him from behind and sent them hurdling to the wood floor. Dazed from the impact, Stan tried desperately to grab the journal. He grunted in pain, as Mary clawed off his shirt, blood welling from the fresh claw marks on his back. "Love me!" she demanded.
Stan grabbed the journal just as Mary pulled the remainder of his shirt out from under him, flipping him over. He fought dizziness as he held out the journal, as though it would somehow shield him from being raped by a ghost (or Echo or however that worked).
Mary screamed, a demonic sound plagued with horror and agony. "Don't look at me!"
Odd. Stan stepped in front of the book he was holding. The only thing he found was his reflection in the shiny six-fingered hand on the cover. The other reflection…
Suddenly, Stan understood. Mary wasn't seeing Echo's reflection… Mary was seeing her own reflection. And, damn it was ugly. He watched through the reflection as she cried and screamed that she was hideous and shouldn't be seen. In any other circumstance, he might have felt bad for her.
But, all that mattered was that she was distracted! Stan reopened the journal to the ridiculous incantation, holding the book up so that Bloody Mary could still see her reflection. As she wailed, Stan recited the bizarre spell as quickly as his mouth would allow.
"Hullabaloo and howdy doo, musty prawns and Timbuktu, yeltzy bye and hippity hoo, kick 'em in the dishpan hoo hoo hoo!"
Echo's body glowed green, so bright that Stan had to shield his eyes, and Mary shouted in distress, "Gnitnahc yltsohg gnitnahc gnitnahc gnitnahc gnitnahc yltsohg gnitnahc yltsohg!"
The light vanished, and Stan risked a look. Echo's body lay unconscious on the floor, but was she Echo or…?
"E-Echo?" Stan called tentatively.
The body groaned and shakily stood up, gripping the desk for support. Stan held his breath as she turned around.
Her eyes were a normal color, and she gave him a disbelieving smile. "Kick 'em in the dishpan hoo hoo hoo?"
Stan tried to laugh, but the world started spinning. He vaguely registered falling to his knees before blacking out.
Stan woke up to the sound of beeping and the smell of sterilizer. The white walls and bright lights nearly blinded him. He glanced to his side and found Echo asleep in a chair next to him, her head tilted back in a way that would probably hurt when she woke up. He tried to sit up, but his back was killing him more than usual. Where was he?
Stan reached out and gently shook Echo's shoulder. She woke up, and her face contorted in pain. She cussed under breath and rubbed the back of her neck. Stan smirked. He had a feeling her neck would be sore.
Then, he remembered what happened and shrank back. "Echo, are you...you?"
Echo lowered her hand and smiled. "Yeah. I'm me."
"Good. Um... Look, I'm sorry I-"
She held up her hand. "Don't apologize. How were you supposed to know any of this would happen? I'm just glad you got that creep out of me."
Stan chuckled. "Well, I certainly can't have my favorite mutant possessed by some freak lady."
"And, you probably didn't want to get raped by one either." Echo frowned in confusion. "Or...raped by me? How would that work exactly?"
"Don't know, don't want to. Now, where the hell am I?"
"Hospital. I called an ambulance after you passed out." She looked sadly up at his heart monitor, which was apparently where the beeping was coming from. "You lost a lot of blood."
Stan shrugged. "Um, no duh. It was Bloody Mary."
Echo smiled at him. "I'm just glad you're well enough to joke around. Soon, you'll be outta here, and…" Her smile suddenly seemed forced. "And, I'll pretend to be Bloody Mary and scare the trick-or-treaters."
Oh, right. Stan's heart sank at the thought. He really wasn't up for that kind of terror anymore. "Actually, I wouldn't taking a break from the whole Partners in Fright thing this year. Maybe we could just spend the night handing out candy and watching bad horror movies like normal people."
Echo nodded, looking immensely relieved. "Yeah. Like normal people."
As promised, Halloween night was spent handing out candy and watching bad movies. Really bad movies, as it turned out.
"You're watching the Gravity Falls Bargain Movie Showcase. Coming up next:
Jasper, the Adorable Dead Kid
The Evil Mystery Man Whom You Know Better Than You Think
Try Not to Think About the Hour of Haunting
The Curse of Internet Fanfiction
The Demon in the Mattress
I Was a 2016 Presidential Candidate
Monsters From the Bag of Tortilla Chips"
"Well, these are the worst movies ever," Stan commented before stuffing a handful of mostly-not-burnt popcorn into his mouth.
Echo shrugged. "Beats dealing with real-life monsters. Barely."
October 31, 1997
Dear Stanford,
Echo fell asleep in the middle of "The Evil Mystery Man Whom You Know Better Than You Think," (a hokey "thriller" about a creepy guy in a black suit that turns out to be the protagonist's butler; saw that coming), so I figured I'd write you another letter.
Long story short, Echo and I made the mistake of summoning Bloody Mary. The chick possessed Echo and would have raped and/or killed me if I hadn't managed to use that ridiculous incantation. Assuming you don't already have a journal entry about Bloody Mary in one your other journals, I thought I'd take the time to write one for you. You're welcome. (There's no pictures, 'cause I suck at drawing.)
Summoning is like how everyone says: dark room with a mirror, light a candle, say her name three times. She doesn't appear right away, so get the hell out while you can. She possesses good-looking women, because she's hideously scarred and deformed. Also, she really likes drawing blood from whoever's nearby. Makes sense in a twisted, demonic way.
Weakness: Ironically, seeing her own reflection. Even if she's possessing someone, she'll see her own gross face in a reflective surface. It freaks her out long enough for you to say the exorcism incantation in your first journal.
Still, I feel kinda bad for her. The only reason she went nuts is because people hated her for her deformities. Kinda like you and your extra fingers, I suppose.
I'd write more, but I'm kinda tired. Long day of ghosts, sexual harassment, and hospital bills. I think Echo had the right idea, not forcing her legs to move and just sleeping on the couch. I think I'll do that to.
Your brother,
Stanley
NLMHGVIH ZIV SRWWVM RM GSV OVZHG VCKVXGVW KOZXVH.
The incantation is from the Courage: the Cowardly Dog episode, "The Demon in the Mattress." Ignore Echo's initials! Juliette Eliza Tartal is not my name! I just kinda threw that in there.
Review, and Happy Halloween!
