Man, I love Halloween. Wild costume parties (I'm a punk-rocker this year), horror movie marathons, the art of egging... and Boo Haw Haw! Not to mention Saw VI is coming up! Anyway, here's my Halloween Special!
Readers beware, you're in for a scare...
It's Halloween morning, and Cherry River is decked out to scare! Houses and stores are decorated with spiderwebs, skeletons, ghosts, jack-o-lanterns, monsters, vampires, and crashing witches. Yards have been transformed into corpsy graveyards, and adults are stocking up on candy.
At the edge of town, an old house stands on a hilltop. Though long-abandoned, we hear giggling inside...
Ed and Eddy are setting up various spooky stuff inside the dusty house while Double-D watches: "May I ask why we're here again?"
"Don't cha remember, we're scarin the living CRAP outta everyone!" Eddy answers, taking a bear carpet from a first-floor room to the front hall. "No way we're lettin em get away with their sick excuse for a prank last year..."
"Oh, how shuddersome it was..." Ed remembers. "I really thought they were massacred."
"Ok Ed, you got the tomato soup?" Eddy asks Ed, who shows the soup and they climb up a ladder to the second floor, because the stairs were taken down some time ago. Double-D follows them up and into a room, where Eddy pours the tomato soup into a Kevin replica before he has Ed screw the head on.
"I will agree that the prank they pulled last year was indeed frightening and intolerable, but getting even will only encourage them to exact vengeance upon YOU next Halloween." Double-D foresees.
"That won't be a problem, cuz they won't know what hit em!" Eddy says. "We're hidin up in the attic of this house, the house of AL SHIVERSPINE!"
"YEAH!..... Um, who's Al Shiverstein again?" Ed asks.
"First of all, it's ShiverSPINE!" Eddy corrects Ed before explaining Al: "He's some ghost who, according to urban legend, guards a HUGE stash of candy and other goodies that magically pops up in the attic every Halloween. BUT... he has the power to make your worst fears come true, and in order to reach the candy, you gotta conquer said fears!"
"Hehe, spooky!" Ed comments while Double-D rolls his eyes: "A phobia-themed ghost gaurding candy? How ludicrous."
"Yeah, niether us nor them believe in Al, or the candy stash for that matter. But here's how it'll go down!" Eddy explains. "We'll all put some of our money into a bet to see who'll reach the attic first. They'll come along in here, thinkin they got nothin to worry about. But what they won't see comin is that WE set up their worst fears all over the house! We're gonna lock the doors and have em find the keys, that way they're sure to fall into our traps. WE'RE gonna scare em shitless just like Al Shiverspine would if he existed. And if any manage to reach the attic, Lumpula here will act as Shiverspine himself!" Eddy shows an Al Shiverspine mask for Ed. It looks similar to Kevin, but with deathly pale skin and messy black hair. Ed and Eddy laugh mischieviously.
"KEVIN, NAZZ, JONNY, ROLF, SARAH, JIMMY, ZOE, KYLE, JENNA AND PAUL WILL REGRET THE DAY THEY FOOLED US EDS! WAHAHAHAHAHAA!" Eddy laughs with Ed.
"Using their worst fears against them?' Double-D asks in disbelief. "That isn't pranking, that's just plain cruelty. Count me out."
Double-D leaves Ed and Eddy, but as he descends the ladder to the first floor, he hears a piano playing. He goes to the piano in an anteroom between the entrance hall and kitchen, and sees a shadowy figure playing it. The figure glances at him...
... And splits apart into a swarm of bugs! Double-D freezes up while the bugs crawl away through cracks in the walls and floor. Double-D regains himself, wonders what happened, and runs out through the front door. The bugs reappear and form into the Halloween special's title:
Ed, Edd n Eddy's Scary Squirmy Scream-A-Thon!!!
Double-D paces around his room, thinking about what he saw at the house of Al Shiverspine:
"There's just no way, that couldn't have been... No, you're probably just seeing things, Eddward. There's absolutely no such thing as..." Double-D stops himself, remembering the shadowy figure dissolving into bugs. Then he remembers Eddy mentioning...
"Al Shiverspine...."
Halloween Night falls over Peach Creek. The local nightclub, Zeats-n-Falconer, is holding a "Halloween Bash" party for the teens. Halloween music plays as the teens dance and hang out in their Halloween costumes. First we see Jonny eating candy corn, wearing a Siamese twin costume with Plank as the other head. Jonny joins Paul, Nazz and Jenna in dancing to "Thriller" with many other teens. Paul is dressed as a zombified Michael Jackson (complete with a sequin glove and leggings), and even sings along to the song. Nazz wears a cat costume with a tail and whiskers painted on her face, while Jenna wears a luscious ladybug costume; both costumes reveal their cleavage. Then Ed, Eddy and Kevin step out of the bathroom. Ed wears an army costume, Eddy wears a Joker costume (wig included), and Kevin wears a Zoro costume.
"Heh! you're on, guys!" Kevin accepts the Eds' challege to go to Shiverspine's house, and tells Jonny, Nazz, Jenna and Paul.
"It's a test to prove how much guts you have!" Ed says. "And I, General Tonzor, have guts!"
"So, who's up for the bet?" Eddy asks. Paul puts his hand in: "I got balls of steel, man."
"Count me and Plank in!" Jonny puts his hand in, followed by a "Me, too!" from Nazz.
"This bitch ain't afraid of nothin!" Jenna puts her hand in.
"Excellent, now we just gotta wait for Rolf to finish his whole mushroom-pickin thing." Eddy says.
"AHOY, BOYS AND GIRLS! ROLF HAS ARRIVED, HOME DAWGS!" Rolf calls from outside on his tractor, dressed as a hip-hop star. The tractor is pulling a large cart behind it to carry the others. Ed, Eddy, Jenna, Kevin, Jonny and Nazz jump into the tractor cart. Rolf drives the tractor off: "To the house of Al Timberline, yes?"
"It's Shiverspine." Eddy corrects Rolf. Nazz asks "Hey, is Double-D comin?"
"Nah, Mr. Party-pooper said he had 'paranormal research' to do." Eddy answers.
"PIT STOP, ROLF!" Ed tells Rolf as they near a street corner where Sarah, Jimmy, Kyle and Zoe await with their collected candy from trick-or-treating. Sarah wears an angel costume. Jimmy is dressed as the puppet from the "Saw" movies, wearing a black wig and his face painted white with red spirals on his cheeks. Kyle wears a cowboy costume. Zoe wears a 2-piece jungle costume and has accessory leaves on her otherwise bare feet (like Toph from "Avatar"). Her hair is re-styled into a spiky bun on top with the rest of her hair loose.
"Hey, look! VAMPIRES!" Zoe waves to the goth boys across the street. "HI, VAMPIRES! LIKIN THE BLOOD TONIGHT?!"
"Oh my God..." Sean turns away as he, Bill and Dean are irritated by Zoe calling them "VAMPIRES!" Bill sarcastically comments "Yes, and this is why we looovvve Halloween."
Rolf stops for Sarah, Jimmy, Kyle and Zoe. They hop on, and Rolf continues driving towards Cherry River. As they go, Eddy, Kevin and Paul egg houses and cars. Eddy even dumps a bucket of yolk onto a pimped-out car, its owner screaming "MOTHERFUCKER!!!" Zoe, meanwhile, is already eating her candy.
"Zoe, please go easy on that candy." Jimmy tells Zoe.
"Nonsense, candy makes me feel alive!" Zoe replies, her candy giving her a sugar rush that makes her jitter around the cart like a jackhammer! "WHOO!" then she offers Jimmy some Jawbreaker Minis from her bag: "I'll trade ya for Fireballs!"
"So about Al Shiverspine, dudes. How do ya think he came to be?" Kyle asks.
"Maybe he was just some sick jerk who liked scaring people." Sarah voices her opinion.
"It's kinda wierd how he just scares people away to guard candy." Nazz says. "Don't you think there's a reason for that?"
"Don't really know, because I heard he died a while back." Kevin said.
"And yet, he stills haunts that house!" Eddy says, which unnerves Jimmy: "How is he still... scaring everyone?"
"Rolf heard that the ghoul's residence was built on a cursed Native American ground." Rolf says.
"I think... y'know what, I got nothin." Paul can't think of any theories.
"I got a question: how does he know everyone's fears?" Jonny asks.
"No the question is, why are we talkin about this?" Jenna asks. "Ghosts don't exist. Ol' Mr. Shiverspine could know all our fears, but he's a ghost and thus ain't real. We ain't gonna get scared or nothin, so gettin to the top and winnin the bet is gonna be a cinch!"
Eddy smirks and mentally says "So you think, Jenn! But WE know!..."
Flashback: About three months after BPS
The Eds are chatting in the lane with Sarah, Jimmy, Nazz, Kevin, Rolf, Jenna, and Kyle. Back then, Jenna's hair looked the same but was shoulder-length, and she wore the same clothes as Nazz except she had long skin-tight sleeves and a skirt instead of pants. Kyle had a small downward-pointing ponytail, and he wore a sleeveless orange shirt, the same pants and sneakers, and a green palm-tree necklace. They hear Jonny...
"Paul, come on. What happened?" Jonny asks as he helps Paul towards the others. Paul had an afro, and wore the same clothes except he had full-length jeans. He's tries catching his breath as he explains:
"So... so I was just chillin down the street and... and..."
"Spit it out, man." Eddy tells Paul.
"... Let's just say Ray Ray's a real scary girl." Paul shudders. "She almost took away my manhood."
"Well, we all know Rachel isn't the kind of person to do something so harsh without good reason." Double-D says. "So you must've done something to provoke her."
"Were you... lookin at her?" Nazz asks.
"WHAT?!.... Uhh, of course not!" Paul lies, but Nazz and Jenna see through this. Jenna tells Paul "I'm sure whatever that goth girl did to ya was to put your creepy butt in place."
"Whatever, I ain't goin near Ray Ray again." Paul says, shaking in fear. "She the scariest thing in existence."
"Nah dude, that title goes to hail." Kyle says. "It's small, but it's downright deadly."
"There's nothing scarier than killing animals and mounting them on a wall." Jonny quivers.
"How about being stuck in an elevator for 24 hours." Nazz says. "Seriously, I thought it was gonna fall at any moment."
"My gosh, there's so many scary things." Jimmy cowers. Thinking about this, Sarah takes a step back from Ed, which Eddy notices.
"Soap and cleanliness, BAD for Ed." Ed shrieks, then Double-D says "The opposite applies to me, as you all know."
"Oh, Rolf remembers this ursine ogre from back in the old country." Rolf remembers: "7 goats tall and always watching Rolf, looking for oppurtunities to LAY HIS FINGERS OF UNPLEASANT DESIRE ON THE SON OF A SHEPARD!"
Rolf is comforted by the others. "We feel your pain, Rolf." Kyle says.
"Looks like everyone's spoutin out their worst fears." Eddy says, asking Kevin "What's yours?"
"I conquered my fear, remember?" Kevin reminds Eddy.
"I know you're afraid of other things, Kevo!" Eddy says. "So, do you fear..." Eddy pulls out a fake ax: "DEATH?!"
"NO!!" Jenna screams, immediately stomping Eddy into the ground. "...Oh... I'm so sorry, Eddy. It's just that... I thought that axe was real and... uh..."
Kevin grins widely, saying "Well, now we know what Jenn's worst fear is!"
"Hey shut up." Jenna yells at Kevin: "I would've done the same if any of the others were in danger. So don't think I like you, Kevin."
"Oh, I don't." Kevin says, still grinning. "I know you hate me as much as Eddy hates-"
The flashback is suddenly ripped in half by Eddy in the present time. He apologizes to the audience: "Sorry viewers, but I can't afford to have my fear revealed. And no, it ain't birds."
"You can hide it from the audience, but we all know each others fears!" Kevin says. "... All except..."
"... Zoe's!" Ed realizes. "She didn't move in yet back then, so we still don't know her fear!"
Everyone gathers around Zoe, who simply nods while eating her candy: "Nope, I'm not tellin!"
Rolf reaches their destination in a forested part of Cherry River, and stops the tractor. They get off, and Eddy & Ed lead the rest along a forest path going uphill. As they go up, Zoe giggles and jitters from all the sugar she consumed, while Paul sings lyrics from "Thriller." The path leads up to the house of Al Shiverspine.
Meanwhile, Double-D is looking up Al Shiverspine articles on his laptop. He reads through numerous articles such as "12-YEAR-OLD TRAUMATIZED INSIDE AL SHIVERSPINE HOUSE ON HALLOWEEN," "TEENS' INTERVIEW ON AL SHIVERSPINE ENCOUNTER," and "ALLAN POE SHIVERS, aka AL SHIVERSPINE." He pays particular attention to the latter article:
"Allan Poe Shivers, aka Al Shiverspine. Born January 19, 1946. Died September 8, 1979 from mosquito-borne encephalitis." Double-D continues reading: "Among his few known traits was that he was once entomophobic." Double-D finds few relevant details after this, until the end: "Even after his death, reports of his phobia-exploiting acts continued inside his home every Halloween."
Double-D reads another article, in which Shiverspine is described as "frequently manifesting as a zombie-like figure composed of a mass of swarming bugs."
Double-D sums up: "The bugs are a constant element here, and if Al was a former entomophobe..." Double-D thinks long and hard... "This calls for direct investigation."
Double-D gathers some old ghost-hunting equipment from his basement, and starts the retro van.
Meanwhile, Ed, Eddy and the others pass through the front gate of Al Shiverspine's weed-covered lawn. Ravens caw overhead, and Jenna flips them off in dislike. As they walk towards the front door, the eerie atmosphere frightens Jimmy:
"Be brave, Jimmy. Be brave!" Jimmy tells himself, but he starts panicking.
"Jimmy, take a deep breath, and breathe out slowly." Kyle helps Jimmy relieve his stress. Then Paul notices Eddy and Ed staying behind.
"Yo McMoney, Armpit. You comin?" Paul asks.
"Uh, me and Eddy are havin second thoughts about this, guys." Ed answers, he and Eddy pretending to shake in fear.
"You're kidding, right?" Sarah asks. "YOU'RE THE ONES WHO FREAKIN MADE THE BET AND LED US HERE!"
"Plank thinks you're chicken-balled pussies!" Jonny tells Ed and Eddy. Kevin, Rolf, Paul, Jenna, Sarah and Zoe chuckle!
"Err..." Eddy is irritated by Plank but quickly gets over it, saying "Yeah well, Tonzor here just got cold feet from readin too many comics. So I'm takin him back to the tractor, and I'll keep him company til the rest of you return. Right, Ed?"
Ed bobs his head, then he and Eddy leave.
"So that just leaves 10 of us. But I'll be the one winnin the cash when I reach the top first!" Kevin claims.
"Dream on, Jocky!" Sarah throws Kevin aside and wrestles through the others to open the front door. She turns the knob, but it won't open: "Err..."
"Allow Rolf, please." Rolf tries forcing the door open, but it still won't open. Even with Kevin's and Paul's help, it doesn't budge.
"Must be blocked from the other side." Nazz says.
"GUYS, PLANK FOUND A WAY IN!" Jonny calls out. "THE BACK DOOR IS BOARDED UP, BUT THE BASEMENT'S OPEN!"
"... I guess that'll do." Jenna says. They follow Jonny to the backyard to enter through the basement door.
Sarah, Jimmy, Kyle, Zoe, Nazz, Jenna, Kevin, Rolf, Jonny and Paul descend into the wet, pitch-black basement corridor. Kevin and Kyle use pumpkin-headed flashlights to illuminate the corridor, while Rolf uses an old-fashioned lantern from his pocket.
"Hey Jenn, feel free to hold my hand if ya get scared!" Kevin jokes, Jenna promptly elbowing him.
"Somebody hold me." Jimmy starts panicking.
"Remember dude, breathe in, then out." Kyle instructs Jimmy, who gets a comforting hug from Zoe: "Don't worry, Jimsaw! You're with us, so just stay in the middle and you'll be fine! Besides, didn't you say you wanna be braver?"
"I know, but-" a football-sized spider lowers itself form the cieling, spooking Jimmy; "AAAAH!!"
Rolf grabs the huge spider and crushes it inside his fist! Paul comments "Hardcore, Country Boy!"
As they proceed on, more bugs start appearing on the walls. The girls (except Zoe) and Jimmy are mildly spooked, and Jimmy stays in the middle of the group. Then they reach an elevator at a turn, uncomforting Nazz.
"Don't tell me we're goin up in that thing." Nazz shakes, but then they see that the elevator has no battery.
"We're gonna have to continue this way." Kevin and the others continue past the elevator, past the rusted-shut braker room door, then they reach a staircase leading up to the first floor.
While they go up the stairs, a camera watches them. It's revealed that Eddy and Ed are in a small side-room next to the attic (which they reached via a ladder through a small window), Eddy watching through a network of cameras placed throughout the house.
"They're goin up, Ed!" Eddy informs Ed, who's trying in vain to open the attic's seemingly stuck door: "Errr, come on! Open, Sesame!"
"Just leave that door and come here." Eddy tells Ed. "The others just reached the first floor, and little do they know what's in store for em! WAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
To Be Continued...
Trivia: The Zeats-n-Falconer Nightclub is named after the show's storyboard directors, Billy Zeats and J Falconer. Al Shiverspine is (as you may have noticed) named after Edgar Allan Poe, a famous author/poet and one of my favorites. They even share birthdays, and the moniker "Shiverspine" derives from the shivering chill that runs down your spine when you're scared.
So who will win the bet? Who will wet their pants? What are Eddy's and Zoe's worst fears? And how did Al Shiverspine come to be? Find out all the answers next chapter!!
