Carly Beth drops the mask in horror. Pretty much everyone else shrieks at the sound of its voice, even Evan. The mask continues to move on the surface of the table and smack its lips together wetly in an evil toothy grin.
"Halloween is just around the corner…" It whispers. "Our favorite holiday!"
"Holy shit. The mask can talk too?" Jerry asks.
Evan hates the shrill sound of the mask. It's demonic, for lack of a better word, and its repulsive appearance doesn't help things.
"It feels good to bring old friends together!" Mr. Dark says.
"I know what you want me to do." Carly Beth says. "You want me to put on the mask again."
"Bingo." Mr. Dark replies.
"That's crazy! You can't do that!" Evan protests. "That thing got stuck to her face!"
"I know." Mr. Dark sneers.
"I can do it, Evan." Carly Beth says. "I'm not scared."
"What? You have to be joking!" Evan says. "You told us the mask changes you!"
"And what if it doesn't come off this time?" Ricky asks. "You don't know it won't!"
"Yeah! Come on, Carly Beth, you said it yourself, we don't have to do what this guy wants. You don't have to either." Amy says.
"I know. But I've never been one to take my own advice." Carly Beth admits.
"If she wants to do it, I say let her." Andy says.
"Andy!" Evan scolds.
"No, she's right. I have to take this risk. I have faith and I know there are people out there who love me for who I am. I know it's enough to defeat the mask."
"Yes, people like us, Carly Beth!" Amy shouts. "Don't do it!"
"I'm afraid she has to." Mr. Dark says.
Carly Beth gulps and picks up the mask again, raising it slowly over her head, but as she does, her frightened expression changes to one of determination.
"Carly Beth, don't!" Ricky protests.
But then her brown hair begins to disappear beneath the mask, as does almost her entire head, which is soon replaced with the monstrous face of the Haunted Mask, which is now staring back at all of them with its glowing eyes. As Carly Beth moves, so too does the mask. With what sounds like an awful sucking sound, they all watch as the mask begins to tighten around Carly Beth's skin as she opens her mouth to speak, a voice that's no longer Carly Beth comes out, raspy and distorted, with only hints of the girl underneath.
"It feels good to be back!" the mask rasps in pure ecstasy.
A chill runs down Evan just hearing the dark voice come out of his friend. He wants Carly Beth back. He doesn't like this new version at all, and it's just plain odd to see the kind girl he knows with the head of something absolutely monstrous. The juxtaposition makes it all the more frightening.
"You're a lot braver than I expected, Carly Beth. I must admit it's good to see you embrace your monstrous side." Mr. Dark says with glee.
"I agree, Larry! Who cares about that scaredy-cat LOSER Carly Beth? She looks better with the mask on!" Slappy cackles.
"I'm sorry, there's no Carly Beth here!" the mask says. "I'm just borrowing her body!"
"That's not true. We know you're in there, Carly Beth!" Amy says.
"Don't let it control you! Don't listen to whatever it's telling you. Any kind of power it can give you isn't worth it! Don't make the same mistake I did!" Ricky says. "You can beat this!"
"She's not listening!" the mask snaps.
"Just imagine all the fun you can have in my new world." Mr. Dark says. "You can have as much chaos as you desire."
"YES! I love chaos!" Slappy says. "We can team up together, masky!"
"No.. no.." Carly Beth says from inside the mask. "I want to be me. I want to be me!"
"That's it, Carly Beth!" Ricky yells. "I know you can fight this thing!"
"Prove to us that love is all it takes", Mr. Dark says. "Maybe you can actually open my eyes to the truth."
"I do have love." Carly Beth says. "I have the love of my mother, who's always been there for me and supports me. And the love of my girlfriend Sabrina, who makes me happier than anything. I have the love of myself. I finally accept who I am."
"NO! NO!" the mask growls. "You only have me, Carly Beth! I know the kind of person you really are! You know that together we're unstoppable!"
"That mask is using you!" Amy shouts.
"I know. I know that. It's not true." Carly Beth speaks to the mask. "You don't know me. You think you're good for me? You're toxic! You don't know what a good relationship is, and I'm sorry. I'm sorry that you were so unloved. I know it must have twisted you into something evil."
In response, the mask lets out a blood-curdling scream.
"Keep lying to yourself, Carly Beth!" the mask says. "I know how much you desire revenge. You've always wanted to bring pain to the ones who've hurt you. To make them feel terrified. Well I do too! WE ARE THE SAME!"
Carly Beth shakes her head. "No. No. It's true. Sometimes I would love to hurt those who've harmed me. I have a lot of darkness inside me still, and maybe I do like making people feel afraid of me. But I also have love. The only thing anger does is turn you ugly. We might be similar, more than I'd care to admit, but we're not the same. I still care about people, unlike you. I care for my family, for Sabrina. For myself. And now I have the love of my new friends. I'm giving that love to you so I can finally be rid of you!" Carly Beth says in proud defiance.
"NO!" the mask cries out. "YOU WILL NEVER BE RID OF ME! WE ARE INSEPARABLE!"
"Hell yeah!" Andy shouts. "You have us."
"Yeah." Ricky replies. "We won't let anything happen to you, Carly Beth, right, Evan?"
Evan pauses. It feels a bit strange to tell this to someone he just met but Carly Beth is like him too, isn't she? Certainly she doesn't deserve to be consumed by the mask.
"Right. The mask is nothing against you. Against all of us together." Evan says.
"We love you, Carly Beth." Amy says.
"Oh god. This really is an episode of the Carebears, isn't it?" Slappy says with disgust.
The mask lets out one last scream before Carly Beth tears it from her face, reducing it to nothing more than just a mask. Her hair is standing up all over and she's covered in sweat, breathing heavily, but she looks relieved to be free once more from the Haunted Mask. Hopefully for the last time.
"I hope you can find peace." Carly Beth tells the mask. "From all that anger. All that hatred. I know I have. My darkness will always be a part of me, but you no longer will."
She slams the mask back into the box, sealing the lid tight. None of them can hear the mask's cries anymore.
"You did! You actually did it!" Jerry says.
"Told you she could." Andy says.
"Color me impressed, Miss Caldwell. You handled that with grace." Mr. Dark says.
"No thanks to you." Carly Beth says with disgust.
"You must forgive me for putting you through that, Miss Caldwell. See, I only wanted to prove a point. One I've been thinking about for a while."
"What kind of point?" Evan asks.
"It's all about you, Evan." Mr. Dark says. "It seems to me all your friends have been able to face their fears and change from their experiences. Jerry played the haunted piano, Amy defied Slappy, Carly Beth separated herself from the Haunted Mask and even Ricky showed that he's moved away from his darker side. Hell, and I was just going to see if he had the courage to eat another cookie! Everyone but you, Evan."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Evan asks.
He already doesn't like the point Mr. Dark is trying to make.
"I think you know. It's like I've always said. You still can't move on from the Monster Blood. It still haunts you." Mr. Dark says.
"Of course it does. But I'm not the only one. All of us have had trouble forgetting the past." Evan argues.
"Yes. ALL of us." Carly Beth butts in. "If you're judging Evan, you're judging all of us."
"Damn right." Ricky says.
"I know that, Evan, but when I look at all of you, your friends have something you lack. Bravery, resolve, hope, love, whatever word you want to pick. You're the protagonist, but there's nothing special about you, and I find myself wondering why all these things keep happening to a nobody like you, Evan. I don't know if you have what it takes to conquer your own fears, or if you'll be too terrified to stop what's coming." Mr. Dark says.
Evan expects for that evil grin to be on his face, but no, Mr. Dark is completely cold, and that's almost worse, because he knows Mr. Dark believes what he's saying is true. Evan almost believes it too. At the end of the day, he is a nobody, isn't he? Everything that's happened to him has been caused by sheer bad luck.
"You shut the hell up right now!" Andy snaps at Mr. Dark.
"Andy, it's okay- I can handle this myself." Evan says.
He doesn't need Andy once again trying to beat up a bully for him, especially one as big as Mr. Dark. He wants so badly to prove himself for once but Andy ignores his request.
"Evan's not a nobody. If you want to blame someone, blame me. I've been the one pressuring him into using the Monster Blood, for my own stupid reasons. If I weren't here, I can guarantee Evan never would have touched the stuff again. Maybe then he could have properly moved on." Andy says, sounding guilty.
"Ah, so you admit it too, Andy? Evan can't move on!" Mr. Dark says.
Evan ignores him and looks at Andy. "Don't say that, Andy. I guess it's been both of our fault's all along. We've both done some stupid things, but I'm glad you've been there. I don't know where my life would be without you. A lot less meaningful, I'll say."
"Puke!" Slappy cries out.
Evan smiles at Andy, which she returns and both are just looking at each other flushed and laughing for no reason. It's like old times. Evan almost forgets they're in the Dead House.
"This is all very sweet, but just look at who you choose to surround yourself with, Evan. Someone who enables you to keep using Monster Blood, furthering your trauma and hell, a bully who's tormented you since you were a kid." Mr. Dark says. "Clearly, you have problems."
"He has a point, bro." Conan says. "I don't even know why I'm here."
"Conan, could you please just shut up?" Evan asks.
"You're here because you prove my point further, Mr. Barber. Evan surrounds himself with the very things he's afraid of, but he's still unable to conquer those fears."
"Ah. Makes sense." Conan replies.
"Okay. I admit it, I'm still afraid of Monster Blood. I'd rather never see it again, but I'm done being afraid. Is that what you want to hear, Mr. Dark?" Evan asks.
Mr. Dark grins again. "It's one thing to say it, another to prove it, Evan. I think it's time for your test."
Evan grits his teeth. "And what's my test?"
Mr. Dark sighs. "I'm afraid that despite your best efforts, Evan. You're too late. I've already put my ultimate plan into motion! As soon as the clock strikes ten, Dark Falls will once again be covered in a mist of Monster Blood, turning you and your families into undead monsters, and countless others will follow."
In response, Slappy cackles madly. "Finally, some good news!"
Evan begins to feel sick to his stomach, like he's about to vomit right here. And the whole room is spinning around him, any familiar sights now a total blur. This is the nightmare scenario he feared. After all this time, he wasn't able to stop Mr. Dark. He's failed.
"Evan! Evan, are you okay?" Andy asks, noticing Evan's sudden nausea.
He can hardly hear her voice over the buzzing in his ears.
"What?" Evan asks.
"Please tell me this is a joke." Jerry says. "This can't be happening."
"You can't do this!" Carly Beth says, now almost in tears.. "Please, leave my family out of this!"
"I'm afraid I can, and I will. And no, this is no joke. The clock is ticking. Just minutes now and I will have successfully recreated the Dark Falls' factory incident to a T." Mr. Dark says.
"Then what was the point of all this?" Ricky asks. "Why have this stupid dinner if you were going to do it anyway?"
"Truthfully I just wanted a chance to get to know you all better. I'd say I have." Mr. Dark chuckles.
"Wait, so we're not getting cherry pie?" Conan asks.
All the voices are just noise and Evan finds himself running out his chair out of the room, everything Mr. Dark said is still echoing around his mind on loop.
"Evan! Come back!" Andy shouts.
"Let him run." Mr. Dark says. "He has to accept he's lost sooner or later."
"Oh god, all of us really are just nobodies, aren't we?" Amy asks.
"Oh no, not nobodies at all. You should feel grateful you're here to witness a new era for monsters!" Mr. Dark laughs.
Evan is still running. Running right up the steps into Mr. Dark's room full of haunted antiques. All of the stuff from last time is there. The shrunken head. The cuckoo clock. The mummy case. But no, not a sign of the Monster Blood anywhere. Evan has been on a wild goose chase. Had he actually broke in earlier, he probably still would have failed. That crushes him. Just knowing how hopeless the situation really is.
After a few minutes of continued searching, Evan stops in his tracks as he hears Mr. Dark's voice behind him.
"It's not here, Evan."
"I know." Evan manages to choked out in a hushed voice. One of defeat. "What is the point of all this, Mr. Dark? All this stuff?"
Mr. Dark chuckles. "I'm a collector. Everything has meaning. Say, how about I show you something extra special? Now that the whole world's about to end I might as well."
"What are you talking about?" Evan asks.
Truthfully, he doesn't want to see whatever Mr. Dark is about to show him, but the man doesn't even let him answer before he's walking up to the mummy case, proceeding to open it.
"I told you there's no mummy inside, which is true," Mr. Dark says. "but what I didn't tell you is there is actually a whole room behind it."
Sure enough, Mr. Dark is telling the truth, as the opening of the case reveals an entrance to a small chamber. But what's more surprising, and even more horrifying is a large quivering purple mass in the middle of the room, pulsating like a giant heart. It smells horrible and the growling noises it makes send waves of panic through Evan.
"Glorious, isn't it?" Mr. Dark asks with a sinister smile.
"What the hell is it?" Evan asks in disgust.
"I told you I had a special tool. This right here is my special tool. My pride and joy. With its incredible power, I've been able to summon your parents to Dark Falls for their untimely end." Mr. Dark explains.
Evan isn't sure how to process the information. He had always suspected something had gotten his family to move out of the blue, but he never expected this.
"You're saying this thing hypnotized my parents?"
"Exactly." Mr. Dark replies. "This glorious beast right here was once part of an entity known as King Jellyjam. With his mind control powers, he was able to make a whole summer camp do his bidding. It wasn't easy to track down his remains given the king's tragic end. But I found it. And I used it. I sent little tiny pieces of purple blob to all your families and just like that, they were compelled to come to Dark Falls, all part of my hypnotic suggestion."
"This is crazy." Evan says. "You really had everything planned out."
"Of course I did. Now it's time for me to finally win. And no one can stop me. Not you. Not your friends. Not even the Reality Police will be able to do anything." Mr. Dark says triumphantly.
Evan doesn't respond, he just stands there, before following Mr. Dark out of that tiny room, glad to be free of the horrid odor of King Jellyjam.
"How much longer?" Evan asks.
"Just a few seconds. As soon as that clock goes CUCKOO!" Mr. Dark laughs.
"What?" Evan replies, a sudden, desperate idea suddenly coming to him at the mention of the word "cuckoo".
The clock, Evan thinks, The cuckoo clock, Mr. Dark had said it was powerful enough to control all of time. Maybe, just, maybe, he could use it to go back and fix all of this, prevent Mr. Dark from winning in the first place. It's crazy, Evan knows, but what choice does he have? He stares at its wooden exterior, marked with tabs containing various years and Mr. Dark instantly knows what Evan's thinking. Now even he looks afraid.
"Evan, don't you dare do what I think you're going to do." Mr. Dark snarls. "You have no idea what you're dealing with here!"
"Fuck you." Evan snaps. "I'm not going to let you win."
"EVAN! LISTEN TO ME! You use that clock and the Reality Police will be after the both of us! Do you want that?" Mr. Dark says, urgency in his voice.
He really is scared. Evan kinda likes that, as dark as it may sound. It allows Evan to temporarily feel a sense of victory.
"I don't care what the cops do." Evan replies. "I'm not letting you hurt my friends. Like I told you, I'm done being afraid."
"EVAN, STOP!" Mr. Dark growls.
He once again transforms into his hulking monster form, diving at Evan with pure rage. Normally, Evan would be afraid. Not anymore.
It seems the exact second has been reached because out of the clock pops a bird with a cruel, evil-looking face. It makes a loud CUCKOO and this is the only noise now that's echoing through Evan's head. He smirks and takes his hand to the bird's neck, quickly turning it backwards. As the bird retreats back into the clock, and Evan is crushed under the heavy weight of Mr. Dark, who has tackled him to the floor, Evan doesn't do anything. He just lets it happen, waiting now for time to start moving backwards.
