"Wendy! Wendy Corduroy!"
I called out her name, scanning the parking lot to locate her. There she was, engaged in a conversation with Tambry and Valentino, probably discussing the whole 'Mary' situation.
"Hey, Ray. I was just explaining..."
"You!"
Before I could say more to Wendy, Valentino forcefully grabbed me by my collar. Without hesitation, I retaliated by grabbing his hand and twisting his wrist. He winced in pain, and Wendy intervened, separating us.
"Agh...!"
"Guys! What are you doing? Stop fighting, I hate it when guys fight!"
"Wendy! Come on, he's the problem! Every time he's around us, something weird happens! Can't you see that? At that abandoned convenience store! Today, with that...Mary? or whatever she is!"
"Robbie, stop. It's not his fault."
"It's not his? Then whose fault is this? Why do I have to struggle, with what he...!"
...I don't have time for this. I can't listen to his whining anymore.
While Valentino continued complaining to Wendy like a child, I seized the moment to grab his collar and lock eyes with him.
"Listen, Valentino. Do you want to live, or not? Do you want some...weird ghost-like thing to be a part of your life without you even knowing it? 'Cause I'm trying to save your life right now. And if you don't want protection from this situation, go to your dark room and cry or whatever. I don't care."
"...I..."
"So you want to live, right? Then please, close your mouth because it's hurting my head."
"..."
Valentino closed his mouth and stepped back, leaning against a nearby van. Good. I turned to Wendy and began explaining the situation.
"We're currently being influenced, Wendy. Under the effect of Mary. You two also heard about this situation, right? Did Wendy explain it to you two?"
"Yes."
"...Hmph."
I took that as a yes.
"So...we need to find out about this situation and the evidence of Mary's actual existence. That's where we can start...fighting against Mary. Therefore, we're heading to meet the counselor."
"...The counselor? Her? Ms. Ryu?"
Tambry, who had been silent until now, reacted to the mention of the counselor, even putting down her phone for a moment.
"Know anything about her?"
"...Well, duh. Of course, I do. She was the counselor of our school."
"Do you know her phone number?"
Tambry quickly tapped her phone, showing me the screen with the contact 'Ms. Ryu.'
"Why do you have this number? She never told me her number..." Wendy asked, and Tambry just shrugged.
"Dunno."
None of that matters. I promptly made her call the counselor, asking Wendy to take the phone since she had sought help from her before.
-Beep. Hello. This is Ms. Ryu. Please leave a message.
"...She doesn't answer the phone."
"Damn it."
Things weren't going well. Now we had a choice: head to the real elementary school where Ms. Ryu worked, or come up with our plan. Suddenly, an idea struck me.
"...Everybody, focus."
I paced in circles, gazing at the Mystery Shack's gate. Stan was there, welcoming other customers. He wouldn't let us leave until our shift ended, and we still had a few hours left.
"Okay, if the phone call succeeded, it would've been the best...but it failed. So let's leave it aside. Now, Tambry, keep trying to call her, okay?"
"...I need to save my battery."
"Well, I'm here trying to save our lives. Anyways, we need another plan. A plan that can...stop us from thinking of Mary as a friend."
"What the heck can we do against that?"
It was Valentino, looking extremely frustrated.
"We don't know what's going on, and you said we can't do much until we find something more about her! And the proof of her existence or some shit, I don't know."
"Valid point, impressive coming from you, Valentino. But no. We need to know more about her existence and all so that we can find a way to actually stop her. But until then, we need a plan that can 'save' us from her effects. Now listen. I thought of something."
I reached into my pocket, retrieving a small notepad and a pen. As I scribbled down my thoughts, I explained.
"Right now, the most important thing is that Mary is affecting us, who are not yet contaminated with her fake memories. Also, there are these problems... How are we going to withstand this attack while we go there? Stan will also try to stop us from going, and there is a distance from the shack to the elementary school where the counselor is at."
"There is nothing to assure us right now that we'd be safe from her influence. Any moment now, we can suddenly start to think Mary is our friend, like just right now. What are we doing here outside the shack? We have to work, Wendy. Bring Mary and let's get back to work."
I stuffed the notepad into my pocket and started walking towards the shack. As soon as I touched the door, Wendy and the others chased me with frightened expressions on their faces.
"He...Ray's being brainwashed!"
"Punch him! Kick him!"
"Wait, wait. I'm just...!"
Wendy punched my stomach, stopping me from going inside the shack. The others also tried to immobilize me. What the...
"Wait! I said, wait...! I was just trying to show you an example, okay? So stop it!"
After calming the three down, I brushed off the dust on my clothes. My stomach still hurt, but it was okay. I managed to make them feel the severity of this situation, especially the phone addict. She even put her phone down. Valentino? Valentino was terrified. Maybe it was too much?
"...See? Our minds can be controlled...or, to be specific, our memories can be altered in a second. We don't know her capabilities yet. That's why we need another plan, a plan to slow Mary down."
The three of them nodded.
"So...I get what you're saying. But I still don't get what we can do against that thing. It doesn't have a real physical body. Should I call an exorcist or something? I have the number of the local priest, and..."
"We don't need an exorcist, and I doubt he'd help even if he's here, since he'd most likely also get influenced by Mary in an instant. Besides, even things without physical bodies can be faced. Don't you remember? Last time in the convenience store. That time our enemy was literally the embodiment of the fear and imagination we have for darkness. Like that, many anomalies actually don't have a physical form."
"That's...true."
Like that time when I suffered from the 'rules.' And when time collapsed after Dipper and Mabel's time travel. They all were...anomalies, but they didn't have a body. Compared to them, this situation was...actually better since even in this state, we do have a certain target, Mary.
"Come on. Ray probably thought of something, right?"
"I...did."
Feeling some pressure, I tapped my notepad a few times, organizing my thoughts.
"...It's nothing so specific, and I am not sure if this would work or not. But I used this method... from time to time. And it worked back then."
"Which is...?"
I explained when I faced the 'Echo' in the woods and how I managed not to get attacked by it.
"I didn't say a thing and...tried my best to act under the rules of the story. And it worked. Through this experience, I learned that most anomalies have something to do with stories. Whether it's breaking the story or using the story."
"...But you burned that thing to death. I don't see how that relates to stories at.."
"Shh. Yes, I know. Anyways. What I'm suggesting is that...we're going to use this method. But in a different way. This method I mean is...being a part of the story. Mary is pretending to be our friend, and she's trying to alter everyone's memories to make it convincing."
"...So?"
"So we use it against her, by acting alongside it but change the situation one by one."
What I meant was simple. If Mary wants us as our friends, we're going to act alongside her. But at the same time, we'll manipulate her into making her 'memories' have no causality at all.
"We're going to push her to the limits. So that it's a pain for her to even say that she's our friend."
The three of them still looked confused.
"What do you mean exactly? Come on, explain it properly!"
"Simply said, we're going to make fake situations for Mary to react. Her memory manipulation works when we question her. If we ask Mabel, for instance, where is Mary right now, she'd say something like 'She's upstairs' or 'She's outside.' But what if we ask her other things, like...'What happened to Mary? I heard her scream.'? How would Mary manipulate Mabel's memory in those cases?"
Now the three all nodded. They seemed to understand what I was talking about.
"But dude."
Wendy suddenly raised her hand and asked.
"What if she's really...alive? If we try to manipulate people's memories about Mary...won't it affect the real Mary?"
"Don't worry. This...Mary is probably fake. When we clipped the doppelganger of me, who was pretending to be me, it didn't hurt me or anything, right? Besides, this Mary is definitely not that Mary. We asked people what they remembered about Mary, and they remembered her differently from...the real Mary. So it's fine."
"Wendy, girl...Didn't you say that she was a psychopath? Why do you even care?"
Wendy just fell silent at Valentino's following question and looked away. She then mumbled quietly.
"I...just kind of doubted her as the criminal. And as I said before, there's no real evidence. It was just...a conspiracy that I had. Besides, except for that animal part, she was a sweet girl."
"You didn't say that before when you told me and Robbie that story."
"Yeah right. You told me that she cut the rope...or something. And killed a bunch of people."
Wendy made a frustrated groan and a sigh at Tambry and Valentino's comments.
"That...That was just...another conspiracy I made, just to make things scary. Yes, some people did die because of an accident, but how can a small girl saw off three ropes used to hold adult men?"
"So it did happen, right? All of that? Killing rabbits, the lizards..."
Wendy nodded again, reluctantly. And Valentino seemed to be scared as hell.
"Come on, Wendy. Like I said before, this Mary anomaly is probably not the real Mary. So let's leave the worries aside and start our plans, okay?"
"...Fine. But we're not going to...bully this anomaly, right?"
"No, no...no..."
...Bullying? Oh, I hate bullying. Of course not. We're just...
"...Going to make her dead."
"Hm? Excuse me, sir? Is something...bad happening?"
"Huh? What's the matter?"
Stan quickly ran into the museum at the call of a tourist. The tourist was pointing at the corner of the museum where the photo of Mary (We printed it out from my photo album's picture that had me and Mary in it) was placed. Around it, many Post-its were there, each containing a message.
-goodbye, Mary.
-We miss you.
-Please come back, Mary...
"Did someone die?"
We were quietly looking at Stan's reaction, hiding behind the statue of the 'Bearman.'
Stan looked at it with a confused look, and...
"Ah! This is...a tribute. To...our former worker, Mary. You see, she went to study abroad. So the other workers made this for her memory. But she's coming back because for some reason she canceled going abroad. I...heard she's coming back about 3 hours later."
"Oh! I see."
...Okay, this is not good.
"...she's coming?"
"What the..."
It is...not wrong. The quotes we wrote are messages that miss someone who's far away...and that doesn't necessarily mean that someone is dead.
"So this is how she manipulates memories? Whoa. Scary."
"That's not what's important, Tambry. Stan said that Mary is...coming. Like literally."
"Wait."
Wendy halted my attempt to tear another page from the notepad.
"Why...should we be so desperate to stop her? Is it really that bad, having Mary as our friend? She didn't do any harm."
"...I thought you'd understand better than them, Wendy. I literally told you..."
I whispered in Wendy's ear.
"Remember. Most anomalies are under the control of Bill Cipher."
"..."
"If Mary becomes our 'friend', that means that Bill gets a spy who can see us and influence us."
"...Oh..."
"She can alter our memories and make us fight against each other, sabotage my checkpoint, and more. This is dangerous from a bigger perspective. And even worse, we won't be able to find out ever again that she's the spy because our memories and even reality will be altered to show that she was our friend and comrade from the beginning."
Our enemy, Bill...was not just trying to destroy me physically, but now he was attempting to make me unable to get any help by attacking my social relationships.
"If you understood...just stay quiet for this. Okay? Wendy, I get that. She was your friend and all. But Bill doesn't care. He will use anything to stop me and kill whatever bothers him."
"I...understand."
"Good."
I retrieved my pen and jotted down a single message on the notepad.
'We're sorry for the tragic loss of your parents, Mary. It'd be hard to do your parents' funeral.'
"This will stop her from coming near us...for a day, I guess."
"..."
Wendy didn't say anything. I placed the paper on the tribute. And, if I'm correct...this will buy us some time. Since I gave this false information that Mary's parents are dead and Mary needs to organize a funeral, she won't be able to create other 'reasons' to come to the shack.
"Wendy! Ray! Soos!"
Stan suddenly called us all, and we walked towards his office. Valentino and Tambry were left behind, and the three of us stood there while Stan gazed out the window with sad eyes.
"...Sad news. Mary's parents passed away."
"Oh...Oh no...!"
Soos started to cry as if he had lost his own parents. Stan patted Soos on the head.
"Yes, Yes. I know. Both were good people...Mary is currently busy handling her business with her parent's death. That's why she canceled studying abroad. But since she won't be here, you three need to take over the time Mary used to work."
"...So Mary isn't coming today?"
"Yes. She said that she'll still come here tomorrow."
"How did you talk to her?"
"She messaged me."
Stan showed me his phone, displaying the screen of Mary messaging Stan.
[Mary: Mr. Pines, I'm sorry. I don't think I'll be able to be there today. My parents...fell to their deaths on a mountain.]
[Don't worry, kid. Take your time. : Stan Pines]
[Mary: I'll still be there tomorrow.]
Wait, what?
"...She can think...? Rationally?"
This was... extraordinary. In most cases, anomalies weren't rational, especially if there was no physical form.
After being dismissed, I held my phone and searched for Mary's number. And there it was.
Mary [(666) 666-6666]
"...What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to call her. If she has rational thinking, maybe it'll be possible to find out more about her."
Wendy, Tambry, and Valentino stood there anxiously as I made the phone call. All these confusing situations were probably giving them a lot of stress... But I have to do this.
[Drr... Drrr... Drrrrr...Beep.]
"...She answered the phone...!"
Valentino said with a terrified voice. I silenced him and listened carefully. No. No voice was coming out, but...
[Psshkk-Brrr...!]
A sound... of a bus door opening. The loud sound of the engine...
[Our bus will be arriving at 'Gravity Falls' 30 minutes later.]
...30 minutes later. Gravity Falls...?
"...She's coming."
"Why?! We just made sure that she won't come until tomorrow?!"
...No.
We made sure that she didn't come to the 'Mystery Shack.' Not to Gravity Falls itself.
[-Beep...]
The phone call ended. And immediately after that, messages came. From Mary.
[Mary: Sorry. I can't speak right now. I think I can speak after thirty minutes. My voice isn't ready.]
'...Does she get more real as time passes?'
I quickly answered her.
[What the hell are you?]
And again, as if a program was typing, an answer came.
[Mary: It's me, Mary! We used to be rivals during elementary school, don't you remember?]
"...Rivals."
Mother told me this story, even though it doesn't make any sense. Wendy said that she had been friends with Mary since elementary school. That means that if Mary was somehow my rival... the only possible time is during the first spring when I turned seven since Korea starts its semester in spring, but Oregon starts its semester in fall.
That just doesn't make any sense, though.
After my questioning, Mary responded almost immediately.
[Mary: You're mean.]
"...Let's see how long you can pretend like this."
"What... I don't understand. This thing can type? Why? How?"
While Valentino was questioning again and again about the same thing, I thought to myself. I have to point out the weird parts of her logic...
"Valentino, Tambry. How do the people around you remember the relationship between you and Mary?"
"...A SNS Friend. Since fifth grade."
"Band member since middle school. And also was an elementary school friend, before I transferred to Gravity Falls Elementary."
"Good."
[You said that you were rivals with me during elementary, right? But My elementary school was in Korea. How can you explain that?]
[Mary: I transferred, don't you remember?]
"...Transferred? When did she transfer?"
"I think she's trying to solve all that illogical part that she was friends with all of us all at once... by just saying that she transferred a lot."
I kept on attacking the illogical statements that Mary made, by typing more weird parts in her story. But the results didn't change.
[So. According to you, you were in Korea for the first semester of Elementary school, since Korea starts the semester in Spring, and then after that, you moved to Gravity Falls and went to Valentino's Elementary School, then transferred again to Gravity Falls Elementary. Just in one year?]
[Mary: Yeah, I did. And I also chatted with Tambry by the internet, and went abroad too...]
"...Man, she's skin's thicker than the elephant."
We were tired of this anomaly's bright nonsense. I needed... a solution. A faster solution. Something straight to the point...
[You're an anomaly, Mary. A weird, man-killing, freak. Why did he send you? For what purpose? And what the heck are you trying to do?]
"...Who's he?"
"You don't have to know, Valentino. Unless you want your life to be more weird like this."
"..."
Mary's answer came straight away.
-Ding!
[Mary: No...I am the real Mary. :( ]
I ignored her and kept asking her questions. The questions that I always wanted answers to.
[Where the hell is the daemon?]
[What the heck does it want from me?]
[What are you guys? An actual demon from those religions? A ghost? Were you even humans in the beginning?]
-Ding!
[Mary: Ray, If you keep asking weird questions, I'm going to be mad.]
[Be mad or whatever. Just answer the questions.]
[Mary: I don't know what you're talking about.]
[Come on. You came to the shack this morning, there's your sign on the attendance chart. You suddenly go get some air, and the next moment you suddenly go abroad. Does that make any sense to you?]
[Mary: In the morning I did come to the shack to take some stuff I left there, and went for the flight during noon. Then my parents died, so I'm canceling the flight and coming back. And because I need to take care of the bodies, I'm coming back to the shack tomorrow.]
...Wow.
It feels like talking to Chat GPT in my original world. That A.I also used to make up stuff just to make things seem to make sense. No logic works against this thing, so it's even worse.
"...Come on, Ray. don't be mad."
"Why are we keep chatting with this freak anyways? It's creeping me out."
Wendy and Tambry chimed in. I let down my frustration and tried to turn off the phone. Rather than doing this meaningless loop, I should rather wait unstressed, and prepare to meet that counselor...
But again, Mary sent another message.
-Ding!
[Mary: I told Stan that I'd go to the shack tomorrow, but... we're still friends. Let's see after you finish your shift. Bring Wendy, Robbie, And Tambry too.]
[...Get lost. I'm not seeing you.]
-Ding!
[Mary: Why? Let's play.]
[Let's play.]
[Let's play.]
[Let's play.]
[Let's play.]
[I'm right behind you guys.]
All four of us instantly looked back.
-Ding!
[Mary: Sorry! It was a joke. But really. I'm almost back to the falls. Meet me near the shack.]
Mary was coming. And we had to get out of this place. Quickly.