Soos and Melody gave a friendly wave goodbye to Dipper and Mabel from the truck as the twins approached the door to Wendy's house. One quick knock later, the door opened and the lumberjill answered, clad in Dipper's old hat, her well-worn black wolf top, and a pair of old jeans. She invited them in with a warm, "Hey, guys! Glad you could make it!"

"We wouldn't miss this for anything, Wendy," Dipper said. "I've been looking forward to this since you told me about it last week."

"Me too," Mabel added. "Is it just us tonight, or...?"

"Nope - my friends are here," Wendy replied. "After I told them you were coming, we all agreed to start you off with some movies that are creepier and more suspenseful than they are gory. Robbie took a little convincing, though."

"No surprise there," Dipper snarked. "So, what are we watching?"

"I don't wanna spoil the surprise, dude," Wendy chuckled. "But I will tell you that I've got three movies lined up, and once midnight rolls around – and if you're feeling up to it – we break out the big guns."

"You hear that, Dipper? Get ready to screeeeeam," Mabel taunted as she wiggled her fingers in his face. He responded by waving her off with a confident grin and declaring, "Not gonna happen, Mabel. You're not winning that bet."

"Oh, we'll see about that, Sir Dipsalot. I'm ready to be scared. Are you?"

"Ab-so-lutely," he responded with a poke to Mabel's jack-o'-melon sweater.

"Well, you're on!" Mabel extended her hand, and Dipper gave her a firm, determined handshake as the trio entered the living room. Lee, Nate, Thompson, Tambry, and Robbie had staked their claim in front of the TV before the twins arrived; Tambry, Robbie and Nate were seated from left to right on the couch, while Lee and Thompson took up the two recliners on either side of the couch. Three large bowls of popcorn, six two-liter bottles of various flavors of Pitt, and assorted party-size bags of snacks were strewn around the floor and occupying the coffee table. The twins exchanged friendly greetings with everyone as Wendy grabbed another bowl and dumped a bag of popcorn into it, placing it on the floor between Dipper and Mabel as well as handing each of them a Styrofoam cup. They grabbed a handful of popcorn and began to snack alongside everyone else as Wendy asked, "Before we get started, I heard you two talking about a bet on the way in here. What's that about?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Mabel stood up and turned to face Wendy's friends, announcing, "How many times is my brother going to scream before the night is through? The over/under is set at 5! Place your bets, everyone!"

"I'll take the over on that one," Robbie said with a cocky grin. Dipper narrowed his eyes in irritation as Lee and Nate raised their hands and joined in on the over bet, with Lee saying, "Nothing against you, dude, but I've just got a feeling."

"Oh, that's great," Dipper groused. "Anybody else wanna vote against me?"

"Not really feeling that," Tambry replied with a wave of her hand. "Put me down for the under. I gotta throw some support your way."

"Me too," Wendy added.

"Me three," Thompson echoed. "I'd like to think that surviving everything that triangle guy did last year toughened Dipper up, so... yeah. Under bet for Thompson." Mabel marked down everyone's votes in her notepad and announced, "Betting is closed! We have three votes for over 5 screams, and three votes for under 5 screams! Wendy, time for movie number one!"

"Alright! First up: Treacherous!" She put the Blu-Ray into its player, hit the Main Menu icon when the trailers began, then selected Play Movie. As the film got underway, the sudden musical sting that accompanied the film's title screen made the twins jump just a little, a reaction that didn't go unnoticed.

"I saw that," Wendy cracked. "Jumping leads to screaming, Mabel!"

"We'll see about that!" The credits concluded and the movie played on, setting up its atmosphere with the son becoming comatose after a fall in the attic before the scares began to occur. The voices in the baby monitor were scary, but the loud "NOW!" led to another jump of fright from both twins. The figure standing behind the baby's crib led to gasps, but no screams. That would have to wait until the climax of the film's most famous scene: the first appearance of the red-faced demon. The mother's monologue had Dipper and Mabel leaning forward in suspense and fright, with both shooting each other worried looks as the scene progressed. After the actress said, "I can still see his face," the pregnant silence that ensued hung in the air like a dark cloud before some subtle clicking noises were heard... and then it happened. Dipper and Mabel screamed in terror and leapt into each other's arms, knocking their bowl of popcorn over and scattering kernels across the floor. A massive cheer rose up from Wendy and her friends, with Lee and Robbie breaking into applause as the collective cheer led to good-natured laughter. The twins both chuckled at their collective reaction to the scare as they tried to clean up the mess they'd made, with Wendy saying, "I'll get that later. Keep watching, guys."

And watch they did. There was plenty of jumping, plenty of gasping, and plenty of tense looks shared between the twins as the movie reached its conclusion. A conclusion that contained one last scare which got Dipper to yelp in fright when it occurred, much to his annoyance. Once the end credits began to roll, Wendy hit the stop button on her remote and declared, "That's one down, and two to go! If you guys can make it through these, I'll let you pick the last movie for the night. Cool?"

"Cool," Dipper replied. "I may have screamed twice, but don't get your hopes up for five! Not... gonna... happen!"

"I wouldn't get too cocky, dude," Nate warned. "Business is about to pick up!" He pulled a movie from Wendy's library, ejected the first disc, and put his pick into the player. "Get ready to be pulled to purgatory!" His declaration made sense, as that was the title of the film he'd picked. Pull Me To Purgatory led Dipper and Mabel on a journey through three days of demonic shenanigans, with one scare leaving its mark in a big way. Early in the movie, the actress who had been cursed headed to a seer's shop and had her palm read, and the movie began to ratchet up the tension as the film cut between the actress, the seer, the actor playing her boyfriend, a shot of a mirror cracking, and various other closeups. Dipper steeled himself for the inevitable... and then it happened. An ear-piercing roar accompanied by the visual of a demon lunging at the screen led to another pair of terrified screams as Dipper and Mabel shielded their eyes from the frightening visual. Mabel let out an embarrassed giggle as Dipper cracked, "All that talk, yet here you are screaming right alongside me. How the turn tables!"

"Hey, that was a darn good scare," Mabel argued. "Remember, though: we're keeping track of your screaming, not mine. You're at three so far!"

"Thanks for the reminder," Dipper grumbled as the movie played on. Though it was indeed scary, the oddball campiness of the lead actress' recurring nightmares of the dead Romanian woman attacking her led to some genuine laughs, and the biggest moment of all in that regard involved an anvil. When that happened, the entire room descended into laughter, but the loudest laughs came from the twins. Dipper had his hands wrapped around his chest and Mabel laid flat on her back as she surrendered to the ridiculousness of the effects; they laughed so long and so hard that Wendy had to pause the movie and wait for them to calm down. Once they had caught their breath and returned to normal, Mabel gave Wendy a thumbs up and the movie played on once again. They let out a sigh of relief as the movie reached its end, with a happy ending all but assured... until the main character's boyfriend pulled out the envelope containing the cursed button. That earned a devastated "Oh no" from Mabel and an audible gasp from Dipper as the rug was ripped out from under them, with the heroine being dragged into the fire and the movie just...ending. Once the credits began to roll, Wendy hit the stop button and asked, "So, what'd you think?"

"Great movie, but that ending...woof," Mabel replied. "All that work for nothin'!"

"Yeah, that twist at the end was nasty... in a good way," Dipper added.

"That's the art of the cruel twist ending, dude," Lee said. "If a horror movie's gonna have a twist at the end, odds are that it'll be one just like this. See also: Creepy, Ghosts Among Us, The Circle..."

"Speaking of which," Thompson said as he pulled the DVD of the latter film from the shelf. "You guys ready for this one?"

"Born ready, dude," Dipper said.

"Bring it on," Mabel boasted as she pounded her fist into her palm. Thompson ejected the previous movie, but when he opened the DVD case for his selection, Lee exclaimed, "Thompson, wait!"

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, dude. I mean, The Circle is a fine enough horror movie, but I'm jonesin' for something a little more...terrifying. And besides, Dipper and Mabel have more than proven themselves here tonight, right?"

A round of collective agreements and nods answered his question. "And I say it's only fair they pick a movie that'll scare the pants off us! Who's with me?" Thompson shrugged and closed the case as he joined his friends in a chant of "Pick that movie! Pick that movie!" Dipper glanced over at Mabel, then over at Wendy, who motioned towards the nearby DVD shelf and said, "Go for it, dudes." With her blessing, the twins began to peruse the selections, and while The Object and The Insect seemed like fine choices, there was one Blu-Ray on the shelf that caught their attention. When Mabel pulled it out to get a better look at the cover, it resulted in a simultaneous raise of the eyebrows between brother and sister. The cover consisted of an older woman, likely the mother, hovering above a young girl, and only their heads were visible. "What do you think, Mabel?"

"I think it looks creepy," she replied. "And that's what I'm here for!"

"You and me both. Prepare to lose that bet!"

"Oh, we'll see," Mabel said with a devious grin. Dipper paid her no mind as he tapped Wendy on the shoulder and asked, "How about this one?" As he held out the Blu-Ray, Wendy's smile faded into a look of concern as she glanced back at her friends, and it didn't take long for them to echo her sentiment as they got a look at it too. Even Robbie seemed perturbed. "Family Secrets? Are you sure about this one?"

"Hey, I'm okay with it if my bro is," Mabel declared. "My spook-o-meter is sitting at around a 7 right now, and I'm lookin' to get it to 10! This movie looks like it'll do the trick just fine!"

"Well, take it from me, Mabel: this movie is a 20," Robbie said. "It was almost too much for me, and that's saying something." Dipper couldn't help but chuckle at his former enemy's warning as he said, "Well, I'm sold now, Robbie. If this movie freaked you out, just imagine how bad it'll freak us out!"

"Yeah!"

"No, guys, you don't understand," Wendy argued. "The last thing I wanna be is a buzzkill, especially on Summerween, but trust me: you two do not want to watch this movie. There's... something that happens early on that gave me nightmares for weeks." Her warning fell on deaf ears as Dipper responded with an incredulous, "Wendy... you know that makes us want to watch it even more, right?"

"It won't be a problem," Mabel insisted. "If we can beat an evil triangle, we can handle a movie." Wendy rubbed the back of her neck with her free hand and said, "I admire your optimism, but I'm not gonna do anything unless Dipper says it's okay."

"It's okay, Wendy," Dipper insisted with a smile. "And if the movie gets to be too much, we'll let you know, and you can turn it off." He extended his hand to hers and said, "Let's shake on it." She glanced back at her friends for a moment before turning back to face Dipper, and his warm, confident smile calmed her nerves as she took his hand in hers and gave him a firm handshake. The deal, and the bets, were on as Dipper and Mabel returned to their seats and Nate put the Blu-Ray into the player. Wendy clicked "Play Movie," and it began in earnest with an obituary leading into a funeral. The creepy guy with the unnatural grin just staring at the daughter sent a chill of unease down the twins' spines, and they shared a concerned glance before returning to the movie. What started off as creepy, however, quickly became frightening as the mother turned off the lights in her studio and noticed what appeared to be the ghost of her mother just... standing there. No loud orchestral sting, no noises, nothing. Dipper and Mabel let out a small gasp at the scene before it switched to a scene at the daughter's school. Everything played out as normal until the bird flew into the window, which made Dipper scream for the fourth time, a move that irritated him to no end as Mabel marked down another tally on her notepad with a smug grin. That grin became a grimace just as fast as the daughter cut the head off the now-dead bird with a pair of scissors, and a yell of "Oh, GROSS!" echoed through the living room as Mabel shielded her eyes.

Wendy and her friends laughed to break the tension, and the movie played on. The older brother had been tasked with bringing his sister to the party he was attending, and a brief driving shot ended with a close-up of a telephone pole that had something carved into it.

"Hey, I think that's the same as the necklace her mom was wearing," Dipper mused.

"Good eye, bro-bro. I saw that too," Mabel replied. He nodded at her and they continued watching as the sister ate some brownies while her brother got high in a nearby bedroom.

"Recipe for disaster," Dipper muttered.

When the sister entered the bedroom saying it was hard to breathe, that recipe was put into the metaphorical oven as Dipper's eyes widened in concern and fright. Mabel reacted much the same way and reached across the way with her right hand. She took Dipper's left hand in hers and held on as the onscreen brother and sister raced towards the hospital. The pair were riveted to the screen as the sister rolled the passenger window down and stuck her head out to get some air; Mabel tightened her grip on Dipper's hand, and they shared a worried glance as the scene played on. The car's headlights caught a dead deer lying in the middle of the road, and the brother swerved to avoid it.

And then... it happened.

The sickening sound of a human skull meeting a wooden pole rang through Wendy's living room, and it didn't take long before it was answered by a pair of loud, shocked screams. The first was born from pure terror as Mabel covered her face with her hands, leaving her terror-stricken eyes to do the talking for her. Dipper's scream, on the other hand, was less of a scream and more of a loud, shocked gasp before his jaw hung slack and his eyes widened in disbelief and horror. Those same eyes began to glisten as the ugly scene played out, leading to the inevitable discovery of the dead body in the backseat. The pained screams of the movie's lead actress bored into Dipper's brain as he sat rooted to his spot on the carpet, unable to turn away from the screen. When the severed head appeared a few seconds later, Mabel's yelp of fright jarred him out of his daze as he grimaced and covered his eyes with his right arm before turning away in the same direction. The remote was in Wendy's hand and the pause button pressed - after the movie had cut to the next scene; there was no way she was gonna pause with a severed head taking up the whole screen - in a split second as she asked, "Dipper, are you okay?"

"F... fine," he stammered. "You can... un-pause the movie." When Wendy did so, however, Dipper wished she hadn't. The movie lingered on the mother's agonizing wails of grief for what seemed like hours as its deliberate pace hammered the tragedy of what had just occurred even further home. When it was finally over, Dipper stood up, took a deep, shaky breath, and headed to the bathroom. Wendy paused the movie once again and followed him, standing next to the door after he shut it. Inside the bathroom, Dipper braced himself against the sink, put his head down, and said to himself, "It's just a movie. Calm down, man. It's just a movie. You can do this." He raised his head and stared into the mirror, repeating his mantra and taking a series of deep breaths. His calming strategy seemed to be working, but when he closed his eyes to take another breath, the severed head from the movie appeared once again in his mind's eye. To his horror, however, it wasn't the daughter's head.

It was Mabel's.

Dipper's imagination began to run wild as he pictured himself behind the wheel of that car... driving while impaired... Mabel rolling down the window and sticking her head out to get some air... and then the pole. His spine turned to ice and his heart began to pound as he shut his eyes once again, and when he did, the same horrible tricks his mind had been playing on him resumed. On the other side of the door, Wendy had been joined by an equally concerned Mabel, who asked, "Hey Dipper... are you okay in there? Do you want us to come in?"

"N... no, Mabel," he replied. "I want you to come in." She shared a worried glance with Wendy before she turned the knob and entered the bathroom, bracing herself for what awaited. She had barely stepped onto the tile when Dipper ran forward and wrapped her in a massive embrace, holding onto his sister as if his life depended on it. There was love in the embrace for sure – Mabel could feel that – but when she hugged him back, she could feel Dipper's entire body shuddering, as well as his heart hammering in his chest. She turned to look at Wendy and shook her head, a gesture that the lumberjill acknowledged as she closed the bathroom door. Once the twins were alone, Mabel once again asked, "Are you okay, bro?"

"No. No, I'm not," Dipper choked out. "But now that you're here..." He squeezed her tight as he spoke, and Mabel's face was full of concern as she asked, "That scene got to you too, huh?"

"Got to me? Odds are it'll never leave me," Dipper said. "I thought about it being me behind the wheel and... you in the backseat... and..."

"Oh my God..." Now it was Mabel's turn to squeeze him tight. "Dipper... it's okay. You're okay. I'm okay. Everything's okay. Okay?" Her turn of phrase led to a relieved chuckle from her brother, who replied, "Okay." The twins broke the hug with a customary "PAT. PAT." before they opened the bathroom door, revealing a concerned Wendy. "You guys cool?"

"As cucumbers," Mabel replied with a relieved smile.

"I'm better now... mostly," Dipper said. "Robbie wasn't kidding, and neither were you. That was... that was wrong."

"Like I said: weeks, dude," Wendy replied.

"Methinks, we bit off more than we could chew," Mabel said as she rubbed the back of her neck. "I don't wanna be a party pooper, but I don't think I can watch any more of that movie."

"That goes double for me," Dipper added. "Fighting interdimensional psychos is one thing, but... I mean, I'm a brother, and..." His voice trailed off as he pulled Wendy's old toque down over his eyes and bowed his head, but he looked back up when he felt the lumberjill's hand on his shoulder.

"I get it, Dip. And I don't blame you if you wanna throw in the towel either." Dipper pulled Mabel close, smiled, and said, "Thanks, Wendy."

"No problem. You guys wanna go back to the Shack?"

"Yeah," Dipper sighed. "As much as we hate to cut and run..." Mabel nodded and added, "We won't be spoiling anything if we do leave, will we?"

"Of course not. You want me to call Soos and have him pick you up?"

"Nah, it's okay. It's not that far to the Shack from here," Mabel said. "A quick walk will soothe our jangled nerves." Dipper nodded in agreement, and after saying goodbye to Wendy and her friends, the twins headed out into the night. The streetlights illuminated the town from overhead and an abundance of jack-o'-melons bathed the porches, steps, and lawns they sat on in a strawberry-banana glow as Dipper and Mabel headed into the town square. The statue of Nathaniel Northwest was illuminated from below by a quartet of small spotlights, and the statue itself was festooned with the familiar trench coat, tall hat, and smiley face sticker of the Summerween Trickster. Mabel gave it a knowing nod and observed, "Check it out, Dipper. A remembrance of Summerween past."

"Heh... yeah..." Dipper mumbled. Mabel's smile faded ever so slightly as she glanced back at her brother, and when she did, she stopped dead in her tracks. Whatever confidence Dipper might have had while they were talking to Wendy had long since dissipated and was replaced with a haunted sadness. His head was bowed and had remained bowed ever since they left Wendy's house. He was walking like a condemned man, shuffling his feet in a repetitive chorus of alternating scrapes along the ground. Mabel was filled with concern and worry as she put her hand on Dipper's shoulder and asked, "Bro... tell me the truth. Is that movie still bothering you?"

"N... no! Why would it still be bothering me? I talked it over with Wendy, and everything's fine! You saw it; you were there!" Dipper's speech was almost manic, and his voice cracked not just from puberty but from emotion as he continued to rant. "Why would a movie that has a brother accidentally killing his sister bother me?! We've survived worse! I'd figure out a way to get you back! I'd find you, and I'd bring you back with my bare hands! There's no way I'd let something like that stop me! Absolutely NO WAY!"

Mabel could feel her heart breaking as Dipper sank further into his breakdown, and she knew that there was only one thing she could do to calm him. She waited until he paused to take a breath, and when he did, she wrapped her arms around him with a firm, loving grip. Her emergency hug took Dipper by surprise, and it didn't take long for him to echo her embrace with one of his own.

"Dipper, it's okay," Mabel assured him. "You don't need to beat yourself up. I'm here. I've been here with you since the day we were born, and I'll be there with you even after we grow up and have families of our own."

"But what if you're not? What if something happens to you... to me? If I lost you, I don't know what I would do..."

"You said it yourself, bro-bro: you'd find me. Just like Grunkle Stan found Grunkle Ford, and just like you found me in Mabel Land." Dipper looked at her with tears in his eyes as Mabel continued: "I know you, Dipper Pines. You wouldn't let a dumb ol' movie shake your confidence, no matter how nasty it was. You're brave, you're smart, but most of all..." She reached into one of her sweater pockets and pulled out a foil sticker, placing it on the front of Dipper's toque. The quote on the sticker was the same thing she said to him next: "You're my number one brother."

A wobbly, grateful smile appeared on Dipper's face as he blinked back his tears. "You and your stickers, Mabel: always finding the right things to say. I really, really needed that."

"That's what I'm here for," she replied with a brace-filled smile of her own. "Let's go home." After a quick shortcut via the town hall's common ground, the familiar dirt road leading to the Mystery Shack appeared before them. Soos' UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT sign still hung high on a nearby tree, illuminated by the flashlight on Dipper's cell phone as the twins returned to their summer home. It wasn't long before they were back on the front porch, and just as they were about to go inside, an animal sitting on a log caught Mabel's eye. She tapped Dipper on his shoulder and asked, "Call me crazy, but... isn't that the same squirrel from before?"

"Let me see." Dipper shined the light on the small woodland creature, which caught its attention and made it focus on the twins. After a round of chittering, it jumped off the log and ran back into the woods. "It might've been, but squirrels are squirrels. You see one, you've seen 'em all."

"True dat." They entered the Shack and headed upstairs, stopping to brush their teeth before going to the attic and changing into their sleepwear. As they climbed into their respective beds, Mabel asked, "You gonna be okay tonight, Dipper?"

"Absolutely," he replied. "Thanks again, Mabel. For everything."

She smiled and turned off the light. "Goodnight, Dipper."

"Goodnight, Mabel." The twins closed their eyes and drifted off to sleep, and as they did, the squirrel she had noticed before crept back to the same log it had sat on before, letting out a few chitters before it fell silent. The animal craned its neck towards the starry night sky, looking up as far as it could. And then it looked even further still, higher and higher until its head began to detach from its body, eventually severing completely and falling into the grass. The now-headless body of the animal began to change from that of a squirrel to something stranger as it approached the door to the Mystery Shack, growing and changing its shape with every step. It was walking on two legs when it climbed onto the porch, and it stopped to feel around for the front door. The creature's arms shapeshifted from squirrel to human, allowing it to feel for, and find, the doorknob.

Here I come.

The creature opened the door and entered, shutting it behind them as it headed for the attic stairs.