Chapter 10: The Opening

After all the work they had, Ford and his assistants were ready to test their portal. "I've brought the test dummy." Maddie excitedly said.

"And I've brought the camera!" Jack added.

"Camera?" Ford asked in confusion.

"Of course, Dr. Pines." Jack said like it's obvious. "Even if I went there myself as I wanted to until Maddie vetoed the idea, the scientific community wouldn't take our word for what we see on the other side of the portal. They can be even more skeptic that Maddie with her refusal to believe you and Stanley Pines are twins instead of the same person."

"Point taken, Jack." Ford commented while mentally regretting not having thought about that himself. They then placed themselves behind the safety fence Maddie suggested placing on the line that indicated the minimum distance they had to keep from the portal (another thing Ford wished he had thought about) and activated the portal. The dummy and the camera were sucked into another dimension. A few minutes later, they brought it back and watched the video.

What I saw there horrified me to the point I briefly entertained the thought about inventing a memory-erasing device. The worst part was how my assistants reacted.

"Are those monsters planning to take over our world?" Maddie asked.

"Their pyramid-shaped leader sounds like Dr. Pines while overshadowed and that eye also reminds me of that occasion." Jack commented.

That made Maddie angrily glare at Ford. "Alright, Dr. Pines. Spill the beans and I'm not talking about you denying you're Stanley Pines."

Having no choice, Ford told Jack and Maddie about what he used to believe to be his "muse". "I thought he just wanted a genius to reach his potential."

"And you trusted something with your body?" Jack asked in horror. "I thought you were a genius."

"Was it this 'Cipher' creature that came up with the portable computer idea that made Fiddleford McGucket and 'your brother' rich?" Maddie asked.

"Fiddleford came up with the idea on his own." Ford indignantly answered. "He's too superstitious to trust the supernatural."

"A wise decision on his part." Maddie replied. "Another one is disassembling the portal so those monsters won't be able to come."

MY MUSE WAS A MONSTER

It was all a lie. Bill Cipher wanted to take over our world. My assistants and I disassembled the portal but we still aren't safe from danger. He still can enter my mind 'until the end of time'. Out of fear he'll make me reassemble the portal, I've entrusted my assistants with keeping my third Journal until I find something at those caves that neutralizes Bill Cipher for good.

"Dr. Pines, why don't we just destroy the journals or at least the entries about the portal?" Jack suggested as he and Maddie were about to enter his car.

"The Journals are the work of my life, Jack." Ford explained.

"No, Dr. Pines." Maddie disagreed. "Your shares of Stanco Enterprises are the work of your life."

"I am NOT Stanley Pines." Ford replied with a frown. A red car then appeared. "Stanley, what are you doing here?" Ford asked.

"Mom was worried because you didn't send news for months, brother." Stan explained.

"I'll call her, Stanley." Ford replied.

"Hey, who are they and why is she staring at me like that?" Stan asked as he noticed Maddie's shocked look.

"They're my… former assistants and Maddie here is shocked because she used to think we were the same person instead of twins." Ford explained.

"Didn't the extra fingers clue her?" Stan asked.

"She thought it was a computer effect for your ads, Stanley." Ford replied.

"Who knows what the future reserves us." Stan commented.

"I certainly didn't expect personal computers to actually sell that much." Ford said.

"Mr. Pines, would you like to see my inventions?" Jack eagerly offered. Unfortunately, some of them were ghost-related and Stan was freaked out.

"Jack, I told you my brother doesn't believe in the supernatural." Ford told Jack.

"The Jersey Devil is one thing but ghosts are another matter." Stan added. "Nice to see you again, brother."

Skip to the road

"Maddie, are we still going to open our ghost portal?" Jack asked.

"After we develop enough weapons to protect us, dear." Maddie answered to his joy.

THE END