Rick takes another swig of beer, as music pumps from the speakers on the wall.

“Sweet setup, Amy!” he comments, raising his beer towards her.

“Thanks! My brother set up the system last week” she replies. While normally a blonde, Amy is currently sporting a long mane of reddish-orange hair. Her clothes are also unusual. Instead of her typical skinny jeans and rock band t-shirt, she’s wearing a purple dress that extends to her mid-thigh, as well as a matching headband.

Likewise, her boyfriend Greg is wearing a clearly fake blonde hairpiece, a white sweater over a blue button-down shirt, and a pair of bell-bottom jeans.

Rick and the brunette Hannah round out most of the remainder of the iconic Mystery Inc. gang, their chosen group Halloween costume this year.

Rick - better known for the evening as “Shaggy” - plays a Reverse card and playfully jeers “Suck on that, Velma!”

Hannah lets out a loud sigh and glances over at “Daphne”. “He really is no fun to play games with” she says, with a laugh.

The group has all been close friends for years, and over that time, Uno had always remained their chosen pre-party drinking game.

Greg looks at his watch. “Still got another hour or two to kill before heading to Callahan’s” he notes. “Callie said she’s running late?”

Callahan’s, of course, was their favourite bar, which also happened to host an epic Halloween party every year. The costume contest offered the best prizes around, and the group of friends had developed a some serious rivalries over the years. Rick, due to his highly competitive nature, had become particularly invested in making sure their group came out on top.

Hannah nods. “Yeah, ’Scooby’ will be meeting us there” she says with a chuckle. “I told her to be there no later than nine o’clock sharp.”

There’s a knock on the door. Amy frowns “I wonder who that could be. Rick, you’re closest. Do you mind?”

“Nah, I got it” Rick replies, taking another long drink from his bottle.

He gets up and walks over to the door of the spacious townhouse, and opens it.

He involuntarily jumps in fright at seeing the unexpected visitor. An elderly woman with long, grey hair gazes at him with dark - almost black - eyes. Her wrinkled skin looks a hundred years old, and her teeth are crooked and stained.

“Aaaa…I mean, hello, ma’am. How…can I help you?” He asks, managing to recover.

With a gravely, monotone voice she replies “The music. My…husband…and I are trying to…focus. Would you…turn it down?”

She finishes the sentence with a sinister, thin-lipped smile.

Jesus, this woman looks like she just crawled out of a grave, Rick thinks.

“Oh…uh…y-yeah, sorry” Rick stammers.

The woman gives him a long, creepy stare before turning around and lumbering back down the staircase, her hand on the railing.

“Fuck me” Rick whispers, closing the door.

He returns to the group and says “Holy shit, Amy! Some crazy old hag just asked us to turn down the music. And I, for one, am going to do whatever the hell she wants.” He reaches out and turns the volume knob down a few notches.

Amy sighs. “Ugh, that’s my new neighbour. She’s kind of creepy, right?”

“Uh…yeah! She scared the crap out of me.”

Hannah giggles and pokes his arm. “Did that scare you, too?” She teases.

“Hey, you didn’t see her! Next time, you get the door.”

Sure enough, ten minutes later, there’s another knock.

“Yeah…fuck that. Hannah, you’re up” Rick states.

She giggles and stands. “Fine, coward.”

She opens the door and Rick tenses, but he overhears what sounds like a pleasant conversation between Hannah and another woman. She returns moments later and drops a box on the table.

“Package for you, Amy” she states, grinning at Rick. “The delivery girl was cute, too. Don’t you have a thing for blondes, Rick? Seems like a missed opportunity.”

“Damn it” Rick says. “Just my luck, I get the hag.”

Greg laughs. “You should have asked her out!”

Rick just gives him the middle finger.

Ten minutes later, there’s another knock on the door.

“What the hell, Amy? You sure have a busy neighbourhood. These people know that actual Halloween is tomorrow, right?” Rick says.

She just laughs. “Maybe it’s blondie with another package…” she jests.

Rick appears to weigh the pros and cons. Feeling the effects of the alcohol, he immaturely jokes “I’ll give her a package…” while getting up to answer the door.

“How may I help y- “ he begins, as his heart leaps into his throat.

Standing in front of him is a blonde woman wearing a delivery uniform, but there is definitely something…off about her. Her hair is all tangled, and she’s staring at him with a chilling, almost demonic, gaze with a pair of dark eyes.

“Your neighbour would like me to ask you to turn the music down” she hisses in a low monotone.

“Jesus…what…uh…okay, thank you for telling us…” Rick stammers.

She stares at him for a few more uncomfortable moments with her dead, blank expression. Then, she turns around and ambles unsteadily down the stairs towards the street.

Rick slams and locks the door, then walks back into the living area.

“Fucking hell, Hannah! I thought you said she was cute!” He exclaims.

Hannah looks confused. “She was! Totally” she replies.

“I think you need to get your eyes checked” Rick retorts. “She looked like a damn psycho.”

Greg and Amy both laugh.

“Plus” Rick continues “She asked us to turn the music down. Said your neighbour told her to pass that along.”

Amy stops laughing. “What the fuck? That hag is still complaining?” She fumes. “That’s it, I’m going over there to give her a piece of my mind.”

Greg, apparently emboldened by the alcohol, agrees. “Yeah, I’ll go with you, babe. From what you told me, this woman is super rude.”

“Well, screw that, I’m staying here with Hannah” Rick states.

Greg and Amy leave to go chat with the unfriendly neighbour, while Rick and Hannah continue to play cards.

After ten minutes, Hannah looks at him with a concerned expression.

“It’s been a while…do you think they’re arguing?” She asks.

Rick frowns. “Maybe. But, I mean, what’s the worst that could happen? Even skinny Greg looks like he could take on that old hag.”

She chuckles, but then gets serious again. “I think we should go check on them.”

Rick sighs. “Okay…fine.”

The two of them set their beers on the table and exit through the front door. After a short stroll down the sidewalk, they approach the large, single-story house next door. It appears to be in a state of disrepair, with hanging shingles and a crooked bannister.

Their footsteps creak on the wooden porch, and the door appears to be slightly ajar.

“Hey, Greg? Amy?” Rick calls out.

“What the hell?” Hannah asks worriedly. “Where are they?”

Rick uses his finger to nudge open the door. “Hello!” He calls again softly, with no response.

He takes a step inside. The place is dark, and appears almost empty, with no furniture at all in sight.

Hannah follows close behind him, as they take a few cautious steps into the house. A light flickers in the room just off of the main space, and they approach quietly.

“Maybe we shouldn’t be in here” Hannah whispers, clutching his arm.

Suddenly, the front door closes behind them with a solid click. They both jump, and Hannah rushes over to try the knob.

“Jesus Christ, it’s locked!” She exclaims.

Rick can feel his heart hammering in his chest. “Holy shit” he says, panicking.

As their eyes begin to adjust to the low light, they notice that the walls are anything but bare. A cascading series of strange, black symbols and drawings cover almost the entire surface area of the room.

Hannah lets out a soft gasp. “Oh my God. These look, like, fucking…Satanic!”

Rick starts to peek into the room with the flickering light. His breath catches again when he spots what looks like a lock of blonde hair lying on the floor.

With Hannah right behind him, he peers further inside.

He stiffens and lets out a sharp, horrified gasp as he sees more of the object on the floor.

What looks to be the appalling, empty skin of the “delivery girl” lies spread across the floor. Her hollow, gaping eye sockets stare up at the ceiling, and her limbs appear deflated and flat. The skin is still wearing what looks to be a uniform, and her wavy blonde hair is a tangled mess, partially obscuring the lower half of her face.

Hannah covers her mouth, barely stifling a scream.

“What the FUCK!” Rick loudly whispers. “What is that fucking thing?! We need to get out of here!”

Just then, they hear footsteps coming from down the hall. Hannah grabs his arm and manages to pry open a small closet, and the two of them stuff themselves inside.

Through the slats on the door, they see the old hag limbering down the hall on the creaky floorboards. She walks by them into the room with the sickening husk of the poor woman. They watch as she lifts the skin up and props it into an upholstered chair with an evil cackle, stroking its hollow cheek. The blonde’s empty mouth gapes open widely, and her deflated limbs hang over the side of the cushions.

Rick and Hannah hear more footsteps, and another figure appears down the hall. It looks to be man, and he begins walking unsteadily towards them.

“Oh my God…is that Greg?” Hannah whispers.

She looks like she’s about to open the closet door, but Rick grabs her arm.

The figure does look like Greg, but there’s something not quite right about him. He’s walking unsteadily, like he has a limp, and he appears to be oddly scratching at his cheek. As he gets closer, Rick can see that his face is somehow grossly misaligned and distorted. The hidden pair look on as Greg pinches his chin and tugs. His skin stretches unnaturally until it appears to snap into place.

“What the fuck…” Hannah whimpers.

“I…I don’t think that’s Greg…” Rick replies, terrified.

He realizes that - whoever this is - they appear to be dragging something behind them. The old hag meets the man in the hall, and he brings the hefty object around his body and tosses it into her wrinkled arms.

Hannah barely manages to stifle another scream, at the sight of Amy’s deflated body dangling limply in the woman’s grasp. Her hollow arms hang down, swaying back and forth. The reddish wig she’d been wearing as part of her costume has started to come off, exposing the natural blonde hair sprouting from her vacant scalp.

“Here you go, my dear” the man croaks. His voice is almost like Greg’s, but it sounds lifeless and raspy.

The woman cackles. “Mmm, yes, this one will do nicely…” she wheezes, pinching Amy’s hollow cheek.

“What the fuck what the fuck” Hannah sobs, staring at the gruesome husk of one of her closest friends.

Speechless, Rick watches as the woman drags the empty skin off to one of the bedrooms. Over the next few moments, they hear some sickening, rubbery sounding stretching noises.

“Greg” appears to stare at one of the diagrams on the wall, muttering under his breath. As the stretching noises subside, he joins the woman in the bedroom.

“Excellent” they hear the woman drawl. A shiver runs down Rick’s spine as he hears what sounds like a scratchy, altered version of Amy’s voice.

“They’re distracted” Hannah whispers. “We need to get the fuck out of here and get help!”

Rick feels sick to his stomach, but he follows Hannah as she opens the closet door. They desperately search for an exit, and he tries to ignore the gaping, empty skin of the poor blonde woman sitting in the chair.

“Arioch will need a host as well” Rick hears the man rasp from the bedroom.

“Yessss” the woman replies. “I will summon the other young pretty. She will do nicely…”

Rick freezes and looks over at his friend. Suddenly, a soft purple light appears in the hall, coming from the room with the two imposters. The hag wearing Amy’s skin begins to chant incoherently and Rick watches, horrified, as Hannah’s face goes completely blank. Her eyes widen and her mouth hangs open as she begins to mindlessly walk down the hall towards the bedroom.

“Hannah, wait! What are you doing? Stop!” Rick whispers forcefully, but it’s too late. She’s already most of the way down the passage.

She turns into the bedroom and Rick hears the hag let out an evil cackle. The purple light goes out and, for a moment, it appears as though Hannah regains her awareness.

“Wha…what?! How did I…no…nooooo!” She wails.

Then there is a green flash, bright enough that Rick has to cover his eyes.

He looks on, frozen in fear, as Hannah’s deflated body tumbles out of the room onto the hallway floor with a loud THWAP. Her empty eye sockets stare at him accusingly, and her face lies crumpled and scrunched together grotesquely.

Her body begins to slide backwards into the room, pulled by one of the monsters inside. Her limp hands drag above her head, and the motion causes her short brown wig to start to pull off of her naturally longer hair.

“FUCK!” Rick can’t help but scream. He runs to the front door, desperately trying to get it open.

He bangs on the hard wooden frame, and is about to break the glass, when the lights in the house turn on.

He spins around and sees Amy and Greg staring at him with their dark, black eyes. But instead of looking sinister, they start to laugh.

“Gotcha, Rick!” Amy says, in her weirdly altered voice.

Rick’s mouth gapes in astonishment. This was all a…joke?

As the two of them laugh, Hannah appears from down the hall, apparently not having been horribly transformed into an empty husk.

“What the fuck, guys?!” Rick exclaims, feeling a sense of overwhelming relief.

Hannah chuckles. “You really thought they turned me into a skin with their magic spell?” She asks.

“I mean…YES! What the hell was I supposed to think?” Rick intensely replies.

This elicits a new round of laughter from the group. Rick watches as Amy and Greg use their fingers to carefully extract contact black lenses from their eyes. But, he remains confused, as Amy reveals a pair of brown eyes, while Greg’s appear light blue.

“What the hell is this?” Rick inquires.

Amy presses unusually on her neck, then speaks in a normal version of her voice. “Our Halloween costume!” She chirps. “We wanted to smooth over any bad feelings about our little prank by presenting you with the guaranteed winner of tonight’s contest.”

Confused, Rick watches as Hannah walks back down the hall. She returns, and his eyes widen as he seems her carrying the empty husk of her own form.

“Here!” She says excitedly, handing him the creepy skin-like thing.

She hefts it towards him, and he places his hands underneath its limp, hollow armpits. Supporting the back of the head by its soft brown wig, he gazes down at an unbelievably lifelike recreation of Hannah’s face. It looks as though someone had painstakingly painted every tiny detail, leaving no indication that it was anything but a mask on an elaborate costume.

“Wha…what is this? How is this so realistic?” Rick asks.

Hannah giggles. “My sister made the disguises. You know she works for that special effects company. The stuff they can do is incredible.”

“Yeah…apparently” Rick agrees. He prods Hannah’s at floppy cheek, then recoils at how lifelike it feels to the touch.

He looks over at his two other friends, suddenly realizing the truth of their situation. Glancing back and forth between them, he falters “Amy…? Greg…?”

The two of them laugh again, then reach to the back of their necks. Rick hears what sounds like two zippers being pulled, then watches in awe as his friends grab the tops of their heads and pull forward.

Incredibly, their eye sockets snap away, becoming empty voids. Their noses, cheeks and mouths scrunch and crumple until their entire faces snap off and hang down to their chests.

Amy’s smiling face sits atop Greg’s body, and Greg’s upon hers.

“Holy crap!” Rick exclaims.

Greg lifts the mask dangling from his neck. Proudly, he says “Pretty incredible, huh?”

He playfully pokes the fake versions of Amy’s soft, pink lips. The reddish-orange wig covering her scalp hangs down around the hollow recreation of her pretty face.

“So, what…we’re going as each other…in costume?” Rick asks incredulously.

Hannah nods enthusiastically. She walks back towards the bedroom as she answers “Yup! Amy is going as Greg, Greg will be Amy, you will be me, and I…”

She returns, and Rick’s mouth drops open as she proudly holds up a - totally unsettling - empty suit that looks exactly like him.

“Fuck!” Rick yelps.

His bare, deflated feet drag on the floor and his face gapes blankly. Rick can even see traces of stubble on his cheeks, and the dark brown birthmark recreated on the side of his neck.

“Unreal…” he whispers.

Hannah grins. “Like Amy said, we’re going to win for sure!”

“But…why couldn’t I be Greg and you be Amy?” Rick asks Hannah, gazing down hesitantly at her deflated form in his hands.

“Because they’re both shorter than us! This will be more believable. And you and Greg are both skinny, so with the right padding...” She replies with a big smile.

He shudders, reaching down to feel said padding in the suit’s slightly thicker thighs.

“But…who was the old hag? And the delivery woman?”

Callie peeks her head into the hallway. “That would be me!” She chirps with a big grin, holding up the old hag’s deflated body by its wrinkled neck. “Give me a few minutes, I’m finishing up with my costume.”

Rick can see that from the waist down, she has a pair of furry brown legs. Holding the rest of the outfit in her hands, she retreats into one of the other bedrooms.

He glances over at Greg, marvelling at Amy’s vacant face hanging from his neck. “So, you finally get the chance to do a little public crossdressing, huh?” He jokes.

Greg just laughs. “So will you, buddy!”

“The clothes are glued on, so no one gets any ideas” Hannah continues, with a wink. “You just put it on like a wetsuit and pull the zipper up the back! Come on, I’ll show you.”

Five minutes later, towards the end of what was one of the strangest experiences of Rick’s life, he’s sitting in a chair while Hannah tugs a floppy, hollow replica of her own face up over his head.

He grunts as he feels her lips encase his, and the empty eye sockets settle around his own with a mildly sticky sensation.

“Keep your eyes closed!” She giggles, prodding at his face with her fingertips.

Finally, he feels a tugging sensation at his back and she pulls up the zipper. She then presses on his neck and he feels a sharp buzzing.

“Ow! What the fu-“ he begins. Startled at hearing Hannah’s voice coming from his mouth, he opens his eyes and witnesses her stunned face staring back at him.

Hannah starts laughing, while the disguised Rick gazes at himself in wonder. “We’re twins!” She jokes. “Well, not for long…” She points to the empty Rick disguise lying face-up on the floor next to them.

“This doesn’t seem possible…” Rick whispers, touching his new face. He runs his fingers over his neatly arched eyebrows and full, pink lips. While he does so, Hannah bunches up his long, wavy hair and settles the costume’s straight brown bob on top of his head.

Rick peers down at his swollen chest and grabs the perky, prosthetic recreations of Hannah’s modest breasts.

“This is so fucking strange” he mutters, watching as Hannah appears to grope herself in the mirror’s reflection.

The real Hannah swats his hands and laughs. “Oh, stop it! You may be borrowing my body for the night, but there will be none of that.”

Rick stands up, a little unsteadily thanks to his newly proportioned frame. He feels ridiculous, wearing a red ruffled skirt, orange sweater, and matching knee-high socks. But then the disguised Greg enters, wearing Daphne’s trademark purple dress on Amy’s feminine body, and he feels a little better.

“Looking good, Velma!” The fake Amy teases. She offers Rick a shot, which he graciously shoots back.

“I need about three more of those, please” he says in Hannah’s borrowed voice.

The costumed Amy laughs. “Come on, I brought the bottle. It’s in the dining room.”

The two phony ladies walk out to the creepily decorated living area, joining Greg. Rick glances over at the empty suit of the fake blonde delivery woman, which thankfully now seems less terrifying.

“Love what you’ve done with the place” Rick jests, looking at the walls.

The imposter wearing Greg’s body laughs. “Thanks. It’s all washable, so the landlord won’t be mad. I promised we would leave the place just as we found it when he let me borrow the keys.”

Amy hands Rick another drink. “Cheers. Hope we didn’t scare ya too badly, buddy.”

Hearing Greg speak using Amy’s mouth and voice is so unsettling. Rick accepts the shot, and the three of them clink glasses.

A few minutes later, Hannah and Callie walk arm-in-arm into the room. Hannah is wearing a pair of brown pants and a long, green v-neck t-shirt. Most disturbingly, she is also wearing a perfect replica of Rick’s smiling face.

“Ready to go, gang?” She asks, using his deeper masculine voice.

With wide eyes, the disguised Rick shakes his head and looks at Fred and Daphne. “This really doesn’t freak you out?”

Fred laughs. “We tried on the disguises earlier this week. I guess we’ve gotten used to it” he replies.

“Ugh, I don’t want to know what you two have been using these suits for” Velma banters, in Hannah’s sarcastic voice.

Rick was too distracted by his doppelgänger to notice Callie at first. Now that he examines her, he can see that she’s not just wearing some cheap costume. "Scooby" appears oddly lifelike, with an expressive face that actually moves, and a swinging tail that seems coordinated with her movements.

“Ret’s go!” Callie says, in an altered, cartoonish voice.

“Oh, good lord” the disguised Rick groans. “We had better win this fucking contest.”

“Are you kidding?” The fake Greg replies “When we spend the entire party in these costumes and unmask at the end, people are going to lose it!”

Hannah nods her head, then smiles. “You’re right. Plus, I can try out some new dance moves. How does twerking work, anyway?”

She turns around and lifts the bottom of her skirt a bit, sticking her newly rounded rear out provocatively, in a manner totally inconsistent with the real Hannah.

The fake Amy elbows him in the arm. “Dude, we gotta get in character! People will know us there. You want to win, don’t you?” She says.

The new Hannah sighs and stands, smoothing out her skirt. Behind her cheerful prosthetic face, Rick summons the countless memories of his close friend. Memories of her responsible nature, type-A personality, and practical temper.

Using a perfect copy of her voice, Hannah chirps “Okay, so we’ll probably be at this party for, like, at least a few hours. Is everyone’s phone charged? We’re going to be drinking and we might need to call an Uber. I have a little battery pack in my purse, in case anyone needs it.”

The fake Amy throws her arm around her friend’s shoulder. “Oh, Hannah, you always worry. It’s going to be fine!”

The fake Rick smirks. “Yeah, come on, ‘Velma’. Don’t be such a nerd.”

The group, still bantering, walks out of the house into the night.