Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sun was shining brightly down on a little family, the family’s children could be seen laughing and chasing one another. Their laughter echoed throughout the whole clearing on the bright glorious day. 

It was summer break and summer break was all about taking it easy, leisure, and recreation. 

At least that’s what I’ve heard or, more accurately, it’s what my brother told me in passing. 

The father–of the giggling children–asked his wife if she wanted something on her burger, with his hands buried in the activity the grill made for him and she responded with an affirmative response.

On the far right of the family, there is a sign that says “Gravity Falls”. The sign was naming the town, where this joyful warm scene was from. 

The sign had painted a couple of pine trees and a lamppost could be seen, shining like a shooting star. Under the sign, the viewer could be able to see a creature looking at them with glowing blue eyes. 

The scene was all peaceful and calm.

Until it wasn’t.

Summer break could be seen as “taking it easy” but not in my family. The Pines family to be precise. 

After all, my family is not normal; they don’t consider taking a break as an option for summer break, but who is necessarily normal? And what exactly is defined as normal?  

CRASH

Wood splintered, and with that crash, a vehicle containing three children within it shattered the sign and made the animal runoff. 

As the pale golf cart slammed through the sign, I started screaming along with my older siblings as the cart smacked into the floor. Our screeching echoed, just like the children’s laughter, disturbing the birds up above and my older brother started swerving the cart back and forth, going down a declining hill.

I heard grunting, trees falling and crushing the floor of dirt as if something large was pushing them down. My sister looked past me, where the grunting was getting louder, her hair pouring through the wind. 

“It’s getting closer!” She informed us by yelling at us. 

Very helpful, as if we didn’t know that already.

I glanced back and my eyes widened as I saw the shadow of a giant monster appear right next to and around the cart, its hands reaching down to try to catch the cart. I shrieked, a short burst of air coming out of my mouth, as the cow-sized hand just missed us by a few inches. 

Our cart sped over a bulging rock that tossed the cart. The cart containing us spun, raising dust as we landed. My jaw seemed to crack when it thrashed into the top line of teeth in my mouth.

(Hello.

The narrator for the rest of this story–well, most of this story–is Mae Dawn Pines but everyone can and does call her “Dawn” because her family and acquaintances thought her first name is too close to her older sister’s name.

Pardon the interruption and on forth with the story). 

My older brother, he’s the one driving the unstable cart with a determined expression, his nickname is Dipper. His twin, our oldest sibling, is Mabel; she’s the one that’s about to be sick from all the spinning the cart was doing.

I peered back, just in time to see the creature throw a huge tree at us. 

“Dipper! Watch out!” I screeched in a rush, my eyes bulging at the barking wood which was approaching us with a large whistle.

It, luckily, flew over our heads, not into our heads. That’s always a plus side. Crashing down, right in front of our path. 

Okay, that is not a plus.

Mabel shouted “Look out!” as the tree blocked our path and all of us started screaming again, our yells echoing through the forest. 

While we were screaming, Dipper wretched the wheel to the right, trying to get out of the tree’s imposing path. My stomach lurched because of the spinning cart and all three of us put our hands up like we were suddenly going to get magic powers and magically lift the tree.

Now, a “normal” person would be probably wondering why we are in a golf cart, fleeing from a creature that would seem like it is about to kill us. Do not worry; there is a reasonable explanation for all of this.

I think?

(Or this story is going to be very short. 

Sorry, from the author).

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Let us go back to when all this started for my siblings and me, shall we? 

Our summer of 2012 all began when our parents thought that we needed some “fresh air”. Thinking that it might be overdue for us to get out of the house and make some friends since most of our time is spent inside. 

Well, that’s what they told me why I was going.

They gave us the already packed bags, telling us to send letters and call them regularly, at least once a week. Then, they shipped us up north to a lesser-known town called Gravity Falls, Oregon to stay at our great-uncle’s place in the middle of the woods. 

Wonder if it is the scenery that made our great-uncle move to Gravity Falls.  

The bus ride was long and boring. Mabel and I did anything to get our minds preoccupied so we wouldn’t move much on the bus. Eventually, Mabel did start to knit, leaving me by my lonesome to try to not run around by myself. 

Dipper was nice enough to sit by me and write down some answers to questions I have had in the past. 

Thankfully, the bus, finally, sputtered to a stop and we got off, dragging our belongings and ourselves out of the bus. 

There was a whole clearing that surrounded the house. Greens and browns everywhere the eye could see, the trees that crowded us and the grass whispered with the wind. 

When I gazed dazedly at the Shack, there was a pop and smoke burst out from the ground, seemingly. The clouds of smoke grasped us, clutching at us before we started to wave it off. Dipper’s waving was a little more frantic than the rest of us. 

He’s a bit anxious–if someone couldn’t tell by that glorious display–but stubborn to a fault.

And there stood a man that was in the spot where the smoke came up. 

I laughed at the magic trick and clapped, the clap bouncing from tree to tree. I stopped as I blushed dark red when the man looked at me. He was a big man with white-gray hair which was concealed with a fez and he was wearing a suit, for some reason, as well.

I assumed that he was our great-uncle, Stanford Pines, and I would be correct when he insisted that we call him “Grunkle Stan!” 

I experimented with saying the nickname, muttering slowly to myself but the name felt weird on my lips. And it was weird to say in my head as well. 

Wouldn’t that mean I would be considered a greice?  

Ha! We’re two times greasier than others.

No?

Okay.

I took a quick picture of my siblings with Stan, distractedly. Mabel would want a scrapbook opportunity picture from the first day. 

The picture consisted of Great-Uncle Stan spreading out his hands like he was posing for a fashion magazine. Mabel smiled at the camera, her posture straight and confident, unlike Dipper’s posture, who was slouched while his face was frowning at the camera. 

See, anxious.

Mabel ran up to me after the camera flashed as I kept whispering the nickname that our uncle wanted us to use, testing it out on my tongue. 

My sister punched me in the arm, out of my muttering, and I raised an eyebrow at her while I poke her back with a small finger, and she stuck her tongue out at me. 

Childishly, as the child I was, I stuck mine back at her. She rolled her eyes into her head before she picked up her bags, strutting to the house. 

The suitcase that had beautiful orange lines in it made a copy of Mabel’s streak in the dirt from her baggage, taking my sister’s example. After the long trip on the bus, the bag seemed bigger and heavier than before. 

Could that be from the puzzles or the clothes? Or was it from the books?

“Hey, kid, do ya need help?” I looked at Great-Uncle Stan, who asked the question. His voice was rumbly and had a slight grumble to it. He had the same accent that my grandpa held sometimes, especially when Grandpa was furious. 

Something we don’t see all that much. His face was terrifying whenever we did see him get angry though.

I mumbled something under my breath, glancing down and kicking some dirt up, awkwardly and shyly. I wasn’t like Mabel–at least in the first meeting and a couple after that–who bravely shook his hand the first moment she saw him. Or Dipper, who would nod in a greeting.

“What was that?” He asked, putting a hand to his ear so he could hear, showing off his hearing aid. 

I didn’t repeat myself though, figuring I would just mess up again and embarrass myself; instead, I grinned sheepishly, and nodded my head, welcoming the help. He smiled back at me and lifted my other orange bag, shoveling it over his back. 

We walked in silence as we went to the attic, where it seemed we were sleeping for the summer. No, we’re definitely going to be sleeping in a different room, Mae Pines! Maybe the living room! 

Stan put my luggage next to the empty bed stand in the corner and went back downstairs after I beamed at him, thankful. 

 My siblings’ beds were on the right and left of the room where they were getting their stuff all organized. My bed was right next to the door and close to the closet too. It was a good setup, overall. I liked how my bed was in the corner. 

After a brief run to the store for supplies needed for the room, I stood in our bedroom again with some sheets in my hand. Dipper grabbed one from my arms and, gracefully, put it over the bed he claimed. 

The trip was eventful. This isn’t surprising because my sister seemed to bring a lot of trouble to our corner.  

I took the last sheet and put the sheet over my bed, trying to reach the far left corner. Why is it so hard to put sheets on the bed? Can’t there be an easier way to put on sheets? How did Dipper do it so quickly? 

Mabel started to talk, pulling my attention to her and away from the bed sheet which snapped up at me, while she was putting up her posters that she managed to stick in a bag before Mom and Dad took us to the bus stop. 

Grimacing and promptly sticking my tongue out at the bedsheet, I missed part of what she said, “—attic is amazing!” My sister exclaimed.

Mabel stuck her hand out to us as she went on saying, “Check out all my splinters!”

Our sister showed us her hands which looked prickly from all the splinters sticking out, thankfully the hand wasn’t bleeding. Knowing that had to hurt, I winced in sympathy, touching her hands, being mindful of the thorn-like splinters. 

I was about to ask if she needed help with getting those out when I heard a goat bleat.

I turned to see a goat, which was on Dipper’s bed. My brother scrutinized the goat before raising an eyebrow. I didn’t raise my eyebrow but stood still as the goat kept standing on Dipper’s bed.

How did the goat get in here so quietly? Would the animal charge us? Do goats charge or not? Why does our uncle have a goat? I wished I had my notebook to write down my questions, but, unfortunately for my sake, it was still in my suitcase. 

“And there’s a goat on my bed,” he stated and I grinned, my smile bringing out the freckles that sprinkled my face. 

 “Wow, I didn’t even notice,” I managed to giggle out sarcastically, holding my hands to my face in faux fascination at his deduction skills as Dipper glared at me, jokingly. He tried to swat my hair but I dodged, giggling even harder at his response. 

Mabel walked up to the goat, smiling widely. Her usual response to anything. I glanced at her hands and it looked like the splinters were all gone, which was very good. 

Although, how did she get them out so fast?

Well, I guess she was a little bit more self-destructive than the rest of us kids so I supposed she has dealt with splinters before. Who hasn’t? Could there be a record for the least amount of splinters that enter the body? Probably someone who lives in an area that doesn’t have any trees in it. Is there one for the most? 

“Hey, friend,” she greeted as the goat started gnawing on my sister’s sweater. His grayish-brownish furry face was impassive, unlike Mabel and Dipper’s. Unlike mine that pulled into a face of consideration and confusion. 

What do goats eat? How much do they eat during the day? Did someone not feed the animal? Are they even Grunkle Stan’s pet? Could goats be pets? What animals could be pets or not?

Mabel frowned at the gnawed sweater but commented to the animal, “Oh! Yes, you can keep chewing on my sweater,” before she started laughing. 

I never know if her responses are sarcastic or not.

I smiled and reached out toward the goat to pet him. His fur was kind of bulky but I ran my hands through it anyway, chuckling to myself. I didn’t dare to touch the horns protruding from his head, even though I was very very tempted. 

What if he was sensitive to that? I could hurt him. Are goats sensitive to it?

He stared at me while I petted him, his yellow eyes never blinking. But he did lean into my hands. His eyes are awesome! Square eyes, do all goats have square pupils? 

The goat followed me when I frowned, frustrated, and went to try to find my notebook. I had to write these questions down before I forgot them.

The goat following me wanted more pets, it seemed like. 

I noticed when I found my notebook–holding the orange bundle up triumphantly to the goat–that my older siblings decided to go wandering outside, probably hoping to go on an adventure. 

I quickly scribbled goat questions down, while the goat jumped onto my bed, nudging my other hand that didn’t hold the pen. I accounted for his nudging muzzle by shifting my pen to my more dominant hand and continued to write as my other hand crept over his fur. 

My siblings did this all the time back at home. Wander off on their own to find things and adventure. Unfortunately, I can never keep up with them. But I go finding other fun and curious things instead. Like once, I found a haunted house that was covered in sheets and boards. 

It was so cool!

And I might’ve possibly gone to check for ghosts. Might’ve, there’s nothing to prove. 

How dare someone accuse me of something like that?!

I walked out of the Shack with the goat, who followed me through the house. Patting him one last time, I got off the porch with a tiny bounce. The goat bleated after me, almost sadly. 

Mabel looked pretty excited from where she was at on the hill, she always tended to be optimistic. She started to roll down the hill of grass. “Yay! Grass!” I could hear her whoop when she rolled down. I beamed at her antics but glanced away at this huge tree. 

It went up to the sky, firm and still. Even if the wind was blowing, I doubted it would move easily for the slow wind. Stubborn tree. 

I touched the trunk, feeling the lines that all trees seemed to have. I drew with my finger on the bark that would become a drawing of nothing in particular but my mind wasn’t wandering that much. 

It is a nice feeling to not think so much for once.  

I started to climb that tree, finding places to put my feet pretty easily. Trees here are better at climbing than California, it looks like. I sat down on one of the big branches that the tree held and looked down to my other sibling, the quieter one. 

Almost as quiet as me.  

My brother, on the other hand, was the total opposite of his twin, in this case. He was having a hard time getting used to our place for the summer. As I glanced down at a smaller tree, I saw a woodpecker pecking on my brother’s head as Dipper chewed on his pen. 

A figure came out from behind the tree, behind Dipper, with a grotesque face. It had gills, sharp teeth, and weirdly shaped horns. I, nearly, jumped off the tree there but a thought popped into my head. 

Shouldn’t a creature with gills be in the water? 

The creature shouted “Boo!” which made my brother squawk at the noise as he jumped up, his pen flying away from him; the display made me inch toward my pen instead of flying off the tree to help my brother. And avenge his pen. 

May it forever rest in peace wherever it may lay.

Can other creatures speak our human languages? Some can understand it, like dogs can understand it, after a while of training, but could creatures speak it?

 As Dipper yelped and fell to the floor, the gnarled face started laughing. The monster took off the mask with a pop, revealing our great-uncle under the mask. 

Oh, that makes sense why it’s not in the water, it isn’t a fish at all.

I started to chortle as well, echoing Great-Uncle Stan but my laughter was swallowed up by the old man’s mirth. 

My brother glared at Stan, the old man slapped his knee, pointing mockingly at Dipper but the mirth died down when our great-uncle started coughing. 

The old man started patting on his chest to help him breathe easier and I leaned forward, intending to climb down, thinking he might need help; my panic didn’t die until I heard, “It was worth it,” coming from his mouth that I settled back into my seat.

He must know his limits. Like Grandpa and Grandma. 

I, being different from my brother, loved being here. So far. It was fun to discover how different and weird other places could be. Piedmont was boring and tasteless. I liked how Gravity Falls seemed like it was boring but could liven someone up. 

Grunkle Stan was really fun to hang out with and let me help out with things. Stan’s house was the Mystery Shack, a tourist trap and where we are living now. Dipper and Mabel had to work there, like cleaning, but not me. 

I was too young to work, Grunkle Stan said something about “child labor laws” and left it at that, but I still helped in a way. Stan let me come along on the tours with him, trying to get people to buy more things. He would let me make some attractions and displays with him. Like this one time….

Stan, decorated in his suit and fez, apparently, the reason why he wore his suit was because of tours and all that jazz, led the tour through the hallway. The tourists were whispering and taking pictures with excitement as Great-Uncle Stan showed the tourists a rabbit with horns on its head. 

Would the horns be a defense mechanism for predators? Why is a Jackalope a famous cryptid? Or is a Jackalope real, like the Platypus was real? Would Jackalopes be bigger in real life or would they be as big as the display? How quick would they be with the antlers weighing them down? 

I winced with sheepish panic when the Jackalope’s antler broke off, my eyes flicking to the crowd of judging people. I didn’t glue the antler on quite right, but thankfully the group didn’t notice as Stan turned to the group and announced with confidence, waving his hand to a display that I hadn’t noticed before.

“Ladies and gentlemen, behold! The Sascrotch!” I started giggling, standing right next to Stan when I saw a big hairy creature with underwear on. I had completely forgotten that I didn't do something correctly when the crowd gasped at the creature and clapped as they took pictures of it.

Stan smiled with amusement down at me as I walked off toward my brother and sister, my face still split apart in a grin while I glanced back at the funny display.  

They were down the hallway with bored expressions stuck on their faces. Dipper had a broom and was dusting off the floor, and Mabel was peering curiously at a huge green snake-like eyeball. Her hand twitched out to touch the eyeball. 

Was that a fake too? Or real? What would the eye feel like? Slimy? What other creatures can have that kind of eyes? Was it supposed to be dragon eyes?

An eight-ball cane slapped Mabel’s offending hand. Great-Uncle Stan glared at Mabel, with an eye (he had an eye patch on which he wears from time to time). “No touching the merchandise,” he yelled, as Mabel and Dipper looked at him….

Dipper thought that this place was boring and sleepy but I didn’t think so. I like it here, it is very silly and fun. 

But now, I might have to add supernatural to the list.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A vehicle’s motor passed by the shack, going into the back of the clearing, it was likely the golf cart that passed. Soos, who was a great guy, was the one presumably driving it. Soos, from what I have seen so far, was the handyman of the Shack.

Mabel had been excited, thinking that there was a golf course in the Mystery Shack tour but no. Stan just had one.  

In the Mystery Shack, I was sitting right by the counter, reading the book that I brought from home; the lady at the library gave it to me as a reward for most frequent visits. 

Is there a library here? How big would a library be in a town this small? 

Great-Uncle Stan could be heard doing one of his tours, he didn’t need my help this time. He told me that the tourist might smell my fear or something like that. Which might be true, crowds make me uneasy. 

My siblings were cleaning the shack.

Or, at least, they were supposed to be cleaning it.  

I peered over the pages of my book at Mabel peeking out from Stan’s bobbleheads, whispering and looking at something besides the counter that I was leaning on. 

I peeked up, mimicking her move, to see what she was staring at and I caught a glimpse of a young boy--a bit older than Mabel--eyeing a piece of paper with confusion. A someone, not something. 

Dipper would be the one whispering all excited about something. Something weirder than the shop’s merchandise.  

“Uh. Do you like me?” I frowned, looking at the piece of paper closely, and smiled, it was my sister's handwriting. And it, definitely, had her style of stickers and pink ink. “Yes. Definitely—,” I started smirking, as he said the last thing, confused. “Absolutely?”

He turned his head to the side that had a helmet on a counter. I started to laugh quietly to myself as I walked to Mabel, hoping he wouldn’t see me and think I wrote it for him. 

That wouldn’t end well.  

“I rigged it!” Mabel muttered enthusiastically to herself.

“Mabel?” Her head turned to Dipper, who was cleaning a jar full of eyeballs. “I know you’re going through your whole “Boy Crazy” phase, but we think you’re kind of overdoing it with the “crazy” part,” I grinned and nodded to Dipper as he looked at me.

“What?” Mabel blew a raspberry, sticking her tongue out at us, as she continued with her response. 

“Come on, Dipper and Dawn!” She went toward Dipper and I followed her. She peered towards us and stuck out her hands, beseechingly. 

“This is our first summer away from home!” Mabel tossed her hands onto her hips, confidently and assuredly in her skills. “It’s my big chance to have an epic summer romance!”

“Yeah, but do you need to flirt with every guy you meet?” I laughed when Dipper said that, and they looked at me, with a query in their eyes.

“Do you remember what happened at the mattress store?” I grinned while clarifying what I was thinking and laughing about. Dipper smirked and Mabel’s cheeks glittered with red. 

She whispered to the guy to “take me with you,” while hiding, creepily, behind some balloons. We were there to get some mattresses for our beds but before we bought anything she hid behind some balloons. 

I watched the scene play out myself.

Definitely not taking any pictures of the guy when he ran away from my sister, determined to show it to my older brother.

“Or the other time, with the guy holding the turtle?” I chortled as Dipper whispered that one. He had taken a camera to that one, he showed the picture to me that same day and I fell off the couch, laughing hard to myself. 

He might have handed me a copy of the picture to keep which I have kept hidden in my blackmail material. 

They will never find it. Or know about it.

“Mock all you want, siblings, but I got a good feeling about this summer,” Mabel interrupted our joking which made us glanced at her. She had crossed her arms, sporting a hopeful glint in her eyes. 

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the man of my dreams walked through that door right now.” 

All three of us peered at a door with a couple of curtains on it. I wanted to see if someone would come out. How would someone, perfectly, time a joke like that though?

Stan, who must be a psychic of some sort, came through the door holding some signs and a can of pop. The older man had no idea what he did as he tried to burp but the burp got caught in his throat. 

“Oh! Oh, not good. Ow,” Stan said to himself. I started laughing with Dipper. Just a bit worried for Stan but pushed it aside. He seems to cough a lot, is he sick?

“Aww! Why?” Mabel groaned but Dipper and I kept on laughing. Our giggles made Mabel pout at us but she had a slight smile on her face. 

“All right, all right, look alive, people,” both of us stopped our gleeful chuckles as Grunkle Stan grumbled that. He looked a little grumpy but I knew that he likes us, even though Stan might not show us all the time. 

Why else would he be so invested in telling us business strategies from the eighties for a couple of hours when we got here, if he didn’t like us?

He held his hands up and looked at us, “I need someone to go hammer up these signs in the spooky part of the forest,” he held up the signs that said “Enter!” and probably other things like that.

“Not it!” Dipper yelled and Mabel said it, seconds after that. I shook my head in response to the command and at my siblings' antics. 

How did they, always, say things in sync? Dad has said that it was because they have stayed by each other's side for years, but Grandpa denied it, saying that it was a twin power that any twin in the world could do.

The sound of drilling started from an electric screwdriver and I looked up to see Soos, who had a drill and was up on a ladder. He quit drilling for a second, glancing at Stan. 

I didn’t even notice him coming in . How is he so quiet? I would’ve assumed that since he was a big guy that it would make it harder to sneak up on people, especially since there were five people here.  

“Uh, also not it,” Soos said, raising his hand in contribution.

“Nobody asked you, Soos,” Grunkle Stan said, looking up at the man on the ladder.

“I know, and I’m comfortable with that,” after Soos admitted that, he grabbed a chocolate bar out of nowhere and took a bite out of it. Is he magic?  

I wondered if I could take a chocolate bar out of nowhere like that eventually. Does it require teaching? Maybe I could ask Soos to teach me his magic chocolate powers. 

Soos smiled at me when I giggled at Grunkle Stan’s response and gave me a piece of his chocolate bar. I whispered a thank you to him and he bobbed his head in response. 

Stan glanced over at a teenager. She has red hair with a furred cap on top of the orange-red hair. She looked like she would be the one to get mad easily but she was cool-headed, I had noticed that when we met the first time. 

Wendy sat behind the counter, reading a magazine.

“Wendy, I need you to put up this sign!” Stan yelled at her.

“I would, but I—,” Wendy put one hand in the air, responding to Grunkle Stan’s yelled command, still reading her book. “Ugh, can’t, ugh, reach it, ugh….” she said monotonously at Grunkle Stan’s grumpy face.

Yeah, the name still isn’t working for me. 

“I’d fire all of you if I could,” he turned to us, grumbling. I gasped playfully, and he glared at me which made me back up slightly, nervously scratching my arm. 

Was that not alright? Should I not do that? I am just kidding.  

“All right, let’s make it….,” Stan considered my siblings when he pressed his hand together. “Eenie, meenie, miney….,” Stan pointed at Dipper, “you.”

Dipper jumped at the finger before groaning, “Aw, what? Grunkle Stan, whenever I’m in those woods, I feel like I’m being watched.”

Grunkle Stan rolled his eyes and rubbed his nose, “Ugh, this again,” I felt the same way Grunkle Stan felt. Dipper was always this pessimistic with new things. The forest was cool, a little foreboding but nothing too serious, well, except the trees that had eyes on them. 

It isn't too serious and bad, right? 

Or maybe, Dipper is right.  

But there was the quietness that couldn’t be found anywhere else, that wasn’t there at Piedmont at least, or when the shade of the sun goes through the trees causing more bright or dark colors to come out to play. It was a peaceful feeling when looking into the forest. 

Dipper pointed at Grunkle Stan, his finger trying to gesture how serious he was. “I’m telling you, something weird is going on in this town,” my brother looked down at his arm as he said the next sentence. “Just today, my mosquito bites spelled out “BEWARE”,” as he said this, he lifted his arm to Grunkle Stan. Grunkle Stan looked at the bites.

“That says “BEWARB”,” Stan stated and I regarded the bite marks, curiously and cautiously.Still, it’s weird that bite marks spell out something. 

Did the bugs do it on purpose? Did the bugs even do it? Could it be another thingy? Or could bugs be smart enough to do that? How big are the bugs' brains?

 As Stan said this, Dipper scratches the bites. 

Grunkle Stan let out a sigh but continued his speech. “Look, kid. The whole ‘monsters in the forest’ thing is just local legend, drummed up by guys like me to sell merch to guys like that,” he pointed to a tourist, who started laughing at one of the bobbleheads that the tourist made bobble 

“So stop being paranoid!” Stan shouted as he threw the signs at Dipper.

“C’mon kiddo,” I peered up to see Grunkle Stan looking down at me. “Want to help me?” I grinned and nodded. He walked out the door and I followed but looked back once more at Dipper, who exhaled and observed the back of Stan, dejected. I shrugged, smiling at Dipper halfheartedly, trying to cheer him up. 

Dipper didn’t even glance at me as he walked out. 

I let out a breath as I followed Stan, my steps sliding a tiny bit on the wood boards. He glanced back at me and slowed his trotting down a bit. “You okay, kid?” 

Smiling back up to him, I nodded. He walked faster when he saw my bobbing head, to a box of animal parts. I perked up when I saw a fox’s tail in the box and ran up to the box to try to see more of the box’s contents. 

Ooooh, is that a wolf face?  

I didn’t see Stan look down and smile in relief.

After a while, Mabel walked up to us and asked me if I wanted to look for Dipper in the forest with her. I looked at Great-Uncle Stan; he shrugged and waved us off. “I can do the rest, you girls have fun,” we beamed at him before running off into the woods.

The forest wasn’t as lively as it was yesterday when I climbed the tree, there were no bird calls or anything like that. Didn’t that mean something bigger and scarier is running around now?

Eventually, we found Dipper by listening out for anything special. Because Dipper would be doing the same thing, listening and going to find special things instead of hanging the signs. 

We heard muttering, after a while of walking in the woods. We glanced at each other and followed the noise. “-before he finds it. Remember: in Gravity Falls there is no one you can trust,” we heard a book shut while we were walking behind a log that lay next to the muttering. 

“No one you can trust….”

Mabel and I smirked at each other, knowing exactly what the other sister was thinking, before jumping up from behind the log. 

“HALLO!” We hollered out together. Dipper cried out before hugging something tightly against his chest. “What’cha reading’, some nerd thing?” My older sister questioned, glancing at the noodly arms that were trying to conceal something. 

“Hey! Don’t steal my thing!” I laughed out and Mabel punched my arm for no reason at all, except to be playful, giggling with me but Dipper didn’t even react to my sentence.

He spun around to us, quickly hiding a book behind his back, not very subtle or anything like that. “Uh, uh, it’s nothing!” I blinked, confused, his eyes were panicked like the bunny we have seen often in our yard when we went out to school or a friend’s house. He didn’t want to tell us or at least Mabel? 

That’s weird.

“Uh, uh, it’s nothing!” Mabel mocked, and then laughed, her laughter echoing a tiny bit through the forest. “What? Are you actually not gonna show me?” I pushed my elbow into my sister’s side and she grunted at the impact of the nobby appendage. 

“Sorry,” she said to me. I nodded, my elbow prodding her to continue. With a grunt, she did, “Us?” 

The goat from earlier started to chew on the book Dipper had in his hands. I studied the goat, he should be called Gompers.

“Uhhhh,” Dipper glanced down at the goat. “Let’s go somewhere private,” I smiled, sibling bonding time!  

We started walking back to the shack; I kept poking at Mabel, waiting until she looked at me and plastered my most innocent smile on. I don’t think it is working because she keeps raising her eyebrow at me.  

She decided enough was enough and jumped on me. Poking me everywhere! It is not fair, she is older! I pouted but was laughing as she grinned at me. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We got to the living room, which was filled with a warm and homely feel to it. It had browns and colors of the forest within it. But it also held oddities that would be on tours but were here instead. Heads that were “beheaded” and eyeballs that stare at someone all day. 

Mabel jumped on the side of the couch while I sat on a dinosaur skull. The dinosaur skull is being used as a makeshift coffee table which is awesome! I didn’t think it could be real but it felt nice to sit on. 

How big would the dinosaur be if it is alive today? Could I fit in the eyeholes of the skull? I’m small enough. Would it be a great hiding place for hide-and-seek? How did Grunkle Stan get the skull? What is it made of? Why did Stan have it as furniture? 

A book in my lap, I watched as Dipper pace excitedly around the space, lightly breezing my hand on the pages. I should be able to finish this tonight since I read it on the whole way here.  

“It’s amazing!” Dipper waved his hand around while talking, thrilled.

I hadn’t seen him get this excited since we got a very hard jigsaw puzzle a couple of months ago. We spent the whole day trying to figure it out. Dad and Mom, even, started to try and help. Little nice to see him so excited.

“Grunkle Stan said I was being paranoid, but according to this book,” he pointed down to the book, excitedly, opening it to one of the pages and showing Mabel. “Gravity falls has this secret dark side,” I tried to look at the book but Dipper moved away. 

Darkside? Like, “Join the dark side Luke”? Maybe we shouldn’t find the secret dark side. Look how well it worked in those films.

“Whoa!” Mabel called. “Shut UP!” She pushed Dipper, and he bumped into my legs.

“And get this!” Not even hurt on getting pushed, he pursued. “After a certain point, the pages just….stop, like the guy who was writing it….mysteriously disappeared,” Dipper’s voice got more and more excited. 

We probably shouldn't get excited about that? I looked at the book, noticing it had the number three on it. My face squished into a face of confusion. “Were there any other books in the hole?” He looked at me and shook his head. I frowned, looking at the book more closely.

Why would a three be on it? Were there other books that were hidden? The book was clearly hidden because there was a secret passage to get it. 

I counted how many fingers were on the symbol. I, at first, thought it would be the regular five fingers, but no, it had six fingers. Why? Why does that sound familiar? Is it symbolism for something? My teacher liked to talk about that a lot. She could’ve said something like that when I was in her class. 

The doorbell rang, Dipper and I peered up, confused. Who is that? Did Grunkle Stan invite someone over? “Who’s that?” Dipper copied my thoughts while looking at Mabel. She, joyfully, grinned.

“Well, time to spill the beans,” she knocked over a can of beans while saying that, on the skull right next to me. “Bop, beans,” she smiled at me and I grinned back at her, loving the non-subtle pun. 

“This girl’s got a date! Woo woo!” She laughed as she fell over, down on the cushions of the couch as I processed what Mabel said, being a computer starting up for a second when Dipper took over. 

When did this happen?

“Let me get this straight,” Dipper stated, putting down the hand that was on his forehead, to his side, “in the half-hour I was gone, you already found a boyfriend?” He looked bewildered at his twin. I felt the same way, how did she do that?

Like, Dipper and I were joking before, but Mabel didn’t really have the best of luck with boys in general. 

Mabel popped up from the couch, “What can I say?” as she said the next part, she waved her arms like waves on a sunny day. “I guess I’m just IRRESISTIBLE!” 

I tilted my hand from side to side, that’s debatable. 

Dipper saw this display and had to hide a grin under his hand. I shoved my hand back down when Mabel squinted at us but before she could ask the doorbell rings twice. 

“Oh. Coming!” Mabel called out, excitedly, as she ran out.

Dipper and I looked at each other before I shrugged, dismissing the oddness for a second, and looked down at my book I was reading from my lap. I opened the page I was on and started exploring the universe the author made. I heard Dipper sit down, starting to unfold the mystery of the journal.

Hopefully, he might let me read it. 

I heard footsteps coming towards the door and I looked up, Great-Uncle Stan held a pop outside the door, he gulped down the colored liquid before smiling toward me. I waved at him before going back to reading my book.

“What’cha reading there, slick?” Dipper hopped up, snapping his head towards Stan, who asked that, before quickly hiding the journal and grabbing a magazine. 

Very slick, slick. I frowned down at my book, disturbed by Dipper’s reaction. Why would he hide the book from our uncle? Is it because of the Author saying to “Trust no one”?

“I was just catching up on it, uh...” he said and looked down at the cover of the magazine and grimaced but tried to keep up the lie. “...Gold Chains For Old Men Magazine?” I peered at Stan, waiting for the inevitable of him catching on, who walked up to Dipper.

“That’s a good issue,” Stan approved before taking another swig of pop. Didn’t Grunkle Stan see Dipper pushing down the other book? Dipper is really obvious when he is trying to hide something. He--we--got that quality from Dad.

“Hey, family!” I heard Mabel’s voice and looked over, rolling my eyes and closing my book when I figured out quickly that I wasn’t going to be able to focus on my book until Mabel went on her date with the next victim--whoops, I meant “boyfriend”.

A pale big guy was standing next to Mabel, wearing an ebony sweatshirt. “Say hello to my new boyfriend!” 

The boyfriend, who turned over to us, had something dripping on his cheek and he had a twig sticking out of his head that appeared like a horn. Weird, don’t men usually dress up more when meeting the girl’s family.  

At least that’s what I have read.

Well, I, technically, haven’t read something like that. Mabel had these weird books that she read aloud to herself. Usually, she tied me up to listen to it. Sometimes, I could get away but the Powers of Mabel couldn’t always be stopped by gummy candy.

Just most of the time.

“‘Sup,” the man waved, smiling after a look of surprise crossed his face. Why does he look surprised? He does know that he was coming, right? 

“Hey...,” Dipper said. 

I noticed that Mabel seemed a little nervous and I waved, smiling brightly, trying to comfort Mabel and her boyfriend. For some reason they were scared, what were we going to do to them that would make them scared? Kill them? Embarrass them? 

Well, if Mabel wanted, I could always take out the baby photos. That thought crossed my mind and I tried not to smirk evilly. I, totally, don’t have the baby pictures shoved in my suitcase right now.

Totally. 

“How’s it hanging?” Grunkle Stan asked.

“We met at the cemetery,” my eyebrow went up and my frown became more pronounced. When did Mabel go to the cemetery and why did she go there?  

“He’s really deep,” she started feeling his arm and gaped up in surprise. “Oh. Little muscle there. That’s…. what a surprise...,” I frowned at her, my eyebrows clenching up, what does that mean?

“So, what’s your name?” Dipper asks as Grunkle Stan drank from his can again, not precisely joining in onDipper’s investigation, watching them talk it out as if they were on a TV show.

“Uh. Normal…. MAN!” Normal Man grounded out, growling slightly, I smiled at his dramatic actions, they were dramatics, right? 

His name is Normal Man? Does Man have two N’s, making it Mann? Or is it just Man? Could I shorten it to Manny? Is it shortening the name if I add letters? I considered the guy, seeing if he would like to be asked some questions.

“He means Norman,” my lips pulled down in a frown, then why did he say Normal Man was his name, Mabel? Was he just teasing us or something like that?  

I, suddenly, wished I had my notebook to write down my many questions but it’s upstairs. Should I run up? No, that would, probably, be rude. And Mabel, already, was nervous. 

Ugh, social things are confusing and exhausting! And I’m not even saying anything!

“Are you bleeding, Norman?” Dipper pointed at the red liquid on Norman’s cheek, I tilted my head sideways, like a dog would, curious as well.

The red liquid started dripping and Norman glanced at it for a second. “It’s jam,” isn’t jam stickier than that? Or is that jelly? What’s the difference between them?

Mabel gasped and I scanned her body to find any injuries, trying to find out what was wrong. Only to see nothing. “I love,” she slapped him as she said, “jam,” she started gesturing to the both of them, bewilderedly. “Look. At. This!” 

I sighed in relief at my sister and her actions before my eyes rolled. 

Who doesn’t like jam is the question. 

After she stopped talking, Norman looked down at her, apprehensively. “So, you wanna go hold hands or...,” he stuttered, a grimace painting his face. “Or whatever.”

“Oh, oh, my goodness,” Mabel’s eyes lit up and she put her hands up, giggling. “Don’t wait up,” she yelled out to us, basically skipping out. Wait for what? 

Norman pointed a finger gun towards us before wobbling out, hitting a couple of things as he followed Mabel. I thought people are more graceful when they grew bigger.

My brother stood up after the couple left, looking over to where Norman was standing suspiciously, before he left the room as well, frantic for some reason. I thought I saw a maroon book pop out of his vest, so he was probably going to go through the Journal he found. 

I started reading some more, noticing Grunkle Stan reading the magazine Dipper used for a cover-up, taking his spot back from my brother. 

Which was the only seat in the whole living room, one of the reasons why I was sitting on the dinosaur skull. Speaking of the dinosaur skull. I laid back on the dinosaur skull, getting in a relaxing position. 

Grunkle Stan glanced down from the suddenness of my move, staring at the book in my hands. 

“So…. what are you reading?” I peered up to see our uncle looking at the cover. I smiled, walking closer to Grunkle Stan, and showed him the cover excitedly.

“It’s called The Black Spider , it’s about the supernatural,” His eyebrows rose and I shifted a tiny bit, a little uncomfortable. Usually, people thought that I shouldn’t be reading horror, given I was a little kid, and some took books away from me. 

Stolen books were hard to explain to the librarian. Though she seemed to understand. 

“Isn’t that a little advanced for a nine-year-old?” Responding to his question, I gave him a small shrug, watching him carefully. If he made a move for my book, at least I would get a warning. 

The Black Spider had been a little scary with the imagery but it was still an interesting read. I love horror movies and books. A habit my parents got into, comparing books and movies. 

Well, not the ones with dolls, those are something I draw the line at. 

We watched Pet Sematary last week after all of us finished reading the book. Well, Mom finished the book. Dad and I were pretty fast readers. 

“It is a fun book to read, that’s all you need to read a book,” he smiled, agreeing with me, pointing his magazine at me.

“Well, I need to go,” Grunkle Stan stretched up and his body cracked, while he went out of the living room. I winced at his retreating back that he was rubbing. He is unphased with that crack. How is he not phased? It sounds painful!

I shook my head though, getting back to the present, examining the room. The walls were striped and felt like a prison cell at the moment, making my legs bounce erratically. I could read some more but I was bored; could I watch something? Maybe, but Stan might not like it.  

Would he mind or not? I debated on if I should get the remote but a gust of air escaped my mouth in finality, getting up from the skull. 

Should I go get my notebook now? Since people are all gone, it would be easy to write down all my questions. I shook my head, responding to my silent question. Nah, I can do that tonight.  

Glancing out the window that the living room had, my attention drew to the wildlife out there. Birds chirping and squirrels scattering through the many various trees.

I suppose I could explore the woods.

My sweatshirt was swinging at the movement when I started to trot to the exit before I heard someone screaming from upstairs. 

Swiftly, I spun off my course of wandering outside to my siblings’ and my room, my feet pounding the stairs. I burst into our room, Dipper was looking through the window. The red shadow which came out of the window had devoured the floor and the area near my bed. 

I went on my tippy toes to check over his shoulder, expecting to see someone falling down the roof or something equally frightening to see, only to see Mabel sitting on a picnic table and Norman standing in front of her, giving her a flower necklace. 

Nothing wrong with the scene, it was just a romantic gesture that made Mabel smirk at Norman and say something cheeky.

Why did Dipper scream? Is he hurt? 

I moved over to the left to check over his body but Dipper jumped up, interrupting my anxiety checking at him being hurt. I thought he was going to see me but he started talking, too busy to look around the room. “Is my sister really dating a zombie, or am I just going nuts?” 

I jumped when he started talking, then frowned, confused. Zombie? Spotting the book and my eyes went up slowly, exasperated but a tiny bit amused by my brother. 

Definitely nuts. 

Then I reconsidered, my mind flashing to the blue-skinned people that I’ve witnessed on the television at school in history class. We did have superheroes and things like that in the world. It wouldn’t be too far off for zombies to be real as well, I guess.  

“It’s a dilemma, to be sure,” flailing away from the spot he was in originally, Dipper gasped as Soos' voice popped like a balloon in the room. I flinched because I didn’t hear him come in, either. Ironic: Dipper hadn’t heard me come in.  

Soos was tightening a light bulb, which he seemed to do a lot, but stared at us. Did someone break lightbulbs on purpose?

“I couldn’t help but overhear you talkin’ aloud to yourself in this nearly empty room,'' the older man winked at me and I grinned quietly. Dipper, however, didn’t notice Soos’ statement about it being a “nearly empty room”. 

Instead, he inched closer to Soos, asking for his consul. “Soos, you’ve seen Mabel’s boyfriend. He’s gotta be a zombie, right?” I thought back on what Norman looked like, he was a little roughed up but he doesn’t look like he wants to eat brains.

I spoke up to say, “I don’t think he’s a zombie, Dipper,” Dipper jumped like someone lit a fire under him, and glared at me.

“You have to stop doing that,” I grinned sheepishly and bobbed my head, looking like Grunkle Stan’s bobbleheads at the moment. 

Sometimes, I, accidentally, would sneak up on my siblings, scaring them. They never heard me come up to them. Wouldn’t they be used to it by now? Can someone get used to being scared? 

Dipper's focus went back to Soos when the handyman hummed. The hum was filled with consideration. “How many brains did ya see the guy eat,” Dipper looked down at the boarded wooden floor.

“Zero,” he glanced to the side, peering at my bed which was right by Mabel’s bed.

Soos said, “Look, dude,” while he put his arm down, away from the light bulb, peering at my older brother, sincerely. “I believe you. I’m always noticing weird stuff in this town,” my face brightened, my face opening like a bird stretching its wings and I bounced on my feet, excitedly. 

Like what?  

“Like the mailman,” Soos said, nonchalantly, my excited hopping stopped with a record scratch. What? “Pretty sure that dude’s a werewolf,” I tilted my head at him as my questions went rampant in my head. 

Quickly, I grabbed my notebook to scribble down my questions. Not noticing how Soos’ attention shifted to me when I moved. 

Did the mailman howl at the moon? Have you seen the mailman transform? Did the mailman react to silver like in the movies? Or was it mistletoe? How did the mailman change, was it a full wolf or just a mixture between animal and human? Can there be other shifters that aren’t wolves? 

I glanced up at the silence that was happening and my eyebrows clenched together because Soos gazed towards Mabel’s posters. I checked behind me to see what he was looking at but he started talking before I could fully inspect the area. 

“But ya gotta have evidence,” Soos raised the screwdriver in emphasis.

“Otherwise, people are gonna think you’re a major league cuckoo clock,” I agreed to Soos’ wise words by nodding.

“You wouldn’t want more people thinking that,” my brother glowered at me when I teased and smirked at him before he peered back at the older man. 

“As always, Soos, you’re right.”.

“My wisdom is both a blessing,” Soos looked down as he said the next thing, “and a curse,” he rose one foot on the ladder, doing a warrior pose. I beamed then tried to mimic him but wobbled on the windowsill. 

“Soos!” Grunkle Stan yelled from downstairs. “The portable toilets are clogged again!” I gagged as I thought about doing that as a job. Is that the cursed part of his wisdom?

Soos shifts his cap, “I am needed elsewhere,” he backs out of the room and into the darkness. Poor Soos. 

Wait, how did he disappear like that?  

“Our sister could be in trouble,” Dipper muttered to himself, loudly. Making me snap out of wondering about Soos and his Soos-ness. “It’s time to get some evidence.”

“Do you want me to help?” Dipper flinched, probably forgetting I was here. He gestured an affirmative reaction and my lips turned upward, smirking. Trying not to rub my hands together like a Disney villain. 

An excuse to stalk a sibling? How dare you even ask…. I’m definitely in! 

This is going to be fun. 

Blackmail material could be seen in my future.  

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We went all over Gravity Falls. To the diner and hid behind newspapers as Norman punched his way through a window. He didn’t appear hurt, so he must have been really strong. Why did Mabel look impressed with breaking the law?  

We hid in some bushes at the park as Mabel and Norman were playing Frisbee. Almost got caught when they were playing. Luckily, Dipper was thinking fast and got us out of a likely-to-be awkward moment. 

My brother flung it to where a dog was sitting, causing the cute doggy to sit up and grab it. Mabel and Norman tried to get it back but the dog ran off with the toy. 

The cemetery was the last place we went, where we hid right around some gravestones as Norman fell into an open grave. Why do they keep going to a cemetery? Do they want to be cursed or something? 

A little creeped out by the location, pretty sure I kept seeing statues move. Could the person that wrote that book be crazy or right? Are there more weird things like the creatures in that book? 

Dipper was nice to let me look through the contents of the book--the Journal because of that question. He happened to be reading over my shoulder as I wrote the questions down in my notebook. 

There were Gnomes, Floating Eyeballs, Giant Bats, Zombies, and a whole lot of others. 

They are awesome!  

If they were really real, that is.  

There was the Soothsquitos; these bug creatures spelled out future messages with some letters off. Like what Dipper showed us before he went into the woods. But what would Dipper have to beware of? 

He’s not in danger, is he?

Finally, I went home to get a snack, abandoning Dipper to search for clues alone for a while. We didn’t eat at all today, even if we went to a diner. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any money. Miss Susan, from the diner, offered to have food on the house but I was rushed out by Dipper before I could say anything about the offer. 

My brother rarely took breaks when he was on a case.

Up in our room, I ate finally. Eating my wafers as Mabel prettified herself up, a comb in her dark brown hair. She looked excited about something, I assumed it was for a Norman-related thing. Probably a date. 

While I was boredly observing Mabel brushing her hair. Dipper thought he had seen enough evidence apparently because he burst into our room. I perked up with the thought of, this is going to be interesting.  

It was getting too boring around here, I realized with dawning horror. Getting excited for fights between my siblings now. I’m turning into Stan . 

I have actually seen our uncle get excited for a brawl between two kids on one of our tours. Ready to take bets about who would win. The mother beside him wasn’t as ready to take bets which was really clear when she slapped him.

“Mabel. We’ve got to talk about Norman,” Dipper said determinedly. Mabel turned from the mirror. I got up from my warm, comfortable bed and stood by Mabel. 

Who might be warm and cuddly, but Mabel hugs were only when I have been hurt. She stated it is also when I am scared but I never got scared, so there were no kinds of those hugs.  

“Isn’t he the best? Check out this giant smooch mark he gave me!” She turned her head and there was a giant red mark on her cheek. I gasped, shocked, my eyes frozen on the mark. 

How didn’t I notice that? Does that hurt? Maybe I should get a bandaid for her. No, an icepack! That would help, right?! I was interrupted from my thoughts when Dipper screamed in reaction to the mark, holding his hands out like the mark was going to bite.

Mabel started laughing, “Gullible. It was just an accident-” I sighed with relief, about to punch her in the arm for worrying us like that, “-with the leaf blower!” A leaf blower?! She stared off into space. Dipper and I looked at each other, confused by our sister.

“She is your twin,” I whispered to him, he glared at me but didn’t seem to have a good response so he glanced back at Mabel.

“That was fun,” Mabel grinned, Dipper gripped his forehead, worriedly, and I patted his back, just as anxious. 

“No, Mabel, listen! I’m trying to tell you that Norman,” he started to reach into his coat as he continued, “is not what he seems!” He showed her the journal, the cover displayed dramatically in front of us.

Mabel inhaled. “You think he might be a vampire?” Her smile lit up the room. Why does she sound excited about this? Why does she look excited about it?  

“That would be awesome!” 

Why is my family not normal?

“Guess again, sister. SHA-BAM!” He yelled, showing her a particular page. Ignoring our sister’s antics, and I tried to do the same, shoving questions of Zombies and Vampires down.

Mabel voiced her disgust. That doesn’t look like the Zombie page, I should know, I read through that page thoroughly to get more information. I peered at the page closer and saw it was the gnome page.

“Um, Dipper,” he looked over at me and I pointed at the Journal. thoughtful on what the gnomes’ weakness could be? They were small, couldn’t someone dropkick them or something like that. “You got the wrong page,” his eyes went down toward the page.

“Oh, wait. I’m-I’m sorry….,” he flipped through a lot of pages, peering at the pages more closely, and stopped at the undead page. “Sha-bam!” he said less dramatically. Awww, he could’ve yelled it out again.

The yell adds more dramatic tension to this.

“A zombie?” She questioned doubtfully, less convinced than Dipper. Why didn’t she react with disgust to that page? Gnomes aren’t that bad, zombies could be considered worse so why hadn’t she reacted with disgust at this creature. Zombies eat brains, what do Gnomes do? 

“That is not funny, Dipper,” Mabel scowled at him.

“I’m not,” my brother pushed the book back into his vest, “joking!” He started to pace, analyzing the evidence out loud. “It all adds up: the bleeding, the limp,” he turned quickly, pointing at Mabel, “he never blinks, we noticed! Have you noticed that?”

“Maybe he’s blinking when you’re blinking,” she paused, seeming to think for a second before frowning confusedly at Dipper. 

“Wait, we?” She turned to me and her face lit up with powerful emotion. Oh no, that look is just like Mom’s stare. That stare always seems to make me feel guilty. “You helped him?” I nodded, glancing down at the ground as she started glaring at me.

And that’s Dad’s look of disapproval, telling me I should’ve done better.  

“Mabel, remember what the book said about Gravity Falls?” Paranoid, Dipper glanced behind him at the door, like someone was going to jump out, or something . 

“Trust no one!”

Mabel smiled softly, speaking slowly like we were a bunch of panicking animals. “Well, what about me, huh? Why can’t you trust me?” She grabbed two stars' earrings and put them on her ears. The golden stars glimmered in the room. “Beep boop.”

“Mabel!” He started harshly shaking her. “He’s gonna eat your brain!” Mabel placed her hand on Dipper’s concerned arm and pushed it off.

“Dipper,” she glared at him, “and Dawn,” and turned her sister-was-disappointed look on me, again, “listen to me. Norman and I are going on a date at five o’clock, and I’m gonna be ADORABLE,” she pauses pushing Dipper and me, “and he’s gonna be DREAMY,” she shoved us out of our joint room, I fell on the floor with her force.

“Bu-bu-but-,” I got up, spinning around while we tried to break through her speech but she continued, grabbing the door with her hand.

“And I am not gonna let you guys ruin it with one of your crazy CONSPIRACIES!” She slammed the door on us, almost slamming the door on my fingers. I yanked them away from the door so it wouldn’t happen. 

Dipper sighed and sat down in front of the door.

“What am I gonna do?” He rubs his head with a groan, sounding like Mom when she’s working. Sighing, I plopped down next to him on the brown wooden floor.. A little sad Mabel wouldn’t listen to us. Well, mostly Dipper. 

I might’ve gotten convinced that Norman is a zombie, during our whole day of investigation, but I barely spoke up to help him. 

“I don’t know but could I try to help you again?” I asked him softly, he smiled and rubbed my head.

“Sure, little sister,” I smiled, laughing when he started to rub harder.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As time changed to five o’clock, the doorbell rang. We watched when Mabel ran down the stairs, talked to Norman, and walked out. We weren’t listening to them talk; too busy worrying about our sister's safety. 

We turned back to the camera which Dipper was holding. There was a video of Mabel playing hopscotch with Norman.

“Soos was right, I don’t have any real evidence,” he sounded dejected. He shouldn’t sound like that, I thought as I stared, determinedly, at the camera. I spoke up from the dinosaur skull.

“Don’t worry, brother. I’m sure you will find something.” 

His lips curled in a little smile and thanked me, before looking at the tape.

“No, I guess I can be a kind of paranoid sometimes and-,” on the tape, Norman’s hand fell off and he quickly put it back on. Dipper cut off what he was saying; I tried to grasp what had just happened, my mouth opening and closing. 

“Wait, WHAT?!” He rewinds the video and we watch the same thing happen again.

Dipper screamed and the chair tipped over as he flailed. Snapping out of my shock, I glanced over from my spot on the skull, eyes peering worriedly down at the fallen chair that contained Dipper but he didn’t respond to my worry.

Instead, he ran out the open door, exclaiming “I was right! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!” He turned the corner, I chased after him, trying to catch up. 

Mabel’s with Norman, right now!  

I forced my legs to pump faster as we started yelling our Grunkle’s name, who was leading a group of tourists by the shack.

Stan was arguing with a tourist when we ran behind all of the tourists, trying to get his attention by waving and calling out his name. Dipper groaned but I kept trying to get Great-Uncle Stan’s attention. We can’t give up now! Mabel’s in danger with that zombie. 

Dipper went back to trying again after his lapse of judgment, but there was no luck.

So when my brother noticed something and dashed off to the left, I felt a glimmer of hope. Scanning the area where he bolted, I saw Wendy and the golf cart. “Wendy!” He yelled, trying to get her attention. 

Smelling his idea, I was right behind him. Using big pouting eyes when Dipper finally got out what we needed. 

“Wendy!” The teenager looked over at Dipper’s waving arms, her gaze not shifting as Dipper panicked. “I need to borrow the golf cart so I can save my sister from a zombie!” 

I frowned because….he didn’t include me….again. 

Not important right now! I crumbled those thoughts and kept up with the puppy dog eyes before the thoughts stayed in my head. 

The cool teenager crossed her arms and smiled, pulling her arms away as she revealed the keys. My eyes widened, she’s actually giving him the keys. She is great! Wendy dropped the keys into his hands. 

“Try not to hit any pedestrians,” I stopped grinning for a second to criticize her statement of wisdom, try not to?

Shaking that thought away too, we both jumped in the golf cart and Dipper got the cart started. He reversed the cart but promptly stopped, hitting the brake when he saw Soos. 

“Dude, it’s me: Soos,” no, really? Never noticed. “This is for the zombies,” he gave me a shovel.

I grinned, “Thanks,” Dipper and I thanked him. 

Mom and Grandpa don’t instill politeness into us for anything apparently. 

Soos held up a baseball bat, “And this is in case you see a piñata,” and handed me the wooden bat. 

“Can’t we just lead some swarm of bats over to scare off the piñata?” As I asked the question, the guys frowned at me, weirded out by the question. 

I ignored it as I smirked at the bat, testing it by swinging it once, full baseball player form they teach in little league. This is gonna be fun. I love baseball bats! I missed what Dipper said back but I turned and bowed my head in thanks to Soos, then I waved goodbye to him.

The handyman, who’d done his duty on being handy, saluted back at me, wishing us good luck on our mission.

Dipper and I were racing through the woods, concerned; when we heard Mabel’s scream. “Mabel!” I yelled, panicked. Is she being hurt? What is he doing to her?! Imagination started to act up on what Norman was doing but shoved those thoughts out of my head. 

Now isn’t the time for that!

“Don’t worry, Mabel!” Dipper yelled as we bounced down the hill. “We’ll save you from that zombie!”

I could hear Mabel scream “Help!” far off.

Dipper was quick to respond to her call. “Hold on!” I picked up a baseball bat and was prepared to give Dipper the shovel.

Tracking her yell took a couple of minutes but we finally found Mabel and it was a weird sight. To the left of her, there was a tiny man, throwing up a….rainbow?

I surveyed the area when I finally saw Mabel. There was a group of tiny men surrounding her. We got out, slamming our feet to the ground, and I gave the shovel to my brother. Dipper thanked me quietly. 

My bared teeth showed as my face pulled into a frown. Holding up the baseball bat, threat in my actions. Kind of hard to appear threatening when you were as small as them.

“What the heck is going on here?!” Dipper yelled, confused. A little man ran by us and stopped to hiss at the two of us. Dipper flinched and I jumped back, ready with my bat.

“Dipper!” Our sister waved at us, relieved. “Norman turned out to be a bunch of gnomes!” Wow, and Dipper mistakenly turned the page to the gnomes’ one before the zombie one earlier. It’s like fate!  

“And they’re total jerks!” The little-gnomes started pulling her hair as she said that, I winced as Mabel said “Hair!” repeatedly. But then I scowled at the gnomes. Stop hurting my sister!  

“Gnomes? Huh, I was way off,” he took the journal out of his jacket and started reading from the gnomes’ page. I could’ve told him what it said, reading that page in the cemetery. Not any good would come from the entry.

“Gnomes: little men of the Gravity Falls Forest, weaknesses: unknown,” I looked over to Mabel when Dipper was done reading from the book and saw her tied down into the ground.

“Really?” I stated, shouldn’t the author know if he knew about the gnomes?! “That’s great,” I said sarcastically.

“Aw, come on!” Mabel yelled at the gnomes, how did they tie her up that quickly ?

Dipper starts walking up to a brown-haired gnome with me in tow. “Hey, HEY!” he pointed at the gnome. “Let go of our sister!” 

The gnome nervously started to speak and then stated that Mabel was going to marry all the gnomes and become a queen for all eternity. My mouth opened and closed as my fist clenched the bat harder and harder when he kept talking. My glare burned into him but he kept going. 

Mabel glared as the gnome asked her if that was right as he finished. “You guys are butt-faces!” She yelled and then a gnome covered her mouth. I growled at the same gnome and held my bat more menacingly, the gnome peered at me cautiously but didn’t release his hold. 

My lips curled into a snarl. 

Dipper held the shovel and pointed at the main gnome. “Give her back right now, or else,” Dipper threatened and I started to walk forward, toward the group of gnomes but halted as the brown-haired gnome started speaking again.

“You think you can stop us? You are just children!” The gnome gripped his hands together. “You have no idea what we’re capable of,” he stared angrily at us. “The gnomes are a powerful race!” Communicating without words, Dipper and I stared at each other and nodded.  

We stopped his speech by Dipper casually brushing him away; the leader gnome screamed. 

The gnomes started to run at us but I hit any gnomes rushing in to try and hurt my brother or sister. Dipper cut Mabel free with the sharp shovel and the three of us quickly got in the cart. I heard that the gnome that Dipper brushed away was screaming to get Mabel.

“Seatbelt,” Dipper pushed us on and Mabel buckled up. My brother started backing up and then drove away.

We went rapidly up a hill, “Hurry,” Mabel, worriedly, continued, “Before they come after us!”

Dipper smiled at her before glancing back at me to see if I followed his command on the seat belt thingy. I grumbled and obliged for once when he raised an eyebrow and glared at me. 

He’s not my father. 

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” he confidently said after he was sure I did what he wanted completely. “See their tiny little legs? Those suckers are tiny!” He tried to brush off her worries but a giant thud came from behind the cart, making me doubt his knowledge about gnomes.

“I don’t think their legs are tiny anymore,” I said, nervously, the words breaking and crumbling forth. Could they have a guard dog for these purposes? Could there be giants? Like the Hulk or bigger? Could they turn bigger?

Dipper screeched the cart to a halt and we all looked behind us. A red enormous giant figure stood behind us. A giant stack of gnomes making one singular gnome. With them holding each other up or down, working as a team. 

How hard would that be? How would they communic–? I shook my head, trying to get the questions out of my head. Not the time for questions. Huh, that’s probably why the author didn’t know their weaknesses.

“Dang,” Mabel muttered, I bobbed my head in agreement. The beast roared and a tongue made of gnomes stuck out. Okay, that's pretty funny. They made a tongue out of themselves to make the effect of something roaring.  

If we weren’t being chased right now.

“Move. MOVE!” Mabel yelled at Dipper as a gigantic arm slammed into the ground right behind us. Dipper started speeding up, following our sister’s shriek.

I heard the thump-thump as it started chasing us as we went down the dusty bumpy road. “It’s getting closer,” Mabel said as she looked behind us. Really, I never noticed, I thought, panicking to myself.

I saw four gnomes getting thrown at the cart. As the gnomes landed they started trying to tear the golf cart apart. Mabel elbowed one, who was hanging from one of the poles of the golf cart. Dipper grabbed one, slammed the gnome into the steering wheel a couple of times, and threw him toward the trees.

One gnome thumped on the front of the golf cart. It jumped shrieking as it landed on Dipper’s face. “I’ll save you, Dipper!” Our sister screamed out the sentence and started punching the gnome. 

One time, two times, three times. 

Until finally, she punched the gnome off.

I glanced at my left and saw a gnome snarling at me. I raised my bat and started ramming it into the gnome until it flew off of the cart. Like a baseball would do. It started spinning off to the side of the road. 

I breathed in and tried to calm down as my eyes focused down at the bat in my hands, this is great for stress relief. 

I peered back up at my siblings, who were looking straight back at me. I smiled and they grinned back, relieved.

My attention was pulled when I heard something getting torn apart. I gaped back at the huge figure that was now holding a tree. The roots were pulled out with the tree. The Gnome Godzilla decided to fling the tree towards us. 

“Dipper! Watch out!” I screamed, ducking down in the back seat. My siblings followed my command instantly, knowing I wouldn’t joke about our safety. 

The tree went over us while we ducked–which, come to think about it, wouldn’t have helped us since we were in a golf cart–and it crashed into the ground.

The tree made a huge indent on the dirt floor and wood splintered up but the tree didn’t break apart. It stayed firm and unmoving when it settled down on the passageway that we were heading down.

“Look out!” Mabel yelled and Dipper wretched the wheel. 

We went under the tree through a hole; we began spiraling out of control. The wind pushed past us like it was a bully trying to get a kid’s lunch money. The vehicle kept spinning until the cart’s side struck the ground, shoving my siblings and me out of the golfing cart. 

All of us groaned as we crawled out of the underneath cart, trying to get away from the beast that thumped, thumped, thumped their way toward us. Our shadows shivered from the heavyweight pounding into the dusty floor. 

A shadow came over us, darkening the ground and crushing our shadows in an instant. 

Like they could and will do to us . 

My sister and I paled at the monstrous figure standing above us. Dipper shot up, like a guard dog, and threw the shovel at the monstrosity, desperately doing something. 

“Stay back, man!” Dipper yelled but the beast punched the shovel in the air.

Mabel and Dipper hugged each other, screaming. I just laid next to them, looking up, terrified. I tried to grab the bat but the bat laid away from my grip, ignoring my plea for help. 

“It’s the end of the line, kids,” the three of us backed up to the shack as the gnome on the top of the giant said that. I scrambled in the dirt, trying to keep up with my siblings. Being the helpful brother he was, Dipper tugged me behind them by grabbing my collar. 

“Mabel, marry us before we do something crazy!” The leader tugged on one of the gnome’s hats, moving the giant’s body slightly, trying to express how crazy. 

I’m pretty sure this is already crazy. 

“There’s gotta be a way out of this!” Dipper thought desperately out loud, trying to figure something out. He started to pull the journal out and was trying to find some answers when Mabel walked in front of Dipper and me. 

I don’t think that will help us right now, Dipper. 

“I gotta do it,” she said, determinedly.

We stared at Mabel, shocked, an electric jolt went down my side. “What?! Mabel, don’t do this!” My older brother tried to reason with our oldest sibling as I grabbed onto her sweater like it was a lifeline.

“Are you crazy?” I asked Mabel, hoping this was a joke. Please let this be a Mabel joke!

“Trust me,” Mabel insisted slowly as she glanced at Dipper. She grabbed just as tight onto my hand like she was scared too. 

“What?” His eyebrows rose, I mimicked his expression.

“Dipper, just this once,” Mabel pleaded to our brother, she put her hand up by her mouth, trying not to let the gnomes read her lips. “Trust me,” Dipper looked at the gnomes and then, nodded and backed away. 

Wait, no. Are we actually doing this, Dipper?

I tried to reach back for Dipper, to hold onto him as well but Mabel’s gaze stopped me, her look just as intense as she glanced at Dipper. Two. Three seconds I held out for. Then I sighed defeatedly and nodded my head, backing up a little bit, letting go of our grip. 

She held her hand where we were holding it but dropped it quickly. 

I trust you . 

Always. 

Mabel stood to look up at the monstrous stack of gnomes. “All right, Jeff.” Oh, that was the gnome’s name . “I’ll marry you,” The giant celebrated by dancing in its spot before Jeff eagerly climbed down, saying apologies to the gnomes he stepped on. 

Note to self: don’t invite Jeff to a dance party or invite the Gnome Godzilla. 

He approached Mabel like he was a little child who got a lollipop, pulled out a ring box, and knelt on the dirt ground. Mabel held out her hand primly as if she were a princess and Jeff put the ring on her ring finger.

I sneered at Jeff, my lips curdled milk, you will never deserve Mabel! Protesting barks went through my mind but I told Mabel I trusted her by backing away, and I did . 

She has something planned, I thought as I studied the small glint in my older sister’s eyes. No one would be able to see it unless you’ve spent a lot of time with her.

“Bada-bing, bada-bam!” The jerk gnome danced to the rhythm of his scat and then looked back at her. Yep, definitely not inviting him to a dance party. “Now let’s get you back into the forest, honey!” He started to walk but Mabel interrupted him.

“You may now kiss the bride!” She muttered slyly, looking at the ring. My nose scrunched up in disgust and tried not to gag. 

Ewww, did you have to say that?

“Well, don’t mind if I do,” Jeff said as he turned back to Mabel and puckered his lips, getting ready for the kiss.

Leaning towards Jeff, Mabel reached behind her discreetly and turned on a leaf blower in the bushes. Grinning, I watched Jeff notice the leaf blower and his face went from cheerful and triumphant to panicked.  

She is brilliant! I take back whatever I said about her. 

As Jeff tried backing up, he got sucked up into the machine; even with all his efforts of running away. 

“That’s for lying to me!” My sister yelled before she started increasing the power of the machine held in her hand. “THAT’S for breaking my heart,” his cheeks got sucked into the tube, almost getting to his eyes.

“Ow!” Jeff yelps. “My face!”

“And THIS is for messing with my siblings!” She held the leaf blower out to us invitingly, a box of chocolates on Valentine's Day. A day filled with lightning and thunder.

“Wanna do the honors?” Mabel asked tentatively, trying to get her siblings back on her side after shouting at them. Dipper and I glanced at each other, smirking like the puppy that got a treat; we knew what we wanted to do.

Who wouldn’t want to try it? 

“On three!” Dipper exclaimed.

They turned to me for my response and I put my hand on the machine, taking their turn as their invitation. 

“One,” I yelled out, my anger fused into my voice. My siblings helped lift the leaf blower at its attended target: the greedy selfish gnome stack with their leader locked and loaded in the weapon. Godzilla is way better than whatever you call yourself!

“Two!” My siblings screamed out, together, in the same mindset that I was. 

“Three!” All of us snarled out and flew back, at the force the left blower let out, into the shack when we shot Jeff towards the giant gnome and he hit the intended target with a….

BANG!

The giant gnome exploded, gnomes dancing through my eyes as all the gnomes flew out of formation. Jeff screamed out his rage when he flew, like a bird, into the forest. The gnomes all started to panic as Jeff was blasted away from the area. 

So, do they need their leader to order them around? 

Mabel began to move the leaf blower back and forth, blowing all the gnomes back and it was like they were getting pulled with a large rope  back into the forest. 

“Anyone else want some?” Dipper challenged. All the gnomes who didn’t get blown away started to walk away, or run, to the forest. Scattering away from us, a bunch of cowards who didn’t run without a command.

One gnome got caught in a six-pack holder when he tried to run. He whined, a pitiful whine, and Gompers the goat noticed the caught gnome; the goat picked up the trapped gnome and strode away with the screaming gnome. 

I laughed at the gnome, evilly. 

Good Gompers. You deserve some pets when I’ve slept this day off.

Normally, I wouldn’t laugh at someone’s pain but they just tried to hurt my brother and make Mabel their queen without her consent. Speaking of, I looked at my brother concernedly, he wasn’t too hurt; I observed, only a minuscule nod to myself could be seen. 

Good.

Trudging, we walked to the old porch and I took my chance to check on my sister as well. Well, she didn’t have any bruises, just some scratches and many leaves in her hair. Mabel hesitantly came behind us. Looking at her downcast face, I knew she felt bad.

“Hey, Dipper and Dawn?” She put her hands behind her back. My brother turned to her, concern waving through his eyes. Same as what mine looked like when glancing at her. 

“I, um…. I’m sorry for ignoring your guys’ advice,” she looked down at the dirt road before glancing back and forth between Dipper and me. “You guys really were just looking out for me,” I shrugged when her eyes darted back at me, telling her silently I didn’t mind; only Dipper needs your apologies .

“Oh, don’t be like that,” Dipper waved his hand back to where the golf cat was crushed and beaten. Wonder how we are going to explain this to Great-Uncle Stan.  “You saved our butts back there,” I smiled, tilting my head at Dipper, concurring. 

The happy-go-lucky almost-teenager spotted my head nodding and she smiled genuinely from my support.

She picked a leaf out of her hair. “I guess I’m just sad that my first boyfriend turned out to be a bunch of gnomes,” she grumbled tiredly as she cast the leaf from her hands. 

I went behind her with a comforting pat, pulling out the leaves that were still stuck. She wouldn't be able to reach some of them so might as well get it out of the way. They were everywhere and were glue, I was reminded of spiderwebs.

“Hey, at least no one else got taken to be their ‘queen’,” I giggled while taking the leaves and scattering them through the wind that felt like the leaf blower was still on, my other hand putting up quotation marks. I noticed my siblings peered at me, adopting bewildered glances. 

“No one else could have handled it,” I chortled, winking at them. They laughed at the tiny joke, relaxing their faces from their seriousness, and nodded in agreement.

“Look on the bright side,” Dipper shrugged, his smile grand after my sentence. “Maybe the next one will be a vampire,” my brother and I grinned at Mabel. 

Hopefully not a harmful vampire; though knowing Mabel, she would probably find a way to make a vampire like her. 

Mabel laughed louder, her eyes gleaming again with happiness. “Oh, you’re just saying that!” She punched softly at Dipper’s arm, a feather touching his skin. Not bulldozing her way through affection for once. 

Dipper holds out his arms, smiling nervously at the thought of being rejected by his sister once more. “Awkward sibling hug?”

“Awkward sibling hug,” Mabel confirmed and raised her arms.

They went to hug each other and then did their unique saying, “Pat, pat.” 

Their eyes caught on me, their arms netted around me and they hugged me to them, close to crushing me. I laughed while they repeated the “pat, pat” when rubbing my head, making my brown hair fluff up. Like my hair doesn’t do that much, already!  

“Quit it!”

Patting down my hair like beating the fire out of it, I grumbled, but the grumble was a dog that loved the touch his owner gave him. And my siblings knew it too because they smiled at me, fondly. 

We started to waddle into the cabin, we felt spent and exhausted from the day. We tramped through the door and Stan was behind the counter, counting some of the money in his hands. 

“Yeesh. You three get hit by a bus or something?” Grunkle Stan asked, laughing at his own joke. It wasn’t really funny but….at least he tried? I stumbled behind my siblings, as they walked away from Stan but not before I smiled at him.

Only stopping myself from following after Mabel and Dipper when I could see him thinking really hard about something going around in his mind and before I knew it he caught my siblings’ attention by calling after them. 

“I accidentally overstocked some inventory,” he said, holding a wad of dollar bills, “so, uh~…. how about each of you take one item from the gift shop?” He paused before saying, giving the chance for my face to brighten in glee as I glanced around the room as if to spot my chosen gift right away. 

“On the house, y’know?”

“Really?” Mabel jumped up.

I smiled and the name I spent a long time trying to get, came out naturally, finally after a few days. “Thank you, Grunkle Stan!” I cheered, before looking around the store. 

I didn’t hear the rest of what the others were talking about too busy looking around the shop but I did hear the cashier ring as Stan hit it.

A couple of stuffed animals laid on top of a shelf, their limp bodies almost falling to the ground. Noticing a silver-furred body, my lips stretched into a full-blown smile as the fox stared back at me, its stuffed body leaning on another animal. I love foxes! And this one is so cool with the silver fur!

It’s so foxy!

I looked at every other one too, trying to see what else was on the shelf, stopping on a sandy coat. A wolf that had glowing yellow eyes. Contemplating both of them, I tried to figure out which one I wanted more.

I overheard someone strolling over to me, their footsteps heavy and almost clumsy, a bear coming out of hibernation. “See anything you like?” Stan questioned me. I dipped my head in response, pointing at the two stuffed animals hanging way up high.

“I don’t know which ones to pick, I love foxes but I really love wolves too,” I said, crossing my arms and glaring at both, trying to think. 

Stan looked down at me with an amused look on his face when he looked back at the row of stuffed animals. He picked both of them up, brushed the spiderwebs off the silver fox, and gave them both to me, shushing me with his finger as I looked at him with a befuddled expression.

“Hide one and don’t tell the others this happened,” I beamed up at him before putting the wolf under my signature sweatshirt that had an orange paw print on it, brushing my hand over the fox’s furry body, petting it.  

Grunkle Stan chuckled at me and went back, behind the cashier before someone noticed he was being suspicious.

I heard Mabel humming and saw Dipper roam up to a shelf of hats that had a blue pine tree on them. He put one on his head and looked in the mirror; he looks nice, it’s like it was made for him ! 

“That’ll do the trick,” he said to the hat and flicked it up.

“And I will have a….” Mabel paused, getting everyone to look over towards her. She reached into the box and hid what she grabbed under her arms. “GRAPPLING HOOK!” She took a stance and pointed the hook above her.  

All three of us glanced at each other, the guys and me. I felt scared. More scared than what happened before all of this with the gnomes. We should all be scared. She has a weapon now. My crazy sibling has a weapon.

Stan started suggesting something different, “wouldn’t she rather have, like, a doll, or something? Like Dawn here,” he asked Dipper. I shook my head and sighed, he has so much to learn. She’s invested now. You will have to do something drastic to get it back now.

Mabel pulled the trigger to the ceiling and she flew up in the air, making things fall over as she lifted up off the ground. Actually, that looks like fun. I looked down at the fox lying in my arms, although I won’t change my mind about these stuffed animals.

They’re so cute and fluffy! 

“GRAPPLING HOOK!” She yelled the two words again. Grunkle Stan quickly agreed, smiling at Mabel. 

I grinned.

I want to try!

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dipper and Mabel were in our room, getting ready for bed but I waited for our Grunkle to come back. I wanted to thank him for giving me the two stuffed animals. The action was kind of him and he didn’t have to do that. He didn’t need to give us a chance to go through the inventory of the shop.

A window crashed open and I heard Mabel and Dipper laughing. They were probably just playing with the grappling hook. I did manage to convince Mabel to let me fire off a shot earlier. It was fun! Almost hit Dipper and that’s when Mabel took it away from me. I felt bad about that but overall, playing with the grappling hook was still fun. 

I was looking underneath the porch for Grunkle Stan; you never know where someone might be! My ears picked up the noise of feet walking quietly on the porch; I peered up and saw Stan walking into the doorway, holding a lamp.

I was going to yell and scare him but I slowly shifted to a stop when I noticed he was acting shifty, his eyes darting right to left as if to check the all-clear. Also, I don’t want him to get a heart attack.

Because I'm a great great-niece like that.  

I followed him in and hid behind something, too dark to notice what it was. He sauntered by the vending machine before he stopped and put in a code. The door–no, the whole vending machine turned and shifted into a pathway.

My eyes widened, shoving my hand over my mouth to contain the squeak of curiosity and shock.

He walked in and went to shut the door but glanced suspiciously around the room. I ducked smoothly down before he caught sight of me. I knew he didn’t catch sight of me because he didn’t shout at me for following him. 

What is he doing? I thought to myself before I shrugged in response to my silent question. 

I can’t tell the future. 

He shut the door behind him. The door thudded silently and gave a wheeze as it shut and the room got darker, more threatening. I got up, looking around the room, trying to make sure he wouldn’t come back at the wrong time. He would be mad if he saw me, wouldn’t he? 

Then I left the lobby, going up the stairs to our room. 

I decided to leave the secret door alone for now. Grunkle Stan doesn’t have to tell us everything in his life and we’ve only been here for a few days. The secret wouldn’t be nice to blurt it out, would it? 

Grandpa Shermie told me not to be too mean to Grunkle Stan for this trip. Told me to watch over him. Plus, Mom and Dad would be disappointed if I were to be mean to him, too. 

Another thing is: he is family.

I walked up to our room and laid down on my bed. Nothing too bad should happen while keeping this a secret. I drifted off, hugging the two furred stuffed animals to my chest that Grunkle Stan let me have. The sensation of them being hugged close to my chest was soothing for me. Nice and calming

Thinking about Grandpa Shermie gave me an idea as I hugged tighter to the stuffed animals. I think I’ll call them– .

My whole world went dark as I fell asleep.