Chapter Text
I can say it but you won’t believe me
You say you do but you don’t deceive me
It’s hard to know they’re out there
It’s hard to know that you still care
- "Dead Hearts" Stars
Chapter One
Mabel yawned and sat up, stretching her head from side to side. Maybe sleeping in her car hadn't been a good idea. She flipped down the shade in the front of her car and opened the mirror. Well, at least her makeup had remained more or less intact. She was a little raccoony, but hey, the smoky look was kind of sexy. And she'd been smart enough to put her hair in a ponytail, so it hadn’t frizzed out like it had been known to in the past. So she could probably keep driving.
She brought her seat back up and was about to back up and out of the rest stop, when she remembered that she had no idea where she was. Mabel sighed and headed into the gas station. She made a beeline for the maps and took one down, then crossed over the counter. The man there was very involved in his phone, but a few coughs got his attention.
“Hey,” Mabel grinned, unfolding the map. “I was wondering if you could show me where this is?” He raised his eyebrows. Mabel smiled patiently. Then he pointed to a sign by the maps. She read it aloud. “All maps taken down and opened must be paid for. Well, duh.” She reached into her pocket and rooted around for change. “Now, where are we?”
He lifted a pen from the desk, then dropped it onto the map and tapped.
“Thank you! Hey, wait a minute.” Mabel leaned over and looked at the map. “Say, we’re not too far from Gravity Falls, are we?” The guy shrugged. “Actually, I think I’m gonna buy a bottle of water too.”
Gravity Falls.
She drove a little while, and then Mabel pulled over at the turnoff from the main road, next to a sign reading “This Way to Gravity Falls!” She stared up at the peeling paint. She could barely made out the picture, but it seemed to depict the water tower.
Maybe a quick drive over wouldn’t hurt, she thought. Maybe I could even spend the night with Candy. Grab breakfast at the Greasy Diner, dinner with Wendy? Maybe even stop by to see-
She stuck out her lower jaw. She would not go see Great Uncle Ford. But she would go to see her friends, she would have a nice visit to a touching place, and she would have fun. Then she’d finish the drive back to Los Angeles.
Mabel shifted gears and stepped on the gas. She moved at a slow, tourist’s pace at first, but the forest along the road hadn’t changed much, and she soon sped up. She did her best not to focus on what was to come, and instead turned up the radio.
Static. Static. Static. The local radio station. No, not that. Static again.
She brought her car to a halt as another billboard came into view. Come and See the Mystery Shack! She swallowed and looked over at the turnoff. So long as she was in the area… she should visit him, shouldn’t she? Right? Right. Right.
Mabel took the turn. Her hands tightened on the steering wheel, and she went white as the road became more and more bumpy. She slowed at the sign that read CLOSED- Permanently. Finally, she came to a halt in front of the wooden A-frame. The front was empty, and she could see the overgrown grass in the back.
She parked and started for the front door. The old sign was laying next to the porch, the S resting on top. The grass had grown around it, and next to it was the crumbling, darkened remains of rock-that-looked-like-a-face-rock. It didn’t look much like a face now. Certainly not a healthy one.
Mabel picked the rock up and moved it next to the door. Maybe greeting guests would brighten rock-that-looked-like-a-face’s day. She lifted her hand to knock on the door, then thought better of it.
She took a step back, skin going cold. Not now. She couldn’t do this right now. She needed cookies or something. She needed a cookie to eat.
Mabel returned to her car and stared at the house for a moment, then put it in reverse and drove into town. She parked outside of the Dusk 2 Dawn. It had been reopened, and was a shining white-and-neon testimony to modern living. She approached the glistening doors and pushed them open. Crisp, cold air rushed out to greet her. Could the former Mystery Shack offer that? No.
“Let’s see,” she muttered to herself. “Cookies- and lunch. I’ll make some lunch. That’ll be great!”
She made her way through the aisles and found hot dogs, microwaveable popcorn, bananas, and a few other convenience store items to piece together into a lunch. She had just set her sights on a plastic box of cookies when she heard her name.
“Mabel?”
She looked up at the counter and felt a shudder in her chest.
“Wendy!”
Mabel dropped her items on the counter and Wendy motioned to her. “What, no hug, man? Get over here!”
Mabel hurried around the counter, a smile stretching across her face. She wrapped her arms around Wendy and sneezed.
“Still covered in sawdust, I see.” She rubbed her nose, and Wendy laughed.
“I can’t believe you’re here! It’s been ages, how are you?”
Mabel shrugged. “I’m okay, I guess. What about you?”
“You’re here, dude! I’m great! What brings you into town?”
Mabel shrugged again. “I was… sort of in the area.”
“For the first time in years, apparently. Aren’t we good enough for you?”
“No, no, I-” Mabel tensed, then realized Wendy was joking. “No, you aren’t. Too small. Me, I’m go big or go home.”
“Ain’t that the truth. Here, let me ring you up.” Wendy started to scan her items. “Yo, say hi, Ma and Pa. You remember Ma and Pa, right, Mabel?” Wendy glanced around. “Ungh, they’re probably sleeping. You know how old people are.”
Mabel glanced around the store, but didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. She’d almost forgotten about the elderly ghosts until Wendy had mentioned them. Apparently even ethereal spirits needed naps, which was a little comforting.
“You want a bag?” Wendy asked.
“That’d be great.”
“Are you okay? You seem a little quiet.”
“Oh, you know. I’m just thinking. It’s been awhile.”
“Sure has.” Wendy handed her a bag. “Hey, my lunch break’s coming up. If you want to grab a bite…?”
“That sounds great!” Mabel said. “Except… no. I can’t. I was kind of maybe sort of gonna… do… something.”
She and Wendy both looked down at the bag, and Wendy nodded.
“Damn you and your social skills. Make sure you have fun at your lunch, okay?”
“Oh, totally.”
“And you better haul your ass back here sometime so we can make plans and catch up. You’ll be in town for awhile, right?” Wendy smiled hopefully.
Mabel sighed. “Maybe.
“Hell yeah! Then we’ll have time to hang. And Ma and Pa would love to say hi too, they think you’re an absolute doll.”
Mabel honestly couldn’t remember a single positive encounter with the ghosts, but she nodded and promised that she’d come back to see them. Wendy waved as she headed out the door.
She climbed into her and hugged the bag to her chest, letting out a deep breath. Coming here had been a bad, bad idea. Why did she always have to be so stupid?
Mabel set the bag down in the passenger seat and turned her car around. She was tempted to just leave, but now she’d bought the food, and besides. She didn’t want to come this far and then quit.
She parked in front of the former Mystery Shack again, grabbed the bag, and headed up the sinking steps. Jeez, the deck was really starting to rot. She was starting to feel a little lightheaded, and her heart was beating too quickly and too loudly.
Mabel lifted her free hand and knocked. A moment of rushing silence passed, but there was no answer.
Maybe he’s not home, she realized. Maybe he moved.
Or maybe he’s dead.
Yeah, that could happen. He could be actually, literally, full on dead.
Mabel turned to leave, then stopped. She had heard something inside. She moved back towards the door and listened. Had it been her imagination?
She bit her lip and reached forward. Her insides were cold and shaking underneath her skin, like someone had set her bones on vibrate. Moving much too slowly, she clenched her fist and knocked again.
The sound seemed to echo and, after a moment, a voice answered her.
“Who’s there? I’ve got a gun!”
Mabel’s arm fell. The voice seemed older, dustier, weaker, but it was him. She recognized it. She’d know that suspicious, threatening tone anywhere.
Turn around turn around turn around, she thought.
“Open the door, please,” she said.
“Is this the groceries? You’re supposed to leave them on the porch! The money’s all out there for you!”
“It’s not the groceries.”
There was a clinking sound, as if he’d begun to undo a chain. Was he unlocking the door? There was a sliver of movement. He might have set his hand down on the doorknob.
“Please open the door, Great Uncle Ford.”
It creaked open and he came into view, darkened by the room behind him, his eyes narrowed against the light. He was hunched over and aged. His fingers were thin and brittle around a pistol, and his face was sagging and solemn.
“Hi,” Mabel said shyly.
He squinted and pushed his glasses up his nose.
“Mabel? Why do you have the groceries?”
She looked down. “Oh, these aren’t- these are my groceries. I brought you lunch. Well, I brought stuff for lunch. It’s kind of half made. Can I come in?”
He looked her up and down, then nodded in acceptance, and opened the door further. Mabel stepped inside and held back a sneeze. It was dusty, and smelled like mold.
“I’ll have to apologize for the state of things,” Stanford said shortly, tucking his gun away. “I don’t come up here too much, it’s not my favorite way in and out of the building. Oh, let me get the lights.”
He turned them on. Judging by the state of him, he didn’t have any favorite way out of the building. His eyes were sunken and bloodshot, and his skin was a sickening color.
“It’s fine,” Mabel smiled weakly, and her sneeze escaped. “Just a... little dusty is all.”
“Yes… you said you’d brought lunch?”
“Oh, right. I got some popcorn, and cookies-”
“That doesn’t sound very healthy.”
“Well, I thought it might be fun,” Mabel told him. So shut the hell up. “I also got bananas and hot dogs.”
“Hot dogs? From where?”
“Just the convenience store.”
Stanford frowned. “Do you know what they put in those things?”
Mabel’s shoulders fell. “You don’t have to eat them. It’s not like I got some- special food, I just thought since I was in town-”
“If you bought them, I might as well. It is lunch time, after all. Isn’t it?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“You know where the kitchen is,” Stanford said, and stood back to let her walk by. Mabel headed for the kitchen, where the lights were on. There was a pile of dishes in the sink that looked stuck together, and a stack of paper plates on the counter. She grabbed two and set them on the table, then pulled out the two hot dogs and bananas. She stuck the popcorn in the out of date microwave, and was almost amazed when it worked. She put the box of cookies in the middle of the table, then a Pitt Cola at each setting. Then she checked the fridge, just in case. She wasn’t too surprised to discover it empty.
“Lunch is served,” she said without much enthusiasm, and Sanford sat with even less. He chewed his hot dog sullenly. The sounds of popping corn filled the kitchen, then gave way to silence after Mabel had brought the bag to the table.
“Do you like chocolate chip cookies, Uncle Ford?” she asked, but she knew the answer.
“No.”
“I wanted to get you some snickerdoodles but they didn’t sell those. Maybe I’ll bring some by later, homemade ones. Would that be okay?”
“Mm.”
“And I can pick up some groceries for you, if you want to give me a list, or I’ll just grab some necessities. You know. Like water.”
“I have my groceries delivered.”
“Yeah, but this way you don’t need to leave money out for them. It’ll be like a week off. You can even go spend crazy, it’ll be my treat.”
“Mm.”
“And if there’s any out of town sciencey stuff you need, I could go get it.”
“Most places ship.”
“Well, if there’s any way I can help…” Mabel trailed off and stared down at her hot dog. She really didn’t want any. She peeled her banana and had that instead. “Hey, how’s your research been? Is everything going good?”
“Fine.”
“Are you, you know, getting new material? Or just working through all the information?” Ford glared at her. “There’s nothing wrong with that, I say! Especially when you’ve got such a surplus. I mean, look at you, Miser. Interdimensional traveller, am I right? Right.” Mabel reached over to open the box of cookies. “Okay, dessert time! Are you sure you don’t want any? More for me!” She chewed her cookie loudly. This had been such a bad idea. “I’ll probably be in town for a little while. Do you have my number?”
“No.”
“That’s what I thought! I’ll leave it with you if you want to call me.”
“I don’t like the phone.”
“Me either! I’ll leave my email too.” Mabel looked over at the fridge. There was a pencil on the counter and-
And there were photos on the fridge. Old photos.
Mabel looked back. “I’ll make sure to give you that before I leave town.”
“Sure.”
She took a fistful of popcorn. Several long moments of silence passed. Stanford swallowed, and took a breath as if he were about to say something. “Mabel… How have you been?”
“Alright! I’ve been doing really well with, you know, life and stuff. Decent income, decent housing.”
“Good,” Stanford said, indicating that she did not need to tell him anymore.
“... And you?”
“Oh, fine.”
That had gone well. Just don’t-
“And how’s Dipper doing?”
Mabel was frozen for a minute, then looked down at the box of cookies. She took another.
“He’s okay, I think.”
“And his show?”
“His show’s doing fine,” she said in a cold voice. “It just got renewed.”
“Hmmph.” Ford chewed his hot dog disdainfully. “People will watch anything.”
“It’s a pretty popular show,” Mabel went on, ignoring him. “And Dipper helps write, too. So you know, all the information is-”
“Right.”
Mabel gave Ford a sharp look. “Just because you didn’t want him to do it doesn’t make it bad.”
“Oh, of course not.”
She glowered at him. “You don’t need to be such a bitter old man.”
“I’m not bitter at all.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Hmmph.”
“Okay.” Mabel stood up. “I’m gonna go.” Mabel picked up her plate and went to toss it into the trashcan, but saw that it was full. She relocated it to the counter. “Do you want to go grab breakfast tomorrow?”
“Right, at one of the great restaurants here.”
She scowled. “Okay, well, I’ll bring something over. What do you want?”
“Nothing.”
“It’s on you, then. Are you done?”
“Yes.”
Mabel brought his relatively untouched food to the counter as well, then put the two unopened sodas in the fridge. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Mm.”
“Okay, then have a nice day! I’m off to hunt down a bed.”
“Good luck with that.”
Stanford followed her to the door. That was a twist. Mabel stood in the doorway for a moment, thinking he might want to say something, then he closed it behind her. She heard him relocking the door and rolled her eyes. Wow, thanks, Uncle Ford.
Mabel headed for her car and drove into town. Time to find a place to stay.