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Gravity Falls. Jonathan says that the name of this town is a pun. This is because the waterfalls that lead to the lake are named "Gravity Falls" but it also sounds like "gravity is falling". Gravity cannot fall. Gravity can make everything else fall. Basic physics.
I hope that I can make friends here. My friends in Hawkins told me about how great it will be. My best friend, Max, used to live in California. She said that the West Coast has really nice weather, especially in the summertime. It can be dry, but Oregon is more humid. It might rain a lot. I can't wait to find out for myself!
Gravity Falls, Oregon.
Wednesday, October 2, 1985.
"It looks even nicer in person," Mom remarked, shutting the car door and looking at our new house.
I shrugged. New school year in a new town, over a thousand miles away from home- what used to be home. I should've been more hopeful, I guess, like El- she was already opening the back of the U-haul and taking out the lighter boxes. Gravity Falls could be the fresh start we need. El couldn't have gone to school in Hawkins, after all, and after everything we'd both been through- well, yeah, I guess I should have been pretty excited for a fresh start.
But the grumbling voice in the back of my head kept arguing that all my friends were back in Hawkins. No reason to bother here. I kept fighting with myself silently as we carried in furniture.
Jonathan flopped on the couch as soon as we set it in the living room. I continued arranging the furniture, which meant stopping every few minutes to move the TV over a couple inches or debate moving the bookshelf to the other side of the room. As I positioned the coffee table, he asked, "You're not tired?"
I looked up. "I mean-" I shrugged. "A little, I guess. I just want to make this place... more like a home? Like, before I try to relax." When he didn't respond, I explained, "I don't feel like I can sit down until I've unpacked my stuff. Have we decided on rooms yet?"
Jonathan hummed. El appeared in the doorway. She sat down next to Jonathan and looked at me intently. "Mom says we're having pizza for dinner."
I wondered when El had started calling my mom 'Mom' instead of 'Mrs. Byers'. It didn't make me upset, but it did confuse me a little. "Okay, sounds good to me. Do you know which bedroom you want to be yours?" I asked her.
El hummed the same way my brother did- just three months of living in our house in Hawkins, and she was like our sister already. She got up and went down the hallway. Jonathan looked at me, clearly tired, then got up and followed her with me.
Between the two downstairs non-master bedrooms, El wanted the bigger room. The problem was, so did I. But back in Hawkins, I had the biggest room, so I guess it was only fair that El gets the bigger room this time. We decided to ask Mom for her opinion. Mom had already unpacked all her stuff into the master bedroom, which was on the other side of the house, and Jonathan decided to take a room upstairs, which is funny because I was pretty sure the upstairs was supposed to be an attic. Anyway, Mom made the final decision for me and El: El got the bigger room, and I got the one directly across from it.
Thursday, October 3, 1985.
We were still unpacking the next morning, but El, Jon, and I had to get ready for school. Mom was on the telephone when I came out to the kitchen with my backpack. She smiled at me and gave a little wave before carrying on her conversation. She was looking for a job- Jonathan would be too, pretty soon. We had passed by a couple of stores on the drive in, but Jonathan wasn't interested in customer service. He’s really into photography, so after school he had plans to find a job where he could do that. I had a feeling that some of the tourist traps would beg him to work for them.
I had to look for a part-time job too; I'd never had a job before, but with another person in the household came additional expenses, and I knew I'd have to contribute. El was raised in a lab, so there's no way she could hold a job. Not to say that she's bad at human interaction, it's just that, well, this was her first year of public school. Between the two of us, I was the one who should be working, not her. So we had a quick breakfast and soon headed off to school.
First day of high school in a new town. No big deal. Jonathan was a senior this year, but El and I shared some classes and our lunch period. As soon as we had gotten our food, though, El announced to me that she was going to try and make some friends, and she strode away with tray in hand to find a table that would let her sit with them. I froze. I envied her confidence, but there was no way I could just waltz up to some strangers and demand to sit with them. I scanned the cafeteria: Jonathan was sitting alone in the far corner. Selfishly, I was grateful that he hadn't made any friends to sit with either. I crossed the lunchroom and sat down next to him. Just as I was explaining why El wasn’t present, she slammed her tray down onto our table and seated herself dejectedly. Looked like she hadn’t had much luck. I swallowed my laugh and tried my best to look sympathetic.
"Don't worry about them," Jonathan told her. "I couldn't even make friends back in Hawkins."
El didn't seem uplifted. She gave a tight-lipped smile and looked back down, picking at her food. I could tell she was close to tears, and I wanted to cheer her up, but I wasn't sure how.
I gave Jonathan a Look to try to prompt a pep talk out of him, but he just shook his head. Not now. Okay -I glanced in El's direction- but when we get home . Jonathan got the message. I offered El my condolences in the form of my Fruit Roll-Up, which she accepted gladly. The rest of the lunch period we ate in silence, until the bell rang and we caught each other up on our schedules before parting ways.
The rest of the school day passed decently enough. Luckily nobody seemed to recognize the name "Will Byers", so I hoped that no one would find out about the nickname "Zombie Boy". Then there's the other thing I'd get bullied about, if the kids in Gravity Falls were as observant as they were in Hawkins- or if I felt too safe and let it slip. New town, new bullies. You can never be too careful.
Ugh, the worst part about that wouldn't even be me getting bullied; I think the worst part would be that El would probably get bullied by virtue of being my sister. (Sister. I had never expected to have a sister, and I always thought if I did, she would be annoying. But, other than stealing my clothes, El was the best sister ever.)
When we came back home, El got started on homework pretty quickly. I was impressed by her initiative. I decided to join her, seeing as Jonathan was busy finding a job, and I thought she might appreciate some emotional support after a difficult first day.
By the time I decided on what class to focus on, El was already half-way through a math assignment. I was surprised to see how good she was at math- pretty basic algebra, but, I mean, she was raised in a lab. I know I keep repeating that, but how else am I supposed to express how much she's learned in less than three years? She escaped Hawkins Lab in 1983, the same week I was trapped in the Upside Down- then she died, that same week, but she didn't actually die, her powers just blew out on her and then she was trapped in the Upside Down until she escaped and then Hawkins Chief of police Jim Hopper took her in and was basically like her dad for about a year until- well I don't know the full details actually but we found out she was alive the whole time and then she and Mike were dating, I guess. Mike is my best friend since Kindergarten. When he and El were dating, it felt like he was destroying our Party- that's me, Mike, Lucas, and Dustin. We became a "party" in 4th grade when we first started playing D&D together, and, anyway, long story short, I had mixed feelings about El. It's not that I was jealous, but- well, yeah, I guess it was jealousy. But as I was saying about how she was raised in a lab: how could I be jealous? What she went through as a kid, I can barely imagine. Not to mention how she saved my life! How could I dare to think that she doesn't deserve happiness? Even if that meant a dynamic change between me and Mike. It was stupid, honestly, but it hurt.
What was I talking about? Oh, El was good at math. That was the whole point of that paragraph. El was good at math, and I was impressed.
"Do you think you could do my homework for me?" I half-joked.
She looked up, confused.
"I'm just- I'm not great at math. It was just a joke," I explained. "Um," I blinked. "Do you want to call Mike?" That was what slipped out of my mouth without me even thinking. It's always Mike, isn't it? So stupid.
To my surprise, El shook her head. "Tired."
"Oh." I nodded. "Got it." I looked down at the pages of my geography textbook. I couldn't read any of it. My mind was on a million other things. "I think..." I closed my textbook and stood up. "I think I'm going to call Mike."
El looked up at me as I pushed in my chair, and her eyes followed me as I went to the phone.
Mrs. Wheeler picked up the phone on the second ring, and after exchanging hellos, she was happy to pass me over to Mike. I talked to Mike about how my first day of high school in Gravity Falls went. He was just glad to hear my voice, he told me. I felt the same. We had to hang up when it was time for dinner in the Wheeler house. I had forgotten about the time zone difference! Talk again soon, good luck with everything, and then a silent I love you before simply saying "bye".
El had moved to the floor of the living room and was coloring her art class homework- an introduction for the sake of the teacher, an "easy A" that I had completed in class. El liked coloring. I was just about to bring out my art supplies when Jonathan came in the front door.
"Guess who got a job?" he grinned.
"Oh- hey, that's awesome!"
"And I put in a word for you too," he added, swinging the strap of his camera off his neck.
"Huh?" I cocked my head.
"It's-" He broke off and tossed his head. "Okay, I'm gonna be taking pictures for a tourist trap, and I mentioned a 14-year-old brother who's never had a job before. So, I'm going in tomorrow after school-"
"Wait, you got me a job?"
"Yeah." Jonathan leaned on the kitchen counter. "I hope that's okay."
"It's... actually better than okay. Thanks, Jonathan."
He brightened. "Yeah, no problem, bud. It's mostly just cleaning, but I figure it'll give you a chance to get to know this town a little better."
"Wait, so, who am I working for exactly?"
"His name is Stanford Pines. He said he opened up his house a couple years ago and now he shows off all the stuff he's found exploring- it's pretty obvious a lot of it is fake, but apparently tourists eat it up. I also grabbed us some snacks from his gift shop," Jonathan said, dropping a bag of Reese’s Pieces in front of me and handing El a KitKat. "It's called the Mystery Shack. So far the only other person working there is a guy named Argyle, who actually shares my history class. He's pretty cool, I think you'll both like him." He took a bite of his Snickers.
"Anyway, I'm going in after school tomorrow, which will be your first day. Mr. Pines talked about painting walls or something, so I think you should enjoy it."
"Thanks, Jonathan," I repeated.
Jonathan smiled, then directed his attention to El, who was eating her KitKat and still coloring her paper. "Hey, El," he started gently, setting the rest of his candy bar on the counter. He walked into the living room. El looked up from her paper and tilted her head.
Jonathan knelt down beside her. "About the kids at school..." he spoke softly. "I had trouble making friends, too." When she frowned, Jonathan continued quickly, "But today is just the first day, so," he shrugged, "y'know, tomorrow is another day. And I bet once they get to know you, they'll love you, and totally regret ever being rude to you."
"You could write to Max," I suggested. "Or if you want, we can go exploring together."
El nodded in agreement with my first suggestion. "Max said she wanted me to write," she seemed to remind herself, sitting up. She gathered up her things and went down the hall back to her bedroom. So that was the end of that conversation.
I looked at Jonathan, who looked back at me. Mission "Cheer up El": Success? Jonathan shrugged back at me and pushed himself up from the floor. He walked back to the kitchen counter and grabbed his belongings.
"Where are you going?" I asked him as he walked back out of the kitchen.
"To my room," he said, adding lightheartedly: "in the attic."
"Mr. Rochester's wife," I laughed as he strode past me.
He turned back to grin at me and continued, "I'll try not to burn the house down." As he tromped up the stairs, Mom entered the kitchen, carrying a stack of paperwork under her arm.
"What's this about burning the house down?" she asked as if she was almost afraid to know the answer. She set the papers down on the kitchen table.
"Jonathan sleeps in the attic. Like Mr. Rochester's wife. Or, like, ex-wife, I guess."
"Ah, I see," Mom nodded slowly, her expression saying anything but that, as if she were lost in thought. She took a seat and got to work on whatever adult paperwork she had to get done.
I went back into the living room. I opened my geography textbook and stared at the pages, thinking less about the migration of people into the Americas and more about the silence around me.
Sometimes it felt like the only time anyone cared about me was when I was in danger. Maybe I was being overdramatic when I went outside to explore the woods all by myself- but I felt lonely, so I may as well have spent some time alone.
The Oregon pines are like something out of a book- fantastically gigantic. They're the tallest trees I've ever seen, and they make lumberjacks look like Hobbits. I felt like a Hobbit, like Frodo leaving the Shire for the first time.
It was kind of a fun change of scenery. The woods in Hawkins had been a weird mix of comfort and terror for me. I thought back to our old house in Hawkins, squatting just at the edge of those woods, and the fort Jonathan and I had built among those trees: Castle Byers, my little refuge. Castle Byers is where I spent most of my time when I was in the Upside Down, though, and I pretty much destroyed it back in July. The comforts of childhood, gone just like that.
My main takeaway from that first time alone in the woods of Gravity Falls: don't get lost in thought. There were too many times where I would spot a flicker of something in my peripheral vision, only to turn and see nothing there.
When I was little, my dad took me and Jonathan hunting a few times, and the animals in Hawkins were way less- I dunno, surprising? Like, in Gravity Falls, you could sense that something is watching you, but it's hidden- tucked away somewhere so you can't see it, even though it can see you. Gravity Falls seemed to be like a cryptozoologist's dream come true. I just know Dustin would have loved it.
But the sense that something was watching me- I didn't like that at all. One of the reasons we'd left Hawkins, after all, was to get away from the living horror story that we call the Upside Down, its tumultuous weather patterns and sunless cold air, the pervading smell of rotting flesh and growling monsters hell-bent on torturing you. This is Gravity Falls, though. The monsters here aren't real. We left them back in Hawkins. If only my mind could be eased by those sentiments.
Something shot out from behind a tree and flew right in front of me. It didn't actually fly, but it ran so fast that it felt like it, and I couldn't get a good look at it. I almost fell back in surprise.
I felt my legs carrying me out of there faster than I could think. All I could hear was my heartbeat pounding in my ears. I wouldn't be going back in the woods alone.
I came back home to the delicious aroma of leftover pizza. Two days in a row. Mom asked me where I'd been, and I just told her I went exploring. I didn't tell anyone about what I saw. It could've been my PTSD, for all I knew: I was off my meds, after all, with all the traveling and everything. I mean, we had only been in Gravity Falls for two days at this point- of course I was nervous. Who wouldn't hallucinate creatures of unimaginable horror, right? There's no way there was anything otherworldly in the woods. The real monsters are gone.