Chapter Text
Chapter 1: He's Not There
Dead trees surrounded the small open space in which he stood, watching her with someone else’s eyes - a demon’s eyes. It looked like Dipper, but she knew there was no way that this thing before her was her brother. He wasn’t even wearing his own clothes, just some weird reverend outfit.
The wind began to blow, dead leaves and debris swirling around him. His grin growing more and more insidious as he mumbled something incoherently.
She could feel herself walking towards him, not even thinking about what was happening. She knew that she should have felt some sort of fear, but the familiarity of his presence was intriguing. It was someone that she vaguely recognized. It wasn’t comforting, it actually felt as though he were more preditorial. Yet she could not convince herself to turn and run.
“Mabel! No!”
oooooo
Mabel awoke with a jolt. Sitting up, her eyes quickly darted about the room, scanning her surroundings. Everything seemed to be normal, she was just in her room with everything in it’s place.
Yet she still felt as though everything were different, out of place even. There was something else there with her, not a human, but a ghost or something, watching her.
“Mabel! You’re gonna be late!” Her mother, Cheryl, called up the stairs.
“Coming!” She replied, jumping out of bed.
The young girl completely passed her closet and headed to the bedroom next door, her brother’s room. For some odd reason, she knew that he was gone and where he was, but she couldn’t remember actually saying goodbye to him.
It was various things that she could recall in detail, reading letters, skype conversations, pictures. Those memories had a weird feel to them, the way that one would remember a movie. It felt fake, like she had been a bystander rather than actually participating.
Standing in doorway to the now vacant room, she felt oddly alone. His bed completely untouched, everything in order. Normally there were clothes thrown around, notebooks with notes scribbled in messy letters scattered about the room, a book or two laying about. This room wasn’t his room anymore. It was some generic guest room, as if he were completely taken away from them. It felt like he wasn’t even planning on returning.
Mabel just needed to stop there and look for a moment to remind herself that he was really gone. It had to have time to soak in so that she wasn’t constantly expecting him to show up at school.
“See ya later, Dipper!” She called into the room, part of her morning ritual to make it feel like he was still there.
Mabel forced herself to smile before she turned and headed back into her room. She had to remind herself that she was one day closer to her brother’s return, whenever that may be. The second she thought about it, she started to try and figure out what it was that he was gone for exactly. Sure he was at a boarding school, but why? What was there that wasn’t here?