Chapter Text
"Recently, several disappearances have occurred in Gravity Fal——PPPPPPlease pay attention to ssssafety and do not enter uninhabited areas without permissiobeep—"
The voice from the old radio, which seemed to have been around longer than Dipper and Mabel, crackled intermittently. Stan slapped the radio a few times, but it did no good. Eventually, after a burst of static, the radio completely fell apart.
"Well, I guess that's one way to solve the problem. This old radio really should be thrown out," Stan said, shaking his hand. He then looked at Dipper. "So, this is the request you got? Solve the town's disappearances?"
"Ah, uh, yeah! Sheriff Blubs and the others suspect that the recent disappearances involve some kind of paranormal force, and they want me to help," Dipper said, startled by the static from the radio. Mabel was busy preparing for her next romantic encounter, Stan had to watch the shop, Soos had a date, and Wendy was ordered to stay home by her dad for safety reasons, occasionally being questioned by the police. So, this request would be Dipper's first time going into the town alone. "It’s just two or three days, it'll be over quickly, and there won’t be any danger! With Sheriff Blubs and the others, I’m almost 13 now, I can totally handle it!"
"Yeah, still not quite the teenage mystery boy. Go ahead, play around during the day, but at night make sure you find a safe hotel to rest in. Save some money, though. I don't believe in any supernatural stuff," Stan said, kicking back on the couch, switching channels on the TV.
"I can... wait, you agreed?"
"Mm-hmm, well, even if I refuse, you’d just sneak out anyway, right?" Stan turned his head, pointing the remote at the TV screen, which showed a reporter who looked like a comedian. "The mystery boy?"
Dipper felt his face flush a little. He quickly thanked Stan and ran upstairs, where he packed his bags according to the schedule he’d made earlier, waiting for the two sheriffs to pick him up and drive him into town in the afternoon.
Gravity Falls was a peaceful town, so laid-back that people wouldn't even notice if they lost a chunk of their memory. It had always been a place with good security, but this recent disappearance was truly unusual. In just seven days, four people had gone missing, including a father and daughter. The investigation in those seven days had barely turned up anything, other than confirming that the disappearances were related to the forest. But it wasn't until the fourth missing person was found that Sheriff Blubs made a call to the Mystery Shack, inviting Dipper to come and help.
The two cheerful sheriffs unusually wore serious expressions, which made Dipper feel a bit nervous. Fortunately, they soon realized that the tense atmosphere might put too much pressure on the 12-year-old boy, and Deputy Sheriff Durland shook his head and smiled at Dipper. "Don't worry, kid, it's just an attempt. Do your best, that's all."
"Right! I mean, okay, I'll—no, I mean, I’ll solve this case!" Dipper stammered, a bit flustered. He pulled his cap lower and slid into the back seat of the patrol car. "So, how’s the investigation going so far?"
"Let's just say it's not looking good, kid," Sheriff Blubs said, glancing at him through the rearview mirror. Once his partner settled into the front seat, he started the car. "In the seven days since this all started, four people have gone missing. The first was a girl named Lilla from the town middle school. Three days later, her father, Liam, disappeared as well. Then, yesterday afternoon, a hunter named Alejandro, who was helping us search the forest, also went missing. Finally, this morning we got a report from a hotel. A woman’s one-night stand—this young man named Carr—left last night and hasn’t returned."
A father and daughter, a hunter, and a… young man who fled after a one-night stand?
"About the last one, uh, Mr. Carr's disappearance—does it really have any connection to the others?" Dipper scribbled quickly in his journal, hesitating as he asked. "You know, it sounds like, like some really irresponsible behavior."
This time, it was Deputy Sheriff Durland who spoke up. "Instinct! Trust the officer's instinct!" He said confidently. "We checked the surveillance footage. The last time we saw him was near the forest. All the disappearances are connected to the forest!"
"That's right! And we haven’t found a single piece of them—it's like the forest just devoured them, not even a bone fragment left!" Sheriff Blubs said smoothly. "We’ve also looked into their relationships, and there’s no sign of any enemies. Lilla’s parents have been divorced for years, and her mother lives far away from Gravity Falls. Lilla didn’t have any particularly close friends, but she didn’t have any enemies either. Her father, Liam, was a lumberjack living in the forest, straightforward and easy to talk to—I actually enjoyed chatting with him.
"Alejandro and Liam were friends. After Liam disappeared, Alejandro joined every search mission. No one knew that forest better than him! His disappearance is definitely suspicious! My instincts tell me there’s something more to it!"
The car suddenly hit a pothole, splashing a small bit of water. The jolt caused Dipper’s pen to accidentally scratch the page in his journal. Luckily, it wasn’t too deep, so he could still keep writing.
"As for Carr, he’s a single man who just arrived in Gravity Falls last month. He usually stays indoors during the day and only comes out at night to hang around in some of the local nightlife spots. I heard he was laid off from his job in the city and came to the countryside. It's strange—why would someone get laid off and end up here?"
"Because it's way more fun in Gravity Falls than in the city!" Deputy Sheriff Durland said with a chuckle, giving his partner, who was driving, a high-five.
"It really seems like a mysterious event caused by some supernatural force. I think we should start with the first one—Lilla? Do we have any classmates who knew her well? I’d like to know if anything unusual happened before she disappeared, or if there were any places she frequently visited?" The sheriffs' jokes during the serious talk were effective, and Dipper quickly relaxed. He glanced at the bite marks he’d made on the end of his pen and nonchalantly wiped it off on his clothes, then turned to ask the front seat.
Deputy Sheriff Durland leaned over from the front seat. "Actually, the person we're about to visit is Lilla's only close classmate, Zoe. She participated in the search for Lilla three nights ago and was found passed out near the swamp. Since then, she's been taking time off at home to rest. We suspect she might have seen something."
The rest of the journey didn’t need much explanation; the dirt road slowly turned into a paved one, the trees became less frequent, and the buildings increased. They were entering the town. The patrol car stopped in front of a house that didn’t look very new. Dipper followed the officers out of the car and knocked on the door of the house. "Hello? I'm Sheriff Blubs. We called earlier about asking some questions. Is Miss Zoe home?"
The sound of slippers tapping on the stone, followed by the creak of an old door being opened, was soon followed by the soft click of the door lock. Then came the jingling of wind chimes, and the door opened to reveal a fashionably dressed girl in a T-shirt and shorts, her hair tied up in a ponytail. She wore a troubled expression on her face as she appeared in the doorway.
"Miss Zoe, hello!" Dipper felt a bit awkward. The way she looked at him was somewhat unsettling, but it was definitely not friendly. He swore that even if Mabel were here, she wouldn’t see even a hint of affection in the creepy, cold stare. After brainstorming for a moment, Dipper decided to blame it on nerves. "Are you a friend of Miss Lilla?"
"Friend? Hmph, I wouldn’t call myself her friend, we were just… well, familiar," she said with a small smile, opening the door wider for the three of them. "Come in."
Looking around, the interior of the house seemed quite new. The shoe rack by the door only had one style of women’s shoes on it. Living alone? That was a bit unusual for someone who had just come of age.
"Lilla? Well, she seemed like the typical good girl, always distant with everyone. She’d help out if someone asked, but there was always this sense of distance," Miss Zoe said as she poured tea for everyone and then flopped onto the couch.
"Even you?" Dipper asked.
"Yep, even me," Zoe shrugged, looking a little resigned. "The most I know about her is that she likes reading books on medicine and wants to become a forensic pathologist. As for me? I don’t have big dreams like that. Next semester, I’ll just take whatever classes, go to a decent college, and probably stay here like my dad, become a hunter. As long as I’m happy, that’s all that matters."
She looked like the type of person who takes life as it comes, living for the moment without worrying too much about the future. Dipper noticed she seemed to be wearing a necklace, though the pendant was hidden behind her collar.
Dipper hadn’t really thought about life after high school yet—he was still focused on the new experiences middle school would bring. High school seemed a long way off. He cleared his throat, trying to steer the conversation back. "Ahem... was there anyone at school who didn’t get along with her? Or maybe someone who had a crush on her? She sounds like the kind of girl who would be popular, you know, the one everyone talks about."
"Mm... there was someone,before." Zoe tilted her head slightly.
"Before?"
"Well, that brings up her overprotective father," the brown-haired girl said, uncrossing her legs and frowning deeply with a long sigh. "Anyone who tried to get close to her—whether to confess or bully her—would be scared off by her dad, who would suddenly appear out of nowhere, sometimes with leaves in his hair, flexing his biceps. Even though he's one of the missing now, I still have to complain about his excessive protectiveness, or maybe control issues. Even if Lilla doesn't distance herself from others, he’d chase off anyone trying to get close to her."
Zoe seemed very eager to share all this, which struck Dipper as odd. Her current state didn’t exactly seem like someone who had the energy to talk so much. Besides, this was new information that the sheriffs hadn’t gotten—he noticed Deputy Sheriff Durland seemed about to speak, but was quickly hushed by his partner. Why was Zoe suddenly so willing to share all this with him?
"Sounds like you've been threatened too?" Dipper bit his lip. "That seems a bit extreme."
Zoe leaned back a bit more, tilting her head up to look at the top right corner, though there was nothing there. "Yeah, yeah. I think it’s gone beyond the 'father' thing. I don’t know... but after Lilla disappeared, in those two days, he was oddly calm, like he knew exactly where she was."
Dipper circled the name "Liam" twice in his notebook, adding a large question mark next to it. He didn’t notice Zoe’s scrutinizing gaze. He anxiously pressed the end of his pen a few times, then realized the sound was unusually loud and awkward, so he quickly moved on to the next question, pretending nothing happened.
"Ah, well, next question. I heard the last time you saw Lilla was after school. Did anything unusual happen that day?"
"Are we interviewing me now? I’m starting to understand why he likes you," Zoe finally straightened up, locking eyes with Dipper. "It was her 18th birthday that day. A few classmates had prepared a 'surprise' for her," she made air quotes with two fingers, "but it wasn’t anything good. Luckily, she turned them down. She said she wanted to be alone, and none of us followed her."
Dipper spoke a bit urgently, "So you know if she—"
"The swamp," Zoe interrupted him. "If you really want to investigate, I’ll tell you. She usually goes there to be alone and rest."
"You didn’t mention this before," Sheriff Blubs frowned.
"I forgot, or maybe I didn’t want to. Either way, just think of it as me liking the girl," Zoe said, picking up the tea from the table and drinking it in one go. The two officers did the same. Dipper took a sip and found it a bit bitter. The group stood up, ready to leave. Just as they were about to head out, Zoe’s pendant slipped out from under her collar.
The moment Dipper saw the pendant, it felt like he’d been struck by lightning. A coincidence? A conspiracy? A new plan? A trap? He wasn’t sure, but he hoped his gut feeling was wrong. It had left.It wouldn’t come back.
It was a golden all-seeing eye with a bow tie and top hat, a triangular symbol—just like Bill Cipher.
"What is this...?" he asked, his voice filled with cautious hope.
“Trianguj̜̝̪̠͖̦̫̞̤̏̀̇̉͛ͅj̠̳͉̩͙͙͊̑͌̂͆̏́͒̎̎j͈͖̥̯͈̮̭̤͈͔̏͗̓̽͊͛͂j̫͖͔͔̖͖̲̠̈́̒́̀͊̄̂͌̋ͅĵ͔͓̯̪͙͍̈̈̇́̈luۥ۟۟۟۟ۚۚ۟ۛۥۛۚۚۚ۟۟ۡۥۛۛ۟ۙۙۚۥۚۙۙۙۚۥۛۛۚۚۛ۟ۡۥۛ۟ۡۗۡۦۣ۫ۡۜۛ۟ۚۛ۫ۡۛۚۜ۟ۜۛۡۜ۫ۡ۟۟۟m enj̩͖̱͕̗͙͔͉̫͐́͑͆̈́̀̐tangulumj͈͖͕͍̆͌͋͑̇̓̽͐̃͛̀̾j̤̜̭̗ۥٌۚۚۗۛۥۛۚۛۡۥۖۛۛۦُُ۟۟ۖۖۖٛ۟ۗۖۚۥٌُٞۖۛۚ۟ۥٌٌۖۖ۟ۖۦٌۥٌٌۖ۟ۚۛ۟۟۟۟ۡۗۥۚۚۥۥ۟۟ j̩͖̱͕̗͙͔͉̫͐́͑͆̈́̀̐venej̩͖̱͕̗͙͔͉̫͐́͑͆̈́̀̐fۥۚۙۙۙۚۥۛۛۚۚۛ۟ۡۥۛ۟ۡۗۡۦۣ۫ۡۜۛ۟ۚۛ۫ۡۛۚۜ۟ۜۛۡۜ۫ۡ۟۟۟j̩͖̱͕̗͙͔͉̫͐́͑͆̈́̀̐or dominuۥۛۚۚۥۛۛ۟ۙۙۚۥۚۙۙۙۚۥۛۛۚۚۙ ُُُۙۚۚs。
The girl spoke a chaotic and indecipherable incantation through her brightly painted lips. "He’s never answered my prayers, but he likes you."
He won’t come back unless someone summons him.
"What?" The sheriffs, walking ahead, didn’t hear clearly and turned back.
"Nothing. I was just asking about the Mystery Boy's phone number. I like chatting with him," Zoe winked at them. The two sheriffs exchanged a teasing glance and pushed each other forward, continuing out the door. But Dipper—only Dipper—stood in the entryway, his hands and feet cold, as though he had fallen into an ice cavern.
He heard that sharp, almost electronic voice ringing in his head.
"Pine Tree! Miss me? I knew you missed me!"