Chapter Text
Dipper’s pov.
Ah, summer break…
A time for leisure, recreation, and taking ‘er easy…
…unless you’re me.
My name is…well…I can’t really remember my name, but the nightmare floating before me with a dapper attire, dentures for a head, and eyes that sat in the opening of its mouth fixated to mine gave me one- “Pine Tree”. The girl next to me, a colorful pig-toy with mismatched star patterns, is “Shooting Star”.
I could’ve sworn I knew her name.
You might be wondering what we’re doing here, seeing as we both appeared in a blended landscape of childish-colorful themes stuffed in a circus tent, about to start our first “adventure” as a warm welcome. Rest assured, there’s a perfectly logical explanation. Let’s rewind…
It all began with a new location for us to spend our summer, a hick-town in…Mississippi, as a “family vacation”.
“YAY GRASS!!!” I looked over, taking my duffle bag out of the trunk, to see my sister rolling around on the freshly mowed lawn outside of the hotel we were going to stay at. “Ahhh…finally, something more comfortable to disassociate on instead of the car seat for 35 hours straight.”
“We had multiple rest breaks and even stayed at a motel for a night…” I laughed softly at her dramatic comment, walking over to her.
“Yeah, but the entire road trip was a disasterrrrrr”, she groaned, sitting up, “I hope Soos is okay…y’know, with the entire mystery shack getting overridden by demon possums…as if we couldn’t help the situation with ease, probably faster, too.”
We would’ve handled the situation with ease, but our parents had a massive argument with our grunkles after we returned home last summer- they couldn’t believe the massive scandal and the adventures we went on that could’ve gotten us killed. Honestly? Every adventure we had was amazing and more thrilling than every other previous summer vacation we had- why go to the beach when a backwards-speaking island anomaly can recite curses to you and damn your future bloodline to hell? And after taking on a geometrical demon from another dimension that placed an entire town through an armageddon- my mistake, a weirdmageddon- it really does feel like my sister and I are unstoppable now.
But I digress, 13 is the first year where kids turn to teens, but we’re still kids, and that means our parents don’t want us near danger anymore.
“Oh well, at least this place is pretty…WAIT!” My sister gasped, eyes filled with stars “MAYBE WE CAN SWIM IN THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER!!”
“I dunno if we can legally do that…”
“...orrr! We can go explore that fenced off forest right across from the hotel!”
To my surprise as I looked towards where she pointed, there it was- an old chain-linked fence with overgrown weeds tangling through each link, bordering an untouched forest. With a “NO TRESSPASSING” sign. Obviously.
“First, you had your ‘boy crazy’ phase, now you’re going through a ‘rebellious teenager’ phase?” I wasn’t even concerned, just confused by how fast she swings through her yearly- sometimes even monthly- phases.
“Oh- pfft! Like we hadn’t trespassed before. Remember last year? We went to that abandoned market with Wendy and her cool friends and you tried to impress her?~” She teased, giggling softly. She stopped and smiled- her teeth straight and perfect. She got her braces removed a month before and now has to wear a retainer. If you ask me, I think she forgets to wear it half of the time, and by the end of the summer, she might need to revert back to wearing braces.
“Yeah, but there’s no one to impress now, and our parents will give us a fate worse than Bill almost killing us.”
“Mmmmmaybe we could sneak out? When it gets dark! We’ll go in, see if there’s anything cool, then run back to the hotel like nuthin’ happened!”
We got checked into the hotel and our one-week family vacation begun…
…at the hotel’s outdoor pool.
We sat on the cheap plastic chairs they had out, letting the sun warm us up after we swam.
“This hotel’s great…” She twirled a strand of her hair, staring at her artbook- I could see her sketches of mermando and her other previous lovers, as she began drawing out alexander hamilton, “I batted my eyes at a boy staying at the room next to ours, and he totally blushed!”
“You mean he looked away and ran back inside his room?”
“Yeah! He was super flustered that a pretty and cute and adorable girl like me was flirting with him~”
“Uh huh…”
I daydreamed about gravity falls…the mystery shack…our friends that we made last summer…all of the adventures we went through over the course of 3 months, I feel like an old man for thinking about how fast time flew by. I yearned to go back and experience all the thrills and mysteries- as dangerous and traumatizing as they were. I wish our vacation would have at least one thrilling adventure.
…I snapped out of my trance as I noticed something moving in the distance. The fence my sister and I saw earlier- a rabbit crawled through a hole big enough for a 13 year old to go through.
“You saw it too, right?” She grinned, slowly turning her head and locking her eyes with mine.
“Oh please, a hole in the fence won’t tempt me. If we were to trespass, we would climb the fence anyways if we never knew about the hole.” I rolled my eyes, fighting back every urge to see what could possibly be in that forest. Maybe another secret journal written by another secret grunkle we never knew about?
“You don’t know how to climb fences. Now you have no excuse, we can DEFINENTLY trespass.”
“Mmmmm….nope! Still not convinced.” I looked away. Even if I did want to trespass, I couldn’t. We really could get hurt, and I’d rather not risk the possibility of losing my sister again.
The rest of the followed with us visiting the local tourist traps- half we didn’t want to go to, sensing the spirit of our grunkle wanting us to destroy them like the previous traps back in gravity falls. Our final stop was at a park’s gift shop, I think they tried to incorporate local folklore with their decorations, and it was just as bad as our grunkle’s fake cryptid statues.
“Woah! - - - check this out!!”
Wait, I…I can’t remember my name in this flashback?
I walked over to my sister, who was staring at the shop’s map- old and displayed like a prized painting.
“What? What is it?” I studied the massive, rotting paper. What’s even the point of displaying something if it’s slowly deteriorating and begging to be placed out of its misery?
“Look! That’s our hotel…” She drags her finger to the massive forest we debated trespassing before, “...and that’s…”
…
“C&A…?” I scratched the back of my neck, puzzled. “What does it stand for? And more importantly, what could it be?”
“Dunno!” She shrugged, “I guess we’ll never know~ …unless if we-”
“Unless if we trespass.” I sighed in defeat, my consciousness getting the better of me. “We’ll trespass, check it out, then immediately leave.”
“Got it.” She nods, secretly taking a photo of the map, “I mean really, what’s the worst that could happen? It’s not like a god will trap us in a realm built in his own vision!”
I laughed with her, because the more I did think about it…
…what IS the worst that could happen?
My plan was perfect- absolutely no flaws! First, at around sunset, we convinced our parents we wanted to stay by the pool until it closes. My sister smuggles the minimum supplies we need- flashlights, disposable cameras, and our fully charged phones. I wanted her to grab more, but then we’d look suspicious if we had a bag full of stuff not meant for the pool. We leave the hotel and cross the road carefully- reaching to the fence. Using our flashlights, we find the hole we saw earlier and crawl through…
…and now we explore.
“How about we use only one flashlight and keep yours as a spare?” I suggested, glaring at the photo of the map my sister took earlier.
“Only if you don’t waste my battery”
“I’m not wasting your battery, I’m only looking at the map! It’s not my fault your phone’s battery runs dry in an hour, you have a lot of apps you rarely use-”
“LALALALA I CAN’T HEAR YOUR COMPLAINING OVER MY PHONE! YOUR PHONE IS FILLED WITH PICTURES OF RED-HEADED WOMEN-”
“SHHH! SHUT!” I stopped, my face flushing red out of embarrassment, “do you WANT us to get CAUGHT?”
We continued through the forest, the sun’s light slowly dying out. I could feel my heart race- crap, our parents are probably getting suspicious, but it’s too late to turn back now. The area slowly became colder as the sun’s rays disappeared. I looked over to my sister, who quickly whipped out a sweater.
“Boom! See? I’m just as extra prepared as you are.” She hands me the sweater as I scoff.
“I guess you’re learning a lot from me then.” I put it on before noticing the pattern on it, “oh, ha ha, it’s a pine tree…” I rolled my eyes, smiling.
“Oh what? I thought it was fitting for you! Since your signature, unwashed hat is with Wendy now.” She laughed, “are we getting closer? It feels like we’ve been walking for foreverrrr…”
I looked down at the map, continuing to walk, “we really should be getting closer no- OH WOAH-”
I tripped, dropping the phone and the flashlight.
“Oh crap- a-are you alright?!” She rushes over, helping me up. “Dangit, you broke my phone!”
“Ow- I’m sorry! Sorry…” I looked down, surely enough, my sister’s phone was completely busted. I reached for the flashlight, now flickering weakly. I pointed it’s light forward…and there it was…
With little light shone, we saw a sign- “C&A”- worn out and standing in front of a massive, abandoned building.
“Woahh…” My sister pulls out her flashlight, “...we’re totally gonna check what’s inside, right?”
“...definently.”
It took a good 5 minutes of us looking around the perimeter of the building, trying to open its doors, seeing if the windows were unlocked, until we stumbled upon a small, broken window.
“Some of the shards are still attached to the frame, and it seems like someone broke in, so there’s probably shards on the floor inside as well. We’ll need to be careful.” I examined the window, before looking over to my sister.
“Help me inside and I’ll unlock a door for you.” She approaches the window, standing on her tippy toes to try to look inside.
“Are you sure? You might get hurt…”
“Nah, I’ll be fine! I’m as agile as a cat! …meow!”
I laugh softly, before boosting Mabel up, and helping her into the window.
“OW”
I heard her yelp and immediately panicked, “CRAP- WHAT HAPPENED?! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!”
“Y-yeah! I’m good! I got nicked by one of the shards on my stomach- I’ll be alright…now, to find that door…” I heard her humming slowly fade out, as I began to wait…dreading about what we were doing- we didn’t break in essentially but we are entering, and it’s getting really late, too-
“I FOUND THE DOOR! It’s an exit door nearby, I’ll hold it open for you!”
…
The building was really damaged on the outside, but the inside looked perfectly intact- we passed rows of cubicles and empty meeting rooms, checked all of the offices…except for one.
A red and blue office door? Weird, but I’ve seen and experienced weirder things.
I tugged on the handle. Locked. Of course it’s locked, it makes sense, but then why were the other offices unlocked?
“Boo!”
“AH-”
My sister laughed as I almost fell into one of the messy desks, “is that door locked? Guess it means there’s a bunch of lore that would keep you fed for weeks!”
“ugh…yeah, but I don’t think we should break i-” I was cut off the moment I heard a “click”- of course, she lock picked it open.
“After you~”, she opened the door for me, pocketing her broken hairpin.
As I was about to walk in, I noticed it.
“Mabel- your stomach…” I tried to reach out, completely mortified.
“O-oh! Psh! Again, I only got nicked, I’m not bleeding out or whatever- c-c’mon! This is more important!”
I knew I should’ve packed a first aid kit. It really was a small tear on her sweater, but even if it was a small scratch, I felt stupid for not suggesting that I should go in first.
I walked in and she followed behind me. And what we saw shook us to our core…
“An…empty office! Great. Now I’m disappointed AND I have a broken hair pin now.” My sister stepped out before turning to me, “by the way, I found something more exciting than this silly office! You gotta check it out!”
I watched her leave with our only functioning light source, as I lifted mine to get one last look of the office. Maybe there’s something I missed?
“Employee of the month”
My flashlight flickered over the little board- maybe there’s someone who worked here we can later research on? I hovered the light to one of the employees before it fully gave out…
“...grant” I muttered softly, before shaking the flashlight, trying to see if it can shine a bit more, “cmon cmon…I need to see that last name, at least!-”
“ARE YOU COMING OVER OR WHAT?” My sister yelled out from the distance.
“Uh-! Coming! I’m coming!” I rushed over, bumping into a few fake plants and a wall, before seeing my sister standing in front of a glowing computer. “W-wait, how is it on? Wouldn’t the building have no power if it was abandoned?”
“I dunno!” She shrugged, “but look! Headsets! Maybe this company made videogames!”
“Uh huh, and what if there’s a sentient AI in there who will become obsessed with us? Like Soos’ girlfriend?”
“Psh! Naw!” She hands me a headset, “how about we play for 5 minutes? Maybe it could be worth taking home!”
“Uhhh,” I looked at the headset, taking it. My hands shooked as I examined it, before looking to my sister, who was about to put it on.
“Well? What are you waiting for?”
…I took a deep breath, adjusting the headset on my head, “I guess I’m waiting for you to start it.”
“Hehe! Alright! Gonna press play in 3…”
“2…”
“...1!”