Watch your back

Chapter 10

(Dipper pov)

The pain is everywhere and all sounds and voices are distant and far away, nearly nonexistent. Everything is dark and weightless. Then it feels like I'm falling and crashing, the pain getting a hundred times worse.

I turn myself on my side, puking up water as I cough trying to get air into my lungs. I slowly open my eyes, the sudden light hurting, feeling a hand on my back. My side hurts and my right arm feels like it is absolutely screaming in pain.

"I got him! He's alive!" I hear whoever is behind me say. I just rest my head on the hard ground, trying to make sense of everything going on around me. Not too far away I see Bill. His eyes are closed and he lays motionless on the ground. I see paramedics trying to do CPR on him. I hope they fail. If they save him he'll just keep coming after me and this horrible nightmare that I've been living in for the past several years will never end.

It won't matter how far I move or how fast I run from him, he will never leave me alone. He will always keep finding me. He will never stop until he is dead.

It takes too much energy to keep my head up or my eyes open. I rest my head on the ground and close my eyes welcoming the darkness.

......................................

I wake up to the too bright lights of a hospital room and the blinding white walls that just make the room feel so much brighter. My right arm is in a dark blue cast and looking down I see Mable in the chair next to the bed. Her hand is in mine and her head rests on the bed asleep. I smile slightly seeing this. I haven't seen her or anyone else in the family in so long. I could have visited home last month when there was a power outage here, but I was scared of her or anyone else becoming a target instead.

I give her hand a gentle squeeze, seeing as she slowly wakes up. She lifts her head up and once she sees me she smiles and hugs me tightly. I laugh slightly hugging her back even though right now her hugs are hurting me a lot.

She finally lets go and sits back in the chair again before punching me in the shoulder. "Ow! What the hell was that for?"

"For scaring the life out of me. You haven't talked to me in over a freaking month and then I have to find out from some detective that not only was the stalker thing still happening but you got kidnapped! Why on earth would you shut me out like that and not even let me know it was still going on?"

"When it was going on is Piedmont and Gravity Falls, I saw how it was effecting you and our parents and Stan and Ford and everyone else around us. I could see that you were all walking on eggshells around me. How scared you all were for me. I promised myself that when I moved and went to college, I would never put you guys through that again. I thought it really was all over but then it started again. I couldn't put everyone through all of that again."

"The next time you go any length of time without telling me anything, no matter how big or small, then I will personally push you off the biggest set of cliffs myself. Is that understood dipstick?"

"Yeah I got it."

I look up seeing Olivia as she enters the room. "Hey, Dipper. Glad to see you're awake. How are you feeling?"

"Sore. But a lot better than I was feeling before."

"Do you mind if we talk in private?"

"Whatever you need to say you can see in front of me." Mabel pipes up tightly holding my hand.

"Hey, Mabes, I'm kind of thirsty. Could you possibly grab me something from the vending machine?" I ask her, mainly to get her out of the room.

"Sure thing." She gets up leaving the room. Olivia then takes Mabel's seat.

"What happened to Bill? He's not still alive is he?" I feel panic rush through me as I ask this.

"No, he's not. Becase he was under you when you too fell he took pretty much all the force and impact. He was dead on impact. His body acted as a shield to you and that is why you're still alive. You're lucky to only have a broken arm and a few cracked ribs."

"Why was he so obssessed with me? What did I do?"

"A psychologist who works with the FBI and often helps us on cases, he believes that Bill had a lot of undiagnoses mental problems. On top of that and his complicated home life it was only a matter of time until he mentally snapped. I am sorry that this all happened to you, Dipper, and I wish there was more we could have done to prevent it from happening."

"I got people killed trying to get away from him......"

"Dipper that was not your fault. Bill killed those people, not you. You were a victim in a horrible situation. But I brought something that might help you feel better."

She gives a small whistle and I smile so much it hurts as Chester comes into the room, a bandage wrapped around his abdomen. He jumps on the bed licking my face before laying down with his head on my chest. I pet his head as I look up at Olivia. "But how? When I found him he was on the floor bleeding. Bill had stabbed him. He told me he had killed him."

"Someone in the dorm saw your door open and went to check on you. They found Chester and rushed him to the nearest animal hospital before they called the police to report you missing. He had surgery but he's going to be okay. You and him are both very lucky."

I smile down at Chester as I scratch him behind his ears. "I know."