Symbols ~A Gravity Falls Fanfic~

Decoded... Kind Of

Dipper POV

         She looked at me in disbelief: her face grew more pale than normal and her eyes bulged. Eliza looked as if she would faint. “That… No… Impossible… You’re joking, right?” she said, quizzically. I shook my head, saying no. “Prove it,” she suddenly demanded. I drew a blank for a moment and tried to recall something specific from the dream.

        “We heard Mabel, well, Mabel’s scream in the dream. Bill tricked us; she was perfectly fine,” I explained as my sister leaned in to listen.

        “Wait, why didn’t you tell me about that part?” Mabel immediately asked, sounding hurt that I had excluded the detail from my earlier explanation.

        “I didn’t want to get you involved in this before, but I think that may be unavoidable now. Eliza, do you have somewhere we can all talk?” I requested as I turned my attention to my cat-eared friend.

        “Yeah, just hang on,” she replied tugging at her overalls. She walked away from us, her blue-jean overalls ruffling with dirt with each step. Mabel flipped my hat off of my head as soon as Eliza was out of sight. I picked it up, not speaking, and placed it back atop my head. Ever since our little argument from the previous night, we haven’t necessarily been “friendly” towards each other. I mean, yeah, she forgave me about my frustrated outburst, but she’s still upset about it. Mabel does actually seem a lot less cross than she was this morning…

        “What the heck man! You need to tell me these things! When a psychotic triangle imitates me, you need to share!” Mabel said, her typically cheery voice becoming angry and offended. She crossed her arms over her cream-colored llama hair sweater, the llama graphic bending slightly as she did so.

        “Look, Mabel, I just didn’t think you needed to know! The number one thing I want is to keep you safe. If and when this Bill guy comes back, I don’t want him dragging you into who-knows-what. If he hurts you, or Stan, or Soos, or Eliza, I won’t be able to forgive myself. Ever.” I shoved my hands into my pockets, looking away from my sister. I couldn’t bear to face her; if I looked into her brown eyes, even with the smallest glance, I'd probably start apologizing again.

        Mabel was silent for a moment. She lingered on my words and tried to figure out the best way possible to respond. “And Waddles, too?” my twin finally said, her voice becoming its normal cheery self. I sighed and laughed briefly. That’s my sister.

        “And Waddles, too,” I confirmed, peering at a now smiling Mabel. Her smile was small and shy, but it made me feel a little better about everything. Just as our “moment” ended, Eliza came running back to us in a different outfit with the bagged journals in tow. She now wore a gray t-shirt with a purple stripe going across the stomach, matching her purple headband and black camouflage cargo pants.

        “Come on, follow me,” she said simply, swiftly turning around heading towards the forest that kept its distance from her barn’s left side. We followed her, regarding her lack of detail. She walked quickly like she had been late to class, leaving us in the dust and having to sprint to keep up with her. Her quick pace eventually led us to an old tree house in a tall, white-barked birch tree. The tree house seemed mildly safe… Its wooden panels had green peeling paint and several missing planks, but it did look pretty sturdy.

        “So this was here when you bought the place right?”

        Oh, why’d I ask that? I’m pretty sure I know the answer!

        “Of course it was here when we bought it, don’t be stupid!” Eliza replied, well, hissed, actually, as she began scaling the nailed in ladder to the little tree-bound building. She climbed to the top as Mabel and I followed. When caught up with our friend, she had already pulled Journal One from her red backpack and was reading it. I reached for Journal Two, hoping to explore what had been written. Mabel, however, snatched it before I could even touch it.