Reverse Falls: Dark Woods

Prologue

                         6 Years Ago

"Where are you going?" Mabel whispered.

Her mattress squeaked as she shifted her weight to sit up and turn on the light, which filled the room with warm, orange light.

Dipper froze in the doorframe. His hand was inches from the brass knob, itching to disappear downstairs. And his other hand gripped tightly onto his journal.

"Nowhere."

"You're lying."

Dipper sighed. "Go back to sleep. I'll only be gone for a little while."

"Then I wanna go to," Mabel replied, swinging her legs over the mattress and hopping on to the floor.

Dipper knew there was no way Mabel would listen to him. He reluctantly opened the door and held a hand to his pursed lips when Mabel's footsteps grew too loud.

"Shh. . . we gotta be quiet."

His sister nodded and followed closely behind him. As soon as the door closed behind them they were submerged in darkness. If not for thee sound of their steps and the ticking of the old clock on the wall, the house would have been silent enough to hear a pin drop.

"Do you see that light?" Dipper whispered once the two reached the bottom of the staircase and they were staring into the gift shop.

"It's coming from behind the vending machine," he answered the question before Mabel could. "I've been hearing noises from back there and I think it might be a secret passage."

"No way!"

"Shh!"

Mabel flinched and lowered her voice again. "Sorry."

Dipper flipped through his journal until he found the entry on codes and ciphers. A small piece of paper fell out, which he picked up to look over.

"I've never seen any other code designed like it. It could only be the keypad on the vending machine," he explained.

"Woah! Do you think there might be some kind of secret snack that only the code can unlock?" Mabel asked.

Dipper rolled his eyes. Ignoring his sister, he continued down the stairs and tip-toed up to the vending machine. Using the fluorescent light that shone through the old, buzzing lightbulbs, Dipper carefully punched in the code as his sister watched by his side.

Before punching in the last number, Dipper paused and breathed slowly in an attempt to calm his nerves. After he finished, the vending machine began to vibrate. They heard the sound of gears turning as the machine swung open like a door. A cloud of dust filled Dipper's vision. He stepped into the doorway to find a staircase that led down, deep under floor of the house.

Mabel reached out and gently touched his shoulder. "You're not going down there, are you?"

"Are you scared?" Dipper laughed.

"No. Are you?"

He gulped. "Yeah."

Mabel grabbed her brother's hand tightly.
"Then we'll do it together."

. . .

The passage was cold, dark and covered in cobwebs. Mabel would grip Dipper's hand tighter whenever she heard a strange noise or spotted a bug crawling on the wall. Once they reached the end of the walkway, they discovered an old elevator.

"Please don't tell me we're going inside," Mabel whined.

"Do you want to see what's down here or not?" Dipper asked.

Mabel's eyes flickered from the back of the passage to the elevator door. She sighed before stepping inside with her brother. Dipper stared intently at the buttons and levers before pressing a green button. The elevator shuddered and squeaked before slowly descending into the darkness below.

The machine suddenly stopped and the doors folded open to reveal what looked like a crime scene. From what the twins could see in the dim light, the room was wrecked. Papers littered the floor along with smashed bottles and beakers. It was like a mad scientist had thrown a tantrum.

Dipper found a switch, flipped it on and the room sprung to life. Old machines lit up, an old chemistry set was activated, causing a strange green liquid to start bubbling, and a monitor turned on. It displayed what looked like security footage from the front door of the Mystery Shack. Neither of the twins had ever realized that there were hidden cameras around the house.

"Something bad must've happened here. . ." Dipper muttered, nudging a broken coffee mug that laid on the floor.

"Like what?" Mabel asked. She found her way to an old desk and began sifting through the piles of old papers and folders. Equations and strange symbols were written in messy handwriting, things that she couldn't understand. Her face turned pale when she noticed spots of dried blood on the page she held in her hand. She dropped it and stepped back.

"I don't know. Maybe it was an earthquake or something."

Mabel turned to a bookshelf and began examining the objects that littered its surface. She picked up a magnifying glass and used it to get a closer look at the rest of the strange items.

"What is this place anyways?" she asked. "And why is it behind the vending machine?"

"I don't know," Dipper replied. He looked at Mabel and cocked his head. "What're you looking at?"

Mabel picked up what looked like an old jewelry box. After opening the lid, she discovered two blue gemstones embedded in the silk packaging. Mabel noticed there was a third spot for a gem that was missing. She picked up one and held it up to the light. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth and she suddenly found herself incapable of looking away from the stone.

"It's beautiful. . ." she murmured.

"What is it?" asked Dipper. He took the box from her and picked up the last stone. He rolled it around in the palm of his hand and tossed it up in the air like a coin. After staring at it for minute or two, he still couldn't conceive why his sister was so fascinated with her stone.

"It's just a rock," he said. Despite his disinterest, he still couldn't resist the urge to slip it into his pocket, which he did.

Mabel didn't respond. Her eyes were glazed over in wonder. Dipper blinked and for a second he could've sworn that Mabel's eyes had turned blue. He blinked again and her eyes were back to their normal shade of brown.

"I'm getting a bad feeling about this place. Let's get out of here," he said. He picked up his flashlight and stepped back into the elevator.

Mabel slowly followed along with him, but never tore her gaze away from the shining, blue gem.