Through the Camera Lens (Dipper x OC)

Closure

"Should I wake Mabel?"

"No let her sleep. You should get some sleep too" I tell him.

"It's ok, I'm coming"

He followed me down to the basement then towards the door. I slowly move the key into the keyhole, curious. It clicked in the lock and the door opened. I used my flashlight to see inside, but the room was empty.

"No way. This can't be" I say, accompanied with a long exhale.

I step into the room and search the wall for a light switch. Lights flickered on above us and I turned off my flashlight. The room we were in was huge, but empty. I was starting to freak out, mad that there was nothing. Dipper awkwardly places a hand on my shoulder.

"They could've had everything cleared out before they disappeared" he suggests.

"They wouldn't have hidden a key if there wasn't something important in here"

"Then maybe it's hidden"

"The book. It told me about a key, maybe it'll tell me what to do next"

I sprint out of the room and up the ladder, nearly falling off. The book was in the same spot I left it, waiting to be read. I flipped through and found the next page after the one that told me about the key. But there was nothing, it skipped from the key to something different entirely, like it was missing a page.

"There's nothing" I mumble.

Dipper came and sat beside me on the couch. I flipped back and forth between the two pages and noticed that unlike every other page in the book this one was crinkled, like something that was glued. I carefully rip the pages apart, finding what I was looking for.

"You'll find there is nothing in the room, but that's wrong. Em, think about my methods. What you'll need is in the garage, it'll shine light on what is hidden in the dark" I read aloud. "More nonsense"

"Not really. We should check the garage, see if there's any light source or something"

I put the book back on the table and find my way to the garage. The lightbulbs inside were all burnt out, not turning on when I flipped the switch.

"Great" I sigh. "Guess it's flashlights again"

I went to one side of the garage while he went to the other. I checked under paper, tarps, anything, but there wasn't even any matches. Dipper, on the other side of the room, screamed, making me jump.

"What? What is it?" I ask, rushed.

His flashlight was revealing a stuffed moose's head hanging on the wall. I roll my eyes and go over to him, lowering his hand that held the flashlight. I giggled quietly.

"It's a stuffed head, not some monster coming out of the wall to kill you"

He chuckles nervously. "Sorry"

"Don't be. Did you find anything?"

"Yeah, I found a lantern"

"Worth a shot I guess"

In the basement I placed the lantern in the middle of the room and lit the candle inside. Dipper turned off the lights, revealing a bunch of scrawls on the walls and ceiling.

"Whoa" Dipper says.

I brush my hair out of my face, standing up and looking around in awe. Mom really thought this through, everything. She had to know she was going to go missing, she wouldn't have left all those clues otherwise.

"There's pieces missing, big pieces. Key words just aren't there. Why?" I say to myself.

"I think you should see this"

Dipper was looking at a small section on the wall. I stood beside him and read what he was looking at. 'Emerald, if you ever see this, I hope you're okay. There's nothing you can do to save your father and I, all you can do is survive yourself. Don't let anyone take my research, nobody. Watch out for the triangle. He'll come after you eventually, when he does don't make a deal with him. He wants the books, a certain one in particular. DON'T TRUST ANYONE!'.

I cover my mouth with my hand, stopping myself from gasping. My eyes started tearing up. This was the last note from my mom, it's like she was saying goodbye after all those years of them just vanishing. This was the goodbye I never got. Closure.

"God" I say, but it was muffled by my hand.

Dipper gently grabbed onto my arm, making me turn to look at him. I wrap my arms around his body and lay my forehead on his shoulder. He tensed at the action and reluctantly puts his arms around me. I started sobbing lightly and he tried comforting me by rubbing my back.

"It's okay" he whispered.

I stepped back and wiped the tears from my cheeks. I take one last look at the room and pinch out the flame of the lantern. Dipper turned the light on again. I yawned while we went back upstairs towards the bedrooms.

"Maybe we need a different type of light"

"What?" I asked, my voice shaky from crying.

"The candle revealed, what it did, but another light could show what's missing"

"You're right, I think I have something out in my garage too, but it's hidden. We should get some sleep, we can figure out more tomorrow"