Cipher

Arrival

It was a cold, gloomy day, the twins are looking out at the distant town of Gravity Falls. Although it was their first time meeting their great uncle, their hearts raced as they couldn't wait to spend the winter with him in his Mystery Shack.

"Hey Dipper, what do you think grunkle Stan would look like"

"You do know grunkle isn't an actual word right?"

Just as the twins were wondering how their winter would be like in the small and mysterious town, the bus has arrived to Gravity Falls. As the twins got out of the bus, they didn't see their great uncle waiting for them in the bus stop, all that surrounded them were the thick snow and the gnarled and twisted twigs.

"Mabel, what do we do now?"

"Don't ask me, you're the smart one!"

"Well lets just find the shack by ourselves, how hard could it be?"

It was indeed a hard path, before the twins know it, it was already sunset, and they were lost and hungry. Before the both of them pass out in the snow due to exhaustion and hunger, Dipper saw a distant figure walking towards them. It was a red headed teen, with a green flannel shirt holding a axe.

"Mabel, is it just me or are we going to be murdered?"

Dipper was not keen on knowing what the red headed teen was going to do, but before he tried to run, she talked.

"Calm down dude, I just wanna help, what are you two doing out here? There's going to be a snowstorm tonight!"

"We're looking for a Mystery Shack, do you know where it is?"

The red headed girl showed them the way to their great uncle's Shack, turns out he's quite the celebrity in this town, though all he attracts are unwanted attention from a kid named Gideon who tries to take over his Shack. The snow began to grow thicker as the snowstorm approaches Gravity Falls, the three managed to get to the shack.

"Try not to get lost again, you'll die out here. By the way, name's Wendy, see you around Dipper!"

"Hey, is it safe for you out here? Maybe you should come in here with us, the snowstorm's getting worse."

"You have a point, let me call my dad first."

As Wendy was calling for her father, the twins opened the door to see a harrowing sight. Their great uncle bleeding out on the floor, Dipper rushed to the lying body to check for a pulse, luckily he was still alive, but not for long if he continues to bleed.

"Oh my god Dip, is grunkle Stan dead?"

"He's in shock, now hand me a clean cloth, I need to stop the bleeding!"

Wendy rushed in the shack when she heard Mabel scream, seeing the scene, she stood in shock.

"Wendy we need to get him to a hospital!"

Mabel was so worried that she had already forgotten about the snow, her idea was instantly shot down by Dipper. Just as Mabel was worrying about her great uncle, the power went out, doubling the trouble the three are going through.

"We're gonna freeze in here if the power doesn't come back on!"

Dipper was calm at first, but even he was broken by the intensity of this situation, he can feel himself freezing up without the heater, his face numbed by the cold, his vision starting to fade. But before he succumbed to the cold, the power went back on.

"Someone turned the power off on the outside, luckily I checked and turned it back on."

It was a long night for the 3 teens, they waited all night for the storm to pass, hoping someone would come help them, yet no one came. Just as they were planning to go get help the next morning, they realized the door would not budge. Wendy tried to break the door down with her axe, although she managed to destroy the door, they realized that they were not locked up, but snowed in.

"Guys, grunkle Stan isn't going to last much longer like this!"

Mabel was panicking, her heart beating, palm sweating, body trembling. Just as she was drowning in despair, Dipper tried to find a way out of the Shack and get help. He walked upstairs into the attic, where he saw two beds lying in both corners and in the middle...

"A window!"

Dipper shouted with all his strength, he couldn't believe what he saw, a way out! As he poked his head out, he saw two police officers in the distance walking around. One of the officer noticed Dipper waving at them and walked near the shack. Before the officer could greet Dipper, he was greeted with a traumatized Dipper who was talking too fast for anyone to understand.

"Officeryouneedtohelpus,ourgreatuncle hasbeen..."

"Calm down kid, say that again slowly!"

"My great uncle has been stabbed! We need to get him to a hospital!"

The officers acted quickly and got a helicopter to transport the twins' uncle to a hospital nearby, although everything seemed fine, great uncle Stan was in a coma due to his blood loss.

"Sorry kids, I don't know when your great uncle will wake up."

The twins sit in the waiting room, hoping their great uncle to wake up, hoping for a miracle to happen. Just as they plan to leave, a familiar face shows up in front of them.

"Grunkle Ford! You're here!"

"Yes Mabel, I'll be looking after you kids this winter while your great uncle Stan rests here."

Dipper went outside to get a breath of fresh air, where he heard a whisper and a sound, he couldn't understand what it was saying but he followed the sound and ended up in front of a big pine tree with a hatch.

"Open it."

He knew better not to trust this voice, but his curiosity did not agree. As his hand reached out for the handle on the hatch, he heard a scratching sound, then another, and another. He quickly opened the hatch and took whatever was inside and ran back to the hospital. After he arrived back in the waiting room and caught his breath, he looked at what he took from the hatch, it was a dark red book with a golden six fingered hand on the cover that has the number 3 written on it. He opened the book and saw a word written on it.

"Cipher"