3rd Person POV
Little seven-year-old Dipper was sitting in the back seat of his parents' car as they drove through the forest.
Mabel had passed out next to Dipper, she was slightly drooling and was holding a chocolate that was now half melted in the warm summer sun.
This summer, Dipper and his family were going to visit his great uncle Stan. That was what his parents had told him.
Dipper liked the woods, so he had agreed pretty quickly. Mabel was also really excited about the idea to go somewhere else this summer than stay at home.
"Mom? Are we there soon?" Dipper asked.
"Soon Mason, stop asking," his mother snapped. She could be really rude sometimes, but Dipper didn't get offended.
He knew she was really stressed and probably hadn't gotten much sleep the night before.
Dipper and his family had always had a problem with money. His mom was working three jobs and so was his father.
But at least they were doing their best, Dipper always told himself.
And they had also been driving for quite some time now, so his mom must be pretty exhausted. Finally, they arrived at a shack in the middle of the woods.
"Mystery Shack..." Dipper read what was painted on the roof. Dipper couldn't read that good, he was seven after all, but he read good enough to be ahead of most kids his age.
"We are here," his dad said and got out from the car. He opened the door where Mabel was sitting and tried waking her up. "Sweetie... sweetie, wake up. We are here."
Mabel slowly opened her eyes and looked around. They all got out from the car and headed towards the weird house in the middle of nowhere.
Their dad knocked on the door and an old man in a suit stood on the other side.
"Hi uncle," their dad greeted.
"Hey Christopher," the man said.
"Kids, this is your great uncle Stan," their mom said.
Mabel was still half asleep while Dipper was looking the man in front of him up and down, trying to observe as much information about the family member he had never met as he could.
Stan was tall and slightly chubby. He had grey-ish hair and an eyepatch. He looks like a pirate, Dipper thought, remembering one of the bedtime stories his mother had told him about a big scary pirate with an eyepatch.
"Hello kids," the man greeted with a big, yet tired looking smile.
The adults went inside and started talking about boring adult stuff in the living room while Mabel and Dipper decided to explore the shack.
Mabel had woken up a bit, and was now running around the house like crazy and screaming stuff like, "Dipper look!", "Oh my god, Dipper I think this is from the Stone Age!" and "Dipper! Dipper! This looks so weird!".
After the kids had gotten a good look on the house they started exploring what was outside.
"Don't go too far into the woods kids!" Their mom warned.
"Let them be. I mean, as long as the don't chop their own little heads off they will be fine," Stan added.
Despite what their mother just told them, Dipper and Mabel went deep into the forest. They couldn't help it; they were kids after all and what kids do is explore and be curious.
And they soon stumbled upon some of the weird creatures in the forest. Like fairies, gnomes who just passed by them like it was something normal, Dipper was pretty sure he heard a rock talk, but he wasn't sure, and they even stumbled upon some oddly small wolfs.
Both Dipper and Mabel were amazed, what they have only read about in books and seen in movies was right in front of them.
Magic and supernatural creatures were all over the forest, it was almost impossible to avoid them.
While the reason all those creatures showed themselves was because Dipper and Mabel were such small kids. Nobody would believe them if they said they had seen anything out of the norm, and kids were also naive so if they spoke too much it would be easy to kidnap them.
With other words, the weird creatures didn't see Mabel and Dipper as a threat, so they didn't really mind them.
Without realizing it, Dipper and Mabel had stayed in the forest till dawn and their parents were going nuts.
The twins found their way home without a problem, but only to be met by a really angry mom and dad.
"Where were you," their mother said. Both of them knew that wasn't a question but more like a way to remind them why and how much they have fucked up.
"U-Uh..." Dipper stumbled on his words.
"Do you know how worried we were? I said not to go too far into the forest and what did you do?" their mother asked.
"We went too far-"
"You went too far into the forest," their mother finished Mabel's sentence.
After getting scolded by their mother Dipper and Mabel were tucked into bed in the attic.
Mabel fell asleep pretty fast, but Dipper couldn't because of this unsettling feeling in his stomach. Like something was there. In the dark forest.
Something besides all the other creatures, something more powerful and scary. Something scarier than P.E to Dipper, something truly almighty.
And that thing was watching. It was like it was watching Dipper and waiting patiently for him to let that something roam free.
But Dipper pushed that feeling away.
It scared him, so he did what every other kid his age would do if when something was frightening, he stood out of bed to find his parents.
He didn't know why but he had this feeling he needed to make sure they were okay. As Dipper got off his bed, he took a glance out the window into the dark forest.
That was when Dipper really felt it. It was like a big force, a big power roaming in the forest. It send a small wind into Dipper's face even though the window was tightly shut. It was like that breeze was telling Dipper to go back to bed.
Dipper got chills up his spine and terrified, he decided to stay in bed.
He didn't sleep much that night but when he tried telling his parents the next morning they just shrugged it off and told him it was probably just a nightmare.
And like that, the summer vacation ended.
Dipper didn't get as much sleep as he hoped he would throughout the whole summer, and the night before he needed to go home was no exception. He turned and twisted in the bed but that feeling was still there.
Tired and annoyed, Dipper frowned at his ceiling.
"What do you want?" He asked the unsettling feeling. Like he had expected, nothing answered.
Or so he thought.
Just as Dipper was about to close his eyes and try to sleep again he felt a sudden need to look out from the window.
He didn't know why, but Dipper obeyed the need. It was like an instinct, like the most natural thing was to look out the window. He didn't know any better, he was just a kid. He stood up and walked to that triangular window.
Dipper hadn't let himself look out from that window since the first night he got here, it was too scary. Though now here he stood, right in front of the yellow-ish glass, staring out towards the forest
He felt the same breeze crash into his face but this time more welcoming. The breeze wasn't telling him to go back to bed, it was pleading Dipper to follow it.
Dipper tilted his head.
He was tired and confused. Confused about how a breeze was talking to him without saying anything, but he decided not to question it, after all he had seen all sorts of weird things this summer.
And thinking about it, all the other weird things turned out to be fun to explore like the creatures, so perhaps following the wind would also be fun?
Dipper tiptoed down the old creaky wooden stairs which were making awfully much sound. He was just about to start taking his shoes on when the same breeze pushed him towards the door, it was urging him to go outside faster.
"Okay, okay I will go barefoot then," Dipper whispered. The wind had an attitude. He opened the door and was met by the breeze again, but this time stronger, it was happy that Dipper got outside.
Dipper smiled, he had just made a new friend, he thought.
He slowly walked towards the woods, the moonlight lighting up his path. The breeze was still guiding him towards somewhere deep in the forest.
Dipper stopped in front of a tree, this was the final destination, the breeze told him. Dipper looked at the tree.
No matter how hard he tried the only thing he saw was just an ordinary tree. He didn't understand what he had to do or why he needed to go here. Dipper then looked around; he was lost.
The wind had perhaps tricked him into getting lost in the forest. Just as Dipper's eyes started getting teary because he was scared, the breeze found a way to him again.
The wind pushed him towards the tree.
"What? Do you want me to climb it?" Dipper asked. He got no response so he assumed that would be what he needed to do.
Dipper pulled himself up and just as he was about to start climbing his foot hit the tree bark.
A metal sound was heard, and Dipper suddenly understood. He got down from the tree and knocked a few times on the spot from where the sound had same from.
"This is not a normal tree, is it?" The breeze flew by Dipper's face, meaning yes. It was hollow so Dipper assumed there must be something inside.
The brunette placed a hand on the tree and slid his hand on the surface. This wasn't a real tree either. The tree opened and inside was something that looked like an old radio.
Dipper fumbled a bit with all the buttons when he heard a sound coming from behind him. Where the grass used to be there had now opened a small hole in the ground and inside were spiderwebs but also something else.
Dipper couldn't get a good look on what, since it was dark, but as soon as he stepped closer he saw what it was.
A book? What is a book doing here? Dipper asked himself. Even thought it was dirty and there were bugs crawling on it, Dipper decided to pick the book up.
He wiped the dust off the journal and took a good look on it. It looked really old and it had a golden handprint on it with six fingers.
Dipper opened the book and tried to read.
"It has been s-six..." Dipper tried reading but it was really hard because 1, he was seven, 2, the handwriting was cursive and hard to read for a seven year old, and 3, it was too dark.
Dipper somehow found his way back and as soon as he did he headed up to bed and started reading.
"It's hard to believe it's been six years since I began researching the stranger and wondrous secrets of Gravity Falls, Oregon," Dipper read slowly but this time understanding more. "I knew there is something wrong in this town!"
Dipper spend the rest of the night reading the whole book. It took him quite some time since it had a lot of pages, but he read it all. When he was done he placed the book in his backpack.
By the time it was morning Dipper had only gotten four hours of sleep, but he could just sleep in the car. Dipper woke up and the first thing he noticed was that his sister had already gotten out of bed.
Dipper sleepily got out of bed himself, only to see nobody was anywhere to be seen. Scared of being left alone in the house, Dipper ran outside.
Stan was outside helping his dad get the luggage in the car while his mom was getting Mabel to put her seatbelt on.
"Mom? Dad?" Dipper walked towards them. They both seemed startled by his presence.
"Mason! Hey," his mother greeted.
"Are we going home already? But I haven't packed all my stuff yet," Dipper said and rubbed his eyes.
"No honey," his mom kneeled down to Dipper's level. "You won't be coming."
"W-What? Why?" Dipper asked.
"You are going to stay here for a little bit longer," his mother explained.
"How long?" Dipper asked.
"Well, um... long time honey, okay? After Christmas and then when it's summer again" his mother said.
"But w-why?" Dipper couldn't help but ask questions.
"Because... mommy and daddy are having many money problems. We can't have you both at home anytime soon," she said.
"Oh," was the only thing Dipper could say. He felt... weird. He was scared, of course, but he choose to trust his parents. They said they would come back for him, they wouldn't lie.
Before he knew it, his parents and Mabel had driven off.
Stan looked at Dipper and then sighed. Dipper was still not panicking, he trusted his parents, so he knew everything would be alright. He was perfectly calm until Stan opened his mouth.
"Sorry kid," he said.
"Sorry for what?" Dipper turned to Stan.
"I was also the family disappointment. Like, not the favorite one," Stan said.
"D-Disappointment? But they are coming back, t-that's what they said," Dipper got tears in his eyes.
"Sure kid," Stan ruffled Dipper's hair and got inside.
It took a while for Dipper to go back to the shack. What his mother had said meant that he would need to stay here a year.
Dipper was young but he understood what his mother had said about the money problems and that they weren't able to take care of two children, but there was one thing he didn't understand.
Why him?
Why not Mabel? If they couldn't take care of two kids then why was it him? Or why couldn't both him and Mabel stay here? Then Dipper suddenly remembered what Stan had said about him not being the favorite one and it suddenly made sense.
He felt a feeling of sorrow, disappointment, and insecurity. Doubts that kids his age shouldn't have filled his head. Was he not good enough? Was Mabel always "the favorite one" or did he do something wrong at some point? How could he fix it? Or maybe fix himself? Could he fix himself?
.
Dipper couldn't shake the sad and empty feeling in his chest all week and even when he started school again in Gravity Falls he still couldn't quite concentrate. He was always in such a bad mood, wanting to return home already.
But he decided to ignore that, and make new friends, perhaps that would help.
Dipper walked up to four boys who seemed to be playing about soccer.
"H-Hey," Dipper greeted them and they turned around. The boys looked at Dipper like he was an alien.
"What?" One chubby kid asked.
"U-Um I was just wondering-" Dipper was cut out by one of the four kids.
"What is that?" He said and pointed at Dipper's forehead. The way the kid asked was loud and kind of rude, but Dipper ignored it.
"Huh?" Dipper didn't understand what the kid was pointing at.
"On your forehead!" The kid said. Dipper lifted his brown curls and revealed his Big-Dipper birthmark. Dipper was insecure about it in the first place, but people never really pointed it out before now.
"I-It's just a birthmark," Dipper's cheeks got red as the kids started making fun of it.
"It looks really weird," another kid said.
"Yeah it looks like a loser mark!" A kid added.
"It's ugly!"
Embarrassed, Dipper walked away. He had tears in his eyes that started to fall as he walked away from the kids. He didn't seem to be able to get comfort from anyone or anything, it was just disappointment after disappointment.
Why was everyone being so rude to him? Had that to do with the fact he wasn't good enough? Probably.
By the end of the school day when Stan came to pick him up Dipper came crying to the car. Stan, who didn't know how to handle kids, just kind of drove in silence as they drove home.
Even when they got inside Dipper was still seeking comfort which Stan didn't know how to give.
"Alright kid!" Stan said when he got enough from Dipper's crying. "You say they bullied you because of the birthmark?"
Stan roughly placed a hat on Dipper's head. "Then just hide the birthmark, gosh dammit!" And like that Stan walked off to the living room.
Dipper was speechless. Instead of sweet words and a warm hug he had been told to just listen to what the other kids had said and hide what they have called "ugly".
So, does that mean the kids were right?
He was rejected kindness and comfort, again. It hurt, to know that he wouldn't be able to feel the warm feeling of being wanted because he apparently wasn't good enough.
Dipper took the hat off his head and looked at it. It was actually not that bad, it was blue and white and had a pine tree on it.
It looked kind of cool.
Dipper accepted the gift since he knew this would be one of the only acts of kindness he would get from a guy like Stan.
.
Just like that Dipper spend another half a year. It was Christmas now, but Dipper knew that he won't be getting any presents like he didn't get any on his birthday (except the fact his family left him, if that counted).
Stan would sometimes give Dipper random jobs at the Mystery Shack. Since Dipper was so little and cute he would attract more customers and Stan took advantage of that.
Today was the 24th of December, Christmas eve. Stan was watching TV while Dipper was just staring at his ceiling.
He had read the journal three times now, decoded all the codes he could find, understood, and saw every single one of the weird creatures (unless Bill Cipher) and he was now bored out of his mind.
Dipper had grown so, so lonely through the year. No friends nor family and Dipper was only seven, he didn't understand why kids were being mean or why Stan wouldn't pay any attention to him.
And most importantly he didn't understand when a book said, "Do Not Summon At All Cost!".