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She looked out the window.
She didn't know what Gravity Falls was like. She didn't even know her great-uncle Stan.
She just knew what her mom said— it was a perfectly normal town, and small enough that they could walk from place to place, mostly.
"Do you have everything?" Her dad asked.
Mabel nodded, holding onto her bags tightly.
She hadn't been on a bus since… since the incident. Maybe she'd be fine.
But maybe it wouldn't. Maybe the bus driver would fall asleep, maybe they'd—
She gasped as the car jerked to a stop, and she braced herself for the impact of glass, squeezing her eyes shut.
"Hey, honey, it's okay… We didn't crash."
She opened her eyes again, sucking in a shaky breath as she opened the door, quickly stumbling out.
It wasn't going to be an easy ride, was it?
She sat down on the bench, rubbing her tired eyes.
She should have slept.
She heard a terrible screeching, and felt her head hit against something.
It felt like shards of glass were digging into her skin, and… when she opened her eyes, they were.
"Mabel, is Mason okay?!" She heard her mom shout.
She grimaced, craning her aching neck to look to her brother.
She almost wished she hadn't.
Bloodied shards of glass and wood poked out from his skin, and blood poured from his head. His eyes were shut tight, and she didn't dare try to move him, in case it made him worse.
"Mom, he— he's bleeding really bad… What do I do?"
"Don't try and pull any glass out yet— I'm calling 911."
She knew her mother was a nurse. She knew what to do, what order to do it in, but Mabel couldn't help but feel a pit in her stomach as she looked at her bleeding brother.
"Mabel?"
She turned, and saw her brother, but… he looked different. He was glowing an ethereal blue, and he was… floating.
She shut her eyes tight, covering her ears. It wasn't real. She wasn't here. "It's just a dream, it's just a dream, it's just a dream…" She gasped.
"Mabel—!"
She opened her eyes, gasping.
"Gravity Falls!"
She glanced out the window, and saw that they'd arrived at the bus stop. A haphazardly parked car waited on the other side of the road, and an old man— supposedly great-uncle Stan— waited at the stop.
Mabel grabbed her suitcases with a sigh, pulling herself onto wobbly feet.
She didn't notice the faint outline of a person following her in the reflection of the windows.