"Now isn't this.. INTERESTING?!" He shrieked, and I swore my ears were about to bleed. His eye, larger than ever before and a thousand times more menacing, shone a bright light into my eyes that pained me to even glance at.

I searched the journal as fast as I could; 'fast' wasn't fast enough in this situation. It was the only resource I had, the only way I could have possibly stopped Bill.

"What do you got, Pine Tree?" He yelled - God, I hated it when he called me that. "Everyone's waiting!"

And deep down, I knew that there wasn't any hope. I threw the journal to the side and stood as tall as I could, gulping. I looked at the horror-stricken faces of the people in Gravity Falls. I gulped.

Do it for Stan. Ford. Wendy and Soos.

Mabel.

At that, I leaped off of the platform I'd been on and lunged at Bill, swinging my fist to hit the center of his ugly, massive eye. As if a shield lie between him and I, my fist didn't collide with him at all, but my arm suddenly hurt and my entire body felt like it'd just been lit up with a million volts of electricity.

Pain.

It was all I knew for what felt like forever. I was sent back, propelling through the air and landing on solid rock with a thud. I cried out in pain as my head collided with a tree trunk, and raised my hand up to my head instantly. I didn't even have to look at my fingers to know that my head had split open. Slowly I pushed myself off of the ground and I glared at Bill, who was floating just in front of me. Taunting me.

It was like he was grinning, even if he had no way other than his eye to show any emotion. I could picture him with a sickening grin, a grin that mocked you even when it didn't mean to. That was when I remembered; the journals.

I scrambled to grab them off of the floor, tripping over my own feet and reaching as far as I could. Bill had it real easy. With a snap of his fingers, the journals were enveloped in blue flame and they hurtled towards his hand. My eyes went wide and I stood straight once again, as I stared at the journals. He stared at me, then went back to studying the journals. I swore that my heart had stopped at that moment; it thumped in my chest, once, twice, then I couldn't feel a thing. I didn't want to.

He laughed menacingly and in an instant, the journals were reduced to ash and flame.

"NO!" I screamed; pointless. Pathetic. Human.

"Don't be a hero, kid. This is what happens to heroes in my world!" He yelled at me, and I could only agree as I watched the journals - what I'd worked on, relied on, all summer - crumbled right in front of my eyes. All of this was at the hands of Bill. I hated him so much. I swore to myself, at this moment, that I would do anything it took to stop him.

He tossed the few remaining pages of the book at me and turned, like he knew that he couldn't be stopped.

Him and I both knew that there wasn't a way for me to win.