Crystal: I'm back!

Anna: Why haven't you updated my story?

Crystal: I'm working on the outline!

Polka: Plus she's been busy with school. Things have been a bit crazy.

Lorina: yeah, well, she seemed to be happy working on this fan fiction.

Crystal: anyway, lets get started. To the disclaimers!

Disclaimers: I do not own Gravity Falls, that belongs to Alex Hirsch and Disney. I just own Lorina. Anyway, enjoy the story!

Chapter 1: Twins, Journal, and Gnomes part 1

Summer vacation, a time of fun, pool, ice cream, potential lovers, and no homework. Well, I would call it summer vacation if it was actually summer. Let me introduce myself, I'm Lorina Alrin: Lori for short. I used to live in San Francisco but some how ended up in Gravity Falls, Oregon. I doubt many would care on how I ended up in a town in the middle of nowhere. If you don't care, that's okay. If you do care... please help me. I'm not even sure how I got here. I just remember falling asleep during the New Years party and then, waking up at the police station with two cops looking at me. I have no idea where my parents are or how I even got to another state in one night. According to the town, there is no record I ever existed.

Thankfully though someone took me in shortly after my arrival. Stan Pines, the grumpy old man who runs this place called the Mystery Shack. It's this tourist trap with some of the weirdest things I don't get why anyone gets excited about. I mean, an ape-man in men's underwear? Really? Another thing to point out is that according to the calendar and my phone it's the beginning of summer. What was I sleeping for months in the Wolf House?... Anyone who got that reference, I will give you a cookie some day.

Anyway, I've only been in Gravity Falls for a few weeks and I'm staying at the Mystery Shack with a few of Stan's relatives. Dipper and Mabel Pine, twins from California are actually a part of Stan's family, but they didn't appear out of nowhere like I did. They came on the bus since their parents didn't want them to stay inside all day for summer vacation. I know Dipper's pain though, I'm not exactly used to the whole sudden change in area. Mabel is fun, a little over energetic, but fun and a breath of fresh air. The three of us spend a lot of time together since we also work at the gift shop but well… we all thought it would be boring. Oh how wrong we were.

"He's looking at it. He's looking at it!" Mabel cheered, looking over at a boy who got her letter. Dipper was cleaning a few jars while I was sweeping the floor.

"Mabel, I know you're in your boy crazy phase. But I think you're kind of overdoing it with the 'crazy' part."

"Yeah, coming on too strong can hurt more than help." I point out, leaning on my broom. "My mom always says, 'you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, but you drown the flies if you put too much'." Though why Mom told me this, I'll have no idea. Boys usually tended to pick on me.

"What?" Mabel shouted, blowing a raspberry at us. "Come on, guys. This is our first summer away from home… wait, Lori, is this…?"

"Yep."

"This is our first summer away from home! It's my big chance to have an epic summer romance." Mabel cheered as I sighed.

"And I want to meet the Mad Hatter but that can only happen at Disneyland." I point out, crossing my arms and Dipper nodded.

"Mock all you want. But I got a good feeling about this summer. I wouldn't be surprised if the man of my dreams walked in through that door right now." Mabel said, gesturing to the door, and right at that moment, Stan walked into the room and belched. That got a laugh from Dipper and me while poor Mabel gagged. Hey, she walked into that one. Not my fault she gestured towards the backdoor.

"Alright people, look alive!" Stan ordered, looking at us and holding up arrow signs. "I need someone to hammer in these signs in the spooky part of the forest."

"Not it!"

"Not it!"

"Not it!"

"Uh, Also not it." Dipper, Maybe, and I said before Soos, the handy man, got into it.

"Nobody asked you, Soos."

"I know, and I'm comfortable with that." Soos said, going back to his work while eating a chocolate bar. Soos was… well… interesting. A little empty headed but interesting, and a really nice guy. Plus, he does have his brilliant moments. He's pretty awesome.

"Wendy! I need you to put up these signs!" Stan ordered the cashier, but she was too busy reading her magazine.

"I would but I… can't.. reach…" Wendy pretended to be trying and well, after a while I had to get used to her. She's cool some times but when she's lazy and it took a bit for me to warm up to her.

"I'd fire all of you if I could." Stan said, before looking to again. "All right, let's make it eenie, meenie, mieney…." He looked at Dipper and points at him, "you." Typical, Stan usually gave Dipper the harder chores for some reason. Not that I'm complaining but going into the spoken part of the woods? By himself?

"Aw, what? Grunkle Stan, whenever I'm in those woods, I feel like I'm being watched." Dipper whined but he did have a fair point. I felt the same way when I'd go in as well. It kind of freaked me out, which is why I never go alone. Stan on the other hand didn't seem to get it.

"Ugh, this again." Stan sighed, rolling his eyes at Dipper.

"I'm telling you, something weird is going on in this town. Just today, my mosquito bites spelled out 'BEWARE'." Stan looked at it and I looked too.

"That says 'BEWARB'." I looked and it kind of looked like beware… cool and creepy. "Look, kid. The whole 'monsters in the forest' thing is just local legend, drummed up by guys like me to sell mercy to guys like that." Stan didn't even hide the fact he was pointing at a man who was laughing at a bobble-head of Stan and sweating a lot. Why he was sweating… I don't want to know. "So quit being so paranoid!"

Dipper sighed in defeat and went to get the hammer, when I came up to him.

"I can help you, Dipper. I wouldn't like being in those woods by myself." I say, and Dipper smiled a bit.

"Thanks, Lori. You don't have to though."

"I want to." I admitted, blushing a little. Dipper was a pretty nice guy, one of the nicest I've ever met. It's hard not to have a crush on him, seeing as we're both new in town. Maybe Mabel had a point about an epic summer romance…. But who am I kidding? I quickly recovered and added more to my statement. "Besides, if we work together, we should get things done faster."

"Well, okay then." Dipper said, and we went off together into the woods. I looked back for a moment to see Mabel smiling. No doubt thinking I had a crush on her brother. Well, at least I didn't constantly ask him out. Once we got to the forest, Dipper let it all out.

"Ugh, Grunkle Stan. Nobody ever believes anything I say." He says, as he hammered a nail to hang up the Mystery Shake sign on a tree.

"Well, even though I've lived in this town a few weeks, I'll admit there are a few freaky things." I say, carrying the signs and walking behind Dipper. "I mean, some times I'll hear weird noises at night and I don't think it's a bird or the wolves."

"Is that why you asked Soos to move your bed to our attic room after those times?" Dipper asked, raising and eyebrow but I nodded.

"I'd rather have…. I'd rather have company incase something happens. I know I'm not that strong. But you got the brains."

"Lori… don't count yourself out. You're smart too. You usually have a head in a book."

"Yeah, a fantasy book." I say, a little sad. It's true, I always stick my nose in a book of some kind to get away from bullies at my middle school in California. In a way, I locked myself in fantasy to escape real life; now I'm regretting it. I should've spent more time with my parents. Now, I don't know where they are. I never even got a chance to say good-bye. Dipper seemed to know what I was thinking, because he stopped complaining.

We got to the last sign and Dipper hammered a nail in but something was off. The sound wasn't right, it seemed more like metal. We looked at each other, confused and a little interested as we put our ears to the tree as he hammered it gently. Again, it made a sound like hammer to metal. I carefully touch the tree and realize, it was fake, but there was something else.

"Dipper, I think there's a door here…"

"Yeah…" Dipper carefully opened the tiny door and inside were what seemed to be controls. Either that or a radio. Dipper started to play round with it, and I was about to tell him to stop when we heard something behind us and a goat, bleating. "What the?" We looked to see what looked like a secret compartment but the only thing inside was a very dust old book. Taking out a cleaning rag, I carefully remove the dust to see the cover had a golden hand on it with six fingers and a number three on it. Nothing to go on. Even inside the cover, where it would say who the booked belonged to, the name was ripped off.

"Lori, look." I looked as Dipper turned the pages and started reading aloud. "It's hard to believe it's been six years since I began studying the strange and wondrous secrets of Gravity Falls, Oregon." We looked at each other, interested and excited. This journal could mean we were right. Flipping through the pages we finally stopped at what seemed to be the last page. "Unfortunately, my suspicions have been confirmed. I'm being watched. I must hide this book before /he/ finds it. Remember: in Gravity Falls there is no one you can trust." Dipper closes the book and I look a little scared now.

"No one you can trust? But…"

"HELLO!"

Dipper and I jump in surprise as we saw Mabel come out behind a fallen tree.

"What'cha readin', some nerd thing?"

"Mabel, that hurt." I say, feeling a little offended. I'm sensitive about the word 'nerd'.

"Yeah, it's nothing." Dipper said, hiding the book behind him.

"Yeah, it's nothing." Mabel mocked, laughing a bit. "What? Are you actually not gonna show me?"

"Um…." I looked at the goat, which was trying to nibble on Dipper's journal.

"Let's go somewhere more private."

Once we got back to the Mystery Shack and made sure Soos and Stan were busy with tourist, we started talking. Well, mostly Dipper. He seemed obsessed by the ideas of the mysteries in the journal. Then again, I don't blame him. We finally have some answers as to what is going on in this town.

"It's amazing! Grunkle Stan said I was being paranoid, but according to this book, Gravity Falls has this secret dark side." Dipper said, showing Mabel a few pages fo the journal.

"Whoa! Shut up!" Mabel pushed Dipper away, but she seemed just as excited as well.

"Yeah, who knew the answers were right behind the shack." I say, hugging my copy of Alice in Wonderland.

"And get this! After a certain point, the pages just stop, like the guy who was writing it mysteriously disappeared." Dipper said, and I looked at the pages. For all we know, it could be writing in invisible ink, still… I turned my head at the sound of the doorbell. That's a rare thing to hear at the Mystery Shack. "Who's that?"

"Yeah, we were expecting anyone?"

"Well, time to spill the beans." Mabel said, poking a empty can of beans onto the ground. "Whoops. Beans." She chuckled and looked very proud of herself. "This girl's got a date! Woot! Woot!"

"Wait, we were only got for a few minutes. You got a boyfriend that quickly?" I asked, a bit concerned. Mom always did warn me about stuff like this and I had my own personal experience. Boys don't usually go straight to a girl and ask her out without some motive behind it.

"What can I say? I guess I'm just irresistible!" Mabel cheered as she left to get the door.

"Say, Dipper? Now that we have the journal, what are we going to do?" I ask, leaning on the couch as he started reading.

"I don't know, but we can use this to solve mysteries." Dipper said, not looking up from his reading.

"What'cha reading there, kids?" Dipper and I jumped, hiding the journal quickly as Stan entered the room.

"Oh! I was just catching up on…" Dipper said, grabbing a random magazine but then noticed the title. "Gold Chains for Old Men Magazine?"

"That's a good issue."

It would be… if Dipper was older…. Way older. And hopefully less grumpy.

"Hey, family! And Lori!" We looked up to see Mabel pulling what looked like a teenager into the doorway. "Say 'Hello' to my new boyfriend!"

"'Sup?" He said, and I raised and eyebrow. He looked like he was covered in dirt, a branch was sticking out of his hood, and looked really pale. He kind of reminded me of one of those old zombie movies my old cousins watched when there was nothing on TV… that or they were having a zombie movie marathon.

"Hey…"

"How's it hanging?" Dipper and Stan greeted Norman but I think only Dipper seemed to notice something was wrong with this guy. Just looking at him makes me think of zombie.

"We met at the cemetery. He's really deep." Mabel said and at that point, I started the mental checklist. Dirty clothes, branch sticking out of hoodie, very pale, in the cemetery. Either he's a vampire from one of those TV shows or really bad books, or he's a zombie. "Oh, little muscle there…that's… what a surprise." Okay, that wasn't useful information.

"So, what's your name?" Dipper asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh… Normal… MAN!"

"He means Norman." Mabel said, and I really had the urge to hit myself with my book.

"Are you bleeding, Norman?"

"It's jam." Okay, I am not going to touch that! I don't care if it may be needed for the 'zombie or vampire checklist'. I am not touching unknown substances! Mabel didn't seemed alarmed by this.

"I love jam! Look. At. This!" I'm starting to wonder if Mabel is just desperate for a boyfriend… because this is reminding me something my mom mentioned when she read Twilight.

"So, you wanna go hold hands or… whatever?"

"Oh, oh, my goodness!" Mabel giggled, acting coy. "Don't wait up!" She called, running off, Norman tired to follow but he seemed to stagger whenever he tried to walk or turn. He even hit his face against the doorframe. The moment he left, I ran up to the attic room and started making the checklist on a notepad.

"Lori, what are you doing?" Dipper asked, walking into the room.

"Making a checklist. I'm thinking Norman may either be a vampire or a zombie." I say, writing everything down quickly. "I mean, look at him. Did you see him blink at all?"

"Come to think of it, no…" Dipper said, and started looking through the journal. I sighed, shaking my head.

"Dipper, do you really think that journal will have the answers to…"

"Known for their pale skin and bad attitudes, these creatures are often mistaken for… teenagers?!" Dipper read out loud and I instantly went over to read over his shoulder at the image. "Beware Gravity Fall's nefarious…" I gasped, shocked at this piece of news.

"ZOMBIES!" We shouted, and I felt myself freaking out.

"Oh my gosh! I thought zombies weren't real! How would Gravity Falls even have zombies!" I shout, nearly letting my hair out of its ponytail as I scratch my head. I get Gravity Falls was mysterious but zombies?! Is this going to be like those movies where we have to fight for our lives?!

"Oh no! Mabel!" I turned to see Dipper looking out the window and I can see why he was freaking out. Norman was walking closer to Mabel, who was sitting on the picnic table. We watched as Normal placed his hands near Mabel's neck, causing Dipper to freak out but when Norman removed his large hands, Mabel was wearing a daisy necklace.

"Good grief." I sigh, rubbing my forehead. I didn't realize I was even sweating.

"Is my sister dating a zombie? Or am I just going nuts?"

"It's a dilemma, to be sure." Dipper and I screamed, and I was ready to throw my notepad at the voice, only to see Soos changing a light bulb.

"Soos! Don't scare us like that! I nearly had a heart attack!" I shouted, clutching my chest.

"Sorry. I couldn't help overhearing you talkin' aloud to yourself in this empty room." I chuckled a little at that, good old Soos.

"Soos, you've seen Mabel's boyfriend. He's gotta be a zombie, right?" Dipper asked.

"Hmm. How many brains didja see this guy eat?" Soos asked and that's where everything fell apart.

"Zero." We said together, a little dejectedly.

"Look, dude, I believe you. I'm always noticing weird stuff in this town. Like the mailman? Pretty sure that dude's a werewolf. But ya gotta have evidence. Otherwise, people are gonna think you're a major league cuckoo clock." Remember when I said Soos had brilliant moments? This was one of them.

"As always, Soos, you're right." Dipper sighed, nodding in agreement.

"My wisdom is both a blessing and a curse."

"Soos! The portable toilets are clogged again!" Stan shouted from downstairs.

"I am needed elsewhere." Soos announced dramatically, and left the room. I looked to Dipper, and smiled.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Oh yeah." Dipper said, pulling out a video camera. It's time we get our evidence!

Crystal: phew, that went well.

Lorina: I'm going to make a list of things I'm going to develop fears of after all this.

Anna: I kind of feel bad for you, kid, but we all go through stuff like this.

Polka: Some more than others.

Crystal: anyway, join us next time in Chapter 2: Twins, Journal, and Gnomes part 2. And yes, I will be splitting the episodes into two parts to make it easier for me. Until then, I'll see you guys soon!