It's hard, not having anyone to talk to. It's lonely. Especially when I really, really want to tell someone. But I can't, I can't trust anyone. Not now, not ever. I have to trust the journal. Nothing in Gravity Falls is what it seems, not Stan, not Wendy, not even Soos. It's not that I don't like them (I might even have a small crush on Wendy), but I just don't know if I can trust them. That's all.

What I don't get is why I feel so empty. I've been on my own for 12 years, I should be used to this. Before this summer, I felt kind of lonely, but now... it's been multiplied by a million.

I look over to the other side of the attic. Something's missing. It's empty. I put some of my books there to fill the void when I first moved in. But it's still too empty.

Time for another walk in the forest.

Whenever I feel overwhelmed and depressed about who knows what, a walk in the forest helps. For one thing, it scares me out of my mind. For another, I occasionally stumble across something weird, which is enough to keep me occupied for a couple hours.

I wave to my Great Uncle Stan as I step out the door. He nods as I walk out the door. "Don't get killed by a bear."

It wasn't bears I was afraid of, but I couldn't trust him with the truth of it.

Nothing interesting. I find a stump in a clearing and pull out the journal and begin reading. Gnomes. Zombies. Floating eyeballs. None of which I've seen. I've seen some pretty cool stuff, like a robot lake monster and ghosts and manotaurs, but still, zombies would be pretty neat.

I'm halfway through the page on some strange height altering crystal, when I hear a loud "crack!" from the woods, like someone snapping a twig. Warily, I step towards the source, my heart thumping. Probably just a rabbit. No big deal, I think. But still, I am slow and quiet, just in case it it's something worse.

Before I can do anything, a flash of red and brown comes out of the bushes.

"MMPH!" I am smothered by something. It's warm and comfortable, and I feel long hair brush on my cheeks. I almost don't want it to let go.

But I don't know what it is, or if it's dangerous, so I push away. My eyes adjust and there's a girl in front of me, about my age, with long brown hair, braces and a red sweater. The sweater looks handmade, and it has a star on it. She looks a little bit like me.

"Dipper! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I've been lost for like an hour and I was starting to think the weird rock did something and I'm just so glad to see you!"

I'm speechless. First of all, this girl knows my name, and that's weird. Also, she seems to know me. Not just recognize me, but know me. Why else would she burst out of nowhere and hug me? Not to mention the depression I'd been feeling since summer started is sorta kinda feeling less severe. Maybe she was some sort of succubus?

Okay, that doesn't feel right. Not "lusty" (and in fact, just the thought of that feels very, very, horribly, disgustingly wrong). Some sort of happiness demon maybe (do those exist)?

"Uh. Dip. Are you ok?" The girl picked a twig out of her hair.

"Um." I want to say something clever or smart or ask her who she is, but all I can manage to say is that. Great timing, brain. Shut down now, will you?

"Did Bill possess you again or something? You don't look good." She looked at me with a concerned expression. "No, your eyes are normal..."

Bill? Who's Bill? It's like I've just walked into the middle of a TV show without any prior knowledge, and I didn't get the references. "Uh..." Okay Dipper. Speaking. Speak. Say something. Not that hard. Just use your vocal cords. "Wh- who are you?"

The girl looked confused. "Did you come across some sort of brain-wipe thingy while I was lost?"

"Not that I can think of, no."

The girl looked sort of upset. "The rock must've done something..." She perked up a bit. "Some sort of dimension-crossing thing, I bet. You were just showing me the journal entry on it yesterday!"

This girl wasn't dumb, she knew about crossing dimensions. And somehow, inexplicably, the journal. If she was from an alternate dimension, I must be really dumb there. The journals said to trust no-one. Yet I showed it to this girl? Why? "I still have no idea who you are."

She laughed. "Don't be silly, Dipper. I'm Mabel, your twin sister. Isn't that obvious?"