A Mixture of Pain and Fear
MTUL: I've been under a lot of stress lately so I've decided to work on some drabbles to blow off some steam or something.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything and the fact that I need to repeat this over and over each story is not a fun thing to do. Alex Hirsch, member of the Illuminati and owned by Disney is the creator of this show.
Mabel had decided that enough was enough. For this entire summer Dipper had done nothing, but stays in the Shack and goes off into the woods with that journal of his. He was distancing himself off from society and she was one million percent sure that that was not at all healthy. He stayed up at late hours in the night looking over the same pages in the journal trying to decipher codes that some old kook made up! It was as clear as the day that those bags under his eyes weren't going away anytime soon.
Using her power or persuasion she had gotten him to agree to going out into town with her for the day. Sure he may have slipped his journal into his vest, but surely it couldn't hurt to just have it with him as long as he wasn't constantly having his head in it. Oh how wrong she was.
The day had started off normal. She and Dipper had had some breakfast (with an unsuccessful attempt to get Dipper to have some of her "Mabel Juice") and off they went. It was a slow day in the Shack anyways so Grunkle Stan let them go into town as long as they didn't cause trouble or willingly look for it. It was a nice sunny day with a faint breeze in the background. Mabel had bouncily skipped down the sidewalk while Dipper took a more normal approach. She had happily greeted the townsfolk with a happy smile and a wave, while he had just nodded his head as they walked by. They were the prime example of Yin and Yang, complete opposites of each other.
This had gone on for a while, at a couple of shops Mabel had "ooed" and "awed" at certain objects, yammering on about how nice that necklace looked or how cute those kittens looked to her brother. Dipper would make a small response or complement like "Yeah" or "They do like nice" but nothing really conversational. Everything was going all right, he had seemed like he was really warming up, but then they got to the busiest part or Gravity Falls, the town square.
People were bustling, going to and fro, not really paying attention to where they were going, bumping into things such as people or streetlamps (though the later could have been a side effect of the Mind Eraser that the Blind Eye had constantly used on the townsfolk) and that's when Dipper started to freak out. He looked like a trapped mouse, eyes darting from side to side, breath quickening, and as he clutched his vest where the journal was he started to go backwards. Before Mabel could realize his sudden state of paranoia he had bumped into one of the townsfolk which had sent him sprawling.
The journal had fallen out of his vest and some of the pages had come out (it was over thirty years old, the paper was thin and delicate as it was), not only that but he had everyone's attention now from when he had made the very unmanly scream as he fell. It was at this point where Mabel had to come to the rescue but was cut off as people started crowding her panicking brother. As Dipper started to pick himself up it happened. Sheriff Blubs had come up to see what the whole commotion was about and had stepped on one of the journals pages. Looking down he saw it and picked it up.
When Dipper saw his eyes went wide and he gasped. Mabel could feel the paranoia rolling off him in waves, and she instantly knew that this was bad, very, very bad. Sheriff took a quick glance at the page in his hands before suddenly laughing very loudly.
"What's this all about now? Gnomes? It seems as though City Boy has been filling up his head with more silly stuff than we originally thought!"
"City Boy! City Boy!"
It was then, at that moment where every one in town was laughing at him and Officer Durland had rang out the call of City Boy, which he had snapped. He quickly sprang to his feet and collected the journal and the fallen pages around him. Then he snatched the page that Sheriff Blubs had straight of his hands. Cradling the journal under his arm he started backing off, head scanning around and eyes darting every which way that he searched for an exit.
Then he saw it, a small gap in which he could make a break for it, that lead directly to the woods. Gathering his nerves he ran for it, pushing people out of the way and dashed straight into the woods. Mabel had tried calling out to him and tried to go after him, but it was all for naught as the laughter of the simple minded townsfolk over shadowed her calls, and their circle had not been easily broken.
It was night time when he had returned. He had slowly crept up the stairs, wincing at every creek each step had made. When he had reached their rooms he had slowly opened the door and slipped in before the light could disturb his sister. Tip towing to his bed he had set the journal to the side and slipped under the sheets. Turning his back to his sister's bed he lied wide awake.
"I know you're awake."
Mabel's voice had cut through the silence like a finely made sword. His shoulders had bunched up, knowing it was folly to try and pretend now that he had been caught. He heard some shifting and could feel his sisters gaze on his back. He didn't dare to meet it.
"What happened today at the square? You looked like you were a mouse caught by a lion! I could have sworn you were going to die of a heart attack the way you were acting. Then you just up and run away like your life was in danger!" Worry and concern was laced in her voice. He knew that he made a stupid move, just running off into the woods like that, but he just couldn't help it.
"And with the way you gathered up the journal it was like you were simply scared by the thought of them even looking at it."
A silence.
"They always make fun of you like that, I know, but this is the first time you acted like that."
Her voice started to waver, but he kept his eyes solely on the wall.
"I just want to know, why?"
It was then, at that question, in which he answered with a very meek voice.
"Trust no one."