So, I actually decided to add on to this fic, since I currently have no other ideas for new stories and I've been in the writing mood lately. I have a couple ideas for a few more chapters, so if anyone actually reads this, look forward to that :)
So we got a little Wendy/Mabel bonding in this chapter. They need some quality girl time, don'tcha think? Then somebody else gets into the picture.
Disclaimer: Like before, this mentions self-harm, so once again, trigger warning. I don't own Gravity Falls or the characters, the awesome man Alex Hirsch is responsible for this amazing show.
Hope you like it. :D
Mabel sat quietly in her room, itching at her arm in frustration. It's been two whole weeks since her last episode; two weeks since Dipper found out about her…problem. Ever since then, he's been on her butt about how she was and what she was doing day to day. "What are you doing, Mabel? Where are you going, Mabel? Can I come with you? Why aren't you eating much, Mabel? Are you going to the bathroom, Mabel?" Part of her was appreciative about how much her brother cared for her and wanted to help her through recovery, but part of her was also very irritated about not getting any privacy…ever.
She looked over at Dipper, who was on the floor making additions to two of the journals written by their uncle, unaware that Waddles was chewing on the cover of the other one that was sitting on the floor beside him. Mabel bit her lip, trying to stifle a laugh, and waited for him to realize what Waddles was doing.
After a few minutes, Mabel finally decided to drop him a hint. "Uh, Dipper?"
"Mhm," he mumbled back, not bothering to look up.
"Your journal?"
He glanced over to his book and saw what Waddles was doing. "No!" he yelled, and started playing an involuntary game of tug-o-war to get it back. "Mabel, get your pig!" he called out to her as he was trying to rip the journal out of Waddles surprisingly strong grip between his teeth.
She furrowed her eyebrows. "Don't call him a pig, pig! He's part of the family, too!"
Dipper gave her a half-eyed look that clearly said, 'Seriously, Mabel?' He sighed as she called him over to the bed with her. "Don't listen to him, Waddles," she said to her pet as he jumped in her lap and snuggled into her sweater. "He's just jealous of all the attention you get."
Dipper scoffed. "Yeah, sure," he said as he grabbed the damaged book. He examined it closely before saying, "Great, it's basically ruined. Thanks, Waddles," he sarcastically said as he picked at the broken cover of the book. Waddles snorted proudly at his achievement.
"I'm gonna go downstairs to show the damage to Ford. I'll be right back," he told his sister as he got up and left the room, leaving the door wide open. She listened to him run downstairs in a hurry, and heard him tumble down at the last few steps. "I'm okay!" he called up as Mabel quietly laughed at him.
She sat there stroking Waddles as she waited for Dipper's return. "It's okay, Waddles," she reassured him. "You're just a silly little fella. He'll forgive you…eventually."
She heard her brother's footsteps stomping back upstairs and sensed that he was a little ticked off. He stepped in the room with an irritated look on his face and said, "Well, it looks like we have to go to the bookshop in town to get the binding stitched back up, at least that's what Ford said." He picked up the other journal on the floor and placed it on the shelf. "Wanna come?"
"No, I'm fine," she replied. "I should stay here and comfort Waddles. You hurt his feelings."
"Oh, whatever," he said back. "You gonna be okay here by yourself?"
With a roll of her eyes, Mabel said, "Yes Dipper, I'll be just fine. You go on." She watched as Dipper stuck the journal in its usual spot inside his inner vest pocket. "Alright," he said. "I'll probably be back in an hour or so." He glanced around the room to make sure he didn't need anything else, and walked to the door when he decided that he didn't. "I'll see you later," he said over his shoulder.
"Bye," she said with a wave, as he walked out without shutting the door.
"Dipper, come back! You left the door open!" she called out to him.
No answer. She let out an annoyed sigh as she heard the front door of The Mystery Shack slam shut and heard the car engine rev up a minute later. She looked down at Waddles and said, "Hey, Waddles. Go shut the door for me."
The pig hopped off the bed and ran right past the door, scampering downstairs before his owner could catch him. Mabel held back an irritated growl. "You're of no use," she said to nobody.
Mabel sat there for a few minutes, twiddling her thumbs, not sure what she should do next. It was always so boring around The Shack without Dipper to keep her company, and Waddles walked out on her, leaving her nothing to do but to think to herself.
Mabel hated being alone sometimes. When Dipper was there – yeah, he's been constantly getting on her nerves lately – but at least he gave her some sort of distraction. When she was alone, though, that's when she realized why Dipper didn't like leaving her by herself. When she was alone, that's when the urges always came back.
She picked at a loose thread on her unicorn sweater sleeve, which was starting to wear out from her wearing it so often. She's been good at resisting the urges, as she's always able to find some way to entertain herself, but some days were harder than others. Right now, all she knew is that she needed to find something to do quick, before she did something she knows she'd regret. She couldn't break her promise to Dipper. She wouldn't.
She gave herself an idea. Maybe I can go hang out with Wendy. She hopped off the bed and made her way towards the door. She's probably slacking off, like usual, she thought while skipping down the steps. She turned a few corners only to find an abandoned cash register with a "Be Back Soon" sign in front of it, although Mabel knew that Wendy most likely wouldn't be coming back.
She sighed and looked up to the ceiling, when she saw a small crack in the roof that was attached to a ladder at the bottom.
Her curiosity and boredom got the best of her. She gripped the railing of the ladder and pulled herself up, climbing to the top. She peeked her head through the opening and looked to her left to see Wendy chillin' out with a can of Pitts Cola, her legs dangling off the edge. She looked so carefree, Mabel thought. She wished she could just be one with the world like that.
Mabel unstably pushed herself up on top, causing Wendy to turn around at the noise of two little feet losing their balance on the steep roof. "Oh, hey, Mabel," she greeted her friend casually as she took a sip of her drink. "What's up?"
Carefully, Mabel steadied herself on the roof and walked towards Wendy, plopping down beside her. "Not much," she said back as she accepted the drink Wendy handed her from the cooler. She popped it open, gulping down almost half the can in one go. "Jeez," Wendy said, watching her, impressed. "Thirsty much?"
"You have no idea," Mabel said back while wiping her mouth off with her now stained sweater sleeve. To her surprise she belched loudly; she and Wendy both laughed.
"Bet I can beat ya," Wendy challenged her.
"You're on!"
At the same time, they both started swallowing their sodas in a hurry, trying to beat each other. Mabel burped again, even louder than before, and startled herself.
But Wendy had her beat. "BLEGGHH!" She let it escape, and neither of them could stop laughing when they saw the birds fly away from the noise.
"You scared the birds away!" Mabel said in between laughter. "Nice one. That was possibly the manliest burp I ever heard you make!"
"I take pride in my gift." She looked down at Mabel and grinned before the beeper on her watch started going off. She groaned.
"Ugh. I gotta head back down there before Stan comes back from his 30 minute magazine break in the bathroom. …And yes, I time him," she added after Mabel gave her a questioning look. "I'm a professional slacker, remember?"
Mabel gave her a sad smile. She wished Wendy didn't have to go; she didn't want to be alone. But she didn't really have a choice now. "Alright," she agreed. "I'll stay up here for a while."
The teen gave her a small salute goodbye and opened the hatch in the roof. Mabel watched her disappear back into The Shack by basically jumping her way in, and heard a loud thud afterwards.
Now by herself once again, Mabel sighed. She looked up at the sky, hoping to find some clouds to create into imaginary forms, but saw it was a clear day. She rubbed her arm again; she hated to admit it – and she never would out loud – but she missed the cutting. She missed the feeling of the cold knife against her skin, whether it was on her arms, stomach, or thighs (Dipper didn't know about the last two places and she planned on keeping it that way), then the relief after she finished the job. It calmed her down, decreased her stress, and although she was proud that she was two weeks clean, that didn't mean she didn't crave it sometimes…well, more often than not.
She sat there on the roof, looking over her property like a hawk. Her eyes caught on something shiny sitting on the roof, reflecting light from the sun. She crawled on her hands and knees over to the object, and found it being a jagged shard of glass. She looked around to find the source of this glass, and saw it came from the broken window of her and Dipper's room that was probably from her grappling hook.
She sighed. It's like the universe is tempting me, she thought to herself. She looked down at the glass, fiddling with it in her fingers, when the edge of it pricked the side of her finger on accident. She winced, but not because of the pain, but because she hadn't felt that…feeling for a while. The feeling she's been longing for.
She was debating, seriously debating. I have to resist this for Dipper, she told herself. I can't do this. I can't. I won't.
She did. She couldn't resist it. Usually the little voice in her head changed her mind about giving in, but this time it was on her side, telling her that it wasn't a big deal.
She held the blade to her wrist, and slowly started to drag it across. She gasped; she wasn't expecting the amount of burn from this. When she used her knife, surprising, it wasn't this sharp. But, no matter how much it stung, it still took care of the urges. They were small, but they were enough.
She knew what she was doing to Dipper, but in that moment she didn't care. All she was thinking about was her relief when she-
"Mabel?"
Mabel gasped and spun her head around at the voice, making sure to hide her arm beside her legs. It was Wendy, looking at her with curiosity on her face. She must have climbed up here without Mabel hearing her.
"Oh hey, Wendy! What are you doing up here? I thought you had to go back to work," she nervously rambled.
"Business was slow, Stan let me off early…What are you doing?"
"Nothing, why?"
"Everything okay?"
"Of course!"
Wendy eyed her up and down, making mental notes to herself. Mabel gave her a tense smile and added a small chuckle to convince her nothing was wrong.
Wendy played it off cool, or that's what she made Mabel think. "Alright," she shrugged. "If you say so." She walked to the hole in the roof, and climbed down the steps halfway, but still peeking her head over just enough to see what Mabel was doing.
"That was close," Mabel mumbled to herself. She looked at the shard of glass, which had a little of blood on the edges, and shoved it in her pocket, trying to be careful not to rip her skirt. Then she lifted her sleeve back up to examine the damage she did. They were superficial cuts, but still enough. She rubbed them over with her thumb. "I should probably go back down before Dipper comes back," she thought aloud. She stood up and turned around to see Wendy staring her down, her arms crossed and a slightly angry look on her face.
"I knew something was up! You really think I'm that naïve, Mabel?"
Mabel said the first thing that was on her mind. "Please don't tell Dipper!" She pleaded. "I promised him I wouldn't do it again."
"Then why did you do it?"
Mabel didn't have a reply, and only shrugged. Wendy thought for a moment, still eyeing Mabel up and down. They then heard the distant rumble of an engine before they saw Dipper and Ford returning from their trip. They parked in the yard, and Mabel backed up so she wouldn't be seen by them. She looked back at Wendy.
"Wendy, please," she begged her not to tell her secret.
Wendy, paused, then gave a slight nod. "Alright," she said. "I won't tell Dipper."
"Thank you, Wendy," she said, and went to embrace her in a huge. Wendy, however, wasn't up for it. She stepped away from Mabel before she could get to her. "Yep," was all she gave her, with slight disappointment in her voice. She walked to the roof and jumped down back into The Shack.
That was kind of weird…Mabel thought. I hope she doesn't start acting different now that she knows.
Before Dipper and Ford had made it inside, Mabel was already climbing down the steps to the ladder, entering the empty shop. She wondered where everybody went; neither Wendy nor Stan were anywhere to be seen. That's when the bell of the front door rang, indicating the entrance of her uncle and her brother.
"Hey, Mabel, we're back," Dipper said gleefully, walking up to her.
"Hey! Did you get the book fixed?"
With a broad grin, Dipper held the repaired journal in front of him; she could tell he was excited.
"Great! Now you can do more nerd things!"
Dipper's giddy smile faded into a sarcastic smirk, and Mabel laughed.
"Well, Ford and I are gonna do some more nerd things down in the basement," he said with an amused chuckle. "I'll be down there if you need me!" he said as Ford entered the code to the vending machine and they soon disappeared downstairs.
Mabel decided there was nothing else for her to do, and headed back up to the attic. As she approached the doorway, however, she spotted Wendy around the corner and saw her talking to somebody she couldn't see, and could barely hear their voice, but she looked serious, and slightly determined. Mabel observed and thought it probably wasn't a good conversation, and ignored it to make her way to her room.
She walked inside her room and shut her door behind her, and decided that she wanted to add more decorations to her scrapbook. She grabbed it from the bookshelf and sat down on the floor next to Waddles, who somehow got inside the room. She smiled and pet him as she opened the book to a random page, which happened to be the picture she took of everyone; her, Dipper, and Wendy with all her friends. Everyone was smiling – even Robbie. She smiled at the memory of that day. It was so much fun; but then again, all of the days of summer that she got to spend with her friends and family were fun.
She was reminiscing in her pictures when she heard a faint knock on the door. "Come in!" she called to whoever.
The door creaked open and Grunkle Stan entered the room. Mabel got a little anxious from him coming in, since he usually didn't.
"What's up, Grunkle Stan?"
"Well, kid…" he looked nervous to start up the conversation, and rubbed the back of his neck. Mabel looked at him innocently, but feared for the worst. She had a feeling about what was about to come.
"Wh-what is it?" she stammered nervously.
"Well, I talked to Wendy, and…we need to talk."
Uh oh. Cliffhanger. But you know what's to come.
I wrote this whole story with my L key off my computer. Do you know how irritating it was to have to write 'Mabel' over and over again -_-
Anyway, once again, reviews are highly appreciated, it would make me soooo happy. Reviews, criticism, suggestions, anything to make my story better would be great.
Next chapter should be up sometimes soon. :)
- Lylah
