Hey guys! I'm here with another chapter! Hope you enjoy!
The front door slowly creaked open, grabbing Stan's attention from the cash register. "There you kids are! Do you know how worried I was about you?!" The mini adventurers just looked at him, not talking. "What's wrong with you guys?" the grunkle asked. He then tried to peek behind them,"And where's Dipper? Didn't he go with you?" Mabel shuffled her feet and tried to look her grunkle in the eye. She gulped, knowing she was obeying his trust by lying to him for the first time.
"Uh, well, you see-"
"He found some friends! Dipper got a couple of friends now and they're going on a, uh, camping trip for a week!" Wendy interrupted. She saw the confused looks on Mabel and Soos, but they then nodded as they got her ploy.
"Yea! They're, uh, going to Portland, so it might be awhile 'til he gets back!" The trio waited for the con man's reaction. Mabel shuffled her feet, Wendy whistled, and Soos tried not to sweat.
"Okay then! Glad to know the kid's got friends now, other than hangin' around here with that book all day!" Stan exclaimed as he went back to counting his money. Relieved, the small group retreated to the living room and dropped, tired, on the chairs.
"We have a week to get him back, safe and sound. That shouldn't be too hard, right?" Mabel asked, looking at the handy man and teenager.
"I don't know dude. Those robe guys might not be able to fix him that fast. They seemed pretty shocked and frantic about the whole situation back there," Soos replied.
"Plus, we already know of the side effects of the ray, even after getting the memories back. Who knows if Dipper will be back to normal, with the memories or not," Wendy muttered from the other side of the room. Everyone looked at the ground, knowing that that was the truth. Mabel's eyes started to burn as she tried to hold in her tears. She's right. Dipper might not come back the same. He might not have the same energy he had about this town. He might be smarter, he might not be. But he wouldn't be what he was before.. That ray got rid of more than his memories. It got rid of him. It got rid of what made Dipper special. His personality that everyone knew and loved just.. evaporated. Gone. And the society can't fix or replace that... They just can't. The girl let the tears fall. Her body shuddered as she let all the emotion she had bundled up inside her explode. From the failed romances to the loss of her brother, her best friend.
She felt arms wrap around her and words trying to calm her down, to reassure her that everything was going to be fine, like it always is. "Guys, stop please... We all know that Dipper's not going to be fine. This time we didn't have that charm that made everything okay. And lying to ourselves like this isn't going to make it any better! Dipper's not coming back all perfect and healthy! He's not going to have the same feelings he had before! They got rid of it, ripped it from existence! So just please SHUT UP!" Mabel cried out, leaving Wendy and Soos in a shocked silence. The girl continued to weep, breaking down even more.
"What's going on in there!" a voice cried out from the gift shop.
"Uh, nothing Mr. Pines! It's just that Mabel is facing some difficulties of being apart from her brother for so long! Nothing to worry about! We got it handled!" Wendy replied back. The teen stared at the twelve year old. She felt helpless, letting all the stress of the day build up. She watched sympathetically as Soos continued to try to turn Mabel's cheerful mood back on in vain.
"We'll find a way. I'm sure there's something we can do that can help!"
"There's NOTHING, Soos! NOTHING! How can we help?! The Society took him! We can't even see him! Who knows? He might be awake by now! Scared and alone! And there's nothing we can do! They might teach him the wrong things! Change him forever! AND WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING!" the twelve year old lashed out at the man-child. The handy man flinched the slightest, unprepared for the anger that exploded out of the girl. "We can't do anything... He's gone forever... I'm going upstairs, SweaterTown needs to be populated again.." Mabel got up slowly and dragged her feet up the stairs. Soos and Wendy watched helplessly as the broken Mabel disappeared from sight.
Wendy sighed. "Well, I'm gonna go home. Call me- I don't care what time- if there's anything new about Dip's situation. Anything. Tell Mabel I said goodnight. Bye Soos," the girl told the man-child. She walked out the front door, shouting a "See you tomorrow, Mr. Pines!" on the way. The girl biked her way home, thinking about what Mabel had said. Are we just protecting ourselves from the harsh truth with a layer of false hope? The girl sighed and tried to put her mind off it. She was finally successful after a couple of hours until she got a phone call.
"Hello?"
"Toby's at the shack. He's got news."
The teen was on the road immediately, leaving the phone hanging off the table.
Another chapter completed! I hope you guys enjoyed it! Please R & R and thank you to the people that already did! Til' next chapter! Onwards Aoshima!
