WENDY


Oh, hi! So, this is like the first time I've ever done this. Sooo yeah, I'd think you already know me. I'm Wendy. Twenty years, Gravity Falls. So, let's get this over with.

Sorry, feeling a bit groggy right now, like really really… does this have like a censor? For like, vulgarity? It does? Well, can't say it. Disappointing.

Okay, so you should be wondering why I work at the bookstore now, not at the Mystery Shack. Well, about three years ago, I quit the Shack. See bud, you know those twins? Like, the Pines twins? Dipper and Mabel. Yeah. For the past five years, they haven't visited Gravity Falls, and the following years after they left, the Mystery Shack was… quiet. Eerie, even. I've grown so fond of the twins that it's like they've been here for so long… if you'd call three months a long time. It's sad. So like, the Mystery Shack became like a reminder of those two, and I'd get upset to climb the attic, but the little dudes aren't there. It's painful, it hurts. So I tried to distance myself from the Shack as much as possible. I'd remember Dipper's crazy supernatural antics, or Mabel's mani-pedi sessions.

I miss them. So much. And I'd lost hope they'll ever come back.

Working at the bookstore felt like either the greatest decision ever or the worst mistake I made. Sure, I actually get paid for once, something you know Stan wouldn't do in a million years. It was quiet, there wasn't weirdness, and there weren't painfully stupid customers that enter. The store's quiet most of the time, since the folks would just read the book or something. But the longing feeling inside my chest grew. Instead of the pain being less, it got worse.

It was weird of me not getting Dipper and Mabel's Californian address, or at least their telephone or cellphone number. My friends have grown incredibly impulsive and stupid over the years (and so do I, to tell you the truth) and been getting themselves in trouble throughout the country. Now that I'm not a fifteen-year old anymore, I knew better than to hang out with them so often. I still come in contact with them though, but it doesn't mean we're close.

So one sultry afternoon, I'm just sitting on the counter, minding my own business. I bury my face in a magazine, trying to distract myself from getting bored. Work was easy, it wasn't laborious. I thought of going home, but then the bell rings.

There's a customer or two, I'm guessing. There are multiple footsteps. But I don't lift my eyes away from the magazine.

A girl's voice pipes in. Sounds seventeen or so, I'm not sure. "Miss?" the girl squeaks.

There's something in her voice that turns me… I don't know… soft? It's weird… maybe vague. Huh, wonder who it is, but sounds like somebody I've been familiar with. But I don't want to embarrass myself, so I still didn't look up. I must be hallucinating.

"Wendy, you could look up for once." The girl pointedly says. I'm about to ask how she knows my name, but then I remember the name tag snapped on my chest. Okay. "Help a person out, maybe?"

Fine. I'll look up. With an irritated scowl, I turn my head to see the persistent girl who's been annoying me for a bit. In less than a second the scowl disappears.

My mouth hangs open. It's like someone just thought of the answer to the problem that I've been having, then smacks that answer to my face and super glues it. Wow.

The girl has long brown hair that's been braided at the sides, then comes down at a solid thick braid that hangs at her side. Pale yellow star-shaped earrings clipped at her ears. She wore a pink sweater with a giant colorful shooting star on it, purple shorts and knee-high deep blue socks decorated with light blue stars. She had leg warmers with a wavy design of light blue, navy blue and purple, which almost cover her pink sneakers. Topped off with pink cheeks and mouth shining with braces.

"Mabel?" I say.

The teenage girl raises her hands in the air. "Surprise! Glad you still remember us!"

The magazine lay forgotten on the counter. Mabel is now imprisoned within my arms. "Oh my gosh! You're here…" It's weird what I'm feeling right now. Relief, happiness… anxiousness? Why? But I ignore it. Must be the adrenaline. "You're really here."

Mabel laughs. It's the same old cheerful, bubbly laugh that I always hear in the Shack. For a second… I thought I might be high. This isn't real, my brain says. But then I remember that I'm not that stupid.

"It's really me, Wendy." Mabel rolls her eyes. "Just a memo there."

There's still this wide smile playing on my lips… can't believe… Mabel, here in Gravity Falls, finally… but then—wait.

"Mabel?" I cock my head to the side. "Where's Dipper?"

"Dipper…" Mabel mumbles. "Dipper's…"

For a second there, my heart skips a beat. What if—

Mabel turns around as if there's someone behind her. "Dang it, where are you—Dipper! Dipper, you can't wimp out like that!" She then scours behind a bookshelf. A sigh of relief escapes her lips. "There you are!" She grabs onto something I really couldn't see.

"Mabel, no!" A voice, a bit deeper than what I was used to, pipes up from the shelves. I saw her pulling a dark blue sleeved arm. "I don't want to—"

I giggle. Perhaps I got a bit paranoid there for a second. I miss their antics, and it feel so great to finally see them again, pulling off whatever it is they're pulling. I guess that's how sibling relationships work, but hey, I never been close to my brothers.

When it's clear that I wouldn't see Dipper since he absolutely refuses to show his face from his beloved bookshelf, I scramble over to where Mabel and Dipper was. And once again, my jaw completely abandons its place from my mouth. But this time, there was this weird feeling inside my chest. It was the weirdest thing ever. Ech. So I paid no attention to it.

He changed—a lot. Really man, you can't even… okay, he's still wearing the same pine tree trucker hat that covers his messy brown hair, but he ditched the vest and shorts—finally, that was a bit too dorky for him—and traded it for a dark blue jacket with the sleeves rolled up two-thirds up his arms, and gray pants. The same black sneakers.

"Dipper?" I say incredulously.

"Wendy?" I see his cheeks flare up. "H—hi!"