Kristian spent his lunch in the library.
He found a computer and began his search. "Oregon, Bill". He got a list of businesses and a few social media pages. He racked his brain, trying to figure out how he was going to find out the information he needed.
Yesterday he had talked with all three Bills in the school. One was a freshman, one was a sophomore, and the other was a senior. They were all dead ends. Neither of them had ever even talked to Mason.
Frustrated he typed in "Mason Pines, Oregon". Then he scoffed; as if anything would actually turn up…
STANFORD PINES EXPOSES GIDDEON GLEEFUL, read the line under a video clip. Kristian clicked on it. The video showed a large group of people all huddled together and talking amongst themselves. Then the camera panned over to what he assumed was a reporter.
"There you have it. Local hero, Stanford Pines has exposed little Giddeon as a fraud. Anything you have to say to the town Stanford?"
"The Mystery Shack is back baby!"
Kristian hurried and hit the pause button. There was the old man in nothing but a wife beater and boxers, but also with him were Mason and Mabel.
They were younger, but it was definitely them. They were all smiling and seemed really excited. Kristian looked closer…Mason looked like someone had beaten him up…but he was laughing and didn't look like he minded the injuries at all.
Kristian went back and searched "Mystery Shack Oregon".
The first page was about how the Shack was closed because of repairs. It showed a picture of a ramshackle building and a man with buck teeth in a fez.
"Because of current events, the Mystery Shack itself is closed," says owner Jesus "Soos", "But, there are many mysteries in the wood surrounding the Shack! Come see! Come take a walk with me down the roads most fear to tread!"
"Gag me," Kristian grimaced, "it's a tourist trap. And by the look of that building…it doesn't need 'repairs' it needs to be torn town and condemned."
He went to a different page. This one had a video with the same reporter as before. The caption read: "Party at the Mystery Shack" and was dated three years ago.
"In other good news Stanly Pines has fully recovered his memory and will be throwing a party to celebrate his niece and nephews thirteenth birthday and final day in town! But other than that, I can safely say that our beloved Gravity Falls is back to normal!"
Kristian scowled. Was it not normal before? And wasn't that mans name StanFORD in the other clip?
He kept searching and found a page that advertised the local funeral home. He was about to go back to the search page when something caught his eye.
"We guarantee that your loved one will not bother you any more!"
Well…that was dark.
He scrolled down to a comment section. It was full of praise for the funeral home and grave yard care takers. But one comment, a newer one, stood out.
"I live in Folkner and for some reason the grave yard coordinators let someone else have my grand mothers spot. I called the people in Gravity Falls and they said they had plenty of room! They were kind and such good people, but…is it normal to have to sign a ten page waver? They also gave me a warranty. I'm not sure what to do with it!?"
Kristian went back and tried a new search, "Gravity Falls Current Events".
The most recent was a news article about how racoons had taken over the diner. Apparently even a guy named "Manly Dan" couldn't remove them. But on the upside, the racoons had somehow gotten the Pie turner to work.
Kristian rolled his eyes and scrolled down.
He was met with a video clip of the same news reporter. The clip was almost a month old.
"This just in! Pacifica Northwest, of the Northwest family, was almost kidnapped the other day by two assailants. When police arrived, one was dead and the other was taken to the hospital and later died that night from a head injury. Pacifica claims that the one who helped her wa-"
The reporter stared at the papers in front of her, her eyes darting back and forth. Then, without an explanation, she began to tear the papers into confetti.
"Never Mind All That," she said, "Now, the weather."
Kristian couldn't believe this! What self respecting reporter would stop in the middle of a story like that! Someone had killed two people and they were going to ignore it?!
He went back and clicked on a different page. This one took him to a blog. The top read: "Giddeon and Friends!"
Wasn't that the name of the guy that was a fraud before? The picture showed a boy with platinum blond hair slicked back. He was short but he looked fit enough. What stood out the most, however, was the fact that there was about ten heavily muscled men standing behind him. They all looked like they'd killed someone in their life.
"Our summer in Salem was a blessing," the recent blog post read, "we helped many people with their "unsolvable" problems and then we helped them clean up. I'm proud to say that my men are master craftsmen! Any damage that those "Unsolvable" problems caused, we were able to fix and leave the families better than we found them! We will be returning to Gravity Falls in two days where I will be starting my sophomore year of high school! Our carpentry business will still be open, but our "problem" cases will only be open on the weekends! I do have a life, you know. Thank you all for your support!"
"Unsolvable" problems? Funeral homes with wavers and warranties? And a news reporter that refuses to finish a juicy story?
Kristian wondered if he should continue. Maybe….just maybe, he should take a step back and reevaluate just how much he really wanted to know. Mason annoyed him to no end, but was it worth losing his sanity? This town was clearly insane and he felt that if he read one more article about it, his IQ would drop.
He was about to close out of the internet all together when a link caught his eye: "Gravity Falls Dark Secret".
Well, he couldn't pass that up.
He clicked on it and it took him to a black page with a single article.
"Two years ago the inhabitants of Gravity Falls went off grid. For the space of about a week, no phone calls could reach them. That year the county's water and electricity supplier had major misreading's and ONLY in the Gravity Falls area. What happened in the space of one week?... If you try to ask anyone from Gravity Falls about it, they will ignore you or say "Never mind all that", which, it so happens, is the name of a law in Gravity Falls. The "Never Mind All That Act". If you look into it, you'll find that it was voted on unanimously by every citizen of the town, but there is no description as to what the Act is about or what it applies to. Everyone is just supposed to know. They are instructed by LAW to not speak of whatever happened two years ago!...My sources say that if you were to visit Gravity Falls and ask enough questions, they will kick you out. What are they hiding? What are they afraid of?...they are also known to treat known criminals as heros!...we can only guess what this all means, but if all these evidences are true, then we're looking at a town with an innocent face, but a very dark secret."
This article was published a little over a year ago…so this "mysterious event" would have happened when Mason and Mabel were there.
"Dipper and I have seen lots of scarier people and things and you just don't compare to them!"
Whatever happened had caused Mason to laugh in his face…and then something else must've happened this year as well to cause him to suddenly want to work out.
Kristian rubbed his face. This was all starting to look like a waste of time.
()
The next day Dipper and his mom got into the car. They were headed to his first appointment. The school nurse had stressed, because the doctor had stressed, how important finding a good therapist was. She has spent the rest of the day on Thursday and most of the day on Friday doing research on counseling centers in the area. The one they were going to was highly recommended and had excellent reviews.
"You will be seeing Dr. Brook," the receptionist smiled at Dipper, "I'll tell him you're here if you'd take a seat please?"
Dipper gave a thin smile back and sat down. He prayed that no one he knew would see him here.
Dr. Brook was a lanky man- not tall, but thin- with a thin mustache. Dipper could respect that.
"Mason Pines?" He asked and Dipper stood. His mother stood as well. "you must be his mother, pleased to meet you."
He shook her hand.
Dipper lowered his and tried to play it off.
"This is only an introduction," Dr. Brook replied, "We probably wont take the full hour, but if we do, I'll only charge you for the half."
"Oh, thank you," Cassy smiled, "that's nice."
The doctor lead him back to a room that had a couch and a cushy chair. Dipper sat in the chair.
"Well, Mason," he said sitting in his desk chair and turning to face him. But before he could say anything else, Dipper interrupted.
"Dipper," he said, "call me Dipper."
The guy blinked, a little taken aback, but then he nodded, "Alright, Dipper, why don't you tell me why you're here?"
"Didn't my mom tell you over the phone?"
"I want to hear it from you."
Dipper sighed, "I had a panic attack at school. The end."
"Are these attacks frequent?"
"…as of late."
"That must be scary," Brooks face was full of concern, but all Dipper felt was belittlement.
"I'm fine," Dipper replied stiffly, "I've got Mabel and other people to help."
"Who is Mabel?"
"My sister."
"Younger or older?"
"….my twin."
"That must be fun," he smiled and Dipper suddenly really didn't like this guy, "I always wanted to be a twin."
"Its full of kicks," Dipper said looking at the clock.
()
Dipper walked quickly out into the waiting room and found his mom. She stood and smiled.
"how did it go?"
"No," Dipper shook his head, "no and no. I refuse to come back."
Cassy felt her stomach drop a bit, "was it really that bad?"
"When he wasn't being creepy he was being condescending," Dipper said firmly.
"Ok," she said, "we'll see if we can't find someone else."
On the way home She stopped at two more practices that she'd read would take walk ins. They weren't the best, but she wanted to make sure she used all her options and wasted no time.
Dipper tried their councilors and despised each and every one. One gave him a list of self-help books and the other wanted to know what all his fears were so they could "air them out in the light of day".
When they arrived home, Dipper was in a terrible mood.
"DipDip!" Mabel ran out to greet them, "what took you guys so long!?"
"I'm going to bed," Dipper said walking past his sister, "I'm done for the day."
"What?! Its only five!"
But Dipper was already inside. Their mom watched him go and a knot of worry, that had formed when she'd gotten the call from the nurse, tightened.
()
"Don't be upset, Lee."
"Don't you 'Lee' me," Stan snapped as he drove to the Nevada border.
"We got a lot of information."
"I'm. So. Happy." Stan said through clenched teeth.
"We didn't stay for two weeks. I don't know why you're so angry!"
"Four days," Stan snapped, "you were in there for Four days and the pin stopped working for the last three hours of that. I nearly had a heart attack!"
"I made noise so you would know I was coming."
"I was busy trying to make the stupid radio work!"
"What are you doing?" Ford asked as Stan pulled over at a gas station.
"I'm getting something you eat, you want anything?"
"We're in a hurry, Stan, we have to get back and get this-"
"I've spent the last four days eating jerky and tail mix. Now I'm going to get a burger and a large soda. Do you want anything?"
"….yeah, sure."
()
"Hello there! This is Giddeon and Friends! You are speaking to Giddeon himself! How may I help you?"
Kristian winced. The guy sounded as bad as his picture looked!
"Hi, I'm John from Piedmont High News. We wanted to do a section on entrepreneurship and we discovered that you had opened up your own successful business while still in high school! That's very impressive. Can I interview you for our paper?"
"OH! Oh my! Yes, of course!" Giddeon chuckled, "Ask me anything!"
"Ok, I read your blog and its not entirely clear on what your services are. You mentioned Carpentry, but what are your other services?"
"Oh, that! No, you see, we solve peoples 'unsolvable' problems. Problems that they can't go to other people or to the police for. It get's quite dangerous sometimes, but I'm an expert."
"…such as?" Kristian said trying to keep his voice light and not show any of his frustration, "Maybe you could tell me about one of your cases?"
"Oh, no, those are strictly confidential," Giddeon laughed, "I'd be out of a business if I just flapped my lip, you understand?"
"Oh, yes," Kristian rolled his eyes, "is there anything you can tell me about your business?"
"We are open year round and we are not above picking up and spending a few months in a different city to serve customers. Just last summer we spent the whole time in Salem and boy howdy did they have some knockers and loud'uns. Getting rid of those problems were not, as we like to say in the industry, 'holy water problems'. It took a lot of effort to handle those issues and sadly, property was damaged, but we repaired everything we broke and made it look better than we found it, that's our motto by the way 'better than we find it'. So catchy."
"I understand you built this business after your telepathy business failed?"
"It didn't fail," Giddeon snapped, "people just don't appreciate genius."
Kristian had to stop himself from rolling his eyes again. He'd already done it more than ten times since picking up the phone.
"Sorry," he said, "But I also understand that you started the business after Gravity Falls went dark for almost a week three years ago. Do you have any comment on that? Is this business in any way connected to what happened?"
Silence.
"Is that all your questions?" Giddeon asked after a long pause, "cause if so, then I'm busy and need to-"
"Just a few more," Kristian said, now fairly desperate, "one of my classmates, Mason Pines, has been acting weird lately. You wouldn't happen to know who Bill is, do you?"
Again, silence.
"Bill? Nope, I don't even know who Mason is, sorry. I really have to go now. You have a good day, ok? Keep smiling and don't stick your nose into other peoples business, ok? Ok now. Bye-bye!"
Kristian froze as the line was cut.
What was up with that conversation? He didn't talked so much but didn't answer any of his questions! He still had no idea what 'unsolvable problems' were!
It was clear that he knew who Bill was too. He had lied and tried to cover it up…
()
Every day was a new appointment. Cassy Pines was determined to get her child the help he needed. After school she waited for him in the parking lot. Dipper would roll his eyes and say good bye to Mabel and her friends.
As the days continued, Dipper found that the prospect of finding someone that he didn't hate was impossible. Then he found out that his name had been passed on to the next office and no one wanted to take him on except one. Dr. Sharron Peet welcomed the challenge. Dipper could respect that. Maybe her brazen attitude would be a change from the weirdos that seemed to clutter this profession.
()
Mabel walked home with Carol and Sarah. They were going to sleep over that Friday. They were one of the few people that knew where Dipper went after school. The sleep over had been Carols idea since Mabel had seemed a bit lonely as of late. Sarah had been invited because she'd been sitting with them at lunch and happened to be there when the idea was thought up. And she was NOT going to say no to a sleep over with upper classmen.
"So, are you working on your speech for Mr. Greens class?" Carol asked Sarah as they walked to the house. Sarah made a face.
"I am not good at writing or at speaking. I'm a hot mess that can sometimes provide a decent pot of mac'n'cheese."
Carol and Mabel laughed, "Same!"
When they got to the house Mabel insisted they all get their homework out of the way. That wasn't what Carol had in mind, but, Mabel had been rather strange this year. As her friend, she sat at the table and did homework.
Half way through it both Mabel and Sarah began banging their heads against the table. Carol watched to see how long they would keep it up.
Then the front door opened. Mabel sat up, beaming.
"Dippers home!" She leaped up and ran into the living room, her friends behind her in time to see Dipper disappear up the stairs.
"That's right!" Their mother roared coming through the door, "You stay in your room until dinner!"
She was livid and she slammed the door. Then she noticed the guests.
"Oh…hi, Carol and…"
"Sarah," sarah waved, "I'm new."
"Alright. Mabel, did you say you were going to bring friends over today?"
"I asked yesterday if two of my friends could sleep over and you said yes," Mabel shrugged.
"Right," Cassy rubbed her temples, "well, welcome. And Mabel, leave your brother alone."
She went straight to the kitchen. Mabel followed her and peeked around the corner. Her mother was bringing out the large bucket of flour.
Sneaking back to her friends she said, "he musta really pissed her off. She's making my great great great grandmas rolls."
"Are we going to bother him anyway?"
Mabel snorted, "of course."
They ran up the stairs, but when they reached the door, it was locked.
Dipper never locked his door.
"Hey, broski," Mabel knocked on the door, "let us in."
Nothing.
"What happened?"
Nothing.
"Diiiiiiipeeeeeeeeeeeeeerr!"
Mabel scowled. Was it because it wasn't just her that he wasn't answering? She started to feel antsy, and suddenly she wished her friends weren't there.
Mabel sighed. He'd talk to her later.
"Welp, I'm done with homework," Mabel said, "let's do something else!"
()
About 5:30 Victor came home and swept into the kitchen, ready to kiss his wife and ask about her day. But when he got there he saw the flour and the ball of tortured dough.
"Please tell me it's not something I did," he said as his wife continued to beat the dough to oblivion.
"Your son," she hissed through clenched teeth, "your son made a grown woman cry and leave the building after only being there for ten minutes! She ran out, crying! Got into her car and left! Then your son had the audacity to walk out and tell the receptionist that we weren't going to pay for it!"
Victor sat down, "buuut, you did pay?"
"OF COURSE I PAID!" She snapped, "He refuses to tell me anything! He didn't say a word the whole drive home! I tried to get him to tell me what happened, maybe there was an explanation for it, I don't know cause he doesn't TELL ME ANYTHING!"
She picked the dough up and slammed it against the counter with a puff of flour. Victor scratched his chin.
"You know…I'm really kind of concerned that there are this many therapy places around, like, just how messed up is our society?"
Cassy glared at her husband, "How…how can you say that when my child is- do you realize he's becoming infamous? No one wants to take him on anymore! I'm out of ideas! He needs help and he wont talk to us, so who will he talk to? Who is he going to let help him?"
Her eyes were filling with tears as she continued to beat the dough.
Victor stood and walked over to his wife. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her.
"I'll go talk to him, ok? Look for one more place you haven't been to yet. Just one more."
"We said that three days ago," she sniffed.
"So, we try again. No one ever said kids would be easy. I thought we'd hit the hard part when Mabel went through her "Mabel Juice" phase, but life is full of surprises. We'll take this one day at a time."
She nodded and only after taking a few deep breaths to calm down, did she start rolling out the dough to cut into rolls.
()
Dipper focused on the fire in his hands. That day in Physics they talked about condensing matter. He wondered if he would be able to do that with fire. Could he make fire into a solid object?
So far it wasn't working. He'd get it to a specific point and then flames would start shooting out of the sides of the top. The pressure would loosen up and escape through the cracks of his fingers.
Then there came a knock at his door and the door handle jiggled. Thinking it was Mabel again, he ignored it.
"Mason," his dad called, "unlock the door, now."
Dipper slowly decompressed the fire and erased all trace of it before getting up. He unlocked the door, but didn't open it.
When Victor opened the door his son was taking his usual seat on the floor by the bed. From his childs expression, he already knew why he was there.
"Just got done talking to your mother," he said, confirming any assumptions, "heard you had quite the day…"
Dipper shrugged.
"How about you tell me HOW you made a grown woman cry."
Dipper sighed, "I just told her the truth."
"Which was?"
"….she was a liar."
Victor blinked. That was not the answer he was expecting.
"How-"
"Because I'm not stupid," Dipper made a face, "just because I'm a teenager, these counselors think they can get away with treating me like I'm five. She straight up lied to my face. So I called her out on it."
"…how, exactly, did you call her out?"
Dipper scowled and didn't make eye contact. After a moment of silence, he muttered, "told her habitual lying was more serious than panic attacks and that she should be the one seeking help, not giving it…"
Victor leaned forward, resting his elbow on his knees and lacing his fingers in front of his mouth. This was a serious situation and he couldn't be seen laughing at something like this.
"I see you know it wasn't the best thing to say."
"Probably not, but I'd say it again."
"Why didn't you tell your mother this?"
Dipper shook his head, "I don't want to do this anymore. If I had told mom, she would have tried to fix it. I'd rather have a panic attack every day than face another adult trying to pry into my brain, or ask me stupid questions, or mention self help books. I can't believe there are actually books out there I want to burn."
Victor watched his child. Dipper wasn't making eye contact and he wasn't speaking clearly. There was a gap between what he was hearing and what his son was saying.
"You aren't going to like this," he said, "but try just one more."
Dipper scowled, "are there any left? I thought we went to them all."
"You mother is looking and going to make another appointment," Victor said.
"What's the point!" Dipper raised his hands in the air, "they are all hacks! The whole profession is a waste of time and money! I have nothing to say to any of them!"
"Mason," Victor became stern, "My wife is upset. My wife is concerned about her child not getting the care he needs. My wife will get what she wants, and she wants her child to be safe. You will go to one more. That's all I'm asking. ONE more. And I want you to make sure that if it doesn't work out, its not because you didn't try. If they turn out like the lady today, then you don't have to go anymore, but if they just ask stupid questions, that's not a good enough reason."
Dipper hissed and stared at the ground. He was angry, but so was Victor. He wasn't angry at Dipper, he was angry that the situation didn't have a physical person he could dispatch of and fix the problem that way. The fact that he couldn't protect his family was a sore point that was starting to fester.
"Just one more," Victor said and gave his son a small smile, "Then we'll talk about other options. Alright?"
"…fine," Dipper still didn't look up, "but just one."
Victor nodded, "just one."
()
Dinner was fairly quiet. It was "choose your own", but they all had fresh rolls as well. Dipper came, ate, and left. Holing himself up in his room again.
After dinner Mabel and her friends just hung out in her room. Carol was doing her nails, Mabel was hanging upside down, and Sarah was doodling in a sketchbook. They were discussing the boys on the basketball teams vs the boys on the baseball team.
"the baseball guys are much easier to talk to," Carol pointed out, "the basketball guys are pretty stuck up."
"And they have every reason to be," Sarah said not looking up, "basketball is far superior to baseball."
"I don't know," Mabel grinned, "Tommy Watts from the baseball team is a far superior specimen when compared to anyone on the basketball team."
"I'm talking the sports in general," Sarah looked up from her doodle. Mabel and Carol smirked.
"We're not."
There was a knock on the door and Dipper stuck his head in. His hair was dripping and he wasn't wearing a shirt. Sarahs eyes nearly bugged out of her skull.
"Hey, have you seen my gray shirt?" Dipper asked, "You borrowed it last week."
"Oh right," Mabel sat up, teetered for a moment, then started to throw items around her room as she searched the floor for the shirt.
"You haven't washed it yet?"
"Like its bothered you before?"
"You used it when you were crafting! Its gonna have glitter all over it!"
Mabel shrugged as she pulled the shirt from under her bed, "you could use a little pizzazz in your life."
She tossed it to him and he snatched it out of the air. He held it up for inspection.
"I liked this shirt," he muttered giving it a shake.
"go put it on!" Carol shouted throwing a pillow at him, "sheesh! And you're almost an adult! What's with the dinosaur pajama bottoms?!"
Dipper scowled at her as he caught the pillow. He threw it back.
"If you can wear what you want, I can wear what I want. Bite me."
He shut the door on his way out. Mabel elbowed Carol and pointed to Sarah. She was still staring at the door with wide eyes.
"Ah, so that's why she's been hanging out with us," Carol said and Mabel nodded.
"Dipper has no idea."
"You know, he's getting more popular," Carol said shaking the top coat bottle, "I over heard this chick in choir today how she and her friend both had lockers next to him and how much of an "eye candy" he's become. I, personally, don't see it."
Mabel scowled. It hadn't escaped her notice either. Nearly all the freshman looked forward to when Dipper would walk through their hallway. And, slowly, that popularity had been spreading to the other grades.
Mabel didn't mind the freshmen. She minded everyone else who had treated her brother like garbage suddenly deciding to like him. They didn't deserve to. As far as she knew, no one had apologized to him, they just up and changed their mind without thinking about all the crap they had pulled the years before.
"What?" Sarah looked over at them, "what about choir?"
Carol laughed and Mabel grinned, "nothing. What are you drawing?"