Will The Twins' Bond Matter?
- Mabel's POV -
This day has been doing pretty good so far! Although, I feel suspicious about something that's been going on throughout this entire day. This morning, my brother and I almost got into another argument... well ... I don't think I'll call it an argument. More so a silent talk. As usual, he was grumpy and with my positive energy, we can get into an argument over a stupid reason. However, this time around, like an invisible force or something, he stops himself from speaking so bluntly. And he pretends as if it didn't happen. That got me suspicious about his behavior, although I didn't really care too much about it since it wasn't important at the time.
Speaking of which, he doesn't need to be careful with what he says around me. Anything he says isn't garbage. I just ... I just got mad and annoyed with him and my brain of all times decided to come up with that idea and call them that. I shook my head as I'm deeply disappointed in myself. Infact, I gotta hold myself back from saying dumb and negative things about my brother. I feel like, if I keep doing that, our relationship as a whole will sink and may never recover from the bottom of the ocean. And that wasn't my purpose of coming here. It was to get to know my family much more, specifically him, not avoid it and throw it aside like everything is normal.
What was I doing wrong in the first place? I stared at my phone in confusion, staring at the music playlist. Soon the bell rang and it was time to go. I stared at the conversation between me and my brother, texting him that I want to walk with him back home. Like old times. Surprisingly enough, he agreed. I smiled before putting my phone in my pocket. I gathered my things and place them in my backpack. I put it on and walked out of the classroom.
I sauntered down the hallway, watching other students pass by and chit chat with their people. I'm glad they have someone to care for, that's what matters the most. And I must do what I can over here. I exited the school's doors and halted in the middle of the stairs. I breathe into the breeze of the air, staring up at the sunny sky. It's a good day today, well it's been like that all day. I just hope it doesn't fall apart right now.
"Hello, Babe." I jerked my head over to the familiar voice.
"Oh, Hello Mermando! How's was your day?" I asked, watching him halt beside me with his guitar case.
"I've been doing great and I'd assume yours did well?" He answered.
I nodded. "Yep!"
"Well, let's get going then." He said as he began to walk down the steps.
"Uh, infact, I'm going to walk home with my brother!" I called out. I felt the scariest feeling within me when Mermando stop his steps and turned towards me with an annoyed expression as if I said something so forbidden. I frowned, tensing my muscles for whatever was coming next.
"You're walking home with him?" He asked, his tone filled with this void of poison. "What's with the sudden change?"
"... Ah! It's just for today!" I said nervousness struck within me.
"Answer my question, what's with the sudden change? I thought you despise your brother." He asked, more so grave than before.
I stared at him before surrendering my avoidance of the truth. "... I do, but that doesn't mean I dislike him for all of eternity. I have to, at least spend time with him at some point-"
"Maybe another time when I'm not free." He said, interrupting me. Soon he walked back over to where he left his previous spot. But... I've always hung out with you every single day, at least let me spend one time with my brother. It looked as if he read what I was thinking. "Come on, I don't want to hear that brat and I'm sure you don't either." He said. Without my input, he gently shoves me, trying to make me move. I end up doing so, but I almost fell down the steps. Why aren't you letting me hang with my brother?
"Mermando, I want to, seriously!" I spatted, holding my ground.
"No, you don't. With whatever that brat came up with, surely he has you around his fingers." He said, pushing me once more.
"He does not! I have-"
"Mabel!" He snapped, making me shut up. "Listen to me when I say this. He's manipulating you. With all of these fake problems, he clearly needs to learn how to quit." I slowly nod, surrendering my attempt at defending my brother and ... my choices. "Now, come on." He grabbed my wrist and pulled me forward when we reach ground level. I didn't protest this time, I obeyed as if I didn't have a choice in the first place. I see that voicing my opinions will worsen it and all he'll ever assume that Dipper is trying to trick me. I don't believe that, but what choice do I have? I don't want to ruin my relationship with my boyfriend.
... I ... I don't know what to do.
The silence welcomed me as I walked down the sidewalk alone. It was a quarter to six and I'm sauntering here like there's no reason to hurry to the shack. I ... I don't want to face disappointment. I'm already disappointed in myself, I don't need to be reminded. However, I don't really need to complain. I tried, in every way of my movements to text my brother that something held me up. I tried so much, but every time I reach for my phone, Mermando is right there and he gets mad that I have it out. Please ... Please don't be mad at me.
I walked down the path and soon arrived at the shack. I entered and greeted my grunkles, although one of them was present in the living room. Grunkle Stan greeted me back as I smiled at him. I soon turned my attention to the staircase, gulping. I walked towards it, climbed up, and over to the door of our shared room. I turn the doorknob and slowly walked in, spotting my brother who was reading a book. I frowned, feeling guilt rush over me in a heart beat. I closed the door slowly before flinching at Dipper's dead tone in his voice. "Did you have fun with your boyfriend?"
"... I'm sorry." I said quietly as my voice cracked.
"Surely you did and I guess you forgot to message me that you changed your mind." He said, ignoring my apology.
"It's not what you're thinking, Dipper. It didn't- I didn't mean to plan it out like it happened today. I was actually waiting for you, but ... Mermando decided to ..." I trailed off, feeling sort of trapped whenever I recall what happened after that conversation earlier today.
"He convinced you to change plans?" He guessed, looking up from his book and over to me. I hate that dull expression so much. It looks more dead or empty... I ... I really hurt his feelings. "I wonder when we'll ever hang or walk together home from school. I don't want to assume the worse at all, however...-"
"Please don't take it the wrong way!" I begged, desperate for him to not let this sibling bond sink, even if I damaged it enough. "I don't mean any of this! I don't really mean it." Soon the upsetting tone crept through me, making me tear up. "Here, I'll even apologize for what I said about yesterday's conversation. That whatever you said isn't garbage, it's not at all and I'm sorry for saying that." We stared at each other in silence. Dipper's facial expression was now confused and possibly had some concern on there. I'm sure he observed enough to know what's going on. "... You didn't?"
"Yes, I didn't mean it, I swear." I nodded quickly.
"That's ... shocking. Well then, I'll accept it." He said slowly, closing his book after he placed a bookmark in it. He then placed it on the end table. "You know, you can sit down, right?"
"Oh, uh ... I know. I just want to make sure I apologize for what I did today." I said, walking over to my bed to sit.
"... Um ... other than that, how was your day?" He asked. I- ... you see? He just- just pretends like it's all normal. I- why? It's not normal! I'm screaming that it's not! It's never normal!
"... It was fine." I said, lying bluntly.
"... You sure?" He said softly, raising a brow. Don't pretend you care! You wanted this to be all normal! You wanted this to not exist! I know you want that!
"Yeah, I'm sure." I smiled, obviously pretending that I'm happy and cheerful after what the fuck just happened today. I'm losing my mind. I need some sleep. That's it, I'm going to sleep early. "Although, maybe a little nap might recharge me."
"Alright. Good night if I don't see you wake up later." He said.
I lay down and curled up underneath the covers. Goodnight, lovely brother.
- Dipper's POV -
... Is Mabel hiding something? I tried asking her this morning, but she said she didn't want to talk to me at all. A bit confusing since she didn't say anything negative last night. I do believe her when she didn't text me that someone dragged her away. And that someone just might be her boyfriend. Although I don't want to get involved with their relationship, I just have a feeling that ... Mabel might not be happy about it later down the line.
... I can't say "why she can't just say it." I can't at all. Maybe it's something that she can't and if she does, her boyfriend might punish her for it. Wait, don't tell me he's abusing her. Because if that's the case, I swear, I will step in if I have to. Any type of emotional abuse, any of it. I shook my head before staring up at the diner, the place where my friends and I got their milkshakes at. I wanted the coffee milkshake again.
I walked in, ordered the one I wanted, and paid with the few leftover money I made from my working era. I grabbed my java chip coffee and walked out of there, getting away from the chattering within it. I sighed and begin walking down the sidewalk. Have I forgotten to tell you that it was the next day and after school hours? Probably, I'm just so mixed up with what happened yesterday. I hope my sister is okay and ... whatever she throws at me, I'm sure it's nothing since she never means it. I hope ... that's true. I really hope.
I need to stop hoping, but it's what holding me back from assuming the worse things out of her.
I sighed once more and sip on my coffee, staring at the other people from across the street. I halted at a pole and leaned on it, zooming out a bit. I flinched when I heard a voice nearby. I turned as I just realized it was people walking by. I relaxed and stood up from the pole. I swear, I can get lost in my mind very easily. "Oh, you finally notice that?" I jumped from the sudden voice behind me, almost made me drop my coffee shake.
"Great, you almost created a puddle for my coffee." I grunted, making sure my grip is tight on the cube before turning around.
"Well, at least it didn't spill." Kahlil said, shrugging without care.
"If it spilled, you would be paying for it." I hissed.
"Okay, okay! You love your coffee, I get that now." He said, smiling nervously at my behavior.
"Anyway, did you run into some trouble on the way here?" I asked. I wanted to stroll around town with him.
"... Kind of. I don't really like to hang within the town that often. I never do it anyway." He answered quietly, taking a look around us.
"Because you're always in the jungle." I said, taking another sip of my coffee shake.
"Exactly. So are we just gonna stand here or stroll around and view the beauty of the town? In which, I don't see the town being beautiful as it seems." He said, turning away from me. "Infact, in my opinion, you're more handsome than it anyway."
I blushed as I stop drinking. I stared at him with a smile, watching him turn around to smirk at me. "Oh stop that, I'm sure there's some beauty around these peaks."
"Roofs? I don't think so." He said as he begins to walk forward. I followed after him, walking by his side.
"I don't mean roofs silly. I meant whatever this weird town has to offer." I said, correcting myself.
"You could have said that instead of peaks. What are you, a bird?" He snorted.
"I wish. Just so I could fly from here." I grunted in irritation.
"Away from me?"
"Well ... when you put it that way, not really. I just want to avoid all problems this world generates." I said.
"Don't we all." He agreed. Soon the silence fell on us, giving us some time to view anything out of the original. However, the active town kept the silence from ever being more intense than it once was. I like to think it does. But I certainly can't say for Kahlil. I stared at my coffee shake, taking a sip.
A car passed by us as I turned my head to gaze across the streets. There are a few people walking side by side, as others were alone. Probably done with their work and want to get home. I guess work tired them out today. I turn my gaze over to Kahlil, who was doing the same. However, he seemed to be nervous. A little stress or... panicked somewhat. Concern decided to appear on my face, but before I could ask what's wrong, he spoke first. "... Dipper?"
"Yes?"
"...I- ... uh ... anything happened yet with your sister?" He asked, stuttering or struggling to form a sentence. He turned his head over to me with a small nervous smile.
I don't want to bring up that thought or memory in this case. I slowly looked away and stared down at the ground. "It's ... like the usual. She in her moody moods, as well as my grumpy self." I said, partly lying.
"You ... sure?"
"Yes, I am." I nodded before turning my gaze back to him.
"Well ... this is awkward." He said, looking away from me.
"Why is it?" I asked, concern spreading across my face.
"Well uh ... it's for me because ... um ..." He paused before letting out a sigh. "I'm just trying to push the silence away." He finished.
"Is it getting to you?" I asked quietly.
"Yes, it always has been. The horror silence will never leave me be." He answered quietly.
"Oh ... I see. You wanted to talk about something to disturb it." I said.
"Duh, as I told you, I don't like the silence." He said, his nervousness disappearing and soon replaced by annoyance.
"I remember ... sometimes I forget the moments that you don't like it." I said, my voice fading at the end.
"You ... forget?" He said, raising a brow at me.
" ... Yeah ..." I said quietly, guilt pouring within me. I hate my memory issue.
"... That ... sounds like an excuse to cover this up." He said. I halted my steps, looking up at him. Kahlil stopped and turned to me with an annoyed expression. It did...? I... I did felt some sort of guilt when I said it. However, it didn't feel like one to me. "Well, I'm sorry if it came out like an excuse. I didn't mean it that way." I said, confusion spreading across my face.
"Even if you didn't notice it, it still an excuse for what was being said." He said, narrowing his eyes. I stayed silent, looking down at the ground. I didn't- ... I ... guess it seemed that way. Soon my confusion was replaced by guilt. "Sorry." I said quietly.
"Eh, it's not needed, but make sure you don't make another one next time. Especially, when it affects me." He said, almost sneering. He turned away and walked off. I followed behind slowly. Mabel is right. Why am I suddenly coming up with these excuses? And why am I making them turn my relationships to hell? Well, not hell, but... it has begun its process. Maybe I should watch what I say and possibly, that'll help everything. Yeah, I'll go with that.
For the rest of the stroll, we managed to see some unusual things but didn't stay long enough to figure out what they were. And frankly, it was bothering Kahlil to the point where he wanted to go back to the jungle. I followed along with his idea since I got bored. I was somewhat hesitant to go into the jungle for some odd reason, but I never let it show. I don't know why I'm getting afraid of the jungle so suddenly. I stopped and looked up at the vines above us, scanning the closest details. But when I did so, I suddenly went into this fazed dizzy spell, as if I'm bewildered at the surroundings just now. And soon, my mind went all over the place, trying to figure out what was happening just now.
I'm here, frozen like a statue with a very active brain with no thoughts, to begin with. It's like ... I don't even know what to think about first. And as soon as I try to, stress begins to form upon me. I managed to unfreeze myself, but everything around me is a blur. It makes me so confused. What's happening to me or ... what's going on? Am I drifting off into a dream? Somehow, it becomes a dream until a nightmare strikes the next. However, at the same time, it doesn't. Which confuses me even more.
Suddenly I saw the blurs in my vision move, more so of the blurred out colors. Wait ... no, this isn't like the mind controlling incident that happened last time. I would have already lost my ability to control my limbs and stare into a very pitch black void. So, what it is this time? Another trick of the jungle or is it my brain tricking me?
Soon the blurs started to disappear and my hearing came out where I heard the jungle sounds once again. I blinked repeatedly to clear my sight more and looked to who was making me move. "Of course you walked into a cloud of hypnotic." Kahlil muttered annoyed. Cloud of hypnotic? This jungle has another defense system up its sleeves? And from what I know, that is something to put people to sleep before a major action of some sort. You're telling me this jungle, somehow can put people to sleep? "Yes, surprising isn't it?" He responded, halting our steps. "Although, it isn't harmful at all, a few humans get it and later on they're suddenly outside of the jungle."
"Outside?" I said, tilting my head in confusion.
"I see a few creatures come by and moved them out of the jungle so that when they wake up, they can walk back home safely. Although ..." He trailed off, sadness twisting on his face. "One certainly didn't do a kind action to that human on that day. I wonder how their family is holding up after that..."
"... They disappeared?" I asked, trying to guess other than what was on my head at the moment.
"I guess you can put it that way. Yes, they disappeared." He said, leaning on a tree.
"... That's terrible." I said, shivering from the sudden horror of the thought.
"I guess." He said quietly, shrugging. "It was a long time ago, nothing recent so it doesn't affect me." He turned and begin to walk away until I asked this question. "... Why didn't you help or save them?" The silence crept in, sounding out the jungle noises. Soon this creepy feeling slips in as well, making me assume that he set in this mood. I stared at him, waiting for a reply, even if I was shaking from the fear of the aura he was creating.
"... I don't know." Kahlil answered, turning around to me with a blank expression. "No idea why I didn't do so. Maybe it wasn't a thought on my head and I was bluntly just watching the poor mortal get dragged away deeper into the jungle without moving an inch. I could have done something, but when I'm alone and doing my own thing. None of those thoughts come across my mind. It's may be because I don't want to get involved with something that I don't want to interrupt. Or simply, the stupid mortal shouldn't enter the jungle in the first place."
I stared at him with a shocked expression, watching his expression turn lively again. "Anyway, what do you want to?" Soon the eerie atmosphere disappears into this cheerful aura.
"You can't just shift shit like that." I accidentally said out loud.
"... Well, it's not really important and I didn't do anything, and plus, no one still knows that I disappear into the jungle to hang out with the creatures. Of course, you would assume that I use this advantage to help the humans out, but in reality, Mason. I don't give a shit about them. After what ... happened to me late last year, I don't think I can give humanity a chance." He said, crossing his arms.
"Then ... what are you doing right now?" I asked.
"I don't view you as the same as the others. It's ... hard when emotions and all of that stuff get in the way when your trying to explain something. Just ...- You've seen it before." He said quietly, his expression turning into a nervous look.
"I ... know. I know I have, but there's still good in humanity. NOT all of it of course, but there's some. And without a thought or an action, you purposely went out of your way, out of your beliefs to find that good." I said. He grew disgusted and looked away before giving up in the slightest. He turned his gaze back to me and smiled.
"Yes, I can't deny that fact. What a stupid move I pulled." He said quietly. I approached him slowly, making sure they were silent movements. "And look where that ended up." I said, a small smile curling on my lips.
"Yes. I looked at the views of it and honestly, I can't pull away. It's too late and I'm already happy about it." He chirped. I halted my steps and stared up at him.
"Just don't make the atmosphere creepy next time ..." I said quietly.
"Yeah... it sometimes happened, I apologize for that." He said, placing his arms behind his back. "So, are we good?" I pretended to think, gazing around the surroundings that station around us, only to be shouted at as I snickered in a playful matter. "Yeah, we're good!"
"You just wanted to see that." He grunted.
"Precisely, at least I got my turn at getting reactions out of you." I said, still snickering.
"I don't like this plan your thinking of." He said, raising a brow and narrowing his eyes.
"All I am is getting back at you for the times that you input the same playful trick on me." I snorted.
"Oh? So you wanna play like that?" He said. "I would really watch what you say."
"Or what? What could you possibly do?" I said, folding my arms as if I got the upper hand on this. Why did I say that? Why in all responses that I could give that is not similar to the one that I picked? Because the next thing I knew, Kahlil placed a kiss on my lips. Whenever this happens, it's like he prevented any trail of thoughts from being finished, while at the same time, drawing my focus into what was happening in real-time. However, it didn't feel like the other two times. It was more of a sweet quick kiss than a long consuming one. Which left me disappointed. In any way, what could I do? He parted away, leaning back as he smirked at me. I revealed a simple thin smile, looking away from him. "I could do that."
"I see." I said bluntly, backing away from him.
"Did you wanted more than that?" He asked, tilting his head.
"Hmm ... not at this moment even if I'm lying to you and myself. I don't want to get caught up in the moment." I answered, stopping.
"Good idea." He said. Even if I wanted to, maybe another time will satisfy me. Right now, some things are making my mind stress with a sensation that I don't want to feel.
And that feeling is trying to patch up that ship with my sister.
End of Chapter 41