I told you I wasn't going to abandon this!
I'm going to be honest. College leaves me so tired that at the end of the day and in my free time I just want to sleep and have the little social and family time I can, but that doesn't mean I don't want to continue writing this for fun.
During my winter break I wrote this chapter but little ol' me forgot to upload it:') aren't I amazing?
I'll try to have a new chapter ready for you by Easter.
Now, Enjoy!
Chapter 11: "Ups"
Alex had a big headache, and Lily's excitement wasn't helping him.
"App…" Alex sighed in frustration and corrected himself "Lily, can you calm down a little?" he asked.
"I can't! We haven't gone to the movies for a while and it will be so much fun!"
Alex smiled a little at his sister "You are right about that" he said to her before looking at his cellphone. Jane's recent text helped to cheer him up.
"Hi Alex, I heard from Mom about what happened in the shack.
So… you are an ex- dorito demon, huh? Doesn't seem like that to me.
I don't know what you are feeling, I don't really understand the whole situation, but from what I know you were really depressed the day you found out... er... your past life(?), but you don't have to be. You are still my fun and weird cousin:)
If you want to talk about it, just text me or call me."
He hadn't answered to that message, but that was because he felt like a simple "thanks" wasn't enough. After last night, those words meant a lot to him.
He decided that he would distract himself, and a good way to do it was going to the movies.
"I checked and the movie starts at 3 p.m" Lizzie told her siblings while arriving to the kitchen "We have all morning free."
"We can help in the shack" Alex said while placing his phone on the kitchen's table before continuing his breakfast "It's not like we have something better to do."
And so, they worked in the mystery shack all morning. Alex felt a little sad for the little interaction Stan had with him, but he helped in the shop anyway.
Alex, Lizzie and Lily left the place a while later, without noticing someone's phone on the kitchen table.
"Popcorn or nachos?"
"Popcorn!"
"Nachos!"
Alex sighed at his sisters' behavior "Girls. I don't have much money on me, you need to make up your mind."
"Popcorns make the movie more enjoyable" Lizzie said while crossing her arms to give more emphasis to her statement. "You can't change my mind!"
"Nachos are more delicious! The cheese on them makes everything better!" Lily exclaimed.
Alex couldn't understand why this was such a big deal, but he watched the twins with amusement until they decided to throw a coin, and Lizzie won.
The girl, excited, went to order the popcorn and three sodas. A cute boy was the one who gave her the food and Lily wouldn't stop talking about how red Lizzie's face turned when she saw him.
"Seriously sis, you looked like a tomato" the most cheerful twin said while laughing, making Lizzie feel more embarrassed.
Alex rolled his eyes in amusement and, when they arrived at their seats, he felt his jeans' pockets awkwardly empty.
He panicked.
"Girls, have you seen my phone?" the blond teen asked.
"You lost it?" Lily looked worriedly at him.
"Maybe you left it where we ordered the popcorn?"
"Maybe" Alex mumbled, in agreement to Lizzie's idea "Be right back girls"
The teenager went back to the counter and looked around for a little bit, but he couldn't find his device anywhere. He was about to panic again when a near conversation captured his attention.
"Ugh, you two should have seen her, her hands freaked me out."
Alex frowned, that voice belonged to the boy that gave them their snack.
"You're exaggerating" a female was talking this time "what could be wrong with someone's hands?"
"She had six fingers in each hand! If that isn't gross I don't know what is…"
But the boy couldn't finish his sentence, his two friends looked at each other with confusion written all over their faces.
"Roger, are you okay…?"
The guy couldn't say anything else before giving a shriek at what he was seeing. In Roger's hands suddenly began to grow lots of gross pimples that looked like they were about to explode.
"What the heck!?" the girl gave a step back "Since when you have those?"
"I don't know!" Roger cried "But they hurt like hell!"
The guy tried to calm the pain by rubbing his hands together, but that made everything worse. Some pimples on each of his hands actually started to leak some pus.
"Ah!"
"Dude, get away from me!"
Everyone in the area looked confused and horrified at the scene. Alex did the same but for a complete different reason.
The moment he heard that boy talked that way about his sister, he had imagined that happening to the boy, and he could actually feel the moment everything started to take place.
Alex, forgetting completely about his cellphone, returned to his sisters, not noticing how a terrified Dipper looked at everything in the distance with his son's cellphone in his hand.
The man didn't know what to do.
After his kids went to the movies, he went to the kitchen looking for a glass of water when he noticed his son's phone on the kitchen's table, so he went to the cinema to give it to the teen. In that way, Alex could call him if something happened.
He didn't expect to see that.
He recognized that kind of sudden phenomenon. He didn't know what was the boy in the counter talking about when he entered the place, but he noticed how in the kid's hands started to appear that gross condition.
And he also noticed Alex shocked face.
Dipper didn't want to jump to conclusions, but he knew that kind of weird occurrence, and it was exactly like the ones Bill Cipherdid.
And that's why, when he arrived to the shack, he told Ford about that.
"Well, that means that he not only got his memories back" Ford mumbled with exhaustion in his voice. "He got his powers too, or at least some of them."
"What should we do?" Dipper asked.
"We can just observe him for now." Ford said "I will prepare a device that can help us with that. Do you have any idea of why he did that?"
"No, I was planning on asking him later" Dipper admitted.
"Well, we need to know if there is something that caused him to do this, or if he just did it because he wanted." Noticing Dipper's angry expression, Ford quickly continued talking "I'm not confirming that Alex did it out of fun."
"But you're saying it is a possibility." The younger man said "Is like you'll never be convinced that he is different that Bill Cipher."
"We can't be reckless, Dipper" Ford said in a serious manner "I don't want another Weirdmageddon"
"He will not cause another…"
"You can't be sure about that."
Dipper gritted his teeth, but said nothing else.
Dinner went as if nothing had happened. Lily, Lizzie and Alex went to sleep as if anything happened. However, at 2 am Dipper had to wake his son.
The sleepy teenager followed his father with confusion, but he was way too tired to question the man's actions. He only realized something was wrong when they were standing in the vending machine.
"Uh, dad?" the boy talked in mumbles "What's wrong?"
"Come with me."
Alex, a little more awake now, followed the man. In the basement, Ford was waiting for them, with his hands on his back, making Alex froze.
"What's going on?" he demanded to know.
"Why don't you sit, son?" Dipper told to the teen.
Hearing his father's voice certainly calmed Alex down, however, he kept staring warily at the scientist.
"Well?" the boy said in a serious voice "Would you care to tell me what am I doing here at 2 in the morning?"
"Easy" Ford was the one talking "Alex, what caused you to hurt that boy in the cinema?"
The teen had to hold the urge to gasp in surprise, how did the man knew that?
"What are you talking about?" he asked, faking ignorance.
"I went to the movies to give you your cellphone, Alex." Dipper said to the shocked teen while handing him the device "And I saw what happened to the boy's hands."
"Why should I know the reason of that?" Alex asked while taking his cellphone with trembling hands. He was trapped and he knew it, but he still tried to pretend innocence.
"Please, Alex" Dipper sighed "I know how to recognize a weird phenomenon of that kind when I see it."
The teen looked away from his father's eyes.
"That boy was insulting Lizzie" Alex said with a mumble "I got mad, I… wished something like that happened and suddenly…" the teen pursed his lips "I felt how I made that happen." He admitted "I don't know how I did that."
Dipper let out a heavy breath of relief but Ford remained silent for a brief moment, deep in thought.
"You didn't do it on purpose, then" Dipper said relieved.
"That isn't much better" said Ford, earning an annoyed glance from his nephew "That means you can't control those powers."
"Well, I didn't even know I had them" Alex retorted "Does this mean I'll have everything back?" he asked, with mixed feelings. It would be awesome if he had all his knowledge and power back but, he also wanted to be as a normal human as possible.
"I don't think so" Ford told him "Your human body wouldn't handle all that energy, you probably only are limited to a couple of powers, and we still can't know if they will stick with you permanently."
The man showed what was holding in his back. It looked like a weird futuristic bracelet.
"This will help you control your powers." Ford told him "They're probably too linked to your emotions, so, each time you are close to lose control of them, this will start emitting a sound, like an alarm."
"It reminds me of a shock collar" Alex mumbled, looking at the small deice without being able to feel comfortable.
"I won't deny that I wasn't inspired by those" Ford said before clearing his throat "If you do lose control of them, me and Dipper will receive a signal and go to you."
"You're treating me as if I will burn the town or something" Alex mumbled with anger "I'll be careful, I don't see why you would need to put me this thing."
"Well, if you're going to have these powers, we need to make sure that you can control them." Dipper said to his son in an apologizing manner.
Alex knew his father trust him, he was worried about someone else.
"You said you would go to me if I lost control" the teen said "That means there's a tracking device in here, am I right?"
"Yes, you are right" Ford said to him with honesty.
Alex gritted his teeth, he was being monitored as if he was a criminal.
"You kind of are one"
The teen ignored that obnoxious voice in his head before standing up.
"Fine, if using this will help you to be calm about me, I'll wear it."
Alex took the bracelet, put it in his right wrist and left the room without bothering to give a glance to the oldest man in the room.
The teen arrived to the attic and went to his bed silently and hiding his head in his pillow.
That distrust from his uncle still hurt him.
Alex took his cellphone and re-read the text from his cousin before hugging the small device.
"You are still my fun and weird cousin."
He smiled a little by imagining Jane saying those words, but that smiled disappeared quickly from his face.
He looked at the small bracelet he was wearing now.
He wished he could prove himself without having to use that.