CF003: Smiley Hollow Farm

Time seemed to fly by, and before Dipper realized it, the big day had arrived… Well, maybe not that big, but an important one for Dipper none-the-less. It was just an old local Urban Legend they were investigating, one very likely to be total hooey, but every great investigator needed to start off somewhere. Dipper was a very tense mix of excited and anxious. Even though he doubted the legends veracity, they would be meeting with a real-life person. Somebody missing a loved one, and willing to open up to them on the slim chance she might be able to find out what happened to her daughter. Dipper wasn't about to take that responsibility lightly.

They'd be using Mabel's car for this trip, mostly because she was insistent on doing the driving. It wasn't long before they were packed up and ready ago. "Just remember Broseph! Just because we have to drive through Piedmont to get there doesn't mean I have any interest in stopping by to see Mom and Dad, so no funny business got it?!

"I had no plans to do so Mabel…. I haven't exactly gotten over my last encounter with our folks... I'm not quite ready to face them again myself."

"Awe, so no tour of the old hometown then?" Wendy pouted playfully. "I was lookin' forward to visitin' some of the old haunts the infamous Mystery Twins used to terrorize!"

"Eh, showing you around town won't be much of an issue. It's not like there's a ton to see anyway. Our old house just won't be part of the tour for obvious reasons."

"That's perfectly fine with me! I don't believe I'm one of your parent's favorite people either, if you catch my drift…"

"Something else I'll have to fix," Dipper sighed, before surprising everyone by shouting out, "Shotgun!"

Before anyone could argue, Dipper raced around to the passenger side door, and let himself inside the car. Wendy groaned softly, but otherwise just rolled with it and climbed in the backseat. Takura briefly eyed the vehicle warily before climbing inside. Wendy might've been content to remain quiet over the seating arrangements, but Mabel wasn't.

"Dipper…" Mabel whispered sternly. "Wouldn't you be more comfortable sitting in the backseat with Wendy?"

"Probably not the best idea… I have to read over my notes for the case, and you know I get carsick when I try to read in the backseat."

As dumb as that point sounded and as much as Mabel wanted to argue, she couldn't because it was actually true. "What could you possibly have to look over that you haven't already memorized five times to Tuesday!"

"You can never be too prepared… Sorry, but I have no interest in spilling the contents of my stomach just because you want to sit next to Takura… Which I know is why you actually want me to sit in the backseat."

"Uh, duh!" Mabel droned. In contrast to Wendy's more subtle approach, Mabel didn't give a hoot whatsoever over who knew about her intentions. She hadn't gotten to hang out with Takura much, and she planned on using this trip to help her get to know him better.

"Ah, don't waste your breath fussing over him Mabes," Wendy quipped as she gave the back of his seat a quick kick, drawing Dipper to give her a questioning look. "Don't need him back here pukin' all over me, especially with you driving. No offense Mabes."

"A little bit taken!"

As Wendy buckled up, she noticed Takura already looked queasy and they hadn't even started moving yet. "Still get the jitters when you ride in a car huh?"

"I wouldn't go that far… It's just that, back on Andorra, self-preservation was kind of a way of life for me. I chose when and where I wanted to put myself at risk, but either way it was always my decision and I felt in control over whatever happened to me… Hard to get that feeling when you're locked inside a metal cage someone else is in control of, moving at high speeds…"

"So, you'd rather be the guy behind the wheel than havin' to trust somebody else to get you we're you're goin' huh? I get that."

"Actually, I'd just as soon walk… Even in a wagon, at least I could jump out if the horsealops got spooked. Can't exactly do that on this… Interstate thing or whatever you call it."

Wendy got a good solid chuckle out of that. "Somehow, I don't think Mabel's driving is going to do much to help you warm up to ridin' in the car dude."

Wendy wasn't lying. The few occasions he had allowed himself to be imprisoned inside one of these infernal automobiles was with Wendy driving, and she was relatively safe. Mabel's reckless disregard for fellow motorists or passengers did not endear him to car travel. If he'd been sitting on a piece of coal, he might've produced a diamond by the time they reached Piedmont.

Mabel's reckless driving made for good time though. There was still an hour left before sunset and they were less than ten miles from their old hometown. Dipper took a look in the rearview to check on his friends. Wendy had her face pressed against the window, somehow having managed to fall asleep despite essentially being involved in a Nascar race. Poor Takura looked like he either had to take the world's biggest crap or was just praying to God for this ride to be over with as soon as possible. Most people probably wouldn't have been able to tell due to Takura's unexpressive nature, but Dipper knew him well enough to notice the subtle difference that let him know Takura was tense as all hell.

Takura would be fine though. It was his sister that he was worried about at the moment. He could sense Mabel getting more and more antsy the closer they got to their destination, and he totally understood why.

"You going to be alright Mabel? You look nervous. I know this is your first time back in Piedmont since you moved so…"

"Yeah, I'll be fine!" Mabel said unconvincingly, as she gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. "It's not like we're going to see Mom and Dad, so it'll be fine… It's not like I'm scared they're going to pop in on us out of nowhere while we're painting the town or anything!"

"You know, I'm sure Wendy would be willing to drive a bit if you need a break…"

"Nah, I'm good, I promise! It's mainly just a drive through anyway right? Since this lady we're visiting lives outside of town closer to Echo Creek. I'm actually looking forward to showing Wendy and Takura some of our old haunts!"

"Speaking of which… Is there anyone you would like to visit while we're in town? Some of your old friends maybe?"

"Nope," Mabel responded flatly… And that kind of bothered Dipper.

"Nobody at all? Not even Sandy?"

"Especially not Sandy!" Mabel screeched, and the car nearly found itself in the next lane over. "I'd endure the tongue lashing from Mom and Dad before I'd speak to her ever again!"

That hostile refusal floored Dipper. Sandy had been one of Mabel's closet friends since the third grade. What possibly could've happened between them in the two years he was gone? "Okay, there's obviously a story here… Need to talk about it?"

"Not now… Maybe later…" Mabel's head briefly tilted towards the backseat. "You know, when it's just the two of us."

"That's fair… I'm definitely going to be reminding you though."

Mabel's nerves seemed to settle a bit, and minutes later they arrived in Piedmont. After waking Wendy up for the occasion, Mabel took them on a brief tour of some of the important landmarks in their young lives… This included their old High School, the apartment complex they'd spent the first couple years of their lives in before their parents bought the home they did most of their growing up in, a monster-themed mini-golf course slash arcade that had been one of the twin's favorite destinations as kids, which might've gone a little bit in the way of explaining how Dipper first became drawn to all things spooky. They decided against driving by the Crestwood House despite Wendy's desire to see the precise location where the Twins had acquired their criminal record. The location was a touch too close to their parent's home for comfort. There was only one location where the group actually stopped, but there was a very specific reason for it. Everyone was getting hungry, so the Twins just couldn't help but suggest one of their favorite eateries from their childhoods. A quaint little Mexican restaurant call Cabeza de Queso's.

Takura burst out of the car as if he was escaping it, drawing a laugh from Dipper that his Lycan friend didn't appear to appreciate too much. Dipper led the way inside, holding the door open for the rest of the group. Wendy and Takura took in their surroundings with interest for uniquely differen't reasons, while Mabel and Dipper shared a nostalgic smile in the other's direction.

It wasn't long before they were seated, but as they were being led to their booth, Wendy and Mabel shared a look, hinting they might be up to something. Takura sat down first, but before Dipper could sit down next to him, Mabel cut him off and claimed that chair for her own, acting as if Dipper wasn't even there. Her brother gave her a look before shrugging his shoulders and taking the seat across from Mabel… Then realized exactly what had just happened when he saw the way Wendy smirked at him when she sat down next to him… The conniving little…

"So, what's good here?" Wendy asked casually, mainly to the boy seated next to her.

"Well, I always enjoyed the chimichangas when I was kid, but…" His menu open, Wendy peered over her shoulder, allowing some of her long red hair to dangle over Dipper's arm. The boy blushed and looked at her a bit nervously. "Uh, Wendy… You do have your own menu you know?"

Wendy shrugged and said with a smirk. "But yours was already open."

"I don't understand some of these words…" Takura confessed, his brow creased in confusion. While his home dimension may have shared a near identical language with Earth's English, Spanish was completely foreign to him.

"Ah, it's all just different versions of beans and meat wrapped up in differen't types of shells," Mabel explained to him sweetly, before pointing out a particular menu item to him. "If you want to make easier on yourself, try the burritos! Nature's perfect food! But with queso sauce, not that gross red crap!"

"That red crap is pretty much the same substance as the salsa you've been dipping your chips in," Dipper informed her, clearly recalling that this wasn't the first time he'd explained that detail to her.

"Uh-uh…" Mabel garbled with a mouth of chips that she'd just stuck in her mouth.

The group placed their orders and before long, Takura got his first taste of this Earth beverage known as soda. He took a sip and his lips puckered. "Ack, blessed moon, it tastes like somebody just dumped a bucket of sugar into my mouth!"

This drew a laugh from the rest of the table much to his chagrin. Dipper came to his rescue, sliding his glass over to him. "This is a diet version of the same drink, minus the sugary taste basically. See if you like this any better."

After a pause, Takura reluctantly took a drink. To his surprise it wasn't that bad. "This is more agreeable…"

"Cool, you keep it, and I'll just ask for a refill next time the waiter comes around."

"Two guys and their Diet Cokes… What manly men we're sharing a meal with hey Mabes?"

"Hey now!" Dipper fired back playfully. "You're not exactly the picture of femininity, so I don't think you have to the right to judge our manhood."

"Oh please… You love me this way, and you know it!"

"Well, you got me there…" Dipper turned red when he realized what he'd just said, and then tried to sink into his chair. Wendy looked stunned at first, before breaking out into wide smug grin. Dipper took one look and felt like that scared twelve-year-old boy again.

"Damn right you do…"

Mercifully, the food came out soon after. Takura had taken Mabel up on her advice and ordered the cheese-soaked burrito. He tentatively tried it, and his taste buds approved enthusiastically. "This… Might be the most delicious thing I've ever tasted…"

"You'd be wise to follow my teachings Mr. Takura… First your wardrobe, and now your menu. I won't stir you wrong sir!" Mabel sang. Takura never failed to act as a source of amusement for her. For such a tough acting guy who came across like he could punch out Cthulhu if the demon ever crossed him, Mabel found the way he was befuddled by even the simplest of Earth delights endearing and positively adorable. It had been cute enough to see his odd reaction the first time she showed him her cellphone, but the way he jumped when Mabel played a song off of it nearly caused her to pee herself laughing "You really didn't have any kind of food like this on Andorra?"

"No… Most of our meals consisted of whatever I could forage or kill that day… We were happy just to have something to put in our stomachs, so we never much worried about how the food was prepared or looked…"

"Oh… Really?" Now here was the one part of Takura Mabel didn't find cute in the least. Seeing him now, Mabel could easily forget he was a child of war and poverty, who grew up scratching and clawing to survive. It could also prove off putting how bluntly he was willing to talk about that past, almost as if it were normal and not a traumatic life-altering experience. He never offered much about himself on his own, but he rarely hesitated with a response when asked. It made Mabel want to hug him, and then hug her brother for saving him from that wretched way of life.

"Especially with the Argonians confiscating as much food from the countryside as they could… Most villages were lucky if they had enough bread left over to feed their families."

"Um, Takura…" Dipper interrupted. "We've talked about this… Public places aren't exactly the best arenas to be discussing issues from places most people in this dimension aren't aware exist."

"Oh right… I'll get used to that eventually," Takura promised, though he didn't understand what the big deal was. To this point, he hadn't found any reason or anyone to fear, so he didn't really care who knew about his alien origins. Dipper insisted it was in his best interest to keep that information quiet, and he respected Dipper enough to try to abide by that advice.

"You know Dip… You could say the same thing about a certain someone who rambles on about Ghosts and Aliens to anyone who'll listen," Wendy teased, as she grabbed a chip from the basket, purposely brushing her arm against Dipper's in the process.

"Yeah but…" Dipper wasn't all that worried about Wendy's verbal prodding. This was the fourth time Wendy had brushed her arm up against his, and even he couldn't convince himself it wasn't intentional. He gave Wendy a bit of a confused look, to which the girl responded with a raised eyebrow and another smirk.

"What? Gotta problem?"

"No I… It's nothing…" Dipper turned beet red and went about trying to finish his meal. That wasn't a lie, there was no problem. He'd been lying his ass off if he tried to pretend he wasn't enjoying the unusual amount of attention he'd been getting from Wendy. In the end though, it would prove to be pure torture later on when he found himself forced to accept it couldn't mean anything.

For Wendy though, everything was going according to plan. His embarrassed facial light show was absolutely what she was going for. If Dipper Pines thought he could ignore her on this trip like he had been recently then well… Let's just say Wendy fully intended on making sure ignoring her was impossible.

Before long, the quartet had finished their meal. Dipper made sure to tip the waiter ahead of time, seeing as he was about to clock out for his break and had informed the party someone else would be bringing them their check. That person would turn out to be a pretty blue-eyed brunette, who handed the receipt to Dipper. "Here you go cutie! You and your friends please visit us a…" She paused momentarily as she recognized somebody at the table. "Mabel?"

"Huh? Oh… Hello Sandy…" Mabel grumbled distantly. There might've been more venom in her voice if she hadn't been in the mood not to make a scene with her friends present.

"I thought you moved out of Piedmont right after graduation?"

"I did… We're just passing through on our way to somewhere else, and thought we'd stop for a bite," She responded, completely lacking her usual friendly cheer. "Might've thought twice about that if I realized you worked here…"

"Mabel!" Dipper frowned while Sandy flinched, clearly hurt by the bite in Mabel's tone. "I'm sorry Sandy, she's just been through some stuff recently…"

"No, it's okay I…" That's when Sandy got a good look at the attractive young man she'd handed the check too. It took her a moment, but she finally recognized who she was speaking with. "D… Dipper?!"

To answer her question, Dipper lifted his hat and displayed his highly identifiable birthmark. Sandy reacted as if she'd seen a ghost. "But… You disappeared! It's been the talk of the town for years now!"

"Well, sorry to disappoint the town, but I'm not missing anymore!"

"Can we pay now and leave please!" Mabel demanded as she simultaneously decided to stand up from the table. "As a matter of fact, I'm going to go wait in the car while you pay Dipper." Mabel stormed out of the restaurant, with Wendy and Takura staring after her in confusion. Dipper's attention was on Sandy who appeared worn out and remorseful.

"Care to tell me what that was all about? Mabel mentioned a falling out, but she didn't elaborate any further than that..."

"She's angry enough with me… It's probably better if I let her tell you. It did involve you after all…" Sandy started to head back towards the kitchen. "I am glad to see you're alright Dipper."

"Thank you Sandy… It was good to see you again too!" After she'd left, Dipper placed his card in the case, and handed it to Wendy. "Would you two mind waiting inside for a bit while I go talk to Mabel?… Those two were best friends since grade school, and I need to figure out what's happened between them."

"No problem dude… How long you want us to wait?"

"Thanks guys… Give me about fifteen minutes okay?"

Dipper found Mabel in the driver's seat of her car. Dipper walked around to the other side and let himself in on the passenger side.

"Where's Wendy and Takura?" Mabel asked impatiently.

"They're waiting inside to give us some time alone… You know, so I can figure out what the hell that was all about?"

"It's not something I want to talk about right now Dipper!"

"Well, we're going to have too. This is going to be a distraction, and I don't want any of those on this trip… That, and considering Sandy was your best friend, and somebody I actually like because she was the only one of your friends that didn't treat me like dirt, I'd like to hear what happen."

Mabel probably could've fought him more, but she didn't want too… She didn't like holding things in, especially where her brother was involved. "Remember when I told you that I lost everything when you trapped yourself in Andorra Dipper? That I felt completely alone, and you thought I was exaggerating?... Well believe me, I wasn't. I wasn't on speaking terms with Mom and Dad because I was mad at them, and they cut me off from Gravity Falls. At least I had my friends to support me… For a little while at least… Then I did something… Something really stupid…"

Mabel paused, and Dipper could tell she was having a hard time continuing. This must be the part where things started to go south. "It's alright Sis… It's me you're talking too… You can tell me anything… I'm sure it wasn't that stupid…"

"It was totally stupid! I told her the truth Dipper! I told her everything!..." Dipper looked stunned as Mabel banged her head repeatedly against the steering wheel. "I told her about Gravity Falls, and how you were stuck in an alien dimension… I told her everything because I thought I could trust her! Then Sandy went and told two of our other friends everything I told her, and within a couple of days it was all over school! All of the sudden, all that sympathy I accrued from losing my brother turned into snickering and mockery behind my back, and sometimes right to my face! It's like it didn't matter you were missing anymore! I was just the girl who claimed her brother fought dinosaur men in another dimension! Some kids started to joke that you got abducted by aliens, and some even accused Mom and Dad of doing something to you… I pretty much ended my friendships with the girls that were spreading the rumors, and my friends that didn't all distanced themselves from me afterwards… All because Sandy couldn't keep her trap shut! When I tell you I was alone Dipper, I really was alone…"

"Mabel I… I'm so sorry… I never thought you…"

"No, don't you start that! No blaming yourself okay… I'm the dummy who put my trust in the wrong person, so if it's anyone's fault it's mine, and hers for betraying that trust… I was so desperate for anybody to just listen to me and try to understand what I was going through!"

"Well, your reaction when I mentioned her name on the way here makes a lot more sense now… If it makes you feel any better, she seemed legit remorseful about what happened from what I could tell."

"I could care less how bad she feels about it! She basically ruined my last two years of high school Dipper! She cost me the only friends I had left… The only chance I had to feel a little bit normal! How does a person do that to someone they call a friend?"

The question was rhetorical, but Dipper pondered an answer anyway. "My guess… The type that didn't realize how much damage she was going to cause."

For the next couple of minutes, the Twins sat in silence as Dipper gently caressed her between Mabel's shoulder's blades, something he'd been doing to calm his emotional sister since they were little. It wasn't long before they heard a knock on the window, Wendy and Takura having finally joined them at the automobile. "Everything alright dudes?"

"Yeah, just a chat amongst siblings," Dipper assured her after rolling down the window. He turned to Mabel, "You need another minute Sis?"

"No, I'm ready to get the hell out of here!" Perking up slightly, she started the car. "Hop in guys! Dinner was awesome, but I think I've had enough of Piedmont for one day…"

The crew left the restaurant parking lot, Wendy wondering what exactly had happened to get Mabel so noticeably upset but didn't feel it was her place to pry if it was something personal. They traveled a few miles outside the city limits of Piedmont and found a decent looking hotel to crash at for the night. It had gotten way too late to pay a visit to Dipper's contact that evening, so the meeting would have to wait until morning. They rented two rooms, one for the guys and one for the ladies. Dipper found sleep elusive that night, and it wasn't due to excitement. While he'd always believe that he did the right thing by protecting Earth, along with his family and friends, by trapping himself in Andorra… Until that night, however, he never really took the time to consider what kind of effect his absence might've had on the people he cared about the most. With the exception of his parents, he honestly never believed he'd be missed that much. Now tonight he found out that Mabel had been trapped in a prison of her own. It may not have been an alien jungle, but of isolation and it was still a prison none-the-less.

Perhaps the line of selflessness and selfishness was a lot blurry than he thought.


Dipper wasn't sure why he was so surprised when he arrived at the Montgomery house early that next morning. For some reason, he'd expected some secluded building in a rural area, which seemed to be standard for odd cases such as the one he was investigating. He certainly hadn't been expecting a quaint looking middle-class household at the end of a cul-de-sac, smack in the middle of your average sub-division.

His expectations subverted, Dipper shook it off, and approached the front door of the home. One ring of the doorbell later followed by a series of knocks, and after about a minute, the door opened slightly… A pair of tired looking brown eyes stared back at him. The door was held open only as far as the chain on the other side would allow it. "Can I help you? If you're selling anything, I'm not interested…"

"No, we're not salesmen… You're Helen Montgomery correct? I'm Dipper Pines, the guy you spoke with over the phone about your daughter's disappearance?"

"Really?" The shock in the woman's voice was difficult not to notice. She closed the door, undid the chain lock, and opened the door to get a better look at her visitors. Helen Montgomery was on the short side with dirty blonde hair she had pulled back. She very much had the appearance of your typical suburban housewife and mother, if she were feeling completely exhausted. "I never believed you were actually going to show up…"

"No, we're dead serious Mrs. Montgomery… When I told you I wanted to look into Hailey's disappearance, I meant every word."

"Well… You'd be the first in a long while that would even pretend to give a damn… Come on inside then."

Dipper and the girls took a seat on the Montgomery's cushy little white couch, while Takura elected to stand just off to the right of it. "Can I get you kids anything to drink?"

"That won't be necessary Ma'am… We intend to be as little of an inconvenience to you as possible. I just want to ask you a few questions, and we'll get out of your hair."

Helen sat down in a lounge chair across from them, eying Mabel in particular who was currently panning between her and Dipper with a handheld camcorder. "Is there any particular reason she's filming this?"

"We want to get as much of our investigation on the record as possible… This is just in case we need to recall something we discussed, and this way we can just refer back to the recording."

"I guess that's fine… I really don't know what you expect to learn from me that you couldn't have read in any of the police reports or newspaper articles covering Hailey's case. I'm not sure I'll be of much help…"

"Those accounts are unreliable… As is pretty standard with most police investigations, they chose to ignore what you might call… Extraordinary circumstances for cases like your daughters. You're the one that knew her best… What her interests were, what her mindset was before she disappeared. The one person Hailey may have entrusted with exactly what she found… In the end. your perspective is all that really matters. Much more than a bias police report or a reporter with an agenda."

Helen thought it over for a moment. While there was certainly a part of her that didn't want to answer any more questions, Lord knows she had to weather so many already… But the police weren't exactly helping, so if there was any chance at all that these kids could help her find out what happened to her little girl… "What do you want to know exactly?"

"Let's start off simple… What type of person was Hailey?"

"The best kid a mother could ask for… Did well in school, she was always polite and respectful. Neither myself nor her father ever had to worry about Hailey getting herself into trouble. She was popular and had a lot of friends… Her only real quark was that she loved this mystery junk… She'd binge those true crime shows, and all that monster hunting crap. Of course once she found out she had a real-life Urban Legend based right in her own backyard, she immediately started obsessing over it. We didn't think much about it at first. That legend has been a rite of passage in this area since I was a girl. My husband and I both camped out in those woods at one point in search of Smiley Hollow Farm… Even when Hailey went camping out there for the third time, we still didn't see a problem with it… I just never expected Hailey to actually claim she found the farm."

"And what exactly led her to the conclusion she'd discovered Smiley Hollow Farm?" Dipper asked while attempting to temper the excitement in his voice.

"I don't know… Her interpretation was a little shaky in my opinion, but the girl was convinced she'd found it. Supposedly, she crossed this old-covered bridge over a dried-up riverbed, and a few minutes later there she was! Claims she saw an old barn with a smiley face painted on the side… How literal right?" she laughed, but there was very little mirth behind it. This conversation did involve her missing daughter after all. "The face had a straw hat, and a straw stalk sticking out of its mouth.. Just passed that barn she claims she saw an old farmhouse and a cornfield."

Wendy immediately picked up on something wrong with that statement. She leaned over to Dipper and whispered, "Cornfield? Isn't that impossible though?" Dipper held up a solitary finger to silence her, to Wendy's mild annoyance. She understood though, he didn't want to miss a single detail from the information he was getting in case it was important.

"Did your daughter mention anything else? Were there any signs of human life on the farm? I'm assuming the barn must've been practically swallowed by nature if it's been abandoned since the 50's…"

"You know, she never mentioned anything of the sort… She made it seem like that barn was sturdy as the day it was built… Like she couldn't believe nobody else had ever noticed it before then. She never mentioned noticing any other people either, but she didn't exactly get very far. It was getting late into the evening, and she decided she needed to get back to her camp while she still had some sunlight… As excited as she was, she was always a smart, cautious girl… That's one of the reasons neither me nor her father ever minded her going off into the woods to camp, even alone. Bless that girl, she even drew a map completely from memory and vowed to go back when she had enough time in the day to investigate properly. Of course, seeing as you're here, you already know how that story ended…"

"I'm taking it she never made a duplicate copy, or shared any of the details with you? Otherwise, I'm sure you would've already given the police that information."

Helen shook her head sadly. "Honestly, I thought she was just making up a tall tale, so she'd have another excuse to go camping again," she blubbered, wiping a tear from her eye. "I didn't take her story seriously at all… If I'd only listened… Paid more attention, maybe I could tell you something but… Well, there's that one thing but…"

"What would that 'thing' be?" Dipper asked, sensing her hesitancy. "Every detail might help, no matter how minor…"

"It's just… Whenever I tell people about it, that's when they stop listening and start writing me off as some grief-stricken mother desperate for attention."

"I promise you Mrs. Montgomery, we're not the type of people that are going to look at you that way," Dipper promised, sensing he might be getting to the meat of this story… Or at least the neglected details the police and journalists decided to skip over. "That's my team's main purpose… To look into things that most traditional investigators might ignore or scoff at because it sounds a little too… Bizarre or out there."

Based off her reaction, mouth agape, Dipper could tell Helen's story very much had something to do with that. She looked almost hopeful as her jaw slowly closed, lowering her head as she spoke. "The setting sun wasn't the only thing that scared her away from that farm… Hailey described the atmosphere as heavy or oppressive… Like the farm itself was a living entity, and it didn't want her there. Her words, not mine… I just wish I hadn't dismissed them so quickly back then… She also claimed that she felt like she was being watched… By something hidden in the cornfield…" Another humorless laugh. "Of course, Hailey didn't even believe that part was real… At least not at first… Until that oppressive heavy feeling followed her home… She couldn't shake the sensation that someone was always watching her, at least up until the point she stopped complaining to me about it, after I let her know in no uncertain terms that I was tired of hearing her nonsense… I know this all sounds crazy! The police certainly thought it did…"

"I don't think you sound crazy at all… I can't explain away Hailey's feelings of being watched, but it has been theorized that certain places that have experienced… Colorful pasts can produce atmospheres like your daughter described. Almost as if these places can hold on to certain emotions, whether it be hate, loneliness, fear… If any of the legends I've heard concerning Smiley Hollow are true, pretty much any one of those emotions is a candidate to have that kind of effect on this place. I don't find your daughter's story out of the realm of possibility at all."

"As nice as it is to finally hear somebody say that. I'm just not sure how that information's going to help you find out what happened to my daughter…"

"It might not… But it's more than I knew five minutes ago, and that's a start… Now I heard Hailey took some pictures of the farm while she was there… I understand why you didn't want to email them to a complete stranger, but any visual aid will be a great help to our efforts."

To Dipper's surprise, Helen's response was to blush, which was pretty much the last reaction Dipper had expected. "Well, there's a problem with that Mr. Pines… If those pictures were worth a damn, don't you think someone would've made a bigger deal of them by now? I'm pretty sure you could've just googled Smiley Hollow photos and seen them plastered all over the web."

"I did try that," Dipper admitted. "But all I found were some obvious photoshopped fakes and several that were too blurry or foggy to make out anything. There was one that kind had the shape of a barn, but it was too dark and the image too warped to make out any details."

"That was one of Hailey's… All four she took came out like that… She couldn't understand why. She swears the images were clear as day when she took the photos. You could imagine how the police reacted when I tried to submit those photos to evidence… And the one so called investigator I put my trust into, posted those photos all over his website and wrote this longwinded article that was basically an attack piece against me… Using those photos as proof I made everything up for attention, because why else would a mother think a few blurry images could help prove her daughter found Smiley Hollow Farm and disappeared because of it… I apologize if you got the wrong idea and thought I had some better-quality photos hidden away, but nope… What you saw online was basically what I have."

"That is disappointing to hear… Okay, forget about the photos then. This might be a longshot, but do you have any items of hers, clothing specifically, that may have gone undisturbed since she disappeared? Something say, a bloodhound might be able to pick up her sent off of?"

Helen appeared bewildered by the question, though she did swiftly think of an item that met the young man's criteria. "I do but… The other search party's had plenty of dogs with them in those woods when she first disappeared, and they didn't have any luck."

"Hopefully mine will be better. It probably won't lead to anything, but considering the unique circumstances, we need to try whatever we can."

The group waited patiently in a respectful silence after Mrs. Montgomery disappeared up the stairs. Mabel, if she was being completely honest, was a bit shaken up. Hearing Helen tell her story, seeing how her daughter's disappearance was affecting her. It was so similar to her story, but at least she knew where Dipper was the entire time. It was an… Eye opening conversation to say the least. She looked like a broken woman. It was that moment when Mabel realized they actually were doing a job, and it wasn't all going to be fun and games like it often was when they were kids. There were real stakes at play now.

Helen reappeared before long, and handed Dipper a furry solid black hat, the type you usually didn't see until winter. "This was Hailey's favorite hat… Even wore the damn thing in the summertime. I've pretty much left her room untouched since she disappeared, just so it'll look exactly how she remembered it if she ever found her way home… Delusional I know, but hope is all I've really had to fall back on…"

"This should work great… Thank you Mrs. Montgomery. I'll get it back to you as soon as we wrap up our investigation… Obviously, I can't make any promises, but if your daughter is still out there somewhere… We'll do our best to find her."

"You're a sweat kid, but there's no need to sugarcoat things for me Mr. Pines. I know my daughter's dead. There's a lot of wildernesses in that area, but Oak Grove isn't large enough for somebody to disappear for two years without somebody else noticing her… Especially when half the teenagers in a fifty-mile radius have spent at least one weekend of their lives in those woods looking for that accursed farm! I'll be satisfied finally knowing what happened to her, so I don't have to go to bed at night still wondering where she is."

Dipper nodded his head in understanding. "If there's nothing else you can tell us that might help with the investigation, we'll get out of your hair now. I know it couldn't have been easy to dredge up those old memories. I appreciate your time Mrs. Montgomery."

"You kids please be careful… I don't know if I handle being responsible for another mother's children going missing."

With the interview concluded the Gravity Falls Crew left the Montgomery home, and headed for Mabel's car, discussing some discrepancies with Helen's story as they gathered around the vehicle. "I don't know about this Story Dip… I'm not claimin' that Helen was lyin' to us or anything, but I can't help but wonder if Hailey may have been feeding her mom a load of bull… I'm sorry, but she completely lost me at 'cornfield'."

"Why? Mabel asked. "What's so suspicious about corn?"

"Well Mabes, I'm no farmin' expert, but even I paid enough attention in Science class to know that corn doesn't happen naturally in the wild."

"It doesn't?"

"Nope," Dipper answered for Wendy. "The marvel of corn as you know it today is a completely manmade feat of agriculture engineering. Cornfields like you see on the side of the road can't exist without humans around to grow and maintain it. I agree Wendy, that piece of information bothered me too… So did Helen's description of the barn… After seven decades exposed to the elements, I doubt anything remotely resembling a barn would still be standing that deep in the woods… At the very least, falling in on itself after having been completely overtaken by nature. There's also the issue with those photos she promised to show us if we paid a visit in person, only for them to conveniently not exist once we got here. It almost feels like she used them to lure us here…"

"So then… Have we decided to dismiss Helen's story as bogus?"

"Not quite yet Mabel… There are three potential options other than Hailey's story being just an outright lie. One, somebody's been sneaking deep into the woods every so often to maintain a corn crop in one of the most inconvenient locations imaginable… Two, somebody's been living on that farm the entire time while maintaining the crops and the buildings, which is also very unlikely… There's also a third option…" Dipper smiled and waved his hand in Mabel's general direction hoping she'd pick up the hint, and she did.

"Oh! You mean… Spooky haunted cornfield?"

Dipper nodded, wearing a goofy smile. "Spooky haunted cornfield… Which could potentially also explain why Hailey had the intense feeling of being watched."

"Ewe, so we're talking a 'He that Walks Beyond the Rows' situation huh?"

"It's 'He Who Walks Behind the Rows' Mabes," Wendy corrected.

"Well, big whoop! I was close enough! I'm sorry I'm not as big a nerd for cheesy horror movies as you two…"

"Hey now, that's a Stephen King classic!" Dipper complained, then muttered under his breath. "That was adapted into a cheesy movie…"

The argument would maintain a short life after the quartet had poured into the car and set out to cover the fifteen miles or so to the area known to the locals as Oak Grove… It wasn't the official name of the location, just something the locals had taken to calling the densely forested area. It was time to get the search for Smiley Hollow Farm underway.


"Wow, this is wild!" Wendy marveled, impressed by the wooded area, thick with trees. "I knew California has a lot of national parks and stuff, but I wasn't expectin' this much wilderness so close to a heavily populated area. It makes sense for a small community like Gravity Falls, but not here."

"There's a lot of areas like this in the state…" Dipper explained. "Unfortunately, it's been humans encroaching deeper and deeper into areas like this that's contributed heavily to California's wildfire situation… That and it barely ever rains."

"Well, let's hope we don't have to deal with that… So far so good though… These woods don't seem so ominous to me."

"No…" Takura spoke softly but sharply, drawing everyone's attention to him. His lips curled upward into a slight snarl, as his eyes briefly flashed yellow. "There's definitely something off about these woods… Something evil…"

"How can you tell?" Wendy asked incredulously.

"Sixth sense… Or call it instinct if you want, I know a malevolent presence when I feel one… And I've felt this type of oppression before… It feels dangerously similar to dark magic."

"You can tell all that just by sensing it?" Mabel gaped, though clearly hamming it up just a touch. "You just amaze me more and more Takura…"

Takura snapped out of his mini-trance and looked over at Mabel with a raised eyebrow. "The ability is nothing unique to anyone of my condition… Can I see that girl's hat please Dipper?"

"Not that I'm questioning you Dip, but what good is that hat…" Wendy paused and watched curiously as Takura took several sniffs of the headwear. "Seriously?"

"He's half wolf remember?" Dipper stated somewhat proudly for some reason. "His sense of smell is only half as strong as it is in his wolf form, but that's still 50 times stronger than a human's. Grunkle Ford even thinks an Andorran Lycan's sense of smell might even be better than a common wolf here on Earth."

"And how did he come to that conclusion exactly?" Mabel asked, dubious. She wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea that her Grunkle seemed to look at their new friend as less of a person and more of a scientific curiosity. "It really doesn't bother you guys that Grunkle Ford basically treats Takura like a science experiment?"

"It's tiresome, but hopefully mutually beneficial in the end," Takura spoke up in defense of the arrangement. He sniffed at the air, hoping to pick up a scent similar to the one attached to the hat. He grunted in disappointment when he came up with nothing. "I'm not picking up anything yet… The overall scent of this forest seems off in general… It's hard to explain… It's also possible that the ominous presence I'm sensing might be interfering…"

"Two years is a long time… There's no way to know for sure if she died in this forest, or ever even made it here to begin with. Finding out what happened to Hailey was always going to be a longshot anyway…"

"Would you have a better shot at pickin' up on her scent in your Wolf form?" Wendy asked, legit curious.

"I only transform when there's absolutely no other options," Takura replied sternly. "This doesn't qualify yet… And quite frankly, the area isn't large enough for my Wolf form to make much of a difference…" Takura's expression briefly turned aggressive as he stared off in an easternly direction. "If our main goal is locating this haunted farm, that's the direction we should set off in… That's where the negative presence in this forest feels it's strongest."

"Well… Unless anybody else has a better idea of where to start, let's get moving," Dipper decided. With no objections, the group headed off in the direction Takura suggested… And maybe it was just the power of suggestion, but it wasn't long before the other three were inflicted with that same foreboding feeling.

The woods proved to be even more difficult to traverse than Dipper had anticipated. It was becoming less difficult to imagine why people occasionally went missing trying to navigate this forest. He was starting to worry they might become one of those statistics, but he had to trust Takura knew where he was going. Either way, they were losing daylight rapidly. Mabel in particular was feeling exhausted, and it wouldn't be long before they were forced to find a spot to camp out for the night.

Before Dipper could voice his concerns, Takura stopped dead in his tracks, and slowly turned his head in every direction. To Mabel and Wendy, Takura appeared his cold stoic self, but Dipper could tell there was a slight hint of confusion hidden somewhere within that emotionless stare. "Is something wrong Takura?"

"Yes… I'm not quite sure what direction to go in anymore… I've been relying on that dark aura I've been sensing but…"

"What happened?" Wendy asked. "Did it disappear or somethin'?"

"No… The opposite… We're surrounded by it…" Everyone began looking around in confusion and concern. "Pick a direction other than the one we just came, and you're headed straight into the teeth of whatever's giving off those evil vibes…"

"Which means we must be close to whatever it is we're looking for…" Dipper presumed. "Well, it's getting too late to go any further… If there is something sinister lurking in these woods, I don't want it finding us in the dark. Let's backtrack a bit and setup camp for the night. I have a feeling we might just be at the doorstep of a legendary farm."

The group was in agreement, and after retracing their steps to a relatively open area outside of the 'dark zone', they set up camp… They'd brought along two tents in total, one for the boys, and one for the girls. The Twins took on the task of setting up the tents, while the pseudo stepsiblings were tasked with gathering firewood. Dipper set up his tent with relative ease, while Mabel seemed to be struggling mightily. If Dipper didn't know any better, he could swear she was trying to look inept on purpose…. And she proved his theory correct after Takura had wandered back into camp after gathering some kindling for the fire.

"Hey Takura, you're back! Would you mind helping me set up my tent? I just can't figure this crazy thing out for the life of me!"

"Why didn't you ask your brother for help?"

"Oh, he's busy working on his tent! I didn't want to bother him, and you just got back so…"

"But it appears he's been done for a while," Takura observed, as he looked over at Dipper who looked back, seemingly confused as to why he'd been brought into their conversation. That's when he saw the pleading look on his sister's face. Dipper sighed and acquiesced. The things he did for his sibling.

"Actually, I was going to head out and check on Wendy… She should've been back by now. Would you mind lending Mabel a hand Takura?"

Takura shrugged. "No problem, I guess…"

So Takura proceeded to help Mabel setup her tent… Which for some reason involved a lot of physical contact as he walked her through the process. It didn't bother Takura so much as he just felt it was unnecessary. It wasn't long before the tent was properly erected, too quickly for Mabel's liking. "Thank you Takura! You're really good with your hands you know?"

Mabel waited for a response, wondering it Takura would pick up on what she was implying. He kind of did, but not to the degree she would've liked. Just enough to make him uncomfortable. "Uh… You're welcome… Are Dipper and Wendy back yet? The sun's starting to go down…"

Takura hurriedly walked off, to Mabel's mild frustration. She wasn't sure if Takura just wasn't interested in her at all, or if he was just as socially ignorant as Dipper claimed. A smirk crossed her lips as she shrugged her shoulders to no one other than herself. Luckily for her, she wasn't the type to give up easily… Or was that too bad for Takura?

Any further introspective on Mabel's part would have to wait, seeing as her brother and Wendy made their way back to camp shortly after. Physically drained, they shared a modest meal around the campfire as night descended upon Oak Grove. Shortly after cleaning up after themselves, the girls had disappeared, to where Takura wasn't sure, but their absence presented him with the opportunity to converse with his male cohort.

"So, Dipper… Your sister…"

"What about her?" Dipper asked, a slight smile on his face due to him knowing where this conversation was likely going.

"Well… She's been… How do I describe this?... Aggressively friendly towards me?"

"We call that flirting here on Earth Takura," Dipper chuckled. "And I warned you about this before you came to Earth. She likes you… And by like I mean romantically interested in you, and Mabel doesn't tend to hold back when she's interested in someone."

"Yeah, I remember…" Takura looked directly at Dipper, and with a remarkably deadpan expression considering what he was about to ask. "How do I get her to stop?"

Dipper snorted as she struggled not to laugh. "Well, in my experience, all you have to do is wait a couple of weeks until she gets bored, and she'll move on to her next crush… Might even happen sooner if she meets a guy she deems cute anytime soon." Dipper's good humor dropped a bit as he realized something. "Is it really so bad that Mabel has a thing for you? She's a friendly cheerful girl. You could do a lot worse… You know, then my sister…"

"It's nothing personal… I just barely know her. Which makes her exaggerated acts of admiration feel inappropriate…"

"Well, that's the great thing about getting to work together…" Dipper smiled, as he placed a hand on Takura's arm. "You'll get plenty of time to get to know each other!"

"That's not exactly the point Dipper… I have other issues going on she should probably keep in mind, don't you think?"

"Other issues?... Oh! You mean the Werewolf thing." Dipper tended to forget his friend wasn't entirely human on occasion. He had always been just Takura to him. "Honestly, I don't think Mabel cares all that much."

"Well, maybe she should," Takura spat, in a brief uncharacteristic display of emotion Dipper could tell was directed mainly at himself. Takura always did appear more bothered by his Lycanthrope than the people closest to him.


A minor weather system passed through the Piedmont area that evening. While only minimal rain fell, the system did kick up a lot a wind, blowing hard and loud enough that the sound of that wind whipping against the tent was making it difficult for the man-wolf hybrid inside to sleep. With the wind came new smells carried in on the stiff breeze. One of those smells happened to be a familiar one, and it wasn't coming from that old hat. Takura shot straight up, and shook Dipper awake.

"Huh… What's going on… It's not morning already is it?"

"Not quite… Get your boots on, I've got the scent…"

"Scent?" That information immediately pulled him out of his sleep deprived stupor. "What scent?"

"Hat girls! The person whose body we were hoping to find! I just picked up her scent."

"But how?! Oh, never mind, who cares!" Dipper decided, as he started to quickly get ready to leave. "I'll go wake up the girls…"

"There's no time! We need to get on the trail before the wind dies down and I lose the scent." This was a half-truth. Time was of the essence but leaving the girls behind was just a bonus. He had nothing personal against either one, he even respected Wendy's combat prowess, he just didn't know them well enough yet to completely trust them if the situation got sketchy. Mabel in particular he had trouble imagining not being a liability in that scenario. They'd be safter staying at camp.

"Okay but… They're not going to be happy with us when we get back."

"You can beg for forgiveness later. It'll be worth it if we find what we're looking for."

Dipper hated not at least leaving a note, but he was afraid Takura might leave him behind as well if he procrastinated for too long. His concern grew the further they wandered away from camp. He wasn't sure how long they'd been on the move, but the sun had begun to rise. At least now he could sort of see where he was going without the flashlight. That didn't stop him from nearly slamming into Takura when he made a sudden stop. "Whoa! What's wrong? Did you lose the scent?"

"No… It's here… It's faint but… Over here!"

Dipper watched in confusion as Takura practically attacked the base of the nearest tree, ripping through the tall grass and weed overgrowth until he reached the soil and began digging. Realizing the implications of these actions, Dipper was understandably apprehensive. "Takura, wait! If there is a body buried here, we should try to be respectful."

"Huh? Oh right…" Takura steadied himself with a meditative breath before he continued digging at a more deliberate pass. "Sorry, got caught up in the heat of the moment… I don't know what it is, but something matching the scent from that hat is buried here."

"That's what I'm afraid of…" Dipper couldn't bring himself to look as Takura continued to dig. His eyes widened when, seconds later, he heard Takura pull something out of the dirt. Cautiously, he turned around, fully expecting to see human bones but instead found something else dangling from Takura's hand. "A backpack?"

Takura took a quick sniff. "It's extremely faint, but hat girl's scent is definitely attached to this pack."

"Well then… Let's see what we have here." Takura handed Dipper the backpack. The journeyman explorer got down on a knee and began rummaging through the contents. As expected, time had not been particularly kind. He found mostly basic camping equipment inside. A flashlight, a pair of worn gloves, a canteen, and a couple of maps. "I don't see any form of identification in here unfortunately… Wait, maps!"

There were three maps in total, but only one of them was of any interest. It was clearly hand-drawn, and thankfully in remarkably good condition considering the circumstances. "This is it… This is it!"

"What's it?" Takura huffed, annoyed again at his friend's tendency not to finish thoughts.

"This is the map Hailey drew to lead her back to Smiley Hollow… Look, she even drew a big smiley face at the edge of the map to mark the location. She's a pretty good little artist. Here's the old, covered bridge Mrs. Montgomery mentioned… Their appears to be a pair of oddly shaped trees standing across from each other a little further down the path…"

"Isn't that the rock formation we passed right before we made camp?" Takura observed as he took his own look at the map.

"That's right… And we've been heading east this entire time… If we keep following the trail Hailey sketched, it should lead us straight to Smiley Hollow Farm!"

"Fantastic… Why waste time then? Let's get going…"

"We can't… We have to go back to camp and get the girls first."

"Is that wise?" Takura asked hesitantly. "I know you can't sense it like I can, but there's something dark waiting for us at the end of this path. They'll be safer staying where they are while we handle this."

"I'm not leaving them behind Takura… I know you have trust issues, but we're a team… And we're going to learn to work together."

"I'll have to trust your judgement for now…. I just hope one of us doesn't wind up getting hurt because we got caught watching out for somebody else instead of ourselves…"

"We'll all watch each other's backs Takura… That's the only way this is going to work… Prepare yourself… We're going to be in for an earful when we get back to camp."


"What's the big idea leavin' us behind like that?! Not so much as a word of where you were headed! No note, no nothing! We had no idea what happened to you guys when we woke up this morning!"

"In a forest with a reputation for people disappearing! You promised you wouldn't abandoned me again Dipper! I thought we were *all* supposed to be a team here?! Why bring us along if this was just going to be a boy's club?!"

"I'm sorry guys… It was a knee-jerk decision. There just wasn't time too…"

"A knee-jerk decision that could've cost us big time!" Wendy grumbled angrily. "You realize we were completely stranded right? We couldn't chase after you guys since we had no idea what direction you even went, and we couldn't backtrack since we completely relied on Takura's senses to get us here! We would've been stuck here, waitin' for you guys to eventually show back up, and pray nothin' happened to ya!"

"Yeah, that was kind of the point," Takura murmured under his breath, though intentionally loud enough to ensure Wendy could hear. If he could get the girls off Dipper's back for his decision…

"Excuse me?" Wendy walked up and got right in Takura's face. The boy didn't even flinch. "Do we have a problem here?"

"The problem is, we could've already solved this mystery if Dipper wasn't insistent on backtracking all the way to camp to pick up a pair of distractions we'll need to babysit!"

"Babysit?! I can take care of myself just fine thank you! Or did you forget we were standin' back-to-back in that cave fightin' off those Lizard People!"

"I'm never put your ability to hold your own in a fight into question… There's something dark and evil in these woods though, and I need Dipper focused when we face it. It was going to be hard enough without him looking over his shoulder the entire time because he's worried about something happening to the two of you!"

"Well, I've got news for ya, we ain't going anywhere!" Wendy asserted, as she crossed her arms. "Dip wouldn't have hired me if he thought I was a liability! We're a part of this team whether you like it or not buddy!"

"Yeah, well I don't," Takura sneered as he turned to his back to her. "Just don't do anything to get yourselves hurt. I don't want to be the one to have to explain things to your mother if something happens to you… Or see the affect it would have on Dipper…"

"Okay…" Wendy muttered, now as confused as she was angry. Was this Takura's cold detached way of saying he was concerned for their safety?

"Don't take it personally," Dipper said, now standing next to her. "He's accustomed to taking the weight of the world on his shoulders. You wouldn't believe the amount of people back on Andorra that depended on him for their safety and well-being. His method of keeping people safe was to keep them as far away from the danger as he could."

"Why doesn't he act that way with you then? He doesn't seem to have a problem with you puttin' yourself in danger.

"Simple… He trusts me. Both to have his back and take care of myself if he's not in a position to watch mine."

"And we're not trustworthy?" she scowled.

"For him no… At least not yet… He doesn't know you well enough. Give him time and prove yourself to him, and there will come a point when he won't even flinch when we bring you along. You can't forget about the type of environment he comes from."

"The whole child-solider thing, I know! You can't keep usin' that excuse to explain away all his social short-comings Dip…"

"It's not just that Wendy… He's a Werewolf too… And the Andorran's attitudes towards Lycans were about the same as you could imagine most humans would be if they knew there was a Werewolf amongst them. People in general haven't given Takura much reason to trust others."

"Fine, I'll keep that in mind," Wendy groaned in submission, then promptly turned around and punched Dipper in the shoulder. "Don't think that lets you off the hook pal! Take off without me again, and there's gona be hell to pay!"

"It won't become a habit, I promise," Dipper said, rubbing at his now sore shoulder.

An unusually quiet Mabel, finally spoke up. "Did you guys at least find what you snuck out at the butt crack of dawn to go looking or for?"

"We did," Dipper responded as he showed off their new acquisition to the girls. "We found Hailey Montgomery's backpack, buried in some dirt at the base of a tree."

"How do you know it's hers?" Wendy challenged, still in the mood to be combative.

"Takura picked up Hailey's scent on the bag… We also found this inside." Dipper proudly presented the remarkably persevered map, unfolding it for them to see exactly what they were looking at.

"The actual map…" Wendy marveled. "We might actually find this farm after all…"

After calming everyone down… Well calming Wendy down. Mabel didn't really seem to care, and Takura was Takura. If Dipper didn't know any better, he'd think his friend might've purposely attempted to draw the girl's ire towards himself, so they'd stop yelling at him.

They packed whatever essentials they thought they might need, but left the camp mostly intact, just in case they needed to retreat back to this spot for any reason. Any potential distractions now nullified, the Gravity Falls crew started along the path they hoped would lead them to a local legend. "Okay, so the next landmark appears to be a pair of oddly shaped trees on either side of the trail…"

"What exactly do you mean by oddly shaped?" Wendy asked. "That picture she drew doesn't really do anything for me."

"Yeah, it's not her best illustration… You've done some work as a lumberjack Wendy, so I'm sure you've seen some trees that have weird curves near the base… I think that's the kind of thing we're looking for… Two of them parallel to each other, so they shouldn't be too hard to spot."

"You mean like that?!" Mabel shouted and pointed further up the trail. The others looked up and sure enough, they spotted two thin and moderately sized trees, both with matching odd curvatures near their base simulating the appearance that they were pointing at the other.

"Yes Mabel! Exactly like that… This has to be the spot…"

"He, he, he… They look like butts."

"Good grief Mabel, are you twelve?"

"It looks like the trees are mooning each other," she continued, completing ignoring her brother.

Dipper shook his head before checking the map. "Okay… So it looks like we need to head northwest of here and eventually we should come across one of those old-style covered bridges…"

"Didn't Mrs. Montgomery mention it was over a dry riverbed?" Wendy remembered.

"She did… Funny thing is, if there was a river this deep into the forest, you'd figure somebody would've charted it by now…"

"Just another detail that makes me question if this story has any weight to it at all Dip."

About an hour later.

"Well, I'll be damned." Looming in front of Wendy and her friends was, indeed, a covered bridge arching over a long dried up riverbed. The bridge didn't appear in the best of shape, but as previously mentioned, there was no water stopping them from just walking around it.

"This is hard to believe… We're close guys… As close to Smiley Hollow as anyone's been in at least two years…" The excitement in Dipper's voice could not be contained.

"Yeah… We are…" Takura agreed, as he clenched his fist in a mix of excitement and concern. He certainly didn't mind the idea of a little danger. Unnecessarily putting others in harm's way is where he drew the line.

Another hour passed, but Dipper refused to lose hope… He'd almost done that very thing right before they discovered the bridge, so clearly patience on this journey was bound to get rewarded. It wasn't long after when he rounded a corner through a thick patch of overgrowth only to get damn near gob smacked at what he saw. His team followed shortly behind him and joined their leader in being equally surprised by what they found. The forest appeared to abruptly come to an end, and standing tall before them was a big red barn… With a smiley face painted across the length of the left side of that barn, straw hat, and straw stalk in its mouth, just as Helen Montgomery had described it.

"Hailey wasn't making it up… She really did find Smiley Hollow… And now so have we."

End Chapter 6


-I debated whether to divide the last part of this arch into two large or three smaller chapters… Due to a lack of proper points to break without taking the reader out of the story, I decided on the two large chapters. The next chapter is going to be massive… 30+ pages dedicated to the search of this creepy farm that's not supposed to exist. Certainly nothing horrible could've happened here… Or will while our friends are there.