Did you miss me? Admit it, you missed me! :3
Sorry about the long update time, couldn't figure out how to get this chapter right. By the time we get to summer, the updates will come pouring in, I promise (especially cause of the new episode coming 'supposedly' out in June).
Even though I've written this chapter at least six times, it still isn't as refined as I would like it to be... (and excuse me if I got some facts wrong, I'm no master of the mind but I know a few characters in this story that are...)
Hope you guys enjoy ;)
Dipper shifted in his seat for the hundredth time, impatiently glancing at the clock every few seconds, as if hoping it would somehow stop. Stan calmly sat in his seat. Mabel, unlike her two companions, was out of her chair and frolicking around the room, looking at the variety photos that dotted the walls of the waiting room.
"Dipper! Look at this one!" Mabel exclaimed, pointing excitedly at a recent picture depicting two men. One of them was impeccably dressed, wearing a black pinstriped suit with a yellow tie. The other man was significantly shorter than the first, wearing baggy pants and suspenders. Prominent on the shorter man's admittedly drab (*cough* HIDEOUS *cough*) face was a deep, sad frown. In fact, it seemed that all the photos had two things in common, first thing being that the well dressed man was in all of them, and the second being that all his associates seemed to be overly depressed.
"Doesn't Toby look so happy?" Mabel continued. Dipper's response was gripping his chair even more tightly, if that was even possible, when the clock started to close in on three o'clock.
"Dipper Pines." a bored voice called from the front desk, "Dr. Codex will see you now."
Stiffly standing up, Dipper looked at the ominous door with resignation before taking resolute steps, determined not to tremble. Pausing at the door, he looked behind him to make sure that Stan and Mabel had followed him. Stan placed his hand reassuringly on Dipper's shoulder, silently urging him to open the door. Resting his hand on the knob, he was about to turn it when the door flew open, revealing the same tall man that was depicted in the surrounding photos.
Cheerfully the man gestured to the trio, "Come in! Come in!"
He quickly ushered in the flustered Dipper before speedily slamming the door in both Mabel and Stan's faces. Bewildered, they glanced at each other before sending the desk lady a questioning look.
As if she were used to answering such looks, the lady replied while still having her faced buried in her book, "Dr. Codex likes to work with his patients alone, says that other people distract him."
"But Dipper needs us!" Mabel protested, "And we want to know what's wrong with Dipper too!"
"Mabel honey," Stan said, pulling Mabel away from the door, "The doctor can tell us after the appointment."
Grudgingly, Mabel let Stan sit her back down in her seat.
Mabel glared at the door, before proceeding to hop out of her seat and observe some more pictures, "OOOH, Grunkle Stan! Look at this one!"
Dipper was led into a brightly lit room, where cushions of all sorts covered every available surface. Couches were also commonplace in the chamber, with the only hard looking piece of furniture being a hardwood desk which dominated the center of the room.
"Please take a seat!" the man smiled, gesturing to a particularly cushy looking recliner.
"As you probably already know, my name is Dr. William Codex, but you can just call me Will!" the doctor flourished. Something about the voice made Dipper freeze. It sounded familiar, almost like…
So you're not a complete idiot then.
Thats not possible.
Oh but it is.
The Voice… he can't be the Voice.
How would you know that, you're merely a slave to my will...
This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be happening.
Thiscouldn'tbehappeningthiscouldn'tbehappeningthiscouldn'tbehappening.
Hyperventilating, Dipper fell back in his seat before curling up into the ball. On the verge of a panic attack, he looked up at the supposed psychiatrist, whose amiable smile had morphed into a malicious one.
William Codex cradled Dipper head in his lap.
He whispered to Dipper in a sing song voice, "Oh Pine Tree, we are going to have so much f̞̞̦̝̰̙͢u̱̟͟͡n̸̵̫͇̻̝ !"
Mabel lay on the carpeted floor. Stan sat across from where she had fallen, impatiently checking his watch every now and then. It had been over an hour and Dr. Codex still didn't seem to be anywhere close to finishing with Dipper. He hoped there hadn't been any complications but with the kid's recent behavior, Stan didn't think that that was likely. When the door finally did open, Stan and Mabel both leapt from their positions and rushed to listen to what the doctor had to say. Dr. Codex himself looked mighty pleased with himself, humming a strange tune under his breath. Dipper himself didn't look any better than when he went into the room in the first place. His eyes gazed dazedly ahead, every so often, he would look behind him, as if making sure he wasn't being followed. Wordlessly, he hobbled over to a chair and seated himself before and muttered too quietly for neither Mabel or Stan to hear what he was saying. Mabel followed her sibling and tried to coax Dipper from his position.
Stan confronted the psychologist and said, "Do you know what's wrong with him?"
"Yes, his case is quite an interesting one…" Dr. Codex mumbled absentmindedly as he adjusted his tie.
"Well, what do you diagnosis then?" Stan growled, annoyed at the doctor's seeming lack of care.
"I would say a severe case of schizophrenia and chronic insomnia."
"Schizophrenia?!" Stan gasped in disbelief, rubbing his head as he felt a migraine set in.
"Yup," Dr. Codex responded, popping the p, "And I'd say he's suffering from social anxiety, judging from the way he was stuttering when we had our... conversation."
"Is there anything we can do to help him?"
The psychiatrist simply checked his nails while replying, "Well, start by letting him do what he wants, a patient's condition will usually worsen if people aren't ready to accept him."
"What about his social anxiety?" Stan asked, "Is there anything we can do about that?"
"Thats what this is for," Dr. Codex exclaimed dramatically as he flourished a small orange bottle, "Serotonin, take it once before breakfast, and once before dinner, and little Dipper should be as good as new when it comes to socializing with fellow human beings."
"You're sure this stuff will help Dipper with his... issue?"
"As certain as the sun shines every morning," Dr. Codex said jovially.
"If you say so..." Stan mumbled before shouting at Mabel, who was still poking her brother who had refused to talk about what the appointment was like, "Stop harassing you brother Mabel, we're leaving!"
Dr. Codex then snapped his fingers, as if just realizing something, "Almost forgot! Don't be afraid to bring Dipper back if he's still having issues, I think he quite enjoyed our little chat."
"Will do!" Mabel said before running towards the door, yelling back at the doctor before leaving, "Thanks Dr. Codex!"
He waved his farewell as Stan and Mabel had to forcefully drag Dipper out of the building, who seemed to not care about what was going on around him.
Once the trio left the room, Dr. William Codex's friendly smile morphed into an impossibly wide, malicious grin. His eyes flashed yellow and his pupils narrowed into slits.
Quietly, he responded, "Oh no Shooting Star, thank you..."
"So, how did it go?" Mabel asked as she repeatedly 'bwopped' Dipper's nose. Dipper stared at the floor of the car blankly, mumbling indiscernibly under his breath. Mabel's efforts to get Dipper to hold a conversation ended in failure, as she still hadn't managed to coax and straight answer out of Dipper by the time Stan parked the car in front of the Shack.
Stan turned to Dipper before he could exit the car, "Well, its about dinner time so I need you to take these pills beforehand."
Dipper held the bottle gingerly before shuffling into the Shack so that only Mabel and Stan were left outside.
Mabel turned to Stan and asked innocently, "What's schizophrenia?"
Stan cringed inwardly, trying to formulate an answer that wouldn't give Mabel a heart attack, "Well Mabel schizophrenia is an... urm... condition where... the ...um... patient experiences... hallucinations... of a sort..."
Mabel stared at Stan blankly before blurting out, "Like when I get high on Smile Dip?"
"Exactly!" Stan said, happy that he had managed to get his point across, before realizing what Mabel had just said, "Wait... WHAT?"
"So Dipper is hallucinating about things?" Mabel continued curiously, "Like he would maybe... see or hear things that aren't really there?"
"Its a bit more complicated than that..." Stan answered, racking his brain for a proper explanation, "There are other symptoms and side effects of schizophrenia, like paranoia and insomnia."
"So Dipper is going coocoo bananas?" Mabel asked.
Stan sighed, thinking about what the twin's parents would do to him if they ever found out what was going on, "Yes, Dipper is going coocoo bananas."
Mabel stood still, processing what she just heard before grinning widely, "Then we just do what the doctor said and let Dipper take his medication and he should be as good as new before anyone notices anything is wrong!"
Stan patted Mabel's head before guiding her inside, "Hopefully Mabel, but I get the feeling that the psychiatrist may have a few loose screws himself..."
After poking at his food for ten minutes without consuming any of it, Dipper excused himself before heading to the attic.
Mabel stared at his retreating form sadly before referring to Stan, "Thats the fifth dinner in a row he's refused to eat anything."
"He'll get over it," Stan replied while slurping happily at a can of brown meat, "Kid has enough common sense to eat when he's hungry."
THERE'S NOTHING WRONG, Dipper thought to himself furiously, overlooking his notes and calculations for the nth time. It was hard enough formulating these diagrams with the Voices constantly hammering his mind. Apparently, with the recent lack of progress, the Voice and his minions had decided to add some incentive. Dipper whimpered at the thought of the torment that he would be put through if he didn't manage to succeed by the deadline.
He saw things, horrible things. Things that should not be seen. Things that did not belong in this world. Clutching his head in pain, he started to giggle hysterically. For a moment, Dipper wondered why he was giggling, he shouldn't be giggling, he was in pain. He retched but there was nothing to throw up, due to him not eating any dinner.
Then the answer came to him in a flash of inspiration. The answer was so obvious, how could he not have seen it before. He ignored the pain in his head and started to scribble and scratch furiously onto his diagrams. He laughed, the solution was so simple. So plain. So obvious. He wrote and wrote, not stopping even when his sister walked into the room. Ignoring Mabel's worried looks, he continued to write. Why was the ink red? He was using a blue pen. He started to feel lightheaded but forged on. Dipper hardly noticed his bandages turning a dark crimson. Glancing at his watch briefly, Dipper noted that it was already one in the morning. With one final scribble with his red smeared pen, he held the stack of pages up and smiled. It was done. He had the answer. Now they would believe him. He giggled again, delirious with pain. Reading the first page, he sighed happily. Maybe he should've been worried that the writing was in red. Maybe he should've been worried that the page was written in symbols that he shouldn't have been able to understand. But all that Dipper cared about was that it was almost done. It was almost complete.
I know, I know, it was rushed at best. I tried my hardest though and I promise that later chapters won't be as bad!
Until next time...