Dipper did not know how long he had been on the floor or if he would ever get up again. He had made it, against all odds he alone had survived long enough to reach the author's cabin and the safety it promised but that mattered very little to him now. The author of his number 3 book had not lied, the protections offered by the spells and incantations were indeed strong, more than enough to keep Crulley at bay, but that was not the problem. Food was. Apparently the author had made it to the cabin in time to escape Crulley but had not returned to restock the cabin and so all that was left were meager scraps. If Crulley didn't kill him, starvation would. Dipper sat upon the floor too transfixed by his own morbid thoughts to move, lost in an ocean of despair as the faces of the recently departed berated him incessantly. The darkness outside receded and light flooded the cabin as day broke. People would begin to wonder about him and the missing teens. If this had happened before with other groups of young hopefuls then Dipper doubted that rescue crews would find him any time soon especially if they were being led by Gravity Falls' notoriously incompetent police force. Besides, he was safe inside the cabin nothing could touch him while he remained inside. Hours went by and the light outside soon faded and darkness reclaimed the land once again. The lids of his eyes grew heavier and heavier, he had not slept since entering the cabin and the athleticism required by the horrors of the previous night were finally taking their toll as he drifted off into a dreamless sleep. Morning came and Dipper's stomach growled as he counted out and separated the rations for the coming month he would need to spend inside the cabin. It was all he could do to maintain his sanity as his sister's killer pounded on the side of the house, howling in the vain effort of breaching the cabin's defenses.
Dipper had read somewhere in a survival guide his Gruncle Stan sold at the shack that the best way to stay alive in these types of situations was to keep busy and stay productive. Looking around the cabin it seemed like the author was primarily concerned with the bare essentials and little more. The cabin itself was all one room with a stove, a fridge, and a tattered cot resting in the corner (upon closer inspection of the cot's underbelly Dipper found an issue of playboy circa 1963 featuring Judi Monterey as the centerfold, he tucked it away for later). Beyond this, the cabin offered little else in the way of entertainment or aesthetics save for the strange symbols etched into the moldy rotting walls, ceiling, and floor (presumably these were the aforementioned spells that now protected him). There wasn't even a singing fish tacked to the wall. It was a far cry from home and the more he thought of home and the sister who would never be there, the emptier he felt. While pacing the cabin for the hundredth time his foot struck a hollow space in the floorboards. Acting quickly he tore away the wooden plank and reached inside the space. Pulling his hand out, he retrieved what looked like a musty, old diary and a pencil. It wasn't much but at least it would give him something to do and so he spent his days sleeping, eating, and writing.
Day 3
I am keeping this diary in case I don't make it out of here alive. My friends, my sister, and myself were camping in the Gravity Falls woods. Some crazy things happened and we raised the spirit of Sarah Crulley an ancient serial killer known as the smiling death of Gravity Falls. Our group was quickly split up and hunted down by the risen dead. I can't say for certain what happened to everyone in our group but I am positive that I am the only one left alive. If you're reading this then you know that I have made it to this cabin and am currently being kept safe by the incantations placed upon it by the previous owner. Still, I can hear Crulley outside. She's been out there ever since I came to this cabin and hasn't left. I can hear her pounding on the door on the walls I can hear her crawling on the roof searching for a way to get in… always searching. The screaming is getting louder. I keep asking myself why is this happening? Why me? why them? Why her? None of this makes any sense! I think it was Steven King who once said "Nightmares exist outside of logic, and there's little fun to be had in explanations; they're antithetical to the poetry of fear'." Maybe he was right, but right now all I want to know is why.
Day 4
Today I decided to explore the hollow space where I found this diary some more and it really paid off. I found what looked like more notes left behind by the author of my book. It seems that he was doing some research into Sarah Crulley as part of his malevolent spirits section in the #3 when he accidentally raised her on a dare from his friends (we all know how that turned out). As it turns out Sarah was very much a serial killer in old time Gravity Falls. Persecuted since birth as a witch for being born by ill omens and markings of the devil i.e. two birth marks on her cheeks that gave her the appearance of constantly smiling (the real reason she was called the smiling death). Quiet and often out of sight of most villagers she was convicted at her trial of killing three school children, fourteen adults, and seventeen adolescents. The bodies were never recovered but she was apparently convicted on account of her bloodstained cloths and unresponsiveness to questioning. Ironically it says here that she was hung, draw, and quartered under the same tree she had hung her victims. Ya' know something diary? I wish I could make her suffer through that all over again. I REALLY DO!
Day 5
Scratch scratch scratch! That's all I hear now as death scours the outside of the cabin looking for a way in. There's not much to do here so I made a little memorial for Mabel with some discarded wrappers and paperclips. It isn't much but I think she would like it; I just wish I had her knack for arts and crafts. Maybe then I could do her memory justice. I'm worried about the chunk of wood Mabel used to repel Crulley. It definitely came from the house; I can see where it once was in the corner of the roof. I hope that the spells can hold up with that piece missing. OH! By the way Diary, Wendy visited me in my dreams again last night. We made up and she says that heaven isn't so bad. It has everything, but there is an odd lack of colors. That's too bad; I can't imagine living in a world without colors, can you?
Day 8
Troubling news Diary, according to the author's notes on spells and incantations and it says that spells work to charge matter (in this case the cabin) with ethereal energies. This matter will continue to hold and exert a charge until the spell is broken (uh-oh). Once broken, the matter will no longer be able to exert this charge and it will begin to deplete the reserves it has stored over time. I think the piece Mabel found was a part of the spell protecting this cabin and now that it has been broken, it is only a matter of time before this protection runs out and Crulley can enter. I just hope the spell had enough time to build up the reserves necessary for me to last the month. Listen Diary, I know this is going to sound weird but I think Crulley knows this already. She's been silent since the last time I talked to you and I can feel her trying to worm her way in. It's like that one corner of the ceiling with the missing chunk is forever cold and dark. Not dark as in pitch black, really more of a damp spot that seems to be growing with each passing day. Diary, I'm scared.
Day 12
Ugh, Diary you just missed Tyrone! He was only here for a few minutes but he was hilarious Hahaha. Don't Worry I'll introduce you to him next time. I'm sure you'll get along great, he's just like me. Heck we could even be twins. More bad news buddy, Tyrone accidentally ate some of our rations. He was really sorry but now we might not make it the full month. Oh man, sorry Diary but I am too tired to care right now. Goodnight.
Day 20
Mabel came to the door again today and this time she brought everyone with her! It was really nice to see the gang back together again. Tyrone wasn't amused though. He told me that they weren't real, that they were skin puppets worn by Crulley to get me to go outside. Tyrone is a good guy watching out for me like that and making sure I don't fall for any tricks. Though lately he has been scaring me a bit. He's seems more unstable and angry all the time, I think he might be crazy. Even worse, the rations are getting low. I think we might starve Diary. Worse yet still, the spot has been getting bigger. Its spread from that corner of the ceiling to the walls and floor. Diary, when I look into that corner I can't see very well. It's like something in the shadows is obstructing my vision. Crulley is getting closer.
Day 23
Tyrone was the skin puppet today. He tried to make me go outside. He told me that it was hopeless, that I was losing my mind and should just end it all. I told him what you told me say Diary; I told him that he was just a figment of my imagination nothing real. I thought he would be furious but he just frowned and vanished. You were right diary; you're the only one I can trust.
Day 29
All Food has been eaten and no water left. No one visits me in my dreams any more Diary. Crulley is still outside; I can see her in the trees watching me right now. She's smiling at me like she knows something I don't, but I know what she is up to Diary, I do. The damp spot in the corner of the ceiling has been growing and its almost eaten up half of the cabin. I don't go on that side any more. It's so cold and I feel so empty when I'm there. Sometimes I can hear them screaming at me asking me asking me why I didn't do more and I don't know why Diary, I just don't know.
Day 35
I know you keep telling me that she's gone, that Crulley isn't there anymore, but I know that's a lie. Sure the darkness slowly devouring the cabin is gone, but it could just be another one of her tricks Diary, you don't know that. Besides the cabin is the only place that is safe. Where will I sleep if not here?
Day 36
No food…No water…dying, can't live here. Going to see if Crulley is outside, make sure that she is really gone. Diary, I'm sorry but I am not coming back.
Dipper walked outside into a bright summer afternoon. The light was blinding and forced him to shield his eyes with his skeletal hand. The weeks of rationing his food supply and subsequent starvation had left him in a near dead state. Malnourishment had ravaged his body and eaten away what little of him there was. His skin clunk to his bones and the dehydration cracked his lips. Dipper took a brief step and stumbled forward. Walking apparently too much for him, Dipper sank to his knees and then outright fell to the ground. His breath ragged and hollow as his eyes slowly closed shut.
Dipper awoke with a start covered in a cold sweat. His heart felt like it was trying to escape his chest as he tried to slow his breathing. He had had that dream again. That dream about the terrible month spent in the Gravity Falls woods. It always started off the same, he'd have a dream, wake up to Toby's voice over the radio, ask Wendy out, and then things would slowly go to shit. It had been a year since that day when rescue crews found his limp form passed out in front of the cabin. No other bodies were recovered, but all things considered that wasn't very much of a surprise as Crulley had disappeared long before Dipper even stepped out of the cabin. People had called it a miracle but he didn't think so. It was three weeks spent in the hospital of rehabilitation and recovery followed by a proverbial cornucopia of police interrogations, well-wishers, news crews, and even a few death threats (courtesy of manly Dan and others like him who thought Dipper might have had something to do with the disappearances). After which came god only remembers how many months of therapy of which he still wasn't finished. They been able to establish that Tyrone wasn't real nor was Diary but they had yet to shake him of his belief in Sarah Crulley. No, it wasn't a miracle it was hell. On top of that he was still having nightmares about that whole month. Nightmares that didn't fit the cop's description of events, nightmares about the truth or at least his version of it. Either way, he was no longer in Oregon nor would he go back there ever again. He was safe back in his California home in his warm bed still shaking as the chill of the night terror clunk to him like a disease.
Dipper got out of bed and walked downstairs. The house he had once called home, the place where he felt so safe and so sure about everything was now empty and foreign. Mabel had brought such life to this house just as she did with every place she visited. Now, however, she was gone her body probably tacked to the tree of human suffering and a twisted smile sewn into her face. The very thought of his sister hanging from that god awful tree made him shudder. This was something he knew he would never recover from and neither would his parents. Sure they were happy to have their son back but the loss of their loving daughter had all but destroyed them. Now-a-days when they weren't yelling and screaming at each other or leaving go sleep at a motel or relative's house for some "alone time" they were distant and cold towards Dipper. He was positive that they still loved him, but the only thing that could be certain in anyone's mind about that night was that he had failed his sister. It was his job to protect her to make sure that she was safe, but he didn't and now he couldn't even bring himself to look directly at his own reflection. The sight of it was far too repulsive for his tastes.
Dipper reached into the fridge and pulled out a bottled water, the early morning sun's rays dulled by the surrounding fog bank. As he gulped it down in just a few seconds, he couldn't help but reflect on the fact that no matter how many times he was told differently, no matter how many times the world around him changed and tried to change him there were certain constants that remained within him. Fact #1: Crulley was not a fear induced hallucination, she was real and she killed everyone. Fact #2: He was still a good person. Fact #3: No matter how many therapy sessions he attended they would be with him, they would always be there and nothing was going to change that. These were inexorable facts that were true now and would always be true no matter how many people said otherwise. Dipper knew that sleep would not be visiting him again as he stepped outside onto the backyard patio. It was a peaceful foggy day. He felt a sort of serene contentedness wash over him at the sight. Dipper could see them off in the distance, obscured by the fog. They were the people he was told didn't exist, the people he had seen die: Nate, Lee, Thompson, Tambry, Dave, Robby, Wendy, and of course Mabel. They were never going to leave him and he felt reassured by this. No matter what happened to him, no matter what the world threw at him, he would never be alone. Dipper couldn't help but smile to himself, something in the air told him that today was going to be a good day.
(Steps on stage to the sound of uproaring applause) Thank you, thank you one and all. I'd just like to start out by saying that this story meant nothing to me (gasps abound). Hehe, yeah I know but it's true. Really it was a creative impulse, a fun way to vent steam and nothing more. Personally I didn't even expect anyone to view it or give it a second thought when posting here. The only reviews I anticipated were wholly negative and full of criticism. But GOD DAMN that was not the case. Many positive reviews and over a thousand views have made me see things a little differently. So, to all of you who have stuck with this story I'd just like to say: THANKS! And who knows maybe I'll have another creative impulse sometime in the future. (Bows and walks off stage)