"On it!" Her brother called from outside.
Mabel turned around and dusted off her purple skirt. The room she was in was lit up by the open window. Vines and leaves crawled up the walls. She could make out paintings and colors behind the foliage. Chairs and tables had been scattered around the room; yellow papers settled where they had landed. It seemed as though the kids who were here last either vandalized the classroom or were in a hurry.
Out of curiosity she picked up a drawing on the floor. It was of a girl, half drawn. On the bottom of the page in small letters was a name and a signature. Although the signature wasn't eligible the name read was, 'Angelia'. Mabel folded the picture and set it in the pocket of her sweater.
The door leading out was almost untouched by the foliage, allowing her to easily open the door. The hallway was the same, paper and school supplies surrounding the floors, moss and fungus growing in damp corners. She neared the end of the hallway, looking for a staircase to let her twin inside. As she turned around she could have sworn a shadow moved behind her.
Mabel shook it off and chose to go left, checking each door in hopes of finding a flight of stairs. She left each door she went through open, taking note of how torn and disorganized each room was. She wondered who would want to vandalize schools, or if something bad had happened. Then again she was trespassing just as they would.
She had gone down most of the hall when she noticed two doors at the end. One was slightly ajar, the room behind pitch black. That could be the way downstairs, she thought. It felt like the doors were calling her, as if saying this is the way. She decided to take her chances and went through the door.
Instead of steps she was met with another classroom. She stepped inside, the door slamming shut.
"Bahhh!" She screeched. The corner of her vision swooped by, but upon glance there was nothing there
"Woah, okay I could have sworn I saw something. Man, I'm more paranoid than Dipper." She breathed.
The room was dim, the windows blocked by dirt, boards and plants. Mabel turned around and tried to open the doors. They wouldn't budge, as if they were glued shut.
"C'mon, you stupid metal. " She said. Just then the lights came flashing on, rendering her blind for a moment. She rubbed her eyes, adjusting to the new light.
"That seemed like it hurt." A voice said behind her.
"Well no duh, the light was just off. Wait-" She snapped her head behind her.
There standing- well more like hovering - behind her was a translucent boy about her height wearing a jacket and glasses. How wasn't she alone? No one else was here! Not even see through people. Wait see through?
"AHHH DEMON!" She yelled and swatted at the air.
"Hey! Watch it I'm not a demon!" The figure replied as he dodge her batting hand.
"Well ya can't be a ghost because there aren't any ghosts in an abandoned school." Mabel huffed, not believing her eyes. Maybe it was the glitter sandwiches infecting her brain. Dipper had told her to diet it down.
"Wanna help me with my homework?" The figure asked her ignoring her antics. Nope definitely not a sugar high. Mabel made a disgusted face.
"Uhm no thank you, I have to meet up with my brother." She turned around and started trying open the door again. But she was stopped in motion, not able to move.
"What-"
"I can teach you all about the quantum theory and how many possible universes there are!" He smiled.
"I-im good. in fact none of that's interesting to me. I'd ra-rather go." She said. He's a bit creepy. As she finished her thought she was rushed to a table in the middle of the room. She tried standing but it was like she was being held down by an invisible force.
The boy, or Joseph as he introduced, ignored her tangents and walked - hovered? - to the front of the classroom.
"Hey let me go!" She yelled as he walked away.
"No, this is fun. You're learning. You'll like my lessons on quantum physics. Then we can play Dungeons, Dungeons and more Dungeons after wards." He said happily.
Oh no, Mabel thought. She has to get out of here she doesn't do well with 'nerd' things.
"First I'd like to say, that while we cannot know for sure there are other universes out there I'd like to point out the atoms that make up our universe and how it's theoretically possible to recreate..." Mabel tuned him out with hands over her ears.
There was no way she was going to sit here, listening to school stuff. Mabel scooted her chair along the floor, trying her best to break the invisible bonds holding her down.
"While many quantum experiments examine very small objects, such as electrons and protons..." he continued drawing diagram after diagram upon the chalk board.
Mabel was able to scoot across the room to the door. She used the door to pry her self off of the chair. The door was unlocked and she bolted down the hallway. Startled, the ghost boy yelled after her. "Hey, get back here new friend! We haven't even discussed what graph paper we're going to use!"
She kept running testing each door to see if any lead downstairs. There was no way she could sit in the chair and listen to more quantum whatnot!
She ran past door after open door when she was suddenly pulled into a small room. "Now that I found you, we can play 'D, D and more D'! I chose isometric dot paper so we could better understand our outlines." Joseph said from behind. Yet again she was stuck, literally and figuratively. "How about we make a deal? I play one game and you let me go?" It's okay to make deals with not-demons, right?
"But.. I thought we were friends.." the nerdy ghost pouted. He put out his lip and looked like he was about to cry. Mabel's only weakness besides smile-dip, making someone sad!
"We are? I mean yeah we are. I just really have to go find my brother." She said as nicely as possible.
Joseph ignored her deal and rolled a die. "Ooh yeah! A 19! Sir Cast A'lot takes his sword of magic runes and blows through the gates of the dark. Before us lies an open path way. One in which we must travel for a great distance," He reads off a book. "Unless one of us rolls greater than 18 we will not heal during this travel. Roll."
Mabel looked at the dice offered to her. Last time she picked up a die was when her brother turned into a elf in a board game. "Yeah, not happening." She said. Then her hands moved by themselves and rolled the dice for her.
"Ahhh that's not me, I'm not doing that!" She freaks out as her hands shake and roll the dice like magic. The dice rolls out of her hands and onto graph paper, the numbers form into a 19.
"Yeah! Another 19! Up top!" He puts out his hand for her to high five. Her arms reluctantly high five him and return to place. This kid was weirder than her brother and that's saying something!
Besides Joseph's oddness, that and him being a ghost, he seemed lonely. Like he's been trapped here by himself all this time with no one to play with. Mabel couldn't begin to understand that feeling, never wanting to be alone. With him being here all by himself it would explain why he was so reluctant to let Mabel leave, not wanting to be alone again.
She decided to give in and stay, not like she wanted to be here but because she had no choice but to entertain this young spirit. Her brother could find his own way in, right?
Mabel was exhausted. She had no clue how long they had spent in the makeshift library, but it seemed like hours. Joseph had decided to move on from the RPG, to Mabel's pleasure. Sword fighting and endless quests are definitely not her forte. The ghost boy turned around with crossword puzzles and coded books in his arms. "Oh I-I'm not good at puzzles." Mabel said.
"That's alright! I'll show you." He responded. Great, Mabel thought. Was there anyway to make him let her go?
For the next hour Mabel said and did anything to make Joseph want to let her go. She whined, cried, and screamed. Much to her demise he ignored her. Joseph cracked a code in his book with Mabel's 'help', sifting through the film's box now.
"Pleaseee let me go Joseph. I've spent hours with you. I played your game and let you teach me Morse-code. I really do have to find my brother." She begged.
Joseph put the tape down and turned around. "I get it. You have other plans. I just really want to hang out with you. I've spent years in this school with out any way to be free. I've had no one to talk too. Plus Angelia thinks I'm just a 'weird nerd'. She won't even let me downstairs." He replied calmly. He can't go downstairs?
"Wait you're telling me there's more ghosts?" Mabel asked. "Sorry, if that's offensive."
"No, it's fine. And it's only me and her. I've tried talking to her but last time she said 'I don't have time in this eternity to talk to some loser who doesn't even know how to dress'," He pulled on his collar and continued. "I don't know why I'm stuck here, but it's pretty lonely. I mean, heck, I've watched Star Battles at least a hundred times in hopes that someone will find our school."
Wow, if Mabel had known just how lonely Joseph was she wouldn't have been quite as rude to him.
Then it dawned on her. She reached into her sweater and pulled out the drawing. "Is this Angelia? I found it shortly before you kidnapped me." She showed him the picture.
"H-How did you find my drawing? I thought it was lost after the accident!" He claimed. Mabel rose a brow. Joseph blinked, then pretended to cough. "I mean, yes, that's her. I used to draw a lot before I, well, y'know." He scratched the back of his neck.
"I have an idea." Mabel said with a smile.
Joseph looked skeptical, but still agreed.
"If I find Angelia and get her to talk to you, will you let me find my brother?" She requested. Joseph thought about it. "Well, I mean, I guess. But I highly doubt she'd be willing to give me a chance. You're welcome to try though." Joseph agreed.
"Okay thank you. One last thing, can you lead me to the stairs, I swear this place is a maze."
"Sure," Joseph said nonchalantly. "I kind of know this floor like the back of my hand."
Once Mabel reach the stairs Joseph disappeared into thin air. It's up to you now, Mabel. Time to sort out some ghost-drama. She wandered the halls aimlessly, calling out Angelia's name in hopes to find the other spirit. Mabel took a turn into a hall filled with lockers. She didn't expect what she saw, nearly laughing at the site. She missed so much cooped up with Joseph.