It was an absolutely average day at the Mystery Shack. Mabel was spinning herself on the globe in the gift shop as Dipper read from the third journal.
"Mabel?" Dipper asked her suddenly, still looking through the book. "Do you believe in ghosts?"
"I believe you're a big dork," she laughed in reply, before Dipper boredly stopped the globe's spinning with a touch of his pencil, making Mabel fall off the sphere and crash to the ground.
Stan then entered the shop. "Soos, Wendy," he called, as the two hurried over to hear his instruction. "I'm headin' out. You two'll wash the bathrooms, right?"
"Yes, sir!" Soos said dutifully, saluting.
"Absolutely not," Wendy replied, also saluting, though halfheartedly.
Stan chuckled. "You stay out of trouble," he told them sternly, before walking out.
"Hey, guys," Wendy grinned, as she walked over to a curtain, which she pulled aside to reveal a ladder upward. "What's this? A secret ladder to the roof?"
"Uh, I don't think Mr. Pines would like that," Soos said unsteadily.
"Hmm?"
"Uhhh…"
"Hmmmmm?"
"You're freakin' me out, dude!" Soos yelped.
"Can we actually go up there?" Dipper asked Wendy excitedly.
"Sure we can," Wendy replied. "Roof time! Roof time!"
"Roof time! Roof time!" the twins chanted back, climbing the ladder after Wendy. Once they reached the trapdoor leading to the roof, they found a peaceful area with an umbrella, cooler, and lawn chair.
"Check it out," Wendy grinned, gesturing to the spot.
Dipper smiled, despite his sick feeling coming back. "Did you put all this stuff up here?" he asked Wendy.
"I may or may not sneak up here during work," Wendy replied jokingly, "all the time. Every day."
She threw a pine cone at a target taped to the nearby totem pole. It struck the bullseye flawlessly. "Yes!"
The twins excitedly took pine cones to throw. Mabel missed the target, and Dipper accidentally hit a tourist's car as its alarm went off. Dipper cringed as the sound made his headache flare.
"Jackpot!" Wendy grinned at him, and held up her hand for a high five. Dipper eyed her raised hand hesitantly for a moment. "Don't leave me hangin' dude," she told him, making him grin and high-five her.
Suddenly, a car pulled up, blasting loud rock and roll, as several voices began excitedly calling Wendy's name.
"Ohh, hey! It's my friends!" Wendy said excitedly, looking at the van below. She then turned to the twins. "You guys aren't going to tell Stan about this place, are you?"
Dipper zipped his lips, and Wendy did the same. "Later, dorks!" she called. Wendy then grabbed the tree next to them and pulled it downward to allow her onto the ground safely from the rooftop, then got into the van with her friends just before it drove off with speed.
"Later, Wendy!" Dipper called, chuckling to himself awkwardly. "I'm going to throw up," he whimpered under his breath, still clenching his teeth into a now-fake smile, starting to shake.
"Uh-oh!" Mabel grinned. "Somebody's in love~!"
"No, Mabel, I was serious. I really think I'm gonna hurl," Dipper told her, leaning over some.
"You sure it's not just the… butterflies in your stomach?"
"Mabel," Dipper began, about to complain. "I-"
He then leaned over the side of the roof and vomited.
"See?" he huffed, once he was done, then sweaty and pale. "I wasn't joking."
Mabel walked up to him with concern and patted his back. "You okay?"
"Yeah."
"Sure it wasn't about Wendy that time?"
"Yeah, right!" Dipper grumbled. "I just think Wendy's cool, okay? I mean… it's not like I lay awake at night thinking about her!"
That night, Dipper found himself unable to sleep, plagued by images of flowing red hair.
"Uh oh," he whispered to himself, clenching his teeth.
"Random dance party for no reason!" Mabel yelled suddenly, as Wendy turned on a stereo nearby. Both girls began dancing at a quick pace.
Dipper was writing something down.
"Hey," wendy called to him, startling him enough that he nearly dropped the clipboard. "Aren't you gonna get in on this?"
"I… don't really… dance," Dipper replied sheepishly. Besides, he wasn't feeling well, but he didn't want to admit that.
"Yeah you do!" Mabel corrected, grinning at him, making him grimace nervously. "Mom used to dress him up in a lamb costume and make him do… the Lamby Dance."
Dipper clenched his teeth. "Now is not the time to talk about the Lamby Dance," he grumbled at her through his teeth before wincing and holding his head.
"Lamb costume? Are there, like, little ears and a tail? Or…"
Dipper gulped.
"Dipper would prance around and sing about grazing," Mabel continued. She was interrupted by Wendy's watch alarm going off.
"Whoop, look at that! Quittin' time!" Wendy chirped. She turned to leave.
"Uh, wait!" Dipper called out, making her turn again to face him. "Why don't I- uh, we, come with you?"
"I don't know," Wendy replied hesitantly. "My friends are pretty intense… How old did you guys say you were?"
"Thirteen!" Dipper said quickly. "Technically a teen!"
Wendy thought for a moment. "Alright," she smiled. "I like your moxy, kid! Lemme get my stuff."
Wendy walked out of the room, Dipper grinning excitedly.
"Since when are we thirteen?" Mabel asked quietly. "Is this a leap year? Besides, what about your headaches and barfing yesterday? Is it really a good idea to be going places with you possibly being sick?"
"Come on, Mabel!" Dipper complained. "This is our chance to hang out with, y'know.. the cool kids… and Wendy and whatever."
Mabel gasped excitedly. "I knew it!" she shouted. "You love her!" She got up, dancing around Dipper, poking him all around. "Love love love love love!"
"Oh, hey!" Dipper gasped, pointing behind her. "What's that?"
Mabel quickly turned around to look as Dipper tossed all of her hair over her head to fall over her face. She spat a few times, trying to get her hair out of her mouth.
"In the belly! In the belly!" the teens chanted, as a black-clad teenage boy threw jellybeans at a rather large blonde teen, who was being held up upside down by two taller boys. In the background, a girl with purple hair continued to text boredly.
"Come on, hurry up!" the blonde complained.
The black clad teen prepared to throw another jellybean, but stops himself as he sees a red jellybean fly from behind him, straight into the blonde's bellybutton. The black clad boy turns to see Wendy smirking, the twins grinning excitedly behind her.
"Wendy!" the taller boys yelled happily. One of them chanted her name a couple of times, showing his further excitement at her arrival.
"Hey, guys!" she greeted, then gestured to the duo behind her. "These are my pals from work, Mabel and Dipper."
"I chewed my gum so it looks like a brain!" Mabel announced, then proceeded to show off the inside of her mouth.
Dipper said nothing, and only looked away out of embarrassment from his sister. He didn't want to speak. He had already noted that his breath was shaky. Mabel immediately noticed his, to her, obvious nervousness.
"Hey, Dipper! You bein' shy now?"
He shook his head, a determined expression suddenly making an appearance on his face. "No!" he said adamantly. "I'm not shy! I'm just-"
"Whoa, little dude," the tallest teen laughed.
"So are you, like, babysitting?" the one in black asked Wendy with annoyance. "Or…?"
"Come on, Robbie!" Wendy said with annoyance, then addressed the twins again. "Guys, this is Lee..."
She gestured to the tallest teen.
"...and Nate."
The second tallest teen, wearing a hat and sweatshirt, began punching Lee playfully, who continued to punch back as the two of them laughed.
"Tambry."
The purple haired teen didn't even look up from her phone as she raised her hand and gave a halfhearted sound of greeting.
"Thompson, who once ate a runover waffle for fifty cents…"
"Don't tell them that!" the large blonde teen complained.
"...and Robbie," Wendy finished, gesturing to the black clad teen, who tossed his bangs out of his face. "You can probably figure him out."
"Yeah, I'm the one who spraypainted the water tower," he said, obviously in an attempt to sound cool.
"Oh, you mean the big muffin!" Dipper smiled, thinking that talking to these teens wouldn't be so hard.
"Um, it's a giant explosion," Robbie corrected harshly.
"Kinda does look like a muffin," Lee laughed, as others in the group joined him, leaving Robbie embarrassed. Robbie glared at Dipper, who immediately backed off from the subject, feeling a wave of nausea hit him.
"Let's hurry it up, guys," Wendy smiled. "I got big plans for tonight!"
Dipper ended up climbing into the back seat alongside Mabel after having been intercepted from getting shotgun by Robbie.
"Okay, just…" Thompson said nervously. "Before we go, my mom said you guys aren't allowed to punch the roof anymore, so…"
The teens all immediately ignored this instruction as they unanimously began punching the roof while chanting Thompson's name.
Dipper chewed on the end of a pen, as per his habit, thinking nervously about his aching stomach and the trip ahead. He was slightly startled as Mabel took the pen from his mouth to scribble out some writing on the armrest that read 'you stink,' only to write 'you look nice today' in effeminate writing, complete with a heart dotting her I. She then turned to Dipper, who was starting to hug his legs, pulling himself into a ball.
"This is gonna blow someone's mind," she grinned to him. Her expression then changed to show concern as she noticed his discomfort. "You okay?"
As Dipper didn't answer, his head resting on his knees, Mabel decided to speak up.
"How much longer 'til we get there? The road's too bumpy!"
"A while yet. Why?" Robbie asked. "You carsick or somethin'?"
"Maybe," she answered. "And if you don't want barfy sprinkles all over the back of the car, you better find a way to make the ride less bouncy."
"I'm doing the best I can!" Thompson complained. "Please don't barf in here!"
Mabel then looked back at Dipper, who glanced at her somewhat thankfully.
"There it is, fellas!" Wendy announced, as they gathered in front of the gate to their destination. "The condemned Dusk to Dawn!"
"Ha, cool!" Nate grinned.
"Neato!" Mabel smiled. Dipper said nothing.
"They say some folks died in there… the place has been haunted ever since!" Nate told the twins.
"This town has such a colorful history!" Mabel laughed optimistically.
"Are you guys serious?" Dipper quietly asked, wrapping his arms around his abdomen.
"Yeah, we're all gonna die!" Wendy whimpered sarcastically, then laughed. "Chill out, man. It's not as bad as it looks."
"Come on, Dipper!" Wendy shouted up at him, as he was straddling the fence. Most of the others had already gone over it.
"Okay, okay!" Dipper whined. "Just…gotta get a foothold…"
"Dude, your sister did it!" Robbie pointed out, as Mabel began spinning around on the floor, making nonsensical sound effects.
"Hey, you know what?" Lee smiled, climbing up the fence behind Dipper. "Just…"
Lee then proceeded to pick Dipper up and drop him onto the other side of the fence.
"There you go…. Heh. S-sorry, dude!"
"Good job throwing the kid off the fence, genius," Nate laughed.
"Your mom's a genius," Lee retorted jokingly.
Wendy grinned as she looked through the window of the store. "This place is amazing," she remarked.
Robbie pulled on the doors. "I think it's stuck."
"Let me take a crack at it!" Dipper told them confidently. Everyone turned to look directly at him, making him nervous.
"Oh, yeah," Robbie remarked sarcastically. "I can't get in, but I'm sure junior here is going to break it down like Hercules."
"Leave him alone," Wendy snapped. "He's just a little kid!"
Dipper looked down sadly before getting a burst of energy out of his frustration. Quickly, he began climbing up the garbage can onto the gutters of the roof. From there, he climbed up to the top of the building and started punching the grating leading to the vents as hard as he could, doing his best to ignore the sick feeling getting worse, Mabel cheering him on.
"Hey Dipper, take it easy!" Wendy shouted from below, as Dipper successfully pulled away the vent cover and climbed in.
"Who wants to bet he doesn't make it?" Robbie snickered, just as he heard the door open behind him. He turned in shock to see Dipper standing there triumphantly, having successfully opened the condemned convenience store.
"Good call inviting this little maniac," Lee laughed as he walked in.
"Your new name is Dr. Funtimes!" Nate declared, following after his taller friend. Mabel high fived her brother as she followed suit.
"Nice work," Wendy smiled, as Dipper excitedly smiled back, and the two went in with the rest of the group.
"Do you guys really think it's haunted?" asked Thompson fearfully.
"Nah!" Nate laughed. "Thompson, you kiddin' me?"
Dipper felt another wave of nausea hit him. He clenched his teeth and swallowed.
"It's even creepier than I imagined," Wendy remarked. Dipper turned to look at her nervously.
Mabel wiped off a bit of a grey, powdery substance from a desk with a single finger, then brought it to her lips and licked it. "Yup," she said assuredly. "It's dust."
Dipper wiped off a newspaper, revealing its production date.
"Where do you think they keep the dead bodies?" Lee asked suddenly.
"Shut up, man," Nate told him, punching his friend's arm once again.
"Guys, check it out!" Wendy called, pointing to a set of switches. "Think they still work?"
The lights all switch on as Wendy flips the switches, and every machine in the store quickly jumps to life.
"So… what now?" Dipper asked tentatively.
"Anything we want," Wendy answered, grinning slyly.
A food fight began shortly after, which everyone quickly jumped into. After that, they created a fountain with soda and mints. Loud cheering sounded throughout the activities.
"Oh my gosh!" Mabel yelled excitedly, as she saw a shelf full of candies. "Smile Dip! I thought this stuff was banned in America!"
"Maybe they had a good reason," Dipper remarked, before a piece of food was hurled at the back of his head, reminding him of the food fight at hand.
Mabel took a package, and eyed it with great excitement dancing in her eyes. She ripped open the package, took out the sugar stick and dipped it in the powder, then paused, before she dumped the entirety of the powder into her mouth all at once.
"Dipper, this night is, like, legendary," Wendy told her younger friend, as she and Dipper munched on ice pops atop one of the convenience store shelves.
"Really?"
"Just look around!" she said, gesturing to the others down below. "The guys are bonding, I've never even seen Tambry look up from her phone this long, and your sister seems to be going nuts for that Smile Dip."
Down next to the candies, Mabel lay on the floor, her belly full of sugar. "Ugh," she moaned. "Maybe I've had too much… What do you think?"
In Mabel's eyes, a giant pair of dogs spoke to her in a world made of candy.
"Of course, you little angel," Dipper heard Mabel say, before she began to munch on something seemingly invisible, her eyes wide and distant. Concern sparked in his mind for a mere moment, before he was addressed by Wendy once again.
"You know, Dipper," she said, smiling up at the ceiling. "I wasn't sure you could hang with our crew at first, but you're surprisingly mature for your age."
"Yes," Dipper agreed. "Yes I am." He then proceeded to miss his mouth with the ice pop multiple times, smearing the sweet all over his cheek.
"Guys, we need more ice!" Lee shouted, stuffing more and more ice into Thompson's pants.
Dipper gave a nod and hurried over to the freezer.
He hurried over to the freezer and happily took a bag of ice from its chilled interior. Just as he was about to shut the freezer door, a horror appeared before him.
A detached brain floated there, attached to nothing but a pair of eyes and a mouth. It drooled as it looked up at him wildly, its eyeballs hanging only from lines of pinkish fleshy tendrils. The eyeballs moved, creeping toward Dipper slowly.
Dipper yelped and dropped the ice, his face flushing hot and his stomach churning once again.
The freezer closed, and Dipper gulped, letting his hand move slowly toward the freezer door once again. He pulled it open in a flash, and looked up, gaping, to see…
Nothing.
Had it just been his imagination?
"What was that?" Lee asked, as the rest of the group approached, except for Mabel.
"You freakin' out, kid?" Nate asked, laughing.
"Uh, no," Dipper lied, panicking internally. "I'm cool. E-everything's cool…"
"Then what's all this about?" Robbie asked, an eyebrow raised, pointing to the ice Dipper had spilled onto the floor.
"That's... ah, um…" Dipper stammered, quickly trying to find an excuse. "Uh… Hey! Look! Dancy Pants Revolution!"
He pointed to an arcade machine in the corner of the store.
"It's the game that tricks people into exercising!"
Quickly, the group was distracted by the game. Dipper took that chance to rush over to Mabel, who was lying on the floor at the other end of the store, coated in sugar.
"Mabel, I need your advice. We're hanging out in a haunted convenience store, and if I say anything about it to any of these guys, they won't believe me! They'll just think I'm a scared little kid or something…."
Once Dipper was done explaining his dilemma, he looked down at his twin, whose gem, he noted, was also coated in sugar. She gurgled, her eyes wide and seeing nothing of reality.
"...Mabel? Mabel! How many of those did you eat?!"
"Eleven…. teeeeen," she droned, as Dipper held his head, panicking.
"Oh man, oh man…."
"Whoa, guys!" Robbie called from the corner of the store. "You might wanna see this."
Dipper glanced over at him, still panicked. He approached cautiously to see the object of intrigue in the gathering group of teens. As he crept closer, he saw the tape on the ground, marking the shapes of two people.
"Then the rumors are true!" Lee grinned.
Robbie nudged Lee with his elbow. "Dude, I dare you to lie down in it."
"Good idea!" Nate chimed in. "Go lie down in it."
Lee laughed. "I'm a dead body, look!"
As Lee approached the markings, Dipper's heartbeat sped up.
"Wait!"
Everyone turned to look at Dipper.
"M-maybe let's…. not do that?"
Nate laughed. "This guy's scared!"
"A-all I'm saying is… why tempt the fates?" Dipper tried. "I-I mean… what if this place really is… um… haunted?"
All the teens immediately started booing him.
"Take it down a notch, Captain Buzzkill!" Robbie hissed.
"B-but I thought I was… Doctor Funtimes?" Dipper replied, hurt.
"Well, you're acting like Captain Buzzkill. Right?"
Lee and Nate nodded, as Wendy agreed verbally.
"Status update," Tambry droned, typing on her phone. "Trapped in store with insane nine year old."
Frustration flared in Dipper's mind.
"I'm not a nine year old!" Dipper hissed, making a snap decision to prove it by going along with their idea of thrills, flopping into the outline wherein the dead bodies once laid. "I'm thirteen! Technically a teen!"
Dipper's eyes widened as he glanced at the outline next to his face. The teens gasped. It began to glow, tracing itself over as he began to panic once again.
The lights go out.
Tambry suddenly disappeared.
Dipper got up, and picked up her phone.
"Status update," he read aloud from its screen. "Aaaaaaaugh."
Suddenly, Tambry's screams sounded from the television on the wall. On its screen was the phone-obsessed girl, banging against the other side of the screen in a panic.
"Tambry!" Wendy shouted.
"Can you hear us?" Dipper called to the girl in the television, but the only response the group received was more screaming.
"What are we supposed to do?!" Lee shouted to the others.
"I dunno, man! I dunno!" Nate shouted back.
"Let's just go already!" Robbie yelled.
"Wait!" Thompson called. "I've almost got the high score!"
Soon enough, Thompson was gone too.
"Forget them!" Robbie shouted, turning toward the door. "Let's go!"
As Robbie pulled, the doors proved to be stuck. As Robbie threw the cash register in an attempt to break the glass, it was absorbed by green light and then was thrown back at him.
"Wait!" Dipper called to the others, pulling out the third journal and flipping through its pages quickly. "Whatever's doing this has to have some kind of reason! Maybe if we can figure out what it is, they'll let us out of here!"
"Yeah," Robbie yelped sarcastically. "that makes a lot of sense!"
"I don't know guys!" Wendy said, fear in her tone. "Maybe he's got a point!"
"Yeah, right!" Lee said, just as sarcastic as Robbie had been. "I'm sure the ghost just wants to talk about his feelings!"
Lee disolved into thin air. His screaming could be heard, but no one knew where he was.
"Lee!" Nate screamed, but to no avail. Quickly, he turned to Dipper. "Okay, okay! I'm with you, kid! One hundred percent, man!"
Dipper then felt something well up inside him. He turned instinctively to look at his sister, whose eyes had begun to glow. Drool and sugar on her open mouth, she began to float into the air, her head hanging low as if unconscious, until she slowly looked up, putting on a menacing grin. A deep, masculine voice rattled in her throat.
"Welcome," the spectre said with braced teeth, a sly smile etched on Mabel's face.
Everyone screamed.
"They got Mabel," Dipper whispered under his breath, doing his best not to get too emotional.
"Welcome to your graves, young tresspassers," the ghost continued, using Mabel as a vessel. He giggled at their plight.
"We're super sorry for hanging out in your store," Wendy apologized, hoping it would get them out of the situation.
"Yeah!" Dipper agreed. "Can we just… go now and leave forever?"
The ghost thought for a moment.
"Well, okay," he said. "You're free to go."
The doors to the store open behind the duo.
"But before you leave," the ghost continued. "Hot dogs are now half off. I know it might be crazy, but you gotta try these dogs!"
Nate and Robbie run screaming for the doors, which close before they can get through.
"Just kidding about the hot dog sale," the ghost hissed.
"Just let us out of here already!" Nate pled, but dissolved into thin air, much like many of the others.
"I don't like your tone…" the ghost said slyly, glancing then at the remaining trespassers.
"I'm a hot dog!" Dipper heard Nate say, but just loud enough for him to hear. Dipper glanced at the hot dog oven, and sure enough, there was a sausage that looked quite a bit like Nate. The younger boy gulped, trying his best not to let his nausea get to him.
"It begins," the ghost's voice echoes, as the vibrations in the room suddenly increase. Gravity reverses, and quickly, things fall onto the ceiling, Wendy and Dipper quickly taking cover.
"Welcome to your home for all eternity!" the ghost laughs, his menacing sound making Dipper shudder.
"Dipper, what do we do?" Wendy asked him in a hushed tone.
"Duck!" Dipper shouted, as both of them quickly avoided a shelf flying by.
Wendy pointed to a tipped over ice machine. "Look! In there!"
Quickly, the both of them hurried into the machine, trying to catch their breaths.
"What do they want from us?!" Wendy asked Dipper frantically.
"Revenge, I guess?" Dipper replied, unsure.
"What did we do wrong?"
"Okay," Dipper told her, thinking deeply. "Let's try to figure out the pattern here. Why was each person taken? ...Tambry was texting, Thompson was playing a videogame, Lee was being sarcastic…. It doesn't make any sense!"
"Yeah!" Wendy retorted. "I mean, those are all just normal teenage things!"
Dipper's eyes widened. "Wendy," he said quietly. "Say that last part again."
Wendy hesitated, staring straight at Dipper. "Normal… teenage things?"
"Of course," Dipper whispered to himself. "Stay here until I get back," he told Wendy harshly.
"Dude!" she yelped as Dipper got out of the ice box. "What are you doing?!"
"Hey, ghost!" Dipper shouted to his sister, whose head twisted around to be backwards as the ghost stared straight at him with cold, glowing eyes. The rest of her body soon twisted about to match the direction of her head.
"I've got something to tell you!" Dipper yelled to the ghost, gritting his teeth in regret, one last glance behind his shoulder at Wendy, regretting his previous lie. "...I'm not… a teenager!"
"Hoho!" called out a voice, as Mabel's eyes stopped glowing. "Well, why didn't you say so?"
A blue man and woman appeared, obviously being the ghosts of the store. They seemed rather old; they had to have died as senior citizens. They were holding Mabel up in the air by her hair, but dropped her into a pile of candy as she began to come to.
"How old did you say you were?" the ghost of the old man asked Dipper kindly.
"I'm…" Dipper said reluctantly, then sighed. "I'm twelve. Technically… not a teen."
"When we were alive," the ghost of the old woman began, "teenagers were a scorn on our store!"
"Always sassafrassin' with their boomy-boxes and disrespectful short pants!" the old man agreed. "So we decided to up and ban them, but they retaliated with their new-fangled rap music!"
"The lyrics," the old woman whimpered. "They were so hateful! It was so shocking, we were stricken down with double heart attacks!" Her tone then changed back to incredibly cheerful. "So that's why we hate teenagers so much! Don't we, honey?"
Both ghosts then nuzzled each other affectionately.
"But…" Dipper began. "But they're my friends… isn't there anything I can do to help them?"
"Well," the old man's ghost thought. "There… is one thing. Do you know any funny little dances?"
"Uh…" Dipper said, clenching his teeth. "Is there anything else I can do?"
"No!" the old man screeched, his ethereal form erupting into fierce flames, filling Dipper with udder dread and fright.
"Okay, okay, okay! Um, well….. I do know… the Lamby Lamby Dance," Dipper admitted with embarrassment. "B-but I can't do it without a lamb costume!"
He proudly offered this excuse, to which the old man snapped his fingers. In that split second in which the snap sounded, Dipper was very suddenly clothed in a lamb costume.
"Oh," the preteen said with surprise. "Well. There it is."
With a gulp and a deep breath, Dipper began his song and dance, doing his best to push through the illness he had been feeling.
"Well….
"Who wants a lamby, lamby, lamby?
"I do! I do!
"So go and greet your mammy, mammy, mammy;
"'Hi there! Hi there!'
"So march, march, march around the daisies…
"And don't, don't, don't you forget about the babies!"
With a final smile and wink to the dance, Dipper let himself pant, feeling the sweat drip down his face.
"That was some fine girly dancing, boy!" the old man's ghost congratulated. "Your friends are free to go."
The lamb costume disappeared, leaving behind Dipper's usual clothes.
"Well, I don't think you have to worry about us coming back," he told the ghost happily.
Both ghosts disappeared as everything began to fall back to the ground, the reversed gravity having been neutralized. Out of the fallen cupboards came the rest of the teens, groaning and holding their heads.
"Ugh," Mabel groaned, feeling horrendously nauseated from the candy and possession. "I'm never gonna eat or do anything ever again…"
"Hey!" Dipper smiled, as he picked up the remaining package of Smile Dip. "There's still some left!"
"Evil!" Mabel shouted, as she swatted it out of Dipper's hand.
"What happened after everything went crazy?" Nate asked Wendy, making Dipper flinch and turn to hear their conversation, watching Wendy nervously.
"You are never going to believe this!" Wendy grinned, looking at all of the others, speaking excitedly. "The ghosts appeared, and Dipper had to-"
She then glanced at Dipper, who seemed pale, sweaty, uncomfortable, and embarrassed. Most importantly, he looked let down.
"Uh," she hesitated. She then quickly perked up again. "I mean… Dipper just.. grabbed a bat, and just started beating ghosts down left and right, and the ghosts got all scared and just… ran away like a couple of little girls! It was insane!"
"Dr. Funtimez!" Nate grinned at Dipper, who gave a weak smile.
Wendy turned back to Dipper and crouched down to be at his height, and zipped her lips, tossing the invisible key. Dipper did the same, smiling with relief and gratitude.
"You okay, dude?" she asked him in a whisper. "You aren't lookin' so hot. Did all the excitement get to you?"
"No, I just…." Dipper began, then took a deep breath. "I haven't been feeling well for a while."
"Hey," Wendy told him, as the others left to get into the car, tired. "You need to tell me when you're not feelin' up to it, alright Dip?"
He gave a silent nod, making Wendy smile.
"Alright, now let's get out of here."
When they got to the van, everyone else was already in their respective seat, asleep. Neither Wendy nor Dipper was surprised to see this.
"Well," Wendy admitted. "I'm probably scarred for life. I think I'll go stare at a wall for a while and rethink everything. Next time we hang out, let's stay at the Mystery Shack, okay?"
"Next time?" Dipper asked excitedly. "Yeah! Let's hang out at the Shack!"
The pair got into the car, Dipper sitting next to Mabel. "...Next time," he whispered to himself with a smile as he shut the door.
"Ugh," Mabel groaned as she awoke, glancing at her earlier writing of 'you look nice today.' "What sick joke is this…?"
The car drove off, returning everyone home, away from the haunted store.