WARPED
Chapter 14
Jocelyn was having a great week. First she and her friends were transported to Gravity Falls, and now it was decided that they were going to stay longer! Now all she needed was a puppy instead of siblings, and she would be eternally happy.
The only rain on her parade was Lucy. Jocelyn couldn't quite understand just why Lucy was so distraught about being in Gravity Falls. Even for the minor fans, being here would be a dream come true! What was Lucy's problem?
"Hey I think we're getting close to the pumpkin patch!" Dipper exclaimed, quickening his pace.
"SMASHING!" yelled Jocelyn, loud enough to make some birds fly out of a nearby tree.
Jocelyn hurried forward, rushing ahead of the group, eager to get out of the shade of the woods and into the sunshine that they'd left behind at the Mystery Shack. However, when Jocelyn reached the edge of the woods, she wasn't hit by sunshine. The sun had been covered by ominous gray clouds. That's odd, thought Jocelyn, slowing her pace and continuing into the pumpkin patch.
The pumpkin patch was far from a sight for sore eyes. It was bare, dry, and dusty, covered in patches of dead, dying grass. What little pumpkins that were there were unhealthy and undersized, and a sickly color of yellow and brown.
"Yuck," commented Mabel, emerging from the woods. "No wonder this squash has human emotions. This place makes me want to cry!"
Dipper rolled his eyes and fixed his hat on his head. "Okay guys, let's spread out."
Lucy sighed, blowing her bangs out of her face. "That won't be hard to do," she said crossing her arms. "This place isn't very big."
Jocelyn locked eyes with Lucy across the patch. "Then I guess it won't take that long."
There was a beat of silence.
"How about we go over there?" suggested Hazelle, trying to ease the situation. "C'mon Lucy!"
Lucy waited an extra second before turning stiffly and following Hazelle to the far corner of the pumpkin patch.
Jocelyn was getting very tired of Lucy's bad attitude. Lucy's comment about "going along with being happy they were there" made Jocelyn want to laugh hysterically. Lucy hadn't pretended to go along with it for one single second.
"So tensions are high…" observed Mabel, coming over to Jocelyn with Dipper.
"No, it's fine," Jocelyn replied, flipping her braid over her shoulder. She put on a smile. "Now let's go find that squash!" Mabel cheered and skipped away to another corner of the patch.
Dipper looked up from his journal and fixed his gaze on Jocelyn. "Are you sure you're okay? You and Lucy just seem really tight and on edge."
"I'm fine. I'm perfectly content with being here," Jocelyn answered, examining some split ends. "Lucy's just… I don't know. Difficult. But whatever. Where should we look first?"
Dipper and Mabel exchanged a glance, and Dipper turned back to the journal. "Well, according to this, the most evil is found at the northern edge of the pumpkin patch. So let's look there."
Jocelyn followed Dipper and Mabel to the northern edge of the patch, and the three began to search the perimeter of the patch for any signs of suspicious looking vegetables. As they rounded the sides of the patch, they met up again with Lucy and Hazelle. Lucy stood at the edge of the group with her arms crossed, avoiding eye contact with everyone.
"We didn't see anything," Hazelle reported. "What about you guys?"
"Same here," Mabel replied. "I guess there's no pies being made," she added with a pout.
"Yeah," Dipper said. "We didn't come up with anything."
"Well that's because we're in a TV show. It's not real."
Jocelyn saw Dipper blanch, and Mabel winced. Then something snapped inside her.
"I can't believe you! It's one thing to complain to me and Hazelle, but in front of them?! This is their reality! To them, this isn't a TV show! And guess what? We're here! Everything is tangible! So tell me this, Lucy, is. This. REAL!?"
As Jocelyn finished telling Lucy off, she threw her hands in the air. She felt a small crackle of electricity, and the hair on her arms stood up. There was a large gust of wind, almost like a sudden hurricane had hit Gravity Falls.
Everyone around Jocelyn looked alarmed, and she couldn't figure out why. She watched Hazelle's eyes widen, and her jaw drop. Everyone had eyes fixed on a point about ten feet above Jocelyn's head.
Slowly, through the violent wind, Jocelyn looked up.
Above her head, there was a large black hole that looked both flat and three-dimensional at the same time that seemed to be the source of the wind.
As soon as Jocelyn laid eyes on the hole, she shrieked. Her knees felt weak. As she ran out of breath, the hole closed with a flash of light and a zap of electricity. She fell to her knees.
"What the-" Hazelle breathed.
"Woah!" screamed Mabel. "What was that?"
The last thing Jocelyn heard before everything went black was Dipper murmuring "I… I think that was Jocelyn…"