Sweater Town

Chapter 6 – The Goodbye

By Starwin


Waking up these past few days had been very difficult for Mabel. Getting out of bed was even harder and wanting to get out of bed had felt almost impossible. Every morning was unwelcome. Every day was just another reminder that she was still here and that Dipper was… not.

However, this morning wasn't as bad as the last time or even the few before that. She felt more like her old self, more like the person she had been before. She hated this feeling. She was never supposed to feel like that again. She could never be how she once was. At least not while she was here. Not while she was awake.

In sweater town she could be her true self. In her dreams she could pretend that everything was fine, that everything was how it should be. The only problem was that she kept waking up! She tried to hold onto as much of her made up reality as she could. But the details tumbled out of her reach and she was left with only the vaguest bits and pieces.

Half-awake, half-asleep, she scooted out of bed. Hardly thinking about anything, she trudged down the hall to the bathroom. She clumsily stripped out of her clothing, including her fuchsia sweater. She also pulled off all her bandages and inspected the state of her injuries. Most were faded red and healing. A couple of them had scabbed over completely. And the bruises looked less black and blue and more like normal pale skin.

Toilet, shower, brush her teeth then her hair (she wasn't feeling coordinated enough right now to try doing both at the same time) and finally she put on some fresh bandages. Then it was back to her room, to change. She picked her orange and purple sunset sweater. It was knitted in such a way that when she put her arms at her sides, there was a picture of a sunset across her chest. If she spun around, there was an image of a sunrise on her back.

After dressing - it had taken her a few minutes extra because she couldn't find where any of her bras were, until she realized she didn't own any - she headed downstairs for breakfast.

Neither of her parents were awake yet. She wasn't sure how many hours it would be before they were up but she wasn't going to wait for them. She felt strangely hungry and wondered when the last time she had eaten was. Bits of her dream floated back to her and she recalled half a tuna sandwich in the forest. Had that actually happened? Did food in sweater town translate to food here? The grumble of her tummy was a decided no.

In any case, she could make her own food. Scrambled eggs (with sugar), turkey bacon (obviously, she didn't eat ham products anymore, also with sugar), sliced fruit (an apple, an orange, and a banana, with sugar), a couple slices of sourdough toast (with peanut butter, naturally, and sugar) and of course, orange juice (with some sugar mixed in for good measure). She had briefly thought of maybe mixing up some MabelJuice (patent pending) but decided she didn't need that much of a kick, how bad could today possibly be?

After breakfast, she would head back up to her room and crawl into her sweater. She would return to Gravity Falls for another day of fun and adventure with her best bro. Hopefully, after everything that had happened last time, he would still want to spend time with her. It was hard to remember much about her dream but she was sure that Dipper discovered something he didn't like. Still, whatever it was, she was sure they would work through it. They always did.

She munched away happily at her breakfast creation. Her turkey bacon had come out a little more crispy than she liked. And the peanut butter was really messing with her braces this morning (she would have to brush her teeth again after breakfast, stupid braces). But otherwise, she felt oddly okay. Not great, not whole but just a little better.

The hungry snorts of Waddles drew her attention down to her pet pig. He had made his way into the kitchen. She had forgotten to close the gate. She smiled at him as he nuzzled up against her foot, expecting scraps of forbidden food. It was her parents that had forbade the pig from coming into the kitchen. Partly because he was a pig and partly because Mabel kept feeding him table scraps, much like she was doing now. Waddles ate greedily as she gave him some of the toast and bits of her turkey bacon, thankful (not for the first time) that it was turkey bacon.

Something else from her dream crawled forward and Mabel felt tears come unbidden to her eyes. Waddles, he… in the dream… he was… She tumbled down out of her chair and grabbed her pig up in a huge hug. Unlike Dipper, who always tried to squirm away, Waddles nuzzled into her and happily oinked her name. Or doorbell, she had never really figured out which it was. Their house didn't have a doorbell though, so he was probably saying Mabel.

When she had returned from Gravity Falls with a pig her parents - to say the least - had not been happy. It had been her mother that met the twins at the bus stop and she had eyed the pig wearily. Mabel had cradled the animal protectively to her chest. She had decided on the ride down that she was never going to let him go, no matter what her parents said. If they wouldn't let her keep her pig she would sneak him into the house.

However, it had not come to that. Dipper had stood up for her. He had told their mom how much Waddles meant to Mabel, how much Waddles meant to him. She hadn't realized how much Dipper adored the animal or was at least willing to say that he did. Like always, he was willing to do anything for her.

At last, after a night of discussion, their parents had relented. Mabel could keep her pig, however there were some rules. He was to be a house pig at all time. Their mom didn't want to clean up muddy hoofprints all over the house. She'd had enough of that with the twins already. He needed to be house trained which, Mabel had already painstakingly done. Pig poops next to your bed was not something you wanted to wake up to in the morning. There were several rooms he was not allowed in, including their parents room and the kitchen. And most importantly of all, he was not to be given food from the table.

All these demands had been reasonable and, for the most part, Mabel had tried to stick to them. She actually thought she had done a pretty good job on her part, all things considered. Sure she snuck him a bit of food here and there. And yes, she had taken him into the bath with her, which was technically in their parents room. But all in all, she had mostly, almost, sort of, followed the rules.

"Waddles, out!" came her mother's slightly irritated voice. The words pulled Mabel out of her moment of cuddles and she let her pig go. Waddles snorted pleadingly at Mabel to let him stay but she just shook her head. Her mother used her foot to gently prod Waddles into leaving the kitchen. "Honestly, Mabel," her mother chided. "You spoil that pig. If you keep sneaking him food he's going to be a hundred pounds!" Her mother closed the gate to the kitchen and Mabel went back to her breakfast.

"I see you already made food," said her mother with a smile. Mabel nodded. Her mother's smile faltered. "Mabel, you remember what today is, right?" Mabel looked up from her almost finished plate to see her mother in a long black dress. "That isn't what you're wearing to the funeral, is it?"

Mabel felt the color drain out of her face. The - WHAT? She stood abruptly from the table, or rather she would have if her legs hadn't been shaking so badly. Darn it, her whole body was shaking and she couldn't stop it. She looked desperately at her mother, she had to be joking, this was a bad joke, a horrible joke. Her mother frowned. It was not a joke.

Instead of saying anything, her mom crossed over to her and hugged her. Mabel just hung limply in her arms, her brain whirling in her head, completely lost and confused. She… she didn't want to go. She didn't want to see. Because if she did, it would be real, it would be final.

She wiggled out of her mother's grasp and nearly toppled out of her chair. Ignoring her mother's words, Mabel stumbled up to her room, almost blind with tears. Her mother called after her but Mabel couldn't hear what had said.

The moment she was back in her room, she slammed the door. Not for the first time she wished she had a lock. Dipper's room had a lock, which she had thought was silly because all you had to do to get around it, was use a hairpin. She frowned as she thought about Dipper. She needed him right now more than ever. She was going to sweater town.

She yanked off her sunset sweater and pulled on her shooting star instead. She climbed into bed and curled up inside her woolen garment. She let the awful memories that had led her to this day wash over her. She felt herself starting to slip down into sweater town.

"Mabel," called her mother's voice from outside her door. The words seemed to pull her back and Mabel began to slide away from the embrace of the dream world she so badly longed to escape into. She struggled to get away, to go, to escape. She forced the images into her mind. She commanded the sight of her brother dieing in front of her to fill her thoughts. She began to fall as he pushed her.

The sensation this time was far different than any she had ever experienced before. Going into sweater town had always felt safe. It was like floating on a cloud. Like drifting down into warmth. This, was painful. It felt like she was being torn apart, pulled in all different directions. She wasn't just falling, she was falling to pieces. Any moment a scream would escape her lips...

Her mother placed a hand on her and Mabel was instantly snapped back into her bedroom. She gasped and began to sob inside her sweater. Her mother mistook the sounds as just crying. But it was more than that. Going into sweater town had hurt! Worse, the images she'd had to conjure to do it were horrible and they still burned in her brain.

"Mabel, my little darling angel," whispered her mother as she stroked her daughter's back. "I know this is difficult. I know it's hard for you. But Ma - your brother would want you there. He would need you there. And you would never feel right if you didn't come." Mabel didn't respond. She didn't show any sign that she had heard. Her mother remained to comfort her a while longer.

"Please, come out," pleaded her mother after a long while had passed. There was a pained note of sadness in her voice that Mabel couldn't simply ignore. She finally poked her head out of her sweater, her face stained with tears. Her mother leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. "Please get changed, we need to go soon."


Mabel didn't really remember getting dressed a second time. Oh, she had done it, but she lacked any memory of doing it. One minute she had been pulling off her previous attire and the next she was getting into the family car. She was dressed all in black like she was expected to be. For the first time in her life there was no sweater she wanted to wear. No sweater, except for her shooting star but she couldn't risk that.

She wasn't sure what had happened but trying to go to sweater town hadn't worked. It was like she had been blocked? Or kicked out? Was the damage her sweater had sustained finally starting to affect her ability to travel there? Or had it been her mother's interruption that had pulled her out. Maybe both? She didn't know.

Or maybe it was something else completely. Dipper had called it a woolhole. No. No, it had been Great Uncle Ford had called it that. For the very first time since she had gone up to her room to cry that morning, Mabel felt a tingle of excitement. They were going to her brother's funeral. There was no way her uncles wouldn't be there. And Ford would know what was happening to her, he might even be able to help her with it!

She cursed herself for not thinking of it sooner or for not bringing her sweater with so he could have examined it. All she had to do was tell... him - Her thoughts derailed. DARN IT! Talk to him. She couldn't talk to anyone! She slouched back into the seat and her eyes shifted to the absent spot beside her. If only Dipper was here, he would have figured it out. He was so smart… and… gone…


The ceremony took place outside on a wide open field of green grass. A surprising number of people had shown up. Most of their extended family and close friends had come to pay their respects. Also, many of the inhabitants of Gravity Falls were in attendance. Much to Mabel's surprise, even Pacifica Northwest was there, although her parents were noticeably absent. More than two hundred people filled out the white fold-up chairs spread across the grassy field.

Mabel sat in the front row, between her parents, only a dozen feet away from where her brother lay in his walnut brown box. There was a large picture of him beside it, smiling like he almost never did and hatless like he almost never was.

Their parents were not religious, so it was Great Uncle Ford that led them. He talked about how Dipper had been the most amazing thirteen-year-old he had ever met, possibly the most amazing person he had ever met. Some of the events of their summer adventure were omitted. The 'never mind all that act' didn't technically apply here in California but bringing up some of the details seemed out of place. Besides, all the people that it mattered too, already knew what Dipper and Mabel had done.

Other people got up to speak, including Soos and Grunkle Stan. Both of whom couldn't get through their prepared words without breaking down. Her father also spoke about his son, the things they had done together, the things they would never get to do and the things he regretted they had never done. His speech ended with him saying, that he wished he had taken more of an interest in Dipper's fascination with the supernatural.

Mabel let the words wash over her. Time slipped back and forth from dragging on to speeding by. Before she knew what was happening, she was standing beside her parents, accepting condolences from people. Faceless strangers hugged her or shook her hand or simply offered their words. A couple of them tried to get her to talk but she just remained silent.

Wendy had looked especially bad as she hugged Mabel tightly. Mabel just hugged her back, not feeling anything but empty. Wendy pressed something into her hand. Mabel realized it was the blue ballcap her brother had worn all summer long but left behind with Wendy in the hat exchange. The tall red headed girl didn't give Mabel a chance to refuse it before she hurried off.

To her surprise, when Pacifica reached her, the blond haired girl hugged her even tighter than Wendy had. She whispered into Mabel's ear that she never had the chance to tell Dipper how she really felt, which only left Mabel feeling confused.

On and on the hands and people and words went. It felt like hours, maybe it was. At last there were only a few attendees left. Many had departed but some family and very close friends were still around. Her parents were currently chatting with her Uncles and Soos. Mabel wandered off alone, avoiding eye contact with anyone.

She found herself in front of the picture of her brother that was so unfamiliar to her. If she'd had a marker on her, she would have drawn a hat on his head, also possibly a mustache and pointed goatee. Maybe even an eyepatch. It was hard to resist with a marker in hand. She didn't have any drawing or coloring implements on her though (she didn't even have any stickers!) so, instead her eyes turned to the wooden box beside her. She ran a hand along its cool polished surface, hardly able to believe her brother rested inside.

Her eyes flared with determination and her hands found the edge of the lid. It wasn't divided into two parts. Since it wasn't an open casket funeral - the accident had left him in a very unpresentable state. The top was heavier than she had expected but she managed to get it completely open.

Her whole face fell, tears and pain ran down her cheeks as her eyes found the body of her brother inside. He had been dressed in a black suit and tie. It was nothing like he ever wore. She almost flinched away from the sight. The suit, the pale complexion and lifeless features reminded her of Bipper, the name she had given Bill, that time he had taken over her brother's body. Actually, that was somehow better to think of him like that, like it was someone else laying there.

They had done the best they could with the side of his face but it was still a mess. His beautiful birthmark across his forehead was mostly gone. She was glad they hadn't decided to display him. She didn't want anyone else to see him like this, to remember him like this. She didn't want to remember him like this. But she couldn't look away, not yet.

She took a deep unsteady breath, pine, walnut and a pungent odor she couldn't place filled her nose. It was so surreal to see him this way. Just yesterday she had been hiking with him in the woods. Okay, not him exactly, an older him… a different him. But still him. Still Dipper. Still her brother.

It was like this was the dream. Like sweater town was real and this was all just a nightmare she was forced to endure. A nightmare she had decided she didn't want to keep enduring.

Dipper, in sweater town, had figured out what was happening to her. She knew that if she could only get back to him, he could figure out a way for her to stay in her dream.

She reached out with her trembling hand and touch the cold, lifeless face, of her twin. His skin didn't feel real, like he was made of stiff rubber instead of flesh. He wasn't real, this wasn't real. She clenched her other hand, the one not touching his face, and felt the soft fabric of the whole reason she had come over.

Mabel lifted her other hand to look at the blue ball cap with the pine tree sewn into its front. Then, with the utmost care, she gently placed it over her brother's face.

"Goodbye, Dip," she whispered, before closing his final resting place, unable to look at the sight any longer.


When they arrived back home, Mabel went right up to her room. Very few friends and family had been invited to the wake at their house. She was not up for talking with any of them. Really, she wasn't capable of talking to any of them.

Her mother tried very briefly to get her to come down, to at least spend some time with Ford or Stanley. But Mabel was hidden under her blankets and shook her head. With a sigh, her mom left her.

Once the door was shut, Mabel poked her head out of her blanket and tugged in the shooting star sweater that lay nearby. Under the safety of her covers she slipped it on over her head and tucked herself away inside the protective woolen warmth.

She took a deep breath, preparing for what came next. It was surprisingly easy to picture the last moments of her brother's life and even easier to accept it after what she had seen today. The moment played out before her eyes and for the first time, his voice echoed through her thoughts as she began to fall.

"MABEL!" Her name had been the very last thing he had ever said to her. Strangely enough, his name was the only thing she could say now.

The world jerked and twisted painfully as she began to fall. The trip into sweater town was more jarring and unpleasant than it had ever been before. The world shook and shuddered around her as she tumbled down through darkness. She hurt, she physically hurt as she fell. It was like she was being yanked in several different directions at once. Her limbs felt as if they were being pulled out of her sockets, her back bent and twisted, her fingers flexed in the wrong direction almost to the breaking point. A scream escaped her mouth carrying her brother's name out into the abyss around her.

Mabel slammed into her small camp bed with the force of having fallen off a hundred story skyscraper. The old bed groaned and buckled and failed under the impact. There was the sound of cracking wood and the smell of splinters and glue.

Her whole body hurt. Her thoughts were jumbled up and confused. Something was wrong with her right arm, it felt like she had landed on it the wrong way and it screamed in pain.

She gasped for air, her lungs burning as if she had been submerged underwater too long. Air didn't come as she wanted it to, so she kept gasping. Between gasps she shouted for Dipper. Although with the lack of air, these were almost whisper quiet sounds escaping her lips.

One of her gasps brought a cough, a cough that turned into the most painful, choking cough she'd ever had. When it subsided, she felt something trickling down the side of her face. She touched her cheek with her left hand and was alarmed to see blood on her fingers, that… that probably wasn't good.

For what felt like a lifetime she lay on her mattress in the ruins of her broken bed. Her mind was trying to take in everything around her but it was doing a horrible job of it. She was in the attic room once more, back in Gravity Falls. But all of it was wrong. She wasn't sure what was wrong but it was wrong!

Mabel closed her eyes, trying to catch her breath, trying to feel out the injuries in her body. She had broken bones before but this felt worse than all of that. It hurt to breath, why did it hurt to breath? Something was definitely wrong with her right arm. She tried to lift her weight off it and hot-banana-cream-and-peanutbutter-cookies it hurt so much! She stopped trying to get up and just continued to lay there.

"Dip- dipper!" Mabel finally managed to croaked out at last. Her weak voice was barely a whisper in her ears. "Dipper..." she said again, louder this time, breathing was still very painful, she coughed again. "DIPPER!" she choked into the silence before a hacking, body wracking, cough shook her. There was no answer. At least not at first.

After a moment, something in her pocket began to buzz and vibrate. The pocket was crushed under the side she was laying on. Music began to play.

Yooooo, Brother! There's a winding road for you to find! Mabel tried to move again, to reach into her pocket and get to her phone. She let out a yelp of pain as she tried to rise, falling back to her side. Yooooo, Sister! Know the water's great but blood is greater! Ohhh, when the moon comes crashing down, on you, there's everything in this world that I would do!

The music cut off and the call rolled into her voice mail. Mabel took another deep choking breath. It was like there was water in her lungs or something. She had to get up, she had to fight through the pain. She closed her eyes, steeling herself against the new pain about to come. She rolled onto her back.

Her whole body screamed. Pain flared across her from head to toe. It was like a white hot poker had been shoved into her shoulder. It was like someone was trying to open up her chest with a crowbar. With the movement she also discovered a whole new world of agony in her leg as well. One felt like someone was trying to yank it around in a way it wasn't meant to be yanked. However, that pain in her leg almost felt good when she realized she couldn't feel anything at all in her other leg, just an absent numbness.

Mabel screamed. The scream turned back into a cough, a cough that brought more blood with it. Once she stopped moving, the pain in her extremities started to diminish. She lay on her back, panting, looking up at the sweater ceiling above her.

She watched as a new rip began to open in the collar. Slowly the threads parted and the split traveled downwards a few inches. She was literally watching her world come apart.

Mabel turned her gaze away looking towards her wall. It was empty. With her left hand she felt across the mattress below her. No sheets. Her brain began to put the parts together. This was another year she wasn't here. Another fight with her brother? Or was it something else?

Her phone began to ring again. Yooooo, Brother! There's a winding road for you to find! Mabel tried to reach into her pocket with right hand but her whole right arm wouldn't move, it was painful to even try. Instead, she tried with her left hand, regretting it almost instantly. She couldn't quiet reach the pocket and there was immediate pain as her body rolled slightly to the right. She gritted her teeth, wincing against the fresh wave of pain. Her fingers brushed her pocket but were not able to get inside.

The song ended again. She stopped struggling for her phone, relaxing back onto the mattress, trying to recover her strength. It was still hard to breath, but she was getting used to it, sort of. After a quick rest, she let her head turn to look towards her brother's bed and felt an electric shudder run through her. Dipper's wall was empty too, his bed also sheetless.

They weren't here at all. Neither of them. They hadn't come to Gravity Falls this year!

Yooooo, Brother! There's a winding road for you to find! Her phone began to ring again. She had to get this, she had to answer. She knew who was on the other end and she needed his help. With all her will, with all her determination, with everything she had, Mabel once again reached across her body with her left arm, her fingers diving for her pocket.

This time, she made it. She felt the glossy finish of her phone between her fingertips. She pinched it and yanked it free, dragging it onto her belly, where she couldn't actually see it hidden below her breasts. Stupid boobs! Always causing her problems!

She panted for a moment, trying to refocus. She moved her left hand around to pick up the phone and Dipper's face appeared on the screen, along with his name, Goober. She almost smiled at that.

Finally, she managed to tap the answer button.

"MABEL!" Dipper's voice shouted through the speaker. There was panic in every syllable. "WHAT HAPPENED?! WHERE ARE YOU?! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!"

"Dipper," Mabel moaned into the phone. That last movement had taken a lot out of her, she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open.

"Mabel! I need you to tell me where you are!" shouted Dipper. "Mabel can you hear me? Where are you!"

"Dipper," she moaned again into the phone, then her eyes rolled back into her head and she passed out.

She couldn't have been out for very long because the line was still open when her eyelids fluttered open. Her brother's voice was still shouting at her to answer. Groggy, eyes out of focus, she lifted the phone. She had been on the call for three minutes.

"Dipper…" she moaned into the handset.

"Mabel!" cried Dipper. "You're back! I could hear you breathing but you wouldn't answer! What happened, where are you?"

Where was she, what had happened? She… she couldn't remember. She tried to move and pain flared through her body. Right. That's right. She was back in sweater town and something had gone horribly wrong. She was hurt and Dipper wasn't here.

"Mabel I-" Dipper trailed off. "Oh no, no, no, no, no. No it can't be. This is the whole reason we didn't- Mabel, Blueberry Muffins!" Mabel grimaced, how was food going to help her right now? She groaned her brother's name into the phone.

"Fuck!" That caught her by surprise. She had never heard her brother say that before. Sure he was a little more loose with bad words than she was but she had never heard him say the 'F-word' before. "You have to be fucking kidding me!" Wow, okay, two of them. There was more swearing in the background that she couldn't make out. Dipper was obviously not holding the phone to his ear as he shouted.

"Other Mabel," said Dipper flatly. "Let me guess, you're in Gravity Falls, aren't you?"

"Dipper," she said weakly into the phone.

"Of course, of-fucking-course, hold on," shouted Dipper angrily. The call instantly cut off. Mabel felt her heart rip in two. Dipper… Dipper had hung up on her. She was injured, how much she didn't know but it was more pain than she ever remembered having and her brother had just abandoned her when she needed-

The phone began to ring again but it was a different song. Hey I just saw you and this is cray-cray, but here's my number so call me someday. Mabel tapped the answer icon, although it looked different. Before she could move the phone to her ear, Dipper's face appeared on the screen and her face appeared in the bottom corner. Mabel understood, Dipper had video called her, that's why he'd had to hang up.

For only the briefest moment he looked angry, then all that vanished when he actually saw her.

"Mabel!" cried Dipper his eyes flicking around taking in the scene. She smiled weakly at him. "What happened! Are you hurt? Are you in Gravity Falls?" She nodded trying to answer both questions.

She tilted the camera at last able to see her right arm that hurt so much. There wasn't any blood on her arm, so that was a good sign. The bad signs however were all over the rest of her body, the blood splatter around her lips, the way her elbow was facing towards her body, and her arm was bent the wrong way around. Yeah… yeah, that, she wasn't feeling so good looking at that arm.

Mabel lifted the camera up to and tilted down, trying to get a better view of her legs, fearing that one might possibly be missing. However, both legs were there, just splayed out. They were also bloodless. She tired to move them. One hurt a whole lot but it twitched slightly. The other stayed perfectly still and she didn't feel anything in it.

She pointed the camera back to her face, trying to put on a brave smile. The blood made it look like she was a vampire or something. Dipper looked frightened and pale.

"Mabel, stay right there, don't move, I'm going to call you right back, okay?" said Dipper. Mabel nodded. She didn't have a whole lot of choice. Dipper hung up the call and she set the phone down on her chest again so she could rest.

It was… it was kinda getting hard to stay awake. Her eyes dropped dangerously closed again and she could feel sleep wanting to draw her back in. Her phone rang again to This is Cray-cray and her eyes snapped back open. She lifted the phone up once more and tapped at the answer icon. It was kinda hard to see the screen, it was getting all blurry.

"I just called the local paramedics," said Dipper. She felt confused, why wasn't he coming himself, why wasn't he on his way here right now? "We're headed to the airport right now." She smiled at him, but he frowned. "Mabel, we were in New York," he said flatly. She didn't quite understand what he had just told her. His words felt slow in her brain. "I'm in New York right now! We were in New York together, Mabel. Just minutes ago. You vanished right in front of my eyes as we were taking the elevator up to our hotel room."

They… they had been… in New York? Like, on the other side of the country, New York? That didn't make sense because Gravity Falls wasn't anywhere near that place… why would they be. Her eyes started to drift closed again.

"MABEL!" shouted Dipper. Her eyes snapped open again, she lifted the phone that had been dropping back down to her chest. "You have to stay awake! You can't fall asleep, look at me, talk to me. Say my name! Just stay awake! Help's on the way!"

"Dipper," she whispered, her voice felt so weak. Her body wanted sleep so badly.

"Focus on me Mabel, listen to me," cried Dipper through their video chat. She tried to nod but that just made her head swim so she stopped. "This is all my fault! I thought if we went someplace far away for vacation this year that - that you wouldn't…"

She felt a dull pang of hurt in her heart as her brother said it. Finally, her stupid brain put it all together. They hadn't wanted her to come back this year. Dipper and Bel had deliberately gone someplace far away, in hopes that she wouldn't return. Hot tears began to run down her face.

This world wasn't a fantasy, this world was a nightmare, a curse! It was a world where her own brother didn't want to see her. Where he traveled as far away as he could.

"Mabel, don't cry! I didn't mean for it to sound like that," said Dipper. "Please you need to-"

Mabel hit the end call button and dropped her phone onto the floor. Instantly it began to ring again. Yooooo, Brother! There's a- She pushed the ignore button on the side. It went silent for a brief moment. Then it started again: Yooooo, brother! T- She pressed ignore again. Yooooo- Mabel hurled her phone across the room and into the wall, where it shattered.

She lay there on the floor sobbing as the darkness crept into the edges of her eyes.


Muffled voices spoke about her as she bumped back and forth. Her eye half opened to the sound. She could see the swirls of sweater town above her. She felt dazed and confused. She still hurt but now she couldn't move her body at all, it was like she was tied down or something.

A bright light shined into her eyes and words came with it, garbled and hard to understand. She was being lifted or carried or something. She was on something. It stopped moving and people were saying more words around her, a man was leaning over her, strapping something onto her face.

There was a high pitched siren in the background, wailing away. She… she had been here once before, only days ago… after… after Dipper...

This was wrong, this was all wrong. It wasn't supposed to be like this, she was supposed to be in New York with her brother and… and someone else. No. She… what? Her thoughts were all fuzzy. Strange images of memories she didn't have bled across her brain. She saw things that she hadn't done, that hadn't happened. Then she didn't see anything.


The next time Mabel opened her eyes, she was laying in a hospital bed, feeling a strange floating sensation. She blinked slowly, not really understanding how she had gotten here. Her body didn't hurt anymore but she certainly didn't feel like herself. She couldn't actually feel most of herself. Her whole body was numb, except for her left arm.

There was a tightness in her hand that her befuddled brain couldn't reason out. Her eye slipped down her arm and a surge of adrenaline rushed through her.

Dipper was asleep next to her. He was holding her hand tightly, his head resting face down on the bed beside her leg. She smiled sadly at him and squeezed his hand. She tried to lift her right arm to touch his hair but she felt a twinge of pain as she tried.

Her eyes moved off Dipper and onto the other side of her body. Her right forearm had been set in a cast. There was also some kind of brace on her shoulder so that she couldn't move the arm.

What the heck had happened to her? And where had Dipper come from?

"Dipper," she whispered. Her brother didn't stir. She tried to tug her hand out of his but he was holding her too tightly. "Dipper," she said again, trying to wake him.

"I thought I lost you," came his muffled voice. As he spoke he turned his head to look up at her. He was crying. "I'm so stupid! I'm an idiot, Mabel!" If she could have said something other than his name, she would have agreed with him. Maybe even called him some other choice words too.

Before she could call him anything though (as if she could), he did something wholly unexpected. He lunged forward and for a moment she thought he was going to kiss her. At the last second he turned his head to the side and hugged her tightly instead. She returned the embrace with one arm.

"Sorry," he muttered, pulling back. "I just… I forgot that…" he trailed off into silence but he was still clutching her hand. "We got the first flight back. I told them it was an emergency. I spent all of our vacation money to get here. This is all my fault." Mabel tried to smile at him but failed. She wasn't sure how to feel right now.

"The doctors have no idea what happened," explained Dipper. "It's like you fell twenty stories out of the sky. They found you passed out in the attic of the Mystery Shack. Your arm and both legs broken. Your shoulder dislocated. You have four fractured ribs, a punctured lung…" Dipper trailed off as he saw her face turn white. "You were in surgery for almost twelve hours…"

Dipper looked down at his arm holding onto Mabel. Her eyes followed and she could see his watch there. Eleven fifty nine.

"You woke up just in time for me to say goodbye," said Dipper with a sad smile. "I'm sorry you had such an awful visit this year. I'll make it up to you n-"