Sweater Town
Chapter 8 – The Statue
By Starwin
It was the first time Mabel didn't awaken when her dream of sweater town ended. She knew this was a dream because she was flying. Well, not flying, more like floating. Even that wasn't the right word for it but her brain couldn't come up with anything else. She knew she couldn't float through the sky so this had - she was ascending, that was the word - to be a dream.
As she ascended, she could see the edges of the distant sky around her. Except, it wasn't a sky. It was fabric, it was a sweater. She realized this was the first time she had ever been 'awake' when leaving. No, not awake, aware? It felt weird and unsettling.
She had always just awoken in her own bed. She never remembered leaving sweater town. One moment she was there and the next, she was back in her room as if she had never gone anywhere at all. It was odd when she really considered it. Sweater town was like a reverse dream.
When she dreamed, she never remembered how they started. Instead, she simply found herself in the middle of whatever thing she was dreaming about. When she woke up, she could usually recall those last moments between being asleep and awake. Sometimes it was even hard to separate the two.
With sweater town, she always remembered how it started, how she fell in. That transition from waking to dreaming. But she could never remember the end. Sweater town always just vanished abruptly for her.
This was the first time she could actually remember and sense those final moments. She could see clearly the video of her other self, of Bel, talking to her about the end of the world. And she had felt herself lift from her bed and into the sky.
She tried to look down, to see the tiny bedroom far below. However, her head wouldn't move. In fact, no part of her body would move. She couldn't even shift her eyes to glance around. All she could do was stare into the fabric of the world.
She tried to recall if she had been able to move around when she fell into sweater town. She didn't know. She just knew that the further down she went, the more it felt like flying. No, that was also the wrong word for it.
Mabel struggled again, trying to move her arms or kick her legs but they didn't respond. It wasn't like she was tied down - or was it tied up, she wasn't sure (did it matter?). It was more that her body simply wouldn't obey her commands. It had stopped listening to what she wanted it to do.
So, instead of focusing on her body, she tried to turn her attention to anything else. Usually, as she entered sweater town, the real world would fade away, like it was a dream. And whenever she awoke back in her own bed, sweater town became just a half remembered fantasy. While she was here, between worlds, she could clearly remember both of them.
Emotions and memories fought for control over her as she recalled losing her brother and going to his funeral. But she had also just fought a dragon (okay, run away from a dragon) at his side. Both the memories felt so real. Neither was a dream or a fantasy.
She remembered what Great Uncle Ford had told her. That this pathway, this connection between worlds was coming apart at the seams, literally. She could see it. She could - she could feel it. It was like a tangled up knot just below her tummy. A really painful, super uncomfortable, knot that twisted all around.
She put her hands over her belly. Oh, good, her hands were working again, that was nice of them. Another bolt of pain shot through her. Okay, wow, that was something else. She had never felt that before.
Mabel winced, she didn't think dreams could hurt like that. But this wasn't really a dream and she wasn't really awake. And there had been that one time in sweater town that had hurt so much. That had been awful. This wasn't as bad as before but it wasn't good either.
She tried to focus her thoughts once again. Her eyes found the frayed ends of threads hanging loosely all around her. She could see the damage that had appeared with each trip. How much longer did she really have before this place came tumbling down on her?
Her stomach gave another unpleasant twist and she wrapped her arms tighter around herself. She curled into a ball against the pain. What the hot-Belgian-waffles was going on down there? She was holding her knees tightly to her chest but that wasn't helping at all! When she moved her arms, Mabel could sense a give in the sweater that hadn't been there only a day or so ago.
Ford was right, however many trips she had left to sweater town, it would soon come to an end. There had been something else he had said too… but she couldn't remember what it was. No. She didn't want to remember because it wasn't true. He was wrong. Dipper had said Ford was wrong.
Mabel felt herself sink into her soft bed as the feeling of weightlessness left her. The waking dream slipped away quickly as reality and fantasy unfurled from each other, leaving her disoriented. It took her a long moment to reason out where she was, and why she was curled up, and how she had gotten into this uncomfortable position.
She was back, she was awake and tucked inside her sweater. She tried to wriggled herself out but stopped as she heard the ripping sound of fabric. She didn't move. She didn't breathe. She simply lay there, trying to decide what to do now.
The pain in her stomach exploded and it took all her strength to not just fling her arms and legs outwards. She had awoken to the sound of ripping, which meant she had to be very careful taking off her sweater.
That wasn't going to be easy because her brain was screaming for her to uncurl right now. Something very bad was going on inside her. It felt like someone had inflated her insides to twice their normal size, almost to the point of popping. Staying in her current position was just making it worse.
In the last few moments before she had found herself awake and wrapped in her sweater, she had been having the strangest waking dream about remembering her dream. Now that her eyes were open and she could see the pink fabric pulled over her head, she was having a hard time recalling very much about her most recent sweater town adventure. There had been a dragon in it, that much she could clearly remember.
She had also felt a very similar pain in her tummy that she was currently gritting her teeth through. She needed to get out of this position, it felt like it was making things worse. She shifted in her sweater and she heard the ripping sound again. She stopped moving and she remembered her Great Uncle Ford telling her that soon her dreams of sweater town would end. She knew that time was close, and come right now if she didn't extract herself very, very carefully.
Her body twinged with pain, begging to spread out as quickly as possible.
She was able to wiggle out her right leg first. It felt odd as she moved it. Her inner thigh was slick with something she couldn't exactly see or touch right at the moment. It was slow going, scooting by inches at a time. Once her leg was out though the whole affair of getting the rest of her body free was pretty straight forward. Delicately she pulled off the last bit of sweater. She briefly struggled to untangle her sheets from around her. With a final kick she freed herself of the blankets and lay spread out on her back, panting slightly from the effort.
She winced again as her stomach twisted. What the heck was going on down - oh…
Her eyes had finally looked down and found the horrible bloody mess along her legs and staining her sheets. Well, that was just what she needed right now, wasn't it? Why not now? Of course she had to get her first period now. Sure. Good work body, you suck. Her tummy tightened again, as if to say: anytime, don't mention it, I'll be here for the rest of your life, every month! She could have punched her guts, but, she was already in enough distress.
She had known this was coming of course. She had already gotten both a lecture from her Grunkle Stan (while she had been switched with Dipper). She had also had 'the talk' with her mother not long after she had come home at the end of summer. Mabel wasn't sure which had been worse. She felt the pain flare up again. This. This was way worse than either of those talks.
Her hand suddenly jumped to her sweater, an abrupt fear in her thoughts. She lifted the sweater above her head to see the damage and if she had managed to bleed on it. The garment was in pretty bad shape. Many of the rips looked even worse than before and - darn it - it wasn't blood free! Stupid body!
Against the fushia of the wool it was hard to see but there was indeed a small reddish-brown stain on one side. Of course there was. What had she expected? She had been completely enveloped in the thing, like a second skin. Her sheets, her shirt, her underwear and her sweater weren't safe from her new super power. That power being to make a mess out of everything.
Her gaze drifted off the stain and across the rest of the precious garment. The outer seam from neck to shoulder had split completely. The gap was big enough that Mabel could have fit both her hands through (she didn't, obviously not wanting to make it worse). Or, she might be able to wiggle her whole body through if she really tried. Or, or, if she'd had a second head, both could have come out the top! Or, or, or, if Dipper was here, they could have worn it together and pretended to be a two headed monster!
Her face fell as she thought of Dipper. She didn't know what to do. Her favorite sweater, her connection to her brother, her gateway to sweater town was literally unraveling in her hands and she couldn't fix it.
She let her sweater flop down above her head, well out of the mess around her legs. Her eyes drifted down to the smeared blood along her thighs and soaking into her sheets. She didn't really know what to do about that one either. Okay, that wasn't true, she did have some idea.
During her talk with her mom, she had also given Mabel some products to help her out. One of those things was a box of pads she could wear. Like mini girl diapers. She wasn't really looking forward to wearing them. The alternative product sounded even worse. Mabel shuddered, recalling the images she had seen on the internet about them. Stupid internet, always ruining everything for her!
So, okay, the first thing she had to do was clean up this mess, starting with herself. Figuring she couldn't really make her sheets a lot worse, she wiped some of the gunk off her legs. Of course the moment she finished there was more. She sighed. What a mess.
She held her long nightshirt between her legs for the short walk to the bathroom. At least she wasn't leaving bloody footprints as she went.
Walking wasn't super comfortable. Half naked, dripping with blood, body trying to kill her from the inside out. Oh yeah, this day was going to be great, she could already tell.
At last she reached the bathroom. A very tiny part of her was glad she didn't have to fight to use it today. She got to the shower and turned the hot water on full blast. She stripped off her clothing. After debating for a moment, she tossed her clothes into the sink and turned that on too.
The shower was finally warm enough, not as hot as she liked, but warm enough. The hot water seemed to help. It certainly didn't make things all better but it did make them better.
About a minute into her shower though, she had to scramble out. Her clothing had clogged up the sink and it had started to overflow too. She shut it off and tossed all but one of the towels in the bathroom onto the floor. Then she was back in the shower.
Mabel stood under the scalding water, letting it wash over her. Her tummy continued to twist and turn, but it didn't feel as bad as when she had woken up. She wasn't sure if she was just getting used to it or if maybe the hot water was really helping or if it was indeed getting better. She didn't really care what the reason was though. She was just glad it wasn't as bad.
"Mabel," came the voice of her mother, along with a knock. Mabel froze in the shower, already knowing what was coming. "Sweetheart, it's alright. You don't have to be afraid or worried. I'll take care of your sheets. The box of SuperMaxPads are in the cabinet for you." Mabel could feel herself go completely red. Of course her mother knew. "Take as long as you need."
Had it been any other time, Mabel might have said something. Maybe she would have said thanks or give an embarrassed complaint about her mother invading her privacy. Right now, she didn't say anything.
Mabel stayed in the shower for another hour. She had decided that the water was indeed helping. And the longer she stayed there the longer it would be until she had to face her mom or put on those stupid girl diaper things. Unlike baths, the nice thing about showers was that they stayed hot much longer. But not forever.
While the water wasn't cold, it was cooling down. She was also feeling eager to escape the constant twisting she was feeling in her tummy. It was time to head back to sweater town.
She shut off the water, grabbed the last clean towel. The rest were on the floor soaking up the spill from the sink. She began to dry herself off. She didn't appear to be leaking right at this moment but she had no idea when the flow was going to start up again. Or how bad it would be.
It wasn't like she was afraid of blood. It came with the territory of her life. From crafting injuries to scrapes and cuts from tumbles and falls. But there was something different about it when it was coming from inside you and not through a cut on your skin.
Nope, nope, she didn't want to think about this any more than she already had to.
She knelt in front of the cabinet below the sink and rifled around in the items underneath. Extra soap, a box of bandaids, two packs of Dipper's deodorant (he always liked to have extra) - she quickly pushed those away, trying not to think about her absent brother. Oh come on! She was already tearing up. Her hand bumped blindly through the rest of the objects until she found the box.
She yanked it out, briefly scanning the packaging that announced its easy to use sticky tabs and absorbency and blah-blah-blah. Mabel tore the top off and fished inside. She pulled out one of the small pads and held it in her palm. It wasn't really like a diaper at all now that she was looking at it. The box also included instructions, which she quickly browsed over, it looked simple enough.
She hadn't exactly thought to bring clean clothing with her. So, she just held it between her legs with one hand while she kept the towel up with the other. She hurried back to her room, praying that she wouldn't bump into anyone. She didn't.
Safe behind her door, she quickly checked the pad she had been holding to herself. Already a spot of red in it. She hoped it wasn't going to be like this every time.
She started to get dressed, picking a pair of - not white - underwear from her collection. Attaching the pad thing did indeed turn out to be easy, the sticky tabs actually worked quite well. With her underwear in place and her hands free once more, the rest of her clothing came quickly. Blue skirt, dark blue undershirt - thankfully still no bra to contend with. Waking up to needing one of those was probably going to be less dramatic. Of course, she realized that had actually already happened to her, and that it had been pretty dramatic.
Despite her age, her older self, Bel, the Mabel she was in her dreams of sweater town was still wearing sweaters too. It was good to know she hadn't changed too much, even if her body had. Not for the first time, Mabel wished she could talk to Bel, to ask her stuff, lots of stuff. There were so many things she wanted to know about her future life.
She shook her head. No, that was all just a dream, it wasn't real. Why was it so hard for her to remember that? The answer was simple, she wanted it to be real. She wanted to keep having adventures with her brother. She wanted to never have to grow up but still be able to do the things adults did. She had the best of both worlds in sweater town. Endless summer adventures with Dipper forever.
No, not forever, just until her - her thoughts stopped abruptly. Her eyes fell on the empty bed. Her mom had taken her sheets to wash. She had also taken - No, no, no, no, no!
"DIPPER!" Mabel ran from her room screaming.
It took her a surprisingly long time to find her mother, down in the laundry room. In hindsight, that should have been the first place she should have looked. Stupidly, she had looked almost everywhere else first.
It took even longer for Mabel to calm down and become coherent enough to communicate what she wanted. Only being able to say her brother's name wasn't helping her as she shouted "Dipper" over and over at her mother, who looked confused and pained at the same time.
"Calm down," said her mother as she held her in a hug, trying to will some calm into her daughter. "Take a deep breath." Mabel was having a lot of trouble doing that right now. Her thoughts had gone all wonky and finding words were hard to do. Emotions seemed to be flooding out of her even worse than normal right now and she couldn't stop them.
Finally, she was able to squirm out of her mother's embrace and point frantically at her sweater. It took her mother a moment to realize what she wanted.
"Your pink one, with the rainbow shooting star?" asked her mom. Mabel nodded. "I was going to patch it up and wash it. I don't know what you did to it but it's practically falling apart."
Her mother fished it out of the laundry basket sitting on top of the washer. Mabel made a desperate grab for it but her mom pulled it away. Unfortunately, Mabel had caught one of the tears at the bottom with her finger. There was a ripping sound as the small hole near the bottom became a new, larger, tear. Mabel let out a scream of horror.
"Mabel!" her mother snapped disapprovingly. "Stop it! I know today is going to be rough for you but that doesn't excuse this kind of behavior." Her mother tossed the sweater back into the laundry basket. "I'll fix it up, get it cleaned and you can have it back when I'm done." Mabel was shaking her head, trying to get around her mom and pull it out of the basket. "That's enough, young lady! You aren't a child anymore, you need to stop acting like one!
"There's still food in the fridge I made for you yesterday," said her mother, finally placing herself in front of the washer so that Mabel couldn't get passed. "Go eat something so I can get this done!"
Her mother had no idea what she was messing with. If she put the sweater in the washer it might very well come completely apart and there was no way Mabel was willing to risk that. However, she also didn't stand much of a chance trying to get around her mom right now. Nor could she really do any sort of arguing with her. She would just have to pretend to go eat lunch and when her mom left, sneak back in and snatch her sweater back.
Letting out an angry huff, Mabel stormed out of the laundry room. She headed towards the kitchen but stopped before she got there. She hid herself around a corner and waited, listening for her mom to start up the washer and leave while it worked. She didn't have to wait very long. Her mom emerged a minute or two later, muttering to herself.
"I hope she isn't going to be like this forever," whispered her mom. She pressed herself against the corner hoping her mother would not see her. She could hear the creaks of the stairs as her mother went up. She frowned after her mom. They hadn't been on the best terms for a while now and this whole 'everything' had just made their already tenuous relationship more strained.
It wasn't that they didn't like each other, it was more that they didn't get each other. Her mom was fairly strict, a by the rules kind of woman. Mabel, to say the least, was not. Her free spirit and her mom's rigid adherence to all things not fun, often clashed. They could also both be very stubborn, which didn't help either of them see eye-to-eye.
In fact, she had been honestly surprised when her mother had let her keep her pig. Her mom had been the biggest opposition to it. Dipper had helped sway her a lot though. Even their dad had given in to Mabel's big puppy dog eyes that had no effect whatsoever on her mom.
Her mom cared about her, there was no doubt in Mabel's mind about that. It was just that her mom didn't understand her. Okay, well, no one understood her right now. That wasn't what she meant. When she had been able to talk normally, her mom didn't get her. Not the way Dipper did.
Her mother vanished at the top of the stairs and Mabel darted forward, back into the laundry room. She yanked open the washer lid and it rumbled to a stop. She frowned, the sweater wasn't there. Of course it wasn't! Her sheets were white, no way her mom would have mixed in a pink garment. She closed the washer lid and the machine resumed.
She spent ten minutes searching the room, until finally she was convinced that the sweater wasn't there. Her mom must have taken it with her. Darn it! Okay, well, at least if she had taken it upstairs that meant she was going to try and fix it before washing it. Mabel frowned.
What was her mother going to do when she discovered that the sweater was unfixable? Would she just throw it out? Would she freak out?
They hadn't really talked about all the weirdness that had happened up in Gravity Falls. Neither of their parents would have really gotten it or believed it. Her mother had never said it but, Mabel had the distinct impression that her mom thought they had just made everything up.
Mabel started to fret. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't march up to her parents room and demand her sweater because she couldn't demand! Trying to fight to get it back just ran the risk of making everything worse! Her only option seemed to be to wait it out.
And if she was going to be waiting, she guessed that some food couldn't hurt.
She headed to the kitchen and quickly found the sandwich her mom had made for her yesterday. It was stuffed into the fridge along with a lot more food than she was expecting. Many of the products seemed to be doubled up, even though the first ones hadn't been finished. There was an extra carton of orange juice and a second jug of milk. Extra fruit, more yogurt, a new package of eggs, another loaf of bread (her dad liked to keep bread in the fridge for some reason) and lots of the normal stuff they always ate.
It took her a moment to puzzle out why there was so much extra food but the answer came to her easier than she would have liked. Her mom had run errands yesterday, which meant she had also probably done the shopping. She hadn't accounted for one less person. That extra food in the fridge was what Dipper would have eaten, should have eaten.
Mabel closed the fridge door and took her sandwich to the table. She took a bite without looking and was instantly surprised. It wasn't a bad bite, just not her favorite. It was Dipper's favorite, tuna. With a frown, she put the sandwich down and went back to the fridge. Sure enough, there was a second sandwich that had been placed behind the first, a turkey one. She pulled that out too.
Returning to the table, she set the two plates side-by-side. Then she set about combining the two sandwiches into one. Tuna, turkey, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, a dabble (oh who was she kidding, a smothering) of peanut butter, and her culinary concoction was completed. Stacked three slices high, she was having trouble holding the thing together, but she managed to finally smoosh it enough to fit an end in her mouth. It was amazing.
So why was she crying as she ate it? She didn't feel sad. She wiped the tears as they kept coming with each bite. Stupid body. Wendy had been right. Mabel never thought her whole body would turn against her as it had now. At least the twisting pain in her tummy had relented a tiny bit. It wasn't gone but it was way less bad now.
After the super-snack-a-wich was consumed, she dropped both plates, and the several spoons and knives she had used to add her extra sauces, into the sink. She wasn't in the mood to do dishes right now. If her mom wanted to wash stuff, she could wash those too.
All through lunch, Mabel had been listening for her mother to come downstairs again but she hadn't. She hoped that her mom would hurry up! She was itching to get back into sweater town. Even more so as her cramps began to boil up again after lunch.
A strange thought crossed her mind. She had always assumed - no, that was the wrong word for it, what was up with her brain today picking all the wrong words - that she could only use the shooting star sweater to get to sweater town. But that was kind of a silly assumption, wasn't it? Why couldn't she just knit herself a new shooting star sweater, a better one, a stronger one?
Another, louder, thought weighed in its opinion. Why did she even need a sweater? It was just a dream? All she had to do was fall asleep and she would go to sweater town. No, all she had to do was think about Dipper, and she would go to sweater town.
She shook her head. No, that was all wrong. That wasn't how sweater town worked at all! It had to be the shooting star sweater, and nothing else. A new sweater wouldn't work, a different sweater wouldn't work! Having no sweater at all absolutely, positively, wouldn't work!
When her brain asked her how she knew that the answer was simple. Because she had made the rules. She had made it.
There was a long echoing silence in her head.
She had made it up.
She had made it all up.
And there it was. There was the truth of everything. These past days had all been makebelieve. She had never 'gone' to sweater town. She hadn't 'had' adventures. She hadn't 'seen' Dipper alive and well and whole.
She felt her legs collapse out from under her and she began to sob on the living room floor. She was so stupid for believing any of it. She was such a child to think her dreams were real! Why had she been so stupid, why had she lied to herself for so long. There was no sweater town. There was no Dipper. She had just made it up because it was so much easier than the truth. The truth that she was alone and the one person in the world that really understood her was gone.
Waddles came over and oinked before snuggling up against her leg. Okay, well, Waddles understood her too but he was a pig, it just wasn't the same as her brother… maybe she needed to put a hat on him? She picked him up and cuddled him against her chest. He was getting heavy. She pressed her face against him. Against the pig her brother had sacrificed his chances with Wendy for. The pig her brother had stood up for her to keep.
"Dipper," Mabel wailed into her pet pig.
NO! Sweater town was real. And she was going to prove it to herself. She was going to prove it right now! Once and for all!
Setting her pig aside and wiping tears from her eyes, she marched upstairs. Her tummy twinged, forcing her to slow her pace but she didn't stop. She wasn't going to let this stupid real life woman thing keep her from her goal.
She stopped at the top of the stairs, her eyes fixed on the door to her parents room. Her mouth hung open, panting slightly with the effort of climbing the stairs so quickly. She was ready, she was going to do this. She was going to prove to herself once and for all that sweater town was real and that Dipper was alive there.
Her eyes moved off the door to her parent's room and onto her brother's door. All she had to do was go into his room and find the proof she needed.
In a few quick steps, she reached his door. It had been closed, most likely by her parents. With a jiggle of the handle she also discovered that it had been locked. She 'pffted' at that. Quickly, she darted into her room and found the bent hairpin she kept handy to unlock her brother's door. The lock popped open with a soft click.
She let the door swing away from her, opening slowly into the dim room beyond. Since his passing, she had only been in once before. She had been in the thralls of a nightmare that still hadn't felt real. It didn't feel real now either. Her eyes swept the mess that had yet to be cleaned up. She wondered how long his room would remain like this.
Taking a deep breath through her nose, she stepped inside. It smelled like her brother. Well, like his unwashed socks, and the faintest hint of his pine scented deodorant. She strode across the room, headed right for his bed.
She was ready to prove to herself once and for all that she wasn't imagining sweater town, that it wasn't all just in her head. All she had to do was a quick once over, not find her brother's journal and - She froze in her steps. Even halfway across the room she could already see the blue book, laying there in the sheets.
That, that wasn't possible, she had given it to her brother. Her other brother. To Dipper in sweater town. She had given it to him. She had held it there, she had seen his new entries in it. When she had returned she had searched all over for it and not found any trace. For it to be laying in the center of his bed, that was impossible.
With shaking hands, she lifted the blue book with its silver pine tree and the number one drawn on the front. Slowly she flipped it over, looking for the gold star that Bel had added to the back. It wasn't there. She opened the book, flipping to the end.
The pages were blank. She turned the pages faster and faster and faster until finally, near the front of the book, words appeared again. Dipper's words, his entries. The last one just two days before the accident that had taken his life.
It… it was a dream. It had always been a dream. She had imagined taking the journal in with her. She had made up all the adventures in sweater town. None of it was real.
She closed the book and put it back on the bed. She left the empty room. She didn't even glance towards her mother's closed door as she trudged across the hall.
She returned to her own room and crawled under her blankets. Or, she would have crawled under her sheets if they had been done washing. Instead she just stood in front of her bed, sheetless, sweaterless, siblingless.
It didn't matter that her mother had taken her sweater. It was all a lie anyhow. It had just been her stupid brain making up stupid stuff. All of it. ALL OF IT! Had just been a lie. It was a pleasant escape she had made herself believe because the reality of it was just too terrible. And now, she couldn't even go there!
She wanted to pull her hair out, to scream, to cry, to do something, anything but be where she was right now. But she was here, she was trapped here. Alone.
She hugged herself. What she decided she really needed right now was pig cuddles. Wandering out of her room she headed downstairs and found Waddles dozing on his pillow. She snuggled down next to him, wrapping her arms around his small soft body and laying her head against him. She listened to his cute snores and the beat of his piggy heart.
It wasn't long before she felt herself drifting off to sleep. But not to sweater town.
Mabel's day had started with a waking dream, so it only seemed fitting that it ended with one as well. She wasn't entirely sure how she knew this was a dream. There was nothing to give it away. She was just walking through a tall, dark, uninviting forest and couldn't remember how she had gotten here. Just how dreams should start.
It wasn't like she was flying or falling. Or floating? No, nope, she was walking. Maybe it was the walking that gave it away? Was she supposed to walk? That didn't seem right.
High above, the tops of the trees shook and swayed as a wind blew through them. It was like no wind she had ever experienced before. It didn't move all of the trees, it just pushed a few at a time, bending their trunks and swaying their branches. The wind moved like a snake, circling down, gliding around her. She couldn't see it, because it was wind, but she could feel it was there.
Abruptly, the wind changed direction and slammed into her from behind, urging her forward. She planted her feet, trying to stay where she was but that did little good. A moment later she was airborne, carried on the wind.
Yeah, okay, flying, there it was, totally a dream.
The wind carried her higher, up into the branches, past the tops of the trees and into the sky. For some reason she expected the sky to be made of wool. Instead, it was made of... trees? Why couldn't things just be what they were supposed to be for once?
She had very little time to contemplate the odd sight before her as the wind carried her down (up?) into the upside down forest above. Gravity didn't change as the wind brought her to the earthen floor (or was it a ceiling now?) of the flipped over trees. It was a little like being in a cave that had trees for walls instead of stone.
Trunks and branches flashed by as the wind continued to drag her onwards, hurrying her forwards to who knew where. Then, as abruptly as it had picked her up, the wind vanished and Mabel felt herself fall upwards into the ground above her. She tumble painlessly across the dirt until finally coming to a stop. As she lay flat on her belly. She felt the strange unsettling feeling of being completely upside down and hanging from the ceiling.
She knew she was upside down. She knew if she let go, she would fall into the forest below. She knew -
"Knew what?" asked a voice that made her whole body go cold. "She knew how the world worked? Ha! If she knew that, she wouldn't be in this mess right now, would she?" Mabel dared to look up and found the monster to go with the high pitched haunting voice. "Long time no see, shooting star," said the pointed man with a tip of his hat. Bill.
Mabel let go of the ceiling-ground and instantly began to fall. The forest above rushed away from her, but the forest below stayed just as far away as it had been. She wasn't floating, the ground was just moving into the sky. Bill, on the other hand, stayed right in front of her, a smile in his eye.
He was exactly as she remember the interdimensional, mind reading, body possessing, triangular demon of doom. His body was that of a pyramid, complete with the block like lines, as though he had been laid down brick by brick at some point. He had a tall chimney like top hat and a matching black bow tie. Scrawny little arms and legs poked out of his golden body and a huge, ugly, awful, unblinking -
"Yes, we get it, you don't like my eye," interjected Bill, with a casual wave of his hand, as if telling her to get on with it.
- creepy, soulless, eye looked down upon her.
"You!" shouted Mabel, poking his eye sharply with a finger.
"Oh come on!" exclaimed Bill, recoiling in pain and covering his hideous eye. "What is it with you and always going for my eye? And it isn't hideous, thank you very much!"
"But, I didn't… say - " began Mabel. Wait, were those words coming out of her mouth?
"Ha! 'Say,' you're funny kid!" answered Bill with a laugh. "This is the dreamscape, the world of the mind! You don't 'say' anything here, you think it. Why did you think you could say anything? From how I understand it, you haven't be able to say much at all!"
Mabel swung a fist at Bill but he easily scooted out of her small reach before the blow could connect. The force of the swing sent her tumbling out of control in the air. The triangular demon let her spin head over heels for a moment before stopping her with a finger planted right against her forehead. She flailed her arms, trying to swat his hand away.
"You," repeated Mabel.
"Yes, we already established that," replied Bill with a grin in his eye. "Me."
"How are you still alive! We defeated you! We erased you!" cried Mabel. "How can you be here?"
"Oh, that's simple," explained Bill, but did not elaborate further. The two of them plummeted towards the ground that just continued to get further away. She waited for him to say more while he offered her nothing. "Oh, did you want me to tell you how I'm here?"
"YES!" shouted Mabel indignantly.
"That's simple, I'm not," said Bill. "You're just crazy, and this is all just… a… nightmare." He poked her in her forehead again, much harder this time. She flew backwards, racing away from him and down into the forest below.
She hit the ground hard, sliding across the dirt like a fallen star. She left a long broken gash across the ground. It even smoldered and patches of the dirt burned a bit from the heat of her re-entry. The crash hadn't hurt, in fact, she hadn't felt anything at all. A little shaky, she got to her feet and brushed herself off.
She looked back into the sky above her, searching for the pointed triangle of doom but he wasn't there. It was just normal sky. Even the upside down forest had gone. Her eyes came back to the ground below her feet - where it belonged. She felt a strange shiver run up her spine. She knew this forest, or at least, this part of it. That stump over there. That fallen log near the river. She had been here.
She started to walk, her legs taking her deeper into the woods. She moved past the parts she recognized and into someplace new, unfamiliar and dark. She couldn't say why she was doing this. Who knew why they did anything in dreams. She just knew she had to keep going. She knew that just ahead was something important. Something she needed to find. Something she needed to see.
The trees began to change as she went. Eye-like circles covered their trunks, their leaves turned dark and the air chilled so that she could see her breath. It was a strange sensation that did not feel dream like.
She touched one of the trees, it didn't feel like a tree. It felt rough and smooth, soft and hard, cold and hot, all at the same time. She pulled her hand back and walked on.
In front of her was a deep darkness from which new trees grew into existence out of. In the center of the darkness, steadily glowed with shining golden light. A beacon in the dark.
Her feet carried her, each step feeling heavier than the last. The light blazed ahead of her, beckoning her forward, calling her to it. The light pulsed and shined brighter with each step she took.
All at once, the darkness was washed away. The light changed from one solid color into a symbol, one she recognized, one she feared. Oh no, not this nightmare, please, not this nightmare!
In front of her was a huge statue of Bill. It towered over her, a hundred feet tall. His great glowing eye focused on her. And burning in his eyes was her shooting star. It was projected across the ground, bathing her in its terrible light.
"SEE YOU REAL SOON, SHOOTING STAR!" shouted his high pitched voice from every direction. "REAL SOON!"
