Sweater Town

Chapter 11 – The Phone

By Starwin


Mabel awoke with a cry of distress. It was dark all around her, except for something glowing in her hand. She lifted it up to find the floating image of her and Dipper hugging. She was still in Gravity Falls. She hadn't escaped like she always did every other time she had fallen asleep. She still had this terrible phone, with its horrible images! All she wanted to do was throw it across the room, to get away from it, to never see the thing again!

But something made her pause. Her surroundings were dark, yet, familiar. She held up the glowing phone and its light played over her room. Her room. She scrambled across her bed to the nightstand and clicked on the lamp. It was her room, in California. She was home. She looked down at her body. She was back to her thirteen-year-old self. Still wearing her shooting star sweater. Although, something felt off, like she was wrapped in too much clothing but she couldn't explain the feeling.

She lifted her hand and saw the glowing glass phone still clutched in her palm. No way. NO WAY! She had never managed to bring anything back from sweater town before. How could she possibly have brought this thing with her! The temptation to throw it away and let it shatter came over her again. She lifted it above her head but slowly lowered it back down then set it as far away from her as she could. At first, on the other side of her mattress then, still feeling uncomfortable, she moved it onto the floor just below.

However, that still wasn't far enough away. She got out of bed, intent on moving the phone to the other side of her room. As she stepped down, her blankets tangled around her legs and she toppled over with a yelp of surprise.

She rolled over with a moan more of frustration than pain and went to untangle the blankets from her legs. Except, it wasn't a blanket wrapped around her legs because no matter how she tugged it the thing wouldn't come free.

It took her a long moment to realize what was wrapped around her lower half. It was a purple skirt. Bel's skirt. It was far too large for her which was why she had tripped over it as it had fallen down around her legs.

She wiggled out of it and was even more surprised to find rainbow colored underwear underneath. Also too big for her, also not hers. They had been pulled up over her nightshirt so that the shirt was oddly threaded through the leg holes. She tugged the strange undergarment off as well. It was something she would wear but did not own.

That wasn't all either. After she removed her shooting star sweater and tossed it aside, she found another sweater underneath and an undershirt and a rainbow sports bra, matching the underwear. All of them too big for her, and all of them ontop of her other clothing. All of them not her's.

Mabel continued to undress until she was back in just her nightshirt and (she double checked) her own underwear. The pile of too big clothing lay on the floor beside the future phone. The phone.

She had almost forgotten about it in her struggle with weird clothes. Mabel gathered up the whole lot and carried it to the far side of the room;. She dropped it in a heap before turning back towards her bed. She intended to leave the… the stuff, as far away from her as she could.

However, she hadn't taken even two steps back when she stepped on something else. Her shooting star sweater. She had tossed it away in her haste to get out of the strange clothes. But here it was, lying on the floor, waiting for her to pick it up and return to sweater town. Her eyes flared, anger raged inside her.

Sweater town had betrayed her. It had given her a messed up horrible world. Not a safe space to escape into but a nightmare of the most unthinkable kind. She snatched the sweater off the floor and stalked back to the pile of clothes. The other side of her room was not far enough away.

She gathered up the garments and the phone before she wrapped everything up in the shooting star sweater. She was going to throw this whole lot away. All of it. Right now. She was done with sweater town, she was never, ever, going back to that horrible place with that thing she had thought was her brother.

Not even stopping to consider her actions, Mabel marched out of her room. The whole house was dark but she knew her way. She quietly hurried downstairs carrying the dreaded sweater and the horrible phone with its sick images out to the trash behind the house.

She stopped before the large black roller bin, lifted the lid and hung the sweater and the contents wrapped inside it over the dark abyss. This was it, she was done, she was ready to return to reality. No more of this fantasy, no more of this sick, messed up, place. All she had to do was drop it.

Her fist wouldn't open.

Just drop it. This is only your favorite sweater that reminds you of the brother you lost. It's only the magic portal that lets you see him even though he's gone. It's only the single most important thing you have in life right now. Just drop it. And that phone inside, it's only a window into the twenty years of your other self.

Mabel pulled the sweater and its contents back from the lip of the trash and hugged them to her chest. Her heart was pounding so hard it threatened to explode. She suddenly snapped out of her automated panic to reject everything she had just seen. A shiver ran down her spine. She was outside, in the middle of the night, in little more than an overlarge shirt. She went back inside and returned to her room.

She sat on her bed, carefully unfolding the sweater as if it was a bazillion years old. Sitting inside like some unwanted Christmas gift was the glass phone atop a pile of clothes. She had brought things back with her. Things she hadn't intended to bring but had brought none the less.

A strange thought buzzed around in her head. Something she couldn't quite grasp in her current state but that her brain had made a connection to. She had brought things back from sweater town, a fictional world she had just imagined was real.

Her eyes returned to the glass phone and carefully, with shaking hands, she lifted it from the clothing and tapped the screen. It glowed to life once more and the password field returned. She typed in her brother's name and the phone unlocked.

She was returned to where she had left off, at the video of... of...

Mabel hit the back button in the corner and the video shrunk to its original smaller size. It was only then that Mabel read the sparkling glitter caption below it which read 'First Time.' She tried her best not to linger on the other thumbnails or their captions below but her eyes glanced for her. Dozens of videos had either her or Dipper's face in them... and not much clothing between them.

She smashed the back button again, trying to shake the images from her head. She wasn't ready to watch any of any of that stuff. Not now. Not ever.

The videos folded back into each other, shrinking and packing away. After a short moment they were just a single stack of small images in a page filled with images. She was back in the main gallery.

She scanned the other labels, hoping there was something else here to explain all this. To her surprise, there was. Only a few folders further along she found, 'Other Mabel' in the glitter list. It was the name Dipper often called her. She frowned that he had never found a better name for her. She tapped the folder and it expanded outwards. The very first video had a sparkling label of 'Play me first,' the video next to it said, 'Play me second.' All the rest of the videos just had dates under them. Mabel tapped the first video.

A holographic image of her twenty-ish year old self spread across the page. Bel was up in the attic of the mystery shack. Mabel pressed play and Bel began to talk to her.

"May, if you're watching this video than it means I'm dead," said Bel seriously. Mabel felt her heart stop but realized that the Bel in this video was far too young, there was no way she - The girl's face split into a huge grin. "HA! I'm joking! I'm joking! I made this in case you ever look at our phone. Dipper says you haven't and I guess you can't really leave me a message... but I, well, I kinda left you a lot of messages.

"Really, I totally thought you would look sooner, I mean, you've been me for like, what, a million years now? And you haven't looked at my phone once! Whaaattt? I wish I could go that long without - " there was a buzz in the video and Bel reached out to the camera, which Mabel realized was the phone, and tapped something on it. "Oh man! Oh, sorry, yeah, text, see! I can't even have a break for a minute!

"Anyhow, I just wanted to say hi, like usual, and..." here she blushed slightly, "geez, you think this would be easy by now, but, okay, here it goes. Look. If you found my phone I bet this wasn't the first video you watched. In fact, if I know me, and I do, because you're me, I think, maybe..." she shook her head, "no, that's the point, you aren't really me, not really. Okay, boy, here it goes. If you watched something else first, you need to watch the next video, seriously. I'll see you there! Oh! And I almost forgot!" She leaned even closer to the camera whispering to it.

"I think it's time we had a talk, you and me, for reals. I know Dipper isn't going to tell you, that's just how he is, so," her hand moved to the phone again and tapped something that Mabel couldn't see. "I'll keep setting an alarm, for this day, one year from now, when you're here, and you're me, I hope you'll look at this message and finally hear me. Okay! Bye! See you soon!" Bel reached out and touched the stop button and the video froze.

Mabel frowned at the phone. Several things had caught in her brain. First, Bel had left her a lot of videos and she had never seen one of them. Second, and she couldn't help but smile, Bel had called her May. Not 'Other Mabel' or something dumb like that. Maybe it had just been a nickname, or maybe, her other self had come up with a similar but different name for her.

Mabel backed out, her finger hovering over the video labeled 'Play me second,' after a moment's hesitation, she tapped it. This video was projected holographically, but it was flat, indicating it must have been taken on an older device. Bel was much younger in this video. Mabel frowned at herself in the video. This Mabel was the same age as when that other video that had caused her to flee from sweater town..

"Hey, me," said Bel nervously. "Okay, boy. Here we go. This is like my tenth take of trying to do this. I promised myself I would, because, we deserve to hear it from us, okay?" She sat quietly for a long moment, hands fidgeting in her lap. She shook her head. "Alright, quick, like a bandaid! IMINLOVEWITHMYBROTHER!" she said very, very fast, closing her eyes as she said it and shaking her head, her face completely red. "I'm in love with Dipper," she said more clearly, relaxing slightly. "We love each other." Mabel felt that uncomfortable feeling return inside her. Bel looked away.

"I don't know how else to tell you, May. I don't have any idea what you're going to think," said Bel. "I've never told anyone else, how could I? But I think you deserve to know." Mabel felt sick, like she was going to throw up again. Her eyes darted to her door wondering if she could make it to the bathroom in time if the urge overtook her. "Look, I know you might be feeling a little weird right now, totally weird right now. I was confused too. I mean, I've always loved him. And I thought it was just like a brother but, it's more..." She trailed off into silence. "Look, I'm not doing a good job here. But I don't have to.

"When Dipper first told me about you I didn't really believe him. I just kinda made these because they were fun. But as time went on there was more I couldn't explain. I had no choice but to believe him. So, I knew what I had to do, I had to record my life for you! It's all here! All my vlogs for you! Everything, my feelings, my experiences, my good days and bad! Just, please, whatever you do, don't hate Dipper. Okay, bye other me… bye May." Bel reached out and the video froze on her face.

Mabel sat there looking at the floating image. She was at a complete loss for words, not that she could speak any words. She didn't know what what to do next. She backed out of the video, returning to the folder above. It was packed with videos. She scanned the thumbnails looking for any questionable content but they all just seemed to be videos of her, fully clothed - although sometimes in pajamas.

The next video in the list wasn't titled, it just had a date, June 14th, 2013. That was the day after her first visit to sweater town. Mabel tapped it.

"Okay, wow, I just had the strangest conversation with my brospheth," said Bel. She looked almost exactly like Mabel did now. "Apparently, yesterday all I could say was his name. I don't really remember most of that, yesterday is kinda a blur, I might have been overdosed on sugar. Anyhow, my crazy brother has some strange theories about it, he thinks I might have been cursed or something? Who knows. He's cray-cray!" the video ended.

Mabel was about to hit back again but spotted what looked like a curved arrow at the side of the screen. At first she thought it was a replay button but noticed that it had appeared on both sides of the screen. She tapped at it and nothing happened. She swiped at it and the whole video moved and bent like the page in a book being turned. She was in the next video and it began to play automatically. Well, that was handy.

There was a new video every few days, usually short, just little updates about her life. Some of the videos talked about adventures she had with her brother over the next summer. This visit didn't seem to end with a demon trying to destroy them but the weirdness and fun continued nonetheless.

There was a video about living shoes that tried to make Dipper run forever (Bel had managed to tie the laces together and stop them). Another video about her summer crush, William, who Bel had been totally convinced was a vampire. Unfortunately he just turned out to be super emo and also a smoker, ick. Still another about their Great Uncle Ford who kept asking her odd questions and judging her responses.

"I don't know," said Bel to the camera she was holding in her hand. "Maybe he thinks I'm someone else or something? Summer is almost over and so far Dipper says I've been acting just like my silly self all summer long as near as he can tell. Of course, there was that one day that no one except us remembers, but, again, we both remember it. Dipper doesn't think it's related." Mabel swiped into the next video.

This video was a bunch of moments from their 14th birthday. Cake and ice cream and friends and presents. Bel kept going from person to person and talking super fast. Finally with a flash of glitter that she tossed in front of the camera the video came to an end.

"We're back in California after another long bus ride," continued Bel in the next video. They were on a bus, the landscape out the back window racing past. "I'm kinda sad that summer's over but we have a new school to look forward to! I'm so excited! Dipper's a little nervous - "

"I'm not nervous! Who told you I'm nervous? Why are you recording this?" asked Dipper from the seat next to her.

"But I told him it'll be fine," said Bel casually. "How bad can High School really be?" Mabel clicked the next one.

"Dipper is freaking out right now," explained Bel. This video was dated September 9th, 2013. "It's our first day of High School and he can't find his pre-High School checklist!"

"Mabel! This is serious!" cried Dipper in the background. "That list had all my classes on it and a map of the campus, with the fastest route to each class! Without it I'll be late to every class! It also has my locker location and combination and what book I need when and - "

"Don't worry Dipster! We have all the same classes, you can just follow me around and share my books! It'll be fine!" called Bel, still filming herself.

"Fine?! What part of lost checklist is fine?" cried Dipper sounding a little hysterical. Bel set her phone down so that it could still see her and Dipper in frame, than went over and hugged him. "Mabel we don't have time! I have to find - " She put a finger over his lips and shushed him. "Mmmmabel!

"Dipper, we survived the end of the world, this is just High School! How hard can it be! Besides, we'll face it together! Now come on!" cried Bel and she pulled him out the front door, leaving her phone behind and not shutting off the video. Mabel continued to watch the empty room for a minute or two, than used the bar at the bottom to scroll forward. Apparently, Bel had just left her phone on all day long. At last, Dipper and Bel reappeared in frame.

"UGH! MABEL!" moaned Dipper, stomping past, "THAT WAS HORRIBLE! THAT WAS THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE!" Bel entered in frame behind him. She stopped and looked at her phone with surprise and joy then snatched off its resting place.

"Worse than when Bill tried to destroy the world?" asked Bel as she hurried after her brother, the camera bobbing up and down as she ran.

"Yes!" came her brother's voice from some place out of sight ahead.

"Worse than that time Bill climbed inside your body and controlled you like a sock puppet?" asked Bel, finally catching up and leaning over the side of the couch to record her brother hiding his face under a pillow.

"YES!" cried Dipper's muffled voice.

"Worse than - " Bel started to ask again.

"YES! Worst day of my life, Mabel!" cried Dipper, finally pulling the pillow away. He looked quizzically at her, "How long has that been - " the video abruptly ended.

Mabel watched each video, continuing on through a life she had yet to live. A life she could never live. A life that belonged to someone just like her. The videos were on all different kinds of topics. Bel didn't record every day but she did record often. Most of them were fairly short too, just brief minute or so updates on her life.

Some videos were long though. The ones with Bel crying after a breakup, of which there were more than Mabel had expected to find, were the longest. To her surprise, Dipper even appeared in some of the videos too. His updates were more awkward, like he couldn't believe he was talking to a phone. Still, it was good to see his face and hear his voice.

"Okay, so…" said Bel in one of the next videos, her face very red. She suddenly lifted up her shirt to show off her small budding breasts to the camera. Just as quickly she pulled it back down. "Yeah, so, I said I was gonna share everything and these -" she lifted her hands up to indicate her chest "- these things, have really started growing. Mom took me to by some training bras yesterday," Bel shivered. "I never thought shopping for clothes could be so unpleasant. I said I would do the next set on my own. Anyhow…" she held her hands up to her chest again, seemingly at loss for words. "Thanks body."

Mabel watched several more videos about how school sucked and how her own body kept changing and turning against her, with bits of flesh flashed every now and then.

"And I think I got this rash from gym class!" Bel was saying in one of the videos, showing off a nasty red and bumpy rash just above her butt. "Now I've got to rub on this smelly cream to make it go away. Gymnastics is still pretty fun though, even if I'm not super good at it. I would never tell anyone else that by the way."

School ended and Bel left an excited video about heading back to Gravity Falls again this year. There was also a video of her arriving and bouncing on her camp bed. The next video however was the day after Mabel had visited that year.

"Apparently, we had some kind of welcome back party yesterday," said Bel. "It's all fuzzy, like I dreamed it but I don't remember it. Ford asked me a bunch of questions again today. Things only I would know. He wouldn't tell me what it was about.

"I also feel kinda weird," continued Bel with a frown. "It is way harder to explain this but - but it's like all my feelings for everything got stronger this morning. I'm crying at the slightest sad thing. I'm super happy at the very smallest joyful thing and just seeing Dipper fills me with overwhelming emotion. A sort of crazy delight that he's here." There were tears starting to run down Bel's face. She touched her face. "What the heck! I don't get this! I'm not even on my period!"

Mabel watched as another summer went past. More adventures, more broken hearts (although less than the previous years). Mabel also talked about her UsTube Channel and how she was working to convince her brother to start a channel featuring the both of them. She even had names for them.

"We could call it Adventures With Mabel and Dipper or Quests for Excitement or Mystery Twin Adventure Time!" suggested Bel excitedly.

"We aren't calling it Mystery Twin anything!" called Dipper's voice from off camera. He was clearly in the room with her. Mabel wondered just how many of these hundred or so videos she had watched that he had been present for.

"He likes it," whispered Bel into her camera.

"No, I don't," muttered Dipper half heartedly.

"He just won't admit it. Oh, oh! We should call it Mystery Pines Adventure Twins!"

The video stopped, Mabel played into the next one. Bel looked pretty banged up in this one.

"Alright, so, we just had our first joint adventure together for the channel and that could have gone better," admitted Bel.

"Better!" exclaimed Dipper, the camera turned and she could see Dipper pacing in the background. He did not look a lot better off from his sister. There were several rips in his clothing and he appeared to have a black eye."Mabel, we almost died! That thing almost ate us! He ate my camera!"

"Oh, he'll poop it out in a couple days, don't worry," said Bel.

"Mabel - " Dipper began but the video cut out. When she started the next one it began with Dipper holding his camera, as far away and with as few fingers as he could manage. "We got the camera back." Then Bel began to giggle uncontrollably and the video cut out.

Mabel watched the rest of summer flash by. Videos were a bit more scares this year. Not for lack of excitement. Bel was beaming almost every time she was on, talking at an unintelligible speed, to the untrained Mabel ear. She rambled on about all the cool stuff she was getting up to. However, there were no videos about said stuff, until Mabel realized that there were, just not in vlog form. It was all the videos they had been uploading to UsTube.

Taking a quick break, Mabel tried opening the browser on the phone to navigate to UsTube. It took some work to find. It turned out to be the laptop sitting in the background on a desk that went to the internet. However, it had no connection. Through her misclicks she had also discovered she had no phone connection and no messaging either. The bars icon she was used to seeing on cellphones was absent too. All she had was the image of the attic in the Mystery Shack and it's weird items instead of icons. Although, she had to admit she liked it.

Of course, even if she had gotten to UsTube, it would have been the UsTube from her time, right? Or would the phone somehow be connected back up to Bel's time? Was it even Bel's time? Just trying to think about it made her head hurt. She went back to the scrapbook and it's videos of her life. Oddly enough, those weren't nearly as confusing.

She had left off at the end of summer and the start of their second year of High School. However she only got a few videos in before she had to stop them again. The sun had come up at some point and sitting as she was, her back to the window, she couldn't see the screen. She scooted around in bed, finding the darkest corner of her room, not an easy task. At last she found a passable spot and resumed her watching. She ignored both her stomachs loud protests for food and her body's need for relief.

"I joined choir and acting and the sewing and the audio/video club," said Bel excitedly. "The last one was Dipper's idea. He said, if we're going to keep making videos we should have some practice with equipment. I'm the only girl in the club, the boys keep trying to talk to me but don't have any idea how. It's kind of adorable. And it annoys Dipper, so that's a plus."

There were more videos about her school year. Bel complaining about the amount of homework and about the boys in choir being all hands with her. The nerds (as she called them) in the A/V Club, once they had got used to her, were just more sweaty nerds like her brother. She had made it clear she wasn't interested in any of them.

Although, it appeared there was a LOT of interest in her. It seemed like every other video was Bel talking about a boy. Some of whom she liked and some of whom were complete jerks. There were even a couple videos of her crying over some of them. One video was of her swearing off boys forever, followed by another talking about Jonathan. He was captain of the soccer team and a Senior, whom she was going on a date with. Only to be followed by another video of her swearing off boys forever.

Bel was so distraught in her video that she actually broke down crying.

"I just wanted a kiss," she was saying into the camera, tears rolling down her cheeks, "but he just kept getting more and more grabby. He was such a jerk! I told him to stop and when he didn't, I kicked him right in his junk! BLARGH! I hate boys so much! They can only think with - with -" she gestured at her lap. "Why do they all have to be idiots!" She started sobbing, hugging herself in the very pretty and - Mabel noticed now - slightly torn red dress she was wearing.

"Mabel? Is everything alright?" asked Dipper from someplace behind the camera. Bel looked up. "Oh, Mabel! What happened? Are you alright? Are you okay?" Dipper was suddenly in frame, his arms wrapped around her. She was hugging him back, the camera held at an awkward angle but still pointed at them enough to see their faces. There was the smallest smile on Bel's face as she hugged her brother back and nuzzled into his shoulder. Her eyes flicked to the camera still pointed in their direction, Bel's eyes widened slightly as if she was afraid and the video stopped.

There were a few more videos, apparently the thing with the boy named John started to get out of hand. He spread rumors about Bel which she claimed weren't getting to her. At least at first. Soon though she had several more breakdowns while talking to Mabel, confessing just how bad it was getting.

"So, me and Dipper almost got expelled today," said Bel first thing when the next video started. Mabel frowned, there was a bruise under Bel's eye. "John was being a butthat as usual, calling me names and his friends were laughing and I was just ignoring him, you know, as best I could. Then Dipper just walked right up and punched him in the face." She stopped sort of breathlessly. "I mean, I've never seen him stand up to a bully before, ever.

"Dipper of course just has noodle arms," continued Bel wiggling her arm to emulate her brother's lack of muscle. "So, he could only get that first punch in and John had his whole team to back him. If you think this is bad," she pointed to her eye, "Dipper has them like all over his body. Anyhow. I jumped in too and, apparently, so did a bunch of other girlfriends I didn't even know I had! It seems I wasn't the first one of John's 'girls' to have had a really bad date with him," here Bel scowled, "I should have kicked him even harder, that bastard.

"It kinda came out what he had done when we were all dragged into the principal's office," explained Bel, absently twirling her hair. "I… I guess I sort of got lucky I stopped him when I did - " Bel shook her head. "Look, you don't want the details. He was just an awful, evil, person who isn't going to our school anymore. Apparently, neither are some of his buddies.

"And I guess this was kinda the worst fight the school's ever had? One of his buddies did this to me," she pointed at the bruise under eye again, "I made sure he was never going to walk right again. I think I might also have bitten him really badly." She smiled. "Braces for the win?

"Long story short," said Bel, "we still got suspended, so we have a week off and no more Johny-boy making my life terrible. I - I think I really need to be more careful on the dating thing. It used to be just good fun, exciting and stuff. Now, it's all just - just… blargh!

"Anyhow, Dipper suggested we do a hike tomorrow, seeing as we don't have to go to class," said Bel. "Our parents prolly won't let us, they weren't super happy about all this, but, pfft, whatever. See you next time, me." She ended the video.

Mabel made a mental note that if she ever met a soccer player named Jonathan to get done with it and kick him right in the junk off the bat. This was her second year of High School, so, she had that to look forward to?

"I can't believe that Melody and Soos are engaged!" cried Bel. "I just got a text from Melody with pictures and everything!" Bel did something funny with her phone, bouncing it all around. "Darn it, the image is on my phone, I don't know how to show it to you. Anyways, she sent me a picture of the wedding ring! They are getting married over the summer so I can be at their wedding! I'm going to be a bridesmaid! I can't wait for this stupid school year to end!"

There were more entries as the year went on, although, distinctly none about any boys. Some of the videos were talking about how hard her homework was getting and that she didn't get this maths stuff at all.

"GAH! Dipper's explained it to me like a hundred times but I just don't get it!" complained Bel. "I'ma try and guilt him into doing it for me. I usually can. I'm so glad we are still taking so many of the same classes, it makes doing homework sooo much easier. And finals are coming up soon, I'm so not ready!"

Mabel could see it in Bel's face as the end of the school year got ever closer. Panic, frantic babbling, a couple videos with Bel hyped up on MabelJuice to the point where she was nearly shaking uncontrollably. Mabel swiped into the next video.

"Yes! It's over! We're free! FREE!" exclaimed Bel into her camera. The phone obviously sitting on a desk watching her. She was busy shoving things into her purple polka-dot roller bag. "We leave tomorrow for Gravity Falls! I can't wait for another exciting summer!"

The next video was them on the bus heading up and Bel babbling about how excited she was. The next video after that was of her even more excited to see her old attic room, hugging everything in sight. Then, finally, after Mabel's next visit.

"Dipper is pretty sure there's another me taking my place every year," said Bel. This was the year Mabel and Dipper had gone exploring the waterfall cave together. "I'll be honest, I've been making videos for you, my other self, but I didn't really believe Dipper until this year. He showed me a video of you, other me. I watched us explored a cave together!

"I sort of remember it but like a fuzzy dream. He also has video proof of me talking right the camera and saying nothing but his nickname! Worse! He even secretly video taped me sleeping last night! BLARGH! He can be so creepy sometimes! He wanted to look through the video right now, but I said no way buster. Not until I was there to see it too. When he's done I'm gonna make him delete it! This is really getting weird. Dipper is getting really weird!

"BLARGH! I'm getting weird!" admitted Bel. "I feel even worse than the last time you were here. It's like you're leaving your emotions behind or something. Whenever I think about Dipper I just start crying and I don't know why! I hope it isn't like this all summer!

"I don't know if you're real or not, other me," said Bel to her camera. "But this is starting to kinda freak me out. I wish I could talk to you or something and tell you how I feel.

"Also, Dipper keeps insisting we call you Other Mabel, which I think is a dumb name. I want to call you Adorable Mabel and then I could be Cute Mabel. But, I don't think that would work either, because you would also want to be Cute Mabel. I'll have to come up with some better names."

Mabel diligently continued to watch each new video. Getting snippets into Bel's life.

"I just spent like an hour talking to Melody about -" Bel gestured to her chest. "Stuff, you know, like bras and, stuff. I think I am mostly happy with the sport's bra thing, it seems to be working out pretty well." She looked seriously into the camera. "When you're here if you could stop taking them off that would be great, other me."

"Oh hey!" cried Bel in the next video excitedly. "I thought up a better nickname for you, Dipper thought it was stupid but I'm going to use it. From now on, you can be May! See you soon, May!"

This summer seemed to have no romances in store as not a single video talked about any guy she was currently crushing on. In fact, beyond Soos, her Uncles or Dipper, there was no talk of boys at all! The current video that Mabel was watching had Bel talking about how it was stupid that ice cream wasn't an acceptable breakfast, lunch and dinner choice.

In the next video, Bel was dressed in a beautiful white dress, accented with bright pink flowers.

"So, what do you think, May? Awesome right?" asked Bel. "It's my bridesmaid dress for Melody's wedding! I just got it today. The wedding's in a week, I can't wait! They're so happy together! I want to be that happy too, one day."

There was an unusually long vlog from the wedding, several short videos that Bel had stitched together via her phone's editing tool. Mabel smiled as familiar faces popped in and out. Candy, Grenda, Pacifica, Wendy, just to name a few. None of them got many words in edgewise before Bel moved on to the next person in a flurry of excitement.

She even caught a few moments of Dipper, looking very uncomfortable in a tux. And Bel teasing him about it until his face turned red. There was video of cake and of Bel eating cake. There were a bunch of edited together videos of Bel dancing with her friends. Even Pacifica joined her at one point and, much to her surprise, the last person she expected to dance, let alone with her, was Dipper. Bel looked like she was having a great time.

Dipper, at least at first looked like he wanted to be doing absolutely anything else. But as it went on, he seemed to relax and at last looked like he was finally starting to have fun. He even seemed to have built up the courage to go and dance with both Wendy and Pacifica. Mabel smiled fondly.

More adventure videos, still not as many as she would have liked. At least it was something to let her know that she and Dipper were still out exploring together. Still, not a single video about any summer romances. Mabel was starting to worry that one stupid jerk of a guy had mucked up all of Bel's romance life. That is, until a video made her remember who her other self had ended up with.

"So, Dip and Pacifica started going out today," said Bel into her camera, there were tears rolling down her face. She wiped at them. "I'm so happy for them that I'm crying, right? That's why I'm crying?" The video ended abruptly.

The rest of the summer videos seemed to shift from being about Bel to being about Dipper and Pacifica. Some of the videos were clearly taken from hiding spots of her spying on them. None of the commentary that Bel provided seemed to be encouraged excitement for her brother. Instead, there was always a bitter tone in the words, and she often muttered "Dipper's too good for you!" and "he deserves someone better!"

At long last summer ended and Bel's mood seemed to brighten.

"We won't have to see Pacifica for another year!" said Bel brightly to the camera.

"What's wrong with Pacifica?" asked Dipper, clearly overhearing something he wasn't meant to hear. Bel looked up, moving her phone behind her back so that the camera lens was covered. "I thought you two were like BFFs now or something, you're always hanging out with us whenever we go on dates."

"Nothing," said Bel in a way that Mabel clearly knew did not mean 'nothing.'

"Uh-huh, well, you need to get packing we leave in an hour," said Dipper.

The school year seemed to stay pretty normal, with the twins entering their junior year. Bel complained that they had even fewer classes together than last year. She also complained about the colleges she and Dipper were looking at. She kept trying to coax him to find somewhere they could both go. But he was looking at schools specific for his scientific interests. While Dipper never said it in the videos Bel included him in, Bel explained it when she was filming alone. Dipper was considering schools that Pacifica was interested in.

The next video however caught Mabel completely by surprise. It was the middle of December, a week before Christmas break.

"Waddles…" sobbed Bel into her camera. There was an arm around her shoulders. Dipper's arm. The camera tilted awkwardly and Bel buried her face into her brother's chest and sobbed. Dipper took hold of the camera but instead of shutting it off he looked into it and continued.

"He passed away in his sleep last night," continued Dipper as Bel cried into his chest. "Rest in piggy peace, little buddy."

Mabel used her sleeves to wipe the tears out of her eyes. She really would have to cut back on feeding him bad food.

Christmas seemed to lift Bel's spirits once again, although many of her videos following Waddles' passing ended with her crying. Bel showed off the Christmas gifts she had gotten, most excited for the ones from her brother. He had made her a sweater that said Mystery Pines Adventure Twins on it. She had also made him a sweater, of a much better quality, that also said Mystery Pines Adventure Twins.

Things seemed to improve a bit after that. There was even talk of an adventure the two would take a few days before school restarted. To Mabel, and Bel's, disappointment the adventure was canceled. Bel had only one thing to say about it all.

"Pacifica," muttered Bel angrily.

As they entered January, there was a marked change in Bel. This was the time leading up to the year when Bel had decided not come with her brother to Gravity Falls. Mabel worked hard to recall the 'dream,' remembering that Bel and Dipper had been fighting about… schools? No, about splitting up for different schools.

She was now learning that wasn't the only thing they were fighting over. Pacifica also seemed to have become a hot button topic for Bel. Dipper was still talking to her almost every day via SeeMyFaceVideo and it was impacting his adventures with his sister. It was also impacting other things that Bel seemed unwilling to admit in her vlogs for Mabel.

Bel was more fidgety, something Mabel recognized as uncomfortable worry. Her words more halted, more guarded. Her eyes kept looking away from the camera as she spoke. Often, the videos ended abruptly as Bel would almost say something, shake her head, then turn the camera off. Only to have the very next video be her apologizing and trying to get the words out. Words she kept dancing around. Mabel knew how she felt being unable to speak her mind.

"I've been avoiding, I know I have," said Bel softly to the camera. It was very dark, only the roughest details were illuminated by the screen of the phone. While it was hard to see, Mabel realized that she and Bel were sitting in the same spot on their bed, the darkest part of their room. One was recording the video, in the middle of the night. The other watching was watching it, in the middle of the day. Both of them years apart from each other.

"I've only been able to think it," whispered Bel. "I've never been able to say it outloud. Because if I said it outloud that means it's real. Not a dream. Not a fantasy. If I say it, it's real." She took a deep breath, closing her eyes and searching for strength.

"But this video isn't for me, it's for you, only for you, May! It's just a thought. I'm not really saying it, and when I started doing this, I promised I would be honest with you. And I haven't been. I've been lying to you. Well, not lying, but not sharing everything. Dang it, how do I say this?" She looked right into the camera, her eyes watery in the glint of the phone. She moved her face even closer to the screen so that only the bottom of her nose and upper lip was visible. Then she whispered.

"I think I'm in love with my brother…" She yanked the screen back and instantly the video stopped. It was frozen in a moment of time, the dark outline of her body curled up in bed. There was terror in her face, her eyes. Everything about the last image made Mabel feel like she had heard something she was never meant to know. Mabel flicked the edge of the screen and the next video began to play.

"I can't believe I just said that," whispered Bel. The very next recording seemed to be on the same night, only minutes later. "I wanted to delete it so bad, to not make it real. To take it back!" she frowned in the dark. "But these aren't for me. They aren't for anyone but you, May. I can't talk to you face-to-face so this is all I have." She looked down. "I want you to know. Because you deserve to know." The video ended.

"I do feel a little better," explained Bel, as Mabel swiped into the next entry. This had much better lighting and was obviously taken during the day. "Don't get me wrong, I still feel all BLARGH about it! I'm all messed up inside. I feel like I'm going insane! I would be going insane if I had no one to talk to about it and I know you can't answer me but you can listen and that's what I need right now!

"I don't know what to do," continued Bel. "I mean, this is all so weird. I've felt this way for a long time, I just didn't realize until this year, until Pacifica. When he looks at me, when he talks to me! Even the briefest touch and my tummy goes all funny. AND BLARGH! HE'S MY BROTHER!" she shouted this last part then hurriedly covered her mouth and waited as if expecting Dipper to suddenly pop into the room. After a few seconds when nothing happened she continued, this time in a whisper, "He's my brother! And I'm in love with him!"

There were many more of videos like that. In one she was pacing back and forth, her expression strained and filled with worry.

"I think it started with you," Bel muttered to herself, then looked at the camera. "Every time you come here my feelings get amplified, like I'm feeling for both of us or something. And there's something going on with how you feel about Dipper. It's not love, not like mine. I mean, it is love, just not love-love. It's like - it's like, I don't know… but it hurts May, it hurts me."

The videos continued, Bel's appearance becoming more disheveled as time went on. It was later in the school year and finals had to be approaching but Mabel knew that wasn't the main reason her other self looked so bad.

Bel continued to question her own sanity, something Mabel was having an easy time empathizing with. In other vlogs she confessed she was being stupid that this was just a phase, just her body and her hormones turning against her or something. Still others videos where she spent minutes fretting and worrying and berating herself.

"I don't know what to do about this!" complained Bel. "I've always been honest with Dipper before and I don't think I can keep this from him. Like, I'm just going to blurt it out one day. I have to tell him how I feel! I have to tell him - " she leaned into the camera " - that I love him."

On to the next video, more debating, and the next video, more panicking and questioning.

"I can't talk about this with anyone but you, May! And you can't even answer me! This is so unfair!" cried Bel into her video. "What am I supposed to do? I've tried not thinking about this. I've tried ignoring it. I've tried burying my feelings and not looking. But you know me! You know us! We can't do that. We don't hide our feelings. This is driving me crazy! And I can't talk to anyone about it!"

"The college argument is getting worse," said Bel as the next video started. "I tore up my acceptance letter right in front of him, I told him it didn't matter where we went as long as we did it together. He was more angry than I think I've ever seen him. He said I couldn't just throw away my future for him! And I told him I could do whatever the fudge I wanted for him. And then - then I almost said it! I almost yelled it in his face that I love him!" Her face fell. "Instead he just stormed away from me and slammed his door in my face."

Mabel reached out to play the next video but her hand was shaking uncontrollably. The screen was slightly blurry and she realized that it wasn't the phone that was out of focus, it was her. She wiped at her eyes, feeling all gunked up inside.

She absolutely did not love her brother the way Bel did. Oh she loved him, he was the most important thing in the world to her. He was her twin, her best friend, her only brother. The other half that made her whole. But she didn't love him romantically. She wasn't at all attracted to him. He was like - like an adorable kitten. Cute and cuddly but not - not sexy.

The thought of being with him in that way did not appeal to her at all. She could hug him all day long, cuddle up with him on the couch or even kiss his stupid face till her lips cracked. But the thought of doing sex stuff with him was just… gross.

Even still, everything Bel was saying, everything she had done, Mabel would have done all of it too. If not for the exact same reasons. Her brother was important to her. Losing him had torn her world apart and tumbled her down into madness.

She tapped on the next video.

"I'm not going to Gravity Falls this year," said Bel, her voice hollow and lifeless. "Dipper… won't…. He won't talk to me anymore. I messed it all up. I made him hate me." There was a long pause here. "I told him. I told him that I loved him. That I wanted to be with him. That's the real reason I want us to go to the same college…" She looked down away from the camera.

"You know what he said to me? Nothing, he just walked away. He couldn't even look at me. He couldn't be near me. We haven't spoken for a couple days now, he can't even stand to be in the same room with his freak of a sister." She sadly looked back up at the camera tears streaming down her burning red cheeks. "I'm not gonna do these anymore." The video cut out.

However, that was apparently not the case. When Mabel swiped there was indeed another video for her.

"WHAT THE HOT FUDGE-LAND IS GOING ON!" cried Bel's panicked face into her phone.

She wasn't holding it this time but rather had propped it up on a table or something. Mabel could see why the girl had opted to set her phone down, her whole body was shaking uncontrollably. The video was also in that awkward portrait mode that Mabel detested so much. Bel reached out with shaking hands, jumping the camera all around as she rotated the phone so that the video went wide screen. It took her a few tries to get the phone to stay upright. Mabel couldn't help but smile. So different but so similar.

"Okay, okay. I am freaking out here! One second, I am sitting at home, getting ready to post that stupid booger video of Dipper I took a while back, cuze I'm so angry with him. And when I blink, here I am, in Gravity Falls, sitting on his bed, with his laptop," she held up Dipper's laptop, there was a picture of Bel on it, chasing Dipper with water balloons, "looking at pictures of myself! And not just one picture of myself but a whole flipping folder of them and videos too!

"And it feels like there's a giant hole ripping me apart, May! Worse than ever! What the heck? Why do you keep doing this to me?" tears were rolling down her face. "It's like a physical pain. It's like Dipper's gone! Like I lost him! That's what it's like every time you come here. I didn't realize it before because I had never really lost him. But now I feel it, you lost Dipper somehow and you keep dumping that on me!"

Mabel saw the door to their room open in the background and Dipper stepped in, freezing in place, his eyes wide.

"Mabel!" shouted Dipper. He hurried into the room and closed the door behind him. "What're you doing with my laptop?" He hurried towards her. Bel set down the laptop so that it was out of frame then darted towards him. The two met right in the middle of the frame standing feet apart and glaring at one another.

"What am I doing with your laptop? What are you doing with pictures of me on your laptop!" shouted Bel angrily, getting right up in his face.

"Wait, what?! You can talk! This is amazing! I have so many questions! Who are you? What are you doing here? How - " Dipper began.

"Strawberry Pancakes!" shouted Bel right into his face. Dipper stopped.

"Wait, Mabel?" he asked. "I mean," he shook his head, "Blueberry Muffins! Mabel is that really you?"

"Yes, you stupid butt!" cried Bel, her fists balled up at her sides. "What the who-ha am I doing here and why do you have hundreds of pictures of me on your laptop?"

"It was her, it was Other Mabel!" exclaimed Dipper. "She was here! Just like she is every year!"

"What? Did she steal mom's car and drive it here or something?" cried Bel.

"No," reaffirmed Dipper. "I mean, she just popped into existence here, she had your phone and everything!"

"Wait, my phone?" asked Bel and there was suddenly panic in her voice. "Did she look at it?" Dipper pulled back slightly. He shook his head and shrugged indicating that he didn't know.

"I don't know, I mean, she answered my call when I tried to call you," said Dipper. Then it was his turn to look angry. "Wait! Wait! You posted that video of me picking my nose! You promised you wouldn't!"

"I never promised that!" shouted Bel right back at him. "YOU LEFT ME IN CALIFORNIA YOU BUTT!"

"You didn't want to - " began Dipper but Bel cut him off.

"Of course I wanted to come with you, stupid!" shouted Bel. "I wanted you to make me come with you. I wanted you to drag me to Oregon with you! You left me behind Dipper! You left me!" She pounded her fist into his chest as she yelled at him.

"Mabel, I - " Dipper tried again. However, whatever he was about to say was completely lost as Bel lunged forward and kissed her brother full on his lips. She pulled on his shirt, holding him there while she poured herself into him. He looked like a deer caught in headlights, his arms held awkwardly out to the sides, unsure what to do or how to respond.

After a long few moment, where Bel tried to kiss him harder and Dipper didn't move at all, she broke away. Tears ran down her face and sobs echoed out to the camera. She dropped to the floor, pulling her arms and legs into her sweater, except she didn't seem to fit anymore. She rocked back and forth.

Dipper continued to stand there, looking completely unsure of what had just happened or what he was supposed to do about it. Then his body began to move again. His eyes found his crying sister curled up on the floor, hidden away in sweater town, crying her eyes out. He knelt down beside her and wrapped her in a hug, stopping her rocking motion. He said something too quiet for the mic to pick up.

Bel poked her head out of sweater town, tears still running down her face. Then Dipper kissed her back, their faces obscured from the view of the camera but no doubt in Mabel's mind as to what was happening.

Mabel's hand moved back over the phone. She… she had seen enough of this. She was done. But as her finger hovered over the glass, the touch controls popped into existence and she saw the time bar. It was the time bar that kept Mabel from hitting stop. She was only in the first tenth of this video. It was over an hour long. Mabel pulled her hand back, her intention to stop watching dissolving away. The controls vanished as well. She watched herself (sort of) and her brother kiss in the middle of the room they both shared.

Things began to escalate. Bel came out of sweater town and Dipper was out of shirt town. In fact, they were quickly getting out of lots of clothing town and were practically naked in the middle of the room. They kept kissing and Bel kept giggling and Mabel kept watching. She wasn't really going to watch this… was she?

Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. She was watching this, like a train wreck she couldn't look away. Dipper laid Bel on the floor. Mabel watched in complete motionless silence at the horror projected before her eyes.

She wanted to stop watching, to look away or turn it off or do anything but look at the two figured on the screen. But she couldn't stop she was drawn to it. She was watching herself do something she had never imagined. All the videos up until this one hadn't clicked for her, until now.

She wasn't Bel.

This shared life they had, her and Bel. Mabel had always just assumed it was her life, that she was doing those things or that she one day would. Her eyes were still locked on the video. One day that would be her, naked on the floor with her brother on top of her.

But that wasn't right. That was never going to be her doing that. Her brother was gone and the only one she had was in sweater town. And he didn't love Mabel, he loved Bel. And she wasn't Bel.

The video ended abruptly with no one seemingly touching the phone. Mabel guessed that it had either run out of battery or space. She was grateful it was over, that she wouldn't have to endure any more of it.

Mabel didn't start the next video immediately. She was all jumbled up inside. The realization that she wasn't really watching herself in the recording helped buffer her a little but not a lot. She still felt confused and weird and gross for having seen it. But hate was the completely wrong term for it. She could never hate herself, her other self. She could never hate Dipper.

Yes, she knew what they were doing was wrong and she didn't want to do it herself. The video hadn't made her any more comfortable with it nor had it stirred long buried feelings of incestuous love within her. She still felt just like she always had about Dipper. She still loved him, as her brother. This video hadn't changed that. Really, nothing would or could ever change how she felt about him.

What the videos had changed though was her perspective on the whole sweater town thing. When she had found that first video, her whole world had shattered apart. It had felt like she had lost the Dipper she had found in sweater town. Like she had lost her brother all over again.

Now though, she was a lot less sure. All that stuff she had seen about her other life she would never live. All that stuff Bel had said about her feelings. There was more to the way Bel felt than Mabel had ever considered. For the first time, she rewound the video back to the start. She didn't play it very far in, just to the part where Bel said:

"And it feels like there's a giant hole ripping me apart, May! Worse than ever! What the heck? Why do you keep doing this to me? It's like a physical pain. It's like Dipper is gone! Like I lost him! That's what it's like every time you come here. I didn't realize it before because I had never really lost him before. But now I feel it, you lost Dipper somehow and you keep dumping that on me!"

Mabel paused the video. She knew. Bel knew that Mabel had lost her Dipper. Worse, Mabel was dumping all those emotions on her other self. She had been for years. Not just the bad emotions but the good ones too. She had filled other Mabel with everything, filled her to the point of overflowing.

Her eyes widened, looking down at the frozen video. She unpaused it and let it play to the point where Bel had kissed Dipper. This was her fault. Bel would never had done this if not for her. She had never stopped to consider the effects her actions were having. This was all her fault...

For the first time in hours, Mabel lowered the transparent future phone. She looked around her room, it was completely dark. At first, Mabel felt confusion, it had been dark when she had woken up, yet, she knew there had been daylight at some point, right? How long had she been looking at this phone?

A quick glance at her alarm clock confirmed it was already well after midnight. A whole day, she had been here a whole day. Mable backed out into the videos section again, a quick flick of her finger revealed she wasn't even half way, that she had hundreds, maybe thousands of video clips to go.

But she didn't need any more videos to tell her what she already knew. She knew what she had to do, where she had to go. It was time to go back to Gravity Falls. Her eyes returned to the sweater. This time, for real.