Anybody with artistic ambitions is always trying to reconnect with the way they saw things as a child.
-Tim Burton
RECONNECTION
The red car, which had been driving on Route 5 Oregon Interstate for almost two hours now, took a right turn off the street, onto a back road which would eventually lead them to Gravity Falls.
This was it. This was the moment that Andrew was supposed to remember forever and ever. The moment when he would finally see Gravity Falls, a place where he was promised to visit when he was older, but the promise was taken back before it could be put into action. He had always wanted to meet this Great-Uncle, or rather, "Grunkle" of his.
He was told that when he was born in California, the plan was always for his to go up to Gravity falls every year starting at 6. That was quickly put to a stop the spring break before the planned Gravity Falls trip that summer. Andrew always tried to compare his family issues to other people his age, and always found that his situation was especially messed up. because of Dipper and Mabel, his whole family was split down the middle.
You either supported them or you shunned them. If you supported them, you were also shunned. Andrew remember phrases like, "God frowns down upon them, or "Jesus will damn them to hell", when he was younger. Strange, his family wasn't that religious, and he didn't think his family was ever that religious, but it was something like this that made them go back to the bible for references to prove that Dipper and Mabel's lifestyle was to hell. But as far as Andrew could tell, they acted like a regular couple in a normal relationship.
Andrew bets that if he didn't know that they were his brother and sister, and besides the fact they looked very similar to one another, then he probably couldn't tell that they were twins in a romantic relationship.
"You doing okay back there, bro-bro?" Mabel asked Andrew, having cleared her tears up, while having her head turned to hm.
"Y..yeah. I'm fine." Andrew replied.
In all truthfulness, Andrew was afraid. Afraid that he would become attached to them. Afraid that after his time spent there, he would be fearful to leave. And after he left, it would almost be certain that he would never return, his life being run by his parents, it would be hard to visit them again, even in adulthood. He would be shunned by his parents. Even know they were distant to Andrew, they would be the only thing that Andrew would have to call family in the near future. His parents would be the only thing that Andrew could call family.
"Andrew?" Dipper called, while still keeping his eyes on the road.
"Yeah?" Andrew answered.
"We're going to be there in five minutes." Dipper replied, while approaching a fork in the road, to which he turned right to.
"O..um..okay" Andrew managed to spit out.
The car drove on the small, two lane road which was surrounded by thick wood further, until lights were visible at the end of it, gradually becoming closer.
"Oh my god, I can't wait for you to see Gravity Falls!" Mabel squeaked.
"Yeah, Gravity Falls has been good to us for these past few years. It..it was hard in the beginning, y'know. With all the "incest" business. At first we were shunned. But soon, they opened up to us and finally accepted us. Even after all we've been through, I wouldn't take back any of it if it meant I couldn't express who I truly loved." Dipper explained, while reciprocating the loving gaze that Mabel was giving him.
They looked at each other in a way Andrew hadn't seen his parents give each other for a very long time. perhaps since before Dipper and Mabel were out of his life. In fact, Andrew doesn't think he's ever seen anyone look at anyone like that, ever.
The car passed a small wooden sign planted on the side of the road, stating, "Welcome to Gravity Falls".
After all of this time, Andrew had finally arrived in Gravity Falls. Andrew was positive he would never step foot in this town. Yet here he was, entering the town of endless stories.
As the lights became closer, Andrew began to see silhouettes of buildings that have been reflected off of the street lights above. The lights of the car shone on the empty sidewalks that surrounded these small buildings. In the distance, he could see a mountain peak only visible by it's tall, white peak.
A church spire came into view, along with the rest of the building. The car swerved past a statue of a bearded man, holding some sort of flag. Then came a row of several buildings, all lined up next to main street. A barbers' shop, a police station and an arcade flew by the car as it carried on into the night.
As Andrew was watching the small, desolate town flash before him, he noticed a rather large house, a mansion, on a hill that overlooked the whole town. You could even see it's shape being illumined in the moon.
"What's that house on the hill?" Andrew asked his older brother and sister.
"Oh um, that's the old Northwest Manor. It used to Pacifica's home." Dipper explained.
"Wait, who exactly is Pacifica?" Andrew asked.
"She's…she's a friend. Sort of." Mabel answered.
Andrew thought about what Mabel had said. Sort of? How can someone be "sort of" a friend?
"Yeah, after Old Man McGucket died, the place's been empty ever since." Dipper finished.
Wow. A giant house that probably took so much effort to build, just being wasted away by sitting there, slowly rotting away? What a waste. As car drove down the main street of Gravity Falls, the buildings began to be spaced further apart, until the wilderness of Oregon surrounded them again.
Andrew was confused. He had just passed Gravity Falls's main street. How far could Dipper and Mabel live from downtown?
After a few minutes of driving, the asphalt of the road turned into a hard soil road stretching as far as the eye could see. The car started to shake at the unevenness of the dirt road., the car lights shone on a brightly colored bird's head on the top of a totem pole. The car swerved right, and a triangular building cane into view. On the top of it read, "MYSTERY HACK", with an S lazily laying on the side of the roof.
"Here we are! Home Sweet Home! For now, at least!" Mabel exclaimed, before getting out of the car.
Andrew hesitantly opened the car door and pushed himself out onto the hard, ragged soil. He reached into the car and grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. He walked over to the trunk of the car, where Dipper was already getting out Andrew's suitcase. Dipper put it on the ground and extended the arm handle for Andrew. Andrew walked over, grabbed the arm handle, and started to pull the suitcase behind him.
Andrew looked up at the giant building before him. The Mystery Shack. This was the place where Dipper and Mabel had lived for eight years. Eight long years. The place where they took refuge from his parents. Where they took refuge from norms and taboos of society.
"Come on, slowpoke!" Mabel said to Andrew, while rushing up to a side door.
Andrew trudged behind his siblings, while Dipper pulled out a ring of keys and unlocked a door, which had a sign that read, "GIFT SHOP" above it. Dipper pushed the door open and let Mabel enter the mystery shack before helping Andrew lift his luggage up the stone steps.
Andrew noticed a giant machine labeled, "PITT COLA", but was cracked and had cobwebs on it, so Andrew didn't think he would trust the machine enough to insert his money into it.
Inside, the lights flickered on to find a wooden floors surrounded by wooden walls. Andrew stepped in. He looked around to find several strange artifacts inside the "gift shop", unlike any gift shop he'd ever seen. There was a jar of eyeballs resting on the counter, a bunch of skulls on a shelf, one of them with only one eye socket, and a bunch of stone tablets with funny markings on them.
Andrew thought to when he was about five. It was the summer of when Dipper and Mabel were to go to college. Before they were to ship them off to Gravity Falls for their sixth consecutive year, Mr. and Mrs. Pines thought it would be nice to have one last family vacation together, before their oldest children were to be sent off out-of-state for a extended period of time. They drove down from their home in Piedmont to Disneyland in Anaheim.
Andrew could say that he had spent his favorite childhood memories. Disneyland through the eyes of a child is always beautiful, isn't it? Full of excitement, full of laughs, full of fun. Mabel herself, had quite a fun time there too, but Andrew didn't think that Dipper had the best of times there, because he thought of himself as, "too mature" for a place like Disneyland. But that didn't stop him from laughing along with Andrew and Mabel at the teacup ride.
The gift shops there were enormous, full of clothes, kicknacks, action figures, you name it. In fact, Andrew was promised to go there again, after Dipper and Mabel had finished their second year at college. A lot of promises were broken after they were ostracized. Sure, he did go again that summer, but it didn't feel the same, with him still distraught as to why Dipper and Mabel couldn't come with them down to Anaheim, and his parents still moping to the fact that they were short of two children all of a sudden.
"This is the Mystery Shack gift shop!" Mabel exclaimed, bringing Andrew back into reality. he looked up to find Dipper and mabel standing before him.
"We'll give you a full tour of the Mystery Shack tomorrow, but I guess you must be pretty beat huh?" Dipper asked.
Andrew nodded. He had been traveling all day, and he was ready for sleep.
He was lead out of the "gift shop" to a room that looked a little more familiar, with a television and a couch with a rug on the ground to the right and a table with chairs to the left. He went through another doorway to a stair case, which he was led up, dragging his suitcase behind him, until he emerged in a hallway.
"God, this place has been so quiet ever since Soos moved out." Dipper muttered under his breath.
After all of these people and places had been named, he decided just to go with whatever Dipper and Mabel had to say about anything in this weird town. He kept walking, following his siblings through the unknown hallways, until he reached the end of the hallway, where there was a door. When he reached the door, his siblings were waiting for them.
"So um, Andrew? Up here's gonna be your room for the time being, in the attic." Dipper explained to him.
The attic? He was being kicked into the attic by his own siblings? Cobwebs, creaky wooden floorboards, things that go bump in the night always resided in the attic. His siblings started to go up the stairs to the attic, so Andrew took this as a gesture that he was meant to follow them. After dragging himself up the second set of stairs, he finally reached the last step, where the barren floors of the attic came into view.
Andrew looked ahead to see two mattresses at the edge of the attic. The one on the right was stripped clean, and looked as if it hadn't been used in years. The one on the left had bedding and pillows, ready for someone to sleep there.
"Oh…there are so many memories in this room." Mabel told Andrew.
"Yeah, we spent out summers here in this very room. There are so…many…memories in this room". Dipper explained while looking at Mabel with a dirty grin growing on his face.
It took a few seconds for Andrew to realize what Dipper meant. Andrew immediately felt dirty just for being in this room. Dipper and Mabel…his siblings…DID it…in this room? It felt weird just to be in their presence. Not to mention that it was wrong. Wrong that they were on that kind of emotional level, being twins and all. But in all truthfulness, Andrew felt torn. Sure, he loved his siblings and they loved him but, all his life he had been told that they were peverted weirdos, and after hearing that, he couldn't help but to agree with them.
"Oh come on now, let's not make Andrew over here feel icky!" Mabel said to Dipper.
But it was too late for Andrew not to feel icky at all. It felt so weird to be in a place like that.
"Let's just leave Andrew to it. Goodnight!" Dipper smiled at him, before walking down the stairs.
"We'll see you in the morning for breakfast!" Mabel said, before following her brother down the stairs of the attic.
Andrew didn't know what to do after they left. He figured he should get some sleep while he could. He walked over the the beds, and plopped his backpack and suitcase on the empty bed to the right. He stripped out of his pants and figured he was loo lazy to change into pajamas that night, so he just settled for sleeping in his underwear. He took his coat off and threw it on the dusty attic floor.
He pulled the musty smelling covers over himself and started to think about a lot of things such as, "How much was Grunkle Stan worth?", "Will Dipper and Mabel ever be accepted by his parents?", and, "Will my life ever be the same again?". But soon, the lines of every question he had, blurred as Andrew drifted off to his well deserved sleep.