Chapter 3: Taking the Scenic Route

An hour had passed since they escaped the rest stop. Annabelle had fallen into a nap, Dipper continued to drive on as Wendy just stared at the window, looking bored. The moon had already begun to emerge from it's nocturnal slumber.

"Man it's already starting to get dark…" Wendy lamented. "I knew we should've left a lot earlier…"

"And not stopped at a haunted rest stop." Dipper quipped in. Wendy shot him a glare in response. "Hey! That molerat could've had rabies after all."

"Still a better alternative than just aimlessly driving on I would think?" She said.

"Well we're here now and that's not changing." Dipper said. "Why not make a change of scenery?" Wendy sat in silence for a moment as she thought about the suggestion. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well instead of driving on the old I-5 like in the past, why don't we take the scenic route?" Dipper suggested. "I'm sure it would be a lot more pleasing than this long, barren stretch of road, would you agree?"

"Hmmmm, is the next exit far away?" She asked.

"Well I'm glad you asked." Dipper then pulled out a brochure, seemingly small, before expanding it out to reveal a large map of Oregon. "Is this what you held you back at the house?" Wendy asked.

"Well there's exit 17 coming up in about two miles. The path on that exit apparently leads past some mountain ranges." He explained, ignoring the question. "What do you say?"

Annabelle suddenly sprang awake. "I wanna climb the mountains!" She exclaimed, her volume just a little too loud for a car.

"Well, we'd be driving on road around and past the mountains, not actually on them." Dipper explained. "D'aww!" She said in response. "I still wanna see them though!"

Dipper then turned his attention to his wife, who just shrugged. "Can't argue with that." She said. "Let's scale those mountains!"

And so as they reached exit 17, it's direction sign covered by green, overflowing moss, Dipper turned the Explorer onto the exit ramp. As they entered, they were awed by the vast number of trees, almost all a bright shade of green.

"Mommy, those mountains are huge!" Annabelle claimed, pointing at a wide, long mountain range that was somehow covered by the tiniest bit of snow and several more peaks and valleys.

A ravine also followed alongside the road for several miles, must've been at least thirty something, before it ended only to give way to a new one for an even longer strand of time.

"This is fun Daddy! Can we stop for a swim?" Annabelle asked. "No honey, that's what we're going to SeaWorld for." Wendy responded, surprisingly serious. "Besides it's streaming down pretty fast. You'd be sucked down and get hurt."

"Aww!" She whined. "At least I'll get to swim with the dolphins, right?"

"Y-Yeah, we'll come to that when we get there. We've got a good seven hours left to contemplate that." Dipper reminded her. "Do we wanna stop for the night or continue on?"

Wendy shook her head. "Lets not waste a single second I say! We'll make it late, but then we'll have a nice, full day of fun tomorrow!"

"Ok but be ready to drive in a bit. I can't do fifteen hours of this." Dipper responded. Wendy began snoring as he said this. "I think she's faking." Annabelle quipped in. Dipper couldn't help but laugh at it all.

Another two hours passed by. Dipper looked at the digital stereo clock: it read 9:32. "Still another five or so hours away." Dipper announced. Wendy snored once more.

"Do you think she's really sleeping Daddy?" Annabelle asked.

"Well if she is," Dipper began, unable to contain his smirk. "She's gonna miss out on Sonic!" Wendy suddenly leapt up out of her seat. "... In six miles." Dipper finished, now laughing quietly as he witnessed her reaction. He got nice, hard punch in the arm for it. "You stink!" She exclaimed jokingly. "I'm just joking around honey, it's just around the corner…"

After parking and getting their milkshakes (Dipper mostly just holding his up against his reddened arm) everyone was wide awake and calm, especially Annabelle with her M&M's one.

"The M&M's make the ice cream almost feel like it's hardened." She explained. "I think next time I just want choc-o-latte ice cream again."

Wendy laughed a little. "I think you mean choc-o-late honey. You don't want a latte any time soon." Dipper shivered at the thought of Annabelle on a latte. As she finished her ice cream, she thought her cup looked a little different. It looked…

"Blue?" She said aloud without thinking, drawing an odd stare from Wendy. "Are you alright there?" she asked. "I'm alright, but m-my cup was just shining blue! I saw it!" Wendy looked at the cup thoroughly. "Other than the logo, I don't see any blue. Maybe you're getting sleepy and seeing things, since it is late for you." Wendy said. "B-but…" She tried to speak, but in the end figured it wasn't worth it.

"Happy now?" Wendy asked a fast asleep Dipper, slouched as far back as he could. No pillow, no blanket, but it was no problem for him; he was sound asleep, not even budging an inch as Wendy spoke. She groaned, even though she knew it was fair enough. Annabelle was still awake.

"Try and get some sleep honey, we're still a good four hours away I think."

"But I'm not tired. Besides I'm sure I'll miss something crazy if I go to sleep." She said.

"Like what?" Wendy asked. Annabelle put her left hand on her chin and stroked it. Wendy thought it made her look adorable, but wouldn't dare to incite her spunky daughter's wrath by saying it. "Well umm, Eric coming to haunt us some more." Gulping as she said it.

"Oh not your ghost story again…" Wendy said mockingly. "There were no ghosts in that rest stop. Trust me; we know ghosts and creepy things pretty well."

"But there was! I saw it with my own eyes!" She said, exasperating. "It's name was Eric! It, he, whatever it is, developed some, like, wanting of me. I don't get it! But he made these stalls appear, and he was floating and blue, like the cup, which I know was blue…"

"Does Eric go to school with you?" Wendy asked.

"No Mom, he's a ghost!" Annabelle shrieked, jumping up in shock. "A blue floaty ghost… thingy!"

As she was shrieking, a flash enveloped the car. It was a bright, blue light; it was quick but incredibly blinding. "What was that?" Wendy asked. "Where did that blue light come from?"

Annabelle knew. "Eric! He's close! Oh no no no." Exclaiming, her voice tense and filled with worry.

"Maybe it was just… the moonlight." Wendy said, hesitant and unconvincing.

"Mom, he's just gonna come back soon! WE GOTTA GET AWAY!" Annabelle screeched, piercing Wendy's ears.

"Honey it's not there! We're safe in the car." Wendy said. "We're not gonna be floating in mid air or anything."

Suddenly the car's forward motion began to stall, before it ceased entirely. Wendy attempted to start the car over, but to no avail. She just had to look out the window to see why.

"We're floating… In mid air…" Wendy said in a near silent tone. She was beginning to think her daughter wasn't making this up.