Chapter 3: Adolescence

October 20th rolled around on the calendar of 1966, Layla's sixteenth birthday.

Of course like every year on her birthday nothing really happened, it was just a normal day. There never was any presents or cakes, no celebration at all. But then again, she never knew that's what birthdays were about as she had never had hers celebrated.

So she sat on her bed with a book in her hand, the stray strands of black hair obscuring part of her face. In her hands was one of her father's engineering books, something that she taught herself over the years to comprehend and even replicate certain experiments. Despite that her father speaks to her in a condescending way and treating her as if though she was mentally incompetent, Layla was quite intelligent for her age.

Rick would sometimes bring her some of his notes on his math and equations because he knew that she would proof read it to make sure they were correct. The boy would even bring Layla books from the next town over that were quite advanced so that she could read something different. In a way he was like a brother to her… a very perverted brother as sometimes she caught him being a peaking tom on her, but he didn't treat her as if she was just another object collecting dust in the house.

There was a knock on the door and Layla got up to answer it seeing that Rick was in the doorway. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms across her chest. "What, Rick?" she groaned.

He then proceeded to hand her an envelope. "Um… I literally just found out that today is your birthday… over the last few years it was never mentioned so I didn't know…" he told her as he looked concerned. "So, while Bartek and I were in the other town I got ya a card since it's your sixteenth birthday… those are kind of a big deal, ya know?"

Layla takes the card in her hands, looking confused. "A big deal…?" she echoed as she opened the card. The card wasn't anything special, it just had the simple message of "Happy Birthday" and that it was signed by Rick. "I've never gotten a card before…" she admits.

Rick raises his unibrow in confusion. "Whoa, wait a minute…" he muttered as he put his hands up in the universal "stop" motion. "You've never gotten a card? Or a cake? Presents?" he then asks in disbelief. Layla shook her head. "Oh, that's just bullshit! Are you seriously telling me that you have never once celebrated your birthday?"

"You celebrate it…?" Layla asks questionably. She looks at the card again, a feeling of sadness and emptiness filling her heart. "I… I was told I should be happy that I was born..."

Rick then grabs Layla's hand and drags her out of the room. "Look, Bartek is doing something in the lab, so he's probably gonna be held up for the next day or so," he explains as he goes into his room and grabs a jacket and a pair of boots. "So, let's go into town, get you a real present, come back and call it a day."

"Present…?"

"Yeah, it's a gift. Like… um…" Rick tried to explain but trailed off as he tried to think of how to explain it to her. "It's like saying, 'Congrats on getting older' type of spiel and just being a decent ass person." He finishes zipping up a black jacket. "Go get your stuff so we can go."

Layla gives a shrug. "Okay," she simply replies as she goes into her room and grabs herself a black cloak and her boots. She really wasn't allowed to leave the house unless it was to gather things from the garden, but she figured if Rick was with her then her father wouldn't be as mad. Once she was dressed she meets Rick by the front door and he opens it for her. "Thank you…" she says very softly, as if just being outside was silencing her vocal cords.

The leaves in the woods were changing into bright reds, oranges, and yellows, gently falling from the branches as the air got chillier. Massive oak tress still had green leaves from the deeper layers, but just like the leaves on the surface they were starting to change. The only trees that remained the same were the few pine trees that were around.

Both Layla and Rick walked through the woods to get to the town of Gravity Falls. Once in a while Layla would see the supernatural creatures of the woods. Rick for the most part ignored them as he thought they were annoying and stupid. As the got closer into town Layla could feel her chest tighten in fear and panic.

"Um…" she murmured as she suddenly stopped. "Maybe… maybe you should go on ahead…"

Rick stops as well and looks behind to see her. Immediately he goes up to her, concern on his features. "Are you okay…?" he asks. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Fuzzy memories bubble up in Layla's mind, but soon her temples began to throb and she let them go. "Sorry… I was just remembering the last time I left home…" she apologizes.

Rick puts a hand up to his head as well, feeling a headache develop. "Yeah… I don't really remember much from that night… I was jet lagged I guess…" he slowly said, his face scrunched up as if though he was second guessing his memory. "But come on, we should hurry."

They both entered town, Layla putting the hood of her cloak over her head. Rick walked as though he had no care in the world, he had come into town a couple of times on his own so he knew where to go. The place that he took Layla to was a book store, one that had recently opened in Gravity Falls. The bell chimes as they enter, Layla flinching from the sound.

"You need to act normal…" Rick hissed at her. "Make it look like you do this sort of thing every day."

Layla takes a deep breath and gives a firm nod. She then lowers her hood, revealing her black hair. Rick then gestures for her to go look around and she complies, her eyes and hands going over many different books. Naturally she went towards the science sections, advanced math, and even history. But as she went to go to that section, a different genre caught her eye.

She looks both ways and sees that Rick was looking at books that were about gun design before going into her desired section. The section she was in was the romance section, her looking at the covers of books the depicted attractive men and women alike. After seeing some of the women she felt suddenly inadequate, causing her to frown. She then chooses a random book that had the least amount of exposure on the cover, a simple beach scene, and flips to a random page.

Immediately her face turns crimson when she was reading the extreme amount of detail of a sexual encounter, but she couldn't stop reading it. She reads the pages and flips to the next, seeing how the scene was playing out. Layla obviously knew what sex was, she read all the science books on how it works, how all the genitals work, conception and fetal development, but this… this was almost animalistic, and that seemed like it was the most accurate way to describe it than the medical books' way.

"Reading some porn there, Layla?" Rick's amused voice suddenly says behind her, his voice sounding booming despite it being a whisper in the silent bookstore. Layla squeals loudly as she threw the book in the air and covered her face. Rick catches the book midair and finds the pages she was reading, easily founded from the deep indents of her fingers gripping the book. "Oh, it's a romance novel. Yuck." Rick groaned as he shut it and gave it back to Layla. He notices that she was still extremely red and she had her cloak over her head again. "You… you never read something like that have you? Do you even know what-"

"I KNOW WHAT SEX IS!" Layla screams at Rick, causing him to wince and a few passerby's attention. She covers her mouth, her face turning pink with embarrassment.

Rick rolls his eyes with a sigh. "Look, reading these sort of things is normal for people our age," he explains as he lowers Layla's hood. "I do it all the time, and it's normal to want to imagine yourself in those kind of situations." He then gives a shrug. "It's all normal."

"In case you haven't noticed, I don't know what 'normal' is," Layla hissed to him icily, her eyes hard.

Rick then takes her hood and pulls it over her face. "Yeah, well, no one truly knows what 'normal' is," he mutters as he then takes the book from her once again.

She shouts at his sudden aggression of taking her book, "Hey!"

"Look, pick another book, I'll get you this and whatever else…" Rick nonchalantly says as he proceeded to walk by the counter. "And hurry up, Layla."

The girl the turns on her heel and heads to the science book section. She ended up picking a second book that was about dark matter, something that even Rick was just barely starting to know. The two companions left the store after the items were purchased, Rick getting his books about gun design.

"Why'd you get that kind of book?" Layla questions, the hood of her cloak over her head as rain began to fall.

Rick snaps at her, "It's none of your business!" He notices her flinch and instantly softens his tone. "Sorry, I'm a little defensive on that… it's for personal reasons."

Thunder rolled overhead as Layla glances away. She shivered involuntarily, but it wasn't from the cold. The two made their way back to the thickest part of the woods by the mountains, the rain beginning to pour and flood the dirt paths. Thick mud splattered up on Layla's boots, causing her to grimace as she did not want to track mud into the house.

Soon the two made it back to the house, Rick opening the door as quietly as he could. He leads the way into the home and they took off their boots at the front door. Layla picked hers up and started tiptoeing towards her room, expertly avoiding the squeaky floorboards. As she reached her door, she does a small sigh of relief. She opens the door to her room and suddenly sees her father there, glowering down at her.

Her heart falls to the pit of her stomach and she tries to back away.

"Dad, I-" she tried to say but was suddenly grabbed by the collar of her cloak.

"What have I said a-a-a-about leaving th-this house!?" Dr. Bartek demanded, his breath laced with alcohol and his words heavily slurred. Layla was trying to struggle out of his grip, but he kept a firm hold on her, causing her to squeak with fear.

Rick finally steps in, yanking Layla away from Dr. Bartek. "Hey, Bartek, what the hell is wrong with you!?" he demands, his face scrunched up from the heavy smell of alcohol hitting his nostrils. "You can't just do that to your kid! Today is her birthday so I took her to town-"

"To town!?" Dr. Bartek screamed angrily, his face a deep crimson. He makes a grab for Rick, but Rick dodges his grasp. "You took her into town?!"

Rick had his hands into fists as his sides. "Yeah, I did. You have been an ass-hat ever since you made contact with that Mag-"

A sharp slap to the face was made Rick cut off, causing Layla to flinch from the sound.

"Wow… if I wanted that I would've stayed at home," Rick lowly growled, glaring hard at Dr. Bartek. He then turns away from Dr. Bartek and starts walking to where his room was, him passing Layla and giving her a sympathetic stare.

Layla follows Rick as fast as she could so that her father wouldn't try to grab her again. She follows him to his room as he whips out his suitcase from underneath his bed. Rick proceeds to then toss whatever was near him into the suitcase, him cussing under his breath.

"What… what are you doing?" Layla stammered as she saw him packing.

Rick throws a crumpled up shirt into the luggage, his face red. "What does it look like!? I'm leaving! I'm sick of Bartek's bullshit, and honestly you should probably get out too."

Layla gives him a confused look. "Get out…?" she echoes.

"Yeah, Bartek is messing with some dangerous shit, and he's been making deals where he shouldn't be. One of them involved you, and personally I don't like it."

"But I can't leave…" Layla sadly explains. "This is my home… he's my dad… I wouldn't have a place to go…"

"Living in a cave with a bear is better than Bartek!" Rick screams, him slamming the suitcase shut with his items. "You're delusional, Layla, you're trying to see the good in him when there isn't."

"But-"

"Fine, sit here and be used and shit!" Rick finally snaps. "I tried to help you, you won't listen. When you're left for dead by your father, I don't want to hear you cry about it! I'm done here. Have a decent rest of your birthday." He then picks up his suitcase and storms out of the room, leaving Layla alone with tears threatening to fall.

Later that night Layla was sleeping soundly in her bed, her thick makeshift blankets wrapped around her body.

Suddenly she felt shaken and her eyes blinked open, seeing her father's face close to hers. She suddenly felt frightened, thinking she was going to be punished, but he looked extremely panicked and scared.

"Layla, we need to leave," her father urgently whispered. "Now."

Layla sits up, finally seeing that her room was being filled with red lights. She was confused as she got up from her bed and makes a grab for her cloak.

"We don't have time, Layla!" Dr. Bartek shouted sternly at her as he grabbed her wrist and jerks her towards the door.

He dragged her down the hallway of the small house and makes his way to the kitchen. She sees the basement door and in chest tightens. She remembered some cackling… a lot of blood… but was that real or a nightmare? Layla was forced through the basement doors and she almost lost her footing down the stairs as she was being pulled. Finally Bartek forces her to sit in an odd chair in the center of the room.

"Dad… what's going on!?" she demands as Bartek locked her hands and ankles to the chair. She sees that there was bucket of some kind of metallic liquid. Layla then felt something hit the top of her head. She glances up…

A freshly mangled face greeted her, blood slowly dripping from lacerations.

Layla screams loudly, only for a hand to cover her mouth.

"SHUT UP!" Bartek furiously screams, his face red with anger. "NOW SIT STILL, DAMN IT!" He picks up some kind of syringe with blue liquid only for him to toss it aside. He fiddles around and grabs what looks like a helmet and places it on Layla's head.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Layla screams tearfully at her father, trying to move her head out of the helmet.

A hard slap across her face. "You will shut up, right now!" Bartek growls, his tone sounding almost animalistic. He straps the helmet on and flips a switch.

Before Layla could ask what the machine was a sharp pain erupted from her temple. She felt blood pouring from the wound and she begins screaming at a sudden burning sensation in her head. The burning went from the side to the back in an instant, pulsating with her pounding heart. She wanted nothing but the pain to stop as it felt like the burning was becoming much more intense as if were fire with every second. Her head felt much heavier, and her body begins to feel numb from pain, her feeling the blood drip down her cheeks like scarlet tears.

The process finally ended and Layla barely had time to gasp and cry when she was suddenly yanked from the chair and dragged to a different part of the basement. She felt her blood drip from her head, leading a trail onto the concrete floor. All around her she saw crumpled up bodies and glass jars filled with limbs of various kinds, her eyes widening at the sight.

Bartek went into a desk that was by a door and grabbed a key, him unlocking it and throwing it absently back into the desk. He enters through the door, which was some form of elevator, and he forces Layla into it as well.

"What… why… what is happening…!?" Layla groggily cried out, her putting a hand to her head to only feel wetness from her blood.

Her father says nothing as the elevator descended. Once the doors opened up when they had reached the bottom he tosses Layla out, her falling to the floor. He presses a button and the elevator goes up, him walking pass Layla and getting to some kind of control panel.

Layla groans as she glances up, seeing an enormous, triangle-shaped machine in front of her, it stating to glow blue as electricity crackled. As the machine whirred and glowed, she slowly stands up.

"What… what the hell is this...?" she whispers mainly to herself. A rush of thoughts filled her pulsating head. Was this the reason why Rick was living with them? Her body was then yanked around and she saw her father with some kind of small chip in his hands. A sudden pain that was almost unbearable was in her head as she felt the wound that was given to her from the helmet was stretched open and she felt something being inserted. "STOP IT!" she cries loudly, tears mixing with the blood that had dripped onto her face. Another fiery pain engulfs her head as she felt her head get heavier.

"Whatever you do, Layla," her father calmly says to her as he forces her to look at him. "Don't stop running and don't get caught."

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?" Layla screams at him, fury finally erupting from her.

Bartek gives her a hard glare before pushing her towards the machine. She didn't crash into the ground, instead she felt her body levitate. Her heart fell to the pit of her stomach as the suddenly gravitational pull pulls her into the machine, her feeling like her body was being ripped apart in various directions. She screams loudly, only for the sound to be drowned out from the sound of the machine.

Just as fast that she was pulled in she was spit out in a completely different world, her crashing into a wall and sliding down, her blood staining. She cries and whimpers in pain as her blurred vision began to focus in her new surroundings. Her electric blue eyes widen when she sees a dark red skies and beings that looked straight out of a horror movie walking around.

Layla scrambles herself to stand up, her back to the wall as she sees the monsters look at her. She whimpers as one approaches her, it putting some clawed hand towards her face. Layla ducks out of the way and begins running, her body feeling extremely heavy and she ached all over, her feet stumbling beneath her.

Don't stop running and don't get caught.

Her father's words echoed in her mind as she ran, going as far as her legs could carry her before she finally collapsed near a cliff side. Her breaths were in rushed gasps, her struggling to calm her breathing and pounding heart. Layla looks over the side to see perilous black waters that almost seemed welcoming. She then lays on her back, seeing the red skies slowly turn into a dark purple in color, her eyes feeling heavy.

"Help…" she hoarsely called out, her barely even able to hear herself. "Help me…" she sighs as she felt her eyes closed and darkness welcomed her.

Now began her true journey beyond the portal…

A/N: Sorry this took so long everyone! There was so much going on after everything, so I barely had time to work on this!

There is probably going to be two or three more chapters of this, being extremely wrong as we are going to find out the full story of her and Magum's relationship.

Thank you for reading as always!

~Skye Hendersen~