Awakening in a bewildering landscape, my own identity was enshrouded in a fog of forgotten memories. Glimpses of my past life flickered like distant stars, leaving me with mere fragments of who I used to be. While I remembered being a dedicated student, the finer details remained elusive, slipping through my fingers like wisps of smoke.
A sensation of a younger sister's presence lingered in my mind, an inexplicable bond without a face to attach it to. My parents' hopes and dreams for me were etched faintly in my thoughts, yet their faces remained nebulous. The aspiration of attending Harvard echoed faintly, a recognizable ambition, though the family portrait of moments and faces seemed drowned in a sea of uncertainty.
Then came the shift, an entirely different reality during my first high school summer vacation. I found myself stepping into a parallel existence, a deluge of memories overwhelming my consciousness—a man who shared my name, thoughts, and essence. Confronting this enigmatic doppelgänger of my past self was disorienting, to say the least.
Initially, I clung to denial, refusing to accept this new world. But as...I kept try to remember the memories of this world, an odd detachment settled in. Astonishingly, my once-strong connection to the life I held dear began to wane. The past retreated, fading into insignificance as the present consumed me with its intrigue.
Becoming Ray Chiu, a 15-year-old student in Gravity Falls, Oregon, I found my academic prowess intact, mirroring my previous life. My family, not without its flaws, included a little sister named Candy Chiu and two Korean parents. Why we moved to Gravity Falls remained a puzzle with missing pieces.
Gravity Falls—it triggered a faint spark of familiarity from my original world. My sister had mentioned it. Yes, she was fond of a show called 'Gravity Falls.' But I hadn't paid much attention to her ramblings about fictional characters.
And here I stand, regretting that lack of curiosity. I slowly pieced together that I was now inside that very animation. My sister in this world, Candy Chiu, she mentioned her as a favorite character. Or not. I hadn't really focused on her explanations about fictional elements.
Now, I lamented that oversight. My knowledge of 'Gravity Falls' was fragmentary—a mystery-themed children's show with a happy ending, populated by monsters and demons as villains.
Monsters and demons. The words reverberated within me.
"...Monsters and demons?!"
-Knock, knock.
A knock at my door shattered the fragile equilibrium. Fear tightened its grip. This world held monsters and ghosts. Survival instincts surged, commanding me not to open the door.
"Hey, oppa? Are you alright?"
It was a voice I knew. Candy, my sister in this enigmatic world. I opened the door, her presence a relief. She stood before me—a small girl, straight hair, green shirt, glasses.
"...No. No... I'm okay. Everything's fine."
"Um... Then why are you trembling so much? You look sick."
Suspicion colored her gaze as she spoke in Korean. The words hung between us, awkward and charged. How could I trust her in a world where anything seemed possible? Was she really my sister or a doppelgänger from this bizarre realm?
"I think... I'm sick. Yeah, I have a headache and I'm dizzy... Better not to talk much. Might be a cold."
"A cold? Wow, I can't remember the last time I heard you complain about that..."
"Yeah. Just... Let me rest. Please leave my room."
I closed the door, retreating into my safe haven. A world of childish cartoons couldn't possibly harbor these twisted horrors, right? Safety dictated my actions.
I enforced isolation, extracting batteries from devices, cutting ties to potential horrors. Friends' attempts to connect went unanswered. Only Candy found my behaviors odd. My parents, accustomed to my studious tendencies, paid little heed. My room was my sanctuary, and summer days slipped by in seclusion.
But as August dawned, a tempest of horror descended.
The world fell down.
The world around me dissolved into chaos, like a nightmarish painting come to life. Madness gripped the town of Gravity Falls, and the fabric of reality unraveled at its seams. Twisted smiles adorned faces of friends turned foes, and the streets ran red with the spilled blood of those consumed by insanity. It was like the show's universe had been hijacked by some malevolent force, turning its whimsical charm into a grotesque carnival of horror.
"AH! NOO! NO! DON'T!"
Screams echoed through the air as a mob of once-friendly townspeople converged upon a figure, limbs twisted and elongated, a puppet of maleficent puppeteers. Their eyes glowed with an otherworldly fire, their voices a dissonant chorus of cries and laughter.
"For I believe in god, I shall carve my face and sacrifice my son to you, my lord triangle! Amen!"
A hooded figure knelt before a cryptic triangle emblem that pulsated with an eerie light. A blade gleamed, its edge poised to commit the unspeakable. The chant was a hymn to madness, a dirge for reason.
"Run, Ray! Run!"
A voice cried out, desperate and frantic, amidst the chaotic landscape. The world had crumbled, its inhabitants twisted into grotesque caricatures of themselves. But amid this cacophony of horror, one voice cut through like a lifeline.
Candy, my sister in this distorted reality, had pulled me from the abyss. As the world around us devolved into chaos, she clung to sanity like a flickering candle in a storm. We fled through the streets, breathless and terrified, but her grip on reality was tenuous at best.
The very fabric of Gravity Falls seemed to warp, buildings morphing into fleshy maws that devoured unsuspecting souls. People screamed as they were consumed, their final moments swallowed by the gaping maw of this eldritch nightmare.
"Mom! Dad!"
The word fell from my lips like a plea, but it was as if the world itself had forgotten them. Their lives had been swallowed by this malevolent tide, leaving nothing but echoes and sorrow.
Candy, my steadfast companion in this realm of madness, clung to me desperately. Her voice trembled as she tried to make sense of the incomprehensible.
"Ray, what's happening? This... this can't be real. It's like a nightmare."
Her voice wavered between disbelief and terror. My own thoughts echoed hers, grappling with the inconceivable reality that surrounded us.
And then, in a cruel twist of fate, Candy's mind shattered. The sight of a bizarre, floating triangle emblem with a malevolent eye at its center seemed to consume her sanity. She fell to her knees, bowing before the emblem with an unhinged fervor.
"Praise the lord triangle! He is the truth, the way, the salvation!"
Her words were a mad litany, a chant of devotion to an entity beyond comprehension. And then, with a gut-wrenching crack, her skull split open, her blood mingling with the dirt of the ground.
I stumbled back, horror gripping my heart as I watched my sister's lifeblood pool around her. In this distorted world, even death was a grotesque mockery of reality.
"...No, no, no... I... I need to find something. I can't die here. I need to live... I need to live."
Desperation clawed at me, a primal instinct to survive overriding all other thoughts. I was alone, adrift in a nightmare that defied reason. And yet, a spark of determination ignited within me.
The notion of finding a way out, a lifeline, seemed to guide my actions. Candy had mentioned the Mystery Shack, a place where she had spent time in this realm. Perhaps there, I could find answers, a means to restore sanity to this twisted world.
I set out, heart pounding with each step, into the woods that held secrets I couldn't fathom. The signposts beckoned, their crude arrows a breadcrumb trail to salvation. I knew that I wasn't the protagonist of this story, but maybe, just maybe, I could find the one who was.
Fear surged through my veins, the whispers of madness a constant companion. But I pressed on, my footsteps a testament to my will to survive. For even in this nightmare, hope still flickered like a distant star, guiding me toward an uncertain salvation.
This was no longer the world I knew, nor the cartoon I had seen on the screen. It was a realm of chaos, where reality itself had unraveled. But within that chaos, within that horror, a singular purpose burned bright: to find the one who could unravel this nightmare and restore sanity to Gravity Falls...and let me survive this event.
And I...can do whatever to survive.