Danny stood at the driveway of Stanford's house, staring at not one, but two cars parked just in front.
"So there was really nothing stopping him, huh. Thanks a ton, Stanford!" He aimed a kick at the one of the red one's tires, but stumbled as his foot went through. "Whoa! Ugh, I am so done with this happening!"
He could see his reflection in one of the side mirrors; he ran his hand through his white hair, and groaned.
"Great. Even if I'm not a ghost, I sure look like one now." He leaned in to get a look at those glowing green irises. "Can't wait to make it back home just to get wasted by Mom and Dad… I gotta change back somehow. But how?"
He tilted the mirror to face him a bit more. The metal gave more than he thought it would - suddenly it snapped off, and he blinked.
"Whoa. I couldn't do that before." His eyes slid to the car, and he couldn't hide a little smirk. "But I'm not complaining. Now, let's see…"
He couldn't be a ghost, he just couldn't be. No, he'd feel different if he was a ghost; he just felt like himself, but everything he touched seemed a little… duller, somehow, it was strange. But he felt his neck, and he could feel something that brought on a surge of relief: a heartbeat! It was a bit slower than it should be, but it was there, and if it was there, he was still alive.
Still alive, and at that moment, Danny saw his reflection flash with blinding light. The strange dullness slipped away; now he could feel everything like normal!
Danny had half a second to grin at his blue-eyed reflection before a bitter wind blew it away. He was standing in a good foot of snow, and the cold cut through his jumpsuit like he was wearing nothing at all.
"Oh, shoot," He hugged himself; already he was shivering. "On s-s-second thoughts, the ghost look wasn't so bad! Change back! Change back!"
Another flash, and the frigid wind digging into him faded to nothing more than a mild chill. He stuck his fingers in the snow; it was cold, but no colder than sticking them in a glass of tap water. If he wanted to, he could probably lie down in it like this… but he didn't quite feel like testing that yet.
"Alright," Danny looked again at his reflection, and fixed a tuft of white hair. "As long as I can change back… I guess I can get used to this. Now,"
He looked up, to a sign almost enveloped by the falling snow: GRAVITY FALLS: 5 MILES
"Okay. Oh-kay." He took one last glance back at the house, took a deep breath, and set his eyes on the road. "This is fine. I can do this. I'm coming, guys, I promise."
He took the first step - and then phased halfway into a snowdrift.
"Wha- oh, come on! You gotta be kidding me!"
Danny had never walked so much in his life before, and he had to say he hadn't been missing out on anything. It wasn't just five miles, it was five miles through knee-deep snow in the darkness of early morning; his weird ghostly form took the bite out of it, but it couldn't make trudging through it any easier. In fact, the odd intangible episode was working against him - he'd be fighting to lift his leg out of a drift, and then suddenly all resistance would fall away and he'd topple over. And then if he was lucky, he might start sinking through the ground, too.
The sun was just about rising by the time Danny saw dark shapes of buildings emerging from the grey. He stopped short of the street, half-hiding behind one of the trees, searching for people.
"Can't let anyone spot me looking like this," he muttered, noting the slight glow he was casting on the bark. "Unless I want another crossbow pointed at me…"
Still, maybe it was too dark for anyone to be out - Danny certainly hadn't ever woken up this early. He tiptoed out onto the sidewalk, and started making his way through the town.
It was eerily quiet. The town kind of reminded Danny of visiting his aunt Alicia; every building he passed was worn, wooden, much older than anything from Amity Park. And smaller, too - in just a little while he walked the length of it and found himself staring into the woods again.
What was he even looking for in town? Some kind of bus stop, maybe? Ugh, who knows? Stan was wrong - he couldn't 'figure this out' if he had no idea what he was doing!
At that moment, there was a gasp from behind him. Danny turned and saw a kid on a trike with his mother staring at him with wide eyes.
"Oh, shoot," Danny muttered, and then raised his hands. "Uh, hi there! You guys wouldn't happen to know where the bus stop is, would you? I'm a, hah, a little lost, and-"
The kid screamed, and the mom picked him and the trike up and ran, shrieking, "Get out, get out, get out!"
Danny blinked, and then rolled his eyes.
"Okay, cool. Thanks for the help." He crossed his arms. "Starting to see a pattern here."
With little else to do, Danny turned down another street and kept walking. The sun was starting to rise; orange light tipped the spire of a church he passed by, and lights were beginning to come on in the town. Danny snuck under the glass window of a butcher's shop, but he knew it was going to become a lot harder to walk around town like this very quickly. He needed a plan.
He was deciding between changing back or going into the forest again when he turned a corner and came across something that gave him a spark of hope: a convenience store! 'Dusk 2 Dawn' read the sign - yeah, he could change and get out of the cold in there!
Quickly Danny ducked into an alley and tried to figure out how to change back again. Last time he'd focused on his pulse… he put a thumb to his wrist, took a deep breath, and tried to concentrate. It took a few moments, but then he felt it sweep over him, and the next breath he took was icy cold.
"There we go," Danny said, and he could see his breath. He took a second to stare at his black gloves, and then shivered and hugged them to his side. "Oh jeeze, it's cold. I better get inside."
Just the walk through the parking lot was enough to leave Danny shivering violently. The doors slid open, and he cherished the rush of warm air as he stepped inside.
"Good mor- oh, you poor thing!" An old lady standing by the till watched him walk over to the heater. "You must be so cold! Where's your coat?"
"Uh," Danny looked down at his jumpsuit. "I lost it?"
"Oh, dear!" The woman leaned back and called to someone in a back room. "Pa, could you put on a pot of tea, please? We've got a poor little boy here who came in from the cold!"
"Little boy?" Danny frowned, but decided not to push it as the old lady came over. "I mean, um, thank you. That's really kind of you."
"Oh, it's nothing!" She pulled over a chair. "Now you sit down and warm yourself up. Where are your parents? I'll call them and let them know you're here - they must be worried sick!"
Danny felt a pang at that. "Yeah, they must be… um, you see, that's the thing. I'm kind of… lost."
The lady stopped and put a hand over her mouth. "Lost? Oh, dear, what happened?"
He tried to sit down on the chair; he could feel himself phasing through it and stood up quickly. "Well! Uh, what happened was-"
"Tea's ready!" An old man emerged from a back room. "Hello, young man! Do you like milk or sugar?"
"Pa, this poor child says he's lost!"
"Lost?"
"Uh, yeah," Danny cleared his throat. "I, uh… well, what had happened was, we were visiting my… uncle, who lives here, but um, my parents, they accidentally left without me!" He gave a guilty smile. "They didn't mean to. They can be a little spacey sometimes, but, uh, I need to get back to Illinois."
"Illinois?" The old man scratched his chin. "I don't remember anyone from this town with family visiting from Illinois…"
"Um…" He mentally scrambled for an answer. "We were visiting that guy who lives, hah, five miles out of town, Stanford?"
"Stanford?" The old lady frowned. "I don't know a Stanford…"
Danny cringed. "Uh-"
"Oh, Ma!" The man snapped his fingers. "You know who it must be? It must be that mysterious scientist who lives in that shack in the woods! I didn't know he had a nephew!"
"Uh, yeah, right!" Danny nodded. "That guy. Looove that guy, but uh, he's out of town now too, so don't send me back there! Is there, like, a bus to Illinois I can take, or…?"
The man laughed. "Oh, we don't have any buses to Illinois, son! We only have the one that runs to Eugene."
"Besides, we can't just let you go off on your own!" The old lady put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll call the sheriff, and he'll get you sorted out! Don't you worry about a thing!"
"Uh, okay?" Danny felt a cup of tea being pushed into his hands, and he stood there as she wandered back over to the register. "I guess that's a good idea…"
The surprise his parents were about to get, though. A random call from a sheriff in rural Oregon - he was going to have a lot of explaining to do when he got back. He sighed, and took a sip of tea.
"There you go. Just warm yourself up, son," The old man smiled at him. "You know, your uncle's something of a curiosity to everyone in town!"
"My uncle?" Danny blinked. "Oh, yeah, uh, he's an… interesting guy."
"Do you know what he's up to in there? Sometimes at night we see flashing lights coming from that old shack. Folks don't like to walk around there." The man laughed. "I hear all sorts of wild stories when I'm at the register, but you know, I've never known anyone who's actually met the man! What's he like, your uncle?"
Danny gave an awkward smile. "Well, uh, I didn't see… much of that… huh."
His eyes strayed to the newspaper stand by the heater. State of the Union speech by the president - but that was weird.
That wasn't a picture of the president.
He stepped closer, and the old man talking in his ear seemed to fade to a background hum.
"...Oh, well, you know how people love to tell tall tales. I'm sure your uncle's a lovely man - but you should tell him, stop by the town sometime! We'd all love to meet him…"
Danny stared at the newspapers, but he couldn't seem to comprehend the words on the page. Distantly, he could feel his heart starting to thump in his chest; he reached out, and that was when he realised his hands were trembling.
"Anyway- oh!" The old man put a hand on his shoulder, and Danny jumped. "Did you listen to his speech last night? I heard it on the radio - what a charming man, that Reagan."
The panic was coming on strong now, an awful feeling twisting at his stomach. "Reagan?" Danny said, and his voice sounded so quiet. "Ronald Reagan?"
"Yes!" The old man grinned at him. "I tell you, I'm so glad to see a young man like you taking an interest in the news! It seems like all the youngsters in this town are too busy with their boomboxes to focus on the important things in life - wouldn't you agree, Ma?"
"Oh, yes, it's just terrible!" Ma set the phone down. "I've let the sheriff know you're here, he's coming right away! He'll sort this out, don't you worry about a-"
A shattering sound cut through the chatter. Danny jumped, and realised it came from him; his tea had slipped right through his hand, which was, it was…
"Oh my!" The old man was saying. "Don't worry, that's-"
He stopped himself there, his eyes fixed on the space where Danny's hand used to be. As Danny watched the invisibility flickered up his arm; he yelped and hid it behind his back, but he could see by their wide-eyed looks the damage was done.
"Wha- son, your hand!"
"Uh!" Danny backed up. "It's fine! Nothing's wrong! You know what, I-I think I'll- gah!"
And he was floating up - he grabbed for a sunglasses stand and pulled it over. Danny heard the old lady scream and clutch her husband, and he had the thought that this couldn't be any worse - then there was a flash of light.
A man in a sheriff's uniform walked through the door. "Good mor- whoa! What's going on here?"
Danny watched him look from the tipped-over stand, to the two terrified owners… and then up at the glowing boy perched on the ceiling. He let out a gasp, and Danny felt himself disappear.
"Wha- what in the…? Where'd he go!"
Danny stared at his hands; he could see a faint haze where they should be, but he could look right through them. What was going on?
"Clear the area! Get out of here!"
He looked down at the sheriff motioning the couple out of the door with a hand on his holster, and resolved to figure it out later. He tried to grab a shelf and pull himself back down to the ground, but all he succeeded in doing was shaking it.
"Hey!" The sheriff jumped back. "I-I don't know how you're doing this, boy, but show yourself!"
Danny fell back onto the ceiling… the ceiling. He pressed his hand to it, and willed it to go through. Come on, come on…
"Come out right now, you hear? I'm not playing games!"
Come on… ah! His hand sank through, and the rest of him followed. Danny caught one last glimpse of the sheriff below him - and then he was out, landing in a puff of snow on the roof of the store.
He lay there for a moment, eyes wide, breathing hard. That was… that couldn't have gone worse.
He stared up at the sky, at the flecks of snow landing on his face.
1983. He was in 1983.
Oh, my god.
