I woke up with tears in my right eye, I felt so miserable. I might have never known that weird family, it might have been only a dream but I had felt so safe with them. They felt as real as my own family in real life, sure they might have unpronounceable names from an unpronounceable language, but they were family for even a bit, and it's not like dreams are rational either.
I looked at the clock, it was 3 am. I didn't want to go back to sleep, so I prepared my backpack for the trip. I got dressed with grey bermudas shorts, a white t-shirt with a gnome doing a thumbs up, white socks and yellow sneakers. I put on a black cap with insignias stitched to it, an illuminati, a stereotypical alien, the intergalactic peace symbol, a zombie, a unicorn, a dragon and griffin.
I went downstairs and everything was dark, the sun hadn't risen yet. I made a chocolate milk, and I ate some froot loops. I went outside and watched the sun rise in the backyard.
"Are you okay? You normally aren't up this early" Mom asked from the back door
"I am alright. I woke up and didn't feel like sleeping." I answered
"You might not feel like sleeping now, but please sleep on the bus on the way to Gravity Falls"
"Do I really have to go?" I asked
"Me and your father believe it's going to be good for you. The ticket's already bought too."
"What time is it?"
"A quarter to six."
"I am already ready so I'm going for a walk"
"Here, take my watch, it will come in handy." She gave me her brown laced watch and I went outside the house. I changed my mind and took the bicycle and rode it as fast as I could. I arrived accidentally at an abandoned warehouse where next to it, three homeless people were talking happily over a campfire.
It should be blue
The campfire's fire got wild, and its color changed to blue.
What the... I gotta go!
I thought it was illogical for me to feel guilty over the fire almost burning the homeless and having the desire of wanting more, more fire, bigger, that I could control. So, I acted like a coward, and got back home, not even bothering to check if they were fine. I found my mom putting the suitcase inside the car's trunk.
"I thought you were going to take a walk."
"Change of plans."
"Go and take a quick shower, you're sweating."
"Fine."
I put my bicycle back into the garage and went upstairs to take a shower. I experimented with a few different hairstyles, none convinced me and I decided to dry my hair as much as I could with the towel and let my hair dry fully like it wanted. I put on the same clothes I was wearing before, took my backpack and went downstairs to the car.
"We've got a half an hour trip to the station. Have you checked that you've got everything?"
"Yeah. I have"
"Let's get going then"
+-+-+-+-+-+-+7:25 am
"If you miss me, call me, ok? There should be a phone in the shack. Try to learn new things, maybe you'll find a new interest. And please, please do as your grand uncle says. We do not want a repeat of the summer camp."
"What I do, mom, is think critically and by my own, not following adults blindly, something schools have forgotten to teach us about." Mom sighed at my response
"Take care, ok? Do not get in any trouble" I hopped to the bus
"I will not get into trouble but I can't say anything about adventures" I smiled from the bus's door as it closed, I showed the bus driver my ticket and sat down near the back seats. A few people entered and the bus's door closed.
I looked at my mom from my seat and waved, finally setting in that I wouldn't come back for a while. I tried to memorize her face; in case it ever was lost to a fire.
Watching out of the bus's windows wasn't that bad. Ever since the fire incident in the warehouse, I felt energized, and couldn't sleep. I took a vial with lemon juice from my backpack, and dipped one white pencil in it. I wrote about both dreams in my notebook, how there was a continuity and connection and the incident at the warehouse. After I finished redacting with as much detail as I could, I let it dry and then started drawing on it, as if nothing emotional was there at all.
A finger touched my shoulder and I got defensive and turned around. Mabel and Dipper Pines, my cousins, were the ones that sat on the two seats beside me. Both of them looked at me with a smile. We started talking about a series about a guy who discovers a magical side of his world and its weird creatures. I started getting sleepy, and I fell asleep.
Mabel woke me up, she told me that we were going to stop one last time before reaching Gravity Falls. I was glad that there wasn't any weird, emotional third dream and I packed all my things. Dipper told me I could go outside and that he'd take care of my things. I got off the bus on the last stop, I went to the bathroom and then I stretched. I went back to the bus, showed the driver my ticket and he let me in. Dipper gave me back my things and I spent the rest of the way practicing atbash cipher.
When we arrived at Gravity Falls, I felt a sense of intense familiarity. When we saw the Mystery Shack for the first time, the familiarity grew even more. I didn't know why, but I expected a laboratory, weird specimen and messy papers. I found a gift shop, a 'real' weird creatures' exhibition and a scammer of a grand uncle.
Dipper, Mabel and me went upstairs, to the attic. Dipper found a goat on his bed and Mabel put posters on the wall with her bed. I didn't have a bed, so Grunkle Stan told me to sleep on the armchair until he 'bought'(stole) a mattress from the mattress shop that would open two days later.
I dreamt about exploring the Mystery Shack, but it was different. I then went to a kind of study room. There, I saw a book, with one inside a six fingered hand symbol on it. I opened it, and I started writing, but I didn't have five fingers. I had six. I wrote in symbols that looked familiar, but that I couldn't understand. I woke up by the smell of coffee
"Sixer knows that coffee won´t stop me" I mumbled unconsciously while waking up
Who's sixer? Sounds like a wizard
I went straight to the kitchen and Grunkle Stan was making breakfast.
"We've got an early bird, huh? Go and wake the others."
"I don't wanna move..." I protested
"And I don't want to work to get money, but life never gives us what we want." Grunkle Stan flipped a pancake
"I don't get anything in return though"
"You get the mattress in return if you wake them up for me, is that enough?"
"...I'm not responsible for them coming here on time" I was about to go upstairs when I got an idea. I took a little bottle of rubbing alcohol, and I put some below my cousins' noses. They were about to wake up, so I silently closed the door and went to the kitchen.
"I thought you'd wake them up, kid."
"Just wait."
Coming from upstairs were Dipper and Mabel, sleepy and annoyed.
"Will, were you the one to put alcohol on our noses?" Dipper questioned
"Alcohol? I just woke up. Maybe an invisible wizard put it on your noses." I acted disinterested, pretending to read the newspaper.
"Really?" Mabel asked with surprise
"No, of course not, there isn't any invisible wizard on the attic" Dipper retorted
"There is though. The fact that you cannot see it doesn't mean it's not there." I said back
"Less talking, more eating. Today you're going to work on the shack." Grunkle Stan gave us three pancakes each
"Isn't it illegal for children under sixteen to work?" Dipper asked
"You gotta earn your stuff kid. You want food and shelter? Work for it." Stan went back to the stove to make himself pancakes.
"Behold! The Mabel Juice, beta version!" Mabel showed me and Dipper a glass full of a brownish sparkly liquid
"Is that... glitter?" Dipper said worried
"Haha it might have spilled into the mixer..." Mabel answered
"Why is it brown?" I questioned
"I wanted to make a rainbow drink but it didn't go as expected..." She smiled nervously
"We open at eight, so I want you there at seven fifty." Stan interrupted
"When are we free?" I asked with my eyebrows furrowed
"Don't look at me like that, you can go whenever you want anywhere, but when you're on the shack, you work in the mornings and busy evenings. The shack closes at six, before you ask."
"Good, you kids are all here. Rules: don't touch the creatures without me in the room, don't tell the tourists about them being fake and there's no refunds. All clear?"
"Who are they?" Mabel gestured at a red-haired teenager and a big young man with a question mark on his t-shirt.
"Oh, the handyman is Soos, ask him questions if you have any doubts on anything. The cashier is Wendy. I'm going to work." Stan left the gift shop to attend (scam) some tourists, and the teenager and handyman approached them.
"So, who are you guys?" Asked Wendy.
"We're unfortunate souls who that man trapped in the shack to work for free." I replied
"Name's Mabel, nice to meet you all!" Mabel said smiling
"Dipper, the name is Dipper. The guy next to Mabel is my cousin William." Dipper pointed at me with his thumb
"Cool. So, you're like relatives of Stan or something?" She guessed
"We're his grandnephews and grandniece." Mabel answered
"You're from the Pines family? It's an honor to meet you, I'm Soos. If you need any help with anything, don't hesitate to call me."
"You can clean the shack, technically that was going to be my job but I'm a cashier so... busy. With clients" Wendy sat down at the cashier register and took a magazine.
I went to clean the floor with Mabel and Dipper, and when the opportunity presented itself, I escaped.
As if I was going to do what he said, working, without pay? Hah, you must be dumb to believe I'd do that.
I wrote down my dream with the lemon juice, I knew the dreams I had been having were important, I did not know why yet, but I did know that, so I wrote it down in the notebook that was becoming a dream journal. I then went outside, and explored the woods. There seemed to be something that was drawing me to the place.
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Author here! Yes, I may have not published for a month and little more, but to be honest I didn´t expect the school year to start so...heavy. I already have homework for septemeber! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I loved the details in it. If you see from here onwards any continuation contradiction, please let me know respectfully. Oh, also I did a drawing of Mabel, Dipper and Will in their first day, here´s the link if you want to see it:
cevele/art/Will-Dipdip-and-Maple-1050933766
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