-Click!

"What the... Hey, who turned off the lights!"

"Ah! My phone is dead! No!"

About half an hour after making that eerie deal with Pa and Ma Duskerton, the lights cut out. Okay, stay alert, Ray. Now, I had to figure out how my checkpoints worked. They were my only defense, and I needed to be sure they'd function.

I had no idea what to expect next. The pattern was clear: the minions were inspired by some scary story. But which one? The situation was a perfect setup for countless horror tales, where a group of teenagers or young folks found themselves trapped in a place where someone had met a grim fate. It felt like the backdrop of 99.99% of horror movies ever made.

But first, I had to deal with the current crisis. Everything was in pitch darkness, making it impossible to see. Mabel was still asleep on my back, and I strained my eyes to make out something in the inky blackness.

"Whoa! I can't see anything!"

"Can someone find the lights switch!"

"I'm here by the switch, but it's not working!"

Panic and chaos ensued as the teenagers shrieked in fear. Where was Dipper, though? I needed to find him; it wasn't safe for him out there. Ah, right, my phone! Why didn't I think of it earlier?

I fumbled for my phone and activated its feeble flashlight. It was 2012, so my smartphone's battery was nothing to brag about. I had to use it wisely. It was...currently 52%.

The light illuminated only a small area in front of me, but nothing else. My beam couldn't reach the edges of the room.

Dusk 2 Dawn, while haunted, was just an ordinary convenience store in terms of its layout. But now, it was as if the world had flipped into a surreal nightmare. What had happened in this place? Where was I?

"Hello?! Anyone! Wendy! Dipper!"

My calls echoed, met only by an eerie silence. It was as if there was no one here except for me and Mabel. Well, technically, Mabel was fast asleep, so it was mostly just me. But...

...What was happening? Where was I, and why was it so dark?

The darkness seemed to be more than just an absence of light; it was as if it devoured any illumination I attempted to cast upon it. It was an oppressive, sinister force. What were my options? What could I do?

...Finding Dipper was my top priority. Their fate was inextricably linked with mine. But after all the strange anomalies I'd encountered...

I was scared. Of the dark.


"...Ray?! Robbie?! Tambry?! Nate! Lee! Mabel!"

"Wendy, please! Quiet down!"

Here I was, right next to Wendy... just the two of us. But... I never envisioned this moment to be so chilling. I had hoped that if I could bond with the teens, Wendy might see me differently. But this was beyond anything I had expected.

Ray had been right all along. I shouldn't have come here. Okay, Dipper, calm down. The last time I saw Ray, he was looking after Mabel, so she must be with him. She'll be fine. Ray was the most dependable person here.

But what about us? Wendy was undoubtedly kind, but she was unaware of the peculiarities of this place. Where was everyone? And where exactly were we? Given the echoing sound, it felt like we were in a much larger space.

"Ray! Nate! Thompson!"

"Wendy, I said please! We don't know what's lurking out there!"

"What do you mean, lurking out there? It's just the light..."

"It's not about the blackout! Can't you see? It's not a prank or something! We're alone in this place, wherever it is!"

"You can't be serious, Dipper. It must be a joke or..."

"Do you think Ray would seriously take part in this kind of joke? And I've been in this kind of situation before. It's no joke!"

Wendy fell silent. Now, I needed to assess the situation. The journal! Yes, I had the journal, but...

"I need light to read it... Wendy! Do you have your phone?"

"My phone died just a moment ago...! Ugh, stupid batteries... I'll try to find a way."

I was fortunate to be in this situation with Wendy; she adapted quickly. If it were Robbie... I didn't even want to think about it.

...If only I could find something to read in the journal, everything would be fine. So, just calm down.

-creak...

"...Gah!"

Strange noises seemed to emanate from my throat as I heard something move. Please, let it be nothing, let nothing move in the darkness... It must be my imagination, right?

"Dipper! Here!"

Wendy's hushed voice called me. I hurriedly crawled towards her, as I couldn't see where I was going. I managed to touch her sneakers, which brought a surprising wave of relief that I never expected from footwear.

"Ha... Ha... Wendy, let's never get separated."

"Um, yeah, sure. But take a look at this first. I found this – Thompson's camcorder. The screen is faintly lit, so maybe we can use it..."

"Wait, a camcorder? Can I see it?"

"Of course."

I took the camcorder from Wendy's hands and checked the screen. Yes, it had enough battery left. And, as far as I knew, if I touched a few options...

"...Aha! Got it! Wendy, look! Night vision!"

"Great, now we can find the others!"

"..."

"Um, Dipper?"

"...What...the...world?"

...no, no no no...This can't be right. Why...Where are all the shelves? And...where's the wall? The floor is visible, it's the same tile as the Dusk 2 Dawn, and the ceiling looks the same, but...

"...Dipper, what's going on?"

"I...I have to look at the journal Wendy. Give me a moment!"

I quickly opened the journal...but the problem was, that I didn't know what was going on. What am I being attacked of? What should I look for?... It's all invisible, I don't know how to fight...

"There's no information..."

Nothing about darkness. The journal was useless...

Then What can I do now? What do I have left? I should try to remember what I did before...The echo incident, what did I do?...I followed the journal, and Ray burned it alive. How about the gobblewanker? No, that was just old man Mcgucket. The wax figures? Ray again. And Gideon...Ray again, though he was under control...

...Huh. There was nothing that I could do alone.


"...Hold on tight, Mabel."

Navigating the darkness, I watched my step, my phone's dim light revealing random products and discarded food scattered on the ground. Mabel remained sound asleep, perhaps the excess of expired candy had taken its toll. I could only hope she'd be okay.

Progress was slow as the oppressive darkness seemed to close in around me. To make matters worse, my phone's battery was depleting at an alarming rate.

"...35%? Already?"

It defied logic. I'd barely been wandering for ten minutes, and yet my source of light was draining much faster than I'd anticipated. Fear of being swallowed by the dark intensified with every step.

As I ventured deeper into the obsidian void, faint, unsettling noises reached my ears. Initially, it was just the sound of my own movements, but then it seemed as though something lurked behind me. Panic set in as my imagination ran wild, conjuring terrors hidden in the shadows.

"Who's there?" I called out into the abyss, but my voice merely thickened the darkness around me. No one responded, and my calls for Dipper, Wendy, and even Mabel yielded only silence.

Doubt and unease gnawed at me. While I yearned to find Dipper and Wendy, darker thoughts crept in. What if I stumbled upon Valentino? The idea of encountering him here, shaken and in distress, disgusted me. I secretly wished I wouldn't find him by accident.

Yet fate seemed to have other plans. The faint glow from my phone revealed a cowering figure in the distance. There was no mistaking it – Robbie Valentino. He quivered uncontrollably, his face twisted in fear.

Approaching cautiously, I was both relieved and uneasy to have found a fellow member of our group. Robbie's trembling form sent shivers down my spine, and my own fears intensified as I realized that the horrors I had envisioned were materializing before my eyes.

"Valentino?" I called out, my voice trembling. "Are you okay?"

Valentino responded with a whimper and wide, terror-filled eyes. His entire body seemed to convulse with fear, a horrifying sight that left me wondering what had brought him to such a state.

"...Robert Valentino. What happened to you?"

"D...Dead...Dead bodies...They're here! In there! Help, Help nerd! I can't...Can't take this anymore!"

"Dead bodies? What do you mean dead bodies?"

There hadn't been any corpses nearby that I had seen, only a quick-moving figure. It certainly wasn't the type of speed associated with a corpse experiencing rigor mortis.

"...Ah, ah, Ah...! Help! Help...!"

"Quiet down, Valentino. You're not helping. Just stay quiet!"

"I need to...Get out of here! It's too small!"

"What do you mean 'small'? This place is huge!"

"Ah, Ah, Ah, ha, Ha, HA! Ha..!"

Hyperventilation took hold, and I needed to act fast. I quickly shone my flashlight around, searching for something he could use to cover his face. There was nothing, so I had to persuade him.

"Hold your breath, Valentino!"

"Ha..ha..! HA...!"

"...I said, cover your mouth and nose!"

Valentino clamped his hands over his mouth and nose and held his breath. At least now he wouldn't pass out. Carrying a teenager while I already had Mabel on my back was not something I wanted to do, especially if it was him.

"...Ha...Ugh...My head..!"

Now sitting more calmly, Robbie Valentino clutched his head. Yeah, he had a headache, but I felt like I was getting stress-induced cancer.

"Up now, Valentino?"

"You...nerd...What the heck is going on?! Explain!"

"Keep your mouth shut. I don't want to hear your rusty teenage voice. You've probably noticed that something strange is happening in this place, right? So stay silent and wait for me until I return. You can manage on your own, can't you?"

"...Of course I can. Who do you think I am, that kid you're babysitting? But where the heck do you mean you're going? This place is... "

"I said, shut. Your. Mouth."

He didn't sound like the same guy who had been whimpering in the dark, calling out for help. But I didn't care. He was the least of my worries right now. My top priority was finding a way out of this place and finding Wendy and Dipper, not him.

-...creak..

I pointed my flashlight into the darkness ahead, revealing something unexpected. It was a wall, and beyond it, another wall, close together. It was a hallway – something I'd never expect to find inside a convenience store. It was cramped, barely wide enough for me to pass through.

"...I have to go through this, right?"

With my phone's light switched off, I carefully made my way through the narrow hallway. It was too confined for my hands to move freely, but I had the walls to guide me.

"...Okay. Step by step...Ugh, this is cramped."

As I inched forward, a shiver of fear coursed through me. The tight, suffocating space intensified my unease. Then, I thought I heard something – a soft, barely audible footstep.

-thud...thud...

It was followed by another identical sound, like someone treading lightly in the dark.

Tick! Tick!


I couldn't help but imagine that something was chasing me through this oppressive, narrow corridor. The fear began to consume me. And then, I heard it – a sound racing right behind me, like lightning. It was so close that it felt like it was practically breathing down my neck.


In sheer panic, I broke into a run, but the hallway was tiny and confining, leaving me with no room to maneuver. It felt like the walls themselves were closing in, becoming even smaller to impede my escape.


The footsteps echoed relentlessly, like a relentless drumbeat of terror. My heart pounded with an intensity that matched the urgency of the situation. Each thud, thud, thud resonated in my ears, pushing me to push my limits.


I ran, gasping for breath, convinced that whatever chased me was just a hair's breadth away. There was nowhere to hide, nowhere to turn, and no one to call for help. It was a suffocating nightmare.


But as I finally reached the end of the hallway, I skidded to a halt. I was met with nothing but darkness, a cruel void devoid of any presence.

"...What..the...heck is this story? I've never heard anything like this..."

...Luckily, something that was chasing me wasn't here anymore...but...

Man, I...I'm so scared of the dark.