West of Weird |Gravity Falls One-Shots|

Afraid

Mabel shot up from her bed with a gasp that was practically almost a scream. Her hands tightly grasped the blanket that covered her from the waist down as she took several deep breaths, taking a moment to compose herself and come back to reality. Yet another horrific memory had haunted her dreams, forcing her to imagine the worst.

Her hands moved up to her face as her breathing became steady again. It's okay, Mabel. It was just a dream, it doesn't mean anything. She told herself, wiping away the tears that drenched her cheeks. Reminding herself that what she witnessed in her sleep wasn't real usually helped, and she could easily go right back to sleep. But tonight was different. This dream was different.

This time it involved Dipper.

Two summers ago, she and her brother encountered many dangerous foes and faced near-death experiences on a weekly basis. But there was one in particular that seemed to be plaguing her thoughts and robbing her of a comfortable rest.

Those damn zombies. What was supposed to be a fun grand re-opening party for the Mystery Shack had quickly turned into a fight for their lives. They had managed to stay away from the horde the best they could, but eventually they got cornered. They were drowning in a sea of the undead, with no one to help and nowhere to go. And while pointing out the hopelessness of their situation, Dipper was picked up by a zombie. He had tried to escape, but it was no use.

In that moment, Mabel couldn't save him. Her mind had screamed at her to do something, anything! But she was too shocked, too panicked. Too afraid.
All she could do was cry out to him, praying that somehow he would be okay, and that they could make it out of there alive.

Thank god their Grunkle Stan showed up when he did. If he had been a second too late, Dipper would've been a zombie's dinner. To this day she was grateful for her uncle for protecting them that night, and for every other time he saved their lives.

To this day, Mabel was grateful she and her brother somehow survived every life-threatening scenario they put themselves in.

Sometimes she couldn't help but wonder what would've happened if things didn't play out the same. Of course, she would scare herself by doing this, thus giving her nightmares (which made it hard to sleep at night). She would never admit this to anyone, though. Everyone saw her as innocent and carefree, they couldn't know she had such terrifying thoughts like this.

Although Dipper was hard to fool. He knew her better than anyone, and usually saw right through her lies. He could tell when she was pretending to be happy, he could see streaks of tears that she had wiped away. He could see a side of her that no one else was allowed to see; a side of herself she tried to keep away.

But not tonight. Not after the dream she just had, where she watched a zombie snatch her brother and eat him alive. Yes, it played out quite differently than it had in real life two years ago. This time there was blood present, and screams that still rang in her ears. Though one thing still remained the same; he still cried out, "Mabel, I'm sorry!" as he was gorged by the undead beast. It was hard to convince herself it was just a dream after hearing that.

With a heavy breath, Mabel mustered the courage to stand up from the bed and walk to her door. She opened it as quietly as she could, knowing it was past midnight and everyone else in the house was asleep. She tiptoed her way through the darkness of the hall. Luckily she knew her way around and was able to make it to Dipper's room without bumping into anything.

She hesitated to even touch the doorknob. What was she doing? Dipper was asleep. Did she really intend to wake him up just to tell him she had a bad dream? It wasn't going to make her feel any better, and it was probably just going to annoy him. The last thing she wanted to do right now was bother him with her nightly burdens.