Crazy For You

Chapter 9

(Dipper pov)

I rest my chin in my hand, watching as the same guy debates on the same two bobble heads before setting them down and walking over to me. "Do you have anything new?"

"We have crystals." I push the bowl of broken glass over to him. "$10 a piece. Great gifts for the whole family."

"That looks a lot like broken glass. Ooh, what's that?" He goes over to two shirts, them being identical except one is blue and the other is purple. I groan running a hand over my face.

Bill comes up next to me leaning on the counter. "Weren't we supposed to close up like an hour ago?"

"Yeah but this guy won't leave. He's been debating over the same few objects for a flipping hour."

Stan comes into the room and sees us both still here bored. "Why haven't you two closed up already? It's been an hour."

"Because he won't leave." I point to the guy still looking at the two shirts.

"Tyler! Get the hell out! We're closed!"

"Fine fine. I'll just be back to buy something tomorrow maybe." He walks out of the store. Bill goes to the door locking it and flipping the sign to closed.

"He does that everyday. Just kick him out when the time comes. Now both of you bozos just come eat." He leaves the room. Bill comes back over to me.

"So is he just doing that whole tough love kind of thing?" Bill ask me.

"I don't know. Maybe? He's kind of hard to figure out."

"And we are pretty much working here all day, everyday, without getting paid."

"He's letting us live here for free and free food. It's better then nothing."

"We should probably go before he comes back to chew our asses off."

We go into the kitchen taking seats at the table as Stan puts plates of spagheti in front of us, Mable already sitting at the table pushing her food around on the plate as she refuses to look at us. Her phone goes off so she picks it up looking at the message as Stan sits at the table.

"Grunkle Stan, Ford says he's not going to be home for a few months now. He's taking his class out of state on a research assignment."

"Of course that nerd is." Stan looks over at me seeing my confused look. "My brother teaches paranormal science theory at the local university."

"Oh. I'm unfamiliar with that subject course."

"It's because he made it up himself. Took forever for the university to approve of it."

"What does the subject entail?"

"Pretty much what it sounds like. It's all theories about the paranormal things and reasons why they act the way they do."

"That sounds really interesting."

"For some maybe. You really hungry there?"

I look down at my plate realizing that I had eaten it all in just the span of a few minutes. "I guess so."

"When was the last time you had a proper meal."

"Um......a while I guess.....if you'll excuse me." I stand up heading back upstairs to me and Bill's shared room.

I sit on the widnowsill hugging my knees to my chest as I look out at the night sky. My hand reaches up to the glass as I trace the shape of the constellations outside.

The door opens and closes and I hear someone walking in the room but I don't bother turning to see who it is. "Are you doing okay, Pinetree?"

"Yeah, just everything seems so unreal."

"You want to clarify?"

"I mean I dreamed everyday that I would get out of that place. That I could be free. I keep expecting to wake up and end up back in the quiet room."

I look over at him as he grabs the desk chair and wheels it over before he sits in it. "Tell me about the quiet room."

"It is a padded room. Dr. Shitface would send people in there whenever he was in a bad mood. He always sent in kids that he assumed were trouble makers with bad attitudes. The truth is that they were kids who had problems but he never bothered to properly help anyone. His only plan was to overmedicate everyone so they wouldn't argue."

"Why do you call him Dr.Shitface."

"His name was something Dutch. No one could ever pronounce it right and he was an ass so we all just called him Dr.Shitface......usually when someone went into the quiet room they didn't come out. Or they never came out the same way that they went in."

We both look over towards the door hearing it open and see Mabel standing there. She looks behind her before quietly closing the door as she steps into the room.

".....what did they do to you in there?"

"Why?"

"I want to know."

"No. Trust me you don't."

"Mom told me that you were being taken care of. That it was like a meditation spa but with therapy and proper meds."

"Well either she didn't know how it truly was or she lied. It was nothing like a meditation spa."

"I'm so so sorry. I didn't know. I didn't know how much you were hurting in there or what horrible things they did to you. Everyone said it was best for you to be there."

"Did I ever act like I needed to be locked up when we were kids?"

"No. You were shy and nerdy but not dangerous. I know that. Look, I know that you had 7 years taken from you but I had something taken from me too. I lost my little brother. My best friend. My other half, the better part of me. That day we took the test, I lost you. And I really thought that I would never get you back. Then you show up here and instead of being happy I am just terrified that you will be taken away from me again."

"Mabel, you don't have to-"

"Yes I do because I owe you an explanation. I should have welcomed you in with open arms but instead I turned you away like a monster. I don't want you to go. I want you here where you belong."

"I don't plan on going anywhere else. You have my word on that."

"You don't have to worry about me snitching. Your secrets are safe with me, promise." She leaves the room closing the door and I hear her footsteps fade.

Bill stands up rubbing my shoulder as I yawn into my hand. "Come on, it's getting late. Lets get to bed."

"But there's only one bed and I don't want you to sleep on the floor."

"The bed is big enough for us to both share it. So come on sleepyhead."

I stand up as he guides me to the bed. I lay down on it, feeling him lay down next to me and wrap his arms around me from behind as I fall into blissful sleep.