The Greatest Show

Chapter 6

(Dipper pov)

The rain pounds down onto the ground, soaking my hair and making my cheap suit cling to my skin. I glance at my two great uncles standing a few feet away under their umbrellas, but neither look towards me. I look back at the casket that slowly is lowered into the ground. I numbly toss the pink rose onto the casket, unable to tell what was tears and what was rain.

I look at the headstone, my eyes landing on the words right above her birth and death date.

There is always a time to make more people sad but there will not always be a time to make more people happy

I turn to leave as they fill the grave, wanting to just go home and shut out everything. Try to forget about the world. A hand grabs my shoulder hard and turns me around, putting me face-to-face with my great uncle Ford's furious face.

"How could you have let this happen to her?!"

"I didn't.....I-I did everything I could-"

"Bullshit! She would have been fine if she had been where she belonged instead of that crumbling attic."

"I didn't ask her to come with me. I tried to tell her to go back but she wouldn't listen."

"You were busy fooling around with those freak shows instead of being there when she needed someone there! Your sister is dead because of you!"

He shoves me back hard pushing me into the mud. I look up seeing someone push him back, one hand holding an umbrella, and to my surprise it's Bill.

"Back off from him. Now is not the time or place to let your emotions get the better of you."

He turns to me and helps me up, putting his arm around my shoulders as his umbrella protects us both from the pouring rain. He leads me out of there to his car and helps me into the passenger seat before he gets in the driver's seat. He reaches into his pocket handing me a folded paper.

"I stopped by your place and found this taped to the door." I unfold the paper and see it's an eviction notice. I had been so occupied with rehearsals and getting Mabel's expensive medicine that I completely forgot about paying the rent.

"How did you even find me?"

"Your neighbor, Ms. Danbury told me you would be here.......Do you want me to drop you off back home?"

"I don't know....probably won't be my home for much longer....."

"What if we go to my place then? At least until the rain stops. We can get you dried up a bit and I can make some coffee for the both of us."

"That sounds like a good idea."

He drives in silence until he finally parks. I look up at the house and recognize it as the one I pointed out to him when he first walked me home after we made the deal. He gets out of the car and leads me into the house.

Most of the house seems barren and the little furniture that is here is covered in white sheets. He sits me at a table in the kitchen as he makes the coffee.

"I didn't know you lived here."

"I bought it, after I saw how much you liked it. The plan was to fix it up and show it off to you as a surprise. I thought of asking you to live here with me but then you went on avoiding me......" He pours coffee into two mugs and sets them on the table as he takes a seat across from me.

I take one of the mugs and sip from it, the hot coffee radiating from the cup warming up my hands. "......aren't you going to ask about the things Ford said back there?"

"Depends. Do you want me to ask?"

"No.....but I'll probably go crazy if I don't tell someone about it."

"I'm here if you do want to talk about it."

".....after our parents died, me and my sister were sent to live with our great uncles. Everything was fine, we had a roof over our heads and food on the table three times a day. We were safe and happy. Then I realized I wasn't like others, and not because of my flexability. So three years ago I told my great uncles that I was gay. Stan couldn't even look at me, and Ford was so angry. Disowned me and told me to never come back. I left and about a week later Mabel found me living on the streets."

"Did they kick her out too?"

"No. She ran away, wanting to make sure I wasn't alone in the world. I tried so hard to convince her to go back but she wouldn't listen. So we survived together. We were struggling but managing. Until she got sick and couldn't work anymore. I thought I could take care of everything, but in the end I lost her too. She died because of me."

"There was nothing you could have done."

"She got sick because of the attic we lived in. She ended up choking on her own puke. If I had just been there instead of at that fucking rehearsal than she would be here. O-Or maybe if I had just tried to convince her to go back home again, even drag her back, then she would have gotten the help she needed and this would have never happened. Instead she died because a freak like me wasn't there to protect her."

"Hey." He gently grabs my hand and I realize that I'm crying again. "You are not a freak."

"Yes I am. I have known that even before you entered my life. I've gone through years of people telling me what I really am."

"What do you mean?"

"I am not a stranger to the dark
Hide away, they say
'Cause we don't want your broken parts
I've learned to be ashamed of all my scars
Run away, they say
No one'll love you as you are

But I won't let them break me down to dust
I know that there's a place for us
For we are glorious

When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown 'em out
I am brave, I am bruised
I am who I'm meant to be, this is me
Look out 'cause here I come
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum
I'm not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me

Another round of bullets hits my skin
Well, fire away 'cause today, I won't let the shame sink in
We are bursting through the barricades and
Reaching for the sun
Yeah, that's what we've become

I won't let them break me down to dust
I know that there's a place for us
For we are glorious

When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown 'em out
I am brave, I am bruised
I am who I'm meant to be, this is me
Look out 'cause here I come
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum
I'm not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me

This is me

there's nothing I'm not worthy of

When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown 'em out
This is brave, this is bruised
This is who I'm meant to be, this is me

Look out 'cause here I come
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum
I'm not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me

When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown 'em out
I'm gonna send a flood
Gonna drown 'em out
Oh
This is me"

"I never thought of you anything other than an amazing person that makes my day brighter just by being in it."

"I know Bill.....this doesn't change anything between us."

"That can't stop me from wishing and trying at least."