Sixteenth Summer - A Dipcifica Story

Chapter Three: Coma

When Dipper and Mabel arrived at the Mystery Shack, the place was empty. A truck was parked in front of the place but otherwise, the place was quiet. Eerily quiet. Dipper wondered why no one was around; the Mystery Shack was usually open every day of the week.

"It says it's closed," Mabel stated loudly, pointing at a sign hanging on the door. "Why would it be closed? It's always open even when there are no visitors!"

Dipper frowned. "I don't know Mabel, but I think there's someone inside." He reached forward and knocked on the door. Mabel scoffed beside him.

"Why are you knocking? Just go in." Mabel kicked the door open, knocking it off its hinges. "Heck ya! Did you see that? Did you-"

Dipper rolled his eyes. "Yes, Mabel, I-" he paused, taking in the shack. Other than the vending machine's light, the place was dark. Dipper's stomach lurched. "Grunkle Stan?" He called. "Soos? Ford?"

"Wendy?" Mabel added before she too went around yelling their names. It only took a few seconds before someone came running to the front. Grunkle Ford.

"Kids!" Grunkle Ford rushed forward and hugged the twins before meeting their gazes. "You shouldn't be here."

"What?" Mabel and Dipper said in unison.

Grunkle Ford looked away, pushing his glasses up. "I...Stan and I got here two days ago, but something's not right."

Dipper clenched his fists, annoyed. "What do you mean 'not right?' You can tell us."

"Please Grunkle Ford, we need to know what's going on," Mabel added. Her smile had faded.

Grunkle Ford sighed, rubbing his temple. "Stan's in the hospital."

Mabel and Dipper blinked. "B-but why?"

"There was a storm when we got here. Stan was driving and he crashed into a tree, just outside the Mystery Shack."

Dipper shook his head, unbelieving. "How-Stan wouldn't-I know he's a bad driver but-"

"That's the thing. Stan wasn't knocked out after the crash. He was knocked out before the crash. Right after we passed the hitchhiker on the road not far from here, Stan fell into a coma."

Mabel and Dipper fell silent. Finally, Mabel began laughing. "Good one Grunkle Ford! Dark humour-I love it!"

Dipper gave his sister a weird look. "Mabel, he's serious."

Mabel's laughing grew hysterical, and she wiped a tear from her eye. "C'mon, Dip, Grunkle Stan's not in a coma. He can't be. Not after all these summers..." more tears began falling, and Dipper hugged his sister close, his expression mystified. 

He glanced at Ford. "We need to go to the hospital. We can help him, Grunkle Ford."

Grunkle Ford winced. "No kid. The doctors can't tell what is wrong with him any more than we can."

"Just take us there," Dipper said, his tone sharpening. "We need to see him. Please."

~

By the time they got to the hospital, it was already evening and the fireflies were out, drifting past the bright lights of the hospital. Grunkle Ford and the twins hurried into the hospital, checking with the receptionist if it was safe to see Stan.

"He's still there with that weird light around him," the receptionist said, clicking his pen. "And we got another one in today just like him."

"Another Grunkle Stan?" Mabel asked, confused.

The receptionist ignored her. "It was Alesha from the grocery store. One of her employees called the police thinking she was dead. That girl was hysterical. Anyway, Alesha's in the same kind of coma, with that blue light all around her too."

"Has she woken up?" Grunkle Ford asked hopefully.

The receptionist shook his head, nodding to the hallway. "Down that hall, third door on the left. That's where they're keeping Stan now."

Grunkle Ford quickly thanked him as the twins hurried away, past the other rooms. Finally, they turned into Stan's room. A chill ran down Dipper's spine as soon as he saw his Grunkle.

Stan was laying out on a bed. The room was dark save for the beeping monitors and other tech. And the receptionist was right; blue light surrounded Stan like a phone emits light.

Mabel began to shake beside Dipper again so he took her hand. Still, the sight of Stan unconscious on the bed made Dipper dizzy. The room began to grow smaller and the blue light grew bright. Dipper peered closer at Stan, his vision growing blurry. 

That's when he heard it; "die, Dipper Pines."

Dipper started to tremble, and he pulled away from Mabel, who blinked at him with teary eyes. "Dipper...?"

"I need to go," he gasped, stumbling away. "I'll just be in the hallway, alright?"

Mabel said something but Dipper was running away, bumping into nurses and elderly people. He didn't stop to apologize because those three words were taking up all sense of reality.

"Die, Dipper Pines."

A hand caught his wrist, and Dipper turned around, frowning. "Mabel, leave me-"

He stopped, his whole world rushing back to reality. He recognized those eyes and that blonde up-do, the ones he had come to miss and forget those few years after Weirdmaggedon. He hadn't seen her in forever, but yet here she was. Wearing a grocery jacket with the gaudiest rust color he'd ever seen. His eyes widened. "Pacifica?"

Pacifica stared at him, her dark eyes seeming to light up. "Dipper Pines. It's been a while."