part 1

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The setting sun bathed the entire car in a warm orange light as it drove down the highway. Inside, Wirt shifted his position slightly as hours in one position began to wear on him. He peeked over the wall of pillows in the backseat to check in on his younger brother, gregory, who was fast asleep with a large toad in his lap. Wirt continued to look out the window at the sunlight piercing through the towering pine trees. He had only known about the move since last week. That's all the time he had to come to terms with it, only a week to say goodbye.

He felt anger begin to sting at his eyes. He was already well aware of how unfair life can be, but this felt straight up cruel. How in his 17 years of life, his step dad only gets a better job after Wirt finally got some friends. His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out frantically. He got a text from sarah:

S: Heyyy hru holding up?

He texted back as fast as he could.

W: I'm alright. I only have an hour or so left.

S: coolio. I bet the scenery is pretty there

He put his phone back in his pocket and closed his eyes. Focusing on the quiet hum of the car and the gentle chatter of his mom and step dad in the front when his mom tapped him on the knee

"Honey look outside!"

Just then, a sign flew past the window that read "welcome to GRAVITY FALLS". It felt almost anticlimactic how little changed past the sign. The trees were just as big, the road just as narrow. The only real change was the feeling of dread resurfacing inside of Wirt. The small bumps of the car started to feel more like angry waves in the open sea.

He had not yet seen the town but his mom described it as a "cute little thing in the woods." as if that wasnt terrifying enough, Wirt noted that the only trees around here are large pine trees that are near impossible to tell apart. Needless to say, he was not going to step foot outside of civilization once they settled. That's easy, the hard part would be convincing Greg of the same. His brother meant the world to him and he will do anything to keep him safe.

A few minutes later he began to see the first bits of the town. A house here, a shack there, then stores and other buildings came into view. It resembled something akin to a downtown. Within the course of 5 or so minutes, the shops faded away into yet another neighborhood. Before he knew it, they pulled up to a beautiful queen anne house. It was a major upgrade from the small suburban house they lived in in arizona. Taking in the sight, Wirts mood improved a fair bit as he grabbed a couple of his bags and waited by the front door for it to be unlocked.

As he stepped into the house, the uneasy feeling began to melt away to near nothing. He still felt the twinge of loneliness stab at him in the ribs but the giddy feeling of anticipation pushed it to the side when he began to walk up the steps.

Once he stepped into his new room, he let out a breath and looked around. He had lucked out and got the room with the terret windows. He began to unpack the few things he had. The moving truck wasn't expected for a couple days so he set up a sleeping bag for the time being.

When he reached the last bag to unpack, he felt something heavy and metal. He pulled out a vintage black oil lantern. He traced the simplistically designs in the medal with his eyes, reflecting on the past. He got this lantern in what he can only describe as a nightmare come to life. Although he can't quite wrap his head around how, he ended up getting lost in some kind of fairytale forest with magical creatures and a beast. The beast was particularly nasty, turning lost souls into oil filled trees to light the lantern. However he made the grave mistake of messing with Greg and in the end, Wirt blew out the beast's lantern and left him to rot. He was so sure that he left the lantern when he ran with Greg. However when he woke up in the hospital he found it sitting on the bedside table.

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