War Never Ends

Chapter 9

(Dipper pov)

I frantically slam down on all of the buttons of the arcade machine, trying to do one of Katana's cool combos only for Bill to have Liu Kang bicycle kick him in the face several times.

"Finish her!" The game announces loudly. I groan as Bill does the combo that makes Liu Kang use a dragon literally made out of fire to eat Katana. "Liu Kang wins! Fatality!"

"Fucking damnit." I say for the millionth time already. We've been playing this Mortal Kombat 9 game in the arcade here for hours and he keeps murdering me so easily. Which isn't that much of a surprise considering he could easily kick my ass in this game even before I lost all use of my right eye.

"You ready to go another round, Pinetree?"

"And have you kill me again? Forget it." I walk out of the arcade with him following after me. "Can we go back home yet?"

"Come on we haven't even been here that long."

"We were here for hours."

"We haven't done much of anything yet. And I know interacting with the real world and not just your little computer screen is a whole new experiance for you and all-"

"Bill, I will punch you if you don't stop talking. I just want to go back home."

"How about we get something from the food court first? I will take you right home afterwards, promise."

"Fine."

We head to the food court, it being very crowded. Somehow we manage to find an empty table to sit at. "I'm going to go grab us some food. You sit tight okay?" Bill goes off towards one of the food stations before I can get an answer out.

My fingers nervously tap on the table as I wait for Bill to come back, my knee bouncing axiously. I always hated big crowds and Bill knows that. He always did this, would leave me alone while he went off to grab something. I hate it when he does this and he keeps doing it anyway. His excuse is that me being left alone for a few minutes in a crowd of people won't kill me. While he is probably right, it doesn't ever feel like he's right.

From the corner of my eye I can see people looking at me. Children staring as their parents eagerly pull them away in the opposite direction, adults and teenagers alike staring and whispering behind their hands while there eyes are never leaving me. I hate this. I feel this horrid painful tightening in my chest and my lungs hurt. I force my gaze to the table, pulling my hood over my head and desparately just wanting to sink into the floor. Just keep sinking until I have sunk to the middle of the earth and stay there for all of eternity.

Bill sits across from me setting a tray of nachos in front of me. "There. Best nachos in all of Oregon."

"You can't say that unless you have been to literally every town in the state and tried every plate of nachos."

"Too true." He reaches over pulling my hood down. "Stop pulling it up. It's not like it will kill you to keep the hood down."

"It helps hide all of......this....."

"It's not that bad. It's kind of cool to show off."

"Show off? Bill, I am fucking blind in my right eye. The whole right side of my face looks like something pressed my face against a stovetop. While you may stupidly think this is cool, it's not. It is not cool when little kids are wondering why I am wearing a halloween costume when it isn't halloween or sumerween. It is not cool when parents look at me like it's my fault that I look like this as they hurridly pull their kids in the furtherst direction from me. It isn't fucking cool when I can see so many people around me looking at me in disdain and disgust and I know they are whispering about me."

"Pinetree-"

"Stop calling me that stupid nickname. You know, I should have just let you send me down the stairs this morning. Coming here was obviously a huge mistake."

I get up pushng my way through the crowds of people and getting as far from the food court as I can. I exit the mall pulling up the hood of my jacket again. I take my phone out of my pocket and call Mable, axiously fidgeting with the zipper of my jacket as I wait for her to pick up the damn phone.

"Hello?"

"Mable I need you to come and get me."

"Dipper? Where are you? Bill said he was taking you out somewhere and that he would be able to take you back home."

"I'm at the mall and I just want to go home. I don't want to wait for Bill, I just want you to come and get me please. I don't have any money for an uber."

"What's going on that Bill can't drive you?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Dipper-"

"Don't. Do not try and patronize me, saying that I just need to step out of my comfort zone more. I don't need any of it because stepping out of my comfort zone isn't doing anything to fix things. It's just making everything so much worse. So please please just come get me. I really just want to go home."

"Okay, okay.....I should be there in just a few minutes."

"I'm right out front. Just please hurry." I put my phone back in my pocket. Feeling a hand on my shoulder I turn around pulling myelf away seeing it's Bill.

"Dipper, please just talk to me."

"No, no I am done talking. If I wanted to fucking talk to someone I would be seeing a stupid therapist."

"Do you need one? I don't mean to sound rude or mean, but just with how you've been since you got back. You don't eat you don't sleep, I'm just worried that-"

"That what? That I am not strong enough to deal with what happened to me? Well huge newsflash. I am fucking dealing with it my way. You and Mable have been trying to just slap a bandaid on me and act like everything is fine. But that isn't how the real stupid world works. Everything would have been better off if you both had just left me alone in my room like I told you two."

Mabel's car pulls up. I open the passenger door and climb in, slamming the door shut. I see her and Bill both exchange a look before the car pulls away from the mall.