Pointdexter: A Swooning Over Stan-fiction

Chapter One

A road trip was what Alice needed.

The promise and potential for adventure and soul-searching, rather than the sadness that had plagued her over the past few years. Driving through Oregon was a surreal experience, with endless roads winding up mountainsides, and towering redwood trees that created a soft blanket of shade over the summer roads. It was idyllic and peaceful.

Or that was what she thought it would be. Her legs were cramping, her playlists slowly wearing thin, and her stomach begging for something more than chips and soda. On top of that, she was lost, she was sure of it. Alice let out a groan, tipping her head back with her eyes fixated on the road, trailing the same logging truck that she had been following for at least an hour now. The stickers on the back of the truck, ranging from boybands to suicide prevention ribbons, had become the closest thing to companionship that she had.

If Ella had been with her, perhaps they wouldn't have played car games the way that all young teens hated doing, but talked. Talked about the upcoming years of middle school and boy problems, and Alice wouldn't have had to worry about her ex-husband turning her daughter against her, because she would have been able to see it before Carson took her.

After nearly fifteen years of marriage, Alice had to be stuck with Carson.

It hadn't always felt like she was stuck, in the beginning, Carson had been a dream. The kind of man who would sweep a girl off her feet and ride into the sunset with her, but after three years of dating and a marriage certificate later, the rose-colored glasses came off. What had been charming quirks soon became glaringly bright red flags, traits that Alice thought would go away after settling into the new routine.

It had not.

So Alice threw herself into her work, hours of studying falcons and hawks at the local sanctuary and logging their behavior. There was something about birds that fascinated her, drawing her away from her husband and into the natural world. Perhaps that was why she drove northwest.

Alice glanced up, a sudden break in the pattern of trees zipping past her, and she was barely able to make out the words- Welcome to Gravity Falls Oregan. Only for the road to continue in a monotonous mass of trees and road, the truck calmly chuffing along ahead of her.

"Gravity Falls, huh?" Alice muttered to herself, reaching down to the radio to turn down the pop music blaring over her speakers. "More like the middle of nowhere..."

She'd never heard of Gravity Falls before, then again, she hadn't done research when she started driving. There was no point in staying in Connecticut when Carson wouldn't let her see Ella, the eleven-year-old who was less than aware of her father's behavior and how his flags would soon turn red. And Alice couldn't do anything about it, that was the worst part, that she couldn't fight for Ella the way that she wanted to.

There was a flare of something vibrating in her chest, not the sadness that she had come to expect, but something like anticipation. She could feel it deep inside of her as if something was going to happen... Something strange that she would never be able to control.

But that was impossible, things didn't just happen because they could.

And that's when her car picked up speed.

The change came out of nowhere, and Alice scrambled to slam her foot down on the brakes. Her eyes widened, hands gripping so tight against the wheel that they were slowly turning a whiteish-pink color on the steering wheel.

"No, no, no, no, no!!" Alice cried out, bracing as much of her weight as she possibly could on the break. But her car seemed to have a mind of its own, willing itself forward. She cried out, failing to stay calm as panic welled in her chest. Her hands fumbled for the emergency brake, the screeching wheels of the car sounding in her ears, but it didn't stop. Her car seemed to be lunging toward something, or perhaps, it was being pulled toward something.