The new girl in Gravity Falls; by Joona Irene

G-Ghosts...

By Joona Irene

~~still Lilac POV~~

It was nearly sunset. I was in my tree, my legs dangling down from the limb, churning the empty air. I hummed an unknown song, messing with the pitch.
        Candy and Grenda were nice, but way out of my style. I guess that meant Mabel was a bit out of my style too. But we were friends anyways...oh well.
        And then there was Wendy. After Mabel took me to her home we 'hung' with Wendy. At first I thought it was going to be like the last time Mabel and somebody else plus me had 'hung' but no. Nothing physical, it was completely different. We had a mini-dance off right there in the gift shop! Mabel won, that much was obvious from the start. But Wendy was really cool. She had a rather mellow aura that I appreciated. After a while Soos had decided to join, and I learned he was fun to 'hang' with too. but then Soos and Wendy had to leave and go home, so I did too. And how I was in my tree, listening to the birdsong slowly die. A sunset was imminent.
        I took a deep breath and realized all that I'd done today. I started off answering lots of questions, then gave those twins a cat-ride, then Mabel and I had gone to the mall and I remembered my fear of the human public, and then I had a dance-off. I shifted my position so I was leaning up against the trunk of the tree with my back. I felt my energy slowly going down. I could feel myself getting tired. Lazily I reached up above me and snagged a pinecone. I then proceeded to eat it. I didn't bother chewing, I just dropped it down my throat.
        I continued watching the sun beginning to set when all of a sudden I heard my name being called. I quickly swallowed another pinecone and looked down.
        "LILAC!" Dipper was screaming. Is he in trouble?
I dove out of the tree, not bothering to climb, and landed hard on the ground. I looked at Dipper and was relieved to see he was perfectly fine, if a bit out of breath.
        "What's wrong?" I asked, worried. "Is everything okay?"
        "What? Yeah, everything's fine." He tilted his head a bit. "Why wouldn't I be fine?"
        "You're not one to scream." I pointed out. "That's Mabel's job." He awkwardly smiled.
        "Well, it is a big tree...I was worried you wouldn't hear me." he said. "And anyways, I wanted to know if you...if you'd maybe...want to come on a ghost hunt tonight. With me -us!" he added that last part quickly. I shrugged.
        "Sounds fine by me." I said. "When is it?"
        "Oh, well, everybody is already at the graveyard...I just wanted to come get you really quick maybe." he said. I looked behind him and saw there was a golf cart there.
        "You can drive?" I asked, surprised. I thought only adults drove.
        "Uh, yeah, I can!" he said excitedly. "C'mon, let's go! They're already waiting."
I hopped into the cart with Dipper and was elated to see that there were no windows or doors. I hated cars. They were so delicate, but this was much better because I wouldn't have to worry about destroying it...as much. Dipper and I sped away towards the Gravity Fall's graveyard.
        "So, what exactly is a ghost hunt?" I asked.
        "Well, we hear rumors." he said, with a little pride. "And so sometimes we go and check it out. See if there's something we can do about it."
        "Sounds cool." I said. I mentally high-fived myself for correctly using modern language. He nodded and smiled. The rest of the way Dipper told me a story about how one time he, Mabel and Wendy's friends (including a boy named Robbie, who, for some reason Dipper wouldn't fully explain, is not a nice person.) broke into a haunted convenience store and Mabel got possessed by two elderly folk's ghosts while they did bad things to Wendy's friends.
        "How did you sort that out?" I gasped.
        "Well...uh...er...I beat them up with my bare fists!" Dipper said a little too proudly. "And then I-"
        "That's impossible." I said, interrupting him, "You would have needed gauntlets that could physically interact with the electrical pulse that ghosts give off in a natural state of suspended non-dead-ness. Or maybe a super-cool spell." I realized that what I just said was completely out of line.
        "Wow." was all Dipper said. I pretended to blush.
        "I-I'm sorry." I said, looking away. "I kinda know a lot about that type of...stuff. As I've said, I've been around for a super long time. You pick up a thing or too." I coughed. "So, um, anyways, did you use that gauntlet thing...that I mentioned...earlier?"
        "No..."
        "Well then how?"
        "Well, actually it's kind of embarrassing." he said, his face turning color. I think I spotted a small drop of sweat building on his forehead. I smiled.
        "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." I said. He, very visibly, relaxed.
        "Thanks Lilac." Dipper said just as we pulled up to the graveyard's gates. I saw Wendy and Mabel, along with five other people who looked around Wendy's age. Teenagers...I still don't have a solid opinion of them. They all lit up as we arrived, with the exception of two; a dark-haired, acne-covered pale-skinned boy in a black hoodie with a stitched heart on it. From Dipper's description, I assumed this boy was Robbie. Based off his aura, Dipper was correct in that Robbie was, indeed, a doosh bag (whatever that means, but I assumed it couldn't be good, since Robbie's aura was that of a negative, insecure person).  The other was a darker-skinned girl with dyed hair and a dark purple skirt, who was staring at her phone. I think I saw her just the other day on the street...did she say her name was Tambry? Standing next to them were three people I didn't recognize. One was rather heavy with brown hair, one was really, really tall with long brown hair, and the third had brown skin and brown hair.
        "What's up guys?" Dipper asked them, climbing out of the cart. I carefully got out as well.
        "Who's the hippie?" Robbie asked, sneering at me. I held back a cutting reply.
        "Hey people." I waved. "I'm with Mabel and Dipper."
        "Aw, cool!" Wendy said. "Hey guys, Lilac is cool. She got da moves!" she winked at me.
        "Okay, great!" Said the tall blonde one. "Hey, I'm Lee."
        "Cool to meet ya Lilac." said the darker skinned one. "I'm Nate."
        "Um, yeah, I'm Tambry. What's up and whatever." she briefly look up from her phone.
        "Psh." said Robbie, folding his arms. "Whatever. I'm not going to take care of her when she cries!" I blinked and smiled.
        "Just how old do you think I am, Robbie?" I asked sweetly. He shrugged, and rolled his eyes.
        "Robbie be nice." Wendy chastised. "Lilac's cool."
        "Yeah Robbie lay off!" Dipper defended me.
        "I bet she's eight." Robbie guessed.
        "Thirteen." I corrected. "Only three years younger than most of you." I arched an eyebrow, and looked at the one person who still hadn't introduced himself yet.
        "What's your name?" I asked him. He looked surprised.
        "Uh...you can call me Thompson." he said with an awkward tone. One look at his aura told me he was sweet, but also insecure. In fact, they all were a bit unstable. Well, that's puberty. I'm so glad I will never have to endure it.
        "So, when are we getting started Dipper?" Mabel asked, her hands balled into fists and shaking.
        "Super psyched!" Lee said.
        "Super double psyched!" Nate copied.
        "Well, the radio talk show earlier this evening said mysterious sounds were heard behind the older graves near the back of the graveyard." Dipper explained. "We're going to see if the ghost is dangerous to the town or not."
        "I hope it's wicked!" Lee and Nate said almost at the same time. Then they punched each other's arms. I blinked, feeling confused. Didn't punching hurt? Wasn't that a painful thing to do, especially to a friend? As confused as I was, I didn't show it. I just kept my smile and followed everybody over the fence and into the graveyard. The sun was defiantly setting now. We all hopped over the fence. Thompson was last. His gut was making it hard for him to make it over, so Lee shook the fence and Thompson fell on his face.
        "Oww..." Thompson moaned. Lee, Nate, and Robbie laughed, while Wendy and Tambry snickered. I blinked and helped Thompson up.
        "You're fine." I said, dusting off his green shirt. "Not a scratch. Quite lucky since Gravity seems to be a huge epidemic around here." I chuckled inwardly. I looked and saw that some of them smiled. Hooray for elevated humor!
        "Can we just go find this 'ghost'?" Robbie complained, doing that weird motions with his fingers to say he wasn't sincere.
        "Yeah, the old part is that way." Dipper said. Everybody trailed after him, with Wendy and Tambry sharing giggles over a phone, and the boys chuckling to themselves over some whispered joke, I got to talk to Mabel.
        "Are you excited?" I asked her.
        "You know it!" She exclaimed. I wasn't sure what to say after that, nothing came to mind.
         "So I know that you're like, a super-awesome creature of powers and stuff," Mabel whispered, "But are you afraid of ghosts?"
        "No." I chuckled softly. "I could never be afraid of a ghost. I see them all the time; even the bad ghosts are basically harmless. They just need friends is all, and that's not a scary thing."
        "You can see ghosts?" Mabel quietly gasped.
        "Well...their aura." I shrugged. "See, every living thing gives off energy, and I pick up on it. Ghosts are still techniqually alive, so I just pick up on that energy."
         "You get more amazing every day." Mabel said with huge eyes. I smiled, enjoying her sincere adoration. Dipper eventually came to a stop in front of a line of crumbling line of graves.
        "Woah," Wendy examined one of them. "These go way back. This one is 1876."
        "This is where all our founding fathers were buried. Like where Quentin Trembley should've been." Dipper said.
        "Thank goodness for peanut brittle." Mabel said.
        "Who?" Robbie asked.
         "See, now that just isn't right!" Mabel said. I noticed that it was starting to get dark. Oh no, my eyes! I quickly looked away from the group and kept them shut, pretending to be interested in a tombstone.
        "Not now Mabel." Dipper said. "Everybody needs to be quiet and look out for potential ghost activity. Probably in the form of sound. Like, moaning from beyond the grave."
         "Look out for creepy sounds, got it." Tambry said with a yawn.
         "I hope we get to hear deadly banshee screams!" Lee shouted.
         "I hope that we get to witness the dead rise!" Robbie said.
         "Oh that would be so cool!" Wendy said.
         "We...we're not going to have to split up, are we?" Thompson warily asked.
         "What, scared of a few ghosts?" Robbie asked.
          "Lame." Tamara said.
         "Well, it's just that in horror movies, whenever people split up they get hurt...you know?"
          "Actually, that might be a good idea." Dipper suggested. "We could cover more ground."
          "W-what?" Thompson stuttered. Meanwhile out of the corner of my eye I noticed Nate sneaking up behind him.
          "BOO!" Nate screamed, grabbing Thompson from behind. Poor Thompson screamed, jumping into the air and falling back down on his stomach. They began laughing as Thompson grimaced and stood.
         "That's not funny!" Thompson protested. Wendy snickered.
         "Dude, that was hilarious!" said Wendy. I was surprised that Dipper and Mabel were laughing as well. After they all settled down, we split into groups. Dipper not-so-subtly suggested I go with him. I agreed, walking over to him and keeping my eyes lowered, and shut. I began messing with my shoes, pretending to tie them. Wendy went with Robbie, Nate paired with Tambry, Lee went with Thompson, leaving Mabel to tag along with whomever.
        "Mabel, Mabel, pair with me!" Wendy said.
        "Ugh, seriously?" Robbie complained. "You wanna take a toddler with us?"
        "Oh, come on Robbie Mabel's cool!" Wendy argued.
        "That's alright Wendy, I'll go with Dipper." Mabel said, coming over to us. 
Once we all decided where we'd go, we set off. By now it was defiantly dark outside. Since the other people had left, I let my eyes fully open.
        "Woah!" Dipper gasped. "Lilac...what happened to you?"
        "Oh, this..." I said, pointing to my eyes. "It's um...it's like...uh...well...they glow. Actually they never stop glowing, but it's just more noticeable at night."
        "But I've never seen them glow before." Mabel said, peering at me. "What about when we were in the tunnel? They didn't glow then."
        "No, they did." I said. "I just kept my eyes shut." I looked at the ground, the blue glow from my eyes following my path of vision.
        "I wish I had known that before." Dipper said. "You could've led the way."
        "Well, most people find it creepy." I countered. "And you didn't know about me before. I can let things show now. I trust you guys."
        "And we trust you!" Mabel said, hugging me. She turned off her flashlight. "See, look Dipper we can just let Lilac lead. Her eyes are better than any flashlight. We can save the batteries."
        "That's true..." Dipper said. "Lilac, will you lead?"
        "Sure." I said. We began walking through the graveyard.
        "So, Dipper, Lilac can see ghosts." Mabel suddenly said.
        "WHAT?" Dipper almost jumped. "Why haven't I heard this?"
        "Because it wasn't relevant until now." I said. "Yes, it's true, I can see them."
        "But how is that possible?" Dipper asked.
        "Oh, I can answer that one!" Mabel said. "Everything that's alive gives off energy that she can see."
        "But aren't ghosts dead?"
        "Not really." I said. "They are in a suspended state of being. So they're close but not quite."
        "Huh." Dipper said. "Well...this is weird. Um, I guess if you see one let me know?"
        "Of course." I said. "That's why we're here." He laughed.
        "Yeah, right." Dipper opened up his journal. "Okay so...what level of ghost are we looking for? Maybe a four...or a three..."
We continued walking. Eventually I did see something odd though. That weird triangle thing. I hadn't noticed it before because I was trying to hide my eye-shine, but now that I was looking it was quite close.
        "Hey...Dipper?" I asked him.
        "Hmm? Do  you see a ghost?"
        "Well, actually I was hoping you could help me on that."
        "What do you mean?"
        "Do ghosts come in...triangles?"
        "Triangles?" Dipper echoed.
        "Yeah, like, could a ghost be shaped like a triangle."
        "Well...I guess it would depend on what it was when it was alive." He mussed. "But, I guess no. Is it like, a perfect triangle? Even on all sides?"
        "Isosceles." I said.
        "Then probably not." Dipper said. "Why do you ask?"
        "Well...it probably isn't important." I said, looking away from the triangle. It seemed to be dancing. Why did it keep turning up? Was it following me or was it a coincidence? I turned around only to see another floating aura. Only this time I could see what was making it.
        "Guys..." I said, pointing. "I found your ghost."
        "Where?" Dipper and Mabel turned, but I guess they didn't see it. The ghost was very thin, almost skeletal, with short white hair and broken glasses on it's eyes. The skin was a strange blue-ish green, and it hovered with malice.
        "There isn't any ghost Lilac." Dipper said, frowning.
        "Yes there is!" I argued. I walked up to it. "Ahoy there. I'm Lilac Wh-"
        "Shhhhhhhhhhhh!" the ghost whispered. "Silence."
        "Actually, I was hoping to speak with you." I suggested to the ghost. From Dipper and Mabel's lack of sound I guessed that it had appeared to them.
        "G-Ghost..." Dipper stuttered. "Lilac! Find out what it wants!"
        "Well duh." I said, turning to him and giving him a look over my shoulder. I looked back at the ghost. "Can I help you with something?"
        "Empty..." it croaked. "Empty..."
        "Empty out what?"
        "Insides...my insides are empty!"
        "Oh, you're hungry!" I said, elated it had been so willing to tell me what was wrong. The ghost feebly nodded, then began howling. It convulsed in a gross and twisted manner, screeching from hunger pains. Dipper and Mabel tensed up behind me, I could feel it.
        "Ghosts can't eat!" Dipper screamed over it's howling. "How do we fix this?"
        "Of course they eat, Dipper!" Mabel said, also in a scream. "We just don't know what!"
        "Bones, probably." I said in a normal volume.
        "What?" Dipper yelled.
        "I said BONES!" I screeched. Instantly the ghost stopped it's horrible howling.
        "Empty." It whispered. I nodded.
        "Don't worry, we'll get you some food." I comforted it. It moaned again, but with less vigor than before. I motioned for Dipper to help me with this process.
        "Ok," He said, "It'll take too long to dig up a grave, so we'll have to break into one of those above-ground graves." Dipper instructed.
        "I brought a flashlight and a hair-pin!" Mabel offered.
        "I'm really strong." I offered. Dipper nodded.
        "Great, then you two go and get a bone or whatever. I'll keep it distracted." Dipper said. We all nodded. Mabel and I rushed off to the first above-ground grave we could find.
        "I hope he didn't turn into dust yet." I grimaced as I heaved off the top. Mabel stared. "What?" I asked. "I said I was strong."
        "Yeah, but I didn't think THAT strong." Mabel said. She jumped into the grave. "There's lots of bones in here! Oh, by the way, why would a ghost want to eat bones?"
        "Because that's what it was last physically tied to in life." I guessed. "I don't know, it just popped into my mind." Mabel stood holding a thick tibia.
        "Got one!" she said. she climbed out and I helped to dust her off. We ran back to where we last saw Dipper to find that everybody else had come to the ghost as well. I shut my eyes. I didn't trust the teenagers like I trusted Dipper and Mabel.
        "Eat it! Eat it! Eat it!" They chanted as we approached. Mabel handed the ghost the bone and the ghost grabbed it, then began sucking on it like a dog. It tried to crunch the bone between it's rotten, glowing teeth. Eventually it sunk into the ground and disappeared.
        "Well, that was weird." Robbie said. "I was hoping it would devour that bone whole."
        "And why would it want a bone?" Wendy asked. "I mean, of all the things to eat..."
        "Lame." Tambry said.
        "Can we go home now?" Thompson suggested. After a few more moments of chatter we left the graveyard. It had been fun, I guess. Ghosts weren't really that fun to hang around with anyways. I climbed into my tree after Dipper dropped me off and I rested, looking at the stars.