Seperated (Discontinued)

Chapter 12

~Dipper~

As we walked through the forest, Mabel's hand went, almost instictivly, to the back of my vest. She clung onto me like a lifeline. It was weird, but I didn't even mind.

The sun was beginning to set when we finally made it out of the woods. I was hungry and my throat was parched.

"Oh!" Mabel said. "I know where we are! The Mystery Shack is right this way!" She started to pull me forwards by the arm. There was a road and a sign a little ways up to the left that said 'Mystery Shack- 0.5 mile' on it.

Mabel smiled back at me. "See, no biggie!"

"No biggie?" I asked. "Tell that to Stan."

"Oh, he won't mind," Mabel said. "He probably just assumed I was hanging out with my friends, Candy and Grenda."

"You sure know a lot of people, don't you," I said. Mabel dropped my arm since we had made it to the road. She shrugged. "It's a small town."

I nodded. It was small. It was weird since I was so used to New York, people yelling, the smells, car horns, yeah. But for some odd reason, I felt more at home in this tiny town then in the big city.

We were nearing the Mystery Shack now, and what I saw made me stop in my tracks.

"What's wrong?" Mabel asked.

I pointed to the all too familiar car in the middle of the drive way.

Stanford was here.

I never knew how scared of him I was until I got a few days away from him. I was surprised that he had even been sober enough to make the long drive here. I started to turn away, to run away from my problems, but Mabel stopped me. "You okay?" She asked. "Who's car is that?"

"Stanford's," I said in a shaky voice.

Mabel instantly understood. "Oh," she said quietly.

The door to the Mystery Shack bursted open and Stanford stormed out. He spotted me. "Come on, kid," he said. "We're leaving."

I didn't move. He already had his hand on the door handle. "I mean now, kid!"

I winced buy didn't make a move to get in the car.

Ford let out a sigh of annoyance. "I already have to punish you for running away, I don't want to have to for disobedience."

I swollowed and shook my head. "I-I..." I couldn't form the words.

Stanford sighed again. He marched over to me and grabbed me by the arm. I winced as he jerked me towards the car. His iron grip hurt my arm. "...Please...let me..." The words wouldn't come out. He opened my door, shoved me in, and slammed it behind me. I swollowed, not sure what to do.

Mabel ran up to Ford. She was trying to reason with him about something. I took this as a chance to get away. I opened my door and ran inside. "Grunkle Stan!" I said. "P-please don't let him take me away! I-I like it here!"

Stan sighed. "I tried to reason with him. He just won't listen."

"Dipper!" An angry voice yelled. "Get back here right now!"

I winced, even though he was so far away.

"I made him promise not to drink," Stan said. "If he does, just call me."

"But-"

"And you can come and visit any time Ford lets you."

"I-I don't want to go back to New York," I said weakly. "I want to stay with you and Mabel."

The door to the house opened and a very angry looking Stanford barged into the house. "Get back in the car kid! We're going home."

He grabbed my arm and started to pull me again. I dug my heels into the ground. "No." I said.

Stanford froze. "No?" He asked. "What do you mean, no?"

"I-I mean...no."

Ford gritted his teeth. "I'm you're guardian," he said. "You're suppose to listen to me. Not the other way around."

"B-but I want to stay here," I insisted.

"Here?" Ford asked. "Why would you want to stay here?"

"Because Grunkle Stan never hurt me!"

There was dead silence. Ford had an odd expression on his face. "When have I ever..." A look of understanding dawned on his face, then a number of different ones. Regret, fear, hate. He wouldn't look me in the eye. "Dipper...I-I didn't..." His hand around my arm went slack. I backed up and ran into Stan, who put a hand on my shoulder. He gave it a small squeeze and a small smile.

"Dipper..." Ford said. "I am so sorry. I didn't know what I was doing until it was too late. I just remember seeing the bruising....Why did you never tell me?"

I didn't answer. It didn't take a genuis to answer that one. My self esteem had lowered drastically over the years to the point where I could never look anyone in the eye and I let a twelve year old kid bully me.

"Dipper..." Ford said softly. "Will you ever forgive me?"

There was silence in the room. My heart was beating fast and tears threatened to fall from my eyes. "I-If you promise never to touch a bottle again," I said.

Ford smiled. "Oh believe me," he said. "That will be changed."

~Mabel~

I watched it all play out between Stanford and Dipper. Dipper looked so vurneruble and childish, but I'd never seen him stronger. Ford and Dipper shook hands and Ford turned to look at me. "So you're Mabel," he said.

I nodded.

"You wouldn't mind if I stayed for a while, would you?"

"Stayed?" I asked. "But what about your house in New York?"

"It was an apartment and I would much rathar forget what happened behind those walls. Besides, if Dipper wants to stay here, then that'll cause your uncle double the trouble." Ford turned to Dipper. "If that's alright with you."

Dipper nodded.

Ford smiled and ruffled Dipper's hair. "We'll create new memories here to drown out the old ones, okay Dipper? I'll be the guardian that you've always wanted."

Dipper swollowed and nodded. "Okay," he said. Then he smiled, a small one, but still a smile.