Black and White and Streaks of Color

Chapter Five: Mabel's P.O.V. Paranormal

The Mystery Shack door closes shut. I lean against it with a huff.
"Mabel!" Dipper exclaims with a big grin on his face.
"Wow, you seem happy," I say.
"I found this crazy journal," he informs."It has all the secrets and mysteries in this town! This summer could actually be fun!"
"Awesome!" He shows me a few pages. Unicorns, vampire bats, gnomes... this seems like his kind of thing.
"Do you want to go on a monster hunt?" Dipper wonders, his eyes wide and hopeful.
Although I'm tired and thinking of Pacifica, seeing his passion, I agree to tag along."Grunkle Stan!" we call."We're going out!"
Grunkle Stan accepts and and we head out.
"These gnomes look awesome," Dipper states."You see, according to this journal there's thousands of these tiny guys deep in the forest, and if you get them angry you can..."
I stare of into space, not that I don't want to listen to my twin babble on about gnomes, but I can't stop thinking about Pacifica. I hope she's okay. I hope her parents didn't actually slap her, but what if they did? Is that s normal thing for her?
"...the journals says it's pretty terrifying, but I think it would be cool! It doesn't say there's a weakness, though. Oh, and it says that there's zombies too! There's an incantation to summon them from underground!"
I zone back into the real world."Oh, cool!" I act like I was interested in the whole thing. We're deep into the woods now - I don't know where we are.
And due to my clumsiness that gets in the way of everything, I trip over a tree root and roll down a hill, taking Dipper with me.
"Whoa-oa-oa-oa-oa-whoa!"
Thud.
"Ow!" a boy's voice grunts. It's not Dipper.
Dipper jumps up to find a tiny little man with a brown beard and red cone hat under him.
"Watch it!" the small man says.
Dipper's eyes widen and he opens the journal. He gasps."You're a - a gnome!"
The gnome furrows his brows."Yeah I am. And you humans shouldn't be here! This is gnome territory!"
"Whoa, whoa, sorry dude. Chill." Dipper laughs."Do you see his little legs?" he says to me.
"Us gnomes are not to be reckoned with! We're a powerful force!" the gnome announces.
I laugh with Dip. It's nice to have him happy, so why not embrace it?
The gnome scowls."Gnomes of the forest, assemble!"
Dipper snorts."You guys aren't exactly the Avengers."
Hundreds more gnomes pop out of bushes and trees - they're everywhere. They gather together. It's almost like they're forming a bigger gnome.
My eyes gaze upward.
Or a huge monster.
"Dipper..."
"Run!"
Dipper and I take off.
"How the hell did they do that?!" Dipper shouts while running.
"I don't know, but it's gaining on us!" I answer panting.
"Of course it is! It's small step is our ten wide steps!"
"Run faster!"
"It's no use! We're going to be crushed!"
"Don't think like that! Think positive!"
My brother stops. He grabs my hand and pulls me back."Not... everything... is going to turn out... okay, Mabel. Not everyone can think positive. Not everyone can be happy..."
I notice the gnome monster coming up a small hill. I grit my teeth, flashing my silver braces."Dipper, now's not the time..."
"No, Mabel."
"Come on!" I tug on his arm, but he doesn't budge."Dipper!" Tears fill my eyes. I'm so confused, but I know we have to get out of here.
He only looks at me.
The monster is only yards away.
But suddenly, the world flashes black and white and back to color. The monster stumbles and breaks apart.
"Wh-what?" Dipper gasps.
I stand wide eyed, my jaw dropping.
Dipper surprises me and wraps me in a hug. I hug him back.
Don't tell him this, but I hate the paranormal.