One Year Later

II

Dipper
"Mabel! My arm!" I yelled as she dragged me through the woods behind the Shack.

"Almost there, bro-bro!" She shouted back at me. She came back from a nature hike all excited, and is now practically dragging me through the woods to show me something. And at this point my arm was really starting to hurt.

"Do you even know where you're going?!" I asked as she practically threw me around a corner. I stumbled, but was able to get my footing. Though she soon stopped dead and I almost ran her over.

"Here." She said quietly. "It's right here."

"Mabel, this better be-" I trailed off, as I saw what she was pointing at. It were worn by nature, with branches wrapped around it. But other than that, it looked the same. Just like it had a year ago.

Journal 1.

"Words ... not working ... they are." I gasped.

"I saw it during the hike." Mabel explained, as I pulled off the branches that surrounded it. "I just, couldn't believe it." I ripped at a hurried rate, seeing the golden 6-fingered hand on its cover and the neat 1 written in its center.

"I thought Bill burned them." I wondered aloud as I pulled them into my arms. "I thought I was never going to see them again."

"Maybe they were brought back when Weirdmageddon was reversed." Mabel suggested, and I nodded in agreement.

"Wait, where are Journals 2 and 3?"

"I don't know." Mabel confessed. "I only saw this one."

"Haha! I can't believe it! We ... We have to show Great Uncle Ford." I started to head back in the direction of the Shack when Mabel grabbed my shoulder.

"That's not the only thing I have to show you." Her voice has become grim as she lead me to another part of the woods. She was slower than before, not even grabbing my hand. After about 5 minutes, she stopped and pointed. Partially in the ground was a statue with an arm extended out. He looked exactly the same as last summer, the resemblance uncanny. I didn't know how to react, so I just stated the obvious.

"Bill."

Wirt
"And then we can head to that diner we saw from the bus. And then we could go to the trails. And then ..." My brother rambled on, while I tuned him out. The bus had dropped us off a few minutes out of the way from where we were staying with Greg's uncle, his real uncle, out in a cabin a little into the woods. It was coming into sight now. Nothing too spectacular.

"That's great, Greg." I muttered as we approached the small cabin. I knocked on the door politely, and waited until a girl answered. She looked to be 17, with long flaming red hair. She had a green plaid shirt on with denim jeans. An axe hung from the belt, which I hesitantly backed away from.

"Wendy!" Greg squealed, dropping his frog and running to give her a hug. Jason Funderberker hopped closer to me. I took a step away. Hey, it was Greg's frog, not mine.

"Hey, Greg." She responded as my half brother hugged her legs. "You must be Wirt. I've heard a lot about you." The girl, Wendy, extended her hand out to me. I took it.

"Thanks, I guess. So, where are your parents?" I asked. "You know, just not entirely comfortable with being alone after ..." I trailed off mid-sentence.

"My dad's on a camping trip with my brothers on the other side of the country. Somewhere in Maine, I think. My mom ..." This time it was here time to trail off mid sentence.

"Sorry. Did I ..?"

"No, no it's fine." Wendy interrupted. "Why don't you come in?"

"Yeah!" Greg yelled. "C'mon Jason Funderberker." He grabbed his frog, and we followed Wendy into the cabin. It wasn't very big, and was basically what you would imagine a cabin to be like.