Dipper was always bored at night. That's the thing about being dead, you don't exactly have a lot of options of entertainment, especially at night. He spent the evening roaming around the Mystery Shack and checking out the gift shop. Nothing really interested him, so he returned to the attic to wait for his sister to wake up. Dipper was almost always relieved to finally see Mabel climb out of bed every morning.
"Did you sleep okay?" he asked as Mabel walked across the room and combed down her messy bed-hair in front of the mirror. She nodded and groggily said "how bout' you?"
Dipper shrugged. "I stopped trying."
At first Dipper hadn't thought about needing to sleep. He never felt tired anymore. But then again everything kind of looked and felt like a hazy dream. Mabel opened a drawer and pulled out two sweaters , holding them side by side for Dipper to see. Dipper speculated for a moment before pointing to the one on the left that had a design of a turtle knitted on the front.
Mabel smiled "Thanks, bro!" She pulled on the sweater as she walked down the stairs
"And please don't talk to me during breakfast," Dipper said anxiously as he followed her to the kitchen. "Mom and dad already think you need therapy."
"Good morning, kiddo." Grunkle Stan said, interrupting Mabel from her conversation.
He handed her a plate that had been stacked pancakes. "Help yourself to some Stancakes." He chuckled and nudged her. "Ha, see what I did there?"
Mabel laughed and looked down at her plate. "Wow these look amazing!" She picked up a fork and began shoveling the food into her mouth. Dipper stared at her in horror of her table manners.
"You've got a little syrup on your face," Dipper pointed out. Mabel was too busy enjoying the food to care. Dipper sighed and looked outside to see a line of people waiting in the lawn. He turned back to Mabel and said "Mabel, ask Stan why there's people lined up outside."
"Grunkle Stan, what's with the line outside?"
Stan was in the middle of drinking his coffee when he glanced out the window. His eyes widened and he suddenly gained a burst of energy. "Holy mackerel! I'm late!"
He ran into another room and came back pulling on a pair of pants and buttoning his shirt.
"For what?" Mabel asked, putting down her fork and reaching for her orange juice.
"The gift shop! And I'm running a tour in five minutes!" Stan hurried outside and slammed
the door behind him.
"Oh yeah, he's talking about his business. This place is apparently some sort of tourist trap," Dipper explained to Mabel.
"What's a tourist trap?" Mabel asked.
Dipper sighed. "Didn't you hear anything mom and dad told you before you left?"
"Nope," Mabel said. "All I heard was 'summer with your great uncle Stan in Gravity Falls' blah blah blah..."
Dipper rolled his eyes at his sister's obliviousness. "I read a brochure on the bus. This place is like a musueum of fake attractions used to lure in tourists."
"Isn't that like lying?" Mabel asked suspiciously.
"I'm not gonna sugar coat it, but yea. It is."
• • •
"Are you sure it's all fake? Check out this Jack-o-Rabbit!" Mabel exclaimed, gesturing to one of the many objects she had been assigned to dust.
"Don't'cha mean Jack-elope?"
"Pffft, yeah yeah smarty pants," Mabel mumbled.
"Heads up. Customer at three o'clock," Dipper warned.
Mabel turned to face the boy standing in front of her, her eyes widened and her grin increased as she greeted him. "Hi! I'm Mabel!"
"Ugh. Please please please don't flirt with the guy..." Dipper mumbled as he watched his sister try and fail at flirting.
Mabel's smile subsided as she was turned down. That didn't seem to phase her though, Mabel continued to flirt with every boy whom she came across for the rest of the morning.
Dipper eventually couldn't take anymore of it and left to explore. Once again, he didn't find anything interesting enough to occupy his time, so he found his way back to the gift shop to find Mabel picking up a pile of post-cards a little kid had knocked over.
"Any luck with any of those guys earlier?" Dipper asked as Mabel finished up rearranging the post-card stand. Mabel shook her head in dissapointment. "Nope. But I bet that I'll have met my soul mate by the end of the summer!"
Dipper wanted to interject her response with a good dose of his own logic, but Stan had entered the room with an announcement.
"I need someone to hang up these signs in the spooky part of the forest." Stan pointed at Mabel "And it looks like you're the only one up for the job, kid."
"Don't you have any other employees?" she asked.
"Wendy's at home, apparently sick for the second week in a row, and Soos needed to help his grandmother with some errands."
Mabel sighed and took the signs under her arm and walking out of the gift shop. Dipper floated beside her looking anxious.
"The woods? Are you sure about this Mabel?"
Mabel stopped walking just outside the woods and looked at her brother with a sly smile.
"You're not scared, are you?" she asked.
Dipper gulped. "You know what? Yeah. I am." he said, lifting his chin and turning to his sister. "I get a weird feeling about those woods. I've heard plenty of sketchy rumors to know that going in there isn't safe."
"It'll be fine, Dip dop," Mabel said. "Come on." She continued walking.
Dipper lingered for a moment before following behind her.
YOU ARE READING
Dead or Alive
Fanfiction(An original AU by yours truly) To help her cope with her brother's recent death, Mabel has been sent to Gravity Falls to stay with her Great Uncle. What nobody knows is that Dipper isn't exactly gone. Mabel can still see him, but no one else can. ...
