The Stiff Sibling - A Gravity Falls Fan Fiction

Chapter Two- Dipper's Distraction Problem

Mabel wakes up and checks the time.
5 o'clock in the morning.
She rolls over and opens one eye at Dipper who is still studying his journal.
"Dipper, go back to bed!" Mabel mumbles, then throws a stuffed animal at him. "Did you not sleep at all?"
"Wait, I've almost got this figured out..." Dipper chews on his pencil, not glancing up.
"That's what you said right before I went to bed," Mabel reminds him. "And that was at 11 o'clock!"
"Well, I just...I have to keep going if I'm gonna figure this out."
He traces his finger over different sentences in the journal.
Mabel grumbles and rolls back over.
When she realizes she can't go back to sleep, she jumps out of her bed and sits beside Dipper.
"Whacha figuring out?" she chirps.
Dipper doesn't glance at her in fear of losing focus.
"I'm thinking maybe it's a combination of many different beings...somehow. I mean, that seems like the only logical explanation!"
"I don't see why thinking he's a vampire is any less logical, then," Mabel crosses her arms.
"Well, because he didn't have fangs, he had claws...but yes, you're right. If...if I'm gonna think he's a combination of several beings, I may as well let you think it's a vampire..."
Dipper finally breaks his focus to shut the journal and rub his temples.
"He had claws?" Mabel mutters.
"Yes, he had claws." Dipper replies, letting himself fall back onto his pillow.
"Did you see them?" Mabel asks.
"What do you mean, of course I—!" Dipper starts, but then stops.
He sits up.
"I...actually, I can't recall seeing them," he continues, rubbing his eyes.
"Dipper..." Mabel says.
She points to the floor beneath Dipper's bed.
Dipper has to squint his eyes to focus on where she is pointing.
There is a small puddle of blood below him and a spotty, dried-up trail of it running underneath the bedroom door.
Their eyes widen.
Dipper finally notices a strange sensation in his leg, and he winces.
The pain brings back a hazy memory from earlier; after Dipper kicked the creature, he felt it briefly grab his leg as he scrambled up off the ground.
He throws the covers off of him in one quick motion and holds up his leg.
They both gasp when they see the gash.
Four deep claw-marks.
"Oookay," Dipper starts, grabbing Mabel by her sleeve to keep himself steady. "How...did I not notice that before...?"
"Well, when you get studying you kinda enter another world...but this is a little crazy!" Mabel explains, starting to panic. "I...should've noticed it!"
"No, no...you would've had to look down in order to...to see it. Well, it...sounds pretty easy to spot putting it that way...I guess I was...guess I just got...really distracted..." Dipper loosens his grip on her sleeve as he tries to stay awake. "But it's not your fault, it's mine...we just have to get it fixed up and...and...don't show Stan..."
His eyes roll into the back of his head and he goes completely limp, all the color leaving his face.
Mabel shrieks and catches him before he falls to the ground.
"No...no no no, what do I do!? You always make these decisions! Do I show Stan?"
She glances at Dipper, then at the door, then at Dipper again.
"Sorry Dip..." she sighs. "Your safety is way more important than keeping secrets right now!"
She holds him tightly as she runs out the door.

     Dipper blinks his eyes as blurry dots of black and white eventually form into what looks like the ceiling of a brightly lit room.
"Am I...dead...?"
Then, he sees Mabel's hand waving back and forth in front of his face.
"Dipper!" she whisper-shouts.
Dipper can only mumble in reply as he turns himself over to focus on Mabel's face.
"Wha...what happened?" Dipper chokes out.
"You...completely blacked out! And the doctors almost thought you would need more blood, but your body started catching up with ya after they stitched the wound together I guess. Thank Aoshima!" she beams with a smile.
"Wait...I'm at...a hospital...?" Dipper struggles to think through it all. "Hey, did you...did you tell—?"
"What the heck happened!?" Stan breaks through the door and into the room, alarming a passing nurse.
"Sir...you didn't need to break the door. It was unlocked."
"...Sorry. But seriously! You good enough to talk to me, kid?"
Dipper looks at Mabel and then back at Stan, uncertain.
Crap...I'm way too out-of-it to think of excuses right now... Dipper thinks.
"Um...I," Dipper's voice cracks. "I...was attacked...by a Zombie-Vampire creature in the forest."
Stan instantly rolls his eyes.
"You're delusional, kid. When you wake up more you better have an actual explanation!" Stan sighs. "And...get better fast, ya hear!?"
He leaves the room, unsuccessfully trying to place the hospital door back on its hinges on the way out.
"...Mabel, I thought I told you not to—!"
"I had to!" Mabel throws her arms up, exasperated. "Did you expect me to try and stitch your wound up myself!? Even though I probably could because I'm a mean stitcher?"
"Yeah...yeah, you're right..." Dipper closes his eyes. "You did the right thing. I'm just..."
A nurse comes into the room.
"Alright! You can go home now, but you must rest for at least a week. Call us if your condition worsens."
She pulls out some crutches.
"These are so you don't put weight on your bad leg. Don't worry, it will heal eventually. And we've already alerted the local pest-control agency about a wild animal that may be on the loose."
Dipper grunts as he slides himself to the edge of the bed, and Mabel and the nurse help him onto his crutches.

     Dipper is already in his bed reading the journal again.
"No matter which way I look at it, I can't come up with an answer. I never thought there would be a creature the journal hasn't covered. There's just simply no information. Especially considering how thorough the journal usually is..."
"Besides the gnomes!"
"...Yeah, besides the gnomes. If I could just...find that guy again—"
"And get clawed up again? Remember! You gotta rest for at least a week!" Mabel sternly reminds him. "But don't worry...Waddles and I will break out the karaoke machine! Prepare to be entertained by M-Fresh and Waddles the Wiz, yo!"
Mabel picks up Waddles who is already wearing sunglasses and a gold chain.
"Oooooh, um, I...think I'm good," Dipper says, shoving his nose back into his book.
"You ain't good till you have witnessed M-Fresh and—!"
"Hey! Uh, I think I hear a boy band on tv downstairs or something." Dipper interrupts.
Mabel strains her ears, but hears nothing.
"Whoa...maybe what Stan said about you being delusional was right! Y'know what'll fix that up right away? Some of Mabel's famous Mabel-juice-rainbow-sprinkle cupcakes! Be right back!" Mabel runs out, slamming the door behind her.
Waddles jumps on Dipper's lap, walks in a circle, and lays down to sleep.
"Jeez. You really are a strange little pig," Dipper grins, petting him.

A few days later, Dipper sneaks—well, tries to sneak, as much as a guy with a limp and crutches can—out of their room, down the stairs, and toward the front door without anyone stopping him.
"That creature is still on the loose with the townsfolk probably unaware of how serious this is. I gotta find him," Dipper whispers to himself, almost to the front door. "Alright, alright...almost—!"
Mabel steps out in front of him.
Dipper screams and flails his crutches into the air, falling down with a thud.
"Ouch...Mabel! I, uh, I'm just...I needed, er, wanted to take a walk."
Despite his stuttering, Dipper nods confidently; but Mabel sees right through it.
"Uh-huh," Mabel starts. "Dipper, you are not going out yet!"
"I'm fine!" he insists.
"You are not fine, you have another three or four days to wait! Dr. Mabel will not let you proceed!"
Mabel lifts her finger and waves it slowly back and forth at him.
He grabs her finger and pushes it away.
"Mabel...I need to take this walk."
Finally, Mabel sighs in defeat.
"Alright...but I'm coming with you, and bringing my grappling hook!" Mabel shouts, lifting her hook into the air.
"Okay...I guess you can come," Dipper grins. "Now...please help me up."
Mabel hoists him up and arms him with his crutches yet again.
They laugh as they high-five.
Mabel hops out into the unknown, and Dipper limps.

(Note: Thank you so much for reading, it's getting more intense every chapter!! :))