Ethereal

30

"Excuse me, ma'am, I'm Officer--"

"We want nothing to do with you police. My children are still in a traumatic state of mind and deserve to be left at peace, at least until the funeral--"

"Mom." Danny pushed open a flap of the tent next to his mother, studying the officer that stood outside. His hair was greasy and matted, in desperate need of a wash, and he hadn't changed out of this pair of clothes in two days. "I can answer his questions. It's no big deal."

"Are you sure, honey? This man needs to respect your and Jazz's privacy during this time."

"No, really. Jazz is still asleep; I'll just talk to him." Then, to the Officer, "We can chat in the RV."

Nodding, the Officer stepped out of the way and allowed Danny to lead the way to the door of the RV, sliding it open and ducking as he headed into the back. He took a seat on one of the metal benches and watched, bemused, as the befuddled officer took a few glances around the vehicle before taking a seat across from him.

Danny sighed and ran his hands through the dirty locks of his hair. "Sorry about how I look. I haven't really thought about hygiene lately."

"That's to be expected." The officer kept changing his positions, looking more uncomfortable than ever. "I would just like to know how you and your sister came across the body."

Danny cleared his throat. "Okay. So, we're just visiting Gravity Falls, right? My sister and I live in the city and I guess we haven't really had that many opportunities to explore the woods. We were curious. Jazz wanted to take pictures for her scrapbook and I wanted to just walk around and enjoy the sights. You know, hiking."

The officer nodded and looked up expectantly. Danny noticed the microphone attached to his shirt.

"So it started to smell really bad and Jazz and I were kinda grossed out but I wanted to see what was going on. Jazz was complaining about how we should just turn back and I pushed through these bushes to a meadow. The meadow that Pacifica was in."

"Did you see the bear?" The officer queried, leaning forward. His eyebrows were squished together in polite consideration.

"No, just the prints. I mean, they looked like bear prints. It was large. What else could do that kind of damage to--to Pacifica's--"

"I understand." The officer brushed off his suit. "Is there anything else that you might've considered noteworthy throughout that experience?"

"Not really. I mean, there were the burn marks on the trees and stuff. Those are kinda hard to explain. The place looked like it just saw war."

"We're looking into that. There were some reports from citizens of smoke, so it's quite possible that a forest fire sprung up and scared the bears. The summer has been decently dry."

"Yeah." Danny leaned back against the cool metal of the vehicle, closing his eyes. "Not really what I expected to find during a vacation to Oregon, you know? My mom says that we just need closure and it'll be fine, like that funeral that's coming up for her, but I just can't find out why Pacifica would run into the forest not long after she was found."

The officer looked like he was about to offer an explanation to why Pacifica had gone into the forest, but he closed his mouth and muttered a simple, "No further questions. The department is terribly sorry for any trauma this event might have caused."

Danny didn't tell the officer about how he and Jazz weren't the only ones that saw the body for fear that the department would come after the Pines or Wendy. He didn't say that the giant prints weren't bears; they were the markings of a large ghost dog named Cujo. He didn't tell the officer about how he picked up Bill's body and buried him deep in the forest, where the sun could barely break through the canopy, or how he buried a severed head with the carcass of that dangerous monster.