It's Where My Demons Hide

Chapter 24

Dipper

"Be a good boy and try not to escape again, kid!" threatened a guard, thrusting Dipper into a cell. "I don't know how you did it, but if you escape one more time, I promise that you would never see the daylight ever again!"

Dipper hit the cold solid ground and whimpered in pain. Grimacing, he clasped his head which just started throbbing again.

The guard glared at him, his eyes not leaving the boy. After making sure the door was locked, he left.

Dipper groaned as he tried to stand up. Every muscles in his body ached, causing him to fall down on the ground again. Damn.

After few failed attempts, he finally stood up. He then observed his surroundings. There was two bunk beds on the left side and on the right, each the color of dull grey. The beds were all unmade, with papers thrown on top of it. Empty soda cans were lined up on a desk, seeming to form a pyramid that had been knocked down and left scattered. Two weeks of clothes sprawled out on the floor, socks hanging on the chair, with a single lonely shoe kicked off on the floor.

The place was a mess.

I have to sleep in here? Gross. I have to get out of here. It was really disgusting.

But then again, wasn't he a mess too? He found a mirror on the wall and looked at his reflection. His hair was messy as usual, it's ends sticking in all direction. He had dark circles under his yellow eyes with black silts instead of pupils. His face was pale as a ghost and his clothes... Well, it has been days, weeks even, since he wore the same clothes. Navy blue vest, orangish red shirt, and a grey pants. There were some dirts on them, and some ends were even tattered. He looked like he had been in an earthquake.

Dipper raised his left arm and examined it. He never bothered to see it, really. So much events had occurred and he was too busy focusing on other things. Now that he had time, he could finally figure out what Bill had done to him that night, and why.

A Cipher Wheel was seemingly drawn (or burnt, though he wanted to believe that it wasn't permanent) on his left arm, with words in codes surrounding it. The words seemed to be repeating itself over and over. He wrecked his head for memories and decoded it. When he finished decoding it, he was shocked.

Trust no one.

These words were written all over his arm. His right had these words in codes too, and other things as well, like spells and incantations.

These probably had given him some demonic powers. Yes, that might be it. But he needed more proof to support his theory.

Lost in the train of thought, Dipper stared at his reflection.

Man, I really should get some sleep, he thought. Ever since the portal incident, he had been staying awake all night reading the journals, memorizing every single details of it. Because he was afraid that he might lose it someday and he would be nothing. Nothing. He was nothing without that journal. So memorizing all the knowledge might help him someday.

Dipper turned around and felt himself suddenly bumping into someone. He fell down on the floor, wincing in pain as his throbbing head hit the ground.

"Watch where you --- wait, Dipper?" the man's voice changed from threatnening to mixture of surprise and concern. Dipper, confused, looked up to see who it was, ignoring the pain.

The man was bulky and had a bald head. He had unicorn tattoos on his arms. Next to the bulky man, was a skinny man in his 30s, with scarlet red mohawk hair.

Dipper couldn't believe it. It was Finnick and Mike, his two cellmates!

With a yell of joy, he ran into them and gave them a big hug. It might seemed a very unmanly thing to do, but he couldn't hide the joy of seeing them. The men hesitated at first, not sure what to do, for they hadn't been hugged by anyone for a long time. But they soon gave in and hugged the twelve year old back, grinning very broadly.

"Where've you been? We were so worried about you! You were called by the agents, then there was this big alarm, then some criminals had escaped. We both thought something really bad happened to you!" shouted Finnick, through hiccups and tears.

Dipper nodded. He was surprised at seeing a big bullky man crying of worry because of him. "Sorry," he apologised awkwardly.

"Glad to see you back, Dip," said Mike, patting him in the back. "But seriously, where had you been? Don't tell me the rumors were true!"

"What rumors?"

The men glanced at each other uneasily, they seemed to have a silent conversation whether to tell him or not. After few minutes, Finnick sighed and explained, "Some guys had overheard guards talking about you escaping the jail, that you had somehow made a huge hole in the wall and terrified the agents inside! I know, pretty crazy, right?" He kept on rambling how wrong they were and how their rumors were ridiculous.

"They're right," interrupted Dipper quietly.

"What?"

"The rumors are true."

"B-but how?"

"It's complicated," he said, fiddling his fingers and looking down. "I may or may not had been forced by an insane demon to make a deal, which I didn't, and it resulted in me getting these weird tattoos that might have given me some of his demonic powers."

The men were astounded. Their new friend, a boy who possesed demonic abilities? They had never believed in the supernatural, but this? This was just so ... weird? They had known that Gravity Falls was a strange place, where there were often reported sightings of abnormal creatures. Everyone thought there were just baloneys, but the truth was right in front of their eyes! The boy's tattoos were given by an insane demon! A demon!

"I'm going to bed," stated Dipper. What he said, was clearly announcing that this topic was over.They opened their mouths to ask him more, but decided not to. They didn't want to push him far. Dipper climbed up to the top bunk carefully. While he was doing that, he could hear them whisperinig with each other.

Let him rest, Fin.

But ---

We'll ask him tomorrow.

He sighed and pulled the blanket over him. Either he had developed a new ability of enhanced hearing, or that they were whispering rather loudly. But that didn't matter now. What mattered was that he had to answer their questions tomorrow. Couldn't his day get any better?

I shouldn't have told them, he thought. They would think I'm out of my mind!  But he was, wasn't he? Shaking his head from the thoughts, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.