It's Where My Demons Hide

Chapter 25

Dipper

"You know the drill," called out a guard, holding his paper. "Fall in line."

Dipper had woken up by the sound of Jail Bell. Mike and Finnick were already up, and wore the orange jumpsuit. He knew, even if he didn't want to, that he should wear the orange jumpsuit. He had refused last time, but he knew he had to wear it eventually. He didn't want to "never see the daylight again," as the guard yesterday had said.

Dipper groaned as he climbed down to the ground and changed into the jumpsuit. The jumpsuit was baggy and large. He unzipped the jacket, showing his white shirt.

Mike gestured at Dipper, and he ran to them. The door opened automatically, though he had no idea how they did it, and they stepped outside. He was given a schedule from another guard. He read it while he walked over to fall in line.

8:00 ~ 8:30 AM - Breakfast

9:00 ~ 11:30 AM - Rehabilitative Art Program

12:00 ~ 12:30 PM - Lunch

12:30 ~ 1:30 PM - "Free Play" in yard

2:00 ~ 5:30 PM - Rehabilitative License Plate Making

6:00 ~ 7:00 PM - Evening meal

7:00 ~ 9:00 PM - Free time

9:00 PM - Lights out

Looking over at his watch, it was 7:55 am. Time for breakfast. As if on cue, his stomach grumbled. When was the last time he ate?

Reading the schedule again, Dipper tried to think of an escape plan. "Free Play" might be a good time to discuss about the plan with his cellmates. He could build weapons or ladders or keys in Rehabilitative License Plate Making. The free time would be good time to escape! Dipper grinned, proud of his intelligence, and read the schedule over and over. Best if you memorise them, Dipper muttered to himself. You never know when you need it.

"There might be chaos everywhere outside, but there'll be order in this prison," said the guard, interrupting his thoughts. He went to another door, while the criminals followed him. We must be in front of the cafeteria, he thought. The guard opened the door, took out his paper and pen, and began calling out names of criminals.

"Jonathan Killian," he called out. A man with an eyepatch over his left eye walked over to the guard. The guard looked up and down again, crossing out his name on the list, and motioned him towards to the door. The man then went in to the cafeteria.

It went on like this, until it was finally Dipper's turn.

"Dipper Pines," said the guard. Dipper walked over to him. The guard looked up and nodded, before looking down again, crossing out his name. "We'll be watching you." And with that, the guard left.

Dipper shrugged away his uneasiness. What the guard had said made him nervous and uncomfortable. It reminded him of Bill. Shuddering, he went in.

As he stepped inside, he was greeted by a pungent smell. It was sickening and he couldn't help but gag. The stink was overwhelming to him. He grimaced. It was very surprising how the other criminals looked like this was nothing, as if they didn't think this smell was foul. They were already eating food, not minding the smell a bit.

The cafeteria was very dirty and noisy. And smelly indeed. Criminals were talking loudly, bits of food spilled everywhere, and there was also some weird yellowish green slimy thing that had been sticked on the ceiling. Dipper didn't want to know what it was. Ignoring it, he  walked to an old lady who was dumping food on some criminals' trays.

The lady glared at him when she dumped some meatloaf on his tray. Dipper grimaced again at the smell, but thanked the lady anyway. He walked around and saw his friends motioning him over. Finnick and Mike had saved him a spot. Their table was at the corner of the room. Dipper grinned and sat next to him, placing the tray on the table.

"This place is like hell," Dipper whispered loudly. "It stinks so much!"

"You'll soon get used to it," said Mike, while Finnick was holding his laughter.

Dipper tried his meatloaf and spitted it out again. "The food here sucks!" He whispered, feeling disgusted. He would rather eat Stan-cakes than eating the food Old Lady had cooked.

"Dude, you're in jail. You can't expect anything to be perfect," said Mike.

"Touche."

Despite the smell and the taste, they finished their meal. Dipper wondered what the Old Lady had used to cook. Probably something poisonous. He shuddered at the thought.

Looking around the place, he couldn't find Gideon. Did Gideon escape? He really did not want to run into him or his allies. The consequences ... he didn't even want to think of it. Dipper took a deep breath, trying to get his mind off stuff that Gideon can do to him in jail.

They stood up and put their finished trays on the piles of trays on the table. Now the Breakfast time was over, it was time for the "Rehabilitative Art Program." Dipper groaned. He did not want to join some art program and do art stuff. He was never an artistic person. Mabel was. According to Finnick, they had made friendship bracelets last week. That sounded like a nightmare to him.

"Greetings!" greeted a woman in a high pitched voice. She had curly blonde hair and wore a yellow dress. "I'm Ms. Belrose, and I'm here to teach you the beauty of art!"

The criminals all clapped. Dipper didn't.

"This week art subject is about geometrical shapes. We had done circles and squares, so today is triangles!" said Ms. Belrose excitedly. " I want you to draw anything triangle related, such as pyramids or pizza pieces or sandwitches. But do be creative! Heck, a triangle demon would be great!"

Dipper stiffened. Did she just say that? Was she out of her mind? A triangular demon! Didn't she know that he was once a puppet of an insane triangular demon? Of course she didn't, how could she know about it? Even if he told her the truth, people would say he's insane, absurd, or out of his mind. Such a narrow-minded human, like her, wouldn't understand any of it. Humans tend to believe that they know everything, when they couldn't even see the truth that's right in front of them! Ah, humans ... so entertaining ...

Wait, humans? Why was he referring them as humans, as if he was not their kind? It sounded like he was not human, and was looking down at them, laughing at their idiocy ...

"Mr. Pines?" asked a voice, which snapped him back to reality. Dipper saw that Ms. Belrose was looking down at him, her face showing concern, though he knew it was fake and all an act. She didn't notice his look of annoyance and continued, "What's wrong? You looked pretty spaced out."

"Nothing," lied Dipper quickly. He looked around to find that everyone was staring at him like he was some freak. Some even looked angry because she had interrupted the class for him. Ms. Belrose looked up and apologized for the interruption and went on talking about the triangles.

Dipper narrowed his eyes. There was something off with the woman. Dipper swore he had seen a flash of yellow in the woman's eyes, when she was asking him. It might have been an illusion, but he was sure it had happened.

Sighing, he ran his fingers through his tousled hair, and glanced at Ms. Belrose, who was smiling at the other criminals. Dipper always could tell when a smile was a fake, and noticed what this woman did was all an act. There was something hidden behind all her kind smiles and acts. Something big, and not knowing it was really bugging him.

There's no one you can trust anymore.

***

Dipper's sanity is slowly seeping away and he's starting to have some "inhuman" thoughts. Also, Ms. Belrose is not who she seems!

What will happen next?
GUESS GUESS GUESS

Until next time!