Triple Pines

Into the Woods

"Well. I didn't die," I thought with a shrug as I headed back into the woods to head back to the Mystery Shack.

It didn't take long to tape up the flyers, and when I finally reached the point when I was too lazy to put up the rest, I just handed them off to random pedestrians as I walked down the sidewalk.

The woods were darker now. The sun was beginning to set, turning the sky a bright pink mixed with orange and blood red streaks.

I was trying to not feel like a total baby. I was admittedly scared now that it was dark. I could hear crickets chirping and small snaps and crackles whenever a small animal would scamper through the underbrush.

I jumped when a squirrel darted across the leaves. I felt stupid for feeling scared. There was nothing to be afraid of.

"Wimp." I muttered to myself as I paused to kick a pine cone out of the way. I continued walking until I realized I was on the wrong path.

I was lost.

The woods suddenly felt darker, scarier, and dead silent. My heartbeat seemed to be the loudest noise. Until I heard a snap. This wasn't just a small snap, it was a loud snap, as in, loud enough to be a bone snapping in half-loud.

I ran.

I felt stupid and baby-ish, but I ran.

My foot caught on a root, sending me face-first into the ground. My mouth tasted like blood and undergrowth when I sat up. (Was my mouth open when I fell?)

My nose was bleeding, I used my sleeve to wipe it off, but it didn't seem to help. I probably had blood rubbed all over my face now.

Great. Now I was gonna show up at the gift shop bloody, bruised, and panting. Wimp.

I scanned my surroundings. Was this what it felt like to be in those survival shows? Would I have to figure out how to make a shelter only using pine needles and rotting wood?

The panicked thoughts disappeared when my eyes landed on something. It was a strange shape, nothing that nature could produce on its own.

It was a triangle.

I squinted through the dark. I wiped the dirt off on my jeans. My palms stung, they were probably scraped up and bleeding, but I couldn't tell in the dark. The only light source came from the crescent moon shining above trees.

I stumbled toward the shape until my eyes could make out the details.

I almost stumbled back when I realized- it was Bill. But not how Dipper and Mabel described him to me. It was a statue of Bill, sunk into the ground like the earth was trying to devour it. Moss clung to random places, and Bill's giant, slitted eye stared vacantly at nothing.

It was like those creepy portraits in haunted houses when the eyes follow you.

I wasn't sure how to react at first. Maybe I should've walked away and didn't question it. Like I always told myself, "leave it in the past where it belongs."

But instead I walked closer.

An alarm in the back of my head was screaming at me to get out of this place, head back to the Shack and forget about this thing.

I ignored my instincts and knelt down to search around the statue. I wasn't sure what I was trying to find, but I found something. Something I'd only heard of in stories and dreams.

A journal. A faded crimson book with rotting pages and faded words.

I couldn't read it in the dark, so I shoved it in my backpack and stood back up. I stared at the statue for a while longer before turning to leave.

The Shack was only a short distance from the statue. It would be easy to find my way back.

Why I wanted to come back, I have no idea.

Why I kept that journal, I have no idea.

And I didn't realize it then, but heck was it a bad idea.