Alone

Chapter 11

Mabel's POV

I walked into Dippers room, which was positioned right across the hall from mine.

"Hey bro bro." He looked up from his suit case.

"Oh, hey! There you are. I was beginning to think you weren't coming to help me." He chuckled softly.

"No, I'm here." I looked at the clothes in his suit case. I could smell them from my room. They were just about as dirty as they could get. And he was- "Dipper!" I grabbed a shirt from him as he was about to put it away. "You need to wash these!"

"They're fine!" He whined, trying to take them back.

"No!" I threw them back in the suit case and laughed. "These all need to be washed." I picked up the suitcase and started towards the hall.

"Noooo," he whined, attempting to take it back. "Its fine, I don't care."

"If I can smell them from my room then I care." I laughed and started running to the wash machine before he could catch me. He chased after me, laughing. Before he got there, I already closed the hatch and pressed start. "Ha! To late." He pressed his face against the wash machine and let out a funny fake cry.

"Mabel why!" He whined dramatically and laughed. 

"Because you need it. Now it's your turn bro bro. You need a shower." I plugged my nose and waved my hand to get rid of the smell. He laughed

"Alright, fine. I'll take a shower if you finish my laundry."

"Deal." we laughed and he walked upstairs. I ran up to my room and closed the door behind me. Yay! Dipper's back! I was so happy. Too happy even. I forgot about the demon in my head, until he came out again.

"Good work," I jumped at his voice and turned to face him. "I think he actually bought it." I gulped.

"Y-you think so," I quietly said. He walked up to me, lifting my chin up to meet his face.

"Yeah. Just keep it up. I'll even stay out of your way for a while if that, makes it easier." I breathed a sigh of relief. Having Bill leave me alone was the one thing I've been begging for. "Don't get used to it though, I'll still be here. And remember-"

"Don't tell anyone," I muttered.

"Good girl." With that, he disappeared. 

Dipper's POV

I jumped into the shower and rinsed off. Mabel was right, I did stink. When I was done, I hopped out and dried off. I looked at my phone, and saw I had a missed call from Ford. Once I was dressed, I stepped into my room and called him back.

"Hello?"

"Hey Ford."

"Oh, Dipper hi! Are you back from your internship yet?"

"Yeah, I just got back a few hours ago."

"Oh! Nice. Have you gotten a chance to talk to Mabel yet?"

"Yes, she seems like she's doing. great, but I think it's just an act."

"Do your parents think she okay?"

"Yeah, she's fooling them, but I can tell. It's just something about her that seems forced. I don't really know."

"Well, we will get all this sorted out next summer when you come to visit." I smiled at the thought of finally going back to Gravity Falls.

"Yeah, that will be great." I heard a knock at my door.

"Dipper, can I come in?" Mabel asked from outside my door.

"Yeah!" 

"Is Mabel there?" Asked Ford

"Yeah, she's right here," I turned to her as she walked in. 

'Ford?' she mouthed and I nodded. She turned away and went to sit on my bed.

"Alright, well tell her I miss her and we'll see her next summer."

"Alright. Will do. Bye."

"Bye Dipper." I brought the phone down and ended the call. The I threw it on the bed next to Mabel.

"What did he want?"

"Just to see if I was back yet, and that he misses us and can't wait for next summer." I smiled, but I don't think she bought it. She knew I've been talking t them about her anxiety, even though she didn't want me to. 

"So, how was your trip."

"It was fun." She raised an eyebrow at me. "What?" I asked defensively.

"You leave me for two months and all I get is 'it was fun.' Tell me what happened, how was it fun, was the food good, were the boys cute?" We laughed after that.

"Um, yes, yes and yes," I said exaggerating the last 'yes.' Mabel laughed again and we spent the next few hours talking about the college and what I did, what I ate, how much fun I had. Some of it was actually about education, but most of our conversation would never leave this room.

When I finally had told her everything about my trip, I wanted to ask her something.

"Hey, Mabel?" I asked

"Yeah?" She answered from the floor where she was sitting,

"I need to ask you about something."

"What is it?"

"Mabel, I know you've been cutting." I saw her face drop. "And I know the last time I asked you about it you hung up on me." She turned her head away from me and brought her fist to her mouth, trying to choke back tears. "Mabel, please-"

"Dipper stop!" she practically cried. I jumped off the bed and went to sit next to her. When I put an arm around her, she flinched away, but eventually gave in.

"Mabel, I can help you. You just need to talk to me." I waited for an answer, but she just started off in a random direction, seemingly zoning out, but she looked scared. "Mabel-"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" She yelled at whatever direction she was facing. She started breathing heavily then turned back to me and looked shocked. "I- I mean," she shook her head and quickly jumped up and ran to her own room, shutting and locking the door. 

"Mabel," I jiggled the locked knob. "Mable please!" I couldn't hear anything. It was completely silent. 

"Dipper?" My mom ran upstairs to see what was going on. "Why was she yelling?"

"I'm not sure. I didn't think I said anything to set her off."

"Well, she's probably just stressed. Let's give her some alone time. Okay?"

"Alright." I sighed and walked away. Giving her alone time was the last thing I wanted to do. I knew she had been cutting, so what else was she hiding from us?