Falling In Holes

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Powers muttered to himself in the tent.

"You still pouting?" The warden asked him.

"No, I'm not pouting," Powers answered. "I'm just asking, are we sure that she had no family?"

"She was a ward of the state," Trigger spoke. "She was living on the streets when she was arrested."

"Is there some prissy caseworker who might ask questions?" The warden asked.

"She had nobody," Trigger repeated. "She was nobody."

"I want you to destroy her records," the warden ordered. "She was never here. Can you get into the state files from our computer?"

"I can do anything, but I'm telling you, no one is going to come looking for her," Trigger assured. "No one cares about Bella McCreary."

He got up to leave, but was blocked in the doorway by Stan.

"...I do," he growled. He looked at the others as he made his way over to a bed.

"They were in this thing together," Powers murmured. He looked at the other two adults. The warden sighed, leaving. So did Trigger. "Her blood's on your hands, then."

Stan looked at him.

-----

The sun set over the desert. The D tent were all gathered in their beds.

"Man, if she's not back by morning, she's dead," Armpit said.

"She's dead either way," Dipper responded. Stan glanced at him. "If she stays out there or she comes back."

"When do you think they're gonna find her body?" Zigzag asked.

"What body? Man, Kitty's buzzard food."

"You know what? They pick out the eyeballs first."

"I can't believe you just said that."

Laughter echoed throughout the tent. Stan rolled over, back to the others, and pulled his blanket over his shoulders.

"Learn to take a joke."

"She left him stranded in the desert," Grandpa said. "No water, no food, for 16 days."

"But Grandpa, how did he survive?" Ford asked from the top bunk. "A person can only go three days without water, and seven without food. Probably less in those conditions."

"They said he found refuge on God's thumb," Grandpa revealed.

"What's God's thumb?" Stan asked.

"Who knows? He was half crazy when they found him," Grandpa said.

Stan sat by his hole, staring out into the desert. He stood up, leaving his shovel on the ground and facing where Bella had disappeared to.

"KITTY!" He shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth. "KITTY!"

No response. Stan turned to see a bus approaching the camp. He faced the desert again.

"KITTY!"

-----

The new boy sat at the lunch table, drumming his hands along the top and twitching slightly.

"So, what you in here for, Twitch?" Armpit asked.

"Oh, ha. Joyriding," Twitch answered. "I guess you never really plan to steal one or nothing, but when I walk past a really nice car- Whoo!- I just start twitching, y'know? Really kind of- Well, you think I'm jumpy now? You should have seen me behind the wheel of that Mustang convertible. Ooh! Vroom!"