You Can Run, But You Can't Hide [R.I.P]

Dreamscape

Dipper's P.O.V

The wails receded to a light ringing. The carpet of the living room had quickly turned rough, but it must've been a trick of my mind. I hoisted myself up, and was soon wobbling around on unsteady legs. My head still hurt, and I was tired. 

Suddenly, the blackness was erased like someone cleaning a window with chemicals. It seeped away to wherever it came from and I found myself in front of an empty swing set. It wasn't the one I saw in Stan's dreamscape, but the seat were made from planks of wood. The scenery was a gray-scale forest with the touch of creepy fog. 

Okay, maybe it was the set I saw while in our Grunkle's mind. I guess my memory got a bit warped or something over the years. 

Cautiously, I walked over and sat down on the swing to my right. The rope was aged and split ends showed. The wood never broke, but it was old. Obviously plenty of decades have passed by since our Grunkles had swung on these. 

I realized that I hadn't even thought of the bad stuff. I had realized that my brain didn't think things like: is Bill going to torture me like last time? or I bet I'm going to die a thousand times or worse. My mind was at complete calm and tranquility. Honestly, it freaked me out. 

I didn't like it one bit. 

Then, just as quickly as the blackness had peeled away, the entire structure of this dreamscape faded into oblivion. It poured through my hands like the ashes of the fallen. 

I chuckled a little at that thought: ashes of the fallen. 

Blanching, I came to my senses again, and was getting even more freaked out. Freaking out would be an understatement, actually. I was beyond terrified. Was I going insane? I've never had these kind of thoughts before! Scrambling through the sand - the ashes - that used to be everything - the fallen - I stood and ran. 

I had no idea were I was going. The sky was as dark as matter, and the sand was as grey as monochrome - die a thousand times - and I absolutely hated it. I wanted to wake up. 

- never wake up - 

- lose control - 

Who keeps talking to me? I spun around, trying to find the source, but nothing was there. 

"Bill!" I shrieked, "get me out of here! Make the voices stop!" 

A low chuckle boomed in and out of my ears. I was trying so hard to not cry, but everything was overwhelming me too much. 

- just forget - 

- shut down shut down - 

- let it all go - 

I wanted to claw at my face, but all I did instead was rake my nails into whatever lay beneath the - ashes of the fallen - sand. The soil - ashes ashes ashes - gathered uncomfortably underneath them, and my body kept shuddering with each sob I let go. 

- ring-a-round the rosies - 

- a pocket full of posies - 

- ashes ashes - 

"NO!" I didn't want to finish the terrible rhyme. 

- we - 

"STOP!" 

- all - 

"STOP! STOP!" 

- fall - 

The voice abruptly turned dark and cold. It sounded familiar. It sounded like...like... 

- DOWN - 

A burst of light blinded me, and I stumbled backwards from my fetal position. The roughness of the floor I lay on turned soft. It seemed to fold into irregular creases. 

"...awake! He's awake!" Was that...Mabel? 

It felt like it took an eternity to open my eyes. Everything was loud and bright and cold - 

"Dipper!" I'm sure that was Mabel. 

Another burst of light flooded my view and the shock made me bolt upright. A small metallic clatter sounded on a tile floor, and I felt arms wrap around my shoulders. I muttered some gibberish, but the nonsense slowly formed into words. 

"Eh? Where...? What happened?" I asked in a confused daze. 

I was able to see my sister, who was sobbing uncontrollably. "Your heart stopped!" She wailed helplessly. My heart...stopped? What was going on? I looked around, and I found myself in...Ford's study? A pair of defibrillator paddles lay exposed on a table nearby whatever I was laying on. It felt like a small electric current was pulsing all over my heart. 

My heart did stop. And someone restarted it. 

"Dipper?" 

I turned to see Grunkle Ford stepping back from me. He was holding a light meant for checking the retinas of someone's eyes. "Are you okay?" He asked gently. 

"Uh..yeah? I think so. Well - I don't know since you literally resuscitated me." 

Ford nodded sheepishly, walked over to the paddles, and started packing them up. "Why...? Why am I not at the hospital, Ford?" I wondered cautiously, while Mabel looked on. 

"You would've been long gone by the time we got you into emergency," Ford replied, "and I had enough equipment to treat someone with the flu to restarting a human heart." 

"And," Mabel added, "you went completely nuts for a few minutes. Screeching around the house about my sock opera, the color grey, and Weirdmageddon." I would've laughed if none of us were even close to this kind of situation. 

"I didn't know that." 

Mabel blanched. "Y-You didn't?" 

"Nope. I was in a dreamscape where I saw the swings from Stan's mind, and then a voice kept repeating the Ring a Ring o' Roses rhyme that made me go insane." 

Ford immediately stopped packing the paddles. "Who's voice was it?" He asked suddenly. 

While the had been shrieking at me, I had registered who was singing. I gulped. 

"Bill Cipher."