Sincerely Yours, Bill Cipher

Much Like Me

     "Bill, I wanna go home," Yule blatantly says to me on this afternoon after meeting Omi here yesterday.
     "Home?" I repeat, setting down the letter for Rosanna I've been working on. "Please tell me you haven't been worrying about your family for an entire day."
     "No, I'm through worrying about them. Now I just miss my old life. I miss sitting down for breakfast and eating whatever cheap bland cereal my mom got. I miss mom telling Tyler to drive himself safely to work every morning. I miss how she would kiss me goodbye before I left for school, even though I claimed I was too old for stuff like that." Yule grimaces with regret. "What I wouldn't give to have that again... So, I want to go back. Not for long. Only for a few days. I want to feel like I'm part of my family again. I don't know if that will make me feel worse or better, but I have to go and experience it one last time."
     "That makes sense," I remark, sealing the envelope and standing up. "I don't suppose you want me to walk you there?" I smirk.
Yule's eyes grow wide, appalled. "No! That would be a disaster!" He goes to throw a friendly punch at my arm, but he forgets not to phase through. His arm goes right through me. He loses his balance and crashes to the floor. "Oww," he moans, picking himself up.
     "Like that even hurt!" I laugh haughtily.
"Reflex." He laughs along with a playful glare my way.
     "So, are you going to leave now?" I ask, nodding toward the door.
Yule pauses for a moment, as if something's troubling him. His face darkens as he says, "Dipper said that all paranormal beings can see all ghosts. Why can't my brother see me, then?"
"Even Dipper is mistaken at times. Remember, his research is mostly confined to ghosts. I'm sure he jumped to conclusions when he said all paranormal beings. Perhaps he meant all the beings he's tested the theory with and he just assumed it applied to all. Don't let it get to you. I'm sorry he can't see you, I really am," I assure him, crossing my arms. "However, you go and do whatever you need to do. Don't let anything get in your way, okay?"
     Yule puts his hands on his hips and puffs out his chest. "Mm-hm!" Then he cracks a smile. "I was about to ask you to wish me luck, but I suppose I won't need that for anything."
     "Have fun!" I wave.
     Yule shoots me a look, smirking. "Thanks, mom. What, did you pack a lunch for me, too?"
     I glare back and chastise him with a point of my finger, "I sure hope you don't talk to your mom like that, Yule."
      "And what if I do, huh?" He leans forward and sticks out his tongue. "You can't do anything about it. Just try and touch me!"
     I throw a punch through his face, preparing my fist not to actually be hitting anything so that I don't lose my balance, and just as I assumed, Yule flinches.
     "Ha!" I laugh, pointing. "Gotcha."
     Yule raises his eyebrows. "That you did, my good sir." He turns and marches to the door with a wave of his own. "Alright, see ya!" It amuses me when he doesn't even reach for the handle- he simply phases through the door.
     As soon as he is out of sight, I laugh and gasp at the same time; these expressions of overwhelming joy. That was Yule. Yule as I haven't seen him in months. Yule, truly happy, himself, without a worry in the world. Yule, who can laugh and crack jokes and indulge in mindless chatter. Even though he's facing something that could crush him, he's learning to become who he once was, the Yule that even he himself loved. Not that what he's changed to be is worse than that, not at all. I've told him I care about him just the way he is, no matter what he becomes, but it's just to good to see him in cheerful spirits (pun not intended) again.
::::::::::::::
Later in the day, I hear a shout from Soos in the gift shop. "Bill! There're some kids here asking to see you! I don't think they speak English, though! Or Spanish! I've tried!"
Some kids here to see me that can't even speak the languages common to this area? Oh well, stranger things have certainly happened in this town. Whatever the case, I stop what I'm doing and walk to the shop to see what the deal is.
I nearly collapse from shock when I see the disoriented trio browsing the oddities of the Mystery Shack. They're all bickering in what must sound like gibberish to Soos and the sparse customers in the gift shop. The little girl with dazzling magenta colored pigtails pulls on the older boy's wrist, demanding something, while he yells back at her, his blazing red hair matching his hot tempered attitude, shoving aside the smaller boy with nicely trimmed electric blue hair trying to resolve the argument.
I cross my arms and try to speak as calmly as I can muster in the same language these new foreigners speak. "Guys, for once, would you please stop fighting? There are actual customers in here trying to enjoy their visit."
At the sound of their native tongue, the three shut up and turn around.
Will's eyes widen in shock and relief. "Bill, you're here!" He runs up to me and throws his arms around me. "I'm so glad!" he yells, choked up. "Those two are being worse than usual! It took forever to find you!"
I look at the other two. Phil has his eyes narrowed. "Oh, it's you," he grumbles, his voice full of apathy.
"Bill, you nightmare!" my fiend of a sister shrieks. "This has been the worst day ever! Time is so weird here, and everyone talks funny! Where in the universe have you taken us?!"
"Calm down, Jill," I try to quiet her. "There's nothing to worry about."
"Nothing to worry about? Bill, I've been worrying all day!" Will cries out in alarm.
"He's right," Phil says, lighting a cigarette. Where he got that or the lighter from or learned how to smoke, I have no idea. "He's been running his stupid mouth all day. Wouldn't stop talking about you, either. Moron."
"Shut up, Phil!" Will counterattacks, though he trembles from the hurtful comments.
"How- how are you all even alive?" I make out in wonder, marveling at my siblings before me. "And... human?"
"Human? Is that what these odd bodies are?" Jill shakes out her limbs. "It's so... heavy," she complains with a rude scowl. "I hate this dimension!"
"Are we even alive? I don't remember anything since we were destroyed in the chaos of the liberation of our dimension. At least, I think that's what happened, right?" Will looks at me with wide, round eyes. It only strikes me now that he looks so much like me. If you took away the constant worry etched across his face and the blue hair, he might look exactly like I do. Even the others look similar to us. Maybe not the hair, or even the eyes, but the nose shape, definitely the nose.
"If you weren't, you wouldn't be here, now, would you?" I ask, though doubt lingers in my mind. The appearance of these three has to be because of a quafly pulse concerning me, but what, exactly? Are these really my siblings? Or are they figments of my imagination brought to life?
I shake my head, vowing to figure it out later. I pull Will into the house towards the kitchen, and our two other siblings follow suit. "Come on, let's get you guys something to eat."
I can't wait for Mabel and Dipper to get home.