My room was bleak. There wasn't much to be said beyond it. I had expected Candy to be livid after catching Pacifica and me together, demanding I explain myself and never see her again. In all honesty, I had been expecting that conversation for a while now.

It was almost impressive how long I had been seeing her behind Candy's back. And, yes. By the way I described the situation, it sounded amazingly scandalous.

Technically speaking, I was cheating. Even though I made it apparent I didn't want to be with Candy, I was cheating. She should have bitten my throat out.

And yet, on the ride home, she was far too silent. Angry, yes. But silent. Oddly enough, that was even worse than her obnoxious screaming. I almost wished she'd scream. At least then I could defend myself in some sort of heated debate. I'd lose, of course. But, still.

The silence was far worse.

No openers. No opportunity to explain myself. To force my feelings out. To point an accusing finger her way and possibly blame her for some of it. If it had been up to me, Candy wouldn't have caught us cheating because we wouldn't have been dating. The break up would have come a lot sooner than it did.

And I had assumed I would be the one to do it.

By the way she stared at me in the limo, scowling and huffing and gritting her teeth once in a while, I could tell the relationship was close to an end. Beyond anything else, her refusal to remind me that I was 'hers' seemed to verify it. This would probably be the last time I would ride in her limo. So, I savored it.

That had been an hour ago, her driver opening my door and leading me out with one wrinkly hand. His eyes had shifted over me with a nervous glint, as though to warn me. He must have been horrified of what Candy could do. But, I didn't care too much. I was far more messed up about Pacifica.

Once I got home, I ignored Mabel's constant badgering to tell her what had happened and simply slipped upstairs into my room. I flopped onto my stomach, groaning into the mattress before flipping over to look at the ceiling.

An hour. One whole hour dedicated to mulling over the entire day and how quickly it had all unfolded. The birds. Confessing to Gideon. Inviting Pacifica over. Being confronted by Candy. Going to the zoo. Completely shitting over Dipcifica, which was never going to happen now.

My hands went to my face, fingers sliding down the lids of either of my eyes as I sighed in frustration.

"I-... Am a complete fucking idiot." There was a mild satisfaction in saying it out loud. At least I knew I was shit, and didn't strut around like I was something special. Like Candy...

For some reason, the thought of her gave me a chill. Unlike the usual, where I was reminded of who she was and what she could and had done to me. But, one of foreboding. A small little shiver that road up my spine and seemed to ring my neck.

There was no way Candy'd let me off the hook that easily. She wasn't so forgiving that she'd just roll over and let me go. There was something more to that attitude of hers today. She was gone, probably thrashing about and screaming at the top of her lungs, wishing I'd get hit by a bus and die. But, then what? What could she possibly be planning after that?

I stopped myself, shooting up out of bed as my eyes snapped shut. I took a deep breath, steadying my mind before letting it out.

" Candy... Can't get to you anymore... You're free, Dipper. Free." I paused, hearing my own voice echo throughout my thoughts. I sounded like a complete liar.

That was around the time I heard a knock at the door.

" Uh, Dipper...?" Her voice seemed sad. Worried. I knew she just wanted to make sure nothing awful had happened while I was at the zoo. And yet, there was an oddness to it. She had already tried to pry it out of me, and failed. Usually, she took that as my one hundred percent refusal to announce it and her cue to go away.

" Come in..." My head lulled to the side, viewing the wooden door slowly creak open as she poked her head through. Her eyes were tense with nerve as she watched me, fingers creeping to slide across the door frame before shutting behind her.

She stood for a moment, hands clasped behind her back as she leaned against the closed door. I sat up in confusion, seeing her eyes shift from me to just below my shoulders. Her lip curled in, teeth gnawing at its exterior before letting it loose.

" So... Where's your phone?" She rocked on her heels awkwardly, my brow instantly cocking up at her odd question.

"Broken." I responded simply, shuffling slightly on the bed. The look Mabel was giving me definitely felt odd. At hearing me, her eyes lifted for a moment before shooting to her right pocket. Her fingers fought to dig out her phone, a look of concern plastered on her all the while.

"So-" She spoke with fear, her eyebrows furrowing as she concentrated on the tightness of her skirt. "You haven't seen it yet?" With that, her phone came tumbling out, forcing her to fumble before it was securely between her palms.

I froze for a moment, viewing her expression. Complete and utter remorse. I felt sick. Seen it? Seen what? I slide to the side of the bed to face her, my features slowly sinking into a look of worry to mirror her own.

Without a word, I extended my hand, waiting for her to relinquish her phone to me. It took a second, Mabel baring her teeth in a sort of grimace before looking to her phone. The page must have been bad.

She sucked in a breath, thumbs pressing against its screen before handing it over to me.

I looked at the screen, only for my body to run cold.

Twelve photos, six of which I had seen before. Six that were completely new to me. I clasped a hand over my mouth, forcing back a scream as my eyes widened in terror.

"...When was this posted...?" My voice was shaken, cautious that anything beyond a whisper would have me breaking down in a panic attack. She wouldn't have...

"Less than an hour ago..." Mabel remained at a distance, perhaps hoping to give me the space I needed to process this. But, there was no possible way of processing it and I needed a hug more than anything. If only I knew how to ask for one.

I scrolled down, my body breaking out in goose bumps as I finally waged how many people had seen it so far. Over five hundred. Some from town. A lot of them just global followers from all around the world.

"I-..." Mabel began, only to be caught by her loss for words. I refused to meet her gaze, staring at the screen as shame continued to build in me. She really did it. She really posted them...

My eyes scanned over the pale flesh of my own body, exposed and digitally enhanced for everyone online to see. It was even worse seeing the crass lighting of Candy's camera flush out what little pigment I had, leaving my chest white and blinding. Twelve photos. Twelve.

Three of my arms, either placed above my head as I slept or tucked under the side of my face as a makeshift pillow. Five were dedicated to my chest, which I had thoughtlessly carved up. The only thing to contrast my pale skin were the obvious gashes I left to stretch over me, pink and risen.

The rest, to my absolute horror, were never before seen photos of my passed out body completely naked and sprawled out over her bed. I had no idea she had even taken these.

Riding up my collar bone, down my thighs, over my arms, and sleeping along my V-line were poorly done streaks and burn marks that made me look both deformed and pathetically weak. I almost screamed at the final photo, which Candy had dedicated to a close up on my sleeping face.

I stared at myself, almost expecting my own eyes to open and smile at the camera. I wanted to reach past the screen and kill that damn idiot. My thumb hesitated, momentarily contemplating checking out the comment section, only to place the phone on my bed.

My hands were clasped together, sitting between my legs as I watched the floor with wide eyes. All I could do was wait for Mabel's scolding. She was sure to be mad at me. This was a stupid thing to do. It was a poor decision. I was mature enough to understand not to do that, no matter how appealing it may have seemed at times!

I could recall a point in my life when I would have joked about self harm. Saying something along the lines of, 'If you don't give me the damn remote, I'm gonna slit my wrists!' And It would have seemed funny and she would have laughed. Did that make me a hypocrite, too?

I took a moment, waiting for her to speak. When she said nothing in response, I assumed she didn't know what to say. Neither did I.

"I knew... About the cutting, Dipper. F-for a while, actually... I'm sorry." Her words came to me in a sort of dream state form, tone distorted and distant where I sat. There wasn't much to pull from it. She had known? When did I slip up? Where along the line did she catch on? And, most importantly, who cared?

"Grunkle Stan's gonna be pissed..." Was all I could say. We stayed like that for a while, stirring in our own silence as the horror continued to thicken between us. He'd kill me. Literally. This wasn't a joke and he wasn't going to pity me for it. He was going to do what he almost did a year ago. Kill me.... Kill me...

I stood suddenly, knotted burns and pains burrowing deep within my stomach as I continued to think of that night. When I had finally gone too far and he refused to overlook it. My hands began to shake, recalling his enraged self with raised fists. He really would have killed me if Wendy hadn't stepped in...

"Get out, Mabel." I croaked, arms going to wrap around my own torso as my shaking became more violent. She continued to stare, wanting more than anything to replace my own arms with hers. She wanted to connect. To comfort me. She wanted to tell me that everything was going to be okay.

But that was impossible.

"I'm so sorry, Dipper..." And with that, she was gone.