SO THIS MIGHT BE TRIGGERING TO SOME PEOPLE! THAT'S ALL I'LL SAY! PROCEED WITH CAUTION!
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Dippers p.o.v.

The world is full of monsters with friendly faces.
- Heather Brewer

Sometimes life doesn't go as expected. You don't expect to have a child with a big dipper birthmark. You don't expect that child to be bullied. You don't expect that child's twin to give up on him so fast. They go all the way to their 13 birthday, then they start to drift apart. Why? Because your daughter is tired of dealing with her twins problems.

What's worse than your family giving up on you, you may ask. That would be your family giving up on you and than the only person you trust that hasn't given up on you dying. Everyone said they saw it coming. My great uncle was good man and he really didn't need to go. My great uncle Ford died after the ship he was on with his brother sank. The cryptid they were chasing than dragged him to the bottom of the sea where he died.

Ford died when I needed him most, it's the worst feeling you will probably ever feel. When he died he gave everything to his brother on the condition that if his brother dies I get the belongings he owned. Who knew that Stan, his brother, would die so soon after him.

The grief must have gotten to him. The two people who hadn't given up on me where gone. Two people who really didn't deserve to die where now gone.

Now that I was 18, legally an adult, I had decided to go to go back to Gravity Falls. I had called my friend Soos and he had agreed to let me live at the Mystery Shack until I find my own place.

My sister Mabel was also going. She would be visiting her friends, and probably steering clear of me. If I were her I would probably avoid me too.

"Dipper! Do you have your bags packed? We have to go now!" I hear Mabel yell from the other room. I grab my packed bags, and make my way down the stairs to the front door.

Mabel opens the door and we walk out. I drag my suitcase behind me, and pull my backpack tighter onto my shoulders. Mabel only has a backpack considering she's only staying for three or four short days.

We get into the bus, and split up. Mabel sits near the front and I take the seat in the back. I sit down, and close my eyes knowing that it was going to be a long ride.

"Honestly, I thought animals weren't allowed on the bus. I especially thought they wouldn't let on mutated apes." I hear come from one of the seats in front of me.

"And on top of that, just think if you were a mirror. Man, I'd kill myself." Another voice adds. I open my eyes to see a few girls sneaking looks at me. They all had those faces that you look at and immediately know you want to be their friend. They all looked so nice and pretty. A guy in the seat next to them looks to me and laughs. He was the same, he looked so nice on the outside. He looked one of those higher achievement students.

"I mean... Its not... That he's funny it's... That his life is!" The guy whispers through laughter. The girls burst into a fit of giggles and I let out a sigh in my head. Some people even if they looked nice had the blackest heart. Thus had been going on for years. You would think after all this time these people would stop, but they haven't.

"Man, I'm jealous of all the people who haven't seen his face..." One of the girls whisper to the group of people. I guess I could say the same for you, but instead of saying anything I grab my headphones and my phone, and listen to music. It was doing exactly what I had hoped it would, blocking those idiots out.

~~*~~

"Gravity Falls! We're stopped at Gravity Falls!" The bus driver calls out. I stand up and grab my bags. The other kids had gotten off ages ago, so I was safe from them. Now it was only the memories that could hurt me.

The memories of my great uncles. The memories of the crying and pain I went through. Yeah, only the memories could hurt me.

"Well, uh, see you Dipper..." Mabel says, scratching the back of her head. I nod and wave to her. She runs off to find her friends while I watch her retreating back.

I start to walk the still familiar path to the beloved shack. I get there and walk through the door. I take a deep breath. Being here made me feel better immediately. I had been sad and down for so long I had almost forgotten what it felt like to be this happy.

"Dipper! You're back, dude!" I hear from in front of me. I open my closed eyes just in time to see Soos before I'm being killed by a crushing hug. I hug back, happy to be with people who really care about me.

"Hwy, Soos. It's nice to see you to," I say. He lets go of me, and steps back. He smiles as he looks me up and down.

"You've gotten taller, Dipper," He says. I simply nod, not wanting to ruin the moment by saying something unintelligent. That's when I hear a noise from behind me as the hat I was wearing is taken off and something else is placed in my head.

"That's better," A familiar voice says. I turn around to see Wendy. She had put the hat she had given me back on. I look up to see a blue bill. I take the hat off to see a certain blue pine tree on it. I smile remembering the day I had got it. I put it back on my head.

"I'll take you to your room Dipper," Soos says as he leads me through the store, up the stairs and into the room I had shared with Mabel for a whole summer. Memories kept flooding back, and while most were good there were a few that were not so happy.

I put my suitcase down, and start to put sheets and covers on the bed. Once I had finished I laid down. I was glad to be back. I really was. There was just one thing in the back of my mind. Has anything changed drastically?

~~*~~

The answer to that question was yes. Lazy Susan's restaurant had been sold and turned into a movie theater. A new diner had been made across town, but that was about it for the town itself. The people were a different story altogether.

Grenda, Mabel's friend, had moved to Austria to be with her boyfriend. They had surprisingly stayed together all the years.

Mabel's other friend, Candy, was still here. That's who Mabel was visiting. Well, her and Pacifica. Pacifica had moved out of her parents house, and was now living in a large house because of her fashion designs.

The mayor, Tyler, was still the same, and was doing well. Robbie had left Gravity Falls to try and go big on his music career. Toby Determined had gotten pretty big in the career of journalism. That was really all that had really changed, but it was hard to take in for a while.

As of now I was walking in the town wondering if there was any job openings. I had looked everywhere so far. That's when I saw it. A small shop. On one of the shops Windows was a sign.

'Help wanted
Good workers needed'

This was exactly what I needed, and on top of the fact they had an opening it was an alchemy shop. It sold old books and ingredients. This was the place I needed to work. I knew that.

I walk inside. A bell rings, alerting anybody inside that I had entered. I shuffle in a bit more before I hear someone clear their throat.

"You, Dipper, stop right there. You've got the job." The voice was familiar, but I couldn't think of why. I turn to see a guy. He was shorter than me and hair that was almost white.

"Gideon? You own this shop?" I ask. Gideon nods his head. He shows me around the place telling me how to do my jobs. After he finishes he gives me a uniform.

"You start tomorrow. 9 o'clock a.m. don't be late," He warns. I nod and walk out of the store. Man, things really have changed... Gideon working in an alchemy shop, Toby being a good journalist, Robbie gone. Things have changed a lot more than I thought.

I get back to the shack. I walk upstairs to my room and lay down. I lay there for a minute, waiting for sleep. Instead of sleep I got memories and thoughts. Memories and thoughts of all the bullies I've had.

I had been insulted so many times that I believed what they all said. I was ugly. I was dumb. I was cowardly. I was nerdy. I was... Unwanted. With these thoughts swirling through my head I fall into a fitful sleep.

While I sleep I have dreams almost completely devoid of color. The same way it was in the mindscape, but this time Bill wasn't here. Maybe I wasn't in the mindscape though. Maybe it was all just a weird dream. Maybe that's all it was. A dream.

~~*~~