[Ch 09, Caught]

───〃★

     I sit on the yellow chair, kicking my feet and sighing sadly. Dippy Sauce had gotten back home from his "Mysterious Sneak Out" session a few minutes ago, but he looked so upsetti spaghetti. He had tears streaks on his face, and I was worried for him. I tried to ask him what was up, but he gave me the cold shoulder and walked upstairs.

     I've been on the yellow chair for I-don't-know-how-long, thinking over what could've happened to him, but I'm drawing a blank. Dipper's not normally like this. I try to figure out what is going on, what to say, something to do to make him feel better, anything! Something must be seriously up. Did it have something to do with that mystery girl?

     "Mabel? Is something the matter?" I hear one of my Grunkles say. I look up to the doorway and see Great Uncle Ford there. He looks very concerned, do I look like that too?

     "I'm fine," I say, sitting up properly. "But something's up with Dipper. He's really sad." I stand up, rubbing my arm and looking down at the carpet. "He's sad, and I don't know how to fix it. We're twins, I should know how to fix it." I sniffle slightly, rubbing my nose and staring at the carpet.

     "Dipper's upset? Did he mention anything to you?" He says gently. I feel his hand on my shoulder, and look to see him kneeling in front of me.

     "No, just that he was fine, and he didn't want me to bother him for a bit." I feel my eyes well up. "I'm scared, Great Uncle Ford." I sniffle again slightly.

     Great Uncle Ford pulls me into a hug, and I squeeze him tightly. "I know, I know. But not to worry, Mabel. We'll work everything out together, Dipper will be fine." He pets my hair, and I smile lightly. 'He's probably right. Brobro will be fine, we'll figure it out.'

     "Whoa, Sixer? Mabel? What's going on, is everything okay?" I look up from Great Uncle Ford's hug to see his twin. Grunkle Stan stands in the door frame to the kitchen, holding a cup.

     Great Uncle Ford looks down at me, and I nod to him with a small smile. He lets go of me and walks over to Grunkle Stan. "Dipper's upset, and we are unsure as to why. I was merely comforting Mabel. While I have you here, Stanley, I have something I need to talk to you about. I could have something to do with this."

     I perk up slightly and walk over. "You do? Can I hear it too, please?" I say while fiddling with my sweater. "I want to help Dipper feel better."

     "Let her, Sixer. She's got every right." Grunkle Stan says while patting his twin's shoulder. Great Uncle Ford nods with a smile, and I bounce on the balls of my feet.

     'What could it be??' I think to myself.

     Great Uncle Ford sits at the round table in the corner. I sit down next to him, while Grunkle Stan sits on his other side. "You're right, it's only fair for you to know as well, Mabel." He crosses his arms, putting the elbows on the table. I shimmy in my spot, getting more curious. "It all starts this morning, I suppose. Dipper was going to help me with my prototype, but he said he had somewhere else to be. I asked him about it, as normally he's much more excited about helping me. He said that Sheriff Blubs wanted to meet at the Library to discuss a monster sighting with him. It was great news to hear, so I let him go. Dipper recommended that I take a brain break, so I went for a much needed walk. I saw Sheriff Blubs along the way, and asked him about their progress on the sighting. He said he knew of no such thing and went on his merry way. So, being the esteemed puzzle solver I am, I quickly deduced that Dipper-"

     "Lied to your face to get out of that dingy basement?" Grunkle Stan interrupts. I chuckle.

     Great Uncle Ford glares at him for a long moment, before sighing and looking down. "Well yes, I just can't fathom why. It's so unlike Dipper. What could be more important to him, especially when he's usually so excited about helping out."

     I hold my chin and try to think, humming. 'Come on Mabel, think!' "...It's probably his noon thing." I snap my fingers and smile. Both old men turn to me. They look confused. "I noticed that everyday, no matter if we're hanging out, or what we're doing, Dipper has been leaving the Shack at noon the last few days. He doesn't come back for at least an hour." The two look to each other, then back to me. They still looked lost. "You two didn't see? He even borrowed my fish sweater the one time."

     "Leaving at almost the same time everyday, you say. Not telling anyone, lying to get away..." Grunkle Stan mumbles. He did the same snap thing I did a bit ago, and he smirks. "Our little nerd's got himself a lover."

     Great Uncle Ford stands quickly, his voice sharp. "Stanley, don't be absurd! Dipper is just a kid!" He says while putting his hands flat on the table.

     "Fine, fine, then a partner." Grunkle Stan says while waving off Great Uncle Ford's reaction

     "Hold the phone!" I stand too, leaning on the table. I think back to the time I saw that girl that was with Dipper. "Waitwaitwait, that makes perfect sense!" I had wondered if she was his girlfriend, but was she really the reason Dippy was so down in the dumps? "I might know a bit about them. He gets really awkward about it every time I bring it up. Remember that first time he came back, when we were all there and he walked in with that face of his, and he looked like a lovesick puppy?" The two old men nod slowly, they looked like they were kinda following along. "I even saw him kiss a girl the other day!!" I squeal, clapping my hands and beaming widely.

     When I calm down from my happiness, I look to see my Grunkles with both their jaws hanging. "He what??" Grunkle Stan says. I nod and smile brightly.

     "Yeah! My Brobro's in love! I can't believe it!" I giggle and fiddle with my fingers.

     The two old men look at each other. Grunkle Stan looks up at the stairs. "..Or was. Poor kid probably got rejected or somethin'..." My heart falls slightly, that didn't seem right.

     Great Uncle Ford sits back down, sighing and taking off his glasses. "I simply can't believe this." I tilt my head and sit next to him. "Why didn't you tell us about this girl sooner Mabel?"

     "I wanted to wait until he brought her home," I admit and rub the back of my neck. I giggle. "You two would have been so shocked."

     "Well we are." Grunkle Stan says. I look up at him, but he's still staring at the stairs.

     "Why don't we figure out who this person is, and go question them?" Great Uncle Ford offers. I look at him with a smirk, knowing exactly what he meant. He sees my face, and turns away while crossing his arms. "T-To get to the bottom of this, of course. Definitely not to tell them that there are not many better guys in this world than my great nephew, and that they clearly made a mistake rejecting him." He grumbles.

     Both Grunkle Stan and I chuckle. "Sure Sixer, whatever you say."

     Great Uncle Ford rolls his eyes and puts his glasses back on. "All that aside, how will we even find out who the girl is? Going through his things is a serious invasion of privacy."

     We all go silent in thought. 'He might get mad at me later if I go through his things, but...' "A good sister would respect that he needs time and space, but a better sister would help no matter what." I say before almost running to and up the stairs. 'It's the greater good.'

     Once I get to mine and Dipper's room, I carefully peek in through the door. He's sleeping from the looks of it, so I tiptoe to his bed and check in on him. The tear stains on his face look so much fresher. 'My heart... Poor Dipper. He's been so happy these past few days, and now he's all down in the dumps, crying himself into late afternoon naps. I wonder what's going on in his mind right now..."

───〃𖠰

     I cover my ears and yell at her. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD! I told you not to talk to me, to stay away!!" My eyes blur as new tears overflow. I turn away from the Siren and wipe the tears away.

───〃★

     I shrug and put the thought aside, it does me no good right now, I have a mission. Being the good sister I am, I quietly snoop through his stuff so I don't wake him. He looks like he could use some good sleep. I gasp softly once I spot it, a coil notebook labelled 'Don't Read!'

     "Oh Dipper. Oh sweet, naive Dipper." I whisper while picking it up. I open it and scan through what he wrote...

     'Dipper met a Mermaid?? He's been asking her all kinds of questions! Oooh, he liiiikes heeeer~ Ooh, what's-' I stop my train of thoughts as I read the last entry he made.

━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━

     Hello, my name is Dipper Pines, and I have been lied to. I recently came upon a Mermaid, but they weren't a Mermaid at all. They had the ability to look human, which helped further their lies. They are a Siren in actuality, and had been lying to me the entire time I knew them. They gave me false information on Mermaids so I couldn't figure it out, and had been manipulating me from the very start. I should've remembered that in Gravity Falls, there is no one you can trust. You'd think I'd know that after what Bill did, but I guess I was wrong. In the words of my Great Uncle: Trust no one.

━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━

     I stand there numbly, growing more confused as time goes on. I mean, sure Dipper dealt with confusing things, but this genuinely made no sense. I look back over the whole notebook for an answer, but none pop out to me immediately. 'The Mermaid... the one that made him so happy, the girl I saw... Was a Siren? This had to be why he was so upset, he liked her, and she lied. But, that doesn't sound right...'

     I check again with the note he made on Sirens before he found out. Most of the notes made sense: Bloodthirsty, conniving, and chained to the bottom of Lake Gravity Falls to keep humans safe. One thing sticks out though. "Magic Threads are a special kind of vocal cord that most Sirens are born with." I read softly to myself. I look over the edge of the notebook to see if Dipper was still sleeping, and he was. "It is how their singing messes with people's minds. Not all are born with them. The Sirens with No Magic Threads are considered social outcasts." I finish off.

     Wait a minute, that... That sounded familiar. I flipped to another page. I whisper what it says. "The Mermaid has this wonderful cave where both the Sirens and other merfolk leave her alone. She mentioned to me how she is more or less shunned from the other Merfolk, and the Sirens don't take too kindly to her either. There are some kind ones, but even they can be bloodthirsty in the sight of a human." I murmur. She said she was shunned, and that Sirens without Magic Threads are outcasts... How did he not piece it together? I guess love really does make you blind. 

     Clutching the book, I head back down to Gruncle Stan and Great Uncle Ford, who seemed to still be processing the fact that Dipper was old enough to have his first kiss. Grunkle Stan seemed especially confused that some people liked people like Dipper. I rolled my eyes as I approached the two. Of course some people would like my Brobro, he's a cool guy. "I don't know her name, but I have an idea of where to find her."

[Word Count: 2103]