Daughter of Bill Cypher

Tuning back in

Two Weeks Later

Mabel blinked awake when she heard a faint beeping. Groaning, she sat up and rubbed at her eyes before her mind cleared and she looked over to the other bed.

The girl was having a nightmare again. Even now, her body was jerking and kicking, the blanket somehow wrapping around her arms which she now pulled.

Turning on the lamp, Mabel scrambled out of her own bed and rushed to the other, immediately pulling the girl against her chest.

"It's okay, he's not here. Shh, you're okay...he's not hurting you..." sitting down on the bed herself, the young woman continued that same mantra of soft comforting words. She slowly untied the blanket from around the girl and pulled her into her lap, stroking her hair comfortingly. The girl curled up against her, a hand grasping her nightshirt in a bone white grip.

Mabel had grown used to this routine. Once she figured out the girl refused to sleep for fear of nightmares, she tried to get her calm enough to rest through the night. But whenever her eyes closed, she woke up screaming only a few minutes later. Both Dipper and Mabel tried everything, letting her officially take one of the beds in their room (Ford let Dipper have his old room since he normally fell asleep in the lab).

Ford's old journals were also dead ends, none of them had anything to help with sleep. Relaxing cd's did nothing, if anything just making her more tense. Dipper even tried yoga, a bad and very short idea. Once she realized he wanted her to do stretches, she...responded interestingly, let's just leave it at that.

Ford was surprisingly protective during the process. At the beginning when Mabel was still trying to get her to last just a few minutes, he insisted they practice down in his lab while he worked. For the few minutes at a time she could sleep, she was curled up on a small couch with Mabel nearby and Ford tinkered with his weird science.

After a few days of no success, they turned to the internet. There lots of sleeping medicine that apparently help you sleep, or hypnosis tapes, or homemade shakes. Grunkle Stan had a few of his own sleeping pills, just a light store bought kind, but they decided not to use those unless as an absolutely last resort.

Then Dipper suggested something from a website, and he and Mabel decided to try it.
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Dipper pulled the truck up to the store they were looking for, and he and his sister got out and entered. Immediately the air was filled with animal noises.

"Welcome to the Valentino pet shop, where your new friend comes with an already planned grave plot at our cemetery."

The twins turned their heads to see a gangly man at the cash register. Though his acne cleared up and his hair was different, they'd recognized that worn hoodie anywhere.

"Robbie?"

The 20 something year old man actually looked up at them this time and he jolted. "Whoa, the Pines twins? What are you guys doing here?"

His voice still held a hint of suspicion and condescension, but the twins had learned that was just his way of speaking.

"We came for the summer. So, your parents own the pet store now?"

Robbie rolled his eyes. "They got enough money from the funeral home, and they figured pet stores often involve lots of death as well. If you buy something, they're already planning its grave stone."

"Ok..." Dipper said, a bit scared. "Anyway, we were looking for a pet of our own. Where are the fish?"

Robbie jerked his head to the side, which they interpreted as 'in the back'. Both twins walked down an aisle and sure enough, fish tanks covered the wall with lots of different swimmers.