Three years later...

Y/N's Pov:

Ever since my dad passed, I've tried to do everything to cover up the scar on my arm. Most of the time's I'd wear sweaters or something with sleeves to cover it up. However, summers in Gravity Falls were hot, so I would often cover it up with gauze or bandages. Meanwhile, times were tough back at home. My mom had a low-paying job working as a chef at Greasy's Diner. 

I, on the other hand, managed to find a job at a tourist trap known as the Mystery Shack. It was the closest I could get to going on mystery hunts with my dad, even if all of the attractions were scams. My boss, Stan Pines, had his great-nephew and niece visiting over the summer. He had given them both jobs at the shack which gave me the opportunity to finally make some friends. Sure, I had my co-workers Wendy and Soos, but I just wanted some friends my age.

I sighed as I swept the floor, watching one of the twins, Mabel. She hid behind a shelf, looking at a boy who held a piece of paper.

"He's looking at it... He's looking at it!" She murmured to herself.

The boy opened up the sheet of paper. "Do you like me?" He read. "Yes... Definitely... Absolutely?!"

Mabel chuckled. "I rigged it!"

"Mabel," said a voice from behind. "I know you're going through your whole 'boy-crazy' phase, but I think you're overdoing it with the crazy part."

"What?!" Mabel whined. "Come on, Dipper! This is our first trip away from home! It's my chance to have an epic summer romance!"

Dipper rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but do you need to flirt with every guy you meet?"

"Dipper, this is your chance to find love this summer too!" Mabel squealed. "Like um... Her!"

Suddenly, she runs towards me and tackles me to the ground. "Mabel what the heck?!" Her brother calls after her.

"Y/N! I have something very important to ask you!" She pins me down to the floor with a tremendous amount of force. "Would you date him?"

"Wha- Who?"

"Dipper, of course! Would you date him?" I look behind her at Dipper who gives me a sympathetic look. I admit, he was pretty cute, but I've only known him for a few days.

"I - uh, well, um..."

Mabel sighs and finally releases me. "Nevermind." As I begin to stand up, Stan walks into the gift shop, carrying a bunch of wooden signs under his arm.

"Alright, I need someone to hang up these signs in the spooky part of the forest." He grumbles.

"Not it!" Mabel and Dipper exclaim. 

Stan sighs. "Wendy! Can you put up these signs for me?"

"I would, but it's... Too far..." She has her feet up on the counter, reading a magazine.

"Y/N! Put these signs up."

I quickly snatch the broom beside me. "Sorry, Mr. Pines! I'm a bit busy, er... Sweeping!"

He rolls his eyes. "I'd fire all of you if I could." Then, he turns towards the twins. "Okay, let's make it, eenie, meenie, minie... You." He says, pointing at Dipper.

"Aw, c'mon Grunkle Stan! Whenever I'm in the woods I feel like I'm being watched..." Dipper rubs his arm nervously.

"Quit being so paranoid and just do it." Stan replies and tossed him the signs. Dipper frowns before heading out. Before he leaves, he glances back at me as I return his sympathetic look.

****

About half an hour later, Dipper returned to the Shack, with an old book in his hand. "Mabel, you need to see this." He murmured as they walked into the living room. Curiously, I followed, leaning against the door to listen.

"Check it out! I found this weird journal in the woods."

"Whoa!" Mabel gasped.

"It's amazing! According to this book, Gravity Falls has this, like... Secret dark side or something!"

"Shut up!"

"And get this: after a while, the pages just stop. It's like the author mysteriously disappeared or something!" Suddenly, the doorbell rang. "Who's that?"

Mabel nervously laughed. "Welp! Time to spill the beans! This girl's got a date!"

"Wait - so in the half hour I was gone, you managed to get a boyfriend?!" Dipper replies, shocked.

"What can I say? I guess I'm just... Irresistible!" The doorbell rang once again. "Coming!" Mabel shouted before running off. Suddenly, I fell through the door.

"Ah!" Dipper jumped back in surprise. "Y/N! H-how much did you hear?"

I ignore his question. "Do you believe it?"

"Believe what exactly?"

"That there are weird things going on in Gravity Falls."

"Of course I do!" He smiles. "I found this journal in the woods today, check it out." He hands me the journal and I flip through the pages.

Floating eyeballs, gnomes, ghosts...  No way! These were all the things my dad and I found over the past years.

"I thought I was the only one who knew about these!"

"Wait, you know about this?" His brown eyes widen.

"Yeah! I used to go on mystery hunts with my dad all the time."

"That's awesome, Y/N!" Dipper smiled as he took a seat on the recliner when Stan came into the room.

"Whatcha reading there, slick?" He asked as he took a sip from his soda.

"Oh!" Dipper quickly hid his journal and snatched a random book from the table beside him. "I was just catching up on... er... Gold Chains for Old Men magazine?"

"That's a good issue." Stan pointed out.

"Heyyyy guys!" Mabel said. "Meet my new boyfriend!" She gestured to a tall boy beside her.

"Sup." He said in a husky voice.

"So, what's your name?" I asked.

"Uh... Normal... Man!" 

"He means Norman," Mabel said dreamily.

"Are you... Bleeding?" Dipper pointed to the red substance on Norman's face.

"It's jam." He replied nervously.

"I love jam!" Mabel exclaimed. "Look at this!"

"So... Do you wanna go hold hands or something?" Norman asked.

Mabel gasped. "Oh! Oh my goodness... Don't wait up!" She ran off with Norman trailing behind her. I looked at Dipper. Something just wasn't right about Norman. We decided to consult the journal. I sat across from Dipper on the windowsill as he read from a page.

"Known for their pale skin and bad attitudes, these creatures are often mistaken for teenagers?!"

"You don't think that he could be a...?"

"Zombie?!" He exclaims, finishing my sentence. "Do you think my sister could really be dating a zombie?"

"Okay, Dipper, calm down. It could be possible." I say. "But if we want to prove it, we'll need evidence!"

And so, we got to work. We followed Mabel and Norman everywhere, from the park to the diner. We captured all of Norman's movements on a video camera I had back home. Once we've finished, we replayed the videos at the Shack. So far, nothing suspicious was happening. Then, the doorbell rang. I heard Mabel as she raced downstairs, pulling on a sparkly purple sweater and she answered the door. 

"Hey Norman! How do I look?"

"Shiny..." 

Mabel giggled at his response. "Oh, you always know what to say..." We watched as she grabbed his hand and they headed off.

I sighed. "You know what, Dipper? Maybe Norman is just a normal guy after all." Dipper rewinded the tape, muttering words to himself. It was when Mabel and Norman were at the park. He had his arm around her when suddenly, his hand fell off. I gasped.

"Hang on - replay that last bit!" We watched it once again; Norman's hand really fell off! Me and Dipper looked at each other with the same horrified expressions. "We have to warn Mabel!!" He shouted and grabbed my hand before running off.

**** 

Alright guys, I'm gonna end off this first chapter here because I've already gone past a thousand words! So I'm hoping that I can be able to fit an episode of Gravity Falls into one or two chapters. I won't be doing every single episode, but only the ones that I think are really important to the story. Future chapters are gonna be long, so I hope that's alright. Anyways, 

Reality is and illusion, the universe is a hologram buy gold byeeeeee!