"Well?" The strange figure looks up at you. "What do you say? You will help me, right?"

You look up at him. You know you can't do this. It wouldn't be right.

"No," you sigh. "I'm sorry. I can't, you...whatever you are."

"It's Bill. Bill Cipher," He chuckles. "Now quit joking around."

"I'm not joking. I'm done talking to you."

"What...what do you mean? Everything you want to know is in your reach. You want to know about your family, your friends, and your life before you forgot, right? Then just...trust me...friend."

"I said no!" you snap. He seems quite irked.

"Fine," he sighs heavily. "If you won't give me what I want..., I'll just take it! You'll regret not siding with me, Kid!"

He begins to turn red, but he calms down and takes a deep breath.

"What do you want, exactly?" you ask.

He floats closer to you.

"I'd tell you. But...you know, they were right about how absolutely stupid you are. I mean, I feel stupid just talking to you. You're of no use to me anymore. You're lucky we don't kill you after how badly you screwed up," he raises his hand, and you're now unable to breathe. You attempt to gasp for air, but you're slowly beginning to suffocate. If he had a mouth, he'd probably be smiling. "I'm going to take what's ours, whether you like it or not. If you want to stay here and suffer like everyone else, that's fine with me. You're not so high and mighty anymore, and if you don't want to get hurt, I suggest you stop digging around," he pokes you on the nose. "But remember, I'll be watching you!"

You try to inhale a few more times, but your attempts are futile. You quickly pass out.

"Meryl...Meryl, are you okay?"

You open your eyes, and you're laying where you were before Dipper sent you to venture into the woods. Dipper is shaking you, and he seems relieved that you're awake.

"Ugh," you groan. You sit up quickly and look around. "Where did he go?"

"Where did who go?"

"The...the...never mind."

"You must have been having one heck of a dream. You fell asleep on my shoulder before you could even finish your granola bar. Then you started freaking out," he helps you up. "Let's go back to the shack. I guess we didn't find anything that useful. I couldn't figure out the code, so we're going to have to figure something else out."

You're relieved to learn it was just a dream. So none of it was real. Thank goodness.

The two of you get back into the golf cart and drive back to the shack. It's as if none of it happened. You walk in through the gift shop, where Wendy and Mabel are at the register, talking about who-knows-what. They look over at the two of you.

"Where were you guys?" Mabel asks. "Doing nerd things? Making out?"

"No," Dipper replies. "I'll have you know, we were looking for clues. I'm trying to find out what happened to Meryl, but we haven't found anything useful."

"So...nerd things?" she and Wendy giggle.

"Yeah," he sighs. "Nerd things."

You miss a lot of the conversation, as the thought of what just happened is consuming you. Or, rather, what didn't happen. You could feel and smell, yet it was only your mind playing tricks on you. You can't help but feel it was important though. He said a lot of things, and even though he was a weird supernatural being, it felt so real. You felt yourself being suffocated and lifted in the air. You felt the wind against your cheeks, and the chills that went down your spine. And yet, it was only a dream.

"Is something wrong?" Dipper asks you as you come to. You shake your head.

"I'm fine," you reply. "It's probably...just the heat."

"Yeah, you are pretty hot- I mean, it's pretty hot...outside...," he begins to sweat a little. You'd react, but you can't stop thinking. Your mind is racing, and you're still quite shaken.

"Dipper," you sigh after a moment. "What...what if we never find out what happened to me?"

"Don't worry," he puts his hand on your shoulder. "Whatever happened, whether it's good or bad, you can move on. And we'll find out some way or another."

"You know," Wendy says. "I was looking up tons of police reports of missing children, and she didn't match any of the descriptions. Isn't that weird?"

"So my family might not even be looking for me? O-or maybe I disappeared recently, so word hasn't gotten out yet. It's only been a day."

"Well, I guess..."

You look down at the floor.

"Maybe...maybe we should keep looking elsewhere," you shrug. "Dipper, I had this dream...and-"

"Hey, wanna see me eat three bags of gummy worms in one sitting?" Mabel throws a key-chain at your face to get your attention. She shoves Dipper out of the way, and her interruption is almost confusing to you.

"No...thanks, though," Dipper says. He turns back to you and lightly touches your face, where the key-chain hit you. "What were you saying?"

"So-"

"Guys! We should totally watch a movie! Like, we can have popcorn, and-"

"Mabel, could you please hold on a sec-"

"We'll talk about boys!"

"Uh...maybe later," Dipper seems annoyed now.

"You know, I'm just gonna go...," Wendy says, a bit nervous. "It was nice seeing you guys."

As she leaves, Mabel and Dipper begin to bicker.

"Mabel, you're being rude!"

"No, you are!"

"Guys, could you please-"

"You always do this! Whenever someone else is over, you never pay any attention to what I have to say, Dipper!"

"Ugh!"

Dipper angrily leaves the room, and Mabel glares at you. Whatever has her heated all of a sudden, you want it to stop.

"Mabel," you aren't sure what to say. "I...I didn't mean for-"

"Shut up."

You're a bit shocked at the statement.

"Excuse me?"

"Shut up," she steps closer. "And quit digging around."

"What?" you question. "Look, I just want to know what happened to me."

"No you don't," she sneers. "Trust me."

"Mabel?"

"You really don't get it, huh? Does the name Bill ring a bell?"

"I'm...confused..."

"Things are going to change," she grins. "And you're going to beg me for a second chance. You know, you're lucky. This would be much easier with you out of the equation, but I'm not going to kill you. Not yet at least. And don't think it's out of the kindness of my heart."

"What are you talking about?"

"You'll know soon enough."

"Well, I'm going to let Dipper know about this, because-"

"No, you're not going to say anything," she snaps her fingers. She glares at you one last time before skipping out of the room as if nothing happened. You're going to call after her, but you find that you can't. Your voice is gone, and you can't say a word. You begin to panic. Something's wrong with Mabel, and you need to fix it. Or at least try to.

You reach for a pen in the gift shop, but it disintegrates in your gloved hands. Anything else you touch is fine, but any paper or writing utensil vanishes the second you touch it.

You enter the house, where Mabel and Dipper seem to have made up, and they're watching a movie.

"Is everything alright, Meryl?" Dipper looks up at you as you sit down. You try again to speak. You want to scream at the top of your lungs that everything is not alright, but you can't manage a single sound. "Okay...don't answer me. That's fine, too."

"She's probably ignoring you," Mabel comments.

"Are you?" Dipper seems puzzled. You shake your head and point to your throat. "You...you can't speak? I don't understand."

You shake your head again. This is becoming frustrating.

"Are we playing charades? I love charades!" Mabel smiles.

"I don't think this is charades," Dipper looks over at you. "Something's wrong, isn't it?"

You nod and point to Mabel.

"Geez, that's rude," she giggles.

You fold your arms.

"You're angry at Mabel?"

"I'm sorry if I interrupted you back there. And I'm sorry you had to see us arguing. I guess that was a little mean." She seems amused at your attempts to explain what just happened. "And the key-chain. Sorry about that."

"See, she's sorry," Dipper sighs, but you shake your head again.

"What do you want from me?" Mabel's tone is innocent and sincere, and it's painful. "I said I was sorry."

"Yeah, what's gotten into you?"

You realize your attempts to tell Dipper what happened are futile. You look down, and Mabel seems pleased with herself.

"Dipper, why don't you make some more popcorn?" Mabel suggests. He agrees, and leaves the room. She stands over you, and you can't help but be intimidated. "It sucks, doesn't it? Being pushed around? No one listening to you? Aw, you poor thing."

You stand up, and she shoves you.

"You know, you think you're so special. But I'm the boss of you now," she kicks you back to the ground, but you get up. You ball your hands into fists. But she's one step ahead of you, and she holds a ball of fire in her hand. "Just close your eyes, and it'll be over soon. Don't worry, I won't hurt you too bad. I just want you to get it in your thick skull that you're never going to know the truth without my help. So you can join me, or you can take what's coming."

You look at her (or him, if you will), backing away a little.

What will you do?

Your choices:

Join him- You choose to join him. No tricks. No turning back. You'll finally learn what you want to learn, but at what cost?

Fight him- You have no idea how strong he is or how strong you are. You could get hurt. But you could knock some sense into him...I guess. You might be stronger than you think. But...he might be way stronger than you think.

Trick Him- You join him, but only to find out what's going on. Then you learn your past, get your voice back, and possibly get a look at what he's up to. Once you know, you can foil his plans. Stab him in the back.

Run- Just leave and find Dipper, or anyone for that matter, you coward. If you choose to run, he might give chase and hurt you. Or worse. I don't recommend this.