The Haunted Love

Chapter 9

The next morning, it was the usual routine for the household members. Stan was trying to steal money from the visitors with his lies, Mabel was playing around with Waddles, Dipper was reading the journal for the – whatever time it was and Clayton was in the basement, working on writing more for the journals. After helping around the gift shop, Dipper came down to see what his great uncle had been working on. Most of the time, he’d try to push him out. But he would always use telling the truth about Sabrina as his scapegoat. He needed to grab something from his room or the study as he called it later in the day.

Stan followed in behind him, shutting the door upon doing so. He blocked the door when Clayton tried to leave. “Peter, whatever you need, it isn’t the time.” He told him, trying to snake his hand to the doorknob.

“I told you to stay away from the kids.” Stan reminded him as he grabbed his arm this time. He lifted it, pulling his sleeve down to reveal his bandaged hand. “What the hell happened?”

Clayton yanked it away. “Was an accident with the door. I’m fine.” He fixed his sleeve.

Stan narrowed his eyes. “What are you hiding, Clayton?” He accused with a pointed finger.

“Hiding what?” Clayton took a few steps back. He let out a sigh, putting a frustrated hand to his head and rubbing it. He then started to gesture with it. “Alright look, Peter. What do you want me to say? That I forgive you for pushing me into the portal? That I’ve missed you?”

“I want you to say thank you. For saving your god damn ass.” Stan replied stern yet almost tearful.

Clayton stared at his brother. He tried to say it, but nothing came out. Was it not the right time? He turned away, realizing he couldn’t. He couldn’t be forced to. He needed to feel it first. All he could feel was frustration and a hint of anger. He knew the moment he turned, his brother would try to guilt trip him.

“You want the truth, Peter?” Those were the words that came out of his mouth when he finally braced himself. “I do forgive you. And I did miss you.” Just as Clayton had suspected, his brother had the look he imagined. He pushed his way past him, placing his bandaged hand on the doorknob. “Know that isn’t what you wanted to hear. But that is all I can offer you for now.”

Clayton then left the room without another word. Stan just remained frozen. He couldn’t quite get over the fact that his brother had admitted – something at least. But like Clayton had said, it wasn’t what he really wanted. Two little words. That’s all he asks. Was he going to get them today? No.

“What happened to you, Sixer?” Stan said to the room. He’d turn to the door, only finding the emptiness of the hallway. Half of him wanted to charge down into the basement and start cussing every word under the sun towards him. Since they were growing up, he always was the troublemaker and the brawn. Now he was a pathetic, old man who ran a roadside attraction with his brain of a brother doing who the hell knows in the basement.

They use to be two peas in a pod. They use to have high flying adventures of traveling on the Stan ‘O War. They’d spend hours running around the beachfront and visiting the pier. It was fun everyday. Now they were both older. Peter got kicked out after ruining StanClayton’s chance of a great college. He would eventually go though another, only to make the decision to study what had made him unique – the unusual and mysterious.

Peter on the other hand, was struggling. He lived out of his car half the time and made a sad excuse for a salesman. Wouldn’t take him long to get banned from a majority of the states on the map. After ten years, StanClayton called him up, only in his dismay, to tell him to run with the first journal. Then it was the arguing, shoving into marks and lastly the moment that got them here – the moment where StanClayton disappeared from this universe.

“Grunkle Stan?” He was so lost in his subconscious that Mabel’s voice seemed to drown out.

“Oh pumpkin. Sorry.” He tried to chuckle it off, rubbing the side of his head. “I didn’t realize you were here.”

“You two need to make up one of these days.” Mabel commented. She was holding Waddles in her arms who just snorted.

“Well sweetie, that might be harder than it looks.” Stan admitted, patting her on the head before walking away.

“What is Grunkle Clayton’s ish?” Mabel said, lifting Waddles to look at her. He just stared at her blankly. “You are right. We should go see ourselves.” She rolled Waddles under her arm, entering the gift shop. She’d glance around before opening up the vending machine and slipping her way inside.