I woke up abruptly in the middle of the night. A chill went down my spine. I listened carefully to the sounds coming from outside. I could’ve sworn I heard a baby crying.

I sat up and peeked out the window. There was no one there. Figures. We’re in the middle of the woods, who would be out here anyway? I could hardly text My mom or Auntie Mabel with how far from civilization we were. I don’t know how my dad was running all of those machines. The Mystery Shack could barely keep the lights on all day. Except for the kitchen light for some reason. According to Soos, that light has been there ever since my dad’s first summer here. And it wasn’t going to die any time soon.

I held my head and laid back down. I was going crazy. I drifted back off to sleep.

I re-awoke in a dream. I was in a field, with fog and mist swirling around my ankles. I walked forward, but found myself tripping over a root. “ACH-!” I fell on my face.

A creepy laugh reverberated around me. I quickly sat up and wiped the mud off my face, looking around. “Who-who’s there!”

“Peek a boo!” I heard behind me. I quickly darted around and slapped whatever was following me, but my hand immediately started burning. I screamed and backed away.

The yellow triangle laughed again. He kicked his legs delightfully. “Charming! Really!”

“Who- what are you!”

He summoned a glowing yellow cane. “Oh, well, I can’t answer that, sixer. But the name’s Bill Cipher! I met you in the woods!”

“What? I didn’t meet anyone in those woods…except for my uncle.”

“Oh, old Fordsy! I miss that guy. You’re a lot like him, you know! Curious, intelligent…I could really help you, you know! You want to know the mysteries of this town, don’t you? I helped your great-great uncle and your dad discover the same thing! I’m their old pal! What do you say?”

“How do I know you’re not lying?” I stood and backed away.

I was brought into a short flashback. I saw Ford as a young man. He looked frustrated, standing in front of his recordings and findings, all pinned to a board. He slammed his fist against it. “THERE’S NO ANSWER!” He screamed. “I need help…Bill!” He called.

The sophisticated isosceles appeared to my uncle. But the rest of his surroundings went black and white. They must have been in some weird, in-between dimension between his mind and reality.

“Bill- I hit another roadblock,” Ford pleaded. “I need your advice.”

Bill looked at the colorless research. “Hmmm.” He went on to provide very useful knowledge. 

Ford’s face lit up with excitement. “Yes- the crash site! I could go explore there- there has to be a connection to the weirdness that must have attracted the UFO, and if I can find the spacecraft itself- I could finish my portal! Yes, that’s it!”

The flashback faded. “As you can see,” Bill said. “I helped your uncle with his research! I have knowledge beyond what you can comprehend. Just let me help, kid!”

I hesitated. “And…what would you ask for in return?”

“Oh, I don’t need anything in return.” He leaned against his cane. “Well except…no, you wouldn’t.” He looked off to the side at nothing in particular. I felt taunted.

“Wouldn’t what?”

“Take back your promise. And go back into the woods. That is the only place I can hear you and observe you. Because of the weirdness properties. Anywhere else…well it’s not as magical. It’s more safeguarded to the point where an interdimensional being like myself isn’t allowed.” His eye filled with images of all the magical things I’ve seen.

I thought about it, feeling myself getting more and more curious as he showed me images of the magical forest. “And if I go into those woods…you can observe my observations and help me fulfill my curiosities and wonders?”

“Bingo!” he pointed at me, then opened his hand. His palm lit ablaze with a blue flame. His eye glowed blue.

“...” I shook his hand. He giggled happily. “See you there, sixer!” He vanished. I jumped awake from my dream. After coming to my senses, I spent the rest of the night staring at the ceiling.

I rolled out of bed at about 4am, still not able to sleep. Theo was up for whatever reason. 

 “What’s wrong?” He asked worriedly.

“Go back to bed, Theo,” I said blankly.

“Why are you sad?”

“I’m not. I think I’m just going to go get some breakfast.”

“But..no one is awake yet.” He sat up.

“Dad is. I have to go talk to him anyway.”

“About what?”

“Theo.” I glared at him. I really wasn’t in the mood. Especially not after making some sketchy deal with an interdimensional triangle.

Theo shut his mouth and laid back down with his dinosaurs. I put on my shoes and jacket and went downstairs. I walked outside and started to make my way towards my dad’s research facility.

Then I had a change of heart. Ford was asleep. I could go into the woods, and see what surprises awaited me. I could really see what Bill meant when he said he could help. Who knew what I would find? I quickly ran back to the shack and hopped aboard my Quad-Owl. We began soaring back to my spot in the woods. 

We landed by a ginormous tree. It was bigger than most of them, and the bark was marked with an hourglass symbol. I ignored it and sat down against it. I went back to looking through the books.

“Ria?” I heard. I quickly looked around. What was it with people sneaking up on me?

Grunkle Ford walked up to me. “I told you not to come out here.” He held his hands behind his back. My own confused expression reflected off of his glasses.

I didn’t know when he got out here. I didn’t know where he came from. It really bewildered me.

“I- Grunkle Ford I-”

Ford sighed. “I told you not to let your curiosity control you.”

I shook my head. “You don’t understand-”

“Kid, do you know how long I’ve been studying the paranormal? I will understand anything.”

I shook my head. “I don’t want to tell you yet.”

“You have to- what’s that?” He looked up.

I couldn’t tell if he was just messing with me, but I followed his instructions and looked up. Somehow it had eluded me, but there was a treehouse up in the thick branches. It was huge, but covered with vines. Light spilled through the windows and the front door. I looked around for a ladder or something.

“There!” Ford pointed to a loose rope. It blended in with the dead brown vines. He grabbed it and started to climb up.

I hesitated. But I’d rather follow him into a random creepy treehouse then tell him about my conversation with Bill. I stood, putting the journal away. I followed my uncle up the rope.

He helped pull me up to the top. The door creaked open on its own. The inside reminded me a lot of my dad’s research facility. Everything looked to be handmade, and futuristic in a sense. 

“Intruders detected,” the speaker announced. “Unrecognized.”

“Who’s there!” a panicked man cried from the inside. “Don’t come in- I have weapons!”

“It’s okay,” Ford assured softly, slowly inching into the treehouse. He motioned me to stay behind his back. “We’re not here to hurt anyone.”

I hid behind him, holding onto the folds of his red sweater. Weirdly, he wasn’t wearing his lab coat that was seen in the picture. But then I remembered: His lab coat was the same one that my dad wore in his facility. I guess two of the same clothing article couldn’t exist in one world? It didn’t make any sense. The coat must have some important backstory that differentiates it from any other.

Grunkle Ford, despite assuring that we weren’t going to hurt anyone, drew his gun. He glanced around the dark candle-lit treehouse.

The old man peeked over the backrest of his chair and looked over at us. His gray hair curled in all directions. His rectangular glasses slipped down his nose bridge. He pushed them back up. “Please- don’t shoot!” He wrapped his cloak around himself.

I started to feel sympathetic. This man has obviously been through something terrible.

Ford shook his head. He put his gun away. “Don’t be scared. My name is Stanford, and this is Ria. We just want to know what you’re doing all the way out here, seemingly alone.”

I nodded.

The old man shook terribly. He turned his chair around. “I-I’m Sean...Dr. Sean Swivel. I don’t like visitors!”

“Please, Dr. Sean,” I said softly, coming out from behind my uncle. “Please tell us what’s going on.”

“I-I-I..” He stuttered. He clutched his stomach like he was going to puke.

Ford and I glanced at each other. We both looked concerned for this guy. There was no telling how long he had been going insane.

Grunkle Ford approached the man’s desks. He changed subjects. “Did you build everything in here? That’s quite impressive.”

“Y-Yes.” He adjusted his glasses again. “But-..I don’t build anymore! Those days are over…”

“So what do you do out here all day?” I asked him.

“Dream- I dream- and pray- and hide!”

“Hide?” Ford asked. His tone got dark and serious. “Hide from what?”

“The future!” He screeched, pulling his cloak over his head. “The future- it’s coming!”

Ford and I exchanged glances again. “You can’t really…do anything about that,” I told Dr. Sean, facing him again. “The future is coming eventually, whether you like it or not.”

Ford shook his head. He obviously knew I was right, but he didn’t think it would be completely safe to try and explain this to such a deranged man. “Do you happen to know what is coming in the future? What exactly are you so afraid of?”

Dr. Sean held his throat. “ACH-! AH!” He started to go purple.

Ford widened his eyes in confusion and fear. “Dr. Sean, are you okay!?”

“Are you choking!?” I stepped forward.

Dr. Sean’s eyes rolled back in his head. Ford put his arm over me and urged me backwards. He drew his gun again.

“Grunkle Ford-!” I said fearfully. “What’s going on!?”

“I don’t know, Ria,” Ford said dimly.

Dr. Sean started to recite something. He spoke fast and…backwards? I couldn’t understand a word he was saying. If only it was written on paper so I could decipher it.

Ford quickly froze up. He looked traumatized, again, but even more terrified then I have ever seen him.

I snapped in front of my uncle's face. “Grunkle Ford! Grunkle Ford! GRUNKLE FORD!”

He shook himself out of it. “We have to go- NOW!” He quickly dragged me out of the treehouse and slid down the rope like a fireman pole.

I yelped. “Quinn!”

The owl ran up to us. Grunkle Ford quickly climbed onto the creature's back and we flew off.

We landed back at the Mystery Shack and Ford hopped off of Quinn’s back, still dragging me behind him.

“Grunkle Ford- where are we going!?” I yelled. 

“I don’t know if you’ve been shown this area yet,” He said. “But it’s both the safest and most dangerous place I’ve ever been in. But it’s also the most secret. And we need to speak about something. I need to tell you about my portal.”

“Your portal?” I remember hearing about a portal in the flashback that Bill had shown me, but I didn’t think much of it at the time.

“Yes.” He started to input a code into the vending machine, still holding my hand tightly with his free one. “And the entity I told you about. He left one final message when we banished him from this dimension…and a few years before I passed from a heart attack, I remember deciphering it. I was able to go into my brother's mind and find a very distant memory. And the message…it wasn’t very promising.” The vending machine popped open. Dust and smoke was released. I coughed.

Ford led me into the elevator and pressed a button. The elevator started to take us down. “The message was spoken backwards, just as you just witnessed. And I witnessed something similar after finishing the construction on my portal. I will tell you all about it shortly.”

I just nodded. I wasn’t quite sure why he trusted me. I didn’t even trust him enough to tell him about some dream that probably wasn’t even real. But it was reassuring to know that I would finally get some answers. Maybe whatever happened to this guy in the past would help me with my discoveries. He definitely knew a lot about mysteries, and I had full faith that whatever he knew would interest me. It’s like Bill said: we are a lot alike.