The Hirsch Phenomenon (part 26)

undoubtably.

And nobody had any idea why it happened.

Well, there were theories, obviously:

Maybe it was another weird thing, like what had happened before Alex had arrived.

Soos thought that it was just cool to have random music, but he said that it would have been better if it was a "cooler" song.

Mirra suggested that they go on a walk; it could clear their minds, plus they might be able to tell what areas had the background music. The group agreed. Mabel had arrived back from whatever she and her friends had done, and insisted that Waddles come too.

The hike was nice. Unlike Alex had expected, nothing out of the ordinary happened for most of the hike. Well, other than walking with people you made up and someone you didn't think existed.

Mirra spent a lot of the hike talking about the flora and fauna. Not even the supernatural kind. She pointed out plants by name and talked about her favorite bird, and mentioned that there was only one of them in Gravity Falls.

She also explained that she was forced to volunteer at the Mystery Shack by Stan, who had threatened to turn her in to the FBI if she didn't. She also explained that the FBI weren't searching for her at that point, but she worked for him for free anyway.

"Why?" Alex asked. "I mean, I know you're a faller or whatever you people call yourselves, but you didn't have to hard labor just because a cha- Stan asked you."

"I don't know."  Mirra replied. "I just like being helpful I guess."

Mirra walked a few steps ahead of Alex. Suddenly she hit something and fell on the ground.

"Ow!" 

The rest of the group looked over and Alex helped her up.

"What happened?" Alex asked. He followed Mirra's eyes to where she was when she had fallen. There was nothing there.

Mirra walked over to the spot slowly. She held up her hand and touched something invisible. The rest of the group ran over. Mabel tried to touch the invisible object, but her hands flailed through empty air.

"There's nothing there," Dipper stated. 

"Alex," Mirra said. "Get over here."

Alex ran over and banged his head on something. He tripped but didn't fall, caught by- an invisible wall?

He rubbed his head and felt for the invisible object. He gasped as his hand felt something cold.

"What...?"

"I don't get it." Dipper muttered. "How is it that we can't touch it but you-?" He seemed to have a realization.

"Alex?" Mirra asked. "How far is the Mystery Shack from the town border?"

"About ten miles..."

"Soos, how far away are we from the Mystery Shack right now?"

"About ten miles." He showed her with his chubby fingers. Ten.

Mirra looked back at the invisible wall.

"It's the border..." Mirra said. "We can't leave. Not physically anyway..." 

She ran at the wall to see if she could break through. The wall gave slightly, like a trampoline, then shot her back towards town. She landed next to Alex's feet and moaned.

"Nope. That's not gonna work..." She got up without Alex's help. "Well, so much for the rest of the hike." She motioned for the others, and they headed back towards town.