Her life - what it once was - flashed before her eyes. Everything flooded back.

Her mother, Donna, and father, Thomas, hadn't wanted a second child. Donna had made that very clear to her all her life. "You weren't wanted, ya know that?" She'd say practically every week. Ida couldn't look at her when she said that. If she didn't see the hatred in her mother's eyes, she could pretend it didn't exist.

"I know, Mama." She'd say. Donna would click her tongue, glaring at her cigarette as if it were her daughter. "Your brother was wanted." She'd say, a venom in her voice. "I know, Mama." She'd repeat.

When Thomas and Donna would fight, Ida heard. Not that she wanted to, but she wasn't allowed to close her bedroom door. For the first few months, her brother would hold her close and whisper that they'd stop soon. Then, he became cold, refused her hugs, and glared if she tried talking to him.

A part of her always wanted to forgive Ethan, since he'd once been kind. Then, she told herself that if he truly cared about her, he wouldn't have treated her like he eventually did.

"I KNOW YA DID IT!" Donna screamed, grabbing a nearby cup and throwing it at Thomas. He didn't look her in the eyes. "Why would you do this!?" Thomas glared at her. "She loves me, an' I swear on my life I didn't ever sleep with her."

Donna struck him. He didn't scream - he never did. Instead, he looked at her calmly and said, "I'm done. We're done. You're a drunk, and I'm tired of coming home to that."

And like that, Thomas Micheals and Donna Smith finally confirmed they were no longer in love.

They hadn't noticed Ida standing in the hallway, watching. She was eight. Ethan emerged behind her and shoved her to the side. "Your fault." He hissed, his eyes glittering with tears. Ida didn't understand.

Her fault?

"Our family doesn't need you!" He screamed. That caught their parent's attention. "Ethan!" Thomas yelled. Ida ran - something she was good at. She ran out the front door, her heart thumping in her ears.

The park. Birch trees were scattered about, seeming like eyes watching her. Still, that place was perfect. So, she sat herself under a tree and cried.

She didn't understand. This was her family - her life. And now what would it become...?

That was when she sensed something- someone near her. The birch trees' eyes burned into her body, like they were staring. She looked up, and there he was...

A demon. And from him, a deal emerged. All she had to do was live. And he would protect her. She didn't quite know from what. He gave her a necklace; a black star with gold trim. He told her it would call for him. Ida might've been young, but she was no fool. If she told Donna, her mother would snatch that necklace and scream at her for taking things from demons. She might've even called her cursed, or said she could summon them.

So, Ida never told her family anything that happened.

Soon, her home became a warzone. Screaming, hitting, hurting all around. Still, Ida had Bill. Thomas moved in with the woman Donna had accused him of sleeping with, a woman named Lily.

Lily was unlike anyone Ida knew before. She radiated an air that was comforting. She'd speak of faraway places unlike anything Ida knew. A place where people of any kind could live peacefully. No wars, pain, suffering, or hate.

Donna called Lily, "One of those no-good, lying, stupid hippies."

Ida called Lily, "Momma."

If she wasn't happy at home, maybe school could be that place of peace Lily spoke of. Right?

Of course it couldn't.

There, she was called a monster, a freak, and an idiot. And that wasn't even half of it.

One girl, Ella Schmidt, would grab her hair, or snip locks off. It didn't matter how much Ida screamed and kicked at her. Ella thought it was hilarious. A boy would steal her things and throw them into dumpsters. She didn't know how someone who shared her father's name could be cruel.

She had three friends her age in the whole town. Amy Christopher, Jenny Jason, and Tammy Reen. Their faces were smeared in her memory - blurry as a worn Polaroid.

They'd taught her how to draw. She drew flowers and people, and birch trees. She'd color the birch tree "eyes" yellow and tell her friend that they made her happy. Besides her rabbit doll and the purple jacket her father bought her, her drawings were her most prized possessions.

Not even those were safe.

Some of her tormentors found them in her desk. She tried grabbing them from him, but she was shorter than the other kids. And with a lighter, her drawings were gone.

She had never hurt someone before. She was too scared to. She was always terrified. At that moment, she was furious. More angry than when Ethan called her useless and struck her. More enraged than when Donna did nothing and said that this was good for her soul.

She launched herself at him, swinging her fists violently and screaming unintelligibly. Her classmates stared, screaming for her to stop. Screaming that she was a monster. She didn't stop until she heard a crack.

She'd broken his nose. She hadn't meant to.

From that day forward, Ida was a social pariah in the town. She became one to herself as well. She stopped trying, stopped caring. Hardly anything made her happy. Drawings were hard to make, and classes felt like mumbles in the back of her mind. She didn't care when Ethan hit her or Donna screamed. She stopped going outside after school - even to go to Thomas and Lily.

She hardly even fought the lake's water when she slipped under. Bill was the only reason she was saved. She felt sorry for him. She felt like a hopeless case.

Then, she finally went outside to visit Jenny. The soft-spoken, platonic love of her life. Maybe if she talked to Jenny, she'd feel alright.

And there Jenny was... A chair scattered to the floor and the ropes creaking.

Ida felt like she couldn't breathe for days. Nothing seemed worth it anymore. Days seemed to pass by in seconds.

Bill was the one to always notice. He'd stay with her for days on end. He'd listen to her disconnected mumbling at night. He'd make sure she ate, he'd be everything that the world could never be for her.

The kids in her classes called her a d- for being so devastated over her friend being gone. "What's a d-?" She asked Bill one time. Bill sputtered in shock and told her not to say that. He explained that some words really hurt others. Because people could be so hateful. He explained who that word was meant to hurt.

Ida asked what she did to be so hated. To be so unwanted by so many people.

And she almost stopped it all. She almost jumped off the school roof. She wanted it to end. Bill held out his hand, though. Ida just couldn't do it. "I don't want to die... I just want them to stop... It hurts..." She whispered.

Bill held onto her, whispering that he was there. That he would never leave her.

The next morning, Ida woke up to smells in the kitchen. When she went to the kitchen, Bill was cooking. Donna had already left to work and Ethan had gone off to talk to his friends. Breakfast foods were scattered across the table. She stared for a moment, not understanding. Bill saw her and smiled. "I wanted to give you a good morning." He said.

Ida cried, running to Bill and clinging onto him. Donna had never cooked breakfast for her. Bill hugged her, stroking her hair. Her cries turned to laughter as she smiled up at him. That was the best morning of her life.

Days seemed to get better. Words bounced off of her, and she sparkled around her friends. She became less afraid of asking Bill for help. She even got a half-brother from Thomas and Lily.

Then, May 10, 1982.

Her father gave her amazing news. He was finally getting full custody of her, and they'd be moving to New York. Finally, she was leaving the town that hated her. Bill wanted to go with her. Life would finally be good.

But, as she was walking to a nearby candy shop, someone reached from a nearby alley and grabbed her by the back of her neck. She pulled away in fear, but her necklace snapped.

After much running, she got herself into the woods. The person in the alley was still following her. She found what looked like an abandoned cabin and tried hiding inside. She didn't know it belonged to the person following her.

She couldn't run for much longer, and the attacker grabbed her. And with a stab to the stomach, she was left to bleed out.

The attacker dropped her necklace. She grabbed for it and cried out. Bill appeared before her. He dropped to his knees and tried calming the child. He was panicking, unaware of what to do.

A calmness suddenly washed over her. She grabbed onto him, looking up to meet his eye. In a voice that was barely a whisper, she told him, "We'll meet again..."

And even that wasn't the end for her.

At first, it was just nothing. Then, a voice hummed in her head, "You've been wronged, child." It was cold and unfeeling. "Pick up the knife. Accept your role."

Her being jolted with movement. Her hand grabbed the discarded knife. She stood. She looked back for a moment. All she saw was a burden of a shell.

And in moments, blood was on her hands. Blood on her hands from the person who had hers on theirs. And like that, she was a Judge.

But Bill was her priority. And the other Judges were no better than the townspeople. So, she got the one kind Judge she knew to let her stay in Gravity Falls.

And now, here she was, feeling more alone and empty than she was when she was waiting to achieve her physical form.

And when every emotion hit her at once...

And her eyes opened.