Chapter 11: Replay
'I want to do what's best for Pacifica, but at this time, I'm not sure which would be best for her. She could lose me or I could lose her, this is one choice I wish I didn't have to make.'
~(Pacifica's P.O.V.)~
Stuck between a rock and a hard place is what can describe our situation at the moment. Because of me, Dipper has a gun pointed directly at him and at any moment this lunatic wants to, he can pull the trigger and I would lose my savior forever. There has got to be something I can do to get the attention off of him. After all, he's done so much for me, it's about time I did something for him. As pathetic as it sounds, Dipper has been my crutch through my hard times, he's been the crutch I've needed to keep myself going, and now I can say I'm officially done running away and using him as my crutch. I've run away when the abuse with my parents started, when I was angry and began cutting myself, and even when Johnathon raped me. I've run away for far too long and now, I'm fed up with doing so, I'm done running! This damsel is done being in distress and letting her fear remain in replay!
"So will this end in your bloodshed or are you going to do the smart thing and get out of my way?!" The lunatic continues threatening my Dipper. That's it, I've had enough of this guy and I'm going to do whatever I can to get him to leave Dipper alone!
"Leave him alone!" I speak up, stepping from behind Dipper, the gun now being pointed at me instead of him. "It's me that you want, not him!"
"Pacifica, are you nuts?!" Dipper says to me. "You are walking right into the line of fire! I'm the one protecting you from this guy so get back behind me! I can't let you do this!"
As much as I love Dipper being my knight and shining armor, it's my turn to protect him, even if it means getting killed in the process. After all, if I were able to stand up to my mother, standing up to this guy should be no problem. In a weird sort of way, he reminds me of her.
"No Dipper, I'm done running!" I slightly turn to him and say. "And it's my turn to protect you."
"You made the right decision Pacifica." The guy calmly says to me, now lowering his gun. "I'm sticking to my promise, I won't hurt you. I love you too much to ever harm a hair on that head of yours, that beautiful golden waterfall."
"First of all, who are you?" I ask, considering his tone of voice does seem very familiar to me. "I recognize your voice, but I want to see who I'm talking to."
"Pacifica, what are you doing?!" Dipper hisses now stepping in front of me. "You know guys like that will kill anyone who recognize their face, especially in a situation like this one! This guy is dangerous and the last thing I will let happen to you is take a bullet because you wanted to match a voice with an image!"
Smiling to Dipper, I gently scoot him to one side and lock eyes with the maniac.
"Who are you?" I ask once more. It is worth risking my life to save Dipper from death. After all, he's done that for me on numerous occasions so why not do it for him?
"If you really want to know, I'll tell you." He replies, now removing his ski mask to reveal his face to me. From what I now see, the lunatic that threatened my Dipper's life is the intern my parents hired five years ago!
"Ryan?!" I'm in complete shock now.
"You know this deranged lunatic?" Dipper asks.
"Yes Pacifica, it's me." Ryan sympathetically replies. "I had to come find you and tell you just how much I love you and want to be with you. Please come with me, I'll take great care of you. I promise."
"You're too late!" Dipper speaks up. "And why would she want to go out with someone like you?! You're insane!"
"But how did you know I was here?" I ask, still bewildered at who I am talking to. "Not even my family knows I'm here!"
"I was able to track your cell phone signal." Ryan replies, a twisted smile appearing on his face, which admittedly is scaring me a little. "When your mother asked me to have everyone's phones upgraded two years ago, I instructed to have a tracking chip implanted in your phone so I would know where you are every minute of every day. That's how much I care for you."
A tracking chip so he can track me? Dipper is right, this guy is insane, a sicko at best! I mean who does that? Maybe my parents would do something like that, but after the way they have abused me for years, the last thing they would care about is what happens to me. I have one great family huh?
"Then why were you trying to attack her with a syringe?" Dipper continues his questioning.
"That's a good question." I add in. "If you care for me like you say you do, why were you trying to stick me with that syringe filled with who knows what? Love doesn't mean killing or even drugging them!"
"Don't worry, it's just a mild drug." Ryan replies, his creepy smile widening. "I was going to inject you with it so to keep you asleep long enough for when I took you away to our special place. I wanted you to wake up to a perfect safe haven and considering I've seen how your parents treat you, I couldn't bear to let it continue so I had a plan to take you away from all of that. You'll be safe with me I promise."
"She already has someone who she is safe with, me!" Dipper voices, now placing me behind him with Ryan once again aiming his gun towards Dipper. This has to end! It has gone on long enough!
"Fine, I'll go away with you." I express, stepping from behind Dipper. "Just leave Dipper alone! I'll do anything you want, just don't harm him! But I have to know one thing, what happened at my house and who did you kill?"
"Well, my original targets were your parents, but I ended up shooting your maid and the chef." Ryan reveals. "And since your mother wanted to be a hero and save the chef, she was shot as well, in the stomach, but is still alive. I believe her condition is critical. Whatever the case, she deserved what she got for hurting you!"
"What about my dad?" I ask, immediately gaining second thoughts about sacrificing myself to save Dipper.
"He's still alive." Ryan replies. "Although he shouldn't be considering he abused you as well."
Now I'm really having second thoughts about going away with this guy to save Dipper. If he can openly admit to shooting and killing someone, no telling what else he will proudly and openly admit to me, not to mention do to me! The little courage I was able to muster is now beginning to fade.
"I did it all for you Pacifica, you have to believe me." Ryan continues, his tone bordering on begging. "I couldn't stand by any longer and let them hurt you! It ripped me apart to see someone as wonderful as you get hurt by heartless jerks like them!"
…..And now my courage is gone…
"And please forgive me for what I'm about to do next, but just know I'm doing it for you." Ryan says, confusing me by his words. "I love you."
What else could he possibly do that I could forgive him for? First he breaks in here with intentions to kidnap me, then he holds a loaded gun to Dipper, and lastly openly admits to killing the staff at my house while critically wounding my mother. The last part I don't so much mind, but I'm still confused as to why he would openly admit to killing anyone. Before I'm able to make sense of what he just said, searing pain now shoots through my right arm with what feels like cold fluid rushing through my veins. Quickly turning to my arm, I notice that Ryan has stuck me with his syringe and is smiling widely at me as he presses on the lever of the needle to fully inject the drug into me.
"Please forgive me Pacifica." Ryan speaks, his words meshing together in my mind as I feel it beginning to shut off.
My eyelids now become heavy with sleep and can feel my legs beginning to give out under me. Collapsing to the ground, I now hear Dipper scream out to me and a gun shot being fired within ear shot before I lose consciousness altogether. As much as I wanted to see what happened to my savior, the drug made it impossible for me to lift my head, let alone scream. My savior could be seriously injured and it's all because he put his life on the line to save mine. This is all my fault!
~(Ryan's P.O.V.)~
I didn't want to go as far as I did when retrieving my Pacifica, but what other choice did I have? That Pines boy thought that he could take her for himself, but I showed him that no one stands between me and my true love! Turning the safety on my gun on and placing it in my pocket, I turn to Dipper and see that the bullet that I gave him put him out of commission, but most of all, kept him away from Pacifica. Turning to my blonde haired angel, she is fast asleep and should remain so until we reach our special place. I'm not letting her out of my sight now, I promise to always look after her and that boy can't possibly provide for her like I can! Leaning down, I pick her up while taking extra precaution not to ruin a strand on her beautiful head. Just lovely!
Taking one last look at the unconscious boy in the corner of the room, I feel a smirk form on my face. Tough luck Pines! The better man won!
Now that I have my prize, I now split the scene. My business was taken care of!
~(Dipper's P.O.V.)~
I couldn't protect her! I failed and couldn't protect her! I made a promise to myself and couldn't even keep it! Now she's gone, slipped through my fingers, and is in harm's way! There's no telling what that guy could do to her. I don't want to think about it, but I have to somehow get her back. That guy is very unstable and considering what he did to her family, he could do that to her without thinking twice about it!
When Ryan shot me, he thought he was rid of me for good when all I have is a flesh wound in my left arm, nothing more. I guess the skills of playing dead did me a lot of good. Mabel taught me that the last time we went camping and had to outsmart a gremobline that invaded our camp site. That skill was better than Grunkle Stan's method of throwing our food at the creature to make it go away! That man sometimes I tell you, but considering it worked for the gremobline, it also worked for Ryan who seems to have the same mental capacity as that creature! Now I just have to clean my arm off and make my way back to the shack so to get help in rescuing Pacifica from that lunatic! No telling where she is, I'm not going to give up until she is back with me once more.
This still feels a taste awkward, yet, I've grown to enjoy saying it, but I love her too much to let anything happen to her! Once I clean myself up, I'm going to hunt Ryan down and make him pay for kidnapping her! Don't worry Pacifica, I'll find you and mark my words, I'm going to make sure Ryan pays for everything he does to you! You won't slip through my fingers again!
~(Pacifica's P.O.V)~
Cold. That's all I feel at the moment. My entire body feels like I've been dropped into the Arctic Ocean with no way to warm myself, nothing to help warm myself is a better way to put it. I'm shivering and with each jolt I feel, I feel as if I'm that much closer to death. Why am I feeling like this? What happened to make me feel this way? Dipper is the reason I've been warm since I was united with him, but now….wait a minute, Dipper! It's all coming back to me now! I remember Dipper protecting me, Ryan holding a gun to him, and then I stepped in front of Dipper! After that, everything became one big blur!
Turning my body over to hopefully warm myself any way I can, I now feel something soft under me, like water or even sand. My eyes flutter open with my instincts telling me to sit up. Having opened my eyes, I do sit up and the first thing I notice is that my surroundings are different. I'm no longer in my family's summer cabin, but somewhere unfamiliar. I don't like being in strange places alone. Ok, now I'm starting to get scared with thoughts of what Ryan might have done to Dipper in the moment that is coming in as one big blur to me. Am I with him right now, him having kidnapped me? If so, where is Dipper?
"Dipper!" I call out, hoping my savior would hear me and come to my aide. So far, no response. It's not like him to not be there for me when I need him.
"Dipper!" I try again, hoping I would be heard and comforted by the one I've come to fall for. Again, nothing.
A memory is now coming to me in the form of a sound, a chilling sound. That familiar sound rings through my mind, the sound of a gun being fired. Ryan did hold a gun to Dipper so he could have…..no, he couldn't have taken him from me! He just couldn't have! Dipper means everything to me and if he is dead because of me, I can't continue on without him knowing that he sacrificed his life to save mine! Just when things begin to look up, a dark cloud forms to take what luck I have away! Why does this always have to happen to me?! Why?! I guess this could be my retribution for treating everyone so badly and for even causing the suicide of a classmate of mine back last year. I was a horrible person and if I were to die at any point, it would be my own fault. But I know how Dipper would feel, I wouldn't want to do that to him and would fight until my last breath just to stay united with him.
"I was beginning to think you'd never wake up." A chilling voice speaks to me. "You truly do live up to the name, sleeping beauty."
The voice spoke to the front of me and slowly turning my head in that direction, I now spot the last person I want to see right now. So my conclusion was right, I was kidnapped by that deranged sicko who could have killed my Dipper, but who did go on a killing spree at my mansion. Feeling my stomach twist in knots and countless chills as cold as ice run through my veins, I scoot back against the headboard of the bed, slightly shrinking away from him. I wish I could summon the courage I had when I put on airs, acting as if I were better than everyone, but at this point, that is out of the question. Possibly no Dipper and far from anyone who could rescue me. I'm a sitting duck!
"No need to be afraid Pacifica, I won't hurt you." Ryan voices, a creepy smile appearing on his face. Like I'd take his word at face value! "I'm just thrilled to have you with me."
"Where is Dipper?" I ask, trying to swallow the fear that has surfaced and most likely he has picked up on. "You didn't hurt him did you?!"
That creepy smile of his widens as he begins approaching me, his vision locked with mine.
"No, I didn't hurt that little boyfriend of yours." Ryan snidely replies as he sits on the bed in front of me. He then leans forward as if trying to get a better vision of me. "But I would have if he didn't heed my warning."
"But I heard a gunshot before falling out thanks to you sticking me with that needle!" I snap to him. "Now answer my question, what did you do to Dipper?!"
Ryan now leans closer to me and with his left hand, begins playing in my hair. I believe I asked him a question and he needs to answer it!
"Did you hear me?!" I practically yell. "Now answer my question!"
"You have such long beautiful golden hair." Ryan drones. "I never knew hair could look like this shiny, this golden."
I hear a growl escape my throat as I smack Ryan's hand out of my hair.
"You didn't answer my question!" I snap, hardening my gaze.
"Pacifica, what would it matter anyway?" Ryan finally answers. "Besides, what you need is a man that can take care of you, not some boy."
"I'll have you know that I happen to love that boy!" I growl. How dare he have something bad to say about my Dipper! "Now did you hurt him or not?!"
"Would you hate me if I told you maybe?" Ryan continues skipping around the question. That's it! I'm done being toyed with! I'm going to find out for myself if he injured my Dipper and if he did….
Jumping off the bed, I now make a run for the door and just as I grab the knob, a smoking hole now appears over the knob. Eyeing the hole, my heart begins to race and my blood quickly runs cold. It's a good thing I have good reflexes.
"That was a warning shot." I hear Ryan say. "The next one won't be."
My eyes remain locked on the hole made by the bullet as I step slowly away from the door. At any time, he could do the same to me as he did with the door and possibly Dipper. As I continue staring at the door, my fear begins surfacing, this time faster than when I swallowed it. As much as I don't want my fear to replay, there isn't much I can to hit pause or rewind to stop it.
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