Starting Over

Chapter 4: Off to Idaho

"You will behave."

"What a terrible daughter you are."

"How dare you leave us?"

"We have cared for you for years!"

Pacifica saw a hand coming towards her face.

"AHH!"

Pacifica woke up in a sweat. Her parents' voices haunted her, still, even after a week of being gone.

She had already gone to the police and told them that she wasn't missing after the inevitable missing person's report. Her parents retaliated by cutting her off. But she didn't care. She didn't want the money. She just wanted to be gone.

She was staying in a small hotel with the Pines, since the only reason the Pines were at the Mystery Shack was because Soos and Melody had gone on vacation.

And now, Mabel, Dipper and Wendy were going back to Idaho. Pacifica would be accompanying them. Stan and Ford would be going back on the Stan O War to hunt for more paranormal activity, while Soos and Melody were staying in Gravity Falls at the Mystery Shack.

So last night, Pacifica had packed up all of the small belongings she had, and the few things she bought, like a new phone, and was ready to begin her new life. They didn't have a long drive to where they were going. Mabel had moved to a small town in Idaho called Emmett, which was about six hours from Gravity Falls. Pacifica would live with Mabel for a little bit before she got on her feet.

Pacifica sighed. She had been having nightmares every night since she left. She dreamed vividly of the tortures her parents had put her through.

She rolled her eyes. She had been gone for a week. It was time to stop having these ridiculous nightmares! So she grabbed her phone and googled ways to stop having nightmares.

Step 1: Use a night light.

She laughed. She was 20 years old. No way was she going to use a nightlight.

Step 2: Rewrite the ending.

"How am I supposed to rewrite the ending when it's a dream?" She rolled her eyes and read a little further.

"Imagine a happy ending for your dream."

She sighed. "I guess I could try that." She closed her eyes. "Hmm, instead of Dad's hand coming towards me to hit me, he... gives me a hug." She opened and rolled her eyes. "No way would Dad ever do that."

Step 3: Put stress in it's place.

She rolled her eyes. "K, I'm done with this article." She closed out the article and looked at the time. 6:55. "Oh, damn it."

Dipper had told her that she had to be up at 7:00 a.m. sharp. Pacifica had been up for thirty minutes trying to find a solution to her problem, and she had only fallen asleep at 3 a.m. after reminding herself over and over that she wouldn't wake up back in her childhood bedroom.

Pacifica sighed. "Guess I might as well get ready." She got out of bed, but felt like her head was about to explode, so she layed back down. "Let's try this again." She stood up and took a few steps to the door, but she felt like her body was a million pounds. She felt like she couldn't step another step or else she would fall down. But she braved through it and took another step and opened the door. She continued walking until she got to the stairs. She was really thirsty and she had drinken all of the water her room came wth. She went down one step and fell. She slipped down the rest of the stairs and landed in the lobby of the hotel.

"OW!" she yelled.

She heard a few doors open and the first one downstairs was Dipper. He was wearing a bathrobe, but it showed a little bit of his chest. Pacifica prayed that her cheeks didn't turn red when he sat down next to her, and his bathrobe showed more.

"Are you okay?" Dipper asked.

"No!" Pacifica said, and she felt tears pouring down her cheeks. Great, she thought. One week here and I trip down the stairs.

"So what happened?" Dipper asked as the rest of the Pines came downstairs. Mabel's hair was a mess and she was in a cat onesie. Stan was only wearing his boxers and Ford was already dressed and was holding a first aid kit.

"I woke up, and decided to come down here real quickly to grab some water before I got ready," Pacifica said.

"What about the water in your room?" Stan asked.

"I drank it all."

Dipper reached out his hand for the first aid kit. Ford handed it to him and Dipper grabbed some weird wrapping thing (Pacifica didn't know the name) and wrapped it around her ankle. "Well, it isn't broken. It might be sprained. We'll keep an eye on it during the drive."

"Thank you," Pacifica said.

Dipper stood up and reached his hands out. Pacifica took his hands out and he pulled her up. Pacifica looked into his deep brown eyes before he patted her on the back and turned to the rest of the group. "She lives!"

Mabel cheered, then had a deep yawn. "Can I go back to sleep?"

"No! We have to be on the road by 7:30 so we can get there by 2:30-3:00! Remember, Idaho is an hour ahead of us!" Dipper said.

Mabel stuck her tongue out at her brother. "I'm older than you, so shouldn't I be making the rules?"

Pacifica chuckled as Dipper stared daggers at his sister.

"If you don't go get upstairs and straighten up that mess of your hair and get back down here by 7:25 so we can go get Wendy and Peter, I will kill you!" Dipper said.

"Ooh, I'm so scared," Mabel teased.

Dipper ran towards Mabel, picked her up, and threw her over his shoulder. He started climbing up the stairs and Mabel punched his back.

"NO! THIS IS INVASION OF PERSONAL SPACE! I WILL SUE YOU!" Mabel yelled in protest.

"Try it!" Dipper said. "I dare you!"


25 minutes later, Pacifica was dressed, had eaten a small breakfast, brushed her hair and teeth, and was back downstairs and waiting for the Pines twins. Dipper was the first to come down in a white t-shirt, jeans, and his signature hat on. He sat next to her and they waited for Mabel.

"Thanks for your help with this thing," Pacifica said, pointing to her ankle.

"No problem," Dipper said. "It's what I do."

"You're a doctor?" Pacifica asked.

"No. But I do know a lot about helping people out."

"So what do you do?"

"I work with Mabel."

"That's really helpful," Pacifica teased.

"We opened up a business together helping people with paranormal stuff in Idaho. Apparently there's a lot of it there, too."

"Really?" Pacifica said. She wouldn't ever have thought that Idaho was a state where many paranormal activity happened.

"Yeah. Wendy helps us, too. Well, when she's not working with Peter at Pathways Bank. It's a small bank in Emmett that the Grunkles funded."

"So all of you are business owners," Pacifica said. She thought about Jackson and his major in business economics. She shuddered.

"Yeah," Dipper said, pretending he didn't notice her shudder.

Finally, 15 minutes after Dipper said to get downstairs, Mabel came downstairs, still wearing her cat onesie, but her hair was much more tame.

"15 MINUTES! YOU'RE 15 MINUTES LATE!" Dipper yelled as they walked to the car.

Mabel shrugged. "You try having my hair, brother."

"We do have the same hair. BECAUSE WE ARE TWINS! AND WE BOTH GOT MOM'S HAIR!" Dipper yelled.

"Just because we both got Mom's hair, doesn't mean that it takes you ten years to get your hair done. You what, comb through it once every morning and you're set?" Mabel asked.

"Obviously you don't pay attention to me because I brush my hair ALL THE DAMN TIME!" Dipper yelled.

Pacifica sighed as they finally got to the car. Mabel's car was big, with three rows and air conditioning in the back. Pacifica had the entire backseat to herself. She sprawled out with the air conditioning in cold, and using a pillow, fell asleep.


Pacifica woke up to Mabel and Dipper singing Babba very, very loudly.

"Disco girl
Coming through
That girl is you
Ooh-oooh, ooh-oooh
It's the year 1972
And that girl is you
Ooh-oooh, ooh-oooh!"

"Guys," Pacifica said, holding onto her head. "Why must you sing Babba so loud?" She sat up and sighed.

"Why must?" Mabel mocked.

Dipper rolled his eyes at his sister. "Well, we're there, so we figured we'd wake you. Plus, Babba is amazing."

"Babba is not amazing, but I know that song word for word-"

"Cuz you secretly love it," Dipper interuppted.

"NO! I know that song word for word because someone," Mabel glared at Dipper, "listened to it every day for a YEAR!"

"Because it's amazing!" Dipper said.

"It's not!" Mabel said.

Pacifica rolled her eyes and the twins argued about Babba. She looked out at Idaho. It was full of trees and grass and cows and horses.

"Farm land, huh?" Pacifica asked.

"Yes," Mabel said. "Idahoans love their farms."

"They also love their-" Dipper started.

"Hey!" Mabel said. "Don't joke about that."

"Oh, you know it's true," Dipper said and shrugged.

"Don't joke about it, Dipstick!" Mabel said.

"Oh, very kind of you, Mabel," Dipper said, scolding his sister.

Mabel stuck her tongue out at him.

Finally, they got to Emmett. Mabel stopped at a Maverick to get some gas. Pacifica walked in with Dipper to get some drinks. Pacifica had never been inside one and looked around in awe.

"They sell donuts here?" Pacifica asked, pointing at the case that showed off Maverick's donuts.

"Yeah. You want one?" Dipper asked. "I'll pay."

Pacifica looked at him. She wasn't allowed to have donuts. Well, with her parents, she wasn't allowed to have donuts. But, since she wasn't with them, she supposed she could give it a try. But wait, Dipper would pay. She didn't want to mooch off of him. No. She wouldn't get a donut. She would wait until she got a job and pay for it on her own.

"Oh, no. I'm fine. I don't wanna spend your money," Pacifica said.

"It'll be my treat," Dipper said.

"Seriously, I'll be fine. I've waited 20 years to have a donut, I can wait a few more weeks," Pacifica said.

Dipper gasped. "You've never had a donut?"

"Yeah," she said sheepishly.

"Oh, I am so getting you one now," Dipper said. He grabbed a napkin, opened the case, and looked around. "Hmm, you seem like you'd like chocolate." He grabbed a chocolate donut and closed the lid. He paused before his face lit up. "And you know what goes best with a chocolate donut?"

"What?" Pacifica said. She felt like everyone was staring at her, so she was trying to hide in her sweater.

"Chocolate milk," Dipper said, and ran towards the chocolate milk section before Pacifica could tackle him. He grabbed the biggest chocolate milk he could find and ran back to the cash register before Pacifica even made it to the milk section.

"This is very entertaining," said the lady behind the counter. She was an old woman with greying blonde hair and bright blue eyes that had obviously seen a lot. She had on a name tag that said Denise.

"I bet," Dipper said. He grabbed his wallet and payed for the donut and chocolate milk. Pacifica finally reached him.

"I'm gonna kill you, Pines," Pacifica said.

"You know this was the perfect day to do this," Dipper said as Denise finished putting the money away.

"Why is that?" Pacifica asked as Denise handed Dipper his change.

"Cuz your ankle is all messed up," Dipper said as he pocketed the change and walked out.

Pacifica walked after him, fuming. "How dare you! I can't believe this-"

Dipper handed her the donut. "You know, to save all of our time, just say thank you."

Pacifica took a bite out of the donut. It tasted absolutely delicious. She sighed. "Thank you." And then she inhaled the rest of it.

"What a sight," Dipper said. "The great Pacifica Northwest in a small town in Idaho gobbling down a donut."

"You're the one who bought it," Pacifica dead panned.

Dipper gasped as they reached the car. "Pacifica Elise Northwest, my heart is broken."

"It should be," Pacifica giggled.

Mable turned to them while she was putting gas in the car. "Hey, where's my energy drink?"

Dipper's eyes went wide. "Oh, shit," Dipper said. He handed Pacifica the chocolate milk and ran back into the store.

"Why do you have a huge Darigold?" Mabel asked.

"He says it goes well with donuts," Pacifica said.


Dream article: diseases-conditions/nightmare-disorder/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20353520