Staring Over

Chapter 5: A Job

Pacifica had been in Emmett for a week and couldn't find a job. She didn't fit in at McDonald's (partially because she'd never had to sweep in her life), she didn't fit in at all of the daycares (Gee I wonder why, she thought after her bomb of an interview), and she didn't fit in at any of the banks. She even tried at Wendy and Peter's place, but that didn't work. She didn't know what to do.

And she couldn't keep living with Mabel and Dipper. She thought that they were so kind to let her live with them, but both of them together was just intolerable. They were always arguing, and if they weren't arguing, they were singing songs well into the night. She was surprised the neighbours didn't kill them, because she was about to.

Plus, it was almost Christmas, and she wanted to give everyone presents, but she didn't know what to get them. There was also the problem of her not having any money.

Bascially, Pacifica needed a job.


Pacifica was in her room looking for job opportunities in Meridian, a neighbouring town that wasn't too far from Emmett. There was nothing there though.

She sighed. "I hate everything," she decided. She went downstairs to announce that to everyone when she saw a ghost in the hallway.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she screamed. "DIPPER! MABEL! THERE'S A GHOST!"

Dipper came running out of his room wearing nothing but some basketball shorts. Pacifica's face turned red, so she turned back to the ghost. The ghost was a little girl, no older than ten, wearing a nightgown.

"Seriously? This is causing all of the problems?" Dipper asked.

"You try coming out of your room and seeing this staring at you on the other end of the hallway!" Pacifica said.

Dipper rolled his eyes. "MABEL, GRAB THE-"

Mabel came out of her room with this small circular disk, no bigger than a DVD. She opened it and pressed a button and the ghost got sucked into it. She closed it once the ghost was gone and sighed.

"Where is that from? The Ghostbusters?" Pacifica asked.

Mabel scratched her head as she yawned. "The Ghostbuster's methods weren't too far off from what you should really do in real life," Mabel said. She sighed. "Well, I'm going back to bed."

"Make sure to lock that up in the storage unit," Dipper said.

Mabel tossed the disk to Dipper. He barely caught it. "You do it, since you're alive and awake at 9:30 in the morning."

Dipper rolled his eyes. "First of all, do not throw the disk with the child ghost."

"I'm sorry," Mabel said sarcastically.

"Second of all, it's 9:30 in the morning! Business hours started 30 minutes ago! And you're still in your cat onesie!" Dipper said.

Mabel looked down at her onesie and shrugged. "I work in this. Also, it's 8:30 in Oregon time so I have thirty minutes until business hours start. So, excuse me while I fall asleep for another 30 minutes." She walked back into her room.

Pacifica stared at the disk in Dipper's hand. "So there's a ghost in there," Pacifica said.

"Yep," Dipper said. "But don't worry. This ghost wouldn't have hurt you. This one is only a 1 on the category."

"Well, it was creepy," Pacifica said.

Dipper laughed. "Don't worry. We got all the ghosts under control."

"Ghosts? Plural?"

"Yeah..." Dipper said.

"Great," Pacifica said.

"Remeber the last ghost you got?"

"Yeah. But, you know, that was different. The ghost wasn't staring at me from down the hallway," Pacifica joked.

Dipper rolled his eyes and walked downstairs. Pacifica walked back into her room.


A few days later, Pacifica, Dipper, and Mabel were watching TV.

"Oh that is such bullshit," Mabel said. "OF COURSE SHE CHOOSES HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIM!"

"Stop yelling," Dipper said. "It's a movie."

"NOT TO ME!" Mabel said.

Pacifica rolled her eyes while trying not to laugh at the Pines twins.

Suddenly, the house started shaking. The TV turned off and the lights started flickering. The Pines and Pacifica got up and looked around.

"What's going on?" Pacifica asked.

"I don't know," Dipper said.

A knife from the kitchen rose up. Pacifica pointed at it in fear. It suddenly flew through the air, aiming for Dipper. He moved out of the way and the knife hit the wall.

"What the hell is going on?" Pacifica asked.

An old man in suspenders appeared, floating. He had three arms and three legs. He stared daggers at Dipper.

"Oh," Dipper said. "It's Old Zad."

"Old Zad?!" Pacifica asked.

"Old Zad was a killer in the 80s. He hunted young men because one young man had killed his daughter. He killed 2 men before he was brought into custody. He died in prison and starting haunting other men to get revenge," Dipper said.

"So it's your fault," Mabel said.

Dipper glared at her. "No, it is not my fault."

The Pine twins started arguing when Pacifica remembered the disks. Old Zad continued throwing knives but each time, Dipper ducked and then continued arguing with his sister.

Pacifica snuck out of the room and ran to the storage unit. It was a big room full of paranormal knick-knacks. She grabbed one of the disks and walked back into the room.

She saw that Dipper and Mabel were now being held up by Old Zad, and Zad had a knife next to Dipper's throat. Pacifica starting running over when she tripped on something and fell. Zad, Dipper, and Mabel looked over and saw Pacifica holding onto her ankle. Zad saw her, but decided she wasn't important and looked back at Dipper. He was about to cut Dipper's throat when he felt a pull. Pacifica had opened up the disk and pressed the button, and now Zad was being sucked in. Zad dropped Dipper, Mabel, and the knife and got sucked in. He tried to grab onto the counter, but Pacifica pointed the disk towards him. He let go of the counter and let out a loud scream as he vanished. Pacifica quickly closed the disk and sighed.

"Good God," Pacifica said. "That's a workout."

Dipper and Mabel stared at her before running over to her in exitement. Mabel took the disk and cheered. Dipper picked her up, spun her around in circles, before putting her down awkwardly, his face red.

"YOU CAUGHT OLD ZAD!" Mabel yelled. "PARANORMAL EXPERTS HAVE BEEN TRYING TO DO THAT FOR YEARS!"

"Not years, decades!" Dipper said. "Good job, Pacifica!"

"Thank you," Pacifica said.

Dipper looked at Mabel. She looked back and nodded.

"We would officially like to invite you to join our team," Dipper said.

"We're only here for a few weeks, and then we travel around Idaho, and one day other states, and hunt for ghost and crap," Mabel said.

"Of course, we'd have to set you up at Boise State, since we get funded by them. But the pay isn't too bad and it's a lot of fun."

"Plus, you'd be working with us," Mabel said. "What more could a person want? We also do joint Christmas gifts for everyone, so you'd be paying a lot less money."

"So, are you in?" Dipper asked.

"Hell yeah," Pacifica said.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!" Mabel yelled. "You will not regret this!"

"You might regret this," Dipper said.

"Let me go upstairs and call BSU! They should have your account set up by the 18th!"

"Hooray," Pacifica said.

Mabel ran upstairs.

"Welcome to the team," Dipper said. "You're gonna love it."