"Oh Gideon, your friend is here! Rise and shine!" Dad yelled from the doorway of my room.
Why does he need to be so loud? I turned over and pulled the pillow over my head. "Five more minutes."
His footsteps closed in on my bed and before I could do anything he ripped the blanket I had wrapped around me off. "Now get up. It's not nice to keep a young lady waitin'."
"Uhg... fine." I replied sitting up and swinging my legs over the side of the bed.
"That's more like it." Dad put the blanket down. "Get dressed, she told me you were goin' ta the Library. And brush your hair, it looks like a rat's-nest."
Like I didn't know that. "This town has a library?"
"Yes but I doubt half the townsfolk can read." he laughed and left the room.
I looked at my watch, which read 7:18. It's far too early for this. I quickly got dressed and looked at myself in the mirror. Then I saw what my dad was talking about. My pure white hair was sticking out every which way; I shook my head and fixed my hair so at least my dad would leave me alone about it but it was still quite messy. It didn't matter, I was planing on wearing my hood like I always do. After that I went downstairs and found Pacifica waiting by the door. Today she was wearing a purple and white polka-dot scrunchie, a green long-sleeve shirt with fireworks shaped like flowers, light pink leggings, and white shoes with different colored paint splashes all over them.
"Are you ready?" She asked smiling.
I nodded then yawned. "Do ya know what time it is?"
"Oh yeah, sorry, I was just really excited and wanted to get a early start in showing you around." Pacifica said sheepishly. "Do you still want to come?"
It'll diffidently be better than stayin here to help my dad in the shop. "Of-course, just let me get somethin ta eat first."
She smiled and nodded. We went to the kitchen and found my dad humming to himself while stacking canned food in the cupboard.
"Dad, what are ya doin'?" I asked.
"Oh just puttin' a few things away in the cupboard that's all." he replied. "Did ya fix your hair like I told ya to?"
There really isn't any reason to bring that up. "Yes Dad. I wanted to eat breakfast before headin' out." I stated, pulling my hood over my face more.
"Well don't let me stop ya." Dad put the last can in the cupboard before closing it. "The shack will be openin' in an hour or so. Be back before it gets too dark, alright?"
I nodded and he left the room. Pacifica talked about what a great day we would have as I ate a bowl of cereal. After that we decided to leave through the gift shop.
"Hey dude, who's your friend?" the handyman asked as he restocked the vending machine.
"This is Pacifica Northwest, she just moved into town." I replied. "Pacifica, this is Soos, he works for my dad."
"It's nice to meet you Soos, any friend of Gideon's is a friend of mine." she smiled.
"Nice to meet you to." he said. "So where are you dudes going this early anyway?"
"The library." This town better have some good books.
"No way, I have a friend that works there." Wendy appeared out of nowhere, making me jump.
"W-when did you get here?"
She laughed a little. "Sorry kid, I didn't know you were so jumpy. But yeah my friend Robbie works there. It's super lame though."
"Maybe we'll meet him!" Pacifica replied. "Oh we should get going before we run out of time! Come on Gideon!" She grabbed my hand and pulled me through the door. "We need to get there before it gets crowded."
"I like libraries as much as the next kid but even I know they never get packed." And I doubt this town is any different.
"Yeah but it would still be cool to get there before anyone else, right?"
"Then the library wouldn't be open."
She paused before replying. "I guess your right. We can still take the shortcut though." She motioned to the forest and continued walking.
"Wait, isn't that kinda dangerous? What if we get lost?"
"That's how I got to the Mystery Shack in the first place. I know where I'm going." Pacifica stated.
"I suppose if ya know where your goin' it works for me."
She smiled and we walked into the forest. The trees were really dense and tall; there was just enough sunlight getting through the leaves to see. I saw coniferous trees everywhere and a few deciduous trees. There were quite a few squirrels, birds and a deer or two. It was almost peaceful but I couldn't shake the feeling that something was staring at me. Relax Gideon, your actin' ridiculous.
"Ha ha ha..."
"Did you hear that?" I gasped, turning around.
"Hear what?" Pacifica asked.
"It sounded like laughin'." I replied, looking around and in the branches above us, but I couldn't find anything.
"I didn't hear anything." she said. "Let's keep moving." She started skipping.
I could've sworn I heard somethin'. "Alright I'm comin'."
We walked the rest of the way through the woods and into town. I'll admit on the ride into Gravity Falls I thought it was a really small place but as I looked around there was a lot more to see than I thought. There was a diner, an arcade and a museum. Definitely goin' there. I must have not been paying attention because I bumped into Pacifica.
"Oh sorry." I readjusted my hood.
"It's ok and besides we're here." she stated smiling.
I looked at the building in front of us. It had a stone base and wood walls, stairs, and roof. From what I could see it didn't look much bigger than the Mystery Shack.
Pacifica jumped up and down. "Come on Gideon, let's go in!"
"Ok ok." She is really energetic.
We entered the library, for the record I didn't expect anyone to be there that early in the morning I even thought it wouldn't be open yet. I was surprised by the number of books there were; from the outside the building didn't look big enough to hold that many books.
It was quiet and there were two people sitting in soft chairs while reading and there was one person behind the main desk. He looked about Wendy's age, had dark brown, almost black hair, and wore a light-blue checkered button-up shirt with a gray dress vest over it; he was also reading a mystery book that I recognized, "The Mysterious Mystery: book 2". The teen looked up from his book, saw us and waved for us to walk over to him.
"Uh, can I help you?" I asked, trying not to sound rude.
"Yes actually." he replied. "Are you Gideon Gleeful?"
Did news really spread that fast? "Yeah, who wants to know?"
"My name is Robert, but most people call me Robbie, I'm one of Wendy's friends." Robbie put out his hand and I shook it.
"Pleasure ta meet ya." He seems like a nice guy to me.
"Oh your Robbie! Wendy told us that you worked here it's nice to meet you!" Pacifica smiled widely. "I'm Pacifica, Gideon's friend." They shook hands.
"It's nice to meet you too." Robbie stated. "If either of you need help finding something just let me know."
"Ok thanks." she replied.
I turned to her. "So where should we start?"
"How about over there?" Pacifica pointed to the "Mystery" section.
Sounds good to me. I nodded.
(A few hours of reading and exploring shelves later)
Pacifica had decided to go to the Arts and Crafts section a while ago to see if there were any projects that she hadn't done yet. I stayed where I was. Granted I had read the majority of the books in the past there were still a few I hadn't. At home, I would spend hours reading through book after book then read through them again.
"What book are you reading?" Robbie asked when he walked over.
""The Mystery of Glass Shard Beach" It ain't too bad either." I replied not looking up.
"Isn't that book a little complicated for younger kids?" he asked, sounding surprised.
I shrugged. "I've read more complex novels than this."
"Wow. Oh, I thought you might want to know it's almost closing time."
"Really?" How long have we been here? "What time is it?"
The teen looked at his watch. "5:48 pm, we close at six."
"That late! I'd better find Pacifica." I tossed him the book and ran off. "Thanks Robbie!" I'll finish that book some other time.
A few minutes later I found her siting by a small stack of books.
She looked up and smiled. "Oh hey Gideon, what's up?"
"It's almost 6 we need to go."
"Oh right." I helped her put the books away and we left. "Do you want me to walk you home? The forest can be kinda tricky."
"I think I'll be fine." I replied. "What's the plan for tomorrow?"
"Hmmm... Not sure yet, I'll stop by tomorrow and tell you then." Pacifica said.
"Ok I'll see ya then."
After that I started on my way to the shack. I decided to take the same path we took to get to town but after a couple minutes of walking I couldn't tell where I was. Which way did Pacifica and I take? The sky was getting darker by the minute, making it even harder to see. Ok Gideon, there ain't any reason to panic. The shack can't be that far from here.
"Ha ha ha ha ha..."
I turned around sharply but nothing was there. I'm just bein' paranoid. I kept walking but couldn't shake the feeling there was something watching me. Just keep walkin', just keep walkin'. It took about another ten minutes before I could finally see the shack and by then stars were already appearing in the sky. I really don't like that forest. When I walked in my dad was behind the door.
"I thought I told you to be back before dark." He was scowling and had his arms crossed.
"I was on my way back but I kinda got lost in the woods."
"Look, I don't have time for this. Just get somethin' to eat real quick and go to bed." Dad said and pushed me to the kitchen. "And when you get up tomorrow your workin' in the shop to make up for bein' late."
I sighed. There's no way he'd believe me. With that I ate a sandwich and and went to bed. Staring at the ceiling, I thought about what happened in the forest earlier. This town is drivin' me crazy. There is nothin' strange goin' on in Gravity Falls... right?
A/N: Hey everyone, I'm sorry for the really long wait for an update. I was sick all break and couldn't think of anything to write. I've also had some school and family things going on that take up some time. Another thing I wanted to do was kinda make the chapter "feel like an episode" and I wasn't happy with it being short so, ya. The next chapter will be about this length and will be where everything starts. I hope you enjoyed the chapter please review. :)