I changed the time stamps in previous chapters, and a lot on Gideon's scene near the end of the 7th chapter, so if you feel like anything looks different, then...well, there ya go. ^^;
Dipper, Pacifica, and Wendy
11:00 AM
They entered the "Woodside Apartments" complex...
The lobby and everything around it looked...almost in complete disarray. It was dimly lit, while some of the lights were flickering...
Dipper looked around the area, seeing a receptionist's desk to his left that looked too scratched up, some rotted tables with ripped cushion chairs that circled around them, and the floor looking all worn. There was also a staircase and an elevator a little ways from each other...
The dim lights showed everything and everywhere in the lobby...
...except for people...
Wendy looked around the lobby as well, feeling uncomfortable about the whole atmosphere this place is radiating.
Pacifica basically voiced all of their thoughts, "Okay, it's not just me, right? I mean, from what we experienced back there, and this apartment complex being all...dirty-looking? I mean, I think it's pretty obvious to say that there's something wrong with this town, right?"
"...Yeah..." Dipper muttered, "Although, the lights are on in this place...and yet there aren't any people here..." he glanced around the area, "...At least...I don't think so..."
While they talked, Wendy turned her attention to the receptionist's desk. Curious, she began to walk over there.
When she got close to it, she leaned over it to see if anyone was behind the desk. Upon seeing that no one was even occupying it, she vaulted over it and entered the circular desk to see if anything was behind it.
Soon, she saw something in the back shelves of the desk. Even more curious, Wendy knelt down to the shelf's level to better see what she was looking at, reaching out to grab the object.
Once she got it out, her eyes widened, letting out a little gasp.
Meanwhile, Pacifica continued to say, "Well, yeah, I would say that's part of the problem of what's wrong here, but...even then, don't you think that with a lot of monsters roaming around here, there would be people around here also to report all of that? I mean, even though the lights are all on here, this looks...like a completely condemned building..."
"Don't worry, Pacifica, I noticed all of that too," Dipper muttered, "...You're not wrong, though," he took a glance at Pacifica, but then he noticed that Wendy was missing. When he was about to ask where Wendy was, she popped from behind the receptionist's desk...
...carrying two guns in her hands.
Dipper's eyes widened, and instinctively raised his hands up saying, "Whoa! Wendy!"
"Huh?" Pacifica turned her attention to where Wendy was, and her eyes widened and yelped, exclaiming, "Ack! What the hell are you doing with those!?"
"Whoa, hey, chill!" Wendy said as she raised her hands up, the guns in each of them as she pointed the barrels upward. She placed the weapons carefully on the desk to her left so she could vault over the desk once more, which she did. Once she got her composure, she said, "I just found these behind the desk here."
Blinking at that, Dipper lowered his hands and asked her, "You found those guns in the receptionist's desk?"
"Yeah..." Wendy glanced at the guns next to her on the desk.
Pacifica, taking some simple breaths of relief to ease away the shock, said, "Well, watch where you're pointing those things!"
Wendy turned to Pacifica with an unamused raised eyebrow, "Uh, I wasn't pointing them at either one of you? I know a thing about gun control safety, you know?"
"Well, still, you don't know if one of them will go off and the bullet will ricochet off of something," Pacifica told her.
The red-haired woman gave her an odd look, "Um, I have a way of handling weapons such as axes, knives, and even guns. I know how to handle most of this stuff."
"...Okay then, I was just trying to be on the safe side," Pacifica muttered a little bitterly.
Seeing that Pacifica was trying to help out (no matter how condescending she sounded), Wendy gave a small sigh and apologized, "Hey, look, sorry. I appreciate the concern, but just know, that I'm a woman of many talents."
Pacifica didn't say anything but did express some slight guilt on her face, the wince being any indication, "Uh, yeah...sorry, was just a little shocked you found two guns behind the desk of all things."
"I would have to agree," Dipper said as he walked over to where the guns were on the desk.
As he neared the desk, he looked down at the guns for a moment, almost observing them and their purpose in this complex...
"...Does someone know about all these strange happenings around here?" he asked himself.
Wendy glanced at the guns on the desk and couldn't help but frown. "...Maybe? Or...these could be for me and Pacifica?"
Dipper and Pacifica both looked at Wendy in slight confusion.
Wendy looked back at the two and explained, "I mean, you already have a gun, Dipper, so maybe whoever left these here is letting us have weapons? ...I mean, granted, I kind of find that theory a little more disturbing, which it's probably saying we'll have to deal with more monsters along the way...but yeah, I would think Pacifica and I have to protect ourselves at some point, right?" she glanced at the guns once more.
Pacifica looked at the guns for a moment, "...I mean...I haven't necessarily used an actual handgun before."
Dipper looked back at Pacifica, a little surprised, "Huh?"
Pacifica glanced at the detective and gave him a shrug, "I did some skeet shooting back in Portland, Oregon."
"You did?" Dipper raised an eyebrow, intrigued.
"Whoa, for real?" Wendy blinked, impressed.
"Yeah. My dad and mom basically wanted to know if I had the 'Northwest Aim', or something...yeah..." Pacifica looked down with a frown, "...They told me that I was a natural..."
"Wow...well, that's cool," Wendy smiled a little bit, "Say, how are your folks, if you don't mind me asking?"
Dipper paled at what Wendy said, while Pacifica...just stood there, looking emotionless as her face went blank.
...Wendy realized that she might've...touched on a sore subject...
"Um..." Wendy frowned, feeling a little guilty for asking that out of the blue, "I-I'm sorry, I...I guess, um...y-yeah, I mean, you don't have to tell me-"
"They're dead," Pacifica told her simply, like Dipper.
Wendy froze and blinked...
Dipper winced.
"...What?" she asked Pacifica.
"...I really don't want to talk about it right now," Pacifica said to her as she looked the other way, away from talking to Wendy and Dipper.
"Oh, um...hey, no, I'm...I mean, I'm really sorry..." Wendy tried to apologize.
"...You didn't know," Pacifica muttered, still not letting the two look at her as her face slightly contorted into grief.
However, as Pacifica looked away, she saw some things on the wall near the entrance.
A bulletin board and...a map that's encased in a metal trimming.
Curious, she walked over to them, gaining the attention of Dipper and Wendy.
As Pacifica got close to the bulletin board and the map, she first read to herself what was on the former, which were three things that were tacked on it.
23rd Annual St. Mary's Father-Daughter Dance-Off!
...Not wanting to look at that one any longer she divert her attention to the next flyer.
Silent Hill Historical Society's Proper Lady Etiquette Classes!
...Feeling a little annoyed by what's on this board, she briefly glanced at the last flyer...
Silent Hill Cabin Retreats!
Cozy and Luxurious!
Fun for the Whole Family!
...she stared at it for a while...
"Uh, Pacifica?" Dipper called out to her.
Snapping out of her trance, Pacifica turned to look back at the detective who was approaching her.
"Um..." Pacifica glanced at the map on the wall, "...I, uh, found a map, apparently."
Dipper glanced at the map, "Oh..." he went over to the map on the wall, and studied it.
There were four diagrams of each floor, including the main floor they were on at the bottom right of the map. The main floor, where the lobby was, had a blocky sideways '8' layout, there being two back exits on each end of the left and right upper sides of the floor. Outside was a gated courtyard with a pool and a sitting area. The main floor also had eight rooms, four on each side, the left and the right, whereas the middle hallway was reserved for bathrooms and office rooms. The second floor (on the bottom left) and the third floor (on the upper right of the map) had a blocky 'W' shape layout this time around, each floor having twelve rooms, and the middle hallway going all the way up until it reached the fire escape stairway to the right. The fourth floor (on the upper left) had more of a blocky 'U' layout, which meant that it had eight rooms this time. The fire escape exit was at the left end side of the 'U'.
...But he found something peculiar on the map.
There was something written in the middle of the diagrams...
It simply says:
LISTEN
TO YOUR
PHONES
"...Listen to our phones..." Dipper narrowed his eyes at that.
Pacifica stepped up next to him and looked up at the map as well...her eyes widened in surprise at the message displayed on the center of the map.
Wendy also wanted to see what was on the map as she began to walk up to the two...
...Until her phone rang in a text.
"Wha?" she glanced down at her pocket where her phone was. Reaching down her pocket, she got her phone out...to see that the screen was actually on.
And it has a text on it.
Her eyes widened at that, Wendy stood there as she gazed at her phone. "Whoa...my phone is back on..."
Upon hearing Wendy's phone, Dipper and Pacifica turned around to see what it was, when all of a sudden-
DING!
DING!
...both of their phones rang in some texts.
Dipper and Pacifica glanced down at their phones in their respective pockets. The former didn't waste any time getting it out of his, while the latter took a moment to register that her phone in her jeans pocket was working now. She dug her phone out and looked at the screen to see what it said.
They all read what was on their screens...which all said the same thing:
[GO UP THE FOURTH FLOOR.]
"...Go up the fourth floor?" Pacifica repeated the text in disbelief.
"Huh?" Wendy uttered, "Wait, yours said that too?"
"Mine too," Dipper said also with a frown.
Then, their phones got another text in.
[USE THE ELEVATOR.]
"...Well, at they're considerate," Wendy muttered.
"Tch. Yeah..." Pacifica also mumbled.
Dipper looked down at the text to see if there was going to be more...
...There was one more.
[WHAT COMES UP...MUST COME DOWN.]
Upon waiting for a few more seconds to see if this person was done texting, he sighed, "Okay then...whoever's playing this game, we're going to have to abide by their rules."
"Well, I honestly just came here to see Tambry, but..." Wendy glanced at the text again and frowned, "...You know what? Something is definitely not right here. I mean, I don't know why you guys are here, but with me, I just want to meet up with Tambry and talk all of our shit out. But so far..."
Dipper and Pacifica glanced at her in question.
"...Ugh," Wendy shook her head, "You know what? Let's just keep going. The more we're out of here, the better."
Before Wendy walked over to the elevator...
DING!
DING!
...some texts came in on her phone.
She stopped in her step...glancing at her phone, she looked at them.
[Don't forget the guns.]
[They're for you and for Pacifica.]
...Wendy looked at this in deep intrigue.
Then, more texts came in after that one.
[You were right on that part, by the way.]
[So good job on that.]
And then, a few more texts...which these next texts made Wendy slightly gasp.
[Although, I wonder why you didn't tell Tambry that you were heading to town today?]
[In fact, I wonder why you didn't communicate with Tambry at all to begin with?]
[When did you get that LETTER?]
...
...
...
[That just seems kind of suspicious if you ask me.]
"...Okay, whoever-you-are," Wendy muttered as she gritted her teeth, "You want to play that? Fine."
She turned around and went to the desk to get the guns. She grabbed one gun by the handle and grabbed the other gun by the barrel. Turning around to get to Dipper and Pacifica, who both looked confused, Wendy gave Pacifica the one that she was carrying by the barrel.
"Here. You might need this. I don't know. Just be careful with it, okay?" Wendy told Pacifica.
Blinking at this, Pacifica looked down at the gun that was aimed backward at her and given to her by Wendy. She lifted her arm up a little cautiously and proceeded to reach for the gun. She grabbed the gun by the handle and Wendy let it go, the gun now being a little heavy in Pacifica's hand.
"Uh...thanks..." Pacifica said as she looked down at her handgun, which she pointed downward for safety reasons.
Dipper also blinked at this, and turned to Wendy with a slightly worried look in his eyes, "You okay, Wendy?"
Wendy stayed silent...and sighed, preparing the gun in her hands as she pointed it downward, "Yeah, I'm fine. We should just find some alternative way to get out of here, or...you know, whatever, I guess."
Raising an eyebrow at his good friend, Dipper opened his trenchcoat and looked down at his own gun that ran out of bullets. He's got other bullets stashed in his trenchcoat, so he's good to go on his part. "...Alright then," he turned to the elevator, "Well, we should probably go up then."
"Right," Wendy muttered.
"Uh, right..." Pacifica said, a little uneasy.
They all walked over to the elevator, Dipper leading the way...
Stopping in front of the elevator door, Dipper glanced at the buttons that led to the floors. Pushing the main floor button, they waited...
...
...
...
...BING!
The elevator sounded, telling them that it reached its destination.
The sliding doors opened, and they went inside.
Dipper was at the back, while the women were at the front of him. Wendy pushed the '4th' floor button, and the doors closed.
...They waited as the elevator cart pulled them up to the top floor.
...Dipper stood there, lowering his gaze as he thought.
...I really should've told them about Mabel...I don't know, I just...don't want them to say the same thing that Stan and Ford told me...I became a paranormal private eye not only because I wanted to be that, but...to see if there were any leads to Mabel...and I couldn't let myself be distracted by any of my friends…
...Against Dipper's will, he glanced at both the women in front of them...and their butts.
...Wow...Wendy and Pacifica really have some nice posteriors...although, Pacifica's rear looks a little bit...bigger?
...
...I mean, hey, Pacifica and Wendy are very attractive...like...wow, they are pretty...like very pretty...
...
...I desperately need to communicate with women more.
BING!
And just like that, they were on the fourth floor.
The doors slid open, and the women walked out first, with Dipper coming from behind.
The halls...didn't look at all inviting.
They entered the hallways, which looked worn and molded, the carpet being filled with holes, and a few dim lights were on, some even flickering.
It was all in all, very creepy...
Pacifica scrunched her nose up and once again, said what was on everyone's minds.
"Okay...this place is not well-maintained," she said in disgust.
"Hm. Tell me about it," Wendy muttered as she looked to her left to see the hallway going down in the distance with the dim overhead lights lighting the way.
Dipper, now back to being professional, said, "Okay. Right now, we need to see if there's anything we should find to keep ourselves moving forward from all this."
"Right," Wendy said with a nod.
"Well...should we, like, split up or something?" Pacifica asked them.
The male private investigator shook his head, "No. We need to keep ourselves as close to each other as possible."
DING!
It came from Dipper's phone. He dug into his trenchcoat to get his phone to read the text.
[Correct. So with that, I'll tell you where you need to go.]
Pacifica and Wendy looked at Dipper, the latter asking sardonically, "What? Is it our 'friend'?"
"Hm...yeah," Dipper nodded.
DING!
[Your objective is to find three coins on each floor, besides the main one.]
[First, go to the hall to your right when you come out of the elevator.]
[Go to Room 403.]
[Search for some clues to move forward.]
[When you reach the third floor, I'll give you the next starting point.]
[Good luck.]
"...Not much to go by," Dipper muttered with a frown.
"Well, what now?" Pacifica asked him.
Dipper looked around the area for a moment...
...There wasn't any indication that there was a staircase nearby.
He then looked to his left...
...Turning to his left, he walked down the hall to see if anything was waiting for them. Seeing that Dipper was likely going the wrong way, the girls glanced at each other in confusion but followed him nonetheless.
After a few more steps down the hall, they reached an obstacle...
...A barred gate that blocked half of the remaining 'U' hallway.
...It was a bit...odd for an apartment complex to have this...
And the three of them think so as well.
"...Uh..." Pacifica uttered, puzzled at this, "Metal...bars...?"
Wendy raised an eyebrow, "Well...this isn't practical."
Dipper went close to the metal gate and saw that next to it, there was a door to the stairway down the third floor...their supposed way forward.
"...Hm..." Dipper observed the gate for a moment. He grabbed onto the bars and shook them.
...They wouldn't budge a bit.
"..." Dipper then turned around and walked past the girls to go to the elevator to see if it will go down at all.
The girls were a little baffled by all of this, but they continued to follow Dipper.
Once he reached the elevator, Dipper was going to push the down button to see if it would work...
And it would've worked...if there was a button to it at all.
The private investigator's eyes widened in shock at this.
There was no down button that led to the lower floors...at all.
Once the girls came up to him, they also saw that there were no buttons next to the elevator door.
"What the...?" Pacifica blinked, "Wait, where is the down button?"
Wendy also blinked, "Whoa...that's...really not practical."
The male detective looked at this oddity for a moment...until saying, "Okay then. So we're going to play that game," he muttered. He turned to the girls, "Follow me," and then he went around the corner to his left and walked down the north hall.
"Uh...okay..." Pacifica turned to Wendy, who the woman just shrugged. They followed Dipper down the left side of the 'U' hall on the fourth floor...
As they passed a room to their left, Room 404, they stopped at Room 403 on the right.
Dipper stood in front of the door, the girls behind him.
Getting his gun out, and getting his round of bullets out, he reloaded his gun into his magazine, putting 17 rounds in it. Upon seeing that, Wendy decided to see if she had bullets in her gun as well and checked her magazine out. Pacifica, not knowing how to operate a handgun before, tried to see if her gun was loaded and ready to go, but she couldn't find a way to open her magazine slot.
Seeing that Pacifica was having difficulty, Wendy went over to her and said, "There. The magazine release is near the trigger."
"Huh?" Pacifica looked at Wendy with a blink. She looked down at where she said the magazine release was, and saw it, "Oh...um..." she twiddled it with her thumb, and activated it, letting it fall down, but catching it in time so it wouldn't spill out. The magazine is indeed full. "Oh! Okay...I got a lot then."
Wendy smiled and nodded, "Yeah. You're a fast learner."
Pacifica chuckled, "I mean, I used a shotgun before, I would think handling a handgun would be a lot simpler," she said as she pushed the magazine back into the gun.
As Dipper put the new bullets into the magazine and slid it into his gun, he said, "Well, whatever is waiting behind this door, we need to be ready."
The girls looked at the male in question and nodded.
Reaching for the doorknob with his left hand, Dipper raised his gun upward in his right hand to get it ready. Pacifica and Wendy got their guns ready by pointing them downward at the ground.
...
Dipper twisted the knob...and the door opened.
Swinging it forward to aim, he pointed at the gun inside the apartment room.
...The room was dark...
...Reaching for his trenchcoat again, Dipper got a small flashlight out and turned it on with his left hand. He shined the light around the area, with the girls behind him as they surveyed their new surroundings.
From the flashlight, they were in a dark and very messy living area...an area that almost looked like it was lived in one time. A dirty couch was there on the right, a display case that had shattered glass around it was on the upper left corner of the area, and a scratched-out table was present in front of the couch. Debris was also scattered across the floor...
Dipper rested his gun hand on the wrist of his flashlight hand so he could align their aim point. Taking careful steps, he walked forward into the living area.
Wendy was on Dipper's left side and on her left with the amount of light being shown, she saw that there was a small kitchen area as well as a small hallway next to the small kitchen.
Pacifica kept a little close to Dipper, as she looked to her right to see a little bit in the darkness that there was a closet and hallway that may lead to some rooms. However, she saw that there was a light switch next to her as she entered the room.
Curious, she switched them on.
...And the lights flickered in existence, albeit they were extremely dim.
Dipper, startled, looked at the lights above them, and looked back at Pacifica.
The blonde woman just stared at him for a moment and then shrugged with a sheepish smile.
"...Okay then," Dipper said with a smirk. He turned off and put away his flashlight for now in his trenchcoat.
Wendy, also a little surprised by the lights turning on, eased her nerves and walked ahead of them. She went to the hallway to the left to see what it contained and found out that it led to a bedroom up ahead and a bathroom to the right of the hall.
Dipper and Pacifica looked over to where Wendy was going and decided to follow her.
When they almost reached the bedroom, Pacifica stopped next to the bathroom. Turning her head to the entrance of the bathroom, she went inside it.
When she was inside the bathroom, she flipped the light switch, the overhead lights being dim as well.
From what she could take around her, she saw that the bathroom looked mighty rusty, and the vanity mirror looked all...scratched up. The bathroom was also a little small, but not too claustrophobic for one person.
Pacifica looked at the scratched-up vanity mirror...
There was a time when her mother said that looks were everything...back when she believed her...
But thanks to Dipper and Mabel, her first real friends...she broke out of that spell...
Granted, she still tries to look nice, but she doesn't spend too many hours trying to look perfect...
And now that her mother was gone...
...Gone...
...Yeah...
She was gone...
...And...since she is gone...
"..." Pacifica slowly placed a hand on the scratched-up vanity mirror, gingerly touching it...
...I don't...really hate my Mom, but...I mean, at least she gave me some life lessons, somewhat...
...
...Is this...Is this mirror, though...covering up the real me?
...
...Am I still a Northwest?
"Pacifica?" Dipper called her from the hallway.
Pacifica retracted her hand away from the mirror and snapped out of her trance, "Uh, yeah?"
Dipper and Wendy came up to her, the former looking a little concerned, "You alright?"
The blonde looked at Dipper and told him, "Um...yeah, I'm fine," she diverted the attention away from her by asking, "Anything you guys found?"
Wendy, who also looked a little concerned for Pacifica, said, "Well, no, we haven't even entered the room yet. We were just checking up on you."
"Oh...well, don't worry about me. We just need to focus on getting out of here," Pacifica told them.
Dipper agreed on the last part as he nodded, "Right."
As Pacifica got out of the bathroom, they all went up to the room. Once they stopped in front of the door, Dipper got his gun ready just in case and opened the door...
...It was, of course, dark.
Reaching to his left to turn on some lights that hopefully will come on, Dipper found some and turned them on...
...They gradually came on above them, albeit these lights were dim and kept flickering every once in a while.
Inside the room, there was...a disturbing display of mannequin body parts that were littered around the floor. There were parts like hands, feet, torsos, legs, arms...and even a few wooden heads were seen. They can also see a closet to their right...
All in all, to say this was a very creepy room to be in...that in itself felt like an understatement.
...And Dipper, Pacifica, and Wendy can definitely feel some sort of dread inside.
They all went in, no matter how uncomfortable they felt entering this room. Some of their feet kicked mannequin body parts that skidded across the room...
Even though this room gives him the heebie-jeebies, Dipper has to be all business. Nothing can't faze him when it comes to creepy atmosphere and gnawing fear. He has to move forward...
He turned his attention to the closet...
With Pacifica and Wendy, the latter, while feeling a bit uneasy, has to stay brave for her friends and not let anything affect her. The former though...
As Pacifica walked around the room, she continued to kick and step on some mannequin parts. The whole thing felt...very uncomfortable for her.
Wendy took a glance at Pacifica and saw her body language from looking at all the mannequin parts, and went up to her to say in a comforting tone, "Hey, Pacifica. No worries. They're just wooden parts of a mannequin model. They won't come out and get ya, so you have nothing to worry about."
"...Yeah..." Pacifica took a deep breath, "It's just...I don't know, I kind of have this...I mean, I guess I have this...minor fear of mannequins, I would say."
Dipper turned his attention away from the closet and looked at Pacifica, a little surprised, "You have a fear of mannequins?"
"I mean, not really...kind of...it's...complicated..." Pacifica rubbed her purple-sweater-sleeved arm, "It's just...they remind me of...I guess of what I could've been..."
...They all went quiet after that.
After a moment of silence thought, Dipper frowned and said, "Pacifica...I mean, it's...you're not your parents-"
"I know, I know," Pacifica said softly, looking down at the floor, "It's just...a 'what if' scenario, you know?"
Dipper nodded. "I understand..."
Wendy glanced at Dipper and Pacifica...she then remembered something that she forgot to ask them when she first saw them again.
"Hey, um...I don't know if this is the right time to ask you two, but..."
Pacifica and Dipper turned their attention to her.
Wendy rubbed the back of her head, "I mean...I basically told you all why I'm here, you know...to meet up with...Tambry...anyway, I just want to know...why are you two here in this town?"
...Both the private eye and the heiress stood there, thinking of what to say...
...Dipper spoke up first, "I'm here to find Mabel."
Wendy blinked, "To find Mabel? You mean...you...I mean, she could be here?"
"...I hope..." Dipper muttered, "I got a letter...it was from Mabel..." he took the time to get the letter out of his trenchcoat, "Here," he gave it to Wendy, "this is it."
Wendy took the letter and read it...
"...This...seems like it came from Mabel..." Wendy said as she studied it.
"It is from her," Dipper said in confirmation. "I got it from the mail..." he looked down, "...I...I've been basically doing my job as a paranormal private investigator...I've been having cases everywhere in the country, and..." he sighed solemnly, "...I've been trying to get some kind of lead from these cases to where Mabel might be...they always come at dead ends...while at the end of the day, a case is a case...I just started this business just to try and find her..."
Wendy looked at her friend, a little amazed that he was once a kid who used to always idolize her, now turning into a full-fledged adult with responsibilities...
"...I've been doing this for at least five years, becoming a private eye at a young age after college...case after case...I know it seems hopeless at this point, but...I just...need some kind of...closure, maybe? I don't know...but if she's alive, then...I can finally know what happened to her...and bring her home," Dipper said with finality.
"..." Looking down at the letter again, Wendy observed it...she then handed it back to Dipper, who took it and put it back in his trenchcoat. The redhead just stared at the man in front of her and said, "Well...I really hope you do find her, Dipper."
Dipper nodded with a smile. "Thanks."
Wendy smiled back and nodded. She turned her attention to Pacifica and asked her, "So, uh, what are you here for?"
Pacifica, having heard Dipper's story and struggles, felt a little odd, which she tried to answer, "Um...well-"
CLU-CLUNK!
The three of them turned their attention to the closet.
Pacifica and Wendy gasped, while Dipper frowned, getting his gun ready.
CLU-CLU-CLUNK!
Something was rattling the closet door...
Dipper went over to it carefully...
The girls stood back, watching with unease...
CLU-CLU-CLU-CLUNK!
Reaching out his free hand, Dipper slowly approached the doorknob...
...He grasped the knob...twisted it...
...and pulled the door open!
Gideon
11:35 AM
Once he got up to the second floor from the stairs, Gideon noticed something...
As he reached for the door that leads to the second floor, right next to him at his right...was a wall...
A paved wall full of concrete...
Meaning, that there were no other stairs that went up to the third floor...
...Gideon blinked.
"...Okay, that's...inconvenient," he muttered.
He turned to the door that led to the second floor...
"...Alright then."
He grabbed the handle and opened the door...
Entering the floor, he closed the door behind him, surveying the surrounding area.
The halls looked...in better terms, they don't look too well-maintained. The carpet floor looked worn and molded, the overhead lights flickered to no end, and the paint on the walls was peeling...
In front of him at his left, Gideon sees a hallway up ahead...
...He also noticed something that looked a bit off when he entered this floor...
Looking further to his left in the dreadful lighting...he didn't see any indication that an elevator door was present...
Blinking at this oddity, he walked to his left to see if there was an elevator door at all...
Seeing that there wasn't, Gideon paused and thought about this...
Okay then...there's no elevator here...the stairs to the third floor are paved shut, and I'm trying to find a way up to this apartment complex…
Taking an exasperated deep breath, Gideon just proceeded to...
...Wait...I don't know where to go! What am I supposed to-
DING!
"Ack!" Gideon yelped. He looked down at the phone that was still in his hand. Raising it up to his face, he read the text on the screen...
FIND A WAY UP.
THAT'S YOUR OBJECTIVE.
Gideon scowled at that.
"Find a way up? How? Everything is sealed up! And what does this have to do with Mabel?"
...He waited for some kind of reply...
...
...DING!
YOU'LL FIGURE IT OUT.
ALSO, YOU'LL SEE WHAT THIS HAS TO DO WITH YOUR FRIEND SOON.
...To be perfectly honest, Gideon was not expecting whoever this was to answer him. And in such an ominous way...
Shivering a little, Gideon put up his phone in his jeans pocket.
He looked left and right to decide where he needed to go.
"Well...I'm already at the left of this hall...so I guess I'm going left..." Gideon nodded and went to his left.
The albino male walked down the hall, the overhead lights dim as they flickered.
Coming up on a right turn in the hall, he took the turn and proceeded to walk down the north hall...
...Soon, he walked up to the end of the north hall.
...Frustrated, Gideon grumbled, "Okay, this is gettin' me nowhere."
Turning back around, he decided to go back the way he came...until he glanced at a room door to his right.
...Could these rooms be open?
Gideon stared at a room door, the room labeled Room 201.
...It wouldn't be breaking and entering a room if the place here was abandoned, right?
...Well, I guess there's only one way to find out.
Going over to the door, Gideon reached for the doorknob and turned it...
...It was open.
Eyes widened in surprise, Gideon gasped slightly at this.
...Well...alrighty...into the unknown I go, I guess...
He gulped a little bit of his anxiety down and opened the door...wondering what was waiting for him.
As he entered inside...
...
...
...there was but a lone light in the middle of the room, shining on something.
Blinking at this, Gideon went closer to it.
The room was all pitch black...except for the light that was shining on the object in front of him.
That object...was a shopping cart.
Curious, Gideon approached the shopping cart...
He looked inside the cart...
...to find...a gun...laying there...
...A little disturbed, Gideon stared down at the gun in the shopping cart for a moment...
...Is...Is whoever around here...wanting me to use this?
Gideon looked at the gun, wondering what he should even do here...
...
...
...
Gideon.
Gideon gasped at the quiet voice.
...Gideon...use it...
...That voice...it sounded like-
Then, the door slammed behind him.
SLAM!
Startled, Gideon turned around to see that the door somehow closed behind him.
And then...shuffling...
"Wha-What!?" Gideon exclaimed in a panic.
...The shuffling continued...
Not wanting to risk it, Gideon grabbed the gun in the shopping cart and pushed the shopping cart away from the light as he was now in the illumination of the light, trying to see where this person was. He shakily aimed the gun in his hands at anyone who could be in this dark room with him.
"St-Stand back! I-I'm warnin' ya! I-I don't know what you want with me, but I know how to use this!" Gideon threatened.
Okay, that's a lie, I don't know how to use it. But they don't have to know that!
He heard more shuffling...
...it sounded like it came from all directions…
...Then, silence...
...
...
...
...Gideon?
...Gideon could only be silent, his face full of shock.
No...that...but she...
Gideon?
...He hears that familiar voice...the voice that sounded like-
Have you been a good boy?
...Gideon lowered the gun in his hands, unsure if he was even hearing this right...
"...Momma?" Gideon asked this...person...
...If you've been a good boy, you can get a cookie!
"..." Gideon remained silent...
...
...
...
Gideon?
"...No...you're...I don't know who or what you are, but...you're not my Momma..." Gideon said boldly.
...
...
...
...So you haven't been a good boy.
...Gideon froze at that statement.
The voice sounded...disappointed...
...You HAVEN'T changed...
The albino young man snapped out of his shock and said, "What!? I-I have changed!" he frowned, "Who do you think you are, telling me that I haven't changed!"
...You think you can speak to your mother that way?
"You are not my Momma, you crazy person! You're just imitatin' her! Come on out and show me who you are!" Gideon exclaimed, now angry at this person.
How dare they imitate my mother! Like they know her! She's the sweetest woman I know! She put up with me through all those years, and she forgave me! That's what a real mother would do! Forgiving their kids, even after all the crud that they've done! Even though I deserved the punishment! But I...I'm one of the lucky ones...
Then...the shuffling came back...
...It sounded like it was coming toward Gideon...
...The young man started to raise the gun in his hands, cautious but ready to use it when necessary...
...Then...this 'person' showed itself in the light...
Gideon's eyes widened, his mouth agape as he looked on at the perpetrator...
...This 'person' was definitely not his mother...
...It was...some kind of...monster...
It looked like...a slim-looking monster that relevantly looked female. It had very pasty white skin and white long stringy hair...
It was only wearing some kind of long overall dress. The dress was brown, like the color of dead skin. There were some small breasts that were covered by the front of the dress, indicating that it was female, and the feet below the dress were barefooted. Her arms were sagging and her nails looked like they were long, long enough to scratch people.
But the most disturbing part of this woman monster was that...there were no facial features on her face. No nose, no eyes, no ears it looks like...all except a mouth...
And the teeth of the monster woman looked jagged, her mouth frozen into a permanent scowl.
It was then Gideon thought of two things:
This...definitely isn't my mother...at least...I don't think.
The other thing...
The monster (Mommy Dearest) was shuffling closer to Gideon.
...Oh shit. Th-This thing is coming at me! Wha-What do I-!?
Gideon raised his gun in his hands and aimed at the Mommy Dearest.
"St-Stay back! STAY BACK!" Gideon shouted at the monster in a panic.
The monster moaned as she staggered towards Gideon, her long nails/claws reaching out to him.
"I-I'm warning you! D-Don't make me USE THIS!" Gideon exclaimed at the monster.
She kept going though, getting closer to the albino...
Then, this female monster spoke.
"Gideon...you must man up...man up for what you did!"
Shaking in fear as Gideon's hands were trying to hold the gun together, he began to hyperventilate, feeling a plethora of emotions; confusion, fear, and...
"I-I have! I have manned up for what I did! I mended our relationship, Momma! I-I'm not like the brat I once was!"
But Mommy Dearest said otherwise...
"Man up...man up...man up!"
"I HAVE! WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY!?"
"MAN UP TO YOUR MISTAKES!"
"I DID!"
Then, Mommy Dearest began to rush forward, letting her claws reach out to Gideon as she screamed out.
"GRAAAAGH!"
And that was when Gideon fired.
BANG!
And that's the chapter! :D
I hope Gideon's part was okay. XP I wanted to get this chapter uploaded before the whole Silent Hill Ascension thing comes around tomorrow! :O And yes, I'm actually going to participate in the app. I just need to know what this whole thing is about at least, you know? XP
But yeah, Happy Early Halloween everyone! :D I hope this chapter was worth the wait! :) Leave me a review, a fave, and a follow! :D
Thank you all for reading and keep on rocking everybody! X)
-TSP
