Chapter 22

Day 11:

Pacifica was thinking while clutching the Journal. Had she really fallen for Dipper? She shook her head and thought that it was impossible. The only time she had ever seemed to like him, was when they weren't saying anything, and they were watching the sunset on the Mystery Shack roof.

"Paz? You up here?" Gideon climbed into the roof and saw his cousin sitting on the edge. "Hey, whatcha thinking about?"

Pacifica sighed and shrugged, "just a deal I made-"

Gideon's eyes went wide in an instant, "Pacifica! Why'd you make a deal with someone in Reverse Falls! Everyone knows that you do not make a deal with someone who lives in Reverse Falls."

"Well I guess I didn't know." Pacifica frowned. "Why is it so bad?"

"Because the people of this town are tricksters." Gideon explained in a whisper. "My dad lost money to one of those tricksters."

"Relax, it wasn't a trickster, it was only Dipper Gleeful." Pacifica explained, thinking nothing of it.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Gideon exclaimed, "you made a deal with Dipper?"

"It was a stupid deal, and I can trick him." Pacifica rolled her eyes.

"What was the deal?" Gideon asked, wide eyed.

"Nothing important." She said, "really, it wasn't."

"Okay...." Gideon said, but he didn't sound sure of himself.

***

Day 12:

Dipper Gleeful is usually found sitting in the sitting room sipping tea, but today he was in the family library. Dipper continued to search for the book that he had read as a child, but it wasn't around. He quickly went to the medical section of his family library and skimmed through the book titles to see why he was going to die.

"What are you looking for?" Mabel asked setting Dipper's tea down on a nearby table.

"Just something medical." He replied quietly. "For-"

"For you?" She inquired.

"No, not entirely." He lied, "but enough said. I would like to be left alone."

Mabel felt something she hadn't felt in a long time, the feeling was almost new to her. As she walked out of the library, she knew what it was.

It was hurt.

Dipper quickly found the book and looked through it, feeling unsettling. When he found what was wrong with him, he closed his eyes for a minute.

He was dying, of heart failure.

***

Day 13:

Pacifica realized that it had been awhile since she saw Dipper. The last she saw him he was sitting next to her, in silence. Silence was strange for Dipper, especially when Pacifica usually saw him, he couldn't stop talking. "Odd." Pacifica murmured, as she looked through the Journal at the kitchen table. She looked at the clock and heaved a sigh. If she just went to see him, it wouldn't count as falling for him, would it? She decided to take her dilemma to Robbie who dated many women, sure he would know what Pacifica asked.

"Uh, I think it counts." Robbie said, kicking up his boots on the gift shop counter.

"How does it count?" Pacifica raised a brow.

He shrugged. "It just counts, okay Paz? Why? You wanted to go see Dipper, didn't you?"

"What?! No!" Pacifica lied, and her face flushed. "Alright maybe I did want to see him, but only to understand why he hasn't come around lately."

"So you are into him." Robbie mused.

"I am not, into Dipper Gleeful!" Pacifica snapped, "sorry Robbie, but you've got it completely wrong. Dipper's too egotistical for me."

"Ha, next thing you know, I'll be getting invitations to your wedding! And it'll say 'please come celebrate the marriage of Dipper Gleeful and Pacifica Southeast'!" He seemed to think it was hilarious, as he died of laughter. "God Paz, let me know when that happens, alright?"

Pacifica frowned and stormed off, angry for Robbie to say something as ridiculous as that!

***

Day 14:

Dipper took a deep breath and pushed through the doors of the local hospital. He didn't want to do this at all, but Mabel said it was for the best. Dipper shook his head and sat in the waiting room, patiently waiting for the doctor to call him in. During his wait, Dipper noticed a little girl sitting next to him, playing with a toy. "Why are you here?" He asked, carefully.

The little girl looked up at him and said in a whisper, "mother says I'm ill."

"How ill?" Dipper leaned closer.

"I don't know," she mumbled, "but all I know is that I saw my mother and father crying before we came here."

Dipper knew that feeling, he knew that Mabel cried herself to sleep after figuring out how long he had. "How old are you?" He asked.

"I'm six, almost seven!" The young blonde child stated proudly. "How old are you?"

"Thirteen." Dipper replied, feeling a smile creep onto his lips.

"What are you in for?" She asked, turning to face him fully now. He saw her blonde hair was in a ponytail and she has bright ocean eyes.

"Heart failure." Dipper explained quietly to the little girl. "Unfortunately that's what I have."

"Mother said I have weak lungs and legs." The girl said quickly. "What's your name?" She asked.

"Dipper," he chuckled. "What's yours?"

The girl smiled at him, "I'm Kaori."

***

Day 15:

"Gideon?" Pacifica walked into the living room and sat next to her cousin. "What do you say that we go hang out in the park?"

Gideon wrinkled his nose, "why?"

"Because I wanna get some fresh air." Pacifica said, and that was half of the truth. She mostly wanted to forget all about what everyone was saying about her and Dipper. "Are you coming or not?"

Gideon got up from the couch and walked over to the door, "but Ducktective was almost on!"

"So? Can't you watch it later?" Pacifica rolled her eyes and walked out the door, with Gideon on her heels.

The cousins made their way to the park to hang out and have some cousinly bonding. "So Paz, how's things going with Dipper?"

"Gideon, I mainly wanted to forget all about him." Pacifica sighed. "Please can we not talk about him. I don't even want to see him."

Gideon sighed, "well that might be hard."

"And why is that?" Pacifica turned to face her cousin.

Gideon pointed to where the swings were and Pacifica's jaw almost dropped into the underworld.

Because Dipper was there, and he wasn't alone. He was there with a little girl who looked like she was six or so. Pacifica didn't think that Dipper had any younger siblings so this was news to her. She walked over to him while Gideon stayed put.

Dipper noticed her first and looked up, "oh hey Paz." He said, and Pacifica wanted to know everything.

"Who's this?" Pacifica asked, looking at the younger girl.

"Oh you're not jealous are you?" Dipper rolled his eyes making Pacifica frown more.

"Is this your girlfriend?" The little girl said from where she sat on the swing.

"No she's not my girlfriend." Dipper chuckled, "she's very stubborn and annoying."

The little girl laughed and Pacifica frowned at both of them. "How funny. So Gleeful, who's this?"

"Now you're starting to sound like an overprotective girlfriend." Dipper stated. "I met her at the hospital. She's very polite."

"Do her parents know she's here?" Pacifica asked, looking around for anyone that looked like they could be her parents.

"Her parents are on a business trip." Dipper said fast.

"And you just took her out of the hospital?" Pacifica flared.

"Not exactly, she came with me." Dipper shook his head. "Her name is Kaori."

"And you met her at the hospital?"

"Mhm!" Kaori spoke up this time and smiled, "Dipper's nice!"

"Right, I'll let you believe that." Pacifica began to storm off, but Dipper caught up to her.

"Pacifica, you're still my favorite girl." He said quietly before walking away.

***

Day 16:

"Dipper, how was the doctor?" Mabel asked the next day when Dipper finally was alone.

Dipper shrugged, "it was fine." He was lying. Sure he actually went to hospital, but then he met his little friend Kaori. The two of them sort of ditched the hospital, but now she was back there and Dipper felt pity for her. He would hate to be locked in a hospital for a long while. "If you still think that there's something they can do, there isn't at all."

Mabel clenched her teeth and tried to walk away without tears. Dipper continued to sip his tea as he sat in the sitting room instead of the library. He heard someone else enter the room and he looked up. "William?" He asked.

"Yes sir?" Will asked, walking into the sitting room.

"Could you do me a favor?" Dipper asked in a hushed voice.

"Yes I can."

"Could you...keep an eye on Mabel for me? She seems really fragile right now and I think she needs support." Dipper explained, glancing at the staircase ever so often.

"I can do that." William nodded and walked off.

"Thank you." Dipper mumbled.

***

Day 17:

"Okay no more park." Pacifica sighed and leaned her head on the window and watched the rain drip down slowly.

"Why are you so bothered by him?" Gideon asked from his place at the table. He was attempting to play tic tac toe with Pacifica's pet chicken, Hannah, and he was losing terribly. "He's just trying to get under your skin."

"But what if he's sincere?" Pacifica questioned.

"Are you saying that you'd go out with him if he was sincere?" Gideon raised a brow. And Pacifica gulped.

Once again the two cousins found themselves outside the Gleeful Manor with an umbrella over their heads. "I don't see why this'll help." Pacifica frowned.

"If he's sincere, he'll stay," Gideon explained, "if he's not, you won't see him again." He rang the bell and waited patiently.

The door opened to reveal William. "Hey William!" Gideon chirped happily. "Can we come in?"

"I do believe so," William said, opening the door wider for the cousins to step inside. "Who are you here for?"

"Dipper." Pacifica found herself saying.

William sighed, "I'm sorry Miss Southeast, but Dipper isn't here at the moment."

"Where is he?" Gideon asked.

"He's watching a friend of his, but if you really must know, he's at the park." William smiled at the two, "Farwell,"

The cousins huddled under the umbrella as they ran to the park, hoping to catch Dipper before he disappeared again. Sure enough, he was there with the same little girl. They were sitting on the swings and Pacifica could see that the girl's lips were moving slowly and she was shaking. Pacifica gave the umbrella to Gideon and walked over to the two of them. Kaori looked up first, "Dipper it's your 'not girlfriend'." She pointed to Pacifica and grinned.

Dipper looked up, "oh hey." He sounded so, different now. Like something was bothering him.

"That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about." Pacifica kicked her foot slowly into the mud. "I wanted to know if we could hang out sometime?"

"Are you falling for me?" Dipper asked, and he looked surprised, but his eyes looked so dull.

"No, but I do want to see if you're for real." Pacifica admitted. "So when can we go?"

"We could go now," he suggested but Kaori tugged on his sleeve.

"But Dippy!" She exclaimed.

"Dippy, how nice." Pacifica snorted.

Dipper gave Pacifica a look and turned back to Kaori. "Well, we should get you back to the hospital anyways," he looked up to Pacifica, "I can do three days from now?"

"What time?" Pacifica asked.

"Seven at night." He replied, before Kaori dragged him off, "see you then, Pazzie!"

"Is he for real?" Pacifica asked Gideon.

"I'm not sure." Gideon mumbled.

***

Day 18:

Dipper walked the halls of the hospital looking for Kaori's room, hoping that the doctors wouldn't be mad at him. He held Kaori's hand and they walked into her room. "Bye Dipper!" She smiled happily before Dipper left the room.

"Bye Kaori." Dipper whispered before heading out. As he left her room, he saw the doctor that had practically kept him from dying that one day. "Doctor Grant?" He asked, and the doctor turned around.

"Ah, Dipper, how are you feeling?" Dr Grant asked.

Dipper shrugged, "better for now."

"No more dizziness? Headaches? Nausea? Passing out?" Grant asked.

"Not at the moment." Dipper said, feeling that something bad was going to happen. "How long as Kaori been in here?"

The doctor sighed and shook his head, "well once she was born she wasn't exactly healthy, she's been in and out but we've decided to hospitalized her permanently."

Dipper felt something run through his damaged heart. "Permanently?" He choked out.

"Yes, but she's been more happy when you take her to the park and things like that." Grant smiled softly. "She seems more happy."

"Oh, I'm...I'm glad." Dipper murmured. "Is she going to be okay?"

Grant sighed, "hopefully."

"Alright. Thank you doctor." Dipper said as he walked out, he realized that he didn't even ask about his own problems.

***

Day 19:

"Tomorrow?" Gideon asked.

Pacifica nodded, "yep at seven."

"Geez, are you gonna fall for him?" Gideon found himself smiling.

"Not at all." Pacifica replied to quickly. "I mean, he's too egotistical for me."

"Right." Gideon nodded.

"I'm serious!"

"Sure you are!"

"Gideon!"

"What?!"

"I'm seriously not going to fall for Dipper Gleeful."

Gideon chuckled, "yeah, okay Paz. Okay."

***

Day 20:

Dipper looked at the clock, it was almost seven. He had to hurry and pick up Pacifica so they could hang out. He felt a little something, but it wasn't extreme. "Mabel! I'm going to go to the doctor!"

"Okay, be safe!" Mabel called, not thinking anything of it.

When Dipper arrived at the Mystery Shack, Pacifica was already waiting outside. The two of them walked to a nice spot on a hill and stared at the skies together. They didn't need to speak, because that's how they bonded last time. "The stars are pretty." Dipper commented and Pacifica laughed.

"Yeah they sure are." She smiled. "This is nice."

"I agree." Dipper smiled a bit.

After hours went by, Pacifica said that she had to go.

"Goodbye Dipper." She whispered. "This was fun, let's do it again sometime?"

"So is this falling for me?" Dipper asked.

She chuckled once more and walked away. She called over her shoulder, "no. It isn't."

"Darn." Dipper whispered. "Almost out of time."

××××××××

~~~~~~~~~~

♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬

“Numb”

(22)

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top