~~~~~~~~~Your POV~~~~~~~~~

Slamming my door shut, I fell face first onto my bed, groaning into it. Ally and Andy were naturally behind me, unsure of what to do to comfort me. That or scold me for my behavior.

"Well," Ally started, "that's not how I thought that interaction would go."

"Nah, I expected (y/n) to slam the door on his face." I glared at Andy for his comment, to which he smiled as innocently as he could. Thanks to that though, I noticed something different behind him, walking over to my window.

"Since when do I leave my windows open?"

"Maybe Aunt Beck opened it earlier?" Floating over, Allison inspected the window, "And maybe we just didn't notice."

"Maybe..."

"Ugh!" I glanced over at Andy's groan, seeing him gesture at a pile of clothes and old papers spilling out of my closet, "When was the last time you cleaned your closet?! Seriously, it's like a pigsty in here!"

"Uh, look who's talking," Allison replied with the same glare, hands on her hips, "Mr. I never showered when I was alive!"

"Showering was a waste of time!"

"Tell that to the pour souls who had to smell you!"

"You two give me the worst migraines imaginable," I complained as I walked over, picking up the dirty clothes. Granted, I found it a bit strange they were like this in the first place, but I shrugged it off. "I guess it has been a while since I cleaned my room though."

Andy poked his head out of the closet door as I closed it, "I'm surprised Aunt Beck hadn't scolded you for it yet."

"She's been too busy with work to notice," I responded, lying back on my bed. As I did though, the little charm I was giving that rested in my pocket jingled, making me take it out and raise it above me to inspect it. It looked well-made, even decorated with the tiniest of details, glossy so it was distinguishable as a charm in the first place, and it did match the pin I had on my bag.

It made my heart ache a little. Sure, this Dipper Pines had made me life harder than normal in the last few days, but none of it was intentional. Maybe he could've been lying, but then the charm wouldn't make any sense. But then he wouldn't be hanging out with people like Melanie in the first place.

Just what exactly was his end goal?

Even if he never meant to be around Melanie, she always did everything in her power to be there, and that was bad news for me if he really wanted to be around me. It would just never work, not with her.

So with a sigh, I placed the charm inside the top drawer of my nightstand and turned my back to it, snuggling into my pillow. "So much for movie night..."

My eyes were closed, but I had a feeling Ally and Andy were having one of their sympathetic shared glances, though whether it was of pity for me or themselves, I couldn't tell. Lately, the more things happened to me, the more they regretted being around me, and even asked if I wanted them to leave me forever so that I wouldn't have that distraction whenever I tried to talk to the living. I denied it, obviously; even if they got me in trouble sometimes, they were my best friends.

And that showed as I saw Andy's spirit became one with my blanket, draping it over me before floating back out; Ally passed a hand through the lamp on my nightstand, turning it off smiling at me, "Sweet dreams, (y/n)..." I smiled back, appreciating her comment before enjoying the comfort of my sheets.

That night, however, I did not have sweet dreams.

Instead, my dream consisted of a chase. A long chase through a dark forest I couldn't recognize, and I couldn't see whatever was chasing me no matter how many times I turned to check. All I knew was that I ran for a very long time, feeling exhausted more and more as time went on. Eventually, I felt my foot slipped off, and the next thing I knew, the air was knocked out of my lungs as I hit my back against the ground. How high had I just fallen from? I had no idea. The areas around me were too dark to see, and the faint places around my feet that were lit up by moonlight, my peripheral veision was having a hard time catching.

The rest happened faster than I could comprehend. A shadow, all in black, hovering over me as something in their hand glowed in silver with the moonlight; a knife, sharp, ready for me. And as it swung down and plunged itself into my chest...

... I came to.

Without knowing, I had sat up with a jolt, my lungs burning from the sudden change of pace. I was sweaty and shaky, trying to adjust my breathing to its normal speed. I even had to check my chest to make sure there weren't any stab wounds, and I only let out a sigh of relief until I made sure I was unharmed.

My alarm rang about a minute later, startling me again, and Andrés floated in ready for action, "RISE AND- oh."

"You're awake," Allison peeked through the door, "that's a first!"

"Whoa, you okay? You look pale." At his question, Midnight leaped onto my lap, snuggling into my stomach as she purred. Petting her calmed me down, and she knew that.

"I'm fine, just had a weird dream." Then I set Midnight aside and continued with my morning routine, because who other than immature high school students would plan a drunken party on a school night? I put on the same mix of clothes, went downstairs to the plate of breakfast that always waited for me, and caught the bus I almost always got on. It seemed like it was gonna be the same day as always, with the added chaos due to the celebrity students.

And yet, it was actually disturbing just how normally the day went by; calm, peaceful. Everyone seemed to have their focus on themselves for once, yet there was an air of frustration around them. Even the other ghosts seemed a little surprised at today's change of pace, but they didn't have an answer for it when Allison asked.

Before I knew it, the school day had ended, and I was on my way back to the bus stop, where a line of other students awaited me.

It wasn't until Ally spoke up that I started to realize what was going on, pointing across the school area, "Hey look, it's Victoria! I was wondering why she wasn't in class earlier."

Just as she said, Victoria hovered behind her bonded mortal, a habit many ghosts took part of out of boredom; the one Vicky had attached herself to was a blonde girl I shared Calculus with. Pacifica Northwest, I think? Now that I think about it, both had missed school entirely today.

Said Pacifica was with another girl, who I quickly pinned down as the other Pines twin, Dipper's sister Mabel. I'd heard about her a lot, hard not to with how much popularity they had in school. She was said to be bubbly and energetic, always had a smile on her face and always friendly with everyone around her, yet that didn't seem to be the case this time.

Her face screamed anxious, worry; her hair was messy and her clothes mismatched, like she simply grabbed whatever she could and ran out the door. She was handing out a few sheets of paper while Pacifica held the rest of the stack, also worried, and whoever they talked to had an immediate change in expression.

"Jeez," Andy commented as he noticed the change in atmosphere, "Did someone die or somethin'?"

At that, Ally waved over and yelled for Victoria, who quickly noticed and walked over. "Good afternoon, madams," she said with a curtsy, then faced Andy, "and good sir."

Andy nodded at her, then Allison started, "Vicky, we wanted to ask about what's going on. Why's everyone so upset?"

"Oh, you haven't heard?" Victoria glanced around, not sure of how to respond. "It's about Dipper Pines. Apparently, he never went back home after the party."

As if a switch had been flipped inside me, a rush of cold air zoomed down my spine, making me glanced at Victoria ever so slightly, with Allison speaking for me, "Dipper's missing?!"

"Have they told the police yet?!"

"They have, but they said we shouldn't worry too much considering Dipper probably knows this town better than anyone." Vicky then grabbed a strand of her own hair, twirling it around her fingers, "And yet, I can't help but feel something is wrong..."

"I get what you mean," Ally replied, "The air today has felt really stale."

"Bus to Grayroad Street about to close!"

At that, Victoria gave one last curtsy, "I'll let you all head home. Do stay safe, please..."

"You, too, Vicky..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I waited at my front door, I kept stumbling to get my house keys, thoughts clouding my head.

Dipper Pines? The beloved town hero? The adventurer that discovered more of this place at only twelve years old? Missing? He couldn't possibly have just gotten lost, he knew this place far too well for that.

Maybe he got drunk? He didn't seem drunk when he talked to me last night, he just seemed like he always did; anxious, but meant well. Maybe it happened after our conversation? But then, surely someone would've noticed.

But if that's the case, does that mean... could I have stopped this somehow?

"(y/n), the door! Open the door!" Andy's scolding brought me back to reality, seeing him gesture forward, "You're gonna catch a cold if you stay out here for too long."

"I- r-right. Sorry. Just a little distracted."

Ally looked down at me with concern, "Because of Dipper Pines, right?"

"It's just hard to believe someone like that went missing, just like that." Out of my pocket, I pulled out the charm he had given me last night, inspecting it in my hands, "Do you guys think he might be... hurt...?"

"And if he is? What if it?"

Andy let out a yell of pain as Ally punched his shoulder with a glare, "Andrés!"

"What?! I'm just saying!" He gestured at me, "It's not like she's ever cared about it before, the guy broke her nose, for Christ's sake!"

"Well, y-yeah, but-!"

"I never said I wanted him gone," I quickly intervened, my gaze still focused on the charm. "Maybe... maybe if I had just talked to him for a little longer, he'd still... I mean-" I looked at my friends in a panic, unsure of how to feel, "What if something bad happened to him? That's technically my fault!"

"Whoa, hey," Andy placed a feel-through hand on my shoulder, "We don't know if something did happen to him. He could be passed out on someone's bed, for all we know. So don't go blaming yourself just yet, okay?"

I got his point, but there was still a nagging feeling in my gut that something had happened, and both Andy and Ally could see that.

It was then that Ally gasped and smiled, "How about Andy and I go search for him? Look through the forest, the town, ask around, would that ease your mind?"

"Must we?"

"Andrés," she scolded again, to which he seemed more submissive this time, shrinking in place out of embarrassment.

He then let out a sigh, "Okayyy, we'll go give the town a quick search, but only cuz you're really stressed about this."

A smile grew on my face, it warmed my heart to know they both cared so much, "Well, aren't you a kind soul."

Blushing with embarrassment, he crossed his arms and glanced away with a grumble, "Shut up."

Ally then wrapped an arm around him, smiling back, "We'll be back before you know it, hopefully with good news!" And with that, the two flew away, leaving me to enter my house and take a deep breath as the warmth of being indoors engulfed me.

Still, there was a coldness in my chest, a coldness I couldn't shake off. Something that told me that something had started to brew.

And that something wouldn't be easy to solve...

Thanks for reading!!! 'Till next time!!!

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