Gravity Falls - Autumn Winds

Ep 2: Ghosts of the past. Part 1

It had been a month since the incident at the mansion and Nick had spent most of it locked inside the basement.

At first, Pete didn't really mind too much. Nick had been paid a large amount by McGucket for the incident and Pete (after being legally obligated to share 30% of the cash) spent most of it paying of his debt, so Pete was content with letting him do whatever he wanted.

After a week however, Pete started to worry about the guy. He would only come out for a few minutes to get some water or a sandwich before locking himself back in the basement. He never talked to him or even seemed to acknowledged his existence most of the time, when he did acknowledge Pete, it was mostly in small grunts of either annoyance or boredom.

This caused several problems for Pete.

For one, while his debt may be significantly smaller, he still needed to pay a few more mob bosses before he was free and Nick was definitely going to be a huge help.

Secondly, Nick had barely eaten anything for three weeks. And Pete definitely didn't need a man starving in his basement if he wanted to steer clear of the law.

And thirdly, while he wouldn't admit it, Nick had been entertaining company. Pete didn't have many friends and (while he wasn't sure if he would consider Nick a friend) it was nice to have to talk to someone who wasn't inches away from putting a bullet trough his skull.

During a Saturday afternoon, Pete decided that it was time to get Nick out of the basement, or at least find out why he's there in the first place.

Pete walked down the wooden stairs leading down to the basement door, a simple white door with a brass doorknob. After a few moments of hesitation he knocked on the door. "Nick. Come out, you've been acting weird." He waited for a response, none came.

He knocked again "Dude, please open the door. I can't have you starving to death, at least do it somewhere else." Again, no response.

A third knock "I'm coming in." There was no response as Pete kicked the door harder than he should have.

The momentum from the kick sent his foot speeding towards the stone floor, before quickly catching himself mid-fall. "Huh, guess it wasn't locked." Pete said to himself, turning back to the door.

He turned around and observed the room. The basement was small, it had red bricks for walls and cardboard boxes sitting in the left corner.

Pete approached the boxes slowly, somewhat fearing the possible mental instability his roommate may be going through. Three weeks, alone, inside a basement doesn't exactly do wonders for a persons mind.

What he saw around the corner also didn't calm his fears.

Nick sat sandwiched between a pile of boxes and a brick wall, his blank gaze fixated on the ground before him. His hands we're twitching randomly, grasping something inside of the pocket in his now dirty jacket.

Pete went to put his hand on the blondes shoulder. To comfort him, to ask him what was wrong, to find out what was going on. "I suppose you want me to come back up?" But none of that came to pass as Nick finally spoke after probably weeks of silence. His tone was flat, dead almost. It sounded tired.

Pete knelt in front of him for awhile, his right hand in mid air, before slowly lowering it to touch the floor. He tried to say something, but struggled to find the words he needed. Pete had never really been an expert on emotional support, he had very little friends and the friends he did have always ended up hating him or leaving behind in the dust.

Thankfully, Nick had spoken for him. "Do you know what happened to me Pete? Before i came here." He asked in the same defeated tone he had spoken in before.