Reverse Falls: Welcome to the Show

2] The Telepathy Twins

Gideon turned around to see a girl floating beside him. Blonde hair was floating loosely across her shoulders, her mascara was streaked down her cheeks from crying, and her bright blue eyes were gleaming from the tears that were still threatening to fall.

"Are you okay?" Gideon asked quietly. His voice, to his embarrassment, came out as more of a squeak. His voice echoed through the nothingness, then slowly died out.

"I've been trapped here for days," the girl whimpered. "I don't even know how I got in here!"

"I'm not sure where I am either. . . I was looking for my dad at the old Mystery Fair and I wondered into an empty theatre, or at least I thought it was empty, when-" Gideon cut himself off. He knew that he tended to talk too much when he was anxious. He took a deep breath before sticking out a hand.

"I'm Gideon."

The girl stared back without blinking, then smiled a little. "I'm Pacifica."

Gideon just blinked, his mouth hanging open slightly. Memories flooded his head of endless summers, camping under the stars, ice pops dropping off their chins, and catching fireflies. The last memory to cross his mind was the day he had last seen his best friend before she moved to Oregon.

"Wait- Pacifica? Pacifica SouthEast?"

Pacifica nodded slowly, wiping her runny nose with her sleeve. "Yeah. . .?"

Gideon's eyes lit up and he parted his lips into a wide grin. "Pacifica! It's me, Gideon!"

Pacifica squinted at him for a moment or two before exclaiming, "oh my gosh! I can't believe it!"

She spread out her arms and flew into him, embracing him in a warm hug. Burying her button nose into his shoulder she murmured, "I thought I was going to die alone in here."

Gideon wrapped his arms tighter around her.

"It's okay, Paz," he whispered back.

He didn't have the heart to tell her that she was probably right and that there was no possible way of exiting this place. But he didn't want to worry Pacifica any more than she already was.

"There's so much to talk about, I didn't know you were visiting Gravity Falls!" Pacifica said happily. Her beaming face seemed to be the only bright thing for miles. "What brings you to town?"

"My dad moved down here a while back and wanted me to visit for the summer," he replied shortly, deciding not to go into the details of the whole divorce thing. It was still hard even for Gideon himself to accept.

"This is so cool! It'll be just like the good old days! I've never had a kid in town to really hang out with before- I mean I have friends, but not like my best friend." Pacifica momentarily switched back to her shy smile.

"Well, I mean there are the Pines Twins. . . but no one really ever sees them."

Gideon raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

Pacifica shrugged. "I dunno. They don't exactly live anywhere, I don't think. I don't see them that often. They're more of an urban legend than human beings."

"What're the rumors?"

Pacifica looked hesitant. "Well, I've tried getting to know them, but all I know is that their names are Dipper and Mabel. There's also this one story I've heard. . . but I don't know if it's a good idea to tell you. I don't want to scare you out of town or something."

Before Gideon could ask any further questions, a rectangle of light appeared, bright like the spotlight from the stage. It was the door to the box. Gideon felt drawn to it, like a magnetic pull.

He instinctively reached out and grabbed Pacifica's hand.

"We're getting out of here, together."

Pacifica clutched her fingers tightly around his as Gideon pulled her closer and closer toward the door. The pull grew stronger until they both fell out of the box. Gideon landed with his limbs sprawled out over the stage.

Gideon shielded his eyes with his forearms from the bright light. His eyes took a moment or two to adjust to the extreme change in lighting.

Dipper and Mabel were leaning over him. They didn't look worried, just curious.

"Quite a tumble you took, there," Dipper said with a smirk.

Gideon sat up. His head seemed to spin when he noticed Pacifica was nowhere to be seen.
Had she been left behind?

"Looking for something?" Mabel's overly casual voice drew Gideon out of his thoughts.

"What just happened?" he asked the twins.
"What the heck was that place?!"

"Poor boy, he's imagining things. That was nothing but an empty box," Mabel said followed by tossing her hair over her shoulder.

"It's not real, you know. We just pretend it is. Don't you know what a magic show is?" Dipper asked, his unsettling smile never budging.

Gideon got back on his feet. He wobbled slightly but still managed to leave the stage after saying, "whatever, I'm leaving."

The twins made no move to stop him. They just silently stared after him as he grabbed hold of his luggage and reached for the rusted doors.

Gideon paused when he heard a familiar voice call out, "Gideon! Wait!"

He nearly jumped out of his shoes when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Gideon whipped around to face his dad.

"I'm so sorry about the wait, buddy. How long have you been here?" Bud asked him with a warm smile.

"Just a few minutes. . ." Gideon replied breathlessly. His head still spinning from confusion, he asked "where were you?"

"I'm the pianist for the Telepathy Twins. Mr. Pines is paying me to write up some new music for their upcoming show. I was just practicing backstage," Bud replied.

Well that explained where the music had come from earlier.

"So you were helping them rehearse?" Gideon asked.

Bud looked confused. "What do you mean? I'm the only one here. I was supposed to lock up for the night."

"But I just saw them-" Gideon turned to point at the stage, which was now empty. The stage light had been switched off.

Bud patted his shoulder. "Come on, let's getcha' home."