Sincerely Yours, Bill Cipher

They're Beside Me

     Just as the Bluffs said, we reach the nearest town to the Jinn community by noon. We pull into a truck stop for lunch, then leave the car to begin our trek into the woods at the edge of Oregon.
     Only minutes in, Pacifica and I are absolutely miserable.
     "Why does it have to be so hot?" Pacifica complains, wiping her shiny forehead.
     "I don't know," I say. "I hope the walk isn't far."
     "What a pleasant day!" Yule exclaims annoyingly, stretching out his arms. "Ah, don't you just love that good summer sun on your face? And this bumpy ground beneath our feet- makes you just wanna smile, doesn't it?" He grins dramatically.
     I flip my head to glare at him, averting my eyes from where I'm stepping. "Yule, I so want to punch you right n- AH!" I stumble over a tree root and face-plant in the dirt.
     Yule laughs so hard, if he were still alive, I'm sure he'd dissolve into a bought of coughing. The worst part is that his laugh is so contagious, my body involuntarily decides to join in the laughter.
     Pacifica begins giggling, too. She picks up the directions that I dropped when I fell. "First of all: Now it's my turn to navigate! Second: Are you okay?" she asks me.
     I pick myself up and brush myself off as dignified as I can for a person who was just sprawled on the ground. "Why is that second?" I complain. "Isn't my well-being more important than your selfish wish to be the guide?"
     Pacifica smirks in response. "Let me get back to you about that."
     "You're the worst."
     "I know."
My heart swells with gladness as we continue, this time with Pacifica leading. My worries, though burning, have been pushed to the back of my mind. I have the best friends in the world at my side. Why should I worry? If I die, I'll have them with me, and that would be enough. It would be enough to have lived the life I lived and die today, die tomorrow, die years from now, as long as they're beside me. I've lived a life full of blessings, and I can get through anything, no matter how frightening or painful, with these two adorable, loving, dumb idiots at my side.
"So, Bill, do we have a plan once we get there?" Yule asks seriously, casting a concerned glance my way. "I feel like we should've talked this over earlier."
"All we can do is read the situation once we're there," I reply somberly with a shrug. "We have literally no information about this place or its inhabitants other than the directions from Isla."
     We keep trekking for a while until I speak up again. "Why do you think the Bluffs keep sage in their house?" I ask, referencing this morning.
     "I think they were exorcising a poltergeist earlier," Yule says, shrugging in response.
"And you aren't afraid of that?" I ask. "You felt what happened this morning. Aren't you at least wary of the Bluffs? I mean, they're wonderful people, but they could be very dangerous to any supernatural beings."
"This morning was different, Bill," Yule replies, shaking his head. "I'm different. They would never intentionally hurt me. That, I'm sure of."
"What did it feel like?" I ask cautiously. "That pain from this morning?"
"Different, although excruciating," he answers honestly. "It wasn't quite human pain. I have no sense of feeling anymore. But this was something else. Almost like extreme points of pressure, or burning, or something like that. Similar to what I was experiencing when Tyler was trying to destroy me."
     "But didn't that scare you?" Pacifica asks.
     "Of course!" Yule responds. "But... even if I'm afraid... pain like that almost makes me feel human again. It makes me feel like I really do still exist."
     My face falls. "Yule..."
     "What?" He flashes me a smile. "I'm fine, I promise."
     "Guys." Pacifica throws her arm back to stop us. "I think I heard something."
     She creeps forward, making sure her feet make no sound. She inches back the thick canopy of branches ahead of us. After a few moments, she turns back to us, her eyes stretched wide.
     "We found it," she whispers in shock.
"Really?!" Yule exclaims.
We both shush him before we sheepishly realize that we're the only ones who can hear him.
Yule and I take a peek ourselves. And we see a bustling town before us! It looks like a normal, quaint little town. Even the inhabitants look close to human. The only difference is that they shimmer different colors. If I hadn't taken a close look and I ran into this place, I wouldn't have batted an eye. It all seems so normal. Are these really wish-giving beings? Are these Jinn good or evil? Are they somewhere in between? How do we even begin to try to get a wish out of one of them?
"Okay, I think I've got a plan," Yule tells us.
"You do?" I ask. That was fast. Which probably means this is a very bad plan.
"It's going to involve Pacifica, eyelash batting, sexy smirks, and a heck of a ton of hip swaying."
"Oh, no," I respond, horrified that he even came up with an idea like this. "You seriously aren't saying..."
Yule points at Pacifica and grins slyly. "That's right. You're gonna frickin' seduce a genie."
Pacifica mocks a gasp. Though I know there's fear in her, I can see the excitement in her eyes. "Mr. Shields, what a dastardly naughty idea."
"Are you kidding?" I ask, my voice tight. "That's the plan? What happens after? This is all we're going off of?"
"Unless you have a better idea," Yule prompts, cocking an eyebrow.
I don't. "Fine." I raise my eyebrow and glance Pacifica's way. "But why her? Aren't I handsome enough?" I add with a smirk.
     "Dude," Yule frowns, "and cheat on our bromance like that?" He cracks one of his amused smiles.
     Pacifica puts her hand on top of mine. "I'll be careful," she promises genuinely. "Besides," she adds with a coy smile, "I think I may be just a little bit better at throwing my hips and puckering my lips."
     Yule giggles. "That rhymed." He looks at me and pats my head. "It's okay, Bill. Anyway, if Pacifica wasn't able to do this, and I were still living, I would be our best bet, you know."
     "Says who?" I scoff.
     "Um, yeah!" Pacifica plays along. "Yule, are you kidding? If you were alive, you'd be first choice. Bill, who? You'd walk into that town and I swear all those genies would drop dead from just one look at you. If Bill did... maybe one Jinni might look up from their phone for a second...?"
     "Stop teasing meeeeeee!" I whine.
     "Yeah, yeah," they say in unison. I groan.
     "But in all seriousness," Pacifica says, "I will be extremely cautious. And I'll count on you both to rescue me if anything goes awry, okay?"
     We nod in understanding.
     "Okay." Pacifica stretches and turns toward the underbrush that the Jinn town lays behind. "Let's go beguile a genie."