Sincerely Yours, Bill Cipher

Strawberry Cake

Pacifica takes a deep breath, closing her eyes. Her hands tighten around his. "I wish for the pulses caused by the henchmaniacs' quafly closing to cease completely, never afflicting us again."
Koa's father's shimmer brightens. After a few moments, he looks to her, then to me, and smiles. "It's done."
"What?" Pacifica asks, mystified. "Did you even understand what I was saying?"
"Not at all," he laughs. "But wish granting isn't prohibited by that. As long as the wish was worded right according to what you need, it will be granted."
"I have no idea what that meant," I admit, "but I'll take your word for it."
"Bill...?" Pacifica says uncertainly. "Where- Where's Yule?"
"What?" I look around us. He was right here just a moment ago, wasn't he? My heart suddenly seems to fall inside my chest. "No, no, no. You don't think..."
"Yule's spirit in this world was a pulse?" Pacifica finishes, her voice shaking. "We never thought that would be the cause... yet it would make sense."
It feels like someone is using my heart as a stress ball. "That can't- that can't be-"
"But what if- oh my gosh, what have I-"
"BOO!" Yule materializes in front of us, spreading out his hands and feet to make himself appear as big and frightening.
Pacifica and I scream and fall backward, gripping each other in fright. Yule's laugh right now could easily be classified as a cackle. "Gotcha!"
I want to feel so angry with him right now, but I'm too relieved to feel anything else. "I hate you!" I exclaim, trying to steady my throbbing heartbeat.
"First of all, you don't," he corrects me with a grin. "Second," his expression turns a little more serious, "I will never do anything like that again. I'm sorry, but the opportunity was too good not to take."
"Yule!" Pacifica yells at him, her hand over her chest. "We didn't find it that funny! Pull anything like that again and I'll punch you into next week!"
"Sorry, sorry!" he apologizes again. "This all just seemed too easy, so we needed a bit of peril at the end. You know, something to keep the readers on the edge of their seats."
"The what?" Pacifica asks.
"Oh, nothing," Yule brushes it off. "Anyway, you might want to explain to these poor people what's going on."
Mr. and Mrs. Koa's parents blink at us blankly.
     "Oh, sorry," I tell them. "We're haunted by our best friend's ghost."
     "Would you please leave now?" Koa's mother asks uncertainly. The ghost fact set them off more than I thought it would.
     "Yes, yes, thank you again!" Pacifica says quickly, trying to shove me out the door. She turns back to say, "Wait! Let me write down my phone number if you'll let Koa call me later."
     "No," Koa's mother starts, her face hardening; "you-"
     "Please," Pacifica begs. "You should think about letting Koa make decisions for himself. He's nearly an adult. You can't shape his life for him. He has to do that for himself. Think about it, okay?" Pacifica fishes an old gum wrapper from her jacket pocket and takes a stray pen from the countertop. She writes down her number and leaves the wrapper. "Thank you again."
     We run out the door together, and run down the streets, trying to find our way back to the truck. Pacifica's phone rings on the way. Her face lights up when she sees the name Dipper Pines glowing on the screen. Then her face scrunches in concern. As much as we think this will be good news, it could just as easily be bad. We could have been too late... The thought alone makes me want to throw up.
     Pacifica picks up the phone and turns it on speaker. "Dipper?!" she yells as we slow to a stop.
     "Pacifica! Oh gosh, it's so good to hear your voice!" he exclaims, his voice void of any lethargy. "Are you alright?"
     "Me?!" Pacifica exclaims, her jaw dropping. "I should be asking that about you! Are you well?"
     "We're fine! You wouldn't believe it! Just minutes ago, oh my gosh, I thought we were going to die, and then- and then- everything stopped! Just like that! We're completely well again! Is this a coincidence, or were you able to make the wish?"
     "I was! It's a long story, but that can wait for later, when I see you again. We'll be back soon. In about four hours? Oh! And I'm going to buy some strawberry cake for us on the way to share when we get home."
"Strawberry cake?" Dipper questions.
"It's part of the long story," Pacifica explains. "I'll see you soon, Dipper."
"See you." I can hear the smile in his voice.
"Give it to me!" I hear another voice from his end. The bright, lilted voice that could only come from Mabel. "Is everyone there? Bill? Yule?"
     "Yes, we're here!" I answer excitedly.
     "Oh, good!" she replies, the phone distorting her voice a bit as her voice pitches. "I'm so glad! Come home soon, okay? As fast as you can."
     "Yes, Mabel, of course," I say warmly, unable to keep the smile off my face. "I'm so relieved you're better. I'll buy extra strawberry cake for you."
     "And you have to explain this new strawberry cake phenomenon," she makes me promise. Dipper says something indiscernible from the other end, probably telling his sister something. "Okay, I'll leave you to it," she finally says. "Won't keep you any longer! Bye! Love you!" The call disconnects.
     Pacifica exhales. "It's really over, huh? You don't think that was just a coincidence?"
     "No way," Yule replies, shaking his head with a smile. "Seb's still with them. I think they would have known by then if he was back to normal and would have told us if he wasn't."
     Pacifica's stomach growls. "Huh, I guess we never did have lunch," she remarks, putting a hand over her stomach. "I'm so hungry!"
     "Saaaaaame," Yule croons, a sarcastic smile across his face.
     "Well," I say, humorously ignoring him, "we know a great place for strawberry cake."
     Pacifica laughs. "I'm afraid if we keep saying strawberry cake, I'm going to lose my appetite for it."
     "Strawberry cake, strawberry cake, strawberry cake!" Yule shouts in steady repetition. When Pacifica glares at him, he shrugs and defends himself. "Hey, I'm just saying! Why is it fair that you should enjoy the strawberry cake while I can't?" He looks to me. "You know, dude, I'm still up for the possession thing if you are?"
     "I was never up for the possession thing!" I shout in exasperation, though a smile gives me away.
     "Ha! You're smiling! You're up for it!"
     "No! Ugh! Stupid human expressions! I am- I am not!" Hard as I try, my smile keeps returning. "Why won't it go away?!"
     "Don't be a jerk about the cake, Yule," Pacifica says through a laugh probably directed at me.
     "Oh, I think I have a right to be a jerk about the cake," Yule says matter of factly, putting his hands on his hips. "I am a ghost, after all."
       Pacifica and I look at each other and can't contain our laughter.
     I shrug. "He does have a point."