Chapter Text
Pearl looked out of her car window “This is it, this is my new house” Pearl thought with a smile on her face. She had done it, she had moved out of her own house and was now finally on her own. She had bought a house far away from her old house and was now staring at her own house.
It was scary to be on her own so far away from everyone she knows, but it was also exciting. Pearl stepped out of her car and walked up to the door with her key in hand. She had been here a few times before when she had checked it out.
But now it was actually hers, she owed it. Pearl put the key in the keyhole and turned the key, opening the door.
A smile appeared on her face as she walked into the empty house. She of course had been there before but the last time she had been busy just looking for some place to live, she had looked around and seen a house that was for sell. But now she owned it, everywhere she looked, it was all hers.
Boxes were all over the ground, words messily written on them. Pearl maneuvered between them and walked into the living room. She looked around, there was a lot of work to be done before this place would feel like a home.
Luckily Pearl had plenty of ideas.
The first time that she had walked into the house ideas had started popping up. All her furniture already had a space, all her decorations did too. Unfortunately all the decoration and all the furniture was still in boxes right now. It was going to take a while before before Pearl's vision would come to life.
Pearl quickly got to work, the sooner she started, the she sooner she would be done. Pearl worked the rest of the day on unpacking and building the important things. By the time the day was over she had a bed, closet and a functioning kitchen. The closet was still empty but that would be a job for tomorrow, at the moment Pearl was just exhausted.
She ate some dinner, sitting on the floor imagining all the things that she could turn this place into. After dinner she immediately went to bed, tomorrow would be another busy day. It didn't take long before she fell asleep, tired from everything she had done that day.
The next day Pearl woke up early thanks to the light coming from the windows. Pearl turned to lay on her other side away from the light “Should have made putting the curtains up a bigger priority” Pearl thought as the light in the room was still too bright.
A few minutes later Pearl got out of bed, deciding that she wouldn't be able to fall asleep anymore. She quickly ate some breakfast and got to work. Looking around the room Pearl realized that there were plenty of things that still needed to be done.
Pearl took a deep breath and eventually decided on assembling the couch, she didn’t want to make too much noise this early in the morning so she would have to be careful. Assembling the couch luckily wasn't too hard, it was just like one big puzzle. It would have gone easier with another person to help her but that didn't matter, she made it work.
When the couch was done she let herself fall down on top of it. All the boxes in the room was looking at her, almost shouting at her to get back up and work. And so she started working on getting the coffee table to the place she wanted it and she started working on one of the cabinets where the tv would stand on.
She was still working a few hours later but stopped when she heard a knock on the door.
Pearl walked to her door and opened it, she wasn't expecting anyone. In fact she didn't know anyone in the town yet, so who could be in front of her door. Well Pearl was about to find out, in front of her door were two guys. “Uhm hello” Pearl said, she put a smile on her face trying to look friendly.
“Hello, I’m Tango and this is Skizz. We live in the house next to yours. We saw that you moved in and thought that it would be nice to introduce ourself” One of the guys said with a big smile on his face. “It’s nice to meet you two, I’m Pearl” Pearl said, trying to sound friendly herself.
It was always smart to befriend your neighbours, you never knew when you could use an extra hand with something. “Welcome to the neighbourhood Pearl. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask. We have been living here our whole lives so we know everything there is to know” Skizz said confident
Pearl looked at the two of them, they looked friendly enough.
“Thank you, I do have one question already. Do you know where I can get something to eat?” Pearl asked, she had been distracted before but now that she wasn’t busy she realized how hungry she was. When she ad packed stuff for her trip she had packed enough for the trip and for one day here, but now she was out of food.
“Of course we do, there is a little cafe where they have the best food. We can take you there if you want, you know, show you around a little” Tango said. That sounded great, Pearl really didn't feel like getting lost in a town where she knew nobody.
“That would be great, let me get my jacket and then we can go” Pearl said, she walked back inside and grabbed her jacket from where she had thrown it the day before. She walked back outside and closed the door behind her “Let’s go”
The three of them started walking, Pearl letting Tango and Skizz lead the way. She was mostly looking around, looking at her soundings. “So Pearl, why’d you move here?” Skizz asked, starting a conversation while they were walking.
“Oh, I guess that I was just looking for a place to start my life. I wanted to get out of the busy city and saw this place on a website, I instantly fell in love” Pearl said, she had seen the house and decided that she had to have it.
Surprisingly it hadn’t been hard, apparently the house had been empty for a while.
“I understand why, this is a beautiful place. But we don’t usually get new people here, most people who live here have lived here their whole lives” Tango said. “Oh, is there a reason you don’t get new people here?” Pearl asked, she had done a quick google of the town.
The last thing she wanted was to accidentally end up living somewhere that was like on top of a graveyard or something. Pearl had seen enough horror movies to know not to take any changes. But when she had googled the place she hadn't found anything.
When she had told her parents that she wanted to move here they had looked at her like she was crazy. They had been supportive but they didn’t understand why Pearl wanted to move there. Was there a reason she shouldn’t have?
“No reason that I know of” Skizz said “I think people just like busy city’s more, we don’t have a lot here. But that is the beauty of this place, we don’t have much but we have enough” Tango said, sounding like he was advertising the place even though Pearl had already made her decision.
It was too late to leave now, even if Pearl wanted to.
“Hmm you two sound like you love this town” Pearl said, if she had to describe the place where she had lived before she had moved she would have described it as a dirty place with rude people.
“We do, it’s really a great place to live” Skizz said with a smile on his face. “Oh Pearl, this is our grocery store. It has everything you need, the owner's name is Xisuma. He runs the store with his sons Grian and Mumbo” Tango explained as they walked past a small store.
“Really the three of them run this place by them self?” Pearl asked, shocked. It was a small place but it didn’t look like it could be ran by three people.
“Yeah, it’s a family business. A little tip, buy all your fish here. One of the sons fishes and takes the fish back home to sell, they are always incredibly fresh” Tango said. Skizz took Pearl by her hand “Come, you wanna meet them?”
Pearl didn’t really have a choice as she was pulled inside the store before she could answer. Skizz brought Pearl over to the counter, behind the counter was a man with a smile on his face. “Hello, what can I help you with?” He asked.
“Hey X, we have a new neighbor. Pearl meet Xisuma, Xisuma meet Pearl” Skizz said, motioning to the people as he spoke. Pearl gave a small wave to Xisuma.
“Nice to meet you Pearl, welcome to the neighborhood” Xisuma said “Uhm hello, thank you” Pearl said, she had never introduced herself to a cashier. In the city it would have been impossible to run a store with three people, every day there was a different cashier.
“Where are Mumbo and Grian?” Tango asked, he had disappeared for a second but was back now. He was looking around the room, trying to look past Xisuma.
“They're out, as you can see it’s not very busy in here at the moment” Xisuma said motioning to the very empty store. He didn’t look sad about it though, he still had a smile on his face. As if an empty store just meant that he could have a break and not that he wasn't making any money “Are you two introducing Pearl to everyone?”
“Yeah! Or well we were actually just showing her where the cafe was. But then we passed this place and I kinda decided to just introduce Pearl to you” Skizz replied.
“Oh you’re on your way to the cafe, could you do me a favor and bring some fish with you. Impulse ordered it but I haven’t had the time to bring it over yet” Xisuma said, pointing at a few boxes behind him.
“Of course” Skizz said, Xisuma stood up and Skizz followed him, Pearl assumed that they were going to get those boxes. Tango turned to Pearl when they were out of earshot. “I’m sorry if Skizz is a bit too over excited, he means well”
Pearl laughed “What no, I love it. People in the city just look at you in disgust, I love how close everyone is here” Tango looked at her and smiled “I think that you will fit in here” Tango said.
Skizz and Xisuma returned not much later, Skizz holding two big boxes in his arms. The three of them said their goodbyes to Xisuma and continued their walk to the cafe. It didn’t take too long before they arrived, a good thing about living in a small town that Pearl was going to be happy getting used to.
The cafe was small but cozy, it had some tables outside and inside but that was about it. Tango and Skizz walked up to the counter and Skizz started ringing the bell. “Impy? You hiding in the back again?” Skizz said while he kept ringing the bell over and over again.
A man wearing a big chef hat appeared behind the counter “You’re going to break that bell one day Skizz” the man said, taking the bell away from the counter. “Oh who do we have here?” He asked as he noticed Pearl. “I’m Pearl, I’m new in town” “She bought the house next to us” Tango said.
“Ah, I was wondering when that house would finally be sold. It’s nice to meet you pearl, I’m Impulse. I wish you good luck with those two as your neighbours” Impulse started with a smile on his face. “Hey! We are delightful neighbours” Tango said, interrupting Impulse.
Impulse glared at him as if he didn't believe him before he turned back to Pearl “I own this little place over here, do you want something? On the house of course, since you’re new here” Impulse said, ignoring Tango.
“Oh uhm sure, what do you recommend?” Pearl asked, she had no idea what she wanted. She didn’t even know what they had and she wasn’t about to stare at the menu while Impulse was waiting for her answer. That would be rude and a terrible first impression.
“A sliced steak sandwich it is, grilled marinated steak tips, topped with grilled onions and melted mozzarella cheese on a hard roll, served with french fries” Impulse said, like he was trying to sell it to her.
“Sounds great” Pearl just answered, she had no idea what it was that Impulse was trying to sell her on but his sell pitch had worked.
“Tango, Skizz anything for the two of you?” Impulse asked “The usual” Tango, Skizz and Impulse said at the same time. “So predictable” Impulse said laughing as he walked into the kitchen.
“Wait dipple dop, I have fish” Skizz said, he had put the boxes of fish down, he picked it back up and ran after Impulse. “Dipple dop?” Pearl asked, who or what was a dipple dop?
“Haha, yeah Skizz likes giving people nicknames. He calls Impulse dipple dop, I forgot how confusing that must be for someone who has never heard it before. Everyone else here is pretty just to it by now” Tango replied. “Oh-kay, doe she have a nickname for you too?” Pearl asked.
"He sometimes calls me top, but it's mostly just Tango" Tango replied. After a while Impulse returned with some food, he put it down in front of them and turned to Tango. “Hey, do you think you’re able to work tonight? Bdubs called in sick”
“Sure, what time do you need me?” Tango asked as he started eating. “Like five, Joel should be here too so it will be the three of us” Impulse answered “Okay, I’ll be there”
“Do you work here?” Pearl asked obviously having heard the conversation. In the city nobody ever ate at the place that they worked at. Nobody wanted to run into their boss or other coworkers, that was awkward. Most people also didn't want their boss to just ask them to take over a shift but Tango didn't seem to mind.
“Yup, Skizz does too” Tango said “Yup, gotta earn a living somehow and this is a pretty nice job. Even if our boss is annoying at times" Skizz said as he glared at Impulse with a teasing smile "What do you do Pearl?” Skizz asked.
“Uh nothing yet, I used to deliver mail at my old place. But I’m gonna have to find a new job here” Pearl said, getting a job here was one of the things that Pearl was stressing about.
“If you want you can work here, we are always looking for more employees” Impulse said. “Wait, seriously?” Pearl asked, it couldn’t be that easy right? “Sure, we could always use more help over here” Impulse said, he didn’t look like he was joking.
“Wouldn’t you need to interview me first?” Pearl asked.
“Not really, there isn’t much that I need to know. Unless you’re a serial killer or something the job’s yours. Wait, you're not a serial killer, right?” Impulse asked. Pearl laughed “No, I’m not a serial killer”
“Good, in that case if you want the job then it’s yours” Impulse said “B-but I don’t know anything about working in a cafe” Pearl replied “These two didn’t either until they started working here, we’ll teach you” Impulse assured her as he pointed at Skizz and Tango.
Pearl looked over at Tango and Skizz who were nodding, she turned back to Impulse with a bright smile on her face “Then I will take the job” Pearl said, she still wasn’t one hundred percent sure if Impulse was kidding or not. “Great, then the job is yours” Impulse said.
The two of them gave their phone numbers and Pearl officially had a job. Pearl, Skizz and Tango ate for a while before they walked back home. Pearl looked around again, taking in the town that she now lived at too.
At one moment she saw something, there was a small cabin on the land close to the water. She hadn't noticed the cabin before but it stood out between all the other buildings and houses. “Does someone live there?” Pearl asked, she pointed at the cabin.
Skizz and Tango looked at the cabin “Oh uhm yeah kinda” Skizz said, Pearl looked at him “What do you mean kinda?”
“There is a girl that appears there every once in a while, we don’t know who she is. I wouldn’t go near it if I were you, people say that it’s haunted” Tango explained. Pearl laughed, thinking that Skizz and Tango were joking.
But when she looked at their faces she noticed them looking dead serious “We’re serious, don’t go near there” Skizz said. The two started walking again, Pearl forced herself to look away from the cabin and walked after them.
She got back home and started working on her furniture again, finally hanging her curtains. But as she worked she could only think about the cabin, what was in there? And who was the girl that Tango and Skizz were talking about?