Starting New: A World Apart

Chapter 1: Waking Up

Gumball woke up with a severe headache.

"Ugh, my head..." He mumbled to himself.

Gumball slowly gained his senses and opened one eye, then the other. Once his vision stopped being blurry, he looked slowly around him. He was surrounded by dirt. He seemed to be in the center of a small crater.

"What the what?!" He said, confused.

He glanced down at himself and gently felt his body with one of his slightly sore hands. It didn't seem like anything was broken at least.
He slowly brought himself up onto his feet and looked over his crater and at his true surroundings. He saw lots of trees and freshly cut grass. He also saw lots of dirt chunks everywhere. It looked like an explosion had gone off.

He then heard a slight whine of pain behind him. Turning around, he saw his mom, Nicole, laying on the ground in a similar position he was just in. Gumball quickly ran up to her and gently put both his hands on either side of her face.

"Mom! Are you okay?!" He asked her worryingly as she slowly opened her eyes.

"G-Gumball? What happened?" She said as she looked into his eyes with confusion and worry.

"I don't know mom, I just woke up like you." He responded, slowly rubbing the dirt off her face.

Nicole groaned more before checking her body also for broken bones, but didn't seem to have any. She then gestured for Gumball to help her up to her feet. Gumball obeyed and eventually they were both standing. Nicole looked around and saw the mess from where they were and the surroundings. Gumball felt a small chill and now clung to his mother. The wind was starting to pick up, and was making them both slightly cold. Their clothes were ripped and tattered and this didn't seem to help their current situation.

"Mom, what do we do now?" Gumball asked as he looked up towards her.

Nicole looked around quickly and then looked down at Gumball.

"We need to go to the police. They can help   figure out what happened to us."

Gumball nodded and then they looked around to see which direction to go, when they saw a clearing in the trees.

"Let's go through there." Said Nicole as she  tugged Gumball's hand to follow her. They both walked with a slight limp in their steps as they walked closer to the clearing. Once they walked through it, they both stopped. They saw a small dirt path in the grass. It looked like a bike path. They looked both directions and to their right, they saw houses in the distance.

"We must be in some sort of park." Gumball said.

Nicole figured that was well. But what on Earth brought them to a park? And into a crater no less! They had to figure out what was happening or Nicole was going to go crazy.
Nicole pulled Gumball along the path towards the houses in a now brisk walk. She may have been hurting, Gumball too, but she needed to find the police and to get them medical help.

They eventually made it to the end of the path and onto the blacktop road as they made their way towards the closest house. Nicole felt a tiny bit of relief knowing at least they had been brought back to a town. She didn't like large green spaces anymore. Not since her karate days as a kid, and now from her and her son's seemingly near death experience. She didn't want to set foot in one for a very long time after this, that is, if ever again.

They approached the home and eventually stopped at the front door. Nicole knocked several hard times, and then stopped to look down at Gumball.

"Don't worry Gummypuss, we will be alright now." She said, now giving a small smile. It was a tired one, but it felt right. At least for Gumball.

Gumball returned a slight smile back, and then looked at the door. They had now been waiting several minutes, but nobody answered the door.

"Maybe they aren't home. Let's try the next house." Nicole suggested.

They walked over to the next house which was only a couple feet away, and Nicole knocked again. They waited another few minutes. No answer.

"Strange..." Nicole thought.

They tried knocking on several doors of the houses on the block, but nobody opened up. What was going on? They didn't even hear anyone inside. The wind was starting to pick up now, and the temperature seemed to drop slightly. Nicole was determined to find them the police. She needed to. Whatever was going on...it wasn't good. She had a bad feeling about this place.

Where was the rest of their family? Where were they? Why were they in a crater? There had to be answers. Nicole wasn't going to give up. She and Gumball should be home soon. All they needed to do...is push on...