Big City Greens: What if Chip DID kill Cricket?

The Hospital

Soon, the ambulances arrived, and Cricket was rushed to the local hospital, the others by his side.

The Greens and Gloria were instructed to wait in the waiting room outside of the emergency room where Cricket was being taken care of. 

Tilly was crying so hard she could barely breathe. The others were crying as well, but not as much as her.

"This is ridiculous! None of this would've happened if Chip had listened to us about the stupid fake produce!" Bill exclaimed. 

Everyone was shocked, since Bill usually didn't say words like "stupid".  

Bill realized what he said, and sighed. "Sorry, it's just... really, really frustrating."

"It's okay, but..what do you mean by that..?" Nancy was confused, and Gloria was as well since they weren't there. 

So Bill explained: "Well, when we made fake produce, he took a bite out of that fake apple, and we tried to warn him that it wasn't real. And he didn't listen. So when he chipped his tooth on it, he blamed us and that's what started all of this."

Now everyone better understood. 

"C-c-cricket will b-be okay...r-right?!" Tilly nervously asked, her eyes still flooded with tears. 

"Well....we don't know yet, but we need to stay positive." Nancy told her.

"Can't believe I'm saying this, but Nancy's right. We just have to pray that he gets better," Alice reluctantly agreed. It killed her to admit Nancy was right, but she couldn't disagree with that.

"Oh, I hope the little guy's okay..." Gloria muttered under her breath, but everyone still heard her.

"What? But I  thought you hated Cricket!" Bill questioned, confused. The others agreed.

Gloria sighed and explained: "Look, I know he and I haven't always got along, and I may find him annoying sometimes, but that doesn't mean I don't want him to be okay."

"Oh. Sorry for jumping to conclusions, Gloria. I understand," Bill apologetically said.

"Heh, it's ok, Mr. Green. I get it." Gloria replied.

The group sat in silence for a minute. The only sounds heard were heart monitors beeping, ventilators whirring, and the soft whimpering and crying of Tilly.

Alice soon broke the silence. "Okay, this is starting to get weird. It's too quiet in here."

"Yeah, but what else is there to talk about? The fact that our son might not even make it out of this hospital all because of a crazy, revenge-seeking business shark?" Bill questioned. 

Tilly looked up at Bill with a look of dread on her face. Alice, Nancy, and Gloria all looked at Bill with death stares, knowing he really shouldn't have said that around poor Tilly, who was scared to death of losing Cricket.

"Oh, shoot. I'm sorry, Tilly. I shouldn't have said that...it just came out. I'm just as scared as you," Bill said, hugging her and trying to comfort her.

"I-it's okay, you didn't mean it," Tilly replied. 

"So, really, what are we gonna do while we wait?" Nancy asked the others.

"Huh, I don't know. Maybe we should just relax. We shouldn't over-stress about this," Gloria suggested. 

"Good idea," they all agreed.

15 minutes later, a nurse came out with a sorrowful expression on her face.

"E-excuse me, but are you the Green family?" She nervously asked.

"Oh, thank goodness! I was about to go crazy, waiting here!" Alice exclaimed. "Yes, we are. So, how is he doing?"

"Yeah, is he okay?" Bill asked.

"Guys, don't pummel her with questions!" Nancy told them.

"It's okay, miss...but, it's not very good news I have," she explained.

"Oh no..." Bill said.

"He's seriously injured, as you know. He's not doing too well, and we're trying our best to help him. We're going to do the best we can to help him, and come back with his status," the nurse explained to them.

"So we have to wait even MORE?!" Alice exclaimed, annoyed.

"Unfortunately, yes. But we do have a TV that you can watch while you wait!" the nurse told Alice, and handed her a remote.

"Oh, good! Some entertainment!" Alice said.

So they turned on the TV and flipped through the channels, finally settling on one showing Kingdom of Lore, Tilly's favorite TV show. They figured it might get her mind off the whole situation.

Another quarter-hour passed, and the nurse came back, even sadder than before.

"So, how is he?" Bill asked.

The nurse hesitated for a moment, then sighed.

"I'm...I'm sorry for your loss, Green Family."

"W-what..?" Bill asked her.

"I know. I-I'm really, really sorry. We tried to help him. His injuries were just too severe to treat."

Tilly started hyperventilating, Nancy was panicking, and Gloria started to feel light-headed. 

It all felt like some kind of horrible nightmare.

Nobody wanted to believe it, but they had to.

Suddenly, all was silent, and they heard the faint sound of the heart monitor in Cricket's hospital room, that indicated he was really gone. 

Their hearts sank, and Tilly hugged on to Bill, crying the hardest she had ever cried.

Bill cried with her, and soon all of them were crying. The nurse started out of the room quietly, but quickly told them that they could go see Cricket when they were ready.

They wiped the tears from their faces and reluctantly got up to see him.

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There Cricket laid in the hospital bed, scratched up and lifeless.

They couldn't believe this is where they ended up. 

They had promised to protect each other. 

And now one of them was gone.

"W-what should we do..?" Nancy asked.

"I...I don't know..." Bill answered nervously. He hated the sight of blood, and he'd been traumatized enough for one day. To be honest, he couldn't stand to see Cricket like this and just wanted to run away. But he couldn't because he also wanted to be with Cricket, too. He was torn between the two options, but hesitantly stayed.

They each took turns sadly talking to him, aware that he couldn't hear, apologizing for everything that happened, and hugging him.

After they finished, they left the hospital and drove home, heartbroken and grieving their unexpected loss.