Starting New: A World Apart

Chapter 21: The Watch

Nicole emerged from the trees and shrubbery holding the watch. It had ceased its faint glow now, much to Nicole's joy. She wasn't sure what caused it to glow, or what exactly it was doing here...but she had to figure it out. somehow...

"Nicole!" Gumball shouted towards her, causing her to snap out of her train of thoughts.

As she made her way over to Gumball, he cautiously approached her.

"What...did you find?" He asked, wiping his brow.

"I found this...watch." She said, holding it out in her hands for Gumball to see.

His eyes soon went wide.

"That watch...it...seems familiar."

"How so?" She asked quizzically.

"I'm...not sure. It could be a case of deja vu or something, but it's hard to tell..."

He rubbed his temples.

"Ugh, maybe I do remember something about it, or that thing did something to my brain to make me think that. Or fried it. One of those two..."

Nicole decided to look closer at it. She saw the counting numbers and decided to read them out loud.

"4, 304, 11, 48, 32. What does this mean Gumball?"

He looked closer himself and saw the numbers near the end continue to count, while the other numbers on the other side remained the same.

"It's a counter! It's counting the time." He said, pointing towards the small, nearly invisible barriers between the numbers.

After attempting to figure out the actual time it displayed, Nicole cracked the code.

"I think it says, based off the number placing; 4 years, 304 days, 11 hours, 48 minutes and 32 seconds? Is that right?"

Gumball looked up towards the sun and saw it almost above them, meaning it must be close to noon.

"That could be right. At least the time of day checks out..."

Nicole still felt confused.

"But what does this all mean?"

Gumball shrugged.

"Maybe it's counting how long it has been lost?"

"Maybe..." she responded, looking more closely at it.

Gumball wiped his forehead again.

"Let's head back home. We both need a shower. After we do that, we can investigate this 'watch' more throughly."

Nicole wanted to protest, but feeling her body covered in sweat and grass, along with being mentally and physically fatigued, she agreed with Gumball.

"Alright. But we are NOT leaving that watch inside the house until we understand it better. I don't want it hurting us like that again."

Gumball nodded, before taking the watch from Nicole's hands.

" I'll put it on the porch of the house across from ours. That should be a safe distance from us until we return to it."