Starting New: A World Apart

Chapter 31 - Focus on the Pain

Nicole awoke and stretched out her arms. It had been a long night. Rubbing her eyes, she groggily got up and out of bed. It had been two days since Gumball had been gone. She tried to keep a mini routine with herself, but was already starting to feel it becoming a burden. She had tossed and turned for nearly half the night. It had just felt so strange not sleeping next to someone...

Yesterday brought rain. She couldn't do much in it, so she decided to simply stay in and keep her mind occupied with whatever she could get her hands on. She cooked and cleaned; despite the rooms being near sterile. After exercising, she decided to take a shower and eat her dinner. Nicole then decided to settle down for the night. She thought that sleeping early would help her rise early too, in case Gumball came back around then. To her dismay...that didn't seem to work. She kept having thoughts of Gumball in her mind. She still had fear that something had happened to him, or that he was gone, never to return. Despite her keeping that as a worse case scenario in her head...it still lingered. Something that prevented her from fully embracing sleep.

Nicole sat at the kitchen table and sipped her morning drink. The flavor felt good on her taste buds, but couldn't replace the flavor of...

Gumball.

Nicole set the drink down and rubbed her temples.

'God why am I like this? Why do think I need him so badly? Come on Nicole...he's fine. You just know he is. He will be back. He will be back. He. Will. Be. Back...'

Nicole let out another breath before picking up her mug again.

"Please do..." she spoke softly, before taking another drink.

——

"Aaaaaaand...DONE!" Gumball uttered, rubbing his hands together in accomplishment. He had finally crafted his second gift. It was a lovely homemade teddy bear, made from the many sewing fabrics that he had found in one of the upstairs bedrooms. It had took him a few times of trial and error to make the body parts hold the pillow stuffing properly, but he finally had figured it out and sowed it all together. It had a light brown body, complete with a gold color lining and blue eye buttons to top it all off.

Gumball held his woven masterpiece and looked over it carefully again, just to make sure it met his expectations. He had crafted this gift to be the one to give to Nicole when he got back and to save his now smoothed and polished "gift" for later.

Satisfied, he placed it back down and stretched out his body. He had been up all night working on it. He didn't want to waste any more time being away from Nicole. He himself was already feeling the effects being alone for a while now, and it was unsettling him to a degree.

'I hope Nicole is doing alright...it's been a while...'

Gumball made his way over to the fridge and grabbed himself a chunk of cheese and started eating it. Although he was VERY proud of his lovely meal that he had crafted the other day, he felt too tired to make another one, especially after barely getting sleep. Despite it having been two days since he had left her, he had barely rested. Every once in a while he would slump on the counter and take a few minutes to doze off, he would suddenly jerk back awake and pour himself a cup of milk and continue his work. Now that he was done, perhaps he it would be best for him to rest before coming back to Nicole in a zombie like state. After all, he didn't want her more worried then she might already be.

Making his way over to the couch, he collapsed onto it and let out a sigh of relief. It felt heavenly. Especially after working so hard, day and night.

"Man, I wonder if this is what "working" would have felt like back at Elmore for Nicole. If it was, I'm not sure how she could have lasted...especially after so long...'