TAWOG: Instinct

The Suspicion

The Suspicion 

Over the course of the last week and a half Patrick Fitzgerald had really been put through an emotional ringer because of his daughter. First she vanished for days and Patrick, as well as the rest of her family, had been worried sick, all of them afraid that she would disappear just like Gumball. Then she just reappears, claiming to have been out searching for her boyfriend, holed up in her friend Molly's treehouse because it was closer to where she had been searching and hadn't been home because she was unable to stop looking, she had been in such a tiz. Molly herself backed up this claim, but Patrick didn't know how much weight her word holds. After all, thanks to Molly's lack of family, or other adult associates, no one else could further legitimize the claim both she and Penny made. However, Penny was unharmed, so in the end, things didn't really matter on that front.

At the moment, what really had Patrick worried, and confused at the same time, was Penny's behavior after she returned. She claimed to have had no luck locating Gumball; a claim which was shared by his family as well, yet she didn't appear any more distraught as she had been earlier, in fact, she seems to have even gotten slightly more chipper in her time missing. It didn't make sense to Patrick. Earlier, when Gumball first disappeared, Penny was so distraught she could hardly do anything other than go to school and then cry the rest of the day away, but now, while still obviously troubled by something, she was almost back to normal. 

She still went out to search for Gumball almost every evening, though was only gone a few hours each time.

At first, despite the lingering need to keep searching, Patrick was hopeful that Penny was starting to move past Gumball and accept his disappearance, but soon realized he was just seeing what he was hoping he would see yet again. He'd begun examining her relationship with the young Watterson without prejudiced blinders and had eventually come to see that the crazy kids really did have a deep emotional bond with each other, a bond scarcely anything could break, let alone a few days' acceptance of the harsh reality. In fact, if Patrick didn't know better, he'd say that the whole situation looked suspicious and it led him to a conclusion he couldn't fully understand or want to accept.

That Penny had actually found Gumball and personally knew he was safe.

But if that was the case, how come he hadn't shown himself by now, or come home? And, for that matter, why was Penny assisting him in keeping incognito? Being the concerned parent that he is, (possibly overly concerned) Patrick had installed a GPS tracker app on Penny's phone a while back and had recently come to notice that Penny had been spending time at the Elmore Wrecking Yard every day after school whenever she says she's going to go out and look for Gumball. If she was searching , why was she always going to a specific location, and there, of all places? He still couldn't fathom why, but Patrick suspected that, for whatever reason, Gumball was there, and Patrick was determined to find out why that was, so had stopped by there as soon as he was done with work. 

“Gumball!” he called out as he walked between the massive piles of rubbish, approaching the only building in this decrepit place. “Gumball!”

He slid open the massive double doors…and was met with a sight that left him perplexed, as well as horrified beyond belief. His hunch was right. Gumball was at the Elmore Wrecking Yard. The little blue cat-boy was laying on his side amongst a massive pile of metal debris, completely still, now illuminated by the setting sun, who's light streamed in through the doors Patrick had opened. For a moment he could only stare at his motionless form, a series of complex emotions coursing through him. 

He had his misgivings about Gumball since the beginning of his and his daughter's relationship, as well as before, what with the Watterson's reputation and all, but to see him just lying there, motionless and limp, nobody could look upon such a scene and not feel equal parts horror, concern and pity. Especially given the fact that Gumball had been missing for almost two weeks now. Had he been here all this time? And had Penny known all along? Why? Why hadn't she gotten him help? He was going to have a serious talk with her about this upon the next opportunity.