The Gift: A TAWOG Story

Chapter 4: The Opening

Nicole slowly approached her son Gumball's bedroom door and stared at it for some time. She recalled the time she breathed fire through it in "The Password," yet she took a deep breath and knocked on it. She put her cat ear up to the door to hear sobbing coming from the other side. Relieved her son was in there, she slowly cracked the door open. Her son's room looked the same as always, with clothes all over the carpet and empty bowls from snacks the previous night.

Nicole walked around the bunk bed to see Gumball hiding under his covers. She grabbed the top with her paw and removed them. Gumball's eyes were red as tears have streamed down his face. Nicole's face was filled with concern as she looked at her son for a moment.

"P-please don't hurt me," stuttered Gumball. "I didn't mean to make you mad."

"Gumball!" Nicole replied slightly aggravated and offended that her son would even think such a thing. But she kept looking at the fear in her son's eyes and saw how real this was. He proceeded to hide under his covers. She removed them again to see him shaking with fear. Towering over him next to his bed, she tried her best to remain calm and soothing, attempting to calm him down and reassure him everything was fine.

"I hope you know that I would never in a million years hurt you on purpose," Nicole said to her son. "I mean it, Gumball. The last thing I would do if I got angry is deliberately harm you kids. That's not what happens when I lose my temper, alright, come on, sweetie. You, you have to know that's not who I am." But Gumball's eyes teared up again and he rolled over and continued sobbing. "Gumball, what's going on? You need to tell me. You know I can only help you if you tell me what's bothering you."

Gumball took a deep gulp yet struggled with his words. He was beyond on edge with the thought that his mother could go off any minute with rage, what she was capable of. Finally, he managed to form some words together.

"The-the supermarket," he stuttered.

"Gumball, you know I'm sorry that that traumatized you." The more Nicole apologized, the more she thought to herself about her capabilities.

"It's just that..." stuttered a tearful Gumball. "S-something like that is gonna happen again. You're gonna go crazy and attack me or chase me when I least expect it and I'm not gonna be ready for it."

"That's absolutely not true," said Nicole in a calm yet stern voice. "What I am trying to get to the bottom of is, why all of a sudden are you thinking about that now? That episode I had at the supermarket was six months ago, sweetie. What is making you think about that now all of a sudden?"

"Okay," he muttered from his blanket. He then tilted his head up to look his mother in the eye. "I'll tell you." He then tearfully proceeded to tell his mother about the recurring nightmare. As he explained, Nicole's look of worry and concern morphed into shock. She felt she could not fathom what her son was telling her.

"Gumball, I'm sorry if I scared you and your brother with my answer. I-I don't even know what I was thinking. Seriously, looking back on it, I'm just as scared and confused as you and Darwin were. But..." She then wiped a tear off her son's cheek with her paw. "I don't want you to ever feel embarrassed about anything with me alright? You know, you and I especially, we always share our feelings with each other, right?" Gumball nodded. "Is there anything else you wanna talk about?"

A few hours have passed and Richard was making dinner. Darwin ran upstairs to tell his adoptive mother and brother that dinner would be ready soon. However, he ran into the room to find Nicole and Gumball sleeping, with Gumball tucked in his mother's arm. Darwin then tiptoed back out of the room and quietly shut the door. What Darwin didn't see was that Gumball kept flinching and wincing in his sleep, hinting he was having another nightmare.