The Gift: A TAWOG Story

Chapter 23: The Chauffeur

Gumball found himself in his nightshirt and boxer shorts at the supermarket in Elmore Shopping plaza, or what he referred to as "ground zero," the place where he witnessed his mother at her absolute worst. The place was empty and the lights were out, except for a few creepy looking green glowing lights every twenty feet or so. This particular light setting reminded him of the time his mother took him to the supermarket in his nightshirt and boxer shorts at four-thirty in the morning to show him what a "winner" was like.

"Hello?" Gumball called out. "Is anyone here?" The little blue cat began to wonder around the empty store. Shelves were packed, fridge shelves were turned on, and the ovens in the bakery section were running. "Hello?!"

He made his way through the erie silence towards the front of the store, near the registers, which were turned on as well, but no cashiers, or to say no Larries, were running them. Gumball turned around and went towards the front door. As he passed through the first sliding door, he noticed a set of escalators off to the side heading down below. Not recalling the store ever having escalators before, he peaked his head down to get a glimpse at the bottom. He could see the bottom landing, but could not tell what was down there.

Rather than proceed through the second set of sliding doors out to the parking lot, he descended down the escalator. One by one the lights went past him, along with additional ads for food. Yet Gumball still could not see what laid at the bottom.

Once he finally reached the bottom, he saw sliding doors identical to the ones that let out into the parking lot up above. These doors opened up to an underground parking garage beneath the store, which, again, Gumball did not remember the store ever having. He walked through the sliding doors to see no cars in sight. He was all alone in the empty garage, pacing further away from the store entrance.

"Hello?!" Gumball yelled, his voice echoing throughout the garage. He stood there in silence for a moment as he got no response before he kept walking further into the dark dingy garage.

He finally turned a corner when he saw, in the distance towards the back wall, a car. It was a little white car, and Gumball got closer to it to make it out to be a Volkswagen Beetle. It had red and blue stripes painted over the top and down the back, with the number '53' painted on as well.

"What the what?" Gumball reacted, immediately recognizing the car as none other than Herbie. He then looked off to the side. "I though we agreed to no more cameos, people!" Herbie suddenly beeped his horn to get Gumball's attention. Though initially annoyed, Gumball became curious and approached the bug with a mind of his own. "What is it, Herbie?" Herbie opened his driver's door, seemingly inviting Gumball in.

"Um, are you... gonna take me somewhere, Herbie?" The car beeped his horn once more. Gumball simply got in and Herbie shut his door. The little blue cat buckled up as the car started up, backed out of the parking space, and then began moving across the garage. Gumball just sat back and let Herbie drive him out of the garage and onto West Elmore Boulevard. He had no idea where Herbie was taking him.

The streets of Elmore were empty as traffic lights were switched to blinking yellow or red for the night and streetlights primarily illuminated the pavement and concrete sidewalks. An eerie fog looked around them, yet Herbie was able to navigate himself just fine with his eyes/headlights.

"Um... are you taking me home, Herbie? Because I wanna go home." Herbie did not respond with any beeping of his horn, but simply kept driving. "Where are you taking me?"

Gumball's heart started racing when Herbie pulled into a driveway. This was not just any driveway, but the front driveway for the lobby of Elmore Hospital! Gumball was terrified and curious at the same time. Herbie came to a halt pulled up alongside the front door of the hospital and opened his driver's seat once again. Gumball unbuckled and got out, and Herbie closed his driver's door.