The Gift: A TAWOG Story

Chapter 24: The Tree

The following morning, Richard woke up early as usual, then woke Gumball up for school. Gumball was too comfortable, snug as a bug, sleeping in the safety besides his mother.

"Gumball, come on," whispered Richard. "You don't have to do Mr. Small's therapy sessions anymore, remember?" This motivated Gumball enough to get out of bed, though he was annoyed he still had to wear the headband. Nevertheless, the little blue cat made his way upstairs to shower as Richard fed Darwin and Anais, who were already ready for school.

"I heard Gumball sleepwalked again last night?" said Darwin as he took a bite of cereal.

"He actually made it out of the house and down a couple blocks," Richard said as he sipped his coffee. Darwin and Anais' eyes widened.

"What are we gonna do, Mr. Dad?" Darwin pleaded. "He could be in real danger!"

"Your mother and I are gonna figure something out," said Richard. "I just don't know what."

The school day was pretty normal for Gumball, minus the headband. It itched and he felt it still made him look silly and felt degrading. He still felt like a threat to his classmates, especially since his shakeups and culminating meltdown were out of his control. Just the mere thought that he could possible go off any second turned the minutes into hours for the feline.

When he, Darwin, and Anais arrived after school, Nicole and Gumball got into the station wagon to drive to their counseling session inside an office building in downtown Elmore. Gumball felt relieved when he realized it was not at the Elmore Hospital, or what he has described to himself as the point of no return. However, the tensions rose in him when they went into the building.

"Um, I'll meet you up there, Mom," said Gumball. "I'd... rather take the stairs."

"Why, Gumball?" said Nicole, but she then saw the look of fear in her son's face when he glanced at the bank of elevators in the lobby, remembering what he described to her in his dreams. "Ooh... of course," Nicole said understandingly. "Yes, you can go on up the stairs, if you like."

Gumball did just that, and by the time he reached the sixteenth floor, he was panting heavily, humorously struggling to climb the last few steps, all for the sake of avoiding taking the elevators. By the time he had reached the top, Nicole had been waiting for him in the psychiatrist's office. The little blue cat immediately ran to the drinking fountain where he sipped and flicked his tongue to drink all the water he could.

"While it is good exercise, what you just did is precisely why we are here," remarked Nicole.

At the very next moment, a giant pill with a faded shade of purple and a mustache walked out into the waiting area, where the only occupants were the big and little blue cats.

"Nicole and Gumball," said the pill in a masculine Southern accent. He walked over to the felines, and a huge smile went across his face when he shook Nicole's paw. "How are you doing, Nicole? Long time no see." Gumball's eyes widened to learn that his mother knew the psychiatrist, who then turned to Gumball and shook his paw.

"Hi, I'm Doctor Pill, how are you?"

"Uh- I'm good," said Gumball. "Um, my name is Gumball and I'm her son."

"I can tell," Dr. Pill said with a smile. "I think we're going to get stuff accomplished today, and you know why I say that?" Gumball simply shook his head in response. "Because I have worked with your mother years back when she was struggling just like you, and I am ready to continue working if it means helping her son. Well, I'm ready to get this started when you are," said Dr. Pill. "So if you two wanna come on back..." The two cats followed the pill into the backroom. While Gumball had pictured a single chair with a longways open bed/sofa like the stereotypical Hollywood psychiatrist's office, instead there were three chairs. The chairs looked super comfortable, with two of them facing each other while the third faced between them. This chair was Dr. Pill's, as he took a seat while Nicole and Gumball sat down in the chairs facing each other.