The Gift: A TAWOG Story

Chapter 30: The Final Visit Part 1 - The Flashback

Gumball found himself inside the dreamscape once more. It was pitch black as always, yet he could see himself fine but nothing in front of him. He was astonished as he had not been in this place for weeks. The last time he was in this place was before he went on his rampage at school. The void felt weird to him from this perspective, but what felt even stranger was the absence of his mother.

Unlike all the other times he visited the dreamscape, his mother was nowhere to be seen. He was truly alone.

"Mom?" Gumball called, starting to get nervous. "M-mom?! Anyone?! Hello?!?!" His heart started racing as he started to panic. This increased heart rate was reflected on the monitor back in the real world. Just like that, Gumball started screaming as he ran through the void, completely forgetting the reason he went in. He could not think of anything but the fact that he was all alone not knowing where to go or what to do. He was on the verge of losing his mind as his scream echoed throughout.

Before he suffered a breakdown, a giant glowing archway formed before his very eyes. He suddenly remembered where he was and the reason he came in. He remembered that the archways are entrances to dreams. This archway in front of him was not orange, so it could not be Darwin's dream, and it was not pink, so it could not be Anais or Richard's. This archway was glowing bright blue. He stared at it in astonishment as he could not believe what he was seeing. Standing before him was the portal to his mother's dream, his mother's! He was about to explore the most powerful mind in his family.

"This is it," he thought to himself as he mentally prepared himself. He completely forgot that all his actions were being watched by Darwin, Anais, and Richard on the big monitor mounted on the machine. Slightly intimidated by the archway, he was ready nevertheless. He took a deep breath and stepped forward. Step by step while holding his breath, he walked through it, through a bright white flash of light.

On the other side, Gumball opened his eyes and let out his breath. He was back in Dr. Pill's office, but still in his hospital gown. His first thought was that he simply got teleported back to Dr. Pill's office in downtown Elmore. He saw Dr. Pill sitting down with his maternal grandparents, Daniel and Mary, in his office.

"Dr. Pill?" Gumball said, trying to get his attention. "Dr. Pill? Can you tell me what's going on here?" He noticed that Dr. Pill looked younger, his shade of purple brighter and more vibrant, and his mustache and hair on the side of his head were brown rather than gray. Dr. Pill did not acknowledge Gumball or even glance up for a second, but simply kept chatting with Daniel and Mary.

"Tell me in your words," said Dr. Pill, "Why you think your daughter has decided that you two are..." He paused for a second. "Not okay." Gumball realized his voice had an echo, given it was simply a flashback. In fact, all the voices in the flashbacks had echoes.

"Why we're evil?" said Mary, knowing what Dr. Pill was really getting at. She took a deep breath. "Well..."

"I tried to soften it up a little," said Dr. Pill humorously, and he let out a chuckle, causing Daniel and Mary to chuckle as well.

"I think she's just developed really high expectations," began Mary. "Like, higher than realistically possible. Ever since she entered junior high she's just been acting very different, like, she flips constantly between the rational happy Nicole to the very irrational, cynical, and miserable Nicole, but I sense that deep down somewhere our daughter is still there, and we just don't wanna lose her at this point."

"Uh huh," Dr. Pill responded as soon as Mary was finished. The flashback sequence flashed and Gumball next found himself down the hallway in front of another room within the office. Dr. Pill came in his direction down the hall.

"Dr. Pill?" said Gumball, trying to get his attention once more, but once again, he got no response or even acknowledgement. In fact, Dr. Pill walked right through Gumball! The little blue cat gasped in shock.