The Gift: A TAWOG Story

Chapter 31: The Final Visit Part 2 - The Fear

The escalators Gumball began to descend were unlike any of the escalators he ever rode before, both in reality and in his dreams. They were old and rickety, metal plates sliding down one by one, and they smelled of oil. Gumball noticed that the walls started to turn from smooth concrete to rugged rock, cavernous to a degree. Darkness filled the atmosphere as he descended further and further deep underground. As he descended, quotes from the flashbacks echoed through the air.

"You think about that incident for ten seconds and you're all of a sudden right back there when it happened," Dr. Pill's voice echoed. Even though he said it to Nicole at the time, Gumball felt a strange connection to the quote, as if it applied to him. "I don't ask myself why you act like that. I ask myself, 'Why not?'"... "Your psychological skin is badly burned,"...

"I-I have nightmares about it," Nicole's voice echoed, "I just felt so helpless and I was so scared."

As Gumball heard his mother's and Dr. Pill's voices echoing through his head, he continued to stare down the escalator still not able to see the bottom landing.

Eventually, when he did reach the landing, he found himself in a nearly pitch black cavern filled only with the sounds of dripping water.

"H-hello?!" the little blue cat shouted, not being able to see a thing. Few things terrified him other than his mother, one of them being the dark. "Hello?! Anyone?! MOM!!" He got so terrified he turned to run back to the escalators, but they have vanished. The little blue cat was now trapped inside the cave, making him shriek in helpless terror.

Suddenly, a bright light filled the room above Gumball's head, making him jump. This light appeared as an orb, letting out a moan as it glowed. The orb distracted Gumball from his fears as he gazed at it in awe. It descended down to eye level with Gumball, and he carefully approached it to get a better look. He wondered if it was a good idea to touch it, so he hovered his paw right over it to see if it let off any excessive heat. It was warm, but not hot, so Gumball laid his paw on it, which produced inside him a feeling he never felt before, one that gave him goosebumps.

He watched as the bright orb began displaying flashbacks as well, but these did not explain any further what happened to Nicole in her youth that made her struggle with her temper. They were not even flashbacks of Nicole's distant past, but rather of Gumball's own recent past. More importantly, these were flashbacks of Gumball's negative interactions and encounters with his mother. From all the times she chastised him, to her threatening him with her fiery eyes, to her chasing him and Darwin around the neighborhood, to the incident at the supermarket, the orb projected it all. Gumball closed his eyes and covered his ears to not have to see any more of his harshest memories and traumas with his mother.

With his eyes still closed, Gumball was not even aware that the orb suddenly levitated upwards again and flew away quickly, further into the cavern. Within seconds, it was gone, and everything went pitch black again. Gumball opened his eyes and screamed again when he realized he was in the dark, his screams echoing throughout the cavern. He then realized screaming would not solve anything, but his heart kept racing as he felt around for a wall or an object to hold on to and guide his way.

He eventually felt a stalagmite coming out of the floor and held onto it. What happened next made him jump again. A giant menacing looking angry face flashed on the wall, staring down at him before disappearing within a second. What followed was more angry flashing faces accompanied with evil maniacal laughter. This made Gumball scream louder as he bolted down the corridor of the cave, angry faces staring down at him with more voices of laughter and shouting.

Meanwhile, his rapid heart rate translated onto the monitor attached to the machine as, in real life, he kept wincing and shaking his head and grunting while strapped to the chair.