Starting New: Returning Home

Chapter 9: Breaking Down

It had been several weeks now. Things were going back to 'normal' it seemed. Routines were made. To Gumball, it was going great. Nicole could see him smiling at the dinner table as he would talk to Darwin and the others.

Nicole on the other hand, felt terrible. She had now developed prominent dark bags under her eyes and seemed to be noticeably frailer. Despite her going back to her 'normal schedule' somewhat, she hadn't slept soundly yet; she barely slept at all, in fact. How could she? She had to sleep next to...him. She would even nod off during work.

She hated work. It was like Hell to her now. The same things happen over and over. The only changes that do sometimes occur are the new frustrations from the computer that she uses, or the printer. The God damn printer...

Nicole sighed, slowing down on eating her food. She was feeling very tired...yet, from what she experienced today, she wasn't just tired...

She was angry.

Deep breathes and mild aerobic exercises. Those are what Bobert said would help her. Truthfully, they barely did. She didn't have time to exercise, and the breathing techniques...not effective. Despite still attending therapy, she had decided to separate her and Gumball's appointment times, as to not do it together. Bobert seemed to understand. Gumball was never told it's true reasoning, she assumed, given how he seemed to accept it.

Gumball...

Nicole shook that thought away before taking another bite of her food.

Grocery shopping, taxes, work, bills, cooking food...all of it. All of it was her responsibility now. No more 'free time". Only work.

Work, work, work. That was her life now...

Nicole started to squeeze her fork.

Work with those stupid employees.

Work with that stupid computer.

Work with that god forsaken printer that smears ink on the spreadsheet papers.

Nicole noticed the chatter of everyone at the dinner table start to increase. Was it them, or her?

Work 8 hours, come home...eat, sleep...repeat.

Only a few more decades, right?

Only a few more years of this hell...

But for what? To live, to prosper? No, to get by. They had to budget...to only scrap by to survive.

The talking increased. The stress within her increased...

Her anger increased.

Why live a life like this again? Why did they have to come back? This wasn't the Elmore she remembered...was it? This...

This Hell...

Nicole clenched her teeth now.

The voices grew louder...now by the second. She could hear the small creaks of the chair from Anais moving in it, laughing at Darwin's words. She could hear Richard laugh too. She could even hear-...

Gumball...

Suddenly her rage within her seemed to reach a blowing point...

Gumball...

Gumball...

Gumball...

"SHUT UP!" Nicole yelled loudly, slamming the table, drawing everyone's attention to her.

The room went completely silent. The only sound heard was from Nicole's labored breaths before she leaned back into her chair, pinching the bridge of her nose.