The Gift: A TAWOG Story

Chapter 25: The Room

That evening, Gumball took his prescribed pills to help him fall asleep. Nicole and Richard felt relieved that they did not have to blow a bunch of money on an alarm system, but rather prevent the reason for the alarm from even happening. Gumball popped in two at a time and washed them down with water before climbing into bed. The bedtime procedure went as normal with Darwin descending into his fishbowl and Anais climbing to the top bunk. Nicole kissed each of her children goodnight before closing the door. As usual, within seconds, Darwin and Anais were sound asleep, with Darwin exhaling bubbles as Anais cuddled with her stuffed donkey daisy. Even Gumball fell asleep within minutes, hoping the effects of the pills would kick in.

These pills basically put Gumball's body into sort of a state of paralysis, disabling him from moving his body should he have the subconscious urge to sleepwalk again. The prescription called for him to take two every night until his body figured out not to sleepwalk anymore. And sleepwalk he did not.

Gumball woke up the next morning to peace in the house. He tried to remember any possibility that he slept-walked, but he struggled to remember his own dream. He got out bed, walked out of the room and downstairs in his boxer shorts and plain white t-shirt with a red stripe, down to find his mother sleeping on the couch. Surprised by this, he walked over gently to nudge her awake.

"Mom?" he said, rubbing her cheek a tad bit. Nicole took in one big snore before she startled awake and shrieked slightly like she did when Anais used to hover over her in bed.

"G-Gumball?" Nicole said with a look of surprise on her face.

"Why did you sleep on the couch all night?" the little blue cat asked the big blue cat. "I took the pills and slept just fine."

"I don't know, Gumball," responded Nicole in a low tired voice. "I just didn't wanna take any chances so I thought I'd guard the front door in case your body overcame those pills."

"Well, it didn't," said Gumball. "But I guess you might as well outta install that alarm thing then."

"Yeah, I guess I outta," Nicole said. She let out a big yawn before getting up off the couch. "Can I make you breakfast?"

"I'm good, Mom," said Gumball. "Thanks though." He went back upstairs as Nicole tried to recollect herself. She went into the kitchen for a glass of orange juice when the phone rang.

"Hello?" Nicole said into the phone in a slightly better but still drowsy sounding voice.

"Hello, Nicole?" said the voice on the other end. "This is Dr. Pill, how are you?"

"Oh, hi, Dr. Pill," said Nicole, now more awake. "I'm doing good. How are you?" She poured orange juice into a glass.

"I'm doing fine, thank you," said Dr. Pill on the line. "Did Gumball sleep okay last night?"

"Yeah. Yeah, he slept fine," said Nicole. "Didn't get out of bed at all. So yeah, I say the pills worked."

"Yeah," said Dr. Pill listening to Nicole's response. "Well, remember the little assignment I gave you and your son. About coming up with a list of happy memories he and you have."

"Oh yeah, yeah," said Nicole, sitting at the table.

"But here's something else for you to consider, Nicole. My recommendation is that you two outta make that list in an environment that benefits the both of you. It can be anywhere, really, but as long as it's a place you two associate positive memories with. That's my recommendation."

"Well, I think it's a very good one. Thanks, Dr. Pill," said Nicole. "Oh, one more thing. Why exactly are you calling to check on me and my son at this hour?"