The Final One
Adapted from the Work-In-Progress Novel by EvelioandZgroup
For Abigail
"Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light."
—Helen Keller
"Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again."
—Og Mandino
"Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it."
—Henry David Thoreau
"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light."
—Plato
Part One: The First Day
Chapter One: The Great Boom
1
So many had worried, they said. Worried, all right, about the future. Many could ignore it and move on with their lives; but others couldn't escape the idea of dying in hell. Not one, not two, not even three could predict the harness of the events that followed…
Anais sat on the sidewalk, minding her own business. Nothing to be bothered about. She liked to spend time by herself. And why wouldn't she? She wore a small yellow-orange dress that makes look—but is—a child who is blinded her naiveté. She was smart, not naïve. She enjoyed the world around her, even if it didn't enjoy her.
In her house lies her brother, Gumball, a twelve-year-old blue cat who wears his favorite clothes: a tan sweater which has brown cuffs and a brown collar, and black pants without shoes, using only his paws; her step-brother, Darwin, who is the naïve one in her family, being a goldfish, who sprouted legs, and the only piece of clothing he wears was his green shoes and socks; her workaholic mother, Nicole, was the one under massive amounts of stress, taking care of both her children and her husband; and her father, Richard, who had been tossed the red flag for jobs ever since his pizza delivery job.
By the sidewalk, everything seemed nice. Nothing was disturbing her, and she believed that nothing could. This moment was hers; nobody else's to steal or take it away from her.
She looked at her feet, thinking they were adorable by how small and, dare she say it, cute. Just moving them together or splashing it by the water in the gutter, it made her feel safe and proud to be a child. Even if nobody took her serious, she still believed in her own ideas of happiness.
She heard her mother yell, "Anais! It's time to come inside, honey."
"In a minute, mom," she yelled back. She wanted to stay out here for a little while longer. She just wanted to savor this special moment alone with herself.
The sky was soon setting, making the sun leave and the moon come out. Though there was still daylight, she knew that time flies by and that even if the sun hasn't set itself, yet. She knew that 7:00 PM was still her time to come back.
Anais got up, taking her reflection into consideration.
She enjoyed looking at it.
Proud to be a kid, it read.
She went back inside to have two hours with her family before heading to bed.
When she was in, she had fun playing with her brothers. They were as funny as they themselves got hurt—she always made a note about how not to copy what they do. (She took that serious, though.) Still, she enjoyed just spending time with her family.
But what he said that night made her crawl back into her sheets when Gumball told her his crazy theory he read—but really he saw the movie it was adapted from—about the future.
Anais had a good idea of the future, even if it wasn't fully bright, it still has its meaning.
Gumball told her about the future being cold and harsh than anything they could imagine.
"The fact is," he began, "we will all become enslaved by hatred and murder, because we have become too friendly to stop overpopulation, which has resulted in this world—a world that forces us to kill the weak and let the strong live.
"The idea of it doesn't need to be about fighting. It just revolves around if you are capable and can excel in what you want to do. It gives us freedom to be who we want to be, but we are given three chances to choose a career to live out for the rest of our lives. If we fail to exceed in all three chances, they will kill us. You can try to plead, but you have to prove it. If you don't, you die.
"I think what scares me the most is that if we don't start treating this overpopulation—eight billion people, Anais—we will be forced to kill off the weak to barely let one billion, maybe, five-hundred million survive.
"That, Anais, is the future."
Anais never took into consideration that we would become into vicious animals; animals like we heard in myths or stories or even those post-apocalyptic video games. But she knew the animals today are as dangerous as they know today: Humanity.
These ideas aren't just for entertainment.
They are the future.
She just hoped that humanity could learn to help itself, rather than finish itself.
Anais curled up in her pajamas, listening to her mom sing her a lullaby. Even the lullaby scared her.
Each line gave her a sign of terror…
Rock-a-bye baby, in the treetop—
She imagined a little baby, no older than a couple of days born. The cradle she was waking up in a tree that is high up on its branch.
How did she get there?
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock—
She saw the environment, dying, right in front of her eyes—parents paying for the mistake of living in a world where these natural resources are all gone. They would not recycle, and now the world is giving them hell—bringing the tornadoes to kill them all, while praying for God to save them in the basement.
Then, there was the baby, crying in the same cradle she saw at the tree.
When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall—
The tornado they were praying for God to protect them from, it failed. There a mother and father, holding on to their two sons, while the baby just watched. They were seen screaming by the little baby's own eyes.
The thunder crashed—sounds coming through her own fragile ears, scaring her from what's to come.
And down will come baby, cradle and all—
The baby falls from the tree…possibly killing it, sparing it—even considered it lucky—from the world it would have lived in.
Nicole kissed Anais a goodnight sleep.
When she closed the door, she imagined her as the baby in the cradle.
The wind is coming, she thought.
It's coming.
2
She didn't sleep very well. Anais knew that.
Coming down the stairs, she saw her family talking, while still having some food on their plates. She knew that she slept a little longer than usual, but her mom doesn't wake her up unless she really needs. This wasn't the case.
She saw her plate; with steam still coming out of her scrambled eggs, there were two strips of bacon and sausage, with two pancakes on top of each other, with a side of both ketchup and maple with a glass of milk.
Anais went to her plate, as if it was talking to her, forcing her to eat.
She sat down, with a sad face. Darwin noticed only, but he only believed it to be sleep. Nothing more, he believed.
Anais was starting off with her eggs, while putting on some ketchup since she liked it like that. But she felt empty. Not just by this, but from the thoughts that came from the lullaby.
"Did you know that if you mix equal parts of gasoline and frozen orange juice concentrate you can make napalm?" Gumball asked.
That stunned Anais. She asked if that was true.
"You bet it is," he said. "I read it from a book."
I can only imagine you watching the movie than reading it, Gumball.
"Did you?" she asked.
"Yeah, and it's really interesting. What do you think, mom?"
She had this face that looked mad, but more disturbed at what her child knows.
"I think I better check what you're reading," she said, not giving up her straight face.
"Hey, did you ask her?" Darwin said.
Anais was confused. Was it to her or—
"No," Gumball said, "Penny doesn't know yet. I want the moment to be just right, buddy."
"Well," he said, "you have my blessing."
They shared a good laugh, acting as if it was true.
"What do you want to ask to Penny, Gumball?" Nicole asked.
He didn't know how to respond. It wasn't in his plan for Darwin to ask him in front of their mother, but he hoped that she would simply ignore it.
He was wrong…
"Just for some stuff," he said, calmly.
"Well, why does the moment need to be right then?"
She had him there.
Just when Anais had finished all her food, Gumball pulled the oldest trick in the book:
"Oh, would you look at the time," he said. "We have to go to school now. Come on, Darwin. Come on, Anais."
Anais obeyed. She went up, while Gumball "helped" her up, which was more of shoving and hurrying up.
She got on her regular school outfit: an orange-yellow dress, which seemed to be enough.
They got their stuff and ran—or Gumball forced them—out.
Gumball saw the bus coming, where he said, "That was a close one."
They went in, leaving their house as they know it.
3
While Anais was in her advanced classes (which Gumball has been seen as more of an idiot, rather than your Average Joe), the two brothers just walked happily to their classroom.
Gumball then remembered something.
"Hold on," he said, stopping his brother from entering the room.
"I need you to go in and say I'm in the bathroom, while I'll be back in a short while, okay?" Gumball asked his naïve brother.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"I have some business to take care of," he told him, patting him on the head.
He walked rebelliously away from Darwin.
While Darwin went into class to tell Miss Simian that Gumball was in the bathroom and he will be back soon, Gumball walked towards the school's library, passing by William, a floating eyeball.
In the library, Gumball saw the regular librarian, Miss Agnes, a dried-up, old, purple elephant, who was rather small than people would expect for her size as an elephant.
He walked away from her, while she was sleeping—believing she may be dead—and went by the back of the library. He went under the F's section in fiction. He saw some of his favorite books—as he told Anais about them, which coincidentally have been made into movies—and seemed more scared and alert.
Then when he turned around, he got a kiss, feeling the cold hands that strangely made him feel warm, where his eyes were closed, imagining that they were alone.
Alone, by their definition, was absolute freedom of being no more. They only exist and they are together.
When he opened his eyes, he saw that this person was on the top of the shelves and had given him an upside-down kiss for a surprise…
Clever, he thought.
He wanted another kiss—make it a thousand. But he knew it always felt like a thousand.
That was the last thousand he ever got.
4
After ten minutes had passed, Gumball came in casually. Miss Simian would not treat him so casually. But, Gumball knew that before she would have done something about it.
Miss Simian was a three-thousand-year-old baboon. She was one of those teachers you hated for the right reasons (while the wrong reasons are that you act out, and your ass gets you in trouble for your arrogance). She was one that didn't care for your education, rather than giving you tough love because she believes you have potential. No, no, no, she purposely gives you something else than tough love. It was more of rage and hatred against them. They never did anything wrong and she always seemed to give them hell.
One example was with Jamie: she was caught with a bag with some grass, while Miss Simian claimed it to be marijuana. They never bothered to check whether it was or wasn't. It was grass for her science class, but she couldn't prove it because of how they saw her: a druggie or drug dealer. Either way, this caused her to get held back a year and to pay am expensive fine.
Miss Simian was up, about to write something on the board. But she stopped when Gumball came in. She smiled a bit—No, he thought. Don't do this to me—
"Well, well, Mr. Watterson," she began, "I see you decided to come back to class."
"I was in the bathroom," he said, defensively.
"No, you weren't, Watterson," she said. "William told me that he first-handily saw you not go into the bathroom, but instead went to the library. He went inside, and he saw you go by the shelves…with someone."
He gulped a bit.
"Well," he began, "how can you prove that's true when all you have is his words?"
She smiled, like that's what she wanted him to say.
"Bobert," she yelled.
He stood up, and went to her side.
She told him to face the class, like a projector being set up to its position. Gumball was now worried by this.
"Gumball," she said, "would you be a dear and hit the light…please."
He did as he was told, a little scared, but he didn't want to show fear, thinking this was a way of confessing his misdeeds.
She went by Bobert, clicking one button…Then, a video started up and played.
The video seemed a bit out of focus, but it was probably because it was moving. But then it got near to capturing what happened in the library. Then, it did. It recorded Gumball giving a kiss, but it never showed who he was kissing. It was about to, but then Bobert stopped.
She went to him and asked harshly what happened to the video.
"I believe the projector had malfunctioned. I may be able to fix it, but it will take some time," he said, in his old robotic—lifeless, even—voice.
"It doesn't matter," she said, turning back to Gumball. "I believe Gumball knows now that I did have proof, and he could have taken the easy way out if he had confessed."
She smiled at him, sinisterly. Then, she turned Bobert completely off.
"Would you?" he asked.
"What?" she said, as if she didn't hear clearly what he said.
"Would you have played the video, regardless if I did confess?"
She was about to say something, but he interrupted her.
"Yes, you would. You like to play me out like I was some hunk of junk. You treat us like trash, Miss Simian. You hurt us like we enjoy it…Well, we don't. You enjoy this—playing us out like fools. You like to see us cry in pain. Well, I'm not crying, Miss Simian. Rather…I think I hate you. And you would expect that. But, I really hate you. And you know something? I think it's fair to point out what you did wrong, and to tell in front of everybody."
"Like what?" she said, calling his bluff.
"Well, you tamper with our grades, write up detention and suspension slips that weren't deserved, lie to our parents by showing graded papers that we supposedly fail—the list goes on."
"Anything else you like to say? I believe you really have nothing to say things, but things that aren't true as you did fail and earn those slips."
"Yes," he said, "your affair with Principal Brown."
She quickly dropped her smile.
"What proof do you have, Watterson?"
"I heard you two making out, and there's another word I rather not say," he said.
"Fucking," a voice said in the back. Everyone turned around to see who said. "You act like you never heard of the word," Jamie said.
"Well," Gumball began, not before clearing his throat, "she's right."
"But do you have any proof?" Miss Simian asked.
"Well, I know, Jamie knows, and the whole class now knows," he said.
"But how can your word be taken serious?—Most of the class have bad records, where the system, our beloved system of education—"
"You mean the same one that lets you hurt our lives?"
"Exactly," she said, smiling. "And you all can't be trusted. You have bad records—the homework, the grades—and your record is who they label you as."
"But wouldn't the system find some kind of suspicion for us failing?"
"No," she said. "Some of you are passing: Carmen, Penny, Teri, for example. But they all would know you, the accuser, and their words can't be held up well. Unless you have real evidence, no of them will believe you. Rumors won't help either as they will only see it as rumors for you kids."
He believed her…She knew this whole situation well.
"And now, you will go back to your seat, and sit quietly."
He sat down in his seat.
He had to.
5
It was recess, where outside was very sunny and could easily bring a smile to a child's face. It didn't for Gumball. It may be nice outside, but he now knew reality was showing its roots of corruption. He thought about it by the bench, watching his fellow peers playing. He let Darwin go with some of his friends. They used to hang out together.
He didn't this time. He wanted some alone time to think.
Watching over his peers play around, ignoring problems that will easily affect the future they will soon live in.
Miss Simian murdered their future, he believed. She is solely responsible for making them out like criminals. No matter what they can say, she will win. And the affair surely does help. She wooed with Principal Brown, a more of a mix of a hairball that is shaped like a worm with arms.
The affair is a good bait to showcase her how she is no good, but with no proof, they can't hold it up. Plus, any things they do and try to bring it up with Brown, he will believe Simian, rather the accused.
They could try, but she may be more vigilant to hide it.
She wins, regardless—the same with their parents, who only cared about their grades, which showed them how they should view their children—and was smart to turn off Bobert. If he was still on, he could have recorded all of what she said.
But no, he couldn't. They couldn't hold up anything.
All he could is sit back and watch his friends, and the rest of the school have fun and—
"What the…?"
A house blew up way back, but the sound didn't come until time passed. Then, a bigger explosion came upon.
He got up, trying to walk away, but tripped at what he was seeing. He quickly got back up, and saw that it was getting closer. Not the explosions, but the aftermath of what could wipe them all out.
Gumball began yelling, "Inside! Run back inside!"
Everybody turned and saw what he was talking about.
They got scared, but saw that something was coming closer.
"Run!" he screamed.
They all followed, seeing what was coming; they all ran back inside, with the rest following. Gumball joined, continuing screaming to get back inside. He saw something. It was a pink cat that he had never seen before. She probably was or wasn't a student. Regardless, she needed to get inside.
He tried to tell her to get inside, but she couldn't.
She couldn't even hear him. She had her ears zoomed out by her music and just looking down on the ground.
He tried to help, but couldn't as the crowd kept pushing him in.
Regardless, he knew that he had to go after his sister, Anais. He knew Darwin followed, as he was one of the first to go in.
Gumball ran to his sister's class.
6
Anais sat in her classroom, listening to her teacher explain further their advanced math problems. It was a small program, but was taken very serious.
Anais sure did.
In the midst of her explanation on how it works, Gumball burst through the doors and grabbed Anais.
"What are you—?"
"I'll explain later," he said, quickly.
The loud boom came, roaring like a lion.
Gumball said, "If I were you, you'd run and hide."
Gumball ran out, with Anais in his hands.
Gumball headed to the basement, hoping people had gotten to safety.
He saw the doors to where they headed, and ran down the stairs…
It came…knocking them down the stairs, colliding with steps along the way, and then…darkness…Nothing but cold-hearted darkness…
Chapter Two: The Basement
1