Damn it all if I'm not a fan of this show! I mean, I don't know what Cartoon Network's writers have been smoking these past few months, but whatever it is, it's working. Anyway, so I began reading fanfics for the show because I have no life until school starts or I find a job. Some were… darker than I'd like, others were very nice and friendly. One couple that I liked was Carrie and Darwin. Fun characters and complete opposites. Just seemed a bit natural and unnatural at once, kind of like the whole show, heh-heh.
On with the story!
Darwin Watterson sat back after the hard work he'd performed. The roadside was completely spotless and his trash sack was filled with garbage and litter. He smiled brightly, proud to have been of such great service to the community. He looked over to see if Gumball had finished his portion of the roadside. He hadn't.
He was talking to Penny, the antlered peanut again. Darwin rolled his eyes and sighed. Figured as much. "Oh, Gumball; it's so generous of you to be donating your time to pick up litter on the roadside. Not many people are age would be so devoted to keeping nature clean." Penny sighed, standing next to Gumball. Gumball Watterson, a blue cat with love-struck hearts in his eyes (literally, I might add) merely murmured some pathetic response about caring about the environment. Darwin made a rather loud 'Ahem!' cough that snapped Gumball out of his daydreams and lovesick stares with Penny. A gesture at the ground reminded Gumball exactly what they'd been talking about.
"Oh! Right!" Gumball began quickly picking up debris off the side of the road while smiling nervously at Penny. She giggled at him. "Well, seems you two are pretty busy right now. If you want, we can hang out later." She said. Gumball made some babbling noise that only Penny seemed to understand most times. "Yeah, 5.00 is a great time to see a movie! I'll see you at the theatre in 2 hours, ok?" Penny winked at Gumball and for a second Darwin was worried he'd fall over. Penny walked away and Gumball began to recover.
"Isn't love great, buddy?" Gumball sighed as he returned to picking up trash at a much slower rate. Darwin sighed with a hint of angst, something uncommon for the usually chipper fish. "It's great." He said with little hint of emotion. Gumball eyed his best friend carefully. "Are you alright? You seem…sad." He asked. Darwin began laughing nervously. "Me? No, not at all! Would never dream of it, not in a million – alright, I'm sad." He admitted. Gumball blinked. "Well, what about, buddy? You can confide in me. After all, we're amigos! Compadres! Comrades and the like." Gumball nudged his fishy friend.
Darwin sighed again and looked up to the clouds. A bad reminder that made him slightly teary-eyed. "It's Masami." Darwin admitted. Gumball rubbed his chin. "Oh yeah… How has your relationship been these past few… what, weeks?" He asked, honestly forgetting how much time had passed since the incident in the tree house. Darwin glared lightly at his friend. "Gumball, it's been months." He informed flatly before lowering his head and becoming teary-eyed again, "She broke up with me." Gumball overdramatically gasped and covered his mouth. "No!" He said.
Darwin nodded. "She said it was only for show; to impress her friends. Apparently since Tobias and Banana Joe cut the tree house down before then, she didn't really see any point in continuing to use a guy in a 'pals before gals' pact." He explained. Gumball patted his best friend on the back sympathetically. Neither of them seemed to realize the old house on the other side of the road.
The old abandoned house, built as a neo-Victorian styled home nearly sixty years before, it had become haunted by the house's previous occupants. A family of three ghosts, each seemingly emotionless save for pain and irritation… and longing. The longing to feel once more, the longing to live once more, breathe once more, etcetera, etcetera. The house had long since slumped and grayed in colour, the windows broken and the door almost off its hinges. One such occupant claimed the attic as her own room and was staring out of the broken and shuttered window of the attic. This occupant was none other than Carrie, a ghost classmate of Gumball and Darwin.
It wasn't that she found watching the two of them pick up trash entertaining, but rather found it distracting. There was little to do in the house, considering thieves had ransacked it ages ago leaving nothing but heavy or worthless relics. Her friends and school often distracted her from something worse than the pain. She didn't mind the pain; in fact, she loved it as well as misery. It was her own addiction, a taste of emotions: her only reminder of life. But she hated the boredom. The unending, mind-killing nothingness that filled most days. If she distracted herself with things that made her feel, even if the only feeling that showed was misery, it was at least an emotion. But boredom? That was an actual misery to her. Heartache she could handle; emotional trauma, no problem. It was boredom that made her weak. There was nowhere to go, nothing to do.
So, she floated and watched Gumball and Darwin pick up trash across the street from her house. About an hour into it, Penny showed up and Gumball began drooling all over the place, leaving Darwin to take care of the slack. Carrie almost laughed at it; love. It was so… living. Not that Carrie couldn't feel it, per say. She just wasn't familiar with the emotion since death. So out of touch with every emotion asides from misery and pain. But longing to love… could that be an emotion she could feel?
She shook her head. Who needed love? It wasn't something for the damned. She continued to watch the two outside and her eyes widened in surprise. Apparently she'd missed something while she was preoccupied with her thoughts. Penny was gone and Darwin looked sad. Did Penny say something to Darwin to upset him? That didn't seem like Penny… Carrie growled in irritation. Why did she care? Because she was bored… She continued watching Gumball and Darwin pick up the trash when she saw something in the distance on the road. She quirked her exposed eyebrow at the shape questioningly.
A driver, fiddling with a map while talking on a cell phone, was swerving on and off the empty highway. Carrie saw this and looked at the oblivious Gumball and Darwin. She looked back at the driver and back at the two kids. Driver. Kids. Driver. Kids. Carrie moaned in irritation. How could they be so blind as to not see the car coming? How could the driver be so stupid? How could she even care?
Growling, Carrie stuck her head through the shutters to get a better look. The driver must have finally noticed because he was slamming on his brakes. The bad news was the brakes were very poor and by the time Gumball and Darwin looked up, the car was only a few yards away from them and closing that distance. Muttering something about stupidity, she phased the rest of her body through the wall and flew towards Gumball and Darwin. She latched onto the screaming boys' shoulders and made them intangible with herself. The car and driver went right through them, literally, and crashed into a streetlamp a few feet away.
Carrie made her and the boys' tangible again and glared at them when she realized they were still screaming with their hands over their eyes. "Ahem." Carrie coughed lightly. "Are we dead? Is this the Great Beyond?" Gumball asked, breathing heavily. "I'm too young to die!" Darwin chimed in. The two began babbling about afterlife scenarios and Carrie continued to glare at them. She looked back at the driver who was looking back at the still-living kids and scratching his head in puzzlement.
"Ahem!" Carrie coughed louder. Darwin and Gumball looked back at her, their pupils shrinking in fear. "We're ghosts?" Gumball asked. The two began crying at this point. "Oh! The humanity! Why do the good die young?" Darwin bawled. "Oh, how great spirit, do we traverse into the Great Beyond?" Gumball asked. Carrie rolled her eyes and began to float away from them. She had made it to her house when she heard Darwin, a whisper at this distance, say something about 'not being dead'. Their annoying voices began hollering her name and getting closer by the time she reached the door. She sighed and looked back at them.
"What do you guys want?" She asked. She also noticed the driver had managed to slink off with the car, though an oil leak and tire marks clearly showed where he was headed. "We wanted to thank you for saving our lives back there!" They said in unison, large, happy smiles nearly pressed up against hers. She glared at them. She couldn't help but notice the odor on Darwin. That sort of freshwater fragrance; a smell that only comes with a species that can live in its own filth. Sure, Darwin washed up, but the fishy smell couldn't be masked. Carrie kind of liked it; it reminded her of the undead back in the zombie swamps of New Orleans…
She snapped back into reality. "How do you know it was me who saved your lives?" She asked with her usual infliction. "Well, who else could it be? That car was gonna hit us, it didn't, next thing we know you're standing next to us." Darwin pointed out. "So, it was either you or some other ghost that cared enough to save us." Gumball added. "I didn't 'care' enough to save you. I just felt like it." She said her glare unchanging. Their smiles faded.
"Ok, so why'd you do it then?" Darwin asked. Carrie sighed in irritation. What is it with the fish and asking questions? "I just didn't think you'd like being ghosts. Plus, last thing my family needs is competition in the ghosting business." She said. The two Watterson boys raised an eyebrow at her answer. "You didn't think we'd like being ghosts?" Darwin asked. "What's not to like?" Gumball asked. Carrie's glare changed from her usual one to a surprised, questioning one.
"Well, besides never being allowed to just die, not being able to sleep, eat, taste, feel or breathe, nothing much. I mean, the only emotions you can really feel are misery and pain. And longing." She muttered the last part, but Darwin caught it. "Longing? You mean like after people?" Carrie sighed inwardly. For a fish he had good hearing. "For emotions. Emotions other than pain and misery. Emotions like happiness, pride, love – er…" Carrie looked taken aback.
"Love?" Darwin asked. The way he said it was half-question, half-looking back on fond times. "I thought you were just miserable because you liked being miserable. I always figured you could feel other emotions." Gumball said. Carrie looked back at him. "As far as I know, I feel miserable all the time because it's all I can feel." She shot back, matter-of-factly. Gumball rubbed the back of his head. "Have you ever tried being happy? Or proud? Or finding love?" He asked. Again Carrie looked taken aback. She would've blushed had she the flesh to do so.
"I never said love!" She said defensively. Gumball raised an eyebrow. "Yes you did. You said happiness, pride or love. Then you started muttering nervously." He explained. Carrie sighed for the hundredth time that day. "Alright, I said love. I long to find love. Happy?" She returned to her normal state. Gumball looked from Carrie to a slightly down-in-the-dumps Darwin. He looked between the silent duo several times before smiling slyly at Darwin and nudging him. Darwin saw the look in his eyes and the wink. "Gumball, no." Darwin hissed silently.
"Hey Carrie, what would you say if I could get you a date?" Gumball started slyly. Carrie returned her stare from nothing in particular back to Gumball. "Oh yeah? And who would ever want to date me?" She asked flatly. "Darwin would. He thinks you're kind of cute." Gumball said, winking at his horror-stricken friend who was gaping at him. Carrie looked surprised. "You think I'm… cute?" She asked. Darwin began rubbing the back of his head nervously, avoiding eye contact. "Yeah, heh-heh… I really like your… hairstyle?" He said meagerly, seeing as it was her only truly defining feature from other ghosts. He wasn't lying either; it did make her appear rather nice.
Carrie was lost in her own thoughts. Oh my gosh, he thinks I'm cute? He likes my hairstyle? He wants to go on a date with me? This… this can't be real; Gumball must be pulling my leg. "Really?" She asked after a little bit. Gumball nodded, nudged Darwin, and then Darwin nodded too. Carrie looked between them. He's obviously lying, she thought, but it'd give me something to do besides mope around the house all day. "Alright, what did you have planned?" She asked Darwin. "Oh, we were going to…" Darwin blanked and Carrie raised an eyebrow. "We were going to go on a double date together; just you and Darwin, Penny and I. To the movies." Gumball explained, Darwin nodding nervously after a moment.
"What kind of film?" She asked. "Night of the Super Horror Zombie Slasher Maniacs 5: The Revenge of the Leviathan!" Gumball said in his dramatic voice. Carrie's eyes widened. "Really? Your mom's letting you see that?" She asked in surprise. Gumball and Darwin exchanged knowing looks. "Yeeeeah… Sure." Gumball said, avoiding eye contact. Carrie floated around Darwin, examining him. He was shivering slightly, getting clammy. She inhaled slightly. The smell of fear. She kind of enjoyed that. She floated through him and back to her front door.
"Alright, I'll go. When are we going?" She asked. Gumball looked at his watch. "If we leave now, we can drop off our litter bags and make it to the theatre in time to buy tickets." He explained. "Well, let's get going then." Carrie said, floating ahead of them. Darwin looked back at the house. "What about your parents?" He asked. Carrie looked back at the house. "They probably overheard everything. I wouldn't worry about it." She continued on her way and Gumball shrugged and followed. Darwin looked back at the creaking house before following his friend and 'date'.
Seeing a horror movie with a ghost as a date wasn't exactly what he'd planned for his community service day.
And so ends this chapter. Originally going to be a one-shot, but I got carried away. Probably won't be too long of a story though. Hope you enjoyed and if you did, please review. Actually, even if you didn't like it review and tell me what you didn't like.