Gumball and Darwin Watterson ran up the stairs into their bedroom. They looked at each other with identical expressions of shock and horror.
"Darwin? Please tell me this isn't happening. That this is all a bad dream. We can't really be on….." Gumball trailed off, unable to continue his sentence.
"I want to, I really want to." Darwin said. "But I don't think I can."
"I just can't wrap my head around this. This just can't be possible." Gumball said. "You do realize what this means don't you? Our house, our school, our friends, our family, none of it is….."
"Don't!" Darwin said, cutting him off. He knew full well what this all meant, he just didn't want Gumball to say it. It would make it feel more real somehow.
"Ok, I won't say it, but that doesn't mean it isn't true. Our entire lives were nothing but a lie, a cheap corporate trick controlled by a bunch of writers manipulating us to get ratings. Some unseen puppet master controlling everything I say or do or think."
"Gumball, stop. You're making my head spin."
"Sorry, it's just a lot to think about."
"I know what you mean, I have my own questions. Like, how far does this go? Does this mean all of Elmore is fictional? The whole world? The whole universe? Is this some kind of alternate dimension situation?"
"I don't know. This whole thing is just insane." Gumball said.
"You know what the really weird thing is? It actually explains a lot. Like the time we were running late to school and a clock just showed up out of nowhere, and we were able to use it to time travel."
"Yeah." Gumball said, realization dawning on him. "We never did figure out where that clock came from, and what about the time we lost all our money and everything around us kind of degraded. No money means no budget for the show, right?"
"And it's probably the reason why all of our problems seem to just fix themselves." Darwin chimed in.
"And why we haven't aged in four years."
"And why we always wear the same clothes"
"And why people sometimes suddenly sound different, or look different."
"Including us! Remember? We used to look completely different from how we do now!"
"I can't believe it." Gumball said in shock "It was all there, the signs were all there, we were just to stupid to notice."
"Well, so was everyone." Darwin pointed out. "And it is pretty unbelievable, why would we think of something like that? "Oh, Miss Simian looks different, it must be because we're all just made up characters in a tv show", kind of a huge leap in logic, don't you think?"
"Yeah, but still, considering all the evidence together, it seems pretty conclusive." All of a sudden they heard their father cheering from downstairs.
"Yes! The TV is fixed! I'll never leave you again old friend." Gumball and Darwin both gave a huge sigh of relief. "Oh, thank god. I don't know how much more of that I could take." Gumball said.
"That's one good thing, at least." Darwin said, trying to look on the bright side. The two sat in silence for a bit, letting it all sink in, until Darwin spoke up. "So,what should we do?" Darwin asked
"What can we do? It's not like we can stop the show. I don't even know if we'd want to, who knows what would happen to us if we get cancelled."
"Maybe we should tell someone?"
"Are you crazy? No one can know about this. For one thing, no one would believe us, for another, if they did there would be complete panic, I don't want anyone else to go through what we're going through right now."
"So, what, we're just supposed to go on with our normal lives knowing that it's all fake and carrying the weight of this huge secret on our shoulders?"
"I...I guess so." Gumball said, thinking it through. He didn't like the idea any more than Darwin did, it seemed impossible to just go on with their lives pretending nothing happened, but any other alternative seemed even more impossible. Gumball had to face the facts, they were stuck. "I'm sorry buddy, I just don't know what else we can do. I don't have a plan for this."Suddenly the knob to their bedroom door started turning. Gumball and Darwin quickly stopped talking, afraid that whoever was opening the door would hear them.
"Anais! What are you doing here?"
"This is my room too." She replied. "Are you guys ok? You're acting pretty jumpy."
"Jumpy?" Gumball said, letting out some nervous laughter. "No, no, everything's fine. Just a perfectly normal day, right Darwin?"
"Yup, nothing weird at all." Anais gave them a suspicious look.
"Well, ok, if you're sure."
"Of course we're sure! Why wouldn't we be?" Gumball said suspiciously. Anais gave them another look as she walked out the door. Her brothers were acting really weird, weirder than usual. Her curiosity got to her and she decided that she was going to get to the bottom of whatever was going on. Meanwhile, Gumball and Darwin both breathed a sigh of relief when Anais left. Luckily she didn't hear any of what they were talking about.
"So, we agree to just try to forget about what happened and go on with our lives?" Gumball said.
"I guess, but I don't know how I can forget about something like that."
"Me neither, but we don't exactly have a choice."