Chapter 4: The real me
Gumball woke up from another nightmare, a feeling that he couldn't get rid of; a memory of him, struggling for his own life.
He took another medicine, and readied himself for his daily check-up.
"Knock-Knock, your favorite nurse is here"
A bandage looking nurse, came into Gumball's room to conduct check on him.
"Hey, Ms. Markham" said Gumball, in a low tone.
Markham noticed that Gumball is not in his usual mood, so he tried to cheer him up.
"Why don't we walk outside first?" said Ms. Markham.
Joan guided Gumball outside the hospital, and let him took photos before for moment.
She couldn't help, but notice that Gumball seems to be looking for someone, his head turning left and right.
"Who are you looking for?" She said.
"That girl showed up again" Gumball said.
Joan got curios about this said girl, and asked more questions about her.
"What does she look like?" Joan asked.
Gumball stopped taking photos, and seemed to be looking for something, in his camera's folder.
"where, where, where, AHA!" Gumball said in enthusiasm.
He puts the camera up, in front of Joan's face to see what the girl looks like.
"Who's that? I've never seen her in this hospital, but she seems familiar…. What's her name?" Joan asked.
"Penny, I don't know what's her last name is though" said Gumball.
Joan seems to be thinking about something inside her head, like she's trying to remember someone from her memories.
"Ackk, I got nothing, but it feels like I've seen her somewhere before" Joan said.
Gumball puts down his camera, and thought that Penny might not show up this time.
"You're fine now?" Joan asked.
Gumball sighs, as he walks with Joan, on their way back inside the hospital.
"Anddd… done" said Joan.
She just finished Gumball's check-up, and let Gumball leave, and do his stuff.
"Thanks, Ms. Markham" Gumball says as he waves goodbye, while exiting the door.
After seeing him leave the room, Markham immediately rummages through her old files; looking for the name "Penny".
"P-p-Penny! Here we go, they look exactly the same"
Markham skimmed through Penny's information, but it was almost as blank as paper.
She found it weird that the only thing on that piece of paper, was her first name, the date that she got confined, and some of her body measurement.
There wasn't anything written there, that state what her ailment was, and only stated that Penny got discharged after being there in 1 day.
"So, why is she still here?" Joan thought.
The door to her room suddenly opens, it was one of her co-workers.
The nurse seems to be in a hurry; she took a deep breath before speaking to Joan.
"Mr. Fitzgerald needed you in his office" The nurse said.
Joan immediately complied, and hurried towards to the Doctor's office.
She didn't want the him to get mad at her, since Mr. Fitzgerald is the owner of the hospital that she works in; she could get fired if he gets mad at her, for being a slowpoke.
Gumball was already in his room, when he noticed that he forgot his camera back at the nurse's office.
He decided to go back there and grab it; he was sure that it was on top of Ms. Markham's desk.
"Hello?" Gumball knocked before opening the door, but there's nobody in there.
He went ahead, and walked towards Markham's desk, to see if his stuff is still there.
"Ah, here it is…" Gumball quickly found his camera, but after lifting it up; he noticed that the desk was littered with patient's file.
"What is this?" Gumball took one of the folders and opened it.
He saw what's inside of Penny's file; there wasn't really anything into it, but Gumball had a hunch.
Gumball tried to look for his own file, luckily it was just besides Penny's file.
"We got confined at the same day, but she got out a day after…" Gumball muttered.
He had a feeling that Penny is somehow connected to him, but he needed more clues before confirming it.
Inside the Fitzgerald's office
"So, is that kid doing fine?" The man in a suit and tie with a shell looking body, asked Markham about the patient, that she's currently assigned to take care of.
"He's getting better and better, and If this keeps up; we can discharge him in a week or so" said Markham.
"Good, make sure that you present me the files after you finish your shift" said Patrick.
The phone on Patrick's desk suddenly rings, and he quickly answers it; turning his chair, to the left side.
"What!" Patrick shouted, as she signals Markham to leave his office.
Markham, stood up from her chair, and went towards the door, but before she could exit the office; she heard what the guy on the other line said.
"I'm afraid, Penny's condition is getting worse and worse"
She closes the door, before Mr. Fitzgerald noticed that she heard what was happening on the phone.
"Could it be?" Markham muttered, as she headed towards the nurse's office.
It's already 8:00 pm, and Gumball decided to take another walk outside, in hopes of seeing Penny again.
He waited outside the hospital, at the same exact location where they talked about his life.
There were questions that he wanted her to answer, he wanted clarification, he wanted closure.
"I should have died back then" Gumball muttered.
After saying that, he felt a light tap on his right shoulders, and after looking who it was
An elegant looking girl, with a smile on her face that can almost illuminate the dark of the night, sits beside him.
"Are you still thinking of dying?" Penny said, as she looked at Gumball's face.
Penny snagged Gumball's camera, and played around with it; taking photos of the stars, and lastly a photo of Gumball's face.
Gumball noticed that Penny isn't wearing a hospital gown anymore; she's wearing casual clothes, but Gumball didn't bother to ask why.
"You should do what you want while you still can" Penny said, as she pointed the camera towards Gumball's face.
"I once risked my life, for someone else's life" Penny added.
But the looks on Gumball's face, changes; he doesn't know what to feel, and suddenly spouted some non-sense.
"I didn't ask for your help" He said.
At that moment, Gumball felt like he was a jerk for saying that, but he couldn't help it.
Deep inside, he never wanted someone to save him from drowning.
He was done with his life, even his family had enough of him.
They spent tons of money, fixing all of his mischievous deeds, as they shallowed their pride to apologize for the things that Gumball had caused.
No wonder why they haven't visited him that much.
"You think that life is precious? Full of candies and rainbows?" Gumball said, even though he wanted to stop, he couldn't stop himself from getting mad at her.
"You should have let me die back then" Gumball shouted, but Penny took it all, she didn't say a word, and instead; she hugged Gumball, knowing that he's suffering.
"If I were you, I wouldn't throw away my life, just like that" Penny says, as she breaks away the hug.
Gumball didn't understand if Penny was insulting him, or was envying him when she said that.
"Well, I should go back now" Penny said, as she stood up from the bench.
"I'm s-" Gumball couldn't get the words out of his mouth.
"Goodbye" Penny said, as she walks away from Gumball.
Thanks for reading this chapter, I'm getting a lot more busier in real life, so thank you for keeping up on me :D