Chapter Four: Depression
Mrs. Puff spent 6 months in the hospital and had to take physical therapy. Her legs were broken severely and she went from wheel chair, to crutches, and was now in a walker. She also had to relearn to use her arms. As for her inflation sac, it was never going to recover. It was the organ that helped her puff up, as a defense mechanism. Without it, she would be vulnerable to any predator that eats puffer fish.
This wasn't the only time she had broken it, though. One time, when SpongeBob was taking his driving test, he failed like usual and caused her inflation sac to rupture. She was told that she would never puff again. This caused the puffer fish to become vengeful of the sponge, to the point of wanting him dead. Therefore, Mrs. Puff entered SpongeBob into a derby, hoping that he would get killed. When he didn't die, she later on tried to kill him herself. Fortunately, Mrs. Puff regained her puff when both she and SpongeBob crashed into the boating school.
Mrs. Puff could still remember it. Only this time, her inflation sac was destroyed for real, to the point where it had to be REMOVED! The wound became infected and there was nothing that the doctors could do. This was the most traumatizing thing that the poor puffer fish had experienced. She felt she could no longer go on.
Every day, Mrs. Puff would wallow in a deep depression that not even Prozac could help with. She began to let herself go. She neglected her personal hygiene, stopped wearing make-up, and wore the same clothes day after day. This made her look extremely rough, along with the wrinkleless, which was a result of being deflated.
"My life has no meaning, anymore," Mrs. Puff said, in a depressed and suicidal tone, "I just can't go on."
That's when she heard the doorbell ring.
"Who could it be?" she said, grabbing her walker and moving to the door. She answered it, only to find that it was SpongeBob.
"Hi Mrs. Puff," SpongeBob said sweetly.
Usually Mrs. Puff would freak out and tell him to get away from him, but she was too depressed to even become scared. She just said, "What do you want?"
SpongeBob then said, "To make you feel better."
"There is nothing you can do, "Mrs. Puff said, still sounding depressed and suicidal, "In fact you are the same person who put me in the hospital and got me in jail a bunch of times. Does that prove that you can make me feel better? Please tell me."
SpongeBob then replied remorsefully, "Mrs. Puff I never meant to hurt you. In fact, it makes me sad to see you this way: All depressed and sad. What happened to the Mrs. Puff I used to know?" Tears begin to fill his eyes.
"SpongeBob, remember that you once destroyed my inflation sac and made a joke about it," Mrs. Puff said.
"I'm really sorry," SpongeBob said, still crying, "I know what I did was wrong and I will try to make it up to you."
"Kill yourself," Mrs. Puff said, "I don't even want to see your face again. You make my life a living Davy Jones' Locker. I still want to know why you didn't get killed in that derby."
"Mrs. Puff, I now know that you hate me," SpongeBob said, "and I will try to accept that, but I want to help you." He then said in a slightly optimistic tone, "Maybe you might regain your puff the same way you did when we crashed into the boating school."
"SpongeBob, you don't get it! My inflation sac had to be REMOVED!" Mrs. Puff said, "It was ruptured so badly that they had to cut it out!"
"Why would they do that?" SpongeBob wondered.
"The wound was severely infected," Mrs. Puff explained. She then pulled her shirt slightly up to show a long scar. "That is the scar from the removal surgery."
"Aww," SpongeBob said, "Maybe a hug will make you feel better."
SpongeBob then wrapped his arms around her deflated body and said, "Mrs. Puff, you will always be my favorite teacher, even though you are now deflated. And remember that you are still pretty on the inside."
Mrs. Puff then said, in a sad and angry tone, "I am not. I am really ugly inside and out, yet you are the most annoying, un-teachable, troublesome student I have ever had. You couldn't even pass just to save your life and you are always causing catastrophes to happen!"
SpongeBob then said, "Don't worry Mrs. Puff. I will change my behavior and I will visit you every day after work, to brighten every day of your life."
Mrs. Puff became furious, "JUST LEAVE! I HOPE THAT YOU DIE!"
SpongeBob then began to cry. "I'm sorry Mrs. Puff," he said in a teary voice as he ran out the door.
As soon as SpongeBob left, Mrs. Puff then thought it over. She couldn't be sorry for hating her worst student, but she couldn't blame him for the condition that she was currently in.
If it was not SpongeBob's fault this time, then who was it? Mrs. Puff wondered. She then remembered how SpongeBob told her that two girls, who were in the boat, took off running.
Mrs. Puff then said to herself, "I must find those two girls and give them a taste of their own medicine. Then I will kidnap and torture them, so they know what I had to go through. And I will never let them leave. They will be mine for eternity."
She then laughed both evilly and psychotically, "Muwahahahahaha!"
