Chapter 4: No More Chances.
The lights blurred Spongebob's vision, all sound was mixed together. He pushed his way through the crowd of fish circling Sandy's dome. The sirens decorated the sandy floor with shades of blue and red. Spongebob pushed past the yellow tape, cops ran after him but he paid no attention to them. Glass was decorated across all of Bikini Bottom, killing over a dozen innocent bystanders.
The police pulled Spongebob back, but Spongebob couldn't hear anything. The whole moment was a blur. Sandy Cheeks was nowhere to be seen, the police repeated the phra-ses 1W, 1210, and 1110. Spongebob's heart could no longer take the stress of another death, he was just a shell of the sponge he once was.
All he heard was the blending of the crowd yelling, demanding answers on what has happened to his dear friend.
"What happened?" Spongebob grunted. The cops ignored his pleas, and were going on about their jobs, trying to document what had happened to Sandy's dome. It was filled with water. Sandy couldn't breathe underwater without her suit. Was she gone?
Spongebob felt as if he couldn't breathe, and retracted from the crowd as they grew in their density. Sandy Cheeks was gone. He fell back behind a car and vomited. After that, the ground quickly met his face.
3pm.- Spongebob awoke in the hospital bed, an IV attached to his spaghetti arms. Saline was coursing through his veins, and his stomach felt like it had been assaulted. Before his eyes could even adjust to his eyes, the doctor walked into the room.
"Finally awake, huh Spongebob? I bet you're wondering what happened. Well, you suffered from a minor alcohol poisoning, and we had to pump your stomach." The doctor explained. Spongebob held his hand to his stomach, wincing at the pain he was in.
"We also found something on your liver and prostate." Spongebob's eyes widened. Could this be why he had felt especially sick lately? "We found masses on your liver and prostate, and they seem to be malignant. While you were passed out, we were able to perform a biopsy on these masses. They appear to be cancerous. I'm sorry, Spongebob Squarepants, but I'm afraid you have prostate cancer. I am so sorry."
Spongebob hunched over the bed and retched on the floor, and it had blood in it.
"Oh, god!" He moaned. So, this was how it was going to end for him. His friend dead, and the killer left unknown. His friend missing, her attackers left had no more chances, and his life would end with the truth forever in the shadows.
He left the hospital in zombie-like-state. The parking lot was full, but sadly he had to wait for the bus. He sat at the bus stop, numb. He sat down, and finally was hit with all the disparity that has defiled his life. Like a tidal wave it crashed into him, and Spongebob struck a smile. In his few moments of self contemplation he came to terms with his own mortality. So he was going to die? That's not so bad, he'd finally be free from his dreadful life. Just as he stood up the bus arrived. Spongebob sat in the back of the bus, and thought to himself. Today was a pretty good day.
That bus ride home was the happiest Spongebob had been in… well years. He was always too chicken for suicide, but now? Now he didn't have to work at his grinding job, or get up out of bed each morning only for his knees to hurt. Somehow, the thought of Spongebob's inevitable demise made the world just look a little bit nicer. He exited the bus and walked towards his house, only a few yards away. He passed Squidward's lot, and glanced at his flowers. Oddly enough, they looked just a little brighter today.
He entered his home, but quickly heard the scramble of slugs upstairs. "Gary?" He climbed the stairs with haste, but with no reply he only heard shuffling. "Gary I-" Spongebob opened the door to Gary's room, only to catch him - shellless. Worst of all, a slug was stuck in the window.
"Oh… Hi dad…." Gary pulled his bed sheets over his slimy body.
"Get out of that window RIGHT NOW!" Spongebob fumed, and pulled the slug out of the gaping window. "Gary… you are GROUNDED GROUNDED GROUNDED!" He grabbed Gary's clothes and threw it at him, and then shut his eyes, trying to forget the thought of Gary's defenceless body.
"We weren't doing anything!" Gary yelled. The man slug looked over at Spongebob, who was pacing back and forth.
"Mr. Squarepants… I have something to tell you" The slug had a 5' o clock shadow and looked much too old for Gary.
"David don't!" Gary seemed ready to jump on him like a panther at that moment.
"I love your daughter-" David began to say, but Gary started to hit him, begging him to stop.
"We're pregnant." David yells. Gary began to sob violently, and Spongebob's mouth stood agape.
"Get out." Spongebob said calmly. He pointed to the door behind him, and the snails gazed beyond him at the door.
"What?" Questioned Gary.
"You heard me. Get out."
"No!"
"I will call the police if you don't go." Spongebob ran to Gary's pile of newspapers and tossed them out the window. He then lifts up Gary's entire dresser, filled with assorted colors and designs of shells, and shoves it through the window as well. It meets the sand outside with a crushing sound, and all the shells inside shattered.
"My shells!" Gary cried. As Gary sat sobbing, her significant other was already out the door, and started the boat waiting for Gary. She quickly left the pineapple, and disappeared into the horizon with the unknown snail that Spongebob had only just met.
With that, Spongebob had lost yet another person in his life due to his bitter temper, and poor habitual actions. How long would it be until he lost everyone he loved so dearly? Did he even have anyone left that he loved? He makes his daily trip to the liquor cabinet, and pops the cork of his favorite vodka, Greygoose. Straight from france. Although it has a consistency much alike to water, it was truly his nectar of life. It was the only thing that really got him through the day. With a sniff of the bottle, everything the doctors said to him came rushing back. His liver. His prostate. Malignant. He was to return next week and begin scheduling chemo.
How much more? How many more days?
After a swig from the bottle, the liquid burning his mouth and throat as it went down, he corked the bottle and returned it to the cabinet.
Squidward was just about returning home from work now. Since the ten years he had lost Patrick, Squidward had been the proud recipient of many employee of the month awards, raises, and general praise from the public for being so good at his job.
Spongebob on the contrary, had received nothing but pay docks. He sat on the floor of his bathroom, remembering what he had to do with Squidward just to receive money to make his rent for the month.
There was a knock at the door. Spongebob crawled down the stairs slowly, and eventually opened the door. He was met by a fish in an expensive looking suit, all with a scowl on his face.
"I am an official of the Clam Casino, and I am here regarding your account with us." The fish's face remained unchanged. Spongebob's heart sank. What could it possibly be now?
"Yes, what is it?" Replied Spongebob.
"You seem to be in quite the debt to our casino. You owe us a sum of ten thousand shells, which must be paid back at the end of this month in order to adhere to our strict policies regarding the keeping of our money, and debt to the casino. We hope you can cooperate with us, and we hope to see the money returned to us as soon as possible." The man bows his head, and turns around.
Shit. Not only did Spongebob have prostate cancer, but he was also in debt for ten thousand shells.
A man nearly manifested from the air, at least that was what it seemed to Spongebob.
"Hear ya need some money. Would you want to take a loan out?" Asked a shark. Ah. Now it made sense. This man was a loan shark. Literally.
The snarling look from the shark wasn't the most endearing to Spongebob, and actually made him quite uncomfortable.
"I can get you it. By tomorrow actually." The shark explained.
"Really? What do I have to do to get this money?"
"Nothing. It will be on your doorstep tomorrow. See you then."
The shark walked away as well. Although it was the middle of the day, Spongebob ran upstairs to go to sleep, in a cheap way to see that money faster.
