Chapter 11: Fools in April
After the Krusty Krab closed…
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The tiki had a darker tint than usual. The reflections of the waves from the ocean surface were much more visible across the building's surface compared to the other homes nearby. The window 'eyes' of the rock-head were seemingly glowing with faint purple lights.
Squidward, with a lingering smirk, stepped to the front door of his tiki. As he took out the key from his shirt pocket, he perceived the peculiarity of his home's appearance. After a short pause, he shrugged, unlocked the door, and stepped inside. He unconsciously licked his lips as he tried to condense his sprouting ideas into one cohesive mental blueprint.
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Squidward dropped his jaw.
A few wooden chairs and the sofa had been overturned. Several of his self-portraits were lying on the floor. The window in the kitchen had been barged open.
Squidward's mind scrambled into mush as he struggled to rationalize what had occurred before and what he was seeing now. After several minutes of staring, he cautiously walked to one of the fallen portraits and picked it up. It was unscathed. After spending several more eternal minutes staring into space, he lowered the portrait. He looked towards the opened window and leaned his head towards one side. "Why?" he whispered.
A pause. Scallops and a tumbleweed could be heard from outside.
He hastened to the window and watched the scallops' flight. He eventually perceived that they were flying in patterns that were close to the kitchen window. At one point, a scallop even went past the windowsill. He then turned around. "Maybe scallops got in here. But how could they put my paintings on the floor like that? Could they've mistook them for food?" he whispered loudly. He then furrowed his brows and scratched his forehead. He walked up the stairs.
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Squidward stepped into the music room and widened his eyes.
Nearly all of the paintings in the music room had been placed on the floor in specific patterns. Some of these patterns formed letters that he could not comprehend. The sheet holder had been placed upside-down.
He shook his head. "There's no way mere scallops can do that." He swiftly ran downstairs.
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Squidward grabbed the shell-phone and dialed a certain phone number.
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Forty-eight minutes later…
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Several police officers and investigators had searched through all of the rooms in the tiki.
The detective walked up to Squidward. "We couldn't find any trace of fingerprints other than yours. None of your belongings had been damaged or stolen either. Although it definitely looks like a trespassing, we can't find enough evidence to warrant a search for a suspect." He walked towards the tiki's front door. "If you've found new info on this suspect, please contact us."
Within a few minutes, all of the police staff returned to their vehicles and drove away.
Squidward sighed. 'Looks like I'm just gonna have to leave this to the hands of the Fates.' He closed the kitchen window and glanced at his watch. "Might as well set up my plan." He walked to the closet, took out a large white construction paper and a pencil, placed it on the kitchen table, and began drawing an elaborate scheme.
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An hour later…
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As Squidward laid down on his bed and wrapped himself with the blanket, a chill stabbed his spine. His eyes flew wide open.
His bedroom was covered in countless shadows that, combined with the faint moonlight leaking from the window, seemingly had straw-like limbs.
After several minutes of staring at the ceiling, the weights of drowsiness pushed his eyes back to a close. As his senses faded, he felt like he was being pushed off a cliff. His eyelids trembled as he sunk into the realm of the unconscious.
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Squidward opened his eyes again. His limbs were strapped to a chair made out of a tropical wood. The chair had been carved with tiki heads and a peculiar insignia of a labyrinth-like tower twisted into an infinity loop made out of seafoam. He attempted to stand up but winced when the tightness of the metal cuffs pinched him. "W-what?" He then gazed at the endless void surrounding him and gradually widened his eyes. He tried moving his wrists but gasped when he felt the cuffs become tighter than before.
An eyeless and mouthless orange face poured out of nothingness. "Igdarum. Z'jagfmela." The face's voice had an ambiguous gender.
"H-huh?"
A mask of air that covered the face dissipated. "Why did you take the paper?"
Squidward's heartbeat began to quicken. "What're you talking abou-"
A bucketful of oil was suddenly poured onto his body.
An orange arm twisted out of the pitch black and dropped a lit match towards Squidward.
Flames engulfed Squidward. The burns tearing through his skin, combined with the tightness of the cuffs, inflicted an agony fitting for a medieval execution. "AAAAAAAAAHHH!"
The orange arm snapped its fingers.
The fire disappeared in an instant.
Squidward took several deep, shuddering breaths.
"Do not pretend that you do not know. Why did you take one of our magic papers?"
Squidward swallowed his lips. With trembling limbs, he stared at the face for a minute before quietly saying: "'cause I wanted to use it for my own goals?"
The muscles on the ambiguous face clenched to form what looked like a frown. "So we were right. You were interfering with our operations by using our technology. You shall be thoroughly punished."
The darkness immediately swallowed Squidward. He then witnessed beloved members of his family getting repeatedly butchered into bloody chunks. He saw his tiki and all of his works of art getting blazingly consumed by an endless amount of lava. His skin was shredded by thousands of jellyfish stings, the pricks of needles made out of rough rocks, and the snaps of countless claws. His ears were clogged with deafening wails and screams, the eardrum-breaking sounds of amplified volcanic eruptions, and the bickering of demonic voices. He felt like his body was dying and being born at the same time.
His surroundings began to quake.
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Squidward sat up with a gasp. His face was pallid. Multiple drops of sweat had ran down his head. It took him almost a minute to realize that he had returned to reality. "What the Hades was that?!" He stood up from the bed and paced around the room. 'Was that some sort of omen? Was Neptune trying to tell me something?' After several minutes, he turned towards the drawer and saw the alarm clock, ticking towards the beginning of another day of drudgery, and his employee hat. He furrowed his brows and slowly clenched his shaky hands into fists. 'I don't care what stupid dreams come along or what I did before, I'm gonna make sure that crab knows how I feel about his scummy restaurant!' He hopped to his bed and smirked. 'Heh. Once my vengeance is complete, maybe I'll get sweeter dreams.' He closed his eyes.
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The next day...
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April 1, 2008.
The pink touch of morning sunlight leaked into the pineapple's bedroom. The calendar hanging on a wall indicated that today was April Fool's Day.
HOOOONNNNNNK
The foghorn rattled as it emitted a booming alarm.
SpongeBob immediately sat up with a grin. He turned off the alarm with a CLICK. He then acrobatically flipped off of his bed. "Wake up, Gary!"
Gary slowly opened his eyes and yawned. "Meow?"
SpongeBob giggled and began jumping up and down. "We're moving today!"
"Meow?!" Gary raised an imaginary brow.
"That's right! We're leaving home." SpongeBob took out a cap worn traditionally by the local populace a century ago and a fake handlebar mustache. He put them on. "We're going to become peasants." He put his hands on his hips.
Gary's stomach gurgled. His eyes closed halfway. "Meow. Meow," he droned. He slithered to the right door and exited the bedroom.
SpongeBob giggled again and skipped towards Gary.
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Gary slithered down the stairs and entered the kitchen.
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Gary slithered towards the cabinet that contained the cans of snail nip.
SpongeBob swiftly blocked Gary's path and picked him up. "No more food." He opened another cabinet and took out a can of mashed clamshells, a can opener, and Gary's bowl. While still carrying Gary, he opened the can and poured the clamshells into the bowl. "Sorry, Gary. Peasants only eat mashed-up clamshells." He placed Gary and the bowl on the floor. He took out a small bottle of table salt from a drawer and sprinkled some of the salt onto the mashed shells.
Gary's eyestalks drooped. With moistened eyes, he gave SpongeBob a look that a child would have when forced to eat vegetables.
"April Fools!" SpongeBob took off the cap and mustache and tossed them to the side. He grabbed Gary's bowl and ate the clamshells within a few gulps. He then took out a can of snail nip from another cabinet, opened it, and poured the food into the bowl. He placed the bowl back to the floor. "There ya go, pal!"
Gary ravenously ate the snail nip.
"Whew, I'm thirsty." SpongeBob wiped some non-existent sweat from his brow. "This is an extreme thirst!" he spoke in a deep voice. He took out a pitcher of lemonade from the refrigerator and many glass cups from a cabinet.
Gary watched SpongeBob place the cups on the table. His eyestalks leaned towards one side in confusion.
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Five minutes later...
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The pitcher was empty. Each cup was half-full of lemonade.
SpongeBob rubbed his hands together while biting his tongue. "Whew, I'm exhausted. I sure can't wait to drink all of these drinks!" He swigged lemonade from a cup. "April Fools!" He then laughed and left the kitchen.
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Within a minute, SpongeBob stepped out of his pineapple, ran to Patrick's rock, and knocked on it.
A pause.
CRRREEEAAAK
The rock opened with Patrick sticking to the ceiling. "Hey, Sponge." He smiled with drowsily half-opened eyes.
SpongeBob hid his smile by swallowing his lips. "Pat, I've got some important news to tell you."
"What is it?" Patrick scratched his head. He leaned forward but was careful not to slip off the rock. "Was it shown on the news?"
"Yeah. The report was about the sky falling to the seafloor within two hours." SpongeBob then turned around to release a chuckle.
Patrick gasped and jumped to the ground.
SLAM
The rock closed.
Patrick repeatedly ran around the rock. He wildly shook his arms towards the sky. His eyes widened so much that his eyeballs looked like they were sticking out. "END OF THE WORLD! END OF THE WORLD! END OF THE WORLD! END OF THE WORLD!" His shouts were so loud that they could be heard half-a-mile away.
SpongeBob was clutching his stomach as he laughed. When he had to catch his breath, he turned towards Patrick. "April Fools!"
"Oh." Patrick skidded to a halt and smirked. "Well, ya got me this time but I won't fall for it again."
SpongeBob giggled. "We'll see about that."
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An hour later...
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Squidward was reading a novel on his couch while occasionally glancing at the blueprint on the cupboard. However, the flow of his thoughts was quickly broken by the ringing of the shell-phone.
He groaned, stomped to the shell-phone, and picked it up.
"Mr. Squidward, there's someone here at the Krusty Krab to see you. He says he's from the Barnacle Bay Art Museum and he wants to honor you as artist of the month." Mr. Krabs' electronic voice was heard.
Squidward gasped. 'No way… did somebody who watched the talent show notice me after all!?' He chuckled smugly. "I'll get there ASAP." He put the phone down. Any lingering thoughts on the blueprint disappeared as fast as he ran towards the tiki's exit.
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Several minutes later...
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S-SLAM
Squidward barged the double door open and stepped into the Krusty Krab. He took a deep breath and put his hands on his hips. He tilted his head upward and closed his eyes. "I have arrived." He strut across the dining room.
A pause.
Squidward glanced to his left and then to his right. Nearly all of the tables were empty. He then furrowed his brows as he heard the laughter of SpongeBob and Mr. Krabs. He turned towards them. "What's so funny? Where's the art dealer?" He folded his arms and raised his brow.
SpongeBob banged his fist on a table as he suffocated from his laughter.
Mr. Krabs, after several seconds, caught his breath and wiped a tear from his eyestalk. "You just missed him."
SpongeBob, while biting his lower lip, raised a wobbly index finger. "Yeah, but he told us to tell you-"
Squidward marched to the table that the Krusty Krewmates were sitting at. "Tell me what?" He leaned forward.
"He told me to tell you..." SpongeBob cupped his hand near his mouth and leaned towards Squidward. "April Fools," he whispered.
Squidward frowned. 'Wanna play with my emotions, eh? Might as well start the plan. It'll make that crab's wound taste all the sweeter.' "Well, it's been nice working here." He swiftly walked towards the double door with his arms swinging. "Thanks for everything, Mr. Krabs."
"Squidward, wait!" SpongeBob dove towards Squidward and grabbed his ankles.
"Just send my last check to the mailbox, Mr. Krabs!" Squidward grabbed the handle of the double door while trying to shake the yellow pest off his feet.
"WAAAAAIIIIT!" SpongeBob clung to Squidward's knees.
Squidward looked at SpongeBob from the corner of his eye. "What?"
"It was just a joke! No more jokes on you today, I promise." SpongeBob sat on his knees and folded his hands together.
"You do?" Squidward raised his brow.
"I'm serious. Plus, there's lots of other willing participants. Right, Mr. Krabs?" SpongeBob turned around and caught a glimpse of Mr. Krabs placing a whoopee cushion on the boat.
Squidward narrowed his eyes towards Mr. Krabs.
Mr. Krabs wore a grin and tucked the whoopie cushion into one of his back pockets.
Squidward tried to muster energy into his voice but could only come out with a drone. "April Fools." He pushed SpongeBob off his legs
"Huh?" SpongeBob tilted his head towards one side.
"I wasn't going to quit." Squidward opened the double door. "Anyways, it's way too early for you to be here. Our shift didn't even start yet."
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Two hours later...
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SpongeBob placed a plate of one Krabby Patty on a table.
An old woman walked up to SpongeBob. "Excuse me, could you tell me where the forks are?"
"Sure! They're right here, lady!" SpongeBob pointed at a specific location in the utensils stand. He then giggled.
The old woman walked to the utensils stand and picked up a spoon from the location SpongeBob had pointed at. She narrowed her eyes. "But this is a spoon."
"April Fools!" SpongeBob giggled and stepped to the utensils stand. "Here you go." He took the woman's spoon and replaced it with a fork from the stand.
Squidward tightened his grip on his book as he heard the yellow pest's laughter. When SpongeBob returned to the kitchen, he put the book on his lap, laid on the boat, and exhaled. With his hands folded behind his head, he took his time to admire his handiwork near the ceiling. The web of ropes wrapped around the poles reminded him of the brush strokes in a painting. 'A living work of art. Squiddy, you're more of a genius than I thought.'
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An hour later...
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"Welcome to the Krusty Krab. How may I help you?" Squidward droned. His head rested on his hand.
"Yeah, give me two large fries and a Jumbo Krabby Patty." A blue male customer held out three fingers.
SpongeBob peeked through the window. He smiled towards one side of his face. "Hey, what's that?" He pointed at something indistinct.
The customer turned around and glanced at his surroundings.
SpongeBob dove through the ordering window and swiftly crawled to a table without the customer noticing him.
The customer could not spot anything that stood out. He then turned back to the cash register. "Well, I didn't see anything." He shrugged.
A pause.
"Hey, where'd that other guy go?" The customer scratched his head, stood on tip-toe, and tried to look through the ordering window.
SpongeBob tip-toed to the customer from behind and poked him on the shoulder. "April Fools! I'm right here!" He giggled.
"Hey, that was pretty good." The customer chuckled.
Squidward covered his ears and frowned. He glanced at Mr. Krabs, who was inspecting the cleanliness of the windows. 'Just keep waiting, Squiddy. Your time will come soon. That crab won't even know what hit him once things get rolling.' He turned his gaze back to SpongeBob. The sunlight coming from the windows caused SpongeBob's blue eyes to sparkle. He gulped.
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Forty-five minutes later...
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SpongeBob dipped a mop into a bucketful of water. He then mopped the dining room's floor.
"Excuse me, can I get a couple of ice cubes in here, please?" A young man wearing a cap walked up to SpongeBob. He was holding a cup of soda.
"Sure. A couple of ice cubes coming up!" SpongeBob beamed and put the mop into the bucket. He then skipped to the kitchen.
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SpongeBob opened the freezer and took out an ice cube from a bag of ice cubes. He then closed the freezer and exited the kitchen.
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SpongeBob whistled as he walked back to the young man. "Here you go." He dropped the ice cube into the cup of soda.
"Thanks." The young man smiled and took a sip of the sofa.
SpongeBob giggled.
The young man leaned his head towards one side.
SpongeBob, while biting his lip, resumed mopping the floor. His cheeks puffed up.
The young man shrugged and continued drinking his soda.
A laugh slipped out of SpongeBob's mouth.
"Huh?" The young man raised a brow.
SpongeBob swallowed his lips. He dipped the mop into the bucket.
The young man drank all of the soda in his cup. The ice cube filled his mouth with coldness. He then took a deep breath.
"April Fools!" SpongeBob released his laughter.
Squidward covered his ears again.
The young man furrowed his brows. He grabbed SpongeBob by the collar of his shirt. "What did you do to my drink?!"
"I… I…" SpongeBob's giggling blocked out the words he was trying to say.
"You what?!" The young man tightened his grip and shook SpongeBob.
SpongeBob chuckled. "You asked for a couple of ice cubes in your drink, and I only put in one!"
"I guess that was pretty funny." The young man smiled and released SpongeBob. He began to laugh.
Squidward frowned. 'That does it! I'm gonna settles this once and for all!' He stood up from the boat. He saw Mr. Krabs standing near the mast. 'Perfect. He'll get to see the whole thing.' He smirked. He took out a mustard container he had snatched from the condiment stand during the beginning of the workday. He walked to the hanging end of a rope that had the loop. He lowered that end of the rope until it touched the floor. He then aimed the container at the space within the loop and, when nobody was looking, squirted some mustard into the space. He then tucked the mustard container back into his shirt and stepped away from the loop. He whistled in faux innocence as he walked back to the boat.
SpongeBob heard Squidward's whistling and saw the mustard on the floor. "Oh boy! Something for me to clean up." He took out a ripped piece of towel and skipped towards the mustard stain. He then crouched and began to wipe away the mustard.
'Now the whole world will witness my ode to the lovely restaurant that had provided me with shelter and food.' Squidward grinned triumphantly and pulled another end of the rope. "APRIL FOOLS!"
SPLLAAASSH
A bucket landed on the floor and spilled water.
The loop wrapped tightly around the yellow hand that was holding the towel.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAHHHHH!" SpongeBob was yanked upward by the rope. He could hear his rapid heartbeat as he saw the incoming ceiling.
SLAM
SpongeBob hit the ceiling face-first.
Mr. Krabs widened his eyestalks and covered his mouth with his claws.
Squidward's nose honked as he laughed. Mr. Krabs' reactions were as sweet as the nectar drunk by the gods.
The rope succumbed to gravity and fell to the floor. It pulled SpongeBob and swung him towards a table.
The customers sitting on that table dove out of the way.
SLAM
SpongeBob knocked the table over and landed on the floor. Plates with Krabby Patties shattered.
Mr. Krabs clenched his chest as he felt a near heart attack.
Squidward was crying in laughter.
The rope swung all the way to the other side of the dining room and dragged SpongeBob along.
"WOOOOOAAAAAHHHHHH!" SpongeBob flailed his limbs.
SMACK
An incoming diagonal wooden pole hit him in the cheek.
BAM
The back of his head hit the mast.
SpongeBob's vision tilted in chaotic directions as dizziness overwhelmed his senses. He then slipped against the mast and fell towards the floor.
Squidward perceived that Mr. Krabs was now looking at him with pleading eyes. He smirked and grabbed a nearby trash can. "I'll catch you, SpongeBob!" He sprinted towards the location of SpongeBob's quickly expanding shadow. He held out his hands towards SpongeBob.
SpongeBob beamed with sparkling eyes.
At the right time, Squidward pushed the trash can. It was now right below SpongeBob. He chuckled. "Whoops."
SpongeBob fell into the trash can and got nearly buried by its dirty contents. Only his tied hand stuck out of the can.
Mr. Krabs gasped and scuttled towards SpongeBob. "Neptune no, Neptune no, Neptune no, Neptune no..." he whispered loudly.
Squidward suffocated in laughter.
The rope was still moving. SpongeBob, while still inside the trash can, was swung towards the cash register.
SLAM
SpongeBob collided with the cash register.
CLANK
The cash register fell to the floor.
CHA-CHING
The cash register opened and released all of the money it contained to the floor.
"Cashie!" Mr. Krabs' eyestalks bugged out.
"Look! Free cash!" A male teenager stood up from a table and pointed at the money. He then ran towards the register and began grabbing some nearby dollars.
"GET AWAY FROM ME MONEY!" Mr. Krabs dove towards the cash.
THUD
The teenager stepped back as Mr. Krabs landed before him and hugged the register.
Mr. Krabs stood up and glowered at the teen. He grit his teeth like a dog and began to pick up some of the money. "If you're gonna steal me profits, you're gonna have to go through me first!"
The teenager noticed Mr. Krabs' claws and gulped. He took several steps back.
Mr. Krabs picked up all of the money and began to place them back into the cash register. After he finished that task, he rocked the register as if it was a baby. "Everything'all be okay, Cashie," he cooed. He then began his attempt at restoring the machine's proper position on the boat.
Squidward had to look away in order to catch his breath. He had laughed so much that all he could do was gasp. His face was red and a tear had ran down his cheek.
The parts of the rope that were wrapped around the horizontal wooden pole unwrapped due to the pull of rest of the rope.
C-CLANK
The trash can fell to the floor.
SpongeBob crawled out of the trash can and removed the rope loop from his wrist. He was nearly covered from head to toe in filth. He glanced at the eyes of strangers staring at him, at the shaking eyestalks of his captain, and then at the ropes that had broken his professional acade. His eyes moistened. 'There's no way they'll let me cook now...' He then slowly looked down and saw how soiled his clothes had become. He took off his employee hat and widened his eyes. Not even the sacred hat could avoid the touch of the garbage. On the verge of tears, he barged the double door open and fled the scene.
Squidward returned his gaze to Mr. Krabs. He chuckled as he watched Mr. Krabs' attempt at rebalancing the cash register on the boat's tip. Seeing that he had pierced the shell of Mr. Krabs' toughness, a sense of peace washed over him. He exhaled and smiled. "April Fools, you little pirate." He put his hands on his hips and gazed at the mess his 'work of art' had left behind. After several seconds, the knocked-over table and shattered plates caught his attention. He stopped smiling. 'That wasn't part of the plan…' A familiar uneasiness creeped back into his mind and began unraveling thoughts he had sealed away a long time ago. He glanced aimlessly in an attempt to cling to his dwindling high.
One man was watching SpongeBob flee towards his home. "Aww, man, poor kid."
"That guy has definitely got some issues to work out." One woman glared at Squidward, folded her arms, and stood up from her seat.
Other customers inside the dining room stood up from the tables and walked towards the exit.
"April Fools, jerk." The same teen who had tried to steal the register's money blew a raspberry at Squidward before leaving the restaurant.
After several minutes, Squidward and Mr. Krabs were the only people remaining.
Mr. Krabs marched to Squidward, put his claws on his hips, and frowned sternly. "Mr. Squidward, did you cause all of this?"
Squidward exhaled. He frowned with half-closed eyes. "Yes."
Mr. Krabs narrowed his eyes. "You wanna know something, Squid?"
Squidward nodded while gazing in SpongeBob's direction.
"I can easily replace you with me money-maker, SpongeBob. I bet that lad would be willing to take both spots as cashier and fry cook. Business might go a little slower but he'd still work hard. Mr. Squidward, the only reason you're still allowed on me ship is 'cause I still prefer a faster business anyway." Mr. Krabs smirked and put his claws behind his back. "Not like you have any other places to turn to."
Haunting memories of cardboard boxes and endless online browsing resurfaced. Squidward furrowed his brows. "Don't rub it in."
"If ya want to keep yer job, bring him back. Once you do that, we'll forget this ever happened. Okay?" Mr. Krabs folded his arms.
"Sure," Squidward droned and, for a reason he could not come up with, walked towards the double door. As his thoughts faded away, he returned to a state of mere existence. His limbs swayed and his face became deadpan as lifelessness shrouded him.
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Several minutes later...
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Squidward was walking down the road with his head tilted downward. Each successive step became heavier as the rays of the spring sun heated up his body. Memories were being replayed in agonizing detail, but no matter how many times he tried to dissect them, he could only find an unsatisfying emptiness.
As he neared the neighborhood, he saw Patrick digging a hole between the tiki's lawn and the rock's lawn while wearing SpongeBob's employee hat. He perceived that the hole was uncomfortably close to some of the plants in the tiki's lawn. He marched to Patrick and put his hands on his hips. "Patrick, what're you doing?"
Patrick smiled and shrugged. "Digging."
"Why're you wearing that?"
"Hmm, I dunno. SpongeBob just gave it to me."
Squidward glanced at the pineapple. "SpongeBob's in his house, right?"
"Yep." Patrick nodded. "He's impressed."
Squidward narrowed his eyes. "With what?"
Patrick stopped smiling. "I don't know, but it must have been pretty good to make him cry like that." He then resumed his digging.
Squidward gazed at the pineapple as he walked towards it. As he reheard his memories of SpongeBob's sobs and screams in the restaurant, a mental picture of a scowling SpongeBob gradually surfaced. 'There's no way he'd forgive me that easily. If somebody did that to me, I wouldn't forgive 'em either.' He then widened his eyes slightly and halted in an awkward pause. After a few seconds, he glanced at his watch and then at the tiki. A blurred image of a marked calendar date for the upcoming utility bills passed by. "If ya want to keep yer job, bring him back…" 'Aw, screw it.' He marched to the pineapple's front door and knocked on it.
After a minute, tSpongeBob opened the front door slightly. He was wearing a fresh pair of squarepants and a cleaned employee hat. He gazed at Squidward with misty eyes.
As Squidward placed together the words he was going to say, he could not help but perceive SpongeBob's eyes as akin to those of an innocent child. As he watched SpongeBob's lips tremble, contradictory thoughts flooded his mind. He sighed. His gaze fell towards the ground. "SpongeBob, I'm…" His voice shook slightly. "I'm sorry."
"W-what?"
Squidward did not make eye contact. "I used you."
SpongeBob repeatedly tapped his fingers together. "Wasn't it all just a joke that went too far?" He glanced in the Krusty Krab's direction and adjusted his name-tag, pushing away the encompassing images of Mr. Krabs' piercing eyestalks.
Squidward took a deep breath. "No, it's more than that-"
SpongeBob clasped his hands together. "But it's my fault too. I made it worse by trying to get off-"
Squidward placed a hand over SpongeBob's mouth and kept it there until SpongeBob became silent. "I threw you into a mess that wasn't any of your business. I was pissed off that I still had work this week, so I pranked you just to give our boss a piece of my mind." He clenched his hands into fists.
SpongeBob's gaze fell downward. "I guess trying a Krabby Patty didn't do anything," he nearly whispered.
A long pause.
SpongeBob looked up and noticed that Squidward was gazing in the Krusty Krab's direction with pensive eyes. A smile slowly formed across his face. He swiftly retrieved his employee hat from Patrick. "You came here to fetch me, right?" He grabbed Squidward's wrist. "You didn't have to worry. I was gonna come back to work anyway." He pulled him along as he skipped towards the restaurant. "C'mon, let's go!"
Squidward widened his eyes. 'How could he forgive me so quickly?' He released his hand from SpongeBob's grip and tried to walk at SpongeBob's pace. 'How can he just take it and not get fazed?'
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Several minutes later…
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A purple male fish dressed in a fashionable coat was conversing heartily with Mr. Krabs. Several laughs were exchanged.
C-CREAK
The two employees returned to the restaurant.
Mr. Krabs grinned and pointed at SpongeBob and Squidward. "These were the two lads I was talkin' about." He then stepped towards the two Krusty Krewmates. "Lads, this gentleman here is one of the richer folk who came to our talent show. Believe it or not, he runs the Barnacle Bay Art Museum-"
SpongeBob giggled. "I didn't know you could predict the future, Mr. Krabs."
Mr. Krabs chuckled, stepped back, and put an arm around the man's shoulder. "He's also one of the few folks that left a booty's worth of an extra tip when the show was over." He stepped out of the man's way. "He'd like to have a word with you."
The gentleman stepped towards Squidward with his hands behind his back. "Good morning, Mr. Tentacles. Your show, especially its ending, was quite splendid. It takes a lot of talent as a director to give a show like that a strong finish." He glanced at SpongeBob. "Your companion... SpongeBob is his name right? He's quite remarkable too."
Squidward narrowed his eyes somewhat at the stranger's coat. 'Ugh. He's probably a relative of one of those oligarchs.'
The gentleman perceived where Squidward was looking at and chuckled. "I'm not like those privileged patrons." He tapped the wallet in his pants. "All the money in my pockets I worked for myself."
Squidward scratched his chin. "So what're you really here for?"
"As a token of my appreciation, I wanna give these to you." The stranger dug into one of his back pockets and took out two silver-embroidered tickets. "They are tickets to an exclusive exhibit at the Art Museum. These tickets will also allow you to explore the other exhibits free of charge."
SpongeBob gasped and covered his mouth with both hands. When he received his ticket, he gazed, with sparkling eyes, at the ticket's shiny patterns. He then, while running in place, turned towards Squidward. "You're gonna come, Squid?!"
Squidward adjusted his employee hat. He glanced at the overturned table and then at SpongeBob. He perceived a mild bruise on one side of SpongeBob's body. He glanced at the ticking clock, remembering that endless days of drudgery awaited him. 'As long as this takes my mind off work.' He exhaled. "Sure."