Spongebob was on the grill zoning in and out. That image of seeing his friend on the stretcher was burnt into his retina. A mass of guilt and shame stuck onto his chest.
"This is all my fault" he thunk
The smell of almost overcooked patties broke him of his spell and went back to flipping. Mr. Krabs was taking the place of Squidward as cashier for the day. The crab didn't seem surprised upon hearing the news.
"Eh…that fucker was always moping around and bitchin'. I'm more surprised it didn't happen sooner"
It still didn't feel real to the fry cook, however. All day the both of them were waiting on any news. A text, a call, a news update. Anything to just get some sense of relief from the anticipation.
Knock knock knock
Spongebob jerked at the sound of the back door and felt his heart sink.
Knock knock knock
"I wonder who that is?"
As he approached, he saw a familiar outline in the window of the door.
"Could it be?"
He swung open the door
"Sandy…"
The squirrel in the glass bowl looked up into the eyes of her lover
"Hi, Spongebob…"
Sandy walked up to the door frame. Her attire was in the typical professor outfit she had on, but her eyes were dazed, and the fur was matted.
"Can I come in?"
Spongebob nodded and stepped aside
"Two patties and an order of fries!" Yelled the crustacean from the window
Spongebob hurried to the grill while Sandy took a seat in the rolling chair. The air held still with the sizzle of the grilled meat for a few moments before Sandy spoke.
"I heard about Squidward…"
The sponge didn't move from his place in front of the grill. Sandy continued.
"I-I can't believe…I mean he was always grumpy and stuff but…take his own life? Wow"
Sandy sighed while slumped in the chair and looked up at the ceiling. She swiveled around with her legs to create a momentum. Spongebob held back a whimper.
"I feel so bad…"
She jolted her head straight up.
"Why's that?"
"He was just telling me all this depressing stuff literally the night before…I should've noticed."
"It's not your fault, Spongebob. It's not your job to parent and watch out for someone all the time"
"I know it's not…But if someone like him has no one else then it kinda becomes that"
Sandy scrunched up her lip
"It's not normal to be the hero in every story, Spongebob. You did your best as a friend"
Spongebob's stomach felt a kick from his own guilt. Oh, how she doesn't understand.
"How else are you doing?"
Spongebob flipped his patties on to buns and proceeded to add the condiments.
"I don't know. Fine, I guess. Nothing else spectacular is happening. I don't know if I told you, but Squidward dropped the charges so now I only have to worry about possession. Court date in a month."
He went to grab the fries
"That's wonderful, Spongebob! You may actually evade jail time"
Spongebob put the food on the tray and sent it out the window. Ringing the bell.
Ding!
"Ya hopefully" he said while wiping his hands on his pants.
He turned to the squirrel. Eyes still moist.
"What's new with you?"
Sandy shrugged her shoulders
"Still working days at the school and nights at the club. Business as usual. I'm always tired but I'm making it work."
She shifted a little in the seat and held her head down.
"About that night…"
"I want to apologize, Sandy"
She looked up again,
"What?"
"I'm sorry for the way I acted that night. I shouldn't have called you a whore and you're right, it's your body and your choice of what you do with it"
Sandy smiled a little
"Thank you…and I'm sorry for not telling you earlier…I bet that was a shocker haha"
Spongebob laughed "Ya I was definitely not expecting that…"
Sandy stood up and walked over. She stumbled for a bit before regaining balance.
"Woo, sorry der! Got a little dizzy"
She went over and hugged Spongebob and he reciprocated.
"Soooo what does this mean for us?"
Sandy walked back and gave a smirk
"I don't know, Squarepants…I guess we're just gonna have to see after you pay me back…"
Suddenly she grabbed his yellow arms and brought him over to the cooler door. Opening it she threw him and herself inside before shutting the door.
"Sandy wha-"
"Shhhh be quiet"
She began passionately kissing him while feeling him up over his pants. As they undressed her finger was still over her mouth signaling a 'hush'. They started ripping each other's clothes off. SpongeBob couldn't help but just stare in awe at what's happening in front of him. Well, ON him too. Before you know it she was on top of him riding like a cowgirl. Every thrust sending them both a wave of euphoria. At that moment, he knew they were going to be fine. He grabbed her and positioned her in a bend over reposition on top of the frozen box of buns.
"Yeeeeeeehaw!"
—-
Spongebob walked home that day and decided to head over to Patrck's rock to tell him the news. He felt a high after fucking his girl in the cooler in this moment, but every step back home pulled away from that. The memories of that morning flooded back and Spongebob was back to his state of mourning. Patrick, upon hearing the news…
"Oh…well that sucks"
Patrick got the idea for them to visit their neighbor at the hospital. Maybe to cheer him up or something.
"None of us can drive, how will we get there?"
"Let's just take an uber!"
"With what money? You don't have a job and I'm broke as shit!"
"I got a few dollars! C'mon let's do it!"
Spongebob rolled his eyes while ordering a cab from his phone. In a few minutes a boat-mobile pulled up and honked in the driveway. The two bumbling idiots crawled in and off they went to the hospital downtown.
"Do you think he's alive?" asked Patrick
Spongebob looked out the window into the empty fields surrounding them.
"I hope so. I feel like we would have known if he died or not"
"But do you think he's gonna die?" Patrick's eyes widened at the sudden possibility. He turned to face his freind who was still staring outside.
"I don't know Pat…"
They passed fields until buildings started popping up again. There they are, downtown as fruits. Hoping and praying that their neighbor and friend of over a decade has survived the sword of his own hand. The driver took a left on south third avenue and pulled up to the entrance canopy of the hospital. The driver shifted to park and turned his head around.
"Alright y'all"
"Thank you, Mr. Uber man," yelled Patrick while waving
They slammed the door shut and walked into the sterile environment of the main lobby. There was a floor full of chairs encircling a man-made pond. Passed this was a reception desk and double doors that led to the main hospital. Doctors and nurses strolled around, family members were sitting quietly, and noises of telephones rang in their ears. It's a monochrome environment. White here, white there, white everywhere.
"It's like that one TV scene from the Johnny Depp Willy Wonka movie" chuckled Parick
They walked up to the front desk to a lady looking to be towards the end of her night shift.
"May I help you?" she said grudgingly
"We're looking for Squidward Tentacles…He's our neighbor and friend"
The lady typed on her 2008 desktop computer for a minute before pulling out a tiny computer camera.
"Ok I found him on floor four room 408…I need y'alls picture before you go up"
After they each had their picture taken, they were given stickers with their faces on it to put on themselves. Spongebob stuck his on his tie while Patrick his forehead.
They made it up the elevator inside and up to the fourth floor. It was nighttime and eerily quiet. A nurses center greeted them with the hallways sputtering out from each side. The nurses at their station were typing away at their computers under the humming of the fluorescent lights. The place smelled of stale sweat and disinfectant. Spongebob walked up to the desk and a nurse pointed in a general direction to follow. The duo meandered over to room 408 just down the hall to the right of them and knocked twice.
Knock knock
No answer. With that they slowly opened the door and walked in. Squidward was sleeping lying back on the bed with a single large pillow under his head. There was a window peering out to a parking lot, a box tv attached to the ceiling, a beige chair, and a door to a private bathroom. Walls were pale as an eggshell and the only other color was the prints on the magazines laying on a bed table. There was a tube of IV in Squidward and nothing else. As Patrick shut the door, Squidward's eyes fluttered open.
"Wha-what are you two doing here?"
Spongebob ran to his side and put his hand on the squid's legs
"Oh, thank God you're ok! We thought you were a goner!"
Patrick took a seat at the chair in the corner of the room.
"Are you ok Squiddy?"
Squidward turned his head to the blob on the chair
"Yes…I'm ok now don't worry about it…I was just trying to sleep"
Patrick got distracted by a magazine and picked it up to read. Spongebob spoke while shaking his head.
"What happened to you?"
The squid's eyes peered back at the yellow sponge on the edge of his hospital bed. "Well…it was kinda related to what I told you the night before. I just got stuck in a thought loop, found some old liquor of mine in a closet, and then y'know…"
"You drank?"
Squidward nodded.
"I drank and drank and– I still couldn't get those thoughts out of my head…"
His eyes were cold and lifeless as he spoke. Almost as if he was casually narrating a story about someone else's suicide.
"...so, I took some of those pills. They always made me sleep so I figured why not?"
Spongbob's palms and pits started sweating. The guilt was starting to crawl up his chest again.
"And now I'm here"
Spongebob shook his head again
"Who called for help?"
Squidward looked up for a second before answering
"The doctor told me it was actually myself. I guess I knew something was wrong and got to the phone in time…I don't remember any of it though"
"So…you didn't actually try to kill yourself?"
The squid shrugged his shoulders and looked over to the window. The streetlights were shining a little and looked firefly-like from up where they were.
"I'm not sure…I don't think I was but maybe I was if that makes sense?"
Spongebob squinted his eyes while tilting his head
"No, I don't"
Squidward sighed
"Like maybe I don't actually want to die but there's a part of me that was trying to off myself…especially when I was drunk…almost like a different side of me"
Patrick looked up "Oh so you're one of those crazy multiple personality people?!"
Spongebob shot a daggered stare at his friend which made the seastar recoil.
Squidward sighed again "No, Patrick…It's just a different type of me. Like, when I get really depressed it's almost like my perspective changes"
Spongebob nodded this time "I think I know what you mean…I'm sorry you went through this…you know we are always here if you want to talk or anything"
The squid cracked a smile on his face while his eyes were still sluggish and cold.
"Thank you…I really appreciate that"
Spongebob smiled back as Patrick walked up to the bed.
"What pills did you take?"
The sponge froze up again. Oh shit. Patrick has no idea what he had been doing with Squidward, Mr. Krabs, or anyone he sells to for that matter. He knows Patrick buys his weed from some random people so who knows the extent of his knowledge about this stuff.
"It was that valerian perc extract stuff Spongebob's been selling to me. You didn't know about those? The doctors didn't know what I was saying either and they went to do a blood panel on me…"
Patrick glanced at Spongebob with a confused look on his face.
"Extracts? You didn't tell me you got ahold of something new"
Spongebob started to blush as sweat drenched his forehead. He felt himself burning up with shame and guilt and felt cornered.
"I-I I don't…I didn't think you'd like it, Pat…"
Patrick chuckled "I'm always down to try some new shit! I can't believe you kept that away from me! It really chills you out?"
Squidward piped up
"It really does…but don't mix it with anything haha"
Patrick turned towards the squid
"That sounds so fun...but wait…is it legal?"
He turned back to Spongebob
"Like…where did you get it? If the doctors find someone illegal shit in him, they might make him go to a rehab or something"
"They talked to me about a mental ward already…"
Squidward continued as he stared at Spongebob
"But you got it from a doctor, right? I don't know why these people don't know…was it like some woo-woo alternative one?"
Spongebob peered back and forth between his two friends. Were they fucking with him? It seems like the answer is obvious now and he should come clean. But the fear was too powerful.
"Y-ya…something like that"
Squidward raised an eyebrow a little bit. Something about that answer concerned him. Why was Spongebob so fidgety all of a sudden.
Spongebob faced Patrick "I'm getting kinda tired and I have work tomorrow. Maybe we should head home…"
The three exchanged goodbye's and waved eachother off. Squidward was left alone in his bed wide awake now. He replayed memories since the beginning of purchasing the pills from his neighbor. Was there something he missed? Was there some red flag he should've seen?
"Something about that didn't seem right…my gut feels really weird about this…"
He glanced at the clock which told him it's only 9:57 pm. The doctor probably won't come again until tomorrow morning.
"I've got to find out what exactly were in those pills…"