CHAPTER 1: THE GUN

Gumball was sleeping. Not at home, but at school. Who wouldn't at his generation? The generation that is lost. The generation that will never survive the real world.

He was woken up by Miss Simian, after being caught sleeping, right before she was able to give the homework assignment.

"Gumball!" Miss Simian screamed from the top of her lungs.

Gumball woke up, scared as a cat seeing a dog. "What? Huh?"

"Do you know what the assignment is, Mr. Watterson?" Miss Simian said, obviously to intimidate him.

Gumball thought about it. Mr. Watterson? he thought. Since when did she ever call me that?

"Well?" she said, putting her arms behind her back.

"Well, what?" Gumball asked, already confused at what just happened, blinded by the simple thought in his head.

"What is the assignment?" Miss Simian she repeated on with those old, yet terrifying, dirty eyes.

"Uh-huh, well, uh-ha," he said, scratching the back of his head, "well, that's easy."

"Then how about stop stalling, and answer my question?" Miss Simian leaned closer at him, making their eyes connect as two crows have first contact. They seemingly have a battle with each other. Teachers and students usually have this. That's why we have our demons, to challenge our mentors, to test our faith in what we believe.

The bell rang, at the very last second. It was already 3:00.

The two had turned to the clock when it rang.

They turned back to each other. Gumball began, and rushing, "Well, I guess I have to leave, since I have — " reaching down for his backpack and stuff, not even looking at her, eye to eye, that is " — to do the homework."

He began to run out, but was stopped when she yelled out, right when everyone had just left, with Gumball leaving last. "Since you know it, you could just tell that girlfriend of yours. God knows where she is today."

Gumball froze. "Who's to say she's my girlfriend?"

"How about the fact that I have already caught four of your so-called love notes, and read them — nice poetry, I will admit, Gumball — and you two can't seem to stop looking at each. This is actually the first time in weeks you were actually sleeping. You always sleep in this class, until this a long dry spell that kept you from sleeping, and the one day Penny is not here, you're asleep."

Gumball started to look down on himself. "Well, maybe class was starting to get interesting, and now it stopped, coincidentally when she wasn't here."

"Gumball, this is English. Nothing interesting happens here, ever."

"Well," he began, looking at her, "what about those notes you send to Principal Brown?"

She quickly said, "How did you know about the notes?"

He quickly replied, "I didn't."

Miss Simian said the trap he had played. And she stepped right into it, thinking he found her, when in fact he didn't.

"So how about rephrasing the homework, for the record," he said.

She stood quiet for a moment. "To write a short story about love."

He was a bit surprised. "That's it?"

"You want more?" she said, a bit anger by that response.

"No. Me and Penny are — "

"Penny and I, Gumball, Penny and I."

"Fine, Penny and I are happy with what we got. When is it due?"

"Monday. Enjoy your weekend, loser."

"Ouch, I feel hurt by that," he began sarcastically.

"Just get out of this classroom, before I give you detention for the weekend!"

He ran out of the classroom, in no favor of the idea of having detention over the weekend.

The pink doughnut was just in the room, where a young man, wearing black pants, baggy, a black leather jacket, with black leather gloves, a white shirt, with some blood stains on it, handcuffed, being held by two police deputies. The town felt that since there isn't much that many officers could do since this town has been the subject of certain upstate officers being downgraded down here due to a crime that hurt their record. Now they ended up here.

The first one there was downgraded when he was arrested for being found abusing his wife and daughter. He claimed he was just under a lot of stress. Now, he was forced to stay away 100 feet away from her and 250 from his daughter.

The other was caught drunk driving when he was soon under anxiety when he lost a pack of his cigarettes. He had been addicted to tobacco, and just couldn't calm himself down. He found a small bottle, almost half empty, of jack. He drank it all in his car, and soon decided to go back home, driving. He was soon caught when he crashed forward to another police car. He was charged with a DUI. He was very lucky to still be on the force.

The man they were holding onto was found near the alleyway of some civilians when he was just covered in blood.

He was soon called upon the cops near the area when some neighbors called 911 when they heard a couple of kids screaming. He had walked through a kid's birthday party, without even caring. He just waked through, without a worry.

The police found him, and he went with them, without a sound.

The two police deputies were holding him because they had assumed he had murdered someone since he was covered in blood. Due to the nature of his behavior, he didn't talk. He didn't want to. He didn't have anything to say.

They sat him down, after being the ones picking him up. They stood aside while they saw the chief, the doughnut, make a call, attempting to transfer the man upstate.

"Hello, Carl? Yeah, I got a man here. Yeah. No, nothing like that. He didn't say anything, that's what's so suspicious. More or less, he was able to come peacefully."

The man sat there, watching him, slowly putting out a small key from his wristband, underneath the sleeve of the jacket.

He put his hands together, making it look like he closed them, and was able to unlock one of them, without making a sound.

One of the deputies looked over, while he saw him just sitting there, staring at the chief.

He went back, minding his own business.

The man just put the key over to the other key-slot and unlocked it. He went up to his jacket, at the breast pocket, and pulled out a small gun. He knew it had only one bullet. It was all he needed.

"Sir, he was found near — " The man quickly got up and shot the chief in the head.

It was a perfect shot. He fell down without a sound, landing on his desk. The windows on the chief's left were closed by the curtains, but the sun had enough light to view the inside.

The deputy to the man's left grabbed him from behind. He immediately grabbed his hand, and twisted it so far that it was close to turning it completely, with the skin turning red.

The one on his right grabbed his gun and tried to shoot him. The minute he saw the gun, he grabbed it by the handle, along with putting a finger on the trigger. He then pushed the remaining deputy's hand and pushed it under his chin. BAM. He shot him dead, with blood coming off on his face.

The man then turned to the one with the broken hand. The deputy looked at him, breathing heavily, almost panting.

The man grabbed the deputy's head, while he screamed, and cracked it a 180 turn. The screaming stopped. And so did his heart.

The man went over to the unattended phone, which was still saying "Hello? Hello?" as if he hadn't heard anything. Then again, the gun he used to kill the chief was a small suppressor.

He merely grabbed the phone, with his black, leather gloves and closed it.

The police officers didn't bother to check him since they may have just thought he was just insane, but should be still be watched. They frisked him earlier, but they felt nothing unusual.

He walked out of the room. The man looked around, and saw the entrance with people there, scared half dead from both the open gun shot and the sudden scream. He went to a nearby washroom, and escaped through the window. He walked out and went on.

Gumball was just walking over to Penny's house, hoping to see her sweet face. He hadn't seen her today, and to reveal their relationship would really be a disappointment. He knows that he has to keep it hidden, not just from her dad, but from everyone. He knows he works in construction, but word reaches so fast in so many ways, and they can't risk him finding out. Who knows what he could do if he found out he was dating his daughter.

Gumball made it to her house, but didn't see Mr. Fitzgerald's truck.

Gumball went towards the house, hoping that he was off at work and not had his truck crushed and is staying home. He looked over and saw didn't see Mr. Fitzgerald there, but didn't see anyone there.

He knocked on the door, after thinking about Mrs. Fitzgerald just being in the kitchen. He knocked once, but saw the door creak a bit.

Gumball knocked again, and saw the door open a bit further. He finally decided to just grab the doorknob. He turn it and opened the rest of the door. He looked around, and saw no one there.

He turned over to the upstairs direction. "Hello?" Silence.

He thought about leaving, thinking they may have just left or something and may be back later.

Gumball was about to close the door, until he saw something.

He saw it better when it reached down further into the light. He went over, crouched down to get a better look. He looked around it, but eventually touched it. It was a red liquid of some sort (blood? he thought).

He thought it could be from something Mrs. Fitzgerald cooked for something, dismissing the idea of it being

(blood)

something else.

Gumball walked over to the kitchen, looking around the sink.

It was clear. No dishes were used.

He went over to the trash if anyone had used something and could trace back to what it was. Again, nothing. The trash was empty.

Gumball went over to the fridge to see if there were anything red (besides fruits and vegetables) that could have been connected to it.

He looked inside of the fridge. There was nothing there red. Not even ketchup. Ketchup. The most commonly red liquid identified, aside from drinks, and such, but leaves one option that he assume for (blood).

Gumball decided to go up to their rooms, thinking it could have been from...something. He was already running out of possibilities of what it could be. He thought about looking in the trash cans, but someone there could think he's crazy or might recognize him, and may think different since he doesn't live there.

Walking up those stairs, he thought about what had happened previous here. He doesn't want to speak about since it was more frightening to him, than it being a good thing.

He went over to Penny's room first, since he knew that it was her room from personal experience. Along with that, the door was open.

Gumball looked inside, saw the carpet laid there, knowing the colors, white, orange, pink, red -

Red? he thought. She doesn't have red on her carpet.

He walked into the room, not touching the door or doorknob since it was already open. It was wide enough for him to just...squeeze in. He looked inside, and looked at the carpet.

There, he...just couldn't believe it.

Penny was lying on the swivel chair, next to her computer and printer. He saw that the curtain was not covering the window. The window was even closed. He saw Penny just sitting there, facing the door for anyone to come in. She was bleeding from her head. She had a bullet hole on her forehead.

Gumball saw the desktop screen, with a piece of paper on taped on it. It was typed. It said:

The end for me. I just couldn't take it anymore./Penny

He saw the hole drive blood all the way down to her body, reaching down. It was able to lose enough blood to make a puddle on the carpet. It was all a matter of time.

Gumball couldn't believe it. She had committed suicide...only...where was the gun?

Gumball didn't have to look for it, but the fact still stands: Penny is dead.

He stood there, silent, almost about to cry.

He walked back slowly, but when he bumped into the door, making it open further, something fell on him. He was able to catch, but what stunned him was the fact that what it was. It was a gun. A small revolver. He checked inside the chamber, there were no other bullets inside.

Gumball looked back at Penny, and saw something shine. He went over, still holding the gun, passing over the window. It was right beside Penny. He went down and grabbed it.

He looked closely at it. It was an empty, but possibly fired bullet.

He looked at the gun and the bullet, and knew what had just happened.

Gumball dropped the gun and ran immediately downstairs and out the door.

He stopped. He froze out there on the street. He realized that if he had just left, they would have known he was there. He had touched the gun, the knob (the front and of Penny, only by his elbow, but enough DNA), the bullet. He must have even left footprints, considering the fact that he is barefoot. He left prints there.

He ran back inside, but not fast enough to avoid being caught by the next door neighbor, Mrs. Henderson, who had just came outside for the mail. She had forgotten to get the mail sooner, while it didn't seem necessary to leave it there or just wait to get it. She saw Gumball enter the house, but the way he approached it, almost seemed like he wasn't supposed to be there. She was told my the Fitzgerald's that they would be leaving Penny behind for certain reasons that they didn't want to discuss, but just wanted to let her know since no one was supposed to come in at this time.

Someone did. That was Gumball. She thought about calling Mr. Fitzgerald, but she felt about calling the police since her husband was one of the officers, and could get here faster.

She called him, saying someone came into the house of the Fitzgerald residence, and they said they were leaving their daughter behind, and said nothing about anyone coming in.

After the call, Gumball rushed back up to Penny's bedroom, looking for the gun.

He looked down at the floor, and there was it was. It was the unattended revolver. He grabbed it. He rushed down to the kitchen, looking for some paper towels. He saw some paper towels left on a nearby roll. He grabbed some, cleaning the fingerprints of the gun, but realized something else.

This wasn't helping. He was attempting to cover up his tracks, which it would all lead up to him. He thought about this for a while, but didn't have much time left.

A police car came in, with the siren going off, but soon stopped when it was in fact a mistake. Mr. Henderson, the police officer, had indeed intended to sneak up at the house, but soon flicked the switch for the sirens when he kneed it by accident.

Gumball heard it, and he knew it.

Gumball threw the gun in the trash can. He didn't think about where to put it. All he knew was that he had to get out.

Gumball opened the back slide door, and ran out the backyard.

Mr. Henderson rushed out of the car and went towards the house. He knew that the Fitzgeralds lived next door since he was invited a couple of times with his wife when they moved into the neighborhood four years ago.

He ran with his gun, but Gumball had already went running out of the alleyway.

Gumball didn't possibly know where he could go. But he knew one thing: Penny was killed, not by suicide. She was planned for whoever to come in that house and be framed.

Gumball was at the wrong place, at the wrong time.