The Family Reunion |The Amazing World of Gumball Short Story|

Part VI

The Family Reunion Part VI

"HOLY CRAP!" Gumball screeched. He and the rest of the family exclaimed in fright, jumping from where they were sitting to scattering all over the room. Richard yelled, trying to pry the squirrel off his face.

"Told you you should use fake trees!" Mrs. Senicourt exclaimed, keeping herself as far away from Richard and the squirrel as possible.

"Not the time, mom!" Nicole retorted, running over to her husband-who was now laying on the floor. She grabbed the squirrel and yanked it off his face, throwing it across the room at the dinner table. Everybody screamed and gathered in the corner by the front door, staring over at the squirrel frightfully.

"What do we do?!" Joanna exclaimed with a voice crack. The squirrel was beginning to tear up the table cloth, knocking over leftover plates and silverware, and eventually jumped over on the coffee table in front of the couch.

"Don't worry! I'm a former wild animal! I know how to deal with pests." Darwin assured, calming them down for a brief moment. But then he grabbed Gumball by the shoulders and shoved him in front of them, "HUMAN SACRIFICE!"

Gumball gapped defensively, pushing his brother's fins off of him. The squirrel snarled at them, making everyone scream again. They each ran up the stairs and into the hallway, hiding behind the wall to avoid being seen by the squirrel who might've followed them.

"What now?!" Gumball exclaimed, hiding behind his mother's leg.

"Someone get me a shovel." Frankie said, scowling downstairs in the squirrel's direction.

"What do you need a shovel for?" Joanna asked confused, yet skeptical.

Frankie turned to them, taking off his heavy coat, "I'm gonna trap it in the coat..and whack it in the head!"

Everyone cringed and exclaimed in horror and disgust. Mrs. Senicourt gasped and fell backwards, passing out on the floor. "Grandpa, no! That's animal cruelty!" Darwin said, shuddering a bit.

"Well, what else are we supposed to do?" Frankie asked frustratedly.

Before anyone could make a statement, the squirrel hopped up on the top step, making them all shriek in terror again. They all ran into the bathroom, Richard shutting and blocking the door behind them.

"I agree with Frankie," Mr. Senicourt said, "We need to take care of this thing ourselves!"

"You wanna kill a defenseless little animal?!" Darwin asked in disbelief.

"Defenseless?! That thing nearly ripped Richard's face off!" Joanna exclaimed.

"We need to do the responsible thing and call pest control." Louie said, "We're not killing this thing on our own!"

"Grandpa Louie's right," Anais said.

"But all the phones are downstairs!" Gumball said.

"Then we make a run for it." Nicole said determinedly, walking over to the door. She and Richard cracked it open slowly, peeking out into the hall to see where the squirrel was. They looked to see it was crawling up at the window, a good enough distance away from the staircase. Nicole turned back to face the rest of the family and nodded, "Okay, we go on three. One..two..three!"

The door burst opened and everyone bolted out of the bathroom and down the stairs, stupidly screaming loudly. Anais ran toward the house phone and dialed for pest control. While doing so, the squirrel had followed them into the living room.

Gumball whimpered when he saw the squirrel eyeing him, making its way toward him ever so slowly. His ears went flat against his head, his tail tense and twitching from fear. "Crap, I think it's gonna go for me!" He said with rising panic.

His fears came true when the squirrel charged at him, jumping up to attack his face. Gumball screeched and made a run for it, slamming open the front door and running out into the lawn.

But his attempts made no difference, as the squirrel managed to claw at his face anyway. He fell backwards onto the snow, trying to pry it off of his face.

"Gumball!" Darwin yelled as he, Nicole, Joanna, Louie, and Mrs. Senicourt stood in the doorway to witness the attack.

"Get it off! Its claws are digging into my face!" He exclaimed, fidgeting around and struggling to escape its grasp. Nicole instantly ran over, jumping over the steps and approaching him. She used all her strength to pry the squirrel off her son's scratched up face, throwing it into the snow pile on the grass. She then picked Gumball up by the arms and carried him inside in a hurry, knowing the squirrel wouldn't stay still for long.

She ushered everyone back inside and shut the door behind her, setting Gumball back on his feet as he breathed heavily, still shocked and scared by what just happened. She knelt down to his height and examined his face, frowning, as he had more bleeding scratches than Richard. "Are you okay, sweetie?" She asked in a calm voice, in hopes to calm him down.

"I'm fine, Mom..just fine.." He breathed out, his heart rate slowly going back to normal.

"Come on, let's take care of these scratches." She said, ushering him up the stairs slowly. Darwin and Anais followed them, repeatedly making sure Gumball was all right.

Mrs. Senicourt watched them leave, in slight amusement. She was..impressed, to say the least. The way Nicole so fearlessly and decisively ran to her son's rescue when he was being attacked, and how she didn't even waste a second to think about what to do, it was admittedly admirable. Mrs. Senicourt knew she'd never do something like that, even if her child was in danger.

"Did- did you see what I just saw..?" She asked the two shorter elders, who were panting and wiping away sweat from all the running.

"Yeah, a squirrel attacked our grandson, but at least its out of the house now." Joanna replied, sighing with relief.

"No, I mean..what Nicole did." She said, glancing down at the rabbit with a raised brow.

"Well, yeah, Nicole does that sort of stuff all the time." Joanna shrugged, as if it wasn't impressive or interesting.

"It's kinda her thing." Louie chimed in.

"So wait..she uses her skills and agilities all the time..?" Mrs. Senicourt asked.

"Usually when her family's in danger." Joanna admitted, "She'd do anything for them, after all. And..you didn't hear it from me but..she's a really good person. You did a good job." She complimented the elderly cat, then walked away with her husband over toward the other three men, who were checking the Christmas tree for any other wild animals.

Mrs. Senicourt blinked a couple times, then slowly began to walk up the stairs. The bathroom door was cracked open a bit, and she could hear the familiar voices of her daughter and grandchildren inside. She stood outside the door to listen.

"There, all better now." Nicole said, putting the last bandaid on her oldest son's face. She then kissed his forehead and gave an apologetic look, "I'm so sorry this Christmas has been a disaster for you guys. Your presents are destroyed, your childhood ornaments are burnt, and now you've been attacked by a squirrel. Not to mention you had to witness all this arguing.."

"No, we're the ones who should be sorry, Mom." Gumball said, bowing his head and ears in shame.

"Yeah, we invited your parents over cause we thought you missed them, and we wanted to have the whole family over for once." Darwin said, then sighed sadly, "But Grandpa Frankie's right..we're not close like the other families."

"We're sorry we ruined Christmas for you.." Anais said, rubbing up and down her arm subconsciously.

Nicole smiled faintly at them, wrapping her arms around them to pull them in close. "Oh kids, you could never ruin Christmas for me. Just being with you, your father, and your grandparents makes any holiday a great one." She said, letting them lean their heads against her. "No, we're not like most families..but we don't need to be. I love absolutely everything about this family, and I wouldn't have it any other way..."

"Aww, you wuv us.." Gumball said in a childish voice, making them chuckle and roll their eyes.

Mrs. Senicourt smiled to herself, coming to realize something not only about her daughter, but about herself. I've been wrong about her and her husband this whole time..She thought to herself. I've been wrong about myself...