The Amazing World of Gumball, "The"

When I was a kid, I’ve always loved watching cartoons, as it felt like a way to escape from reality with just a simple press of a button. My favorite channel to watch cartoons growing up was mostly Cartoon Network. One of their more recent TV Shows, The Amazing World of Gumball, was something that I didn’t really have much interest in.
The humor was a bit immature for my liking, however I do have a friend that seems to really like the show a lot. His name is Jake, and we always lived in the same neighborhood growing up.
One day, when I was on my laptop browsing the Cartoon Network website, something strange happened. The website glitched and all the episodes of cartoons became distorted. I tried refreshing the website, although that didn’t really do much. I tried refreshing it a second time, but again, there were still no results.
Finally, I refreshed it a third time, however, instead of weird glitching, there was a video file being downloaded on my laptop, The file name was “THE_MP4” 
A bit skeptical, I clicked on it, which might’ve been a huge mistake. It was an episode of The Amazing World of Gumball, as the intro played like any other episode. 
Although, something seemed off. The only characters were Gumball and Darwin, and they both had the animation style similar to the first season. I ignored it, thinking the episode might’ve been originally made around that time when Season 1 first aired on Cartoon Network. 
The intro then ended and cut to the usual starry background. But, something was off. The background seemed more realistic, as if they had used actual footage of a night sky. The show’s logo then appeared on screen, although it looked nothing like how it does in the show. It was just the word “Gumball” and it was in a pixelated font, similar to the show’s early reel. 
The title for the episode was just the word “The”, as it wasn’t followed by a random noun, unlike the other episodes of the show. The episode then started with the show’s protagonist, Gumball, walking down the hallways of his school. 
He seemed miserable, judging by the look on his face, as he had tired, baggy eyes. His hands were behind his back, almost as if he were hiding something. 
After about a minute of nothing but walking, the episode then showed Gumball stopping at something that seemed absolutely horrific.
It was Darwin’s heavily mutilated corpse. He was covered in stab wounds and was surrounded by a pool of blood. The background then went black, as Gumball turned around, with a creepy grin on his face, as the object behind him was revealed to be a large, bloody knife. 
The screen then filled with static, as for a split second, an image appeared on screen. I had to slow the video down so I could see it. And what I saw made my blood run cold.
It was a photo of my friend, who was lying on what seemed to be a basement floor. His chest was cut open, revealing his rib cage. Both of his legs had been chopped off, as there was a bloody area around his waist where his legs should be. 
To the left of him was a cell phone, with 911 already being dialed. His face looked pale and horrified. 
I was considering running to my bathroom and throwing up, and even calling the police to report what I had watched. However, a part of me refused, as I sat there, and continued watching the episode. 
I put the episode back to its normal speed, as the static was no longer there. The episode then showed Gumball walking home, looking the same as he did in the previous scene.
The citizens of Elmore seemed scared of him, and ran away as soon as they saw him. He then arrived at his house, and as he did, both of his parents were already standing there in the living room.
His father, Richard, seemed frightened by him, as he was standing behind his wife, Nicole, who was angered at her son. 
Gumball then pulled the knife from behind his back, as he tackled both of his parents to the ground, and started stabbing them repeatedly, until they bled out and died.
The episode then cuts to Gumball dragging his parents mutilated corpses to their backyard, and then burying them with a shovel. 
His little sister, Anais had been watching this the whole time, as she was standing in front of the back door, with a horrified look on her face, as he threatened to call the police. 
However, when she reached to grab the phone, Gumball stabbed her in the back, as he fell to the floor with a thud. 
The episode then showed a still frame of Gumball standing in front of three gravestones, with each of them reading “Dad”, “Mom”, and “Anais”. Gumball’s eyes were black, as he was crying blood. 
The sky above him was blood red. The episode then cut to the credits, as they were a bit longer then any usual episode, as it was just white text rolling down a black screen with a much slowed down remix of the show's usual end credits theme. 
I then shut my laptop, as I went into my closet, and dialed up 911 on my phone. My parents were celebrating their anniversary at the bar where they had met, and my older brother was staying the night with his friends, leaving me home alone. 
By now it was nighttime, as I felt that I wasn’t alone. This was the entire 911 call, as I remember it:
Operator: “911, what’s your emergency?”
Me: “Um… So, I was watching Cartoon Network, when for some reason, a weird and disturbing episode of The Amazing World of Gumball started playing. I watched the episode, and it showed a picture of a person who looks identical to my friend. He was… dead.”
Operator: “So… you’re saying that your friend was dead? Now, please tell me how exactly he died?”
Me: “Well… he looked like he was murdered by someone, as both of his legs were chopped off, and his stomach was cut open.” 
Operator: “Alright, thank you for your report, we’ll investigate further into this case.”
The operator then hung up, leaving me all alone. I eventually fell asleep, as I woke up the next morning in my own closet. 
I heard a knock coming from downstairs, so I walked to the front door, when I saw a police officer standing in front of my doorstep.
He informed me that there was a serial killer that was loose in the area, as he was responsible for the murderers of countless children and teenagers. He then told me that it was highly likely that that murder had killed my friend, and hacked Cartoon Network’s website, and aired the episode that I had previously seen. 
Although, something was off. I asked him why he would include the photo of my friend’s dead corpse, and he responded by saying that it was likely that he wanted to be caught, either by guilt or shame of his actions. 
I haven’t been the same since. A few weeks later my parents signed me up for a grief recovery program, but it didn’t exactly work out. And everytime I walk or drive past his house, I start crying, as it reminds me of the memories we made together. 
I’ll never forget him.
Category:The Amazing World of Gumball
Category:Lost Episodes