I must be very stupid as the whole 'must fill the gap' mantra...

I must be very stupid as the whole 'must fill the gap' mantra has not sunk into my brain yet.

I would have thought that the SP must not only fill the gap for those who have shorts to exit safely, but also those short position must have large enough volumes at that low gap position to justify all of the money and effort poured into getting the sp down.

Perhaps someone would be good enough to explain this concept in terms of $$ and examples.

IMHO, the gap seems to draw price down to it as much mentally as it does via bots.

It can take a heck of a lot of money to drag SP down... and when down, a sudden change of position to buying back shorts should, in theory, cause the sp to shoot back up before all of those shorts can be unloaded... is this not sound ?
Or perhaps i am missing a basic fact ... Can short positions can be closed instantly without requiring a buyer on the other side and without affecting the SP. I did not think so.