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Troy’s laughs fill the Dreamatorium with a jingling joy. Abed smiled silently. He adjusted his costume, making sure it looked perfect, before breaking into his character's voice, continuing their nearly finished adventure.
“Troyrannosaurus Rex, we only have ninety seconds left before the bomb explodes!” he announced in Abednium’s dramatic alien voice.
Troyrannosaurus’s eyes widened in shock and horror. “Oh no! We used up all the time we had to stop it while we were eating ice cream!”
“Darn that rocky road,” Abednium agreed, shaking his head solemnly. “It was delicious, but delicious enough to warrant dooming the world? I don’t think so, pal.”
“Well, we’ve only got--how long?”
“Forty-five seconds.”
“Jeepers! Forty-five seconds until the bomb goes off. That’s not enough time to save us. Looks like we’re all about to die.”
“Forty seconds.”
“I’ll be happy to spend them with you, Abednium.” Troyrannosaurus saluted, or at least tried, hand raised as close to his forehead as his dinosaur anatomy would allow.
Abednium smiled warmly at his partner as the clock continued to count down, returning the salute. “Right back at you, Troy Rex.”
“How long?”
“Thirty-two seconds.”
Troyrannosaurus stared off into the distance, gazing out at the city they loved one last time. It had its fair share of potholes and racoons in the trashcans, but it also had a wonderful community within its borders, and was chock-full of kind people.
Too bad it would all be blown up now.
“How lo--”
“BOOM!!!”
Abed made the explosion sound with his mouth, and Troy quickly joined in, no longer Troy Rex, since the latter was now dead. The city crumbled as the bomb ravished it with its fiery power, and the two of them watched together as the world they’d created fell to ashes.
“Cool,” was Troy’s comment.
Abed watched it with wide eyes. It was beautiful.
And then it was over, as quickly as it had started. The tape lines of the Dreamatorium walls flickered back into existence.
“That was awesome!” Troy declared. Abed nodded, gaze still lingering on the fading light of the explosion. He was ready to jump into another story, but Troy began to take off his costume.
“Are you leaving?” Abed asked, slightly breathless.
Troy stopped, looking back up at him. “Well, the game is over, isn’t it?”
“We could start a new one,” he offered.
“I don’t really want to,” Troy admitted. Abed felt a little sick. “We’ve been playing for like two hours. It’s bedtime.”
“Oh, okay,” he said, attempting nonchalance. It really wasn’t that big a deal. The game had to end eventually.
“We have to go to sleep, Abed,” said Troy with a small laugh. “It’s late. I’m tired. You have to sleep too, you know. Come on.”
Abed looked at the floor. A few million things ran through his head before he finally settled on, “I’m going to stay for a bit, okay? I’ll come in a minute.”
Troy looked at him for a long moment before saying, “Okay. Bye-bye Abed.” and leaving the room.
And Abed was alone.
He sat down against one of the walls, closing his eyes for a second before refocusing. “Run simulation fifty-three,” he instructed to the Dreamatorium.
Troy, as vivid as he would be if the real one walked back in, materialized in the center of the room. “Hey, buddy,” he said.
Abed looked at his friend with tired eyes. “Hey, Troy.”
Troy tilted his head. “You good there, Abed? You look off.”
“You’re only saying that because I’m made you with my mind,” he said, shaking his head. He stood up. “You’re not my most accurate program.” He couldn’t be, not for this simulation.
“I don’t think so,” Troy said. “I’m pretty sure the real me could tell you’re sad even without the benefit of wishful thinking.”
Abed didn’t quite know how to respond to that.
“It’s not as hard as you think it is,” said Troy. “Not for me.”
Abed paused. He took a slightly shaky breath before commanding, “Set up the scene like it was a few minutes ago, right before Troy left the room.”
The projection of Troy moved over to where his counterpart had just been, now wearing his half-taken-off costume. “Well, the game is over, isn’t it?” he said, echoing the words of the real Troy.
“We can’t play another one?”
“I don’t really want to. We’ve been playing for like two hours. It’s bedtime.”
Abed sighed. “No, no. Restart.”
The simulation rewinded, and Troy was back in his spot. “Well, the game is over, isn’t it?”
“We could a do new one? Please,” Abed said, and there was a definite begging edge to his tone.
“I don’t really want to. We’ve been playing for like two hours. It’s bedtime.”
“Oh, okay,” he said, quoting himself, but this time he thought his nonchalance was less transparent. Troy smiled.
“Man, I’m tired!” he said. “The Dreamatorium really--”
“Restart.”
“Well, the game is over, isn’t it?”
“But I don’t want it to be over!” Abed cried. “I don’t ever want this to end. Playing these games with you means everything to me and--” He cut himself off, glancing only momentarily at Troy’s shocked and concerned expression. “No. Restart.”
“Well, the game is over, isn’t it?”
Abed studied Troy for any sign that he was annoyed, angry, that he was just about ready to realize that Abed wasn’t a good friend. Ready to leave, forever. The paranoia he usually tried to keep in the back of his mind tended to come out in moments like these, in the Dreamatorium. His facial expression cracked, and he chewed on his lip.
“Buddy? Are you okay?”
“Restart simulation.”
“Well, the game is over, isn’t it?”
“Okay,” said Abed. “It is pretty late, I guess.”
“We can play more tomorrow!” Troy chirped. Abed smiled.
“Sure.”
Troy’s mirage walked toward the closed door of the Dreamatorium, disappearing as soon as he got to it. Abed stood alone once again. He took a deep breath.
“Restart,” he instructed one last time.
Troy reappeared right back where he’d been before. “Well, the game is over, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, I guess.” Troy began to make his way out of the room. Abed stopped him.
“I love you.”
“I love you too,” said an imaginary Troy, smiling widely, and Abed could see as clearly as if he were real. But he wasn’t. Because this scenario could never be real.
Abed would be stuck rehearsing I love yous to empty rooms until Troy inevitably left him for good.
“End simulation.”