January 21, 2016
A week later…

It is the early afternoon in sunny San Diego, yet it is not quite a festive part of the day. Practice has ended and the Gulls are back in their houses and apartments. But a horrid curse of has come upon the Monarossabergie House and is dwelling in it: laziness.

In the living room, Brandon Montour is lounging on the sofa, lying along its length. His eyes are glued on the flat screen television that is situated on the wall facing him.

While blandly absorbing a tawdry afternoon soap opera, a dark speck lands on the screen. Brandon makes an odd look at it.

The screen changes camera angles and scenes, yet the speck still remains in the same place.

“How did that get on the--?” He groans. “I’ll get it off…” He musters his strength to push his idleness aside and sit up on the sofa. He then rises to his feet and trudges over to the television, staring up at the mocking speck.

He reaches his hand out toward the speck with the intention to wipe it off. Yet when his finger grazes the screen, a flash of electrical energy engulfs him.

ZAAAP!

“Whoa!” Brandon stumbles back with shock. His eyes are as wide as pucks, reflecting the foyer and hallway of the house with a glare.

Facing Brandon is the living room along with the foyer and the hallway behind the room. He steps up to toward the room only to slam against a thick, glass wall. THUNK!

“Ugh…” He steps back while peering at the transparent border with a puzzled expression and rubbing his nose. He then sniffs and holds his hands in front of him.

His eyes immediately fly open at the sight: His hands have a bright, squared, pixelated texture to them. “What happened…?”

He shakes his head and places his hands out in front of him. Right away, he feels the smooth, warm surface of the glass wall. “Uh oh.” He shuffles parallel to the border, running his hands on it, hoping to find some type of ridge or opening. Yet the smoothness goes on and on and on and…

Brandon turns to his left, facing a black wall that is dully reflecting some light. Then with trepidation written over his face, he slowly turns around. And he comes face-to-face with what he has just been watching.

“Oh no,” he mutters with his face turning pale.

---

From the kitchen, Nick Ritchie is enjoying his post-practice meal consisting of pasta and meatballs. On the other side of the kitchen, Joseph Cramarossa is filling water up in a bowl edged with dry clay from the kitchen sink.

Nick slowly turns to face the living room, catching sight of the lively television screen. His eyes then light up when he sees his best friend in the center of what the television is displaying.

“Hey…” He points his fork out toward the television. “...it’s Monty on TV.”

“Pffttt.” Joseph rolls his eyes as he flicks the faucet off. He then begins to make his way down toward the living room. “The only time Monty’s on TV is when we mirror an interview of him—” He immediately stops talking when he catches sight of Brandon looking fearful as he is standing in the middle of a cheesy afternoon soap opera opening introduction.

Joseph gawks at the screen. “Monty?!”

From inside the screen, Brandon bangs on the glass. “Get me outta here!!!”

“I’m coming!” He plops the bowl on the coffee table, swiftly turns around, and bolts back into the kitchen. He then rushes back into the living room with a frying pan at hand.

He swings the pan over his shoulder like a baseball bat, ready to wham it at the television.

“No!” Nick shouts softly with a hand out toward the electronic. “That TV is nice!”

Joseph freezes in place and sharply looks at his roommate from behind his shoulder. “How else do I get Monty out?”

“Yikes!” Brandon is heard yelping.

The two turn their attention to the screen. Brandon is now stuck in the middle of a snowy scene, completed with a soft snowfall, gray skies, and dead trees with snow lining their branches. He is shivering while rubbing his bare, tattoo-bearing arms.

“It’s cold!” he exclaims with wide eyes. “Can you guys hand me a jacket?”

Joseph knits his eyebrows at him. “How?”

Right on cue, the scene transitions to the interior of a warm, stone-built, grand room belonging to a castle.

Brandon instantly stops rubbing his arms. “Nevermind, it’s nice in here!” He takes in his surroundings with an impressed mein.

The scene then cuts to a grand dining hall with a long table displaying royal food as its main attraction.

“Whoa!” Brandon’s eyes light up at the sight. “Look at all this food!” He steps toward it in awe.

From the other side of the screen in the kitchen, Nick is ogling over the scene. “Can I have some?”

Brandon snags a chicken leg from the whole chicken that is one of the dishes displayed and takes a bite out from it. “Guys!” He turns to face them while chewing. “I can eat it!”

Right away, the scene switches again. This time, it is a bedroom matching the theme of the other two rooms. Situated next to the wall is a royal, red bed next to a window.

Brandon makes his way to the bed with curiosity and plops himself on its edge. “Hah, I can actually lay on this bed--” He falls back on it; his eyes immediately wide. “Whoa! This is so soft!” He rolls over to his side to face the audience. “You guys gotta try this out!”

He then catches sight of the window, which is exhibiting the view of a majestic mountain range. “Whoa!” He scrambles onto his knees and peers out of the window. “Look at this view! This is--”

Suddenly, his voice is cut off, yet he continues acting like as if the sound is functioning perfectly fine.

From the countertop, Nick frowns at the television. “Aw, what happened to the sound?”

Joseph tosses the remote control onto the couch. “I finally found his mute button.” He then exchanges the frying pan for his bowl and proudly swaggers into the foyer.

With a sigh, Nick steps onto the floor and lumbers over to the living room. He picks up the remote control, aims it at the television, and presses the mute button.

The sound comes back on, including Brandon’s voice.

“Thanks, Nicky!” he exclaims from the bed’s edge.

Nick steps up to the television with his eyes glued on it, just like a young child watching something new and interesting. “Is it cozy being in there?”

Right on cue, the scene changes to a desert: the massive sand dunes, the cloudless skies, more sand dunes, the raging sun.

“A bit TOO cozy.” Brandon wipes his forehead with the back of his hand.

“But how did you get in there?” Nick asks from the living room. “I wanna be in a TV show too!”

Brandon shrugs with a slight frown. “I dunno— I just touched the TV and WHOOP!” --he throws his hands in the air, then lets them slap against his legs-- “now I’m here.”

Nick gazes down as he is processing what his best friend just explained. “Ohhh…okay!” He peers back up at him. “Well, you’re now a movie star!”

A camel has came up to Brandon and is now licking his face with its slobbery, giant tongue. “Yeah, I’m loving it,” he squeaks out sarcastically with a grimace.

Ding! the oven rings from the kitchen.

Nick’s eyes immediately light up to the sound. “Oh, I think my pizza is ready…” He turns around and trails off to the kitchen.

“Wait! Nicky!” Brandon pulls himself away from the camel and rushes over toward Nick’s direction as best as possible. “Can you-you at least change the channel?”

Nick seats himself down with a pizza laid out in front of him on the countertop. He cranes his head to see the television. “Too busy eating my post lunch snack.”

Brandon rolls his eyes back with his head craned back and groans. “Uggghhh…”

Notes

E.5 "Trapped!"
Part 1/6
Episode 5/20