AAOOOSC!: Gulls' Adventures!

Joseph whirls to Bryan conjuring a cross expression in a matter of milliseconds. “What? What makes you think—?”

“Monty, is that you?” Bryan calls out to the television.

From the other side of the screen, Brandon looks from side to side tentatively. He then weakly raises a hand as a wave.

Bryan’s eyes light up; he points to the screen and exclaims to the others, “Look at that! He was here with us the whole time!”

Joseph stares down crazily at him. “Bryan, do you know—?”

“Know?”

Joseph points to him. “You’re talking to a TV.” He switches his hand to the television. “Monty is in a TV.” He drops his hand. “Doesn’t that strike you as weird?”

Bryan gazes at Brandon’s predicament with an inquiring expression, rubbing his chin with narrowed eyes. “Now that you point that out, yeah…”

“Wait…,” Stu starts out slowly, “...do you guys know ‘Icemare’?”

Joseph turns to him with a hint of hope. “Yes. What about him?”

He lifts his pointer finger in the air. “This is the second weirdest thing that happened after his appearance. His appearance being the first weird thing.”

“You’re talking about the stuff with the green circles and the floating objects—?”

“Yes!” Bryan blurts out excitedly. “And he almost wanted my autograph!”

Joseph’s eyes slide from Bryan to Stu. “So you’re aware of all these curses?”

Stu shrugs. “Yeah, we’ve just never experienced any… so far. But I guess we’re looking at one now, right?” He peers up at Brandon locked in the television.

Brandon dips his head in embarrassment.

Bryan turns to Joseph from looking at Brandon. “Can he talk on TV?” He points to Brandon with his thumb behind his shoulder.

Joseph rounds the sofa, over to the coffee table, scoops the remote control from the surface, and points it at the television while pressing the mute button.

Bryan gasps while clapping happily. “Monty Muffins!”

Brandon waves at them with a weak smile. “Hey, Bryan. Hey, Stu.”

“How did you get in there?” He tilts his head while scrutinizing what’s displayed on the screen.

Brandon shrugs. “I dunno, I just touched the TV and now I’m in here!”

Bryan gasps with massive eyes. “That’s a cursed object!” He whirls to the others. “Guys, don’t touch the TV!”

Stu looks around with shifting eyes. “Okay, so how do we get Monty out?”

“Awww, but I want him as my quarterback!” Bryan yammers with fists on both sides.

“I want him here,” Joseph points toward the floor.

“We’ve got to find a way to get him out,” Stu tells them with urgency. “We have a game tomorrow.”

Then all heads turn to the shortest man in the house.

Bryan throws his hands in the air. “Fine. But I better win the game!” He shakes his index finger at Stu.

His best friend smirks at him. “If I let you.”

“I will—”

“How do we get Monty out?” Joseph cuts out. He turns to Brandon. “Monty?”

From the other side of the screen, Brandon hesitantly eyes the glass wall in front of him. “Ummm…” He plasters the palms of his hands on the surface. “I’m touching the glass and nothing is happening.” He knocks on it with his hand.

Bryan picks up the remote control and scans through its buttons. “What if I press the off—?”

Everyone faces to Bryan and shouts: “NO!”

“You’ll turn Monty off!” Joseph snaps at him.

“Who muted him in the first place?” Bryan shoots back at him.

Nick silently points to Joseph.

“What?” He shrugs. “I don’t want him dead.”

“Okay!” Stu stands up from the sofa, towering over everyone else. “So we know that pressing the mute button will mute Monty. Most likely turning the TV off will turn him off, whatever that means—”

Bryan points the remote control to the television while pressing a button. “Freeze!”

Right on cue, Brandon tightens up and freezes in place.

Bryan gasps happily. “It works!” He then presses the freeze button again.

From the screen, Brandon loosens up and shakes his head. “Whoa, that was weird!”

Stu grins at his friend. “Neat! So the remote controls Monty just like how it controls the content shown on the TV!”

“Great,” Joseph spits out. “How do we get Monty out?”

Stu rubs his chin with narrowed eyes. “We need a button that will get Monty out... A button that gets something out from the TV—”

“THE EJECT BUTTON!!!” Bryan blurts out.

Stu’s eyes light up as he snaps his fingers and points to his best friend. “That’s right!”

Joseph eyes them incredulously. “Wait, are you guys sure?”

Bryan throws his arms out with excitement. “Yes! What other way is there to get Monty out: the rewind button?”

“What if that does something worse—?”

“What’s the worse that could happen, have Monty go nonexistent?” He shrugs with a roll of his eyes.

“Yes,” Joseph huffs out.

Bryan then peers down at the remote control and scans through its array of buttons. “Okay, where is the eject button…?”

“Is this really gonna work?” Brandon asks from the television screen.

Stu peers up at it. “It’s the most practical reason.”

“Yeah, I don’t think the ‘info’ button would work…,” Bryan mumbles from next to him.

Stu bends over to his friend. “It’s right there.” He points to the eject button.

“Yes!” Bryan places his finger over the button and lifts the remote control up into the air. “Time to eject Monty Muffins!” He then authoritatively wields the device, points it at the TV, and presses the button.

Notes

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