Random Encounters: Dimension 13

It's Just Your Imagination

Gwen stares at her sewing machine as she feeds the fabric through. She's unaware of her surroundings for the most part as she continues to sew. Behind her, the machine begins to fade in. When it's completely in existence, Spooky and Goose fall out onto the floor, the machine falling apart as they do. Spooky stands up quickly, staring at the now useless lump of metal lying on the floor.

"Look what you did!" Spooky yells in a distressed tone.

"Me?! I'm not the one who said, let's go hop into this dilapidated contraption that an egg built!" Goose shouts.

Gwen looks up and stops sewing, she removes her headphones and looks behind her. Spooky and Goose continue to argue as she scans over the two.

"Adriana? Katie?" Gwen says, unsure.

The girls turn their heads and look at Gwen for a moment. Then they proceed to jump up and down and squeal with delight.

"I told you it'd work!" Spooky exclaims, punching Goose's arm lightly and playfully.

"And it did! And we're here!" Goose squeals, punching Spooky's arm playfully, but harder than Spooky did.

The girls continue to dance and celebrate. Gwen stands up slowly.

"How did you get in without me seeing you?" Gwen asks, tilting her head to the left a bit.

A grin slowly grows onto Goose's face and she points to the scrap metal in the middle of the floor. Gwen scans the scene a bit and shakes her head.

"Nate! AJ!" She calls, "Why are Adriana and Katie here?"

She walks to the stairway, calling up to the boys.

"What do you mean?" AJ calls back.

Gwen shakes her head and looks at the girls.

"I'll be right back, make yourselves comfortable," Gwen shakes her head as she begins up the staircase.

Goose and Spooky share a look as she disappears from the main floor.

"Let's go see what they have in the fridge," Goose suggests eagerly, "I want to know what all this talk about food is."

The girls scurry into the kitchen and begin to raid the cabinets. Meanwhile, upstairs, Gwen enters AJ's office where he's working on music. He pulls off his headphones and looks up at her.

"What's up?" He asks, leaning back in his chair.

"Katie and Adriana are downstairs," Gwen replies simply.

"Yeah, you've said. I didn't call them," AJ shrugs his shoulders.

"I didn't either, and Nate has been locked up in his room all day."

"Yeah, he's a little shaken up over the whole brain thing," AJ chuckles nervously.

"You have quite the imagination still. Anyways, did they say they were coming over?"

AJ thinks to himself a bit, "Not that I know of. Maybe they just dropped by for a visit?"

"In their Spooky and Goose costumes? It looks like they raided the costume closet and then came to me," Gwen crosses her arms.

"Not possible. You can check the costume closet, nothing's missing. I think I would've seen them walking by anyways. I think you're the one whose imagination is getting away from them this time," AJ responds in a cheeky tone.

Gwen sighs, "I guess you're right... I should finish up my sewing."

"And I have music to work on, seems like we're both preoccupied," AJ says, turning back to his computer, "I love you."

"I love you too," Gwen says as she leaves the office to head back downstairs.

"Just your imagination playing tricks on you, Gwen. Adriana and Katie are not in the house, they have lives, they're probably doing something fun right now," Gwen mumbles as she arrives at the bottom of the staircase, "Why don't you just grab a snack and get back to sewing?"

Gwen nods to her own comment and enters the kitchen where Spooky and Goose are sitting on the island, a bag of marshmallows in Spooky's lap, both girls shoving as many marshmallows into their mouth as they can. Gwen stares at them confused, her deep brown eyes wide from said confusion. Both girls look up at her, mouths full of marshmallows. Goose waves awkwardly.

"Just my imagination... right?" Gwen doesn't take her eyes off the two as she speaks.

Goose swallows the marshmallows in her mouth and hops off the island, smoothing out her skirt. Spooky continues eating, not acknowledging the fact that Gwen is staring directly at her. Goose walks up to Gwen, waving a hand in front of her face. Gwen blinks a bit, but doesn't remove her gaze from Spooky. Goose takes this advantage to start picking her pocket, but Spooky snaps her fingers and shakes her head.

"AJ is wrong, you're one hundred percent real..." Gwen says, "What are you doing here?"

"It got stuffy in the brain, didn't it Spooky?" Goose says. Spooky nods her head quickly in return, swallowing the remaining food in her mouth.

"The brain?"

"Yep, More like prison though," Goose says, walking next to Spooky.

"Okay, AJ put you up to this didn't he? No... this isn't AJ's style, this is Nate's style. That's why he's been in his room all week," Gwen laughs to herself, "Oh, April Fool's Day is definitely on."

"Oooh, Nathan! We should talk to him!" Goose says, "He'll be so happy to see us!"

"Where is The C.O.D.E?" Spooky asks Gwen.

"You know he has a name, right?" Goose slams her hands onto her hip in frustration.

"Yeah, but, I want to call him what I want to call him, it's as simple as one, two, three," Spooky says.

"Four comes after two," Goose corrects her.

"No it doesn't, it goes one, two, three and then four, not one, two, four, eight, twelve, or however you count," Spooky rolls her eyes, hopping off the island.

"So... you're just going to pretend you don't know what's happening?" Gwen asks.

"No, it's just you don't know what's happening," Goose says, a hint of mocking in her voice.

"Yeah, because my husband tells me one thing and this thing is completely different," Gwen says.

"Well, what did your husband tell you?" Spooky asks, picking at her nails from boredom.

"I'm imagining all of this... But I'm not... am I?" Gwen asks.

"Eeeeeeh, no," Goose says flatly.

"Gwen!" AJ calls.

There's footsteps on the stairs and Goose and Spooky look around a bit. Then they run to the laundry room door, open it, and leave, closing the door behind them. Gwen shakes her head a bit and walks to the island, picking up the bag of marshmallows and popping one in her mouth. AJ walks into the kitchen.

"Is that what you're eating for dinner? We eat better when we're on shoots," AJ chuckles a bit.

"No, just a snack," Gwen shakes her head, returning the bag to its rightful cabinet.

"Just a snack?" AJ repeats with air quotations, "I'm just a snack. It looks like you ate half the bag."

"I have a problem," Gwen lies.

"Right... well, I was going to ask if you wanted to listen to what I have so far, maybe I can get your opinion," AJ says.

"So you're stuck?"

"Yes, I'm stuck."

"Alright," Gwen says.

She steals one the look at the door to the garage before she heads upstairs. The door creaks as it opens slowly and the girls poke their heads out to see if the coast is clear before reemerging into the kitchen. They both begin searching the kitchen for something to eat again.