Troy

When Abed is in one of his states, I really feel a part of me is missing. Because he is part of me, and when he gets that way, it's kind of like he's gone for the moment. It's like... ouch.

So... by the time me and Annie were moving Abed to the other room, we were both getting really stressed out. I felt like we were the parents of a coma patient. And when it started to get obvious that we weren't gonna get through to him, Annie wanted to call Jeff. Don't get me wrong, Jeff is the man in a lot of situations, but I thought Britta would be the better person to call for help this time. I have a feeling she just gets some stuff. Like, feelings stuff? I don't know. It's just that usually when I talk to her about anything feelings-related, she kinda starts nodding in understanding even before I finish. It's like I don't even need to say it. And because Abed was lying there incapable of saying anything at all, I thought maybe she'd be able to read his brain anyway.

Annie

Britta surprises me sometimes. She has a lot of really obnoxious and... oblivious... ways about her, but in some respects, she's one of the most sensitive and, I guess, compassionate people I know. Maybe it was because the stakes were high, but it was impressive. She wrapped one of Abed's hands in both of hers, even though his fists were sealed with a padlock, and the sort of... calm certainty of that gesture seemed to comfort him, even if only to a microscopic degree.

But something else had to be done. All the understanding in the world is not going to get through to someone who's temporarily incapable of acknowledging your existence.

The way I see it, navigating around Abed's mind is a puzzle. I think a lot of the same things go on in his head as everyone else's, but they get there by a different route. The Dreamatorium is like a detour: a means for him to get around his own thoughts, anxieties, and analyses. And of course, how do we get to our destination when the main roads are blocked? Maybe just follow Abed's lead and take those back roads.

Britta

I was skeptical. I'm still skeptical. But I have to give props to Annie for sticking to her guns. What would we have had to do if she hadn't insisted on bringing Abed back into the Dreamatorium... call an ambulance? So they could stick a bunch of needles him and lock him up in the Ministry of Love until they beat his mental differences out of him by force? Yeah, not on my watch.

So we got him into the Dreamatorium, and we propped him up in the corner. But then the three of us basically ended up standing there with our arms crossed, staring at each other and waiting for someone to start, um, whatever it was we were going to start. I took the liberty of suggesting we kind of write an Inspector Spacetime episode that incorporates friendship and forgiveness, but I don't think that went over too well based on the expressions Troy and Annie shot at me.

We ended up in a huddle, trying to think of who we each could play, what TV show or movie would lure Abed back to us. Annie pointed out that even if he were to spring into action as one of his favorite characters, we wouldn't be able to talk to him as himself. Then this hopeless silence descended.

Troy has a habit of pointing out the obvious, but I have this theory that he's actually a genius. He arrives at the smartest conclusion by finding the answer that everyone automatically looks past. Annie and I were about to abandon hope, when he comes out with, "Guys... maybe we should just play ourselves."

Abed

"Render environment: Study room!"

That much I understood.

"Uh... Look, I'm Annie! I... like things to be perfect!" Annie appeared at the table with an open textbook and a purple pen.

"I'm Britta; I'm the worst!" There was Britta, across from Annie, mouth turned down.

"Uh, I'm Troy...!" And there was Troy.

But as Abed, I wasn't there yet; I could tell. So I became a couch in the corner.

Annie looked up from her book. "Hey guys, where is everyone?"

Britta exclaimed, "I don't know, Annie!" and they both looked at her for a few seconds. Then Troy answered.

"Jeff's, uh... at Banana Republic, Shirley had to take Elijah and Jordan to a birthday party, and Pierce is... worshipping Buddha?"

"Oh," Annie said, and she wrinkled her forehead the way people do when they say they're nervous.

There was silence.

"...Where's Abed?" Annie asked.

"I don't know." "Me neither."

"Uh-oh."

Troy took a shaky breath. "I haven't seen him in a while. You guys?" They shook their heads.

A sullen ambience emerged. Not the type of ambience that requires a sad song in the background; more the serious silence that happens between sentences when TV characters talk about a dead family member.

"I wish he were here," Britta said.

Troy and Annie nodded, and now everyone's forehead was wrinkled. They looked at the couch in the corner, but it was empty.

Now Britta spoke slowly, and she sounded the way she usually does. "Do you guys... remember that time... I introduced Abed to Cougarton Abbey? And all the characters died in the sixth episode?" She laughed quietly and then sighed. "He never held that against me for some reason."

"Yeah, that's right..." Annie recalled, nodding. "And, god, remember when I broke his Batman DVD? I was sure he was gonna kill me!" She looked down at the table and smiled as she ran her hand across it. "But no," she continued, "he took us on an adventure, essentially. And then he accepted my apology without a second thought."

She looked at Troy, who smiled and shook his head. But then they stared at him for several seconds and his smile disappeared. He looked down so his face was less visible, and he breathed out heavily through his nose.

"...I said something really bad to him during the pillows and blankets war. Really... bad. I don't know how he forgave me..." He lowered his eyebrows and nodded after a second. "I guess he's good at that. He forgave all of us."

"He knows we're good people," Britta said.

She was right. Good people sometimes make mistakes.

But I wasn't there yet, and now there was another silence. It lasted longer than people usually find comfortable.

"Yeah," Annie responded, finally, but it sounded like a new scene. "Abed is a really forgiving person. In fact, I can't think of anyone he could hold a grudge against."

"He just sees the good in everyone!" Britta added.

But Troy furrowed his brow and shook his head 'no.'

When the girls saw him shaking his head, they looked at him wordlessly for several seconds with their eyes open wide. I know that when people do that, they're trying to be inconspicuous. But I noticed.

"What are you doing?" Troy said, finally.

Annie stammered. "We're... just talking about how great Abed is. What are you doing?"

"That's not what we're trying to-" Troy blurted out, then stopped himself. Over the next fifteen seconds, he began to look the way he does before he starts crying. But then he didn't cry; he spoke.

"Yeah, Abed's great. Okay, but he's not perfect. Don't pretend he is. He makes mistakes like everybody else. Or did you forget what just happened?" Annie and Britta looked at him with an expression I've seen before, but still can't classify. Troy continued.

"Abed flips out every time unexpected changes happen. He hurts people's feeling occasionally because he can't read faces... including those of clocks. He refuses to live in reality sometimes... But that's... okay!"

I heard heartfelt music in the back of my head, and he went on, looking intently at Annie and Britta.

"He and I are best friends, and no one can deny we both do stuff wrong. I'm always taking stuff the wrong way, like an idiot. And I do impulsive crap all the time! But he accepts me that way, and not by pretending my flaws aren't there. He knows I... don't get some shit... and that I wish I were more mature. He's well aware. And he helps me when I need it; forgives me when I'm sorry; sticks by me while I grow as a person and get through the things I gotta get through."

He teared up as he paused.

"I just wanna do the same for him," he said. "But I can't. Because he's not here."

Then I appeared, sitting on the couch in the corner, but they weren't looking yet.

"I just want him to understand that I'm gonna stick by him no matter what mistakes he makes," Troy concluded. Britta and Annie had teared up too, but I think they were also smiling a little. That confused me at first.

"Me too," Annie said.

"Me three," Britta said, and she took Troy's hand, holding it until I showed myself.

"Sorry I'm late," I said, as I got up and approached the table.

"Abed!" My friends said my name. They ran to hug me, all smiling.

"And... I'm sorry," I added. Even though I know they heard me, no one said anything. But they kept hugging me, so I guess that served the same purpose. The best part was that they were all really here with me. So I didn't need the Dreamatorium, even if only for the moment.

"Stop simulation."