Chapter 1: Toy Story

"Hey Scotty, get your ass over here, my folks just left for the conference in Frankfurt and I've got the house to myself for the next week!"

"Seriously, Cosima, your parents trust you on your own?"

"Dude, I'm a straight A student, I turn 18 in two weeks, and I haven't started a fire in 14 months, 11 days, and…" she glances at the time on her phone "7 hours. It's about time they trusted me."

"But who's counting, right?" Scott replies.

"Just get over here man. Pizza is on its way, I've got the PlayStation fired up and I'm about to fire up something else, if you get my drift."

"I'll be there in 20!" Scott hangs up the phone, throws some stuff in his backpack, tells his mom he's spending the night at Cosima's and heads out the front door.

Cosima and Scott have been friends since the first grade, when Scott's family moved to San Francisco and Cosima stood up to a couple 4th grade bullies in the schoolyard who were trying to force Scott to eat paste. What Cosima lacks in physical stature, she more than makes up for with gusto. And though she may have gotten a pair of broken glasses out of the melee, she also got a lifelong pal. Cosima and Scott bonded over a love of science and are basically considered the nerds of their high school. In fact, Cosima has had valedictorian sewn up since freshman year; no other kid even comes close to her stellar grades. They've spent many afternoons creating different science projects, spurred on by Cosima's dad, a well-respected scientist and inventor. He's been a mentor to the kids and has occasionally let them join him in his basement lab for some experimenting, though Cosima has been forbidden from entering since that fire mishap 14 months, 11 days and 7 hours ago.

Cosima and Scott's relationship has always been strictly platonic. Another thing Cosima and Scott have in common is their interest in girls. Cosima has had a couple summer flings, but nothing serious. And though Scott's never really dated anyone, he has had many a crush on members of the school's cheerleading squad, girls who never give him the time of day unless they need an answer during a test. They have a small core group of good friends, mostly social outcasts like themselves. When Cosima and Scott aren't conducting experiments, they're usually hanging with their pals at the local bowling alley/diner, Pins and Noodles.

Exactly 20 minutes after they had hung up, Scott is at the front door ringing the bell.

Cosima opens the door. "Damn Scotty, how are you always so punctual? Get in, I can't believe how hard it's raining."

"This friendship would never work if I was as late as you always are. Balance Cosima, that's what fuels this relationship." Scott says as he comes in and pulls off his rain slicker.

"That and this!" Cosima smiles waving her newly purchased bag of pot. Everybody's got a vice and for Cosima that's marijuana. Her folks would probably freak if they knew, but it's the one thing that always seems to calm Cosima's more manic tendencies. She started smoking the summer before sophomore year and got Scott hooked on his birthday shortly thereafter. It was during one of their early smoke sessions that Cosima mentioned she'd like to get dreads, which Scott totally encouraged, followed by her immediately dragging him along to a salon downtown to get it done.

Cosima and Scott sprawl out on her living room floor and proceed to spend the next several hours smoking pot, playing video games, and eating pizza and whatever junk food and soda they can find in the kitchen.

"Cosima?" Scott says, placing his root beer on the coffee table.

"Yeah, Scott?" Cosima replies, pulling her eyes away from the TV to look at Scott.

"Who are you going to ask to prom?"

"I don't know, I'm thinking of skipping it, there's no one that I'm really into at the moment. What about you?"

"Same. I have a list of several girls I'd love to go with, but yeah, pipe dream. Hey, what if you could bring anyone to prom, sky's the limit, who would it be?"

Cosima thought about his question for a moment. "Well, uh, this is gonna sound really lame and creepy. You need to swear not to repeat what I'm about to say and you better the hell not laugh. Promise?"

"Come on, you know all your secrets are safe with me. Who is it?"

"Ok, well, for my 8th birthday Helena gave me a science Barbie. She was wearing a beautiful white lab coat and she had her own microscope. I was never into Barbie dolls, but there was just something about this one. One day I just couldn't stop staring at it, so I grabbed it off the shelf and just started going to town, messing with her hair, cutting it shoulder length and curling it. I added a couple cute freckles, one right on the tip of her nose, and a small mole just under her lips. I then colored her eyes so they were hazel, practically golden; I just wasn't feeling the blue eyes for some reason. Anyway, afterwards I realized that I had just created my dream girl. It was a total 'Holy watershed' moment cause, uh, that's also when I realized girls gave me butterflies. I also think I've kinda always held every other girl to those impossible standards I set when I was freakin' 8 years old. Like, there's never gonna be a girl like that for me in the real world. Ugh, this is so embarrassing."

"No, come on Cosima, you have nothing to be embarrassed about. That's actually super cute. And of course your ideal girl would be into science."

"Hell yeah. She's not just into science, she's a brilliant scientist, better than me even."

"Wow, better than you huh? Impossible!" Scott grins at Cosima.

"Shut up! Brains, Scott, my girl will have mad brains. You know, something going on up here?" She points to her head. "I don't want some dumb girl I can't have a conversation with. Though from the way you ogle the cheer squad, I don't think you notice much above their asses and pom-poms."

"Haha, very funny. Do you still have that Barbie?" Scott asks.

Sheepishly Cosima admits, "Uh… yeah, I do. I put her back in the box and tossed her in the back of my closet a couple years ago. I couldn't bear to have her staring at me from my bookshelf any longer."

"Go get her."

"What? No way!"

"Oh come on Cosima, it's just you and me here, I want to see this amazing doll."

"Ugh, fine." Cosima stomps up the stairs to her room. Scott hears things crashing on the floor as Cosima tosses items from her closet, digging for the Barbie. After several minutes she returns to the living room, original box in hand and passes it to Scott.

Scott takes several moments inspecting the doll before exclaiming, "It's all about the brains, right Cosima?"

"Hey, I didn't say I couldn't appreciate a beautiful girl, it's just not the only thing that attracts me."

"Seriously, Cosima, I'm not into dolls, but oh my goodness, she is HOT! I'm surprised I never noticed her in your room, though it is a mess in there. I can see why you couldn't have this staring at you in your bedroom. I'm pretty sure I'd never get to sleep with her looking at me, though I think those nights would be plenty occupied with another activity."

"Yuck, come on Scott, don't talk about Delphine like that," Cosima exclaims, grabbing the box out of his hands.

"Delphine?"

"Oh shit, ignore that," Cosima gasps.

"No way! Did you seriously name her Delphine?"

"Yeah and I guess I also failed to mention she's French," Cosima sheepishly admits, her face now crimson.

"Damn, you sure were thorough when creating your dream girl."

"Yeah, well, whatever, not like I'm gonna run into her in the halls of our high school. It's just a stupid childhood fantasy. Anyway, there you have it, my ideal girl. Come on, we have the house to ourselves which means nobody is guarding the basement."

"Doesn't your dad lock it?"

"Yes, but you see these eyes Scott? I have 4 of them and they've seen where Daddy-o hides the key. Follow me!"

"Are you sure Cosima? You're dad seemed pretty adamant about us staying out of there after your last experiment gone horribly wrong. I don't think he'd react too kindly to another visit from our friendly neighborhood fire department."

"Don't fret Scotty boy, I don't plan to use a blow torch this time."

Scott reluctantly follows Cosima down to her dad's basement lab. Cosima sets down the box holding Delphine and they both proceed to marvel over all the cool equipment.

"What does that thing do?" Scott points to a shiny silver contraption in the corner that sort of looks like the love child of a telescope and a rifle.

"Must be new, it wasn't here last time I came down. Here's the power switch."

"Cosima, do not turn that on."

"Live a little Scott, what could happen?" Cosima says as she flips the switch and the machine powers up. She taps a button on the side and jumps back a bit when a beam of light shoots out, then a huge smile spreads across her face. "Ooh a laser! I wonder what this thing does. Let's aim it at something!"

"No Cosima, this could be dangerous, just shut it off. You're high and this is liable to end with the police storming your house."

"Dude, you are super dramatic, chill. Hey, put Delphine on that pedestal, I'll zap her."

"You're going to zap your doll? What if you wreck it?"

"Well, I mean, come on, this was a childish fantasy, I can't hang onto it forever. Not like I'm gonna drag my Barbie doll to college with me. Sometimes you just have to let go of the dreams of your youth and look forward to the reality of the future."

"What, are you preparing your valedictorian speech now? Here." Scott hands Cosima the box.

Cosima lifts the figure out of the box and stares at her for a few beats. "Well Delphine, it's been real. Or not real, but you know what I mean. Hopefully one day I'll meet a girl even half as amazing as you are. Au revoir!" Cosima gives the doll a quick peck on the nose and then places it on the pedestal. She then hands Scott a pair of goggles and slips hers on. "Alright dude, brace yourself, who the hell knows what's about to happen."

"Wait, I better open the window, just in case the lab fills with smoke again." Scott rushes over and opens the window slightly then returns safely behind Cosima.

Cosima situates herself behind the machine and puts her finger on the trigger, "Ready! Aim! Fire!" Cosima pulls the trigger, a laser beam shoots at the doll and, at that exact moment, a huge thunderclap booms outside accompanied by a massive lightning bolt. Cosima screams and ducks under a table, Scott right behind her.

"Whoa, that was intense. You ok man?" Cosima asks as she regains some of her composure.

"I'm fine, how about you? Your hand was on the machine when the lightning struck."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm totally solid, it didn't strike me or anything, that was just freaky timing. I think I nearly wet myself." Cosima chuckles nervously.

"What happened to your girl?" Scott asks.

"Let's inspect the damage, shall we?" Cosima gets out from under the table and heads over to the pedestal. "What the hell? She's gone!"

"What? No way. Maybe it fell somewhere." Scott helps Cosima search around the basement, but there's no sign of the doll.

Cosima goes over to where she left the box, but it's empty except for the little toy microscope. "This is ridiculous, how does a doll just disappear?"

"I don't know, but she left a bit of a burn mark on that pedestal. Maybe you disintegrated it."

Cosima stares at the char and starts to feel a tear run down her cheek. She quickly wipes it away before Scott notices. Suddenly the doorbell rings.

"What the hell? What time is it?"

"3:24 am" Scott answers as he glances at his watch.

"Who would be at my door at this hour?"

"Um, the cops maybe."

"No way, knock it off Scott. You think?"

"I don't know, go check."

"Ok, but come with. What if it's an axe murderer?"

"Axe murderers don't ring the doorbell, Cosima."

"How do you know, you ever met one? Come on."

Scott follows Cosima up the stairs. She stops and grabs a couple golf clubs from her dad's bag by the closet, she hands one to Scott and holds onto another. She slowly approaches the door. She looks through the peephole, but the rain is so heavy and the fog so thick, she can't see a thing.

"Who is it?" Cosima asks nervously.

The person on the other side of the door says something, but it's unintelligible as the pouring rain drowns it out.

"Just open it Cosima, I've got your dad's Big Bertha at the ready to take down the very considerate, doorbell ringing axe murderer."

"Haha, you're a riot. Ok, you better protect me Scott, it's time to man up, you owe me after I took a swing at those 4th grade bullies and they destroyed my awesome Hello Kitty glasses."

"Dude, that was like 12 years ago." Cosima shoots him a glare. "Ok, ok, I got your back. Just open it, it could be important."

Cosima slowly unlocks the door and pulls it open.

"Holy shit!" Cosima exclaims, mouth agape, as the woman standing before her, staring into her eyes, looks eerily familiar.