The Watch - Part 7

He stood there, waiting for me to respond. I was lost for words at this completely uncomprehending situation. I sat on the sofa; all pain in my leg was numbed from the shock of this man’s appearance. Minutes went by before my brain was able to process some of this moment and allowed me to speak.

“W... Who... Who are you?” I asked after stuttering.

“I am the watch’s interface and am here to help,” the strange man said again.

“H... How? What with?”

“I am here to answer any questions you have regarding your newly obtained watch,” the man explained exceptionally clearly and professionally. At his mention of questions, thousands of them burst into my mind all at once - they just wouldn’t settle down long enough for me to say them.

Another couple of minutes went by in total silence. The only things I could hear were the clock ticking on the wall and my heart beating ten times faster than it usually does. Eventually, I managed to get my head on straight and say another question.

“Why did it hurt when I put it on my wrist?” I asked.

The man answered without delay, “I had to scan your DNA so that I could calibrate the necessary settings so that I could adapt to your unique body.”

“Why did it feel like something was running through my brain, as if it were looking for something?” I asked.

“I had to scan your brain so that I could calibrate my settings according to your intellectual levels.”

“Why did you need to calibrate your settings to my body?” I asked simply. Now that I’ve started, the questions are pouring out with ease.

“I am a unique watch - the only one in the Universe - thus very powerful. I had to calibrate my settings to your body so that you would be able to use the watch to its full potential.” I have noticed that he only answers to what I ask. Nothing more and nothing less, meaning I will have to keep asking questions instead of answering everything with one answer.

“Does that mean that I won’t be able to take this off?” I asked, looking down at it, imagining it attached to my skin and if I were to rip it off, my skin would come off with it.

“You do have a choice as to whether you want to keep it on or not,” he said, “but I can sense that you are wondering what I am capable of, since I had to go through all that trouble to set myself up,” he said, reading my thoughts. I was going to ask how he managed to read what I was thinking, but I answered that question myself by just remembering that he said he had to calibrate his settings.

“Is it dangerous for you to be reading my thoughts?”

“I can assure you that no harm will come to you. However, if it will make you feel better, I can turn that function off.”

“I think that would be for the best,” I said.

“Very well,” he bowed with agreement. A couple seconds passed. “I am now unable to read your thoughts,” he said. “You do have the choice to turn on that function when you feel like it,” he said. I had a feeling that I wouldn’t need that option for a little while to come.

Once more, we stopped conversing and seeped into silence. I stared at my watch with curiosity. He was right, I was wondering what this watch is capable of since it did have to take a sample of my DNA and scan my brain to turn itself on.

“What are you capable of?” I asked.

“Why not you look for yourself,” he said. All of a sudden, the screen changed from plain white to a greenish-blue colour that wasn’t quite turquoise. I have never seen that colour before. Then, bold black lettering slowly faded into view. They had to fade in all the way before I could read it properly.

The word read: BODY. Before I could question what this word meant, the strange man said, “to find out what else I am capable of, just turn swipe the screen to the left.” I did exactly that. Gently placing my index finger on the screen and slowly swiping across. As I did, the words slowly transformed.

They read: PARALLEL UNIVERSE, TIME and PERSONAL.

“What do these words mean?” I asked after the words had gone around in a full circle and came back “body” again.

“The first option, “body”, the man started explaining, “allows you to change your appearance, whether it’s clothing or your physical body.” I needed that explained further, but he continued onward without stopping so I tried my best to hang onto each word. “The second option, “parallel universe”, allows you to travel to any parallel universe you can think of, or you can hit the random button, I will then transport you to a random parallel world. The choice is completely and very random that not even I will know where I will be taking you.

“The third option, “time”, allows you to travel to any point in the past, present or future either on this world or in a parallel world. It also allows you to manipulate time however you wish, including by not limited to: stopping it, fast-forwarding, and reversing.  And the last option, “personal”, allows you to keep all your favourite songs, movies, pictures or browse the internet wherever you are, even in the middle of nowhere as I run off the energy from the Universe itself.”

The more answers he gives, the more questions pop up in my head. Twice as many questions outweigh the very few answers he has given me.

“What do you mean I can change my physical-self?” I was, at this point, very confused.

“You can change your appearance. For example, you can change your skin colour from the pale colour you have now to any colour you want: Gold, green, red, blue, and so on. Not only can you do that, but you can also change the texture of your skin so as well as having the skin colour of gold, you can also have your skin actually be gold.”

I struggled to comprehend such availabilities. Yet, even though it was difficult to get my head around it all, my imagination started to flare into life, and I thought what it would be like to change my skin to gold.

“And I can change my appearance to anything I like,” I said.

“Within my database, there are a number of beings that you can transform into,” he carried on. “Not only that, but you can also change your internal self as well, but giving yourself powers.”

“Powers?”

“The ability to fly; create fire in the palm of your hands. Within my vast database is an array of powers that you can give yourself. Whatever you like.” This was starting to sound a little too surreal. I mean, this feels like something a kid would think of, if you know what I mean. A watch that is the most powerful object in the Universe that can grant you the power to do anything I want. If I were to believe that this was a dream, about now would be the time. But, I came to the conclusion that this couldn’t be a product of my imagination for it just doesn’t feel like it is. Again, it was weird to describe, but I think you know what I mean. I continued onward, trying to understand more.

“So I can change my physical appearance, my clothes and give myself powers.”

“Anything you like,” he nodded.”

“And I can do all three at the same time?”

“Yes,” he said not reacting to how my mind was constantly being blown. “I will warn you though that it may take a couple of goes before you will get the hang of it,” he added, which made sense.

“And I can change my clothes as well.” I know I’m repeating myself, but all I was trying to do was understand it all.

“Within my memory, I have stored every piece of clothing this world has to offer,” he said, “and many other different types of clothing that exists outside of this world. And due to my vast amount of memory, any clothing that I do not have in my data banks, you can scan the clothes and store them in the watch so they can be used when you feel like it. From the expression you are pulling, you are in awe with my capabilities already, yet you have yet to understand everything else I have to offer.”

I wasted no time in asking all the other questions I wanted to ask. “You said I am able to travel in time to the past, present and future.” He nodded. “And what about the paradoxes that I will create?”

“You are correct in saying that travelling through time always creates some sort of paradox,” he said agreeing with me. “However, you are able to resolve any paradox you wish by changing time. Again, you can do anything.

“Cool,” I said as my imagination flared up again. The possibilities are endless. How many famous people could I meet? How many events could I watch?

“You said you are able to take me to any parallel world I can think of or a random one?”

“I do have a database full of many parallel worlds that I’m sure you wouldn’t exhaust any time soon, however, since there is an infinite number of possibilities when it comes to parallel universes, if you want to travel to a parallel universe that is not on the list, you can type in where you want to go and I will take you to that universe that best represents the words that you have typed in. Or, as I have explained earlier, you can press the random button, and we can travel blindly to a parallel universe.” All that sounded exciting. Yet, for some reason, at the back of my mind, a small voice told me that this was all fake and I shouldn’t believe anything that I am seeing or hearing. Again, the feeling that this was all a dream flared up again.

“I can assure you that this is as real as it gets,” he said reading my facial expression. “But if you are still unbelieving, you can try out any one of the options and see for yourself.” He was all calm and collective throughout this conversation, which has helped me to keep calm instead of becoming panic-stricken.

“Is there a help section?” I asked jokingly.

“I will always be happy to help you understand something.”

All this was blowing my mind. I have only just realised I’m still sitting on the sofa. Maybe I will be able to comprehend and understand everything if I do have a go with something. But what do I do first.

“What do you suggest I do first?” I asked.

“That is up to you,” he said unhelpfully.

“Well, since this watch is capable of doing so much stuff,” I said working something out (although I still had my doubt on whether it would actually work; still feeling like a dream), “in order to help me process everything, I think I should start with something small, say, changing my clothes.”

“As you wish,” he said.

I looked at my watch, then back up at the man.

“How do I do that, by the way?”

“You swipe your finger to the left until the option “body” shows up, you tap the screen with your preferred finger, and it will open a section which will give you two options, “Clothes” and “Physical”. After you have chosen the “clothes” option, it will open up the database, which is in alphabetical order and type of clothing. Once you have chosen your clothes, they will automatically appear on your body. If you would like to save an outfit instead of having to keep selecting the items individually, you can select “save outfit”, which will save the current clothes that you are wearing when. If you accidentally forget to save an outfit, there is a history section, which will bring up a list of all the current clothing that you picked, and you can reset your clothing back to what you have on now and save the outfit before wearing a new one.”

That was a very detailed explanation on how to do stuff. I’m getting rather excited, but I think it’s my brain’s way of expelling any incomprehension, so, I can’t say for sure whether I am actually getting excited. Anyway, let’s do this…

TO BE CONTINUED...

Thanks for Reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns) 

The Watch - Part 6

As soon as the watch’s strap connected together, pain erupted through my arm, making me scream aloud. It felt like as if it was digging into my skin, attaching itself to me, ensuring I won’t be able to take it off later. There was no going back. What have I done? Whatever was happening, my brain couldn’t comprehend it, so it dealt with it the only way it knows how: It tried shutting down, make me pass out only to wake up when all of this is over, but somehow, the watch prevented my brain from doing that and due to it being kept awake, all of its energy was used up in a matter of seconds.

My legs went weak, but I didn’t fall down. Bright white orbs of light popped in an out of existence all around me as my eyes rolled around in their sockets, but they never went in on themselves. The strap felt as if it was automatically adjusting itself to my wrist. Then, something entered my body. Something that my brain struggled to process. Some kind of new information. As if it was forcing my brain to accept it. Or maybe it was infecting me. Whatever it was, I didn’t feel the pain anymore. When did that happen? Did it stop as quickly as it started? Has my brain now adjusted to the watch? Whatever this was, I knew instantly that this was far beyond any technology we have today, that’s just a given. There’s no way someone could have made something like this, let alone give it to someone, anyone. Unless they know what was going to happen. I can’t think about this mystery right now. I need to get my priorities straight. First things first, figure out what the heck this watch is and what it has done to my body.

Breathing hard, eyes watering, weak kneed, a head feeling stranger than ever, I wished it to never happen again. It was then I realised I had fallen to the floor. I must have blacked out? No, I was conscious throughout the procedure, so that means I must have become numb to feeling anything for a short while. Luckily I didn’t hit my head on the table beside the sofa. Slowly, I climbed back to my feet, testing the strength in my knees before I let go of the sofa and stood up straight. When I was satisfied that my legs could hold my body’s weight, I let myself stand freely, letting out a long breath that relaxed my body a little. It was finally over. I was so glad it was over so quickly, but it was an experience that I hoped to never go through again. Ever.

“What the hell was that all about?” I asked myself, looking down at the watch. It sat there, on my wrist, all peaceful looking, as if it had never done anything. I wiped the tears from my eyes, made sure that all my senses were back to normal. I looked down at the watch and discovered it sitting on my wrist comfortably - and I mean really comfortably - much better than the watch I had a couple of years back. I daren’t touch it for I don’t want to set it off again, but the only way I could get it off my wrist was to touch it. However, I also knew instinctively that this watch would not come off my wrist so easy. There was a reason why it put me through so much pain.

“Now what am I going to do?” I asked.

As if it had listened to my question, the black screen lit up white. It stayed like that for a couple of seconds before slowly fading into another colour: Green, then blue, then red, then yellow, then back to white.

Then it went back to black and started to beep. I grew nervous at this sudden ominous beeping sound, because it could mean anything. The first thought that went through my mind said that the beeping was counting down the seconds before it blew up. Another thought said that it could be counting down to when it popped off my wrist, but from what it had just put me through, I highly doubted that. The third and last thought said that the beeping indicated that it was setting something up. A watch as expensive as this one looked must have some sort of software that recalibrates itself according to the owner wearing it. It was the best thought I could come up with that explained the beeping - although the bomb thought was close behind - as it would, somehow, explain why it did what it did, even though I did wonder why it would put me through any of that if it were only to blow up seconds later.

Then the beeping increased and continued to increase until it became a solid noise. Whatever was going to happen, it was going to happen now, and I’ve got to brace myself for when that does. Along with the single stream of noise, the black screen lit up white again. My eyes widened, as I knew this was it.

Then the noise stopped and something appeared in front of me. The image took me by surprise that I took a step backwards, clouting the back of my leg against the table, making me wince in pain. I bent down to rub the tender area and to make sure that I hadn’t hurt it too badly, but luckily, there was only a red spot, meaning I hadn’t caused any damage.

I stood back up straight and found that a person was standing in front of me. This time my surprised reaction made me jump back so much that I hit the same spot behind my leg against the same spot on the table, making me double up with pain once more.

I sat on the couch as I rubbed my leg better. I looked up at the person. He had lines on his face and tough skin that helped me guess his age at around about mid-forties, but the immaculate suit that he was wearing made him look at least ten years younger than that. He stood up straight, both arms down by his side and he was looking down at me, smiling, as if I my sitting down because of whacking the back of my leg against the table was funny.

“Hello, Sebastian,” it said in a deep voice, “I’m the watch’s interface and I am here to help.”

TO BE CONTINUED...

Thanks for Reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

The Watch - Part 5

I opened the box, slowly and carefully.

“Wow,” I exclaimed when my eyes came across the watch. It was chunky, which explained the weight, gold outer shell surrounding the face, a thick black strap that had been professionally crafted out of leather.

The clock face was digital not analogue, which is understandable giving Today’s modern times. There was something radiating from it. I couldn’t quite put my finger on how it actually felt, but I guess the closest description I could give is it felt as if it had a force field surrounding the entire it.

The hairs on the back of my wrist stood on end as my hand neared the strap. At first I thought I wouldn’t be able to touch it (it really was an odd feeling) but my fingers slid through the strange sensation and gently moulded themselves around the strap, and, making sure that I had a stern grip before picking it up, I lifted it up out of the box and studied it further. Looking around it with awe, with amazement. The strange sensation started dying down the longer I held it in my hands, as if my body had naturally adjusted to it, or it had adjusted to me, who could tell with a feeling as strange as that. One thing is for sure that it doesn’t feel that heavy any more.

“How much did this cost someone?” I asked myself as I continued to study its golden casing and black leather strap. “This must have cost a fortune to say the least.” My eyes were practically popping out of my head with amazement at this point. “Most certainly an arm and a leg.”

One half of my mind – the curios side – ordered that I needed to put this on my wrist right now, but the other half – the reasonable side – said that I should think this through before doing anything that I might regret later. To be honest, I didn’t know what would happen if I put this on my wrist, but from the looks of it, it is just an ordinary watch. What’s extraordinary about this? Probably how it was delivered. I mean, someone doesn’t just give something like this and expects them to like it. To give someone a watch as good and as expensive-looking as this, they would have given forewarning. But not if they wanted it to be a surprise. Whoever “they” are. Maybe I should try to find out who sent it to me before I do anything? But I don’t want to sound ungrateful. No, that’s rather silly of me thinking that.

What should I do?

The curiosity and reasonable sides of my brain battled it out, trying to decide on what to do. Eventually, my curiosity got the better of me by saying, “it wouldn’t hurt just trying it on for all we know the watch won’t fit me. Once I’ve tried it on, I can then take it off and then go and investigate who sent it to me.”

That seems reasonable enough, if I do say so myself. I probably am, I just know it. Besides, I tried wearing a watch before a few years back, and it felt highly uncomfortable. Ever since then, I didn’t both trying a new watch, but from the looks of this leather strap, it might just sit well. How would I know unless I try it out first?

I checked the letter again just to see if I had missed whom it was from, but after rereading it twice over, I couldn’t see any clue, which, strangely, didn’t make my hesitation stronger.

I had decided otherwise I would be just standing here, staring at a good looking watch all night, and I would like to get some TV watching done before I go to bed this evening, but the battle rage on even longer.

I’ve studied this watch for long enough now that I there isn’t a single bit that I haven’t looked at, meaning I had to decide right now. That was one of my faults. Including the constant paralysing nerves, I had the indecisiveness to deal with.

“Just put it on your wrist,” my curious side said, “what’s the worst that can happen?”

“I wouldn’t trust something that you don’t know who it’s from,” my hesitation side countered, “for all you know it could be an illegal product and if you’re caught wearing it you could wind up in a lot of trouble.”

“How on Earth could this be illegal, I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous in all my life?” my curious side countered the counter, “If it was an illegal product, it would have been left on the doorstep for how could they have entered the house to leave it here?” it asked. That’s a good point that I hadn’t noticed before. Maybe this was from my mum and dad just before they left? That actually makes sense.

I had a feeling that this fight will go on for some time, and I was not going to stand for it. I had to make a decision now or not at all. I was really starting to get quite bored of this now.

“That’s it, I’m going for it,” I said readying myself for the experience. Besides, like I said to myself, what’s the worst that can happen? The strange sensation that I felt earlier had all gone away. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to explain that properly. It just felt so weird.

I shook my left wrist free of any clothing so that it was bare for me to put the watch on without getting caught in my sleeve. The moment that it my wrist took the weight, that uncomfortable feeling that I got last time when I wore a watch came back, but the leather strap quickly moulded itself to the way my wrist was and it went away as easy as that. Maybe there is some hope of wearing this after all. I made sure that it was straight before I connected to two halves of the strap.

And when I did, what happened next changed my life.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

The Watch - Part 4

They weren’t home.

My mum and dad both work for the same company, which specialises in accountancy, I think. To be honest, they have tried explaining it to me, but not much of what they said stuck. About ninety percent of the time they do focus on numbers, I do know that much, but whether they actually do accountancy or not, is the big question. Maybe someday the information they give me will stay inside my head for more than a night. For years now, they have worked for the same company together. In fact, that’s where they met for the first time. I remember my dad telling me the story of how he saw my mum exiting the lift on his floor to drop off something. That was it, love at first sight, and all that gooey stuff in between. Their job is somewhat unpredictable. Sometimes they are able to take a couple of days off, other times they have to be away from home for a couple of days on some course that will help them understand any new procedure, or whatever they need to learn.

Before, I wasn’t used to the constant going away, but over the years I grew to accept it. Before I hit college, during the times when my mum and dad were away, they would ask my nana and grandad to look after me, make sure that I don’t cause any accidents. Now that I have entered college, they said that I am now old enough to look after myself. And honestly, if they would be asking my nana and grandad to look after me now that I’m eighteen years of age, I would be asking why.

Picking up the scattered mail from the hallway mat and walked into the living room, I sorted out what needed to be put to one side and what was mine. Everything was addressed to my parents, so it all went into the IN tray by the DVDs for my parents to sort out when they get back, which could be any time between now and a couple of days, to even a couple of weeks. There really isn’t any telling.

Fortunately, I found a note explaining where they have gone and when they will be back. It read: “Sebastian, your mum and I are sorry about leaving so abruptly, I know normally we give you a couple of days” notice before we head off, but this time it was unavoidable as an emergency cropped up at work that needed everyone in to sort out. We’re not sure when we will be back, but we do know that if it is today, it will be a late night, so please do not wait up for us.

“Mum and dad.”

“P.S. There’s a freshly made carrot cake in the kitchen”.

I put the note down and went straight for my mum’s flowery cake tin beside the plain old breadbin, and lifted the lid. Immediately, the delicious smell of carrot cake met my nose and I breathed deeply. There were no knives in the draw meaning that they were all in the dishwasher. After extracting a knife from the dishwasher, making sure that it was dry, I cut myself a decent size slice before heading into the living room to watch a couple of episodes of my favourite TV show, Friends, as I wait for the day to end.

It was hard not to miss the strange package sitting on the table next door to the sofa. I had noticed it before, but I got distracted by cake, which I think is a good excuse, if I do say so myself.

“Strange,” I said, putting down the slice of cake. I should have gotten a plate as an innumerable number of crumbs spilled across the table. I picked up the package, “it doesn’t seem to be addressed to anyone.” It was just a strange package neatly wrapped up in brown paper. It wasn’t that big, it would sit comfortably in both my hands without threatening to fall off, but it whatever was inside it made it weigh a heck of a lot.

I was so focused on the package that it took me a couple of seconds to notice the letter that sat underneath the package. It had a name on it.

Mine?

“I don’t remember ordering anything?” I said to myself putting the package to one side and picking up the letter. Could it be from my mum and dad? It’s not my birthday and I don’t recall asking for anything. “Well, there’s only one way to find out,” I said opening the letter.

Inside the envelope was a piece of paper that had been folded into quarters. Unfolding the letter, I read.

“Dear Sebastian,” the letter started.

“This is definitely not from my mum or dad,” I said to myself, “they wouldn’t have started a letter this way.”

I read on, “now that you have turned eighteen, we feel you will be able to make good use of your new watch. It can do more than just tell the time.” That was it. The letter ended there. There wasn’t a name or a signature of any kind to show who sent it, which made me suspect that this wasn’t something I could trust. But my curiosity got the better of me and I unwrapped the package anyway. Inside was a white cardboard box. I examined the box for any sort of log of some kind to give me some clue about where this came from, but it was just an ordinary white box. Does this mean it is just a gift from someone? I found the grated line that ran along the top of the box, which I pierced with my fingers and started to lift the lid. For some reason, I felt tense. I know I have no idea about what is exactly in this box, but I shouldn’t be this tense, surely. Taking a deep breath to calm myself down a bit, I opened the box…

TO BE CONTINUED...

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

The Watch - Part 3

I’m lost in my world, thinking about how things would have been different if I weren’t always nervous. If I had more confidence, I wouldn’t have to worry about talking in front of other people, such as the class during my presentation, and I wouldn’t have to worry about asking out Amy.

I’ve lost count with how many times I’ve tried to go up to her and start a conversation. I’ve wanted to ask her out for years without any success. The closest I managed to get was when I said “hi” to her on the bus going into town, but that’s just about it.

Other times she doesn’t even know that I was there. Because of my lack of confidence, I’ve sunk into the scenery and now hardly anyone notices me anymore except my mum and dad, my best friend Tom, and my next door neighbour, Jake. That sounds rather depressing I know, but that’s how I feel right now. I guess it didn’t help that I kept myself to myself. Maybe, if I pushed myself to get out more, things would have been different?

Upon reaching my front door, Jake stepped out of his, holding a large bin bag full of rubbish from the previous night of partying. He likes to party a lot, Jake does as he sees it as a way to escape life’s reality and have fun. He did invite me, but I said that I had to stay in and study for my presentation tomorrow, but any other time I would have loved to have joined in and left the realms of reality. Jake’s parties are literally out of this world as I’ve heard every now and again on the bus or in the corner shop. There’s no alcohol or offensive music involved as he doesn’t agree with any of that stuff. He believes that you can have a great time by just having a simple friendly get together, which you can nine-times-out-of-ten guarantee that the night will end with one of them laughing their heads off. I haven’t been to one for obvious reasons, but he always asks me just in case.

“Ah, Sebastian,” Jake said, putting the bin bag in the trash. He’s of average height, grey hair, and speaks with a voice of someone who’s many years younger than he looks. 

“How are things today?” he asked

“I’m good,” I said.

“How was your presentation?” he asked.

“I’ve already done it,” I explained. I did mine a couple of days ago.

“Oh, I thought you said you were going to do it today?” Jake said trying to remember what happened this morning. I usually see him in the mornings if he isn’t out and about. It is rare that he stays in his house for an entire week before going off to somewhere else. He’s always going off on holidays or just a general trip over night. He hates staying in one place for too long. The thing is, when I or someone else asks him where he went to and what he got up to, he makes up this wild tale that involves him in some dangerous situation. My favourite was when some villain was chasing him in a helicopter and all he had to get away was a rundown car that could barely keep going. He was pushing the car’s engine to the max. He knew that he was getting closer and closer to the edge of a cliff, but if he turned around he would be helicopter bait. Instead, he continued forwards, driving off the edge of the cliff. The car tumbled end over end. He struggled to climb out, only just making it before the car slammed against a ridge halfway down. Now he was in a state of free-fall, but he had come prepared for this very occasion and pulled the parachute that was hidden inside his jacket. It opened and he sailed gently to the bottom of the cliff where he was hidden from view. The helicopter couldn’t reach him down there. He had escaped for another day. He never did tell me how that story ended. Maybe someday he’ll tell me, if he remembers what he said in the first place that is.

Even though they are completely made up, he tells it in such a way that you can’t help but think they could be real in some way or another. I did ask him whether he wanted to write a book about all these adventures he has, but he said he doesn’t have the patience to sit down and write a book. He likes to go out and live the moment. “The only paper I need to write on is my own memories in here,” he said rather poetically, tapping his head.

“How was the party last night?”

“Oh, you know, the usual. I hope the music wasn’t too loud for you.”

“Oh, I didn’t even hear the music,” I said truthfully.

“That’s good,” he said. “So what are you planning on doing now, relaxing?”

“Something like that yeah,” I said not knowing myself.

“Well, if you are feeling like you want to get away from it all you know that my door will always be open,” he said. He would always go out of his way to help anyone in need, be it just a friendly chat or helping someone move house. Whenever they needed help, he was there, which was really rather surprising considering he was everywhere and anywhere around the world, but because of his helping others, he built up a good reputation around the area.

“Thanks,” I smiled at his offer.

“Well, have a good evening,” he said opening his door.

“And you,” I said mirroring his actions with my front door.

“I’m just about to sit down and watch Pirates of the Caribbean” he said. “Then I’m off for three days,” he said.

“Awesome. Where’re you going?”

“Paris. I’m meeting a friend there. We’re going to see all the sights, and climb to the very top of the Eiffel Tower.”

“Happy watching,” I said as he stepped inside. “And enjoy your holiday.”

“And you,” he returned, which didn’t make any sense since I wasn’t going to watch a film or travel to Paris tomorrow. Laughing at his joke, feeling happy, I stepped into my home and shut the door behind me.

“Mum, dad, I’m home,” I called.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

The Watch - Part 2

“So, how was your last lesson of the day?” Tom asked as we turned the corner to head into the street where my house sat. Tom was eating his Snickers bar and I went for a Lion Bar. Due to it being the beginning of summer, the sun stayed in the sky for much longer before heading back down towards the horizon, meaning the day was hot. The sun was behind us as we headed towards my house, meaning our backs were getting quite hot.

“The usual,” I answered.

“Who did their presentation today?”

“Amy.”

“Nice. What did she talk about?”

“Time travel and how it might be possible in the future, assuming we can get past the limitations of Today’s technology,” I explained.

“Oh, of course, you mentioned that before. You didn’t want to give off the impression that you were copying her so you talked about how the Universe works. You do know that you could have written about time travel, don’t you?” Tom said. “No one wouldn’t have minded. It’s not the subject the teachers are worried about, it’s you.”

“I know,” I sighed. And that was the end of that point.

“So, how was her presentation?” Tom asked.

“Really well written,” I said, “there were a lot of good points.”

“Sounds like you listened to every word,” he said smiling.

“And what is that supposed to mean?” I said legitimately not having a clue as to what he was on about. “She wrote a very good presentation that drew the entire class in, that’s all.” Tom didn’t shift his smile.

Amy walked around the corner, wearing a patterned shirt that was neatly tucked into her skinny blue jeans. Her golden hair was flowing smoothly behind her like a makeshift cape. She had something blue sticking out of her ears and it was only when she was right beside me that I noticed that it was her earphones. She was listening to a band that I doubt I would know, locked in her own world, not noticing me watching her walk by, which is a relief because I must’ve looked rather creepy indeed.

Ever since Amy entered the classroom on our very first day of college, I’ve had feelings for her, and that was some years ago. Four to be exact. She hadn’t changed that much except for her height, but even then she was a head shorter than me. Only one person in the entire world knows about my feelings towards Amy and that’s my best friend, Tom, who keeps on pushing me to ask her out, but every time I’ve tried to, I have always backed out due to lack of confidence or she was in deep conversation with some of her friends, and it’s bad enough trying to talk to her alone, let alone with her friends watching and listening to my every word, which would probably be full of stutters and nothing else.

“Dude, just ask her out,” Tom said, nudging my elbow as soon as Amy was out of hearing distance, even though I doubt she would be able to her as if we were right next to her as her music was turned right up so that I could just about hear what the lyrics were.

“I don’t know,” I said, letting my brain’s natural hesitation kick in.

“Sebastian, you do this all the flipping time. You have had feelings for her for four years now, but you just haven’t made a move, and soon, it’s going to get to a point where you are going to regret not asking her. She could be with someone else by the time you finally pluck up the courage to do so. The sooner you go up to her and ask, the better it’ll be. Sure, you’re going to feel nervous, but you just have to fight through it. Having nerves is just another way of your body telling you to take it slowly and keep your head on the ground, and everything will go fine. And I know that you don’t want her to say she’s got someone else.

“Then go over there and ask her out,”

I turned back around, but saw that Amy had already made it to her front gate and, stepped through, waking up along the garden path and was unlocking the door.

“But what if she says no?” I asked.

“It’s better than her and all her friends laughing at you, spreading the word around the entire school until the entire world blows up,” Tom said, describing how my mind works. He’s not far wrong. In fact, he’s got the order just right. “Her saying “no” is the worst that can happen, but it’s the fact that you made an effort to go up to her and asked that counts. Nothing else matters.” He does have a point. But, she’s listening to her music at the moment and I don’t think she’ll like me very much if I distracted her from that. Maybe next time.

“And there goes yet another opportunity,” Tom stated as Amy turned down an alleyway.

“Will you drop it,” I said angrier at myself for not doing anything than Tom at keeping pushing me forwards. I know that he has only my best interests at heart. And I have his as well.

“Sorry,” I said immediately afterwards. “I didn’t mean to snap.”

“I know,” he said sympathetically. “And I’m sorry for pushing you like that.”

“Come on, let’s back to mine. You can pick what game we can play, even though I already know what it is going to be.”

“Actually, I can’t for once,” Tom said. “My mum and dad are going out and I need to go with them.”

“Awesome. Where’re you going?”

“Some place,” Tom said. That was his way of saying that he didn’t really listen to what his parents were saying. “Apparently it has free food, and you know I don’t pass up on an opportunity for free food.”

“No. No you don’t,” I said, shaking my head. There were a couple of seconds of silence before Tom said.

“What do you mean you already know what game I’m going to pick?”

“Well, you’ve been trying to beat me at GT5 for ages now. Each time you lose you always say that you’ll beat my backside next time.”

“You wait,” he said, “when I come over to yours tomorrow, I’m going to leave you at the start line in a cloud of smoke.”

“Are you sure?” I teased.

“Tomorrow,” he said confidently. Tom started to break away and cross the road.

“See you then,” I said waving.

“Tomorrow. You’ll see.” Then he disappeared down another alleyway that was directly opposite the one that Amy went down earlier. Tomorrow, Tom’s going to try and beat me at a race. We’ll see about that.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

The Watch - Part 1

“... And judging by the extremely complex theories surrounding the concept of Time Travel, it is safe to say that we will not be able to succeed in travelling forwards or backwards in time with today’s technology. If the possibility of travelling through time were successful, it would take at least another few years before we are capable of building that kind of high-powered technology needed to transport us into the past or future, depending on what one is easiest. However, considering that no matter which way you travel, whether it is to the past or future, you are always going to be confronted with the near-impossible-to-figure-out paradoxes, thus making the process completely and truly unpredictable.

“In conclusion, we as a generation may not be able to visit the past or future as there are far too many complications along with Today’s soon-to-be outdated technology, but given enough time and patients, I believe that we will be able to meet our ancestors or our great, great, great - grandchildren.”

“Thank you for listening.”

The whole class clapped at Amy’s presentation. Her whole body deflated with relief that it’s over and sat down at her seat at the back of the class. I remember when I had to do my presentation. I wanted to write about Time travel as well, but considering that Amy had picked the same, I thought I wouldn’t copy her and do the second thing that interests me most. The entire thing from beginning to the end was the worst ten minutes of my life, and most certainly the longest. I dropped my notes as I was walking to the front of the class so I was already bright red with embarrassment by the time I started. My hands couldn’t stop shaking throughout and my voice constantly cracked with nerves. My presentation was about how the Universe works and its many features including the many billions of galaxies, trillions of stars, and the many exoplanets that scientists have discovered floating around outside of our own solar system. I did manage to get through it, but stumbling over my words every now and again did not help one bit. But, despite everything being against me, I managed to secure myself a respectable C grade. The moment the presentation ended and I was allowed back to my seat, I deflated as if someone took a pin and stabbed my chest with it. I practically ran back, which wasn’t the best thing to do considering I nearly tripped over my own feet, but luckily I smoothly transitioned from falling over to making it look as if I was going to sit down in one move, and no one was any the wiser.

“And thank you for that well written and spoken presentation,” our English teacher, Mr Jones said, as soon as the clock ticked over to four O’clock, signalling the end of the class, and the end of the school year as well. In a well-orchestrated routine, everyone packed away their belongings, stood up from their desk and headed towards the door.

“Not just yet,” he said. “First of all, I need everyone to hand it their homework.” Everyone stopped in their tracks, looking puzzled.

“What homework,” Peter said.

“Are you telling me that none of you have done the homework that I set for you last week,” he said looking around with a disappointed expression.

“You didn’t set us any,” Peter spoke up for the class again.

There were a couple of pregnant seconds before Mr Jones cracked a smile and started laughing. “Your faces,” he chuckled.

That’s Mr Jones for you. Likes to play jokes on the class.

Despite his constant playing around, we always come out of his lessons having learnt something, and smiling at how pleased we were at having learnt that piece of information, no matter how small it was.

The entire class sighed in unison, Mr Jones stepped to one side to let us out, and we all bundled out of the door.

My home wasn’t that far away, it was only a couple of minutes’ walk away from college, allowing me to not worry about missing the bus or train and instead have a relaxing walk home each day.

“Hey, wait up,” Tom, my best friend, said. His last lesson of the day was Maths and, like me with English, he had a natural talent for it. He could work out the most complex of sums - well, they are to me anyway - in hardly any time at all.

Tom doesn’t live that far from me so we always meet up when going to college and say goodbye halfway to home. Tom was the same height as me, about 5’5, dark hair, brown eyes, round face, great personality, and always have something funny to say no matter what the situation is. Tom was the kind of person that could come up with something witty without warning and with ease. It was as if his brain was a wit-making factory that never fails to make a dodgy product.

“How was your day?” Tom asked.

“Not bad, you?”

“Could have gone better. I forgot my science assignment, didn’t I? I put it on the sodden counter this morning and completely forgot to put it in my bag before I left for college.” He has a habit of doing that. He was notorious for forgetting his maths homework all throughout high school, which the teachers were not happy about one bit as you can imagine.

“But that’s alright,” he said, “I’ll hand it in tomorrow.”

“You do realise that today is the last day of term before the summer holidays, don’t you?”

“I do,” he said, “but there is always a limbo stage between the last day and when they hand all assignments to be graded,” he explained.

“And they’re letting you do that?” I asked more surprised than sceptically.

“They always allow you to do that,” he said as if I should have known that.

“Fair enough,” I shrugged. “Learn something every day.”

“Oh, and you’ve never forgotten anything before, for school or college.”

“No,” I said simply, proudly.

“Oh, yeah, you haven’t, have you,” he said, cocking his head to one side just as he realised that.

“Come on,” I said, chuckling to his mannerisms, “I’ll buy you a Mars bar on the way home,” because I fancied one myself.

“Can I have a Snickers instead?” Tom asked.

“But I thought Mars was your favourite,” I stated, confused.

“It was, but lately, they’ve become a bit sickly, you know, almost as if I don’t like them anymore.”

“Ah,” I smiled, knowing what exactly has happened, prompting Tom to ask me through his confused expression.

“You’ve over exposed yourself to them,”

“I don’t understand,” Tom said, intrigued.

“Well, your favourite chocolate bar is Mars, and so you’ve had one every day on the way home from school and college, very rarely without fail. Your body has gotten bored, forcing you to have something else. In some extreme cases, people can suddenly find themselves allergic to their favourite foods because their bodies have gotten bored and reject the food.”

“Oh,” Tom said simply. “That’s rather scary if you think about it, at any point your body could reject pizza.”

“Yeah, that is a scary thought, but I’m not sure if I have it as frequently as you had a Mars bar.”

“Well, either way, you’ve learnt something new and now me, too. Consider us even.”

“If you like.” I agreed.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

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