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)