The Watch - Part 10

It was a feeling like no other. I couldn’t see a thing. I felt enclosed, as if I was trapped in a small room, yet at the same time, as if I was floating through the empty nothingness. Weightless. I was conscious the entire time I was floating through this strange phenomenon, yet, I have no feeling. I try looking down at my body and see nothing. I lift my hand up so that it is nearly touching my nose and still I see nothing, and I try touching my face and, as expected, I feel nothing. At least I still have proprioception. It was as if I was just a conscious mind that has been separated from its body.

I think I’m travelling somewhere, which is a good thing considering that was my intent when I pressed the random button on the watch, but where am I going? What will be on the other end of this tunnel of nothingness? Will I recognise it? Will it even be something similar to my home planet, or will it be or will it be something different entirely?

There’s no sense of time, where I am. I have no clue about how long I will, or how long I’ve already been here. In fact, there’s no sense of anything. I know I’m still inside my own head, but I have lost all connection to the real world. Everything has changed and I’m starting to dislike it.

A new feeling: Claustrophobia. That feeling you get when you’re trapped inside a small box, except I’ve got the added problem of travelling through empty space of never-ending blackness. I stretch out my arms to see if I could feel anything surrounding me and, as expected, nothing. Yet the feeling of claustrophobia starts to increase tenfold.

There’s no sound, just silence. Normally, even in the quietest of rooms, you would be able to hear your own body keeping itself alive: The pumping of the heart, the sound that your digestive system makes, yet I hear nothing. For the time being, I have no senses to guide me (except I’m not guiding myself because I can’t - I have no senses). Unable to see, unable to hear, unable to touch, yet somehow, the feeling of claustrophobia is continuing to increase exponentially. I’m am really starting to dislike this now.

I’m not guiding myself. Whatever I’m in is pulling me forwards, straight and true, hopefully nearing a destination.

I feel something new. My feet; I have feeling in my feet? And they are telling me I am standing on something solid. Have I come to a standstill? Is this it? Is this the end?

No. I know this isn’t the end. I don’t know how I know, but I know that there’s more to come. Should I brace myself? Should I stand perfectly still and wait for it to happen? Or, should I interact with the nothingness even though I have no body to interact with? It’s hard to tell when you are only consciousness floating through an ocean of nothingness.

Something has penetrated the dark. A small bead of light has popped into existence, right in front of my eyes. Or was is it a great distance away? Who can tell. As bright as it seems, it cannot illuminate the dense darkness surrounding it.

It doesn’t seem to be getting bigger nor does it appear to be moving away, either. It’s just sitting there, waiting. Waiting for what? Me to move towards it?

I try to lift up my left foot, but it was stuck firmly to the solid ground.

Then the beam of light starts growing. Whether it was getting closer or growing in size, I couldn’t tell, but it was growing at a great speed, nonetheless. I want to move out of the way, duck underneath it so that it doesn’t collide with me, but I have no knees to bend. For the time being, I’m stuck firm. All I can do is let the light hit me.

Unable to close my eyes, I brace for impact.

Nothing comes.

Instead, the light engulfs me. Wrapping itself round me, making me feel warm and comfortable. The light isn’t too bright now. But now, the colour white is making up the nothingness.

Then, shapes start to appear in front of my eyes, blurry and impossible to make out, but they rapidly get into focus. Only a couple of objects have formed. I recognise them. The sofa that sits in my living room and the coffee table that sits next to it. I’m puzzled about why these two objects have formed. Am I returning home? Am I not going to a Parallel Universe after all?

Then more objects start to form in front of my eyes. They follow the same process as the first two objects and soon I can see them as clearly as if I was standing in my living room. But I’m not standing in my living room. I’m standing in this void with nothingness stretching so far away from me with only a few objects randomly sitting in front of me.

Then, the white starts to fade completely. Everything in my living room starts to fade in at once.

I don’t know how long I was without my body’s weight, but when it started to come back, it felt so heavy. It was as if my body was pressing down on my consciousness all at once. I had to get used to my body once more as the world round me materialised into view.

Then I hit solid ground. More solid than I’ve ever felt before. The ground felt so hard, it immediately started to hurt my feet. I nearly lost my balance as my legs felt as if they were being used for the first time ever. Every colour, even the dullest of them all, the brown of the coffee table, was so bright I had to close my eyes and wait for them to adjust, if they ever will. The sounds all round me were so loud, I had to put my newly generated hands to my ears to block out as much as I could. The feeling of my ears against my palms was the strangest of feelings, even though I already know what that feels like.

It was as if I was being born into an eighteen-year-old body, complete with all my memories and knowledge.

When my eyes eventually calmed down and I regained my balance, I started to look round. I was standing in the exact same spot as I was before. Everything looked the same. Did I actually travel to a different universe, or am I still in the same one and the watch messed with my head to make it seem as if I travelled.

Then I heard the front door open and a woman’s sigh echoes round the hallway, spilling into the living room where I listened intently.

“What a day,” a recognisable voice said. I couldn’t believe my ears. She started to walk through the hallway where she turned into the living room. I watched as Amy took off her coat and placed it on the back of the chair. She turned round and spotted me standing there, as stiff as a statue.

“Oh, hello,” she said as if I had met her before. “I wasn’t expecting you to show up so early….”

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)