The Watch - Part 14

The market really did have everything and anything. Books, DVDs, games and their consoles, CDs, even records and cassette tapes and players, all kinds of foods and drinks – some from different countries from all around the world. This place was amazing.

‘I told you, you would like it,’ Amy said.

‘I don’t remember you saying that,’ I said spinning on the spot to try to drink everything in all at once.

‘Well, if I didn’t tell you, then I knew you would anyway,’ she countered.

I brought a couple of things. Nearly everything was selling at incredibly cheap prices. I guess that’s why it’s so popular. They sell things at a cheap price to build up customer’s reputation so that more and more people will return each time and they will be able to make a tonne load of money without much effort. 

The first thing I brought was something to eat and drink as I saw this stall that sold a load of cakes and I’m a sucker when it comes to anything cake related. My favourite cake is carrot and Amy picked out a date and walnut cake. She was a bit hesitant on letting me get something for her at first, but my insistence overruled that and she eventually gave in and let me get the cake for her. The drink was a milkshake that contained a combination of two flavours, which were strawberry and chocolate. I’ve heard of the sensational treat of melted chocolate dripped over a strawberry, but as a milkshake, I wondered how that would taste, but the moment the flavour touched my taste buds, I was instantly in love and I had to get some more, so I brought an entire packet of six, which I am now carrying around with me in a bag.

We then moved on to the DVD stand, where I said that she could get whatever she wants, and I'll get it.

‘Are you sure?’ Her hesitation was, understandably, strong.

‘I wouldn’t have said so if I wasn’t sure. Besides, I am technically using your money to buy it, so strictly speaking, you’re buying it.’ I used her words against her.

'You do know that, you using my words against me might make you right, however, they are my words, which mean, going by that, I am technically right.'

'Er...' I hadn't thought of that and now I know not what to say. Instead, I continued my offering on, keeping my insistence going. 'You don’t have to have a DVD, if you don’t want. There’s CDs and games over there. You name it, you can have it.’

‘Well, if you insist,’ she said sighing knowing that I wasn't going to back down. She picked out a box set of some TV series I have never heard of called ‘Invincible’.

‘From the look on your face, you’ve never heard of such a thing,’ Amy said.

‘I don’t recall having that back home,’ I confirmed.

‘Oh, it’s an amazing TV series about a police officer who was trying to catch a runaway criminal before falling into a science experiment and turned invincible. He then uses his new-found invincibility to catch other criminals. The entire series focuses on him trying to find the criminal that got away before he turned invincible.’

‘Sounds interesting,’ I said.

‘It is,’ she pushed with enthusiasm, ‘we should watch an episode when we get back.’

‘I’d like that,’ I said. I purchased the box set and headed off back around the market.

‘Is there anything else you would like to see before this market closes for the night?’ Amy asked. I hadn’t realised that some stalls were already packing up. Time must have gotten away from us.

‘No, I’ve got everything I’d like,’ I think.

‘Then shall we head home?’ she asked. I looked at the time. It was 6:30. The sun was still above the horizon meaning it was still pretty much daylight.

‘We can watch that episode,’ I was rather intrigued, actually.

‘Sounds like a plan,’ she said before we both started to head home. We were retracing our steps from earlier today when someone suddenly stepped out in front of us, looking very suspicious. We both stopped, wondering what was going on. I didn’t trust this guy.

‘Mind if I ask you to hand over your wallets,’ he said in a voice that sounded as if he was forcing himself to be polite. I could tell that he hasn’t had that much practice with that way of talking.

‘Excuse me,’ I stepped in between Amy and this guy. I could smell a strong aroma of alcohol radiating from his body.

‘I said,’ he pulled out a knife from his coat pocket. His breath smelt awful. A mixture of cigarettes and alcohol complete with not having brushed his teeth in a good few days. I couldn’t help grimace at the smell, which made him think he has the upper hand now. ‘Mind if I take you wallets.'

‘We don’t want any trouble,’ I said. My voice broke with nerves. ‘So if you wouldn’t mind stepping to one side, we’ll be off now,’ I knew that wouldn’t work in a million years.

‘Fine,’ he said, ‘if you’re not going to hand them over, I’ll take them myself.’

‘We don’t have any wallets,’ Amy said also sounding scared.

‘Oh,’ he shrugged as if he didn't care, ‘then how did you manage to buy all that stuff, then?’ and he was grinning as if he had automatically won. He took a step forward, ready to pounce and take our money by force. I couldn’t let him get away with this, but I didn’t know what to do. I could use my watch, but would that mean breaking the rule of revealing the watch to people, and being punished by the A.I. inside the watch is the last thing I need. ‘I’ll be taking that watch as well,’ he spat. That gave me an idea. I may be nervous by nature, but if this plan works – and I see no reason that it won’t – then I can prove to myself that I don’t have to always be nervous. I can’t stand up for myself. Well, here goes nothing, I guess.

‘Oh, this watch,’ I said lifting up my arm and showing him the screen. ‘It has many features that you might be interested in.’ Amy looked at me, wondering what on earth I’m doing. I didn’t want to break my concentration so I carried on, fully aware that Amy didn’t know about my watch’s capabilities, so I didn’t expect her to catch on what I was doing. It’ll all be explained in a minute. 

‘You see, it has a really rather awesome looking interface that allows you to navigate its many menus stress free.’ He wasn’t happy with what I’m doing. In a way, I am stalling for time, but I have a plan. 

‘And if you do this, and this, and this, and this, you’ll be very surprised about what will happen next.’ That was all that I needed to say. He had reached his breaking point, exactly what I had planned. I went a little blank for a moment. ‘Whoa,’ I said aloud.

‘I want your wallets,’ and he swung his knife at me, narrowly missing my forehead. I grabbed his hand and twisted it so he was forced to let go of the knife, which clanged on the floor beside our feet. He let out a grunt of pain as his arm was now in an unnatural position. I didn’t want to hurt him at all, so I let go of his arm and he sprung back up. I picked up the knife and pointed it at him.

‘I want you to get away from us and never bother us again, do you hear me?’ I asked. He didn’t say a word. Just grunted and, rubbing his wrist, he walked off.

‘How did you do that?’ Amy asked.

‘Adrenaline, I guess,’ I said having a feeling that my cover story wasn’t too far from the truth. In truth, I had activated – or rather increased – for the very first time, my strength. That was something else entirely; it really was. The moment that I pressed the button, the power that surged through my body felt like… like… And I know this is going to be a very weird analogy, but it’s the closest I can get to fully explaining that sensation. You know when you need an injection and you can feel that cold liquid running through your veins: Yeah, it’s something like that. I know, weird analogy. Just ignore it. Maybe you can come up with something better, I don’t know. Anyway, moving on…

'What was all that showing off your watch thing about?' Amy asked.

'Well, I thought I would distract him a bit. Honestly, though, I didn't know where I was going with that. I guess I got caught up in the moment. 

Amy shook her head at my self-confusion and said, ‘Come on, let’s get home before he comes back.’

‘OK,’ I said deactivating the powers. My muscles lost all of their extra strength and returning to their original strength.

‘You’re full of surprises,’ Amy smiled.

‘I surprised myself as well,’ I agreed.

‘My hero,’ Amy said smiling and putting her head on my shoulder as we walked back to her house.

I think I’m beginning to like my watch.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)