The Watch - Part 26

I was awoken by a commotion going on outside. It must have started a while back because, by the time I looked out of the window, there was already a Police car complete with Police Officers who had already closed off the road running down in front of my house, and an ambulance who was treating somebody who was lying on their back on the floor next to a totalled car. From what I can see, the driver must have lost control and ploughed straight into a lamppost across the road from me as it was now leaning at a very cautious angle. I wouldn’t be surprised if it decided to give way and just fall down, and from the looks of things, the police have already thought of that possibility and cautioned it off with tape making sure that nobody goes near it.

There was a fire engine to the right of the accident, with a crew of firefighters, each finishing up on whatever they were doing. The car doesn’t have a roof so they must have chopped it off to get the driver out. It was a rather brutal scene to see.

Many onlookers were standing on the other side of the tape, watching the scene unfold. From the left, saw a pair of headlights pull up and go out, followed by a camera crew and a reporter climbing out. The news station was a little way away from here, but since it was in the middle of the night – I think since I haven’t actually checked what time it is – the roads are clear enough to go the greatest speed allowed straight through without hassle. They quickly set up their cameras and the reporter readied himself to give a detailed overview of what has just happened and what everyone will do next.

I got a little fed up watching it from a distance, even though it was literally right outside, and made my way downstairs, making sure that I grab my dressing gown and shoes along the way. Once I slipped them on, I unlocked the door and made my way to the front gate. I didn’t want to disturb the people at work so I just stood there and watched.

The night was unusually warm, but after a couple of minutes of just watching, it quickly dropped in temperature and I started to shiver, so I wrapped my dressing gown around me tighter, even though I knew that wouldn’t make much of difference, if not at all.

The paramedics were ready to lift the driver of the car up and rest him on a bed and wheel him into the ambulance where he would then be taken to a hospital so that he could then be treated better than in the middle of the road in the middle of the night.

A Police Officer walked passed and I was about to call out to him to ask what happened, but another Police Officer called him away.

I watched until the driver was safely inside the ambulance and was making his way to the hospital at speed. The blue flashing lights shone exceptionally brightly in the dark night. Even when the ambulance turned the corner, I could still see the faint glow of blue flickering at a rapid rate before they faded away completely. The Police officers would stick around a little longer until someone comes along and remove the car. Once done, they would sort out the lamppost and then reopen the road. There really wasn’t much left to see after the ambulance left so I decided to call it a night and head back inside.

The cold air had woken me up a bit so I didn’t much fancy going straight back to bed as I knew I wouldn’t be able to get some sleep and all that I would do is constantly toss and turn whilst getting very uncomfortable. In the end, I decided to pour myself some apple juice and sit in the living room. I turned on the TV, scrolled through the channels until I found the one broadcasting live the scene right outside my house.

‘As far as we know, the driver was not drunk at the time of the crash. The fault could be with the car instead, however the cause of the accident is unknown at this time, but a team of forensics will assess the car to see whether it had any technical issues or something else entirely. We will stay here for as long as possible, giving you an on the spot update as and when we get them,’ she said in a strong Northern accent. Her long red hair was flowing from side to side as she constantly turned her head this way and that to get a good picture of the scene so that she can relay that information to the viewer.

As I was sitting, an idea formed in my head.

‘No, that’s not going to work,’ I face palmed myself to show just how stupid I was just then. I only got a couple of hours sleep and it is now rather late at night, so I guess I can let myself of the hook this one time. The clock in the bottom left hand corner of the TV told me that it was actually 3AM, not midnight, but any time that I am not normally awake is the middle of the night.

‘But I’m going to do it anyway,’ I said as I opened the watch’s menu, selected the Time Travel section and inputted the time and date that I thought was right.

According to what Interface said earlier, I don’t have to worry about changing the future as instead of wiping out this timeline’s future, I would just be creating a new timeline, one that I can jump to. I think that’s what he said. I’m too tired to try to remember everything that he detailed. I’m just going to go back in time and prevent that car crash from happening.

‘What’s the worst that can happen?'

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)