The Watch – Part 86:

‘Err, so what do we do now?’ Amy asked. We have a few hours to do whatever.

‘I suggest we get a good night’s sleep so that we’re fresh and able to concentrate properly,’ I said. Amy, for some reason, looked a little disappointed about my suggestion, as if she wanted me to say something else, but said.

‘Makes sense,’ she shrugged. Was I supposed to have said something else instead? She turned on the spot and started to make her way towards the door, ‘I guess I had better get going, then,’ she said. When Amy had entered the hallway, an idea popped into my head.

‘Amy, wait,’ I said. She spun around in one smooth movement, with an expression that said, ‘make this a good idea,’.

‘How about,’ I said, feeling a little nervous for the first time in a while since meeting Amy, ‘instead of going all the way home, you could, if you want that is, stay here…’

‘I thought you would never ask,’ Amy said with a massive smile on her face. I haven’t finished explaining my idea yet she knows exactly what’s going on inside my head. How did she do that?

‘Your spare bedroom is tidy enough for someone to sleep in, though?’ she quizzed. I actually had to think about that for a second before saying confidently, ‘yes,’ although I could have been a bit more confident.

‘Right,’ Amy said, clapping her hands together and spinning around once more, ‘so I’m just going to head home, then to pick up some necessities, then come back, and then in the morning we can waste no time in getting ready, waiting for the other to come to the other’s house, and risk missing the first train to Mistley,’ Amy explained before opening the door, stepping outside and closing it behind her. I was left standing in the hallway, staring at a closed door. Surely, she was defeating the idea of going back to hers by going back to hers, but that question is entering dangerous territory, so I had better leave it at that.

‘I had better get the spare bed ready,’ I said, shooting upstairs. Amy’s cute when excited. Even more so when this excited. I’ve never seen her this enthusiastic before, and I know I’ve only properly known her for only a handful of days, but the way we’ve connected has allowed us to know each other well enough for me to know when she has never been this excited before. Yeah, that sentence could have been better, but it doesn’t matter. Not when Amy’s coming back here and there’s a mystery to solve.

***

Loud, fast knocking indicated that Amy had returned. I had just finished making up the spare bed when she arrived and I dashed downstairs and opened the door. She bounced through the door with her bag in her hand, smiling broadly.

‘I’ve just finished making the spare bed,’ I said, turning around and leading Amy upstairs and into the spare bedroom. The duvet was extra thick for maximum comfort and the mattress is made out of memory foam so that you guarantee to get a good night’s sleep and wake up refreshed in the morning. I explained all this to Amy and she was delighted.

‘I’ll leave you to it, then,’ I said, taking a couple of steps backwards into the hallway.

‘Yeah, see you in the morning.’

‘See you then.’ I had my hand on the door handle, ready to close the door when Amy stopped me and said.

‘We had better set our alarms so that we don’t sleep in. If we’re going to go investigating, we need as much time as we can possibly get out of tomorrow.’

‘How about six,’ I suggested. ‘We can set ourselves an hour and a half time limit to get ourselves ready, then take the twenty minute walk to the station, then catch the train at around about eight-fifteen. It won’t be the first train, but if you want to be refreshed and awake, then I wouldn’t recommend getting the half-four train or something.’

‘That makes sense,’ Amy said happily. ‘Now, if you don’t mind, I have some sleeping to do.’

‘Good night,’ I said with a smile.

‘Night,’ Amy said. I closed the door and I headed back downstairs once more to turn off all of the lights and appliances. Once the entire house apart from the landing was in complete darkness, I headed back upstairs and into my own bedroom where I got changed into my pyjamas, and slipped into bed. I fished my alarm clock out of my chest of drawers. I thought I wouldn’t have any need of it since I wouldn’t be going to college for six weeks. I set it to 6’Oclock in the morning. Placing the set clock on top of the drawers in the usual place, which was in the centre of a dust ring as I hadn’t gotten around to cleaning the top of the drawers in a while, I laid on my back, thinking about how tomorrow’s going to go before slipping into a nice, comfortable sleep.

***

As planned, the alarm, beeping its head off, woke me up. My waking up procedure started with wondering what and where that beeping was coming from, and ending with realising that it was my alarm clock, opening my eyes and switching if off. I have gotten used to waking up via alarm clock as I have done it for the past four years, but I still don’t like the feeling of being forced awake instead of waking up naturally. I sat up and stretched my arms upwards before climbing out of bed and heading straight to the bathroom to wash my face and clean any sleep out of my eyes.

I was still half asleep when I walked through the hall from the bedroom to the bathroom – the side-effect of waking up via an alarm. I wouldn’t classify myself a zombie, but I most certainly stumbled about like one.

I opened the bathroom door and walked inside.

A girl’s scream startled me awake much better than any amount of cold water could. My eyes widened with shock with what I had walked into. Amy was standing beside the shower, with a towel wrapped around her.

‘Oh my God,’ I said immediately turning my back. ‘I’m sorry,’ I said before exiting the bathroom in a hurry, closing the door with a slam. I was breathing heavily with shock. I don’t think that’s going to go down well. I felt my face go bright red with embarrassment. I changed my plans and darted back into my bedroom to get dressed. As I was pulling my white T-shirt over my head, I heard the bathroom door open and close followed by the spare bedroom door opening and closing. A couple of minutes later, the door reopened and closed followed by footsteps descending down the stairs. I finished getting myself ready before making my way down and succumb to the total awkward situation that is to come.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)