The Watch – Part 96:

‘That’s a big statement to make, especially one only soon after we’ve met him,’ I said. Amy looked at me as if I didn’t believe her. ‘I’m not saying I’m sceptical, I’m just saying that we need a bit more evidence first, that’s all.’

‘I understand where you’re coming from, but it’s… it’s unexplainable.’ She looked around the area whilst she thought what to say next. ‘It’s just this strange feeling, you know, as if…’ she sighed as she thought what she was going to say is going to sound stupid. I was about to reassure her that whatever she says isn’t going to sound crazy, but she continued before I had the chance. ‘It’s as if the paradox is trying to tell me something – pull me in the right direction, I don’t know, you know.’ She sighed again as she realised that what she said wasn’t what she wanted to say.

‘I believe you,’ I said.

‘You do?’ Amy questioned, looking at me as if I am only saying that to amuse her.

‘I’ve never experienced anything like this before, and so I don’t know what’s going on, do I?

‘So, you believe me because you have no choice to believe me,’ Amy pointed out, ruining what I actually meant.

‘No, that’s not the reason at all,’ I dismissed what I just said with the wave of my hands before continuing on with something better. ‘I mean; I have been interested in stuff like this for years. I have studied so much about it that I know practically everything about it. The many paradoxes, the necessary machines and power needed to punch the whole through the Space-Time Continuum, I know nearly everything there is to know about time travel. When you suddenly presented me with some evidence that proved one way or another that you would one day travel in time – during that one second; that one moment when I thought I wasn’t being crazy by thinking that travelling through time was possible, I immediately forgot everything I knew, as if I had to relearn what I already knew. I believe you that you feel that he is the one who will take the video of you exiting the station, because… well, because…’

‘Don’t worry about trying to finish that sentence,’ Amy smiled. ‘You tried to put some context there and that’s all that matters, especially in this situation.’ That was unexpected, and I knew that my facial expression showed Amy how I felt. ‘Let’s move on, shall we?’

‘Er… yes, let’s move on,’ I said, and we resumed our walking away from the station.

Amy said, ‘our original plan was to go home after today. We should have packed some clothes or something. I guess I naturally believed that we would get all the answers we need in one day. It makes sense that we didn’t.’

‘There is a hotel just up the road there,’ I pointed.

‘How much are each room for one night?’ Amy asked.

‘I have no idea.’ I knew that Amy was only asking that rhetorically, but I answered it anyway. ‘I can’t imagine it being that expensive, though,’ I said after we had come to a standstill outside the Mistley Torne, ‘no offense intended.’

‘I guess we could go halves,’ Amy said.

‘You sure?’ I shouldn’t have asked that.

‘I’m not going to let you pay for both of us, that’s for sure. I would rather sleep in that abandoned station before I let you do that, ‘and when I mean halves, I mean one room each.’

‘I didn’t think anything else,’ I said, hoping that would settle the matter, but Amy looked at me as if she still believed I had meant something else. I was just about to step forward when Amy pointed out something important.

‘But hang on, we don’t have any fresh clothes or toiletries, or anything like that. All we have is what we are carrying now and our money.’

‘Good point.’ I said. We both expected to come here, find out everything we want and need to find and go home before tea. ‘Um,’ I said thinking about what we could do. ‘Well, when it comes to toiletries, the hotel would provide some of them, but we could always get them from Tescos. And as for the clothes, no place is open for us to get something clean to wear tomorrow, so I’m afraid we’re going to have to wear what we are now,’ I explained.

‘If that’s what needs to be done, then I guess that’s what we have to do,’ Amy didn’t like the idea much. ‘But, I’m in, anyway.’

‘Awesome. Now, I suggest we go and book our rooms first so that we have that secured before going shopping for food and everything else.’

‘That sounds like a plan,’ Amy said linking her arm with mine and we headed into the Mistley Torne.

This place was full of people who were getting ready for a night of socialising, drinking and generally having a good time. The TV in the corner was showing the obligatory news channel, which means there isn’t an important game on at the time. A group of people were sitting at the bar, drinks in hand, talking about the day they had or what they’ve got planned tomorrow and so on. This atmosphere isn’t something that I’m used to being in. Normally, I wouldn’t enter this kind of place, but only with someone else. The only time I would is when I am going to meet someone who was already in here. Tom likes spending time in pubs because it’s a great place to catch up on things with other people, but since I am the only person who he can do that with, he doesn’t spend hardly any time in a pub. From the look on Amy’s face, she doesn’t like this kind of atmosphere either.

‘Are you alright?’ I asked her.

‘Let’s just get this over and done with as quickly as possible,’ Amy said. We both walked up to the bar and waited for the woman behind the counter to finish pouring a round of drinks for the group sitting just to the right of us. After she had served every one of them, she spotted us and came up to us.

‘What can I get you?’ she asked in that classic Essex accent. I’m surprised that she hasn’t asked for our IDs yet. Maybe she’s waiting to spring it upon us when we think we’re about to get away with it, even though we’re old enough to be at the bar and drink anyway.

‘Do you have two rooms free?’ Amy asked.

‘Sorry guys,’ she said, picking up a glass and started to wipe it dry, ‘but we have only the one at the moment.’ She had many tattoos all up her arm and had spiky red hair, that would easily trick some people into believing she was who she wasn’t, which is a nice person to talk to.

‘Do you know of any place that does have two rooms?’ Amy asked as a long shot.

‘Actually, I do know the answer to that question, and you’re not going to like it, I’m afraid. You see, there’s a big event that’s going to happen over the weekend and loads of people have come from afar to attend it, meaning they’ve grabbed as many rooms as possible for the weekend. The only room that’s free is here,’ she explained sympathetically.

Amy turned towards me and said, ‘what do you want to do?’

‘Do we have any choice,’ I said as a statement not a question.

‘Is it a single or a double?’ Amy asked the woman.

‘Actually, it’s a triple. One double bed and a couch that folds out.’

‘That’ll do, won’t it?’ Amy asked.

‘Let’s book the room before anyone else does,’ I said happy that we were at least able to get one room.

‘I’ll just go and get the book,’ and the woman disappeared behind the scenes to retrieve the black book where we have to write our names down.

The woman returned with the small black book and opened to a blank page and handed us a pen.

‘How much?’ Amy asked.

‘Fourteen pounds a night per room,’ she said.

‘That little,’ I said expecting it to be much higher. We sorted out the rooms, paid the money, and the woman called for the man who was sorting out some stock behind the scenes to look after the bar whilst she showed us to our room.

‘If you would like to come through,’ she said, holding open the door, letting us go through. We climbed two sets of stairs until we reached the second floor where we walked to the very end. The hallway had a nice neutral colour with an easy-on-the-eye pattern that wouldn’t give you a headache the longer you stared at it, not as if you would find yourself staring at the floor for a long period of time.

‘So, you going to the event as well?’ she asked.

‘No, we’re just here to see the sights,’ Amy said. She’s getting pretty good at making up stories.

‘Here you are,’ she said, showing us our room and holding out our key at the same time. Amy took it and the woman bid us good night before heading back downstairs. Amy unlocked the door and we entered the room. It was a nice room. Even nicer once we found the light switch and turned it on, revealing a cosy looking room with a neatly made bed in the middle with a table complete with a desk lamp. Underneath the window was the couch that would unfold to a single bed.

‘Who’s getting the bed?’ Amy asked.

‘I’ll take the couch,’ I said.

‘You sure?’

‘Positive.’

‘Then put your stuff down and let’s go shopping for what we need. We can grab some food at the bar.

‘OK,’ I said.

‘It’s really weird that she didn’t ask for our ID,’ Amy said.

‘Maybe we look the age we are,’ I said.

‘Maybe,’ Amy said.

***

 We shopped around town for the necessities, grabbing anything that we needed to ready ourselves in the morning for another day of searching and trying to find answers. When we returned to our room, we sorted out what we needed and headed downstairs to grab something to eat.

***

Once we were fed and watered and had readied ourselves for bed. Because we don’t have any pyjamas, we had to settle with sleeping in our clothes, which isn’t exactly the best thing to do, but it beats anything else. Amy climbed into bed and was immediately comfortable. I on the couch wasn’t so much. I kept turning this way and that as I tried to get into a good position.

‘You don’t look comfortable,’ Amy that out.

‘It’s just a different bed to what I’m used to, that’s all,’ I said, finally finding that sweet spot and settling down.

‘Well, good night,’ Amy said.

‘Night,’ I said rolling over.

‘Sebastian?’ Amy said after a couple of seconds later.

‘You’re getting better,’ Amy said.

‘With what?’

‘Knowing what to say,’

‘I should hope so,’ I said making her laugh. We settled down and the silence was only broken when Amy called for me again.

‘Sebastian?’

‘Yeah,’ I answered.

‘We forgot to turn off the light.’

‘Damn.’

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)