The Watch – Part 114:

They didn’t say anything so I couldn’t tell who they were by their voices, but the moment they entered the living room, we both got quite a shock.

We were standing there. This doesn’t make much sense. Are they from this world or are they actually us? So much for avoiding wanting to make things more complicated.

Amy stood up automatically from out of not knowing what to do. This was her first time experiencing this side of time travel. Seeing herself must be really quite a surprise to say the least. The other Amy, however, doesn’t appear to be that surprised, as if she’s seen all of this before. That might mean one thing, and if it does than that will help considerably.

I stood up beside Amy and asked how we could help the other us.

‘We’ve come to give you this,’ the other me said handing a piece of yellow paper that had been folded into quarters to me. I took it from him and opened it up. As I was unfolding it, I asked.

‘Who gave it to you?’

‘You did,’ came his reply. Can’t say fairer than that. That has made things a lot easier. I started to read the piece of paper. My eyes widened as I read. I showed this to Amy who only looked at me with even more shock and awe. On that piece of paper were detailed instruction on what to do next.

‘Once you have been giving this piece of paper,’ I read aloud, ‘you now need to travel back in time to when you were sitting at the table having breakfast this morning and give this piece of paper to them. Once they have received this piece of paper, they need to travel into the future to give it to you, but from this perspective, it would be your past-selves.’

Oh, that’s clever. That’s very clever.

‘OK,’ Amy said simply because that was the only thing she could say.

‘Amy, can I speak with you for a minute, please,’ I said.

‘Sure?’ Amy asked wondering what I was up to. We walked into the kitchen and I started to explain what I had put together.

‘Amy, they are our parallel-selves, but from the future,’ I said. I was actually quite excited and relieved at the same time. This is what I specialise in.

‘Well that saves a lot of time,’ Amy said, relieve spreading through her shoulders as well, not only because a lot of confusion as left her system, but also because it does follow some logical path.

‘Don’t you see,’ I said, smiling broadly.

‘No, I don’t.’ Amy shook her head, demanding more information.

‘That’s the difference between the two worlds. This paradox that is happening now is the difference between the world we came from and this one we created by changing time,’ I grabbed my head as the final piece slotted into place. My head physically started to ache from the sudden realisation. ‘We changed time, so Tom never knocked on our door, and so this paradox has replaced Tom.’

‘Oh,’ was all Amy could say after putting the pieces together. This was just another load of shock and awe on top of the rest of it. I calmed down enough to ask if she was alright.

‘I think so. I’m more shocked than confused, to be honest. Seeing myself standing there doesn’t happen every day, you know.’

‘Tell me about it.’

‘You’ve seen yourself before,’ she said getting all excited.

‘I’ll explain later.’

‘I’ll hold you to that,’ she smiled.

‘Let’s get this over and done with.’ It was my turn to look confused. Something just didn’t quite make sense.

‘You don’t look much better yourself,’ Amy stated.

‘It’s just… I have this feeling that there’s a lot more to it than just travelling back in time,’ I explained cryptically.

‘Well,’ Amy said, ‘why don’t we just go ahead and do what we have to do now, then cross whatever bridge we come across later on. If we worry about what’s to come, we’ll be right back where we started – which is nowhere.’

‘I think that’s a good idea,’ I said. ‘Come on, we had better tell them we’re off.’

‘OK.’ We headed back into the living room, said our thanks for delivering this to us and that we’re off to give it to you in the past.

‘Ready?’ I asked after I had inputted the necessary information into the watch. Once more, Amy wrapped her hand and arm around mine, bracing herself for another trip through the Space-Time Vortex.

‘Well,’ I said to our other-selves, ‘see you on the other side,’ and I pressed the button, sending us into the past.

***

We arrived about a half hour in the past, just outside my front door.

‘Now, we’ll be having breakfast,’ that part was redundant, so I continued hurriedly, ‘there were no instructions on this piece of paper – which I need to fold up,’ I gently folded the piece of paper up, making sure that it bent along the creases perfectly so not to change anything. ‘We can then walk in and give them this piece of paper.’

‘Would the door be locked, by the way?’ Amy asked.

‘That’s a good point, actually,’ I said thoughtfully.

‘We could grab their attention by knocking on the door,’ Amy said. ‘Remember, we weren’t given any instructions and this is a paradox. They will find out about us when we get inside, so why not just knock on the door.’

‘Makes sense,’ I nodded simply, making my way towards the front door, raised my hand and scrunched it up into fist. I was just about to knock on the door when it just occurred to me…

‘What’s the matter?’ Amy asked.

‘I’m just imagining what it would be like for them to meet us. They don’t know that we are not them specifically, but from another universe. That’s weird, and I don’t know how well they would take it. We would have to explain everything.

‘Or we could just not tell them,’ Amy suggested casually.

‘Actually, that is the easiest option. OK,’ and I knocked on the door.

Here we go.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)