The Watch – Part 142:

The morning sun penetrated the curtains, brushing over my eyelids and waking me up slowly and calmly. I rolled over on to my back, looking up at the ceiling and feeling the bed gradually get more and more uncomfortable with each minute that passes, forcing me to climb out and get ready for the day ahead. As I was brushing my teeth, I couldn’t help but think of the dream I had during the night. I’ve never had a dream like it before. I’ve had dreams where they fool you into thinking that they are real, that you are awake only to find yourself waking up in bed, but that dream was on another level entirely. I felt the emotions, the pain and sadness, watching the world be destroyed by these horrific creatures, knowing that I couldn’t do a thing to stop them, I hope I never have a dream like it again. My brain must have been working overtime to render all those images, making them as real as possible. I’m surprised I didn’t wake up exhausted.

After I had made sure things were in order, I stepped out into the hall. I took a step towards the stairs, heading for breakfast, when a strange feeling washed over me. It felt as if something was a bit off. There is something about this scene that I just can’t put my finger on. Maybe I was still feeling the effects of the dream? Yeah, that had to be it. If it wasn’t, well, hopefully whatever it is will identify itself after I’ve gotten a decent breakfast inside me. Running down the stairs two at a time, I entered the kitchen where Amy was standing, frying some eggs in the pan.

‘Morning,’ she said without looking up.

‘I didn’t know you were here?’ I said surprised.

‘Don’t be silly,’ she smiled, ‘you gave me the spare key.’ Did I? When did I do that? Amy noticed that I was struggling to remember and so proved that I wasn’t going crazy by showing me the key. Then the memory clicking back into place.

‘Oh, yeah, of course I did,’ I chuckled, lightly tapping my forehead in realisation. I breathed in deeply, letting the smell of the English breakfast fill my nose and get my appetite ready.

‘Did you sleep well?’ Amy asked.

‘I did actually,’ I said. ‘I had an incredible dream, though. It felt so realistic, you know.’

‘I do,’ she said, tipping the eggs onto the plate, completing the breakfast. She handed me the plate, which I took gratefully. We sat down at the dining room table, a plate full of delicious eggs, bacon, toast and sausages, sitting in front of us, and we tucked in. It was the best tasting breakfast I’ve ever had.

‘Where did you learn to cook like this,’ I said through a mouthful. I was surprised at myself that I was able to speak an understandable sentence without spraying bits of food everywhere.

‘An English breakfast is my specialty,’ Amy said. She had already finished her plate and was waiting for me to do the same, but I was savouring each mouthful, allowing my tongue to absorb each ounce of every bite to maximise the taste. Eventually, I had eaten every last crumb, making the plate look as if it hadn’t been touched.

‘How do you feel now?’ Amy asked.

‘Full,’ I said. ‘Ready for the day ahead.’

‘Glad to hear it,’ she said, standing up and taking the plate away, putting it in the dishwasher. ‘Apple juice?’ she asked.

‘I’d love a glass,’ I said. Amy poured two fresh glasses, one for her and one for me and handed me one.

‘Thanks,’ I said, taking a sip. I placed the glass on the table.

‘What have I done to deserve this?’ I asked.

‘Can’t I do something special for you?’ She answered with a question.

‘I never said you couldn’t,’ I said, ‘I just wanted to know what I did to get an English breakfast, that’s all.’

‘Tell me about this dream you had,’ Amy said suddenly, catching me off guard. I guess her changing the subject is answering my question.

‘OK,’ I said. I explained how I was sitting on the sofa, watching the news after I had just stopped a raging fire from spreading any further by using this watch I had on my wrist to give me the power to shoot water out of the palms of my hands. I then went on to explain how I was suddenly teleported to a salt plain by a crazed man known as Magician, and demanded the watch from me.

Then the feeling as if something wasn’t quite right flared up again. I stopped talking as it caught me off guard. I really am struggling to pinpoint what is causing that. It’s not déjà vu, per se, but extremely similar, somehow. I’m sitting here, and I can’t isolate what is causing me to feel this way.

‘Are you alright?’ Amy asked, snapping me back to reality. Man, that dream really did do a number on me, didn’t it?

‘What?’ I said refocusing my attention back to Amy.

‘I said are you alright?’

‘Oh, yes. Yes, I’m fine,’ I said. ‘Now, where was I?’

‘You were explaining how the Magician wanted to take your watch.’

‘Right, yes…’ I explained how I had refused to give him what he wants and so he took things to another level. He performed some advanced magic of some sort, activating this portal thing in the sky, allowing these horrendous monsters to roam free and destroy everything in their path. The feelings that I felt in the dream started to bubble up once more. I felt everyone’s pain, scared, defeated, lonely.’

‘You’re crying,’ Amy pointed out. I wiped my finger across my cheek, soaking it in salty tears.

‘Are you sure you’re alright?’

‘I’ve just never had a dream like it before,’ I said. ‘I’m sure the effects will wear off when I’m focusing on today’s activities. What do we have planned today?’

‘What happened next?’ Amy asked. Why was she so interested in my dream?

‘I don’t know,’ I shrugged, ‘it ended before I could find out.’

‘But what would you do then?’ she asked, pushing me to find out more.

‘I don’t know,’ I said again. ‘I was in a pretty tough situation. I mean, the world had stopped spinning, I had lost the fight. There really wasn’t anything else I could do. To be honest, I’m glad the dream ended when it did.’ I really wanted to move on to a different subject, but Amy continued.

‘That’s unlike you,’ she said.

‘What’s unlike me?’

‘Giving up so easily. You’re always thinking that there’s a way out of every situation that the longer you stay at it and preserver, eventually the solution will fall into place, sometimes without you knowing how you did it. You weren’t thinking that in the dream, were you?’

‘It was a dream, Amy, nothing more, nothing less. I can’t control what happens in a dream. Why do you want to know so much about that anyway?’ I asked, getting a little bit uptight.

‘But do you agree that you are the type of person who never gives up no matter what?’ Amy pushed. She wasn’t going to drop this subject until she gets the answers she wants.’

‘I guess,’ I said.

‘So what would you have done to get out of that tough dilemma, then?’ she demanded.

‘I don’t know,’ I shouted.

‘Did you even think about using the watch?’ Amy asked.

‘What can the watch do? It was a dream, Amy. Nothing more, nothing less.’ Wait, hang on. How does she know what the watch could or could not do? She wasn’t there with me. Besides, how could giving me the power of shooting water out of the palms of my hands help me stop that crazed Magician? The world had fallen down to its knees, a little water can’t save all those people from those monsters. Nothing can. And then the feeling as if something was off flared up once more, even more powerful than before, and it was through that intensity that I finally figured it out, although I wasn’t sure how it was possible.

I didn’t have the watch on my wrist. Of course I wouldn’t, that was just a dream. No, it was more than that. I might have had a dream about the world coming to a standstill, but I have memories of other adventures in my head:

Finding the watch in my living room after coming home from college...

Feeling that indescribable feeling...

The watch attaching to my body...

Hitting the back of my leg on the side table when Interface appeared in front of me for the first time...

Travelling through the Void to that Parallel Universe where I met Amy’s parallel counterpart...

Travelling in time for the first time...

Saving a parallel world from that maniac in the skyscraper, which later turned out to be a rocket programmed to destroy the world...

Then meeting and talking to the one and only Amy and spending time with her...

Saving the shopping centre from that crazed man...

Investigating that mystery behind why she saw herself in that video before she even had knowledge of creating it...

Revealing the watch to Amy, then figuring out that incredibly complex paradox together, creating two new Parallel Universes...

Then coming in contact with Magician...

It’s all here, inside my head. But how can I have knowledge of something that never happened in my dream? That means only one thing. One mind-blowing thing. I’m dreaming. Everything that happened with Magician, the monsters, my feelings, were real.

‘I’m dreaming,’ I said aloud, hoping that would help me process this a bit better. It didn’t.

‘You’re still lying on the salt plains,’ Amy explained softly, sympathetically, letting my brain take in each word without having to ask her to repeat it all over again, ‘the world is in ruins… What are you going to do about it?’

‘I… There’s nothing I can do,’ I said thinking it over. I held my head in my hands, mulling things over. What is going on? Why am I here?

‘Why are you giving up so easily?’ Amy asked. Now we’re just going round in circles.

‘Are you forgetting all that we’ve just talked about? Magician has won, the monsters are roaming free without giving a damn, and the word is in ruins.’

‘So,’ Amy said darkly, shrugging as if she didn’t care herself. I felt angry. How could she not care about the place where she lives being destroyed in a matter of seconds, everything and everyone that she loves being obliterated in mere moments? I couldn’t find the words to express my shock and anger. All I could do was look at her aghast.

‘You have the ability to do literally everything and anything you want. I know you haven’t explored all that the watch can really do. If you actually sit down and analyse all that you’ve done, you cannot tell me there isn’t a way out of this. All you have to do is calm down, concentrate, and the solution will fall into place,’ Amy explained.

‘But…’ I said, wanting her to see the bigger picture.’

‘No, listen,’ she pointed to me to shut up. ‘You were about to give up once before, when all those skyscrapers were hurtling towards the ground, hell bent on destroying that world, but you realised that you couldn’t give up, that there was a way to solve that problem, and if I’m not mistaken, you did just that. So why can’t you solve this one?’ she asked. I couldn’t answer her. She has a point, but this situation is on a much larger scale. I’m facing off against someone who has incredible magical potential, and ferocious monsters that have already destroyed three-quarters, if not more, of the world, and… No, that’s it.

‘Exactly,’ Amy said reading my mind. ‘By not giving up, you are allowing your mind to open up, allow ideas to flow naturally, giving yourself the determination necessary to do whatever it takes to fight back and win.’ She reached out her hand and gently placed it on top of mine. I felt her warmth spread through me, her unrelenting support. Amy believes in me. I can’t let her down.

Amy’s right. I do have the ability to do whatever I want, however I want it, whenever I want to do it. There are no limitations, no rules to follow. I don’t have to obey anything, and when accompanied with my ability to never give up, my determination to solve anything, Magician should watch out, should be worried. And how do I have such a strong ability to keep going no matter what? I make it up. I make everything up as I go along, and by doing so, I don’t have to worry about whether a plan is going to succeed or fail, I can go along with the ride, adapting my actions to whatever was happening at the time. By making it up as I go along, Magician won’t know what on Earth is going on; won’t be able to prepare for it as I’m always changing direction, always changing thoughts, but always staying true to the path that will lead me to where I want to go. Victory.

‘I’m ready to go back,’ I said.

‘Just remember,’ Amy said, ‘that no matter how hard a problem gets, you will always have those around you to support you and help you through it. Always.’

Then the dream started to collapse. My house was the first to disappear, leaving me floating through nothing but whiteness, stretching as far as the eye could see. I could feel myself waking up. I looked around and saw that Amy had disappeared as well.

And then, two figures appeared. One man and one woman. My mum and dad. They were smiling with open arms, inviting me to run forwards and hug them as tight as I could.

‘Oh, Sebastian,’ mum said, ‘I am so proud of you,’ I started to cry with joy. Knowing that you’ve made the people who have supported you happy is the best feeling in the world. ‘We know we haven’t been there for you as much as you would like, but we’re never truly gone. We’re still here with you, in spirit.’

‘I know,’ I said with tears streaming down my cheeks.

‘Your mum and I will never give up on you,’ dad said, ‘just remember that.’

‘I will,’ I was lost in their arms, feeling their comfort spread through me. I was in the last stages of waking up. Only a few seconds to go now.

‘Now you go and show Magician whose boss,’ Dad said, tapping me on the shoulder.

‘I will,’ I said again.

Then they too disappeared and I was left floating through the whiteness, ready to wake up and return to my body, and win.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)