The Watch – Part 151:

Ding dong ding dong ding dong, knock knock knock knock knock, ding dong ding dong ding…

‘Alright, alright, keep your hair on,’ Amy said jogging towards the door. She unlocked and opened it. ‘Hey, Tom, what brings you around here?’ she asked surprised. ‘Sebastian’s asleep at the moment.’

‘Oh,’ he said not the slightest bit disappointed. He sounded serious. The last time I saw him, he had found out about my watch, and therefore struggled to understand why I didn’t tell him about it straight away. He decided that he needed time to think things over and when he is ready, he’ll come back and discuss things. That moment is, apparently, now.

‘Can I help you with anything?’ Amy asked.

‘When will Sebastian be up?’ Tom asked ignoring Amy’s question. Whatever he wants to say must be heavy on his chest.

‘I don’t know, he has had a lot happen lately,’ she defended tactfully.

‘I’m sure he has,’ Tom said. If that at all sounded disrespectful, I knew he didn’t mean it. The seriousness of his voice mixed with whatever he needs to say must be something he really wants me to here and cannot wait any longer.

‘If you are prepared to wait, I’m sure he’ll be down soon,’ Amy suggested.

‘Do you know when that will be?’ he asked.

‘I’m not sure. He was pretty beat.’

‘I’ll wait a while, then,’ he said. There was a small hint of tiredness in his voice as well, as if he has been awake for so many hours on end at once getting only a few hours’ sleep at any one time. I felt sorry for him. I had put him in that situation. I feel that everything that has happened to him is my responsibility. I need to put this right.

‘How’s Alex?’ Amy asked. Alex was Tom’s girlfriend. They hit it off the moment they first met during the time we went paintballing. Alex actually had a crush on Tom but didn’t know how to say anything. I’m glad that Tom has got someone now, since he can go out a lot more than just sitting at home watching films and playing games. I know, I’m one to talk because I used to do that, but Tom isn’t like that. He’s an upbeat person and so it would be a waste for him to be at home all the time.

‘Alex’s fine,’ Tom said. ‘She’s gone away with her parents for a couple of days.’

‘I’m glad that you’re together,’ Amy asked. ‘I had hoped that would happen.’

‘I’m glad as well. Alex is an awesome person,’ Tom beamed.

I am awake. Tom’s energetic knocking and ringing on the doorbell woke me up. I was just lying on my side, listening to the surprisingly loud conversation downstairs. Normally I wouldn’t be able to hear anything as my door is closed, but this time I found my bedroom door open. Probably for Amy’s sake so that she could keep an ear on me so that she could run upstairs and sort out whatever happened immediately. A nice gesture. Or maybe Amy just forgot to close it when she was escorting me to bed. I was practically asleep in her arms before I even made it halfway down the hall.

I climbed out of bed pulled on my dressing gown, I didn’t feel like getting dressed yet and stepped out into the hall. As I stepped forward, my ankle clicked as it stretched.

‘Sebastian?’ Amy called. ‘Are you alright?’

‘I’m fine,’ I said, ‘just my ankle clicking, that’s all.’

‘How long have you been awake?’ Amy asked concerned.

‘I’ve only just woken up,’ I said honestly as I made my way downstairs.

‘Do you need anything to eat? drink?’ Amy asked.

‘Not at the moment. Thanks for looking after me.’

‘Don’t be silly, that’s what I’m here for.

‘Sebastian,’ Tom interjected, ‘I need to talk to you.’

‘Sure,’ I said.

‘I’ll give you two space whilst I’ll go freshen up,’ Amy said, climbing the stairs. When she had disappeared around the corner and I heard the door to the bathroom click shut, I asked what Tom wanted to talk about. He led me into the living room where he grabbed a chair from the dining room table and sat down. I followed him in and made myself comfortable on the sofa. Now that I was eye level, I could see the bags under his eyes and the whites of his eyes were stained with red.

‘I just want to say that I’m….’ I started.

‘I know you are,’ Tom said before I could finish. Once he started, he couldn’t stop. ‘I just want to say that maybe I shouldn’t have walked out on you like I did, but I didn’t know how best to handle the situation, or anything for that matter.’ He stopped unexpectedly for he just couldn’t get the words out the way he rehearsed it in his head. He rubbed his eyes to try and get focused before continuing.

‘We have been friends for a very long time, all our lives in fact. We have been there for each other through thick and thin, no matter what. We never kept secrets between each other, always telling the other one how we felt about this, that and the other, our bond was unbreakable. And that’s why I struggled to get my head around you not telling me about that watch. I would have thought you would have told me, that’s all.’

‘I should have,’ I said simply. ‘I should have told you the moment I got it. I want to say that I didn’t because I was trying to adjust myself and think about so many things all at once, but I can’t, because that’s not a valid excuse, not when you’re my life-long friend. That’s not fair, and for that I apologise.’

Tom continued, ‘I have thought about everything you’ve said. I understand why you did what you did and said what you said, that’s a no-brainer. You wanted to protect me, and Amy only found out by accident, and you might not have told her either. Another thing that I thought about was how you were going to tell me before I found out via other means. You were going to explain everything before that crazy person showed up. Maybe I would have understood more than I did, but I do know that I would have questioned why you didn’t tell me before, and why you even considered no telling me in the first place, but you’ve already answered that. It’s only logical that you have a lot to think about, and so…’ he sighed, ‘I do forgive you.’

I smiled. ‘You that means a lot.’ He smiled back.

‘What was the strangest part about all of this,’ he said, ‘is when I saw you on the news, stopping that runaway train. Now that I know it was you, that feels very strange thinking back and not having a clue who the heck that person is. My first thought was some government experiment that went surprisingly successful,’ he said with emphasis on the absurdity of that possibility.

I chuckled, which allowed him to smile once more.

‘Just understand one thing, though,’ he just remembered he wanted to say.

‘Anything.’

‘It did hurt me, when you didn’t tell me, and I would have told you straight away if I were the one with that device.’

I nodded, accepting his terms and conditions, which he was happy about.

‘Now that we’ve gotten all of that out of the way, I want to move onto the other reason why I came over.’ He had caught my curiosity. ‘It would seem a little weird if I were part of you new world and just stand around doing nothing. I want to help you.’

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)