The Watch – Part 163:

One second I was standing in an open field, the next I was in a small, concrete box. There were no windows, no doors, no anything except a small source of light above, illuminating the box’s size. I knew that I had teleported to the right place because the watch wouldn’t have misled me like that, but Amy was not in here.

I don’t normally suffer from claustrophobia, but this box was certainly testing my limits of what I can handle. I could feel my thoughts clouding over by the sense of being pushed in every direction; I had to get out of here. Before I lost myself to this box, I slowly made my way through the watch’s menus, finding the setting to give me the strength needed to break through this wall.

‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you,’ a disembodied man’s voice boomed over the invisible speakers. I stopped what I was doing to see where that voice was coming from, but saw nothing helpful.

‘I know, right,’ he said obviously smiling to himself at how he managed to confuse me.

‘Who are you? What have you done with my friends?’ I shouted at the walls.

‘Don’t worry. They’re safe,’ he said.

‘You have a very different definition on what is safe,’ I said.

‘Well, sure, they may be locked up somewhere, but no harm has come to them, so I would say they are pretty safe,’ he explained, trying to weave in a technicality.

‘If you don’t let me out of here, I will force my way out, and you wouldn’t want that,’ I threatened.

‘And I said I wouldn’t do that if I were you,’ he counter-threatened once more.

‘Why not?’

‘Because if you do, harm will befall your friends,’ he teased.

‘I don’t think you know just who you are talking to,’ I said confidently.

‘Oh, but I do,’ he said casually as if we were meeting as old friends. ‘But before we get caught up playing that silly little game,’ he continued, ‘wouldn’t you like to hear what’s going on?’

‘Why?’

‘Because it ‘may’ help you save your friends,’ he said putting a strain on the word may as if I didn’t have much chance. But I really couldn’t bypass any help, even if it is from someone like him.

‘Fine,’ I said.

‘Don’t worry, I’ll make it quick. I know how being in a confined space can make you feel… weird,’ he taunted. ‘The moment you three came to this world, my advanced technology went haywire. You see, I have been keeping track of everyone who successfully crosses over from their world to this one, and then put them through a series of tests. If they succeed, they get to go home, if they fail, I send them off to somewhere random, but not after extracting some of the built up energy within their bodies as they crossed over to this world. I then use that built up energy to perfect my grand plan, which I’m sure you will respectfully accept that I will not explain due to confidential reasons.

‘I then use a sample of that built up energy to locate and teleport other people here so I can repeat the process. But then, I noticed something different about you three. About you specifically, that is. You are wearing the one and only watch. I’ve heard many stories involving the watch. Many that a good percentage of this world believes they are nothing more than fictitious fairy tales. I didn’t know what to believe. How could something that gives you unlimited power to do whatever they hell they want without consequence exist? But when I saw you teleport here, then looked at your watch and then disappear again, I knew then that you possessed the watch.

‘Long story short, I captured your friends, hoped that you would return, which you did, and here you are. You will now go through the same test as everyone else. If you win, you and your friends get to go with no charge, but if you lose, you and your friends will… Well, I’ll keep that as a surprise. Now, I know that you could easily use that watch to break your way out of here, but here’s the catch. If I see you using your watch, I will harm your friends. And I will do so without hesitation, just to add to the tension. Does that sound fair?’ he eventually finished.

‘Are you expecting me to say yes?’ I asked.

‘Well, it wouldn’t hurt, would it?’ he answered.

‘You’re one sick, twisted person,’ I stated.

‘I’m just trying to make my dreams come true, and if I have to do it this way, then so be it.’

‘What will these challenges consist of?’ I asked.

‘Oh, a bit of this, that and the other,’ he said unhelpfully to increase the impossibility and decrease my confidence. I didn’t want to admit or show it, but I was feeling nervous. Not having the help of my watch through certain challenges that will test me in various ways doesn’t sound that good; I’m not that skilled in anything except having stacks and stacks of knowledge about all things trivia. I know a lot about science and computers, sure, but I have a feeling that having those skillsets won’t be necessary.

‘Are you ever going to utter the words, ‘I agree,’ or are you going to continue asking ambiguous questions?’

‘May I present my one condition?’ I asked.

‘Go ahead, you’ve made me curious as to what that might be now.’

‘Can I see Amy and Tom before I start my challenges?’

‘So, you accept?’

‘I do.’

‘Excellent. Then, yes, you may see your friends beforehand. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to speak to them giving where you both are, but you may see that I have kept true to my word and haven’t harmed them in anyway.’

I nodded in acceptance to his conditions and a screen flashed up on the wall to my left, showing Amy and Tom in their own separate glass box. They had their own double bed, fridge, toilet, shower, and a TV.

‘See, they’re fine,’ he said.

‘Very well,’ I said.

‘Then let the challenges begin…’

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)