The Watch – Part 164:

During the early hours of Sunday morning, I was hit with a sudden and strong bug. I was bedridden for two days. I knew Sunday's Jerry's Journal was scheduled and ready for uploading, but I knew Monday's post, Mum's Monday, wouldn't be uploaded yesterday. I would like to apologise for missing yesterday's blog. I hope things will resume as normal starting with today with The Watch - Part 164.

The concrete walls flickered and disappeared, indicating that they were actually holograms all along.

            ‘It’s strange that no one has ever tried punching the wall,’ he said. ‘Someone was about to, but opted out for they didn’t want to break their hand,’ he then laughed darkly, ‘that would have been so funny to see her reaction of there not being a wall there in the first place… Anyway, yes, challenges… You can walk forwards, you know,’ he said noticing that I was standing in the same place. I was merely waiting for him to finish what he was saying, but I guess I have no choice but to walk forward.

            A similarly small room sat in front of me. No doors, no windows, nothing, except there was a door at the other end.

            ‘Your first challenge is a simple one. Figure out the answers to the questions on the doors. Get the answers right, and you may proceed, get the answers wrong, well, you get another go at it, but fail two more times, then you will ultimately fail the test and you and your friends will suffer. There are three doors in total, each question will increase with difficulty, and you won’t have any help from me. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it,’ he said before going quiet.

            I gingerly inched my way across the room until I reached the door. I knew that this was going to be a very long shot in the dark, but going by what had just happened, then I wouldn’t put it past him for doing this. I raised my hand and placed it in front of the door before pushing it forwards. It hit solid metal.

            He laughed over the speakers before going quiet once more.

            There was a screen in the middle of the door displaying the first question.

            What’s the odd one out: Car? Car? Car? Bike?

            What sort of question is that? I was expecting an incredibly difficult question that would test my knowledge right up to its limit. And then I get something like this. The answer’s obviously Bike…

            ‘Hang on,’ I said pulling my hand away from the screen. ‘There has to be a catch here.’ The concrete walls were a hologram. Not what they seem. There’s a very good chance that he may have applied that same level thinking to his questions. But, if I were to take the opposite route that would mean the answer to this question is car, and I can’t see how that makes sense. There’s no telling me what colour they are, there’s no telling me how many wheels each car has, how many doors; there’s nothing helpful. The answer has to be bike. There is no evidence to suggest otherwise.

            ‘Do I get three chances for each question or across the board?’ I asked. No answer. Exactly what I was expecting. I’m so glad there isn’t a time limit otherwise I would be in a state of panic, if I’m not already in one right now.

            I’m falling into that trap of over-thinking it again. Mainly because I just don’t know whether there is a catch or not.

            I have to go for bike. But I’m still getting that feeling that it’s supposed to be car. But if it is, what one is it: There’s three cars. Usually, when I met with something that cause me to be indecisive, I would usually go for the middle one. If in doubt, go for the middle one. But here, I can’t be sure that’s going to be the best choice. I can’t just blindly pick and hope for the best. I have to work out the actual answer or I won’t advance to the next door.

            OK, let’s think this through. Logically, the answer would be bike because it’s the only one of its kind in the list among many other factors that makes bikes different from cars, but flipping that logic upside down; illogically speaking, the answer would be car because… Well, because of the many differences between a car and a bike. OK, so, if I take that into account, the car would be the answer because of the same reasoning that the bike is the answer, which would ultimately mean they are both the correct answer… and the wrong answer at the same time. That made no sense whatsoever.

            OK, imagine the scenario that I’m on my bike, thinking that the event that I’m going to is a car show. I would look pretty silly being the only person with a bike at a car show. It would be rather comical. But if you flip that on its head, but keep the number of cars and bike the same, then the cars would be the odd one out because there are probably hundreds of cars at a bike show, making everyone else the odd one out. That’s a pretty solid reason behind car being the answer, and if you take into account the strong chance of his level of thinking, that makes two very solid reasons behind car being the answer. That’s one more solid reason more than bike, which tips the scales in favour of car.

            There is still a good chance that this is a very easy question just to make me go through all of this thinking for nothing, but that doesn’t seem his way. Although, saying that the questions are going to be very hard when they are in fact incredible easy is his sort of thing as well, which would then bring me back to square one as I try and figure out how his head works, and that’s an impossible thing to do. Everything he has said could have been a lie, and that’s terrifying, but I just have to dive in with both feet and… I don’t really want to hope for the best, but I think I’m going to have to.

            Here goes nothing.

            I pressed car.

            Nothing happened. Did that mean I got the question wrong?

            ‘I will say that you’re not the first person to have figured that out, you know,’ he said, which meant that I got the question right. I never felt so relieved in all my life, only to then remember that I’ve got four more questions to do before I can move onto the next challenge, and considering that each question is going to get harder and harder, I am in for one heck of a mental ride.

            The door clicked and clunked before slowly rising upwards, revealing an identical corridor with an identical looking door in front of me.

            Question number 2.

TO BE CONTINUED…