The Watch – Part 173:

I’m so confused. He’s letting me leave without questioning anything. Why do that? Should I be questioning his actions? I feel that there’s something hidden up his sleeve, and the way he’s acting, it’s impossible to know what exactly that is. I thought I had him figured out, but now I have no idea what his game is.

This time, a small room met my eyes. This doesn’t look good. I can sense it in the air that something, another challenge, is coming my way. I stepped inside. The door behind me closed, plunging me into darkness. This place is very much like the room that I was in at the very start. If I’ve just gone round in a very long circle, I would not be pleased at all. A couple of seconds passed before the lights popped on. Because this room looked identical to the one at the beginning, I reached out my hand and moved it towards the wall. Unexpectedly, my fingers collided with the hard concrete wall in front of me. I am now currently standing in a concrete box with no obvious way out. Is this the next challenge? Figure out how to get out of here without using my watch?

‘You’re next challenge is one I have been looking forward to ever since you started. I’m so glad you’re standing there now, albeit with one chance left, but I’m sure you’re going to keep that chance for as long as possible.’

‘Just get on with the next challenge,’ I said getting annoyed with how he takes so long to get to his points, although I must admit my though processes may fall foul of that sometimes.

‘Oh, aren’t you getting a little saucy all of a sudden,’ he said obviously smiling with pleasure at my sudden outburst. ‘Very well,’ he continued, ‘your next challenge will be what I like to call the Wave Challenge. Basically, you have to go up against three randomly picked creatures with varying degrees of strengths and weaknesses, which creates as a whole, varying degrees of difficultly each and every time. The moment you step out of that room, the first wave will begin and the first enemy will spawn. What will happen then is up you. You only have one chance remaining. I don’t think I have to tell you what will happen if you lose that chance. And remember…’

‘I cannot use my watch because my friends will get hurt,’ I finished the sentence for him.

‘I’m glad you’re catching on fast,’ he said, again clearly smiling into the microphone. ‘Any questions before we start?’

‘A few,’ I said.

‘As I expected. Very well, I shall give you the opportunity to ask three questions of which I shall answer truthfully. I wonder if his lucky number is three. Now that would be a waste of a question if I asked that. No, I have three, far more important questions to ask.

‘Are my friends still OK?’

‘They are. You may see for yourself,’ he said before a video screen flashed on and showed Amy and Tom both resting on their beds, staring up at the ceiling. Where that TV screen appeared from, I have no idea, but I’m not going to question it. They screen flashed off to allow me to ask my second question.

‘Why are you just letting me move on without asking any questions you have?’

‘Because I’m really excited for the next round,’ he said without hesitation. ‘I’ve already explained that so that’s rather a waste of a question.’ My intention with that question was to get some understanding of the situation, but I guess that is all I’m going to get, which means I did waste that question. I should have predicted that answer. I have one more question left. What can I ask? What question can I ask that would give me all the information I need. He said he would answer truthfully, and I know he will stick to his word. I really have no idea whether I am confident in saying that he will, but I’m going to treat it as if I am, just so that I can think of that all important question.

‘You say that I cannot use my watch because you know what it can do, what I can do with it. You said that you’ve heard many stories, heard the legend that is the watch and couldn’t believe your eyes when you saw it sitting on my wrist. What do you wish to happen after these challenges are over, whether I’ve completed them or not, take my watch for yourself, prove something, maybe force me to do something?’

‘I will admit that the moment I saw the watch, I did have to take a double-take before I fully registered that it was indeed the watch. I put people through these challenges for reasons I’ve already explained. I’ve heard one particular story that got me curious, and I’m so thankful that I’m able to test that theory today. That story is about the owner of the watch not being able to look after himself without it. If suddenly he was without it, could he win? I want to find that out today. By not allowing you to use your watch even though it is still on your wrist is the closest I can get to test that theory.’

Well when you’ve got my friends captured, I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure that they are safely brought back home. I might have used my watch on several occasions, proving him correct, but I don’t care. He’s got my friends and I will save them. I believe that I received this watch for a reason, and I’m going to act upon that by saving people. I’ve already saved the world many times already, even a parallel one with all those robots. This test and its results is completely invalid because of the reason behind you making me doing it.

‘You have used up your three questions and so we shall move on to the next challenge,’ he said as the door creeped open, revealing a similarly large room as the one before.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)