The Watch – Part 179:

He stood in front of me in a casual position as if this was just another day for him. He looked a little out of place. He wore plain clothes: A plain red T-shirt and blue jeans. His hair was long as if it hadn’t been cut in over a year, he wore thick glasses that sat on his nose in an awkward position as if he deliberately bent them out of shape to make them sit better. He had a hunched posture, telling me he was very relaxed. He was the most casual looking person I’ve ever seen. At least he didn’t have his hands in his pockets. Instead, they were dangling awkwardly beside him as if he doesn’t know what to do with them. He had a very monotone expression. It seems as if it would be too much effort for him to make any sort of smile or even a simple expression. He really did look bland.

‘Hello,’ he said.

‘What I don’t understand is how you can expect someone, especially me, to go through all of that and have a simple, casual conversation afterwards as if we were sitting down for our daily afternoon tea,’ I said staring at him as I stepped out of the elevator.

‘Would you like tea?’ he asked, ignoring everything else that I said.

‘Are you going to release my friends or do I have to persuade you,’ I threatened. I was shaking with anger. The last thing I want to do is physically hit him; that is not the person I am or want to be.

‘Are you going to answer any questions that I have. After all, that is what we agreed. I’m surprised you haven’t asked for my name yet,’ he said not even caring one bit about my threat.

I stepped even closer towards him. It was then that I noticed he was a head shorter than I was. I stared down at him whilst he stared up at me. His monotone expression, not shifting one bit.

‘I know that you aren’t going to do anything to me,’ he said.

‘And what makes you so sure,’ I spat.

‘I don’t. But I will be very sure once I’ve shown you this,’ and he very lazily pointed towards a screen on our right that showed Amy and Tom lying on their beds, staring up at the ceiling, waiting for me to arrive. ‘All I have to do is give the command and they will be punished for your actions. How I can do that is through a little device that is attached to the inside of my ear. All I have to do is think the word, ‘activate’, and their punishment will, well, activate.’

‘You wouldn’t dare,’ I said standing my ground.

‘Answer my questions, as we agreed, and I there will be no reason for me to,’ he said simply. I thought about it for a good few seconds, trying to think of a way out of here. All I want is for all of this to be over with. I will not let anything happen to Tom and Amy.

‘Fine,’ I said.

‘Excellent,’ he said, slightly cheerfully, his expression changing only but a millimeter. ‘Now, if you would like to follow me, we can sit down and have a civilised chat that doesn’t involve threats. It brings down the mood so much when you do.’ I don’t get what is going on. I stopped a person trying to cause chaos in the shopping centre, defeated an entire robot army, stopped an evil person trying to take over the world, saved an entire planet from being ripped apart by skyscrapers, and stopped a person who calls himself Magician that was hell-bent on doing anything and everything he could possibly do with a very powerful magic staff to claim the watch for himself, and defeated an entire army of monsters. I’ve done enough things to tell me that no person or no thing is going to stand in my way, yet he is. I feel like I’m not doing enough to save my friends. I feel as if I’m not thinking straight. Maybe it’s my constant thinking that I want this to be over and that I don’t want my friends to be hurt that is leading me down this anticlimactic road. I’ve repeated those two thoughts in my head so many times I’m surprised they haven’t become meaningless already. What am I doing? I’m so much smarter than this. I’m so much better than this. I can do anything. Yet I’m refusing to do anything out of fear?

He led me into a room where two chairs sat opposite one another. He pointed towards the one on the right whilst he was making his way to the one on the left and promptly sat down. As I was sitting down, a screen switched behind him showing Amy and Tom once more. That was obviously there to remind me that I shouldn’t cross any line and stick to what we agreed, which is for me to answer any questions he has.

‘How did you come across the watch?’ he asked not wasting any time.

‘And these questions are not in any way part of any plan to acquire the watch,’ I stated instead of asking.

‘You know that they aren’t,’ he said. I was amazed that he didn’t push for an answer.

‘Here’s the thing that I’m struggling to understand,’ I said. ‘Everything. I’m struggling to understand everything. You trap me in a small concrete wall, threaten me and expect me to complete various tasks, which I agree to for obvious reasons, and now we’re sitting down talking about my watch because that is the whole point of why you wanted me to do these tasks in the first place. One minute you’re asking how I answered every question correctly first time round, and then you don’t bother to challenge me any more even though you knew full well that I was using the watch. I mean, I’ve never heard of so much inconsistency in all my life. It’s as if you don’t have a clue what you are doing. You started this without a plan. You started this with an expectation rather than a goal. Why are you so all over the place?’

‘You are from a parallel universe, are you not?’ he questioned.

‘I am. How do you…?’

‘Then you of all people should understand that there are subtle differences between each universe, each world.’

‘That doesn’t really answer my question,’ I said.

‘But it’s enough for you, fill in the blanks,’ he said.

‘This is precisely what I’m talking about. You’re too all over the place to properly understand. If I wrote this down, the reader wouldn’t understand either. They would put the book down and refuse to carry on. If I were to write this down I would be amazed that they would have gotten to this point where I’m questioning your consistency.’

‘Are you not going to answer my questions?’ he asked.

‘Maybe I have, but you’re just didn’t get it because you’re not fully concentrating on getting things straightened out,’ I said.

‘You still haven’t asked my name,’ he said. Was he trying to avoid the situation or what?

‘Do I have to know your name?’

‘Wouldn’t it make the conversation better? If you were writing this down, surely you would want to know my name so that you don’t have to keep playing the very boring pro-name game.’

‘It may make the story that more interesting if I kept you a secret,’ I stated.

‘Maybe. How did you come across the watch?’ he said suddenly. ‘A straight answer would be better than playing a game.

‘I found it,’ I said.

‘That watch is legendary, according to some people that I’ve spoken to. That watch can give its owner unlimited power to do whatever he or she wants, however they want, without question. And you just found it? How?

I shrugged. ‘I’m still finding that out myself, so I’m afraid I can’t answer that.’

‘What was the first thing you did when you put it on?’

When did I start answering his questions? I thought I was trying to… I don’t know what I was trying to do.

‘Why don’t you read the book,’ I said.

‘A clever answer,’ he said. ‘But are you going to sit down and write this book?’ he asked.

‘Maybe,’ I said simply.

‘So, there is a chance that you won’t sit down and write it. With that, I would like you to answer my question.

‘How did you trick me into answering your first one?’

‘Through my inconsistency of course,’ he said, ‘what was the first thing you did when you put it on.’

‘Changed my clothes from an ordinary set to a suit,’ I said before realising that he had somehow gotten me to answer his question again.

‘Really? You can change your clothes. What else can you do with the watch?’

‘Hang on. You said that your inconsistency tricked me into answering your questions. How does that work?

‘You’re asking more questions that I hoped you would,’ he said.

‘I’m a curious person by nature.’

‘That you are,’ he said.

‘But that wasn’t our agreement. You agreed that you would answer any question I have in exchange of seeing me in person. I have obeyed my half of the agreement, why is it so hard for you to obey your half?’

‘What do you already know about the watch? Those stories that you heard, read; what did they tell you?

‘Enough. What else can your watch do?

‘I can travel to any parallel universe, in time, manipulate time…’

‘Continue,’ he said simply.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)