The Watch - Part 184

It was a feeling like no other. I couldn't see a thing. I felt enclosed, as if I was trapped in a small room, yet at the same time, as if I was floating through the empty nothingness. Weightless. I was conscious the entire time I was floating through this strange phenomena, yet, I have no feeling. I try looking down at my body and see nothing. I lift my hand up so that it is nearly touching my nose and still I see nothing, and I try touching my face and, as expected, I feel nothing. At least I still have proprioception. It was as if I was just a conscious mind that has been separated from its body.

I think I’m travelling somewhere, which is a good thing considering that was my intent when I pressed the random button on the watch, but where am I going? What will be on the other end of this tunnel of nothingness? Will I recognise it? Will it even be something similar to my home planet, or will it be or will it be something different entirely?

There's no sense of time, where I am. I have no clue about how long I will, or how long I’ve already been here. In fact, there's no sense of anything. I know I'm still inside my own head, but I have lost all connection to the real world. Everything has changed and I’m starting to dislike it.

A new feeling: Claustrophobia. That feeling you get when you’re trapped inside a small box, except I’ve got the added problem of travelling through empty space of never-ending blackness. I stretch out my arms to see if I could feel anything surrounding me and, as expected, nothing. Yet the feeling of claustrophobia starts to increase tenfold.

There's no sound, just silence. Normally, even in the quietest of rooms, you would be able to hear your own body keeping itself alive: The pumping of the heart, the sound that your digestive system makes, yet I hear nothing. For the time being, I have no senses to guide me - unable to see, unable to hear, unable to touch, yet somehow, the feeling of claustrophobia is continuing to increase exponentially.

I'm not guiding myself. Whatever I'm in is pulling me forwards, straight and true, hopefully nearing a destination.

I feel something new. My feet; I have feeling in my feet? And they are telling me I am standing on something solid. Have I come to standstill? Is this it? Is this the end?

No. I know this isn't the end. I don't know how I know, but I know that there's more to come. Should I brace myself? Should I stand perfectly still and wait for it to happen? Or, should I interact with the nothingness even though I have no body to interact with? It's hard to tell when you are only consciousness floating through an ocean of nothingness.

Something has penetrated the dark. A small bead of light has popped into existence, right in front of my eyes. Or was is it a great distance away? Who can tell? As bright as it seems, it cannot illuminate the dense darkness surrounding it.

It doesn't seem to be getting bigger nor does it appear to be moving away, either. It's just sitting there, waiting. Waiting for what? Me to move towards it?

I try to lift up my left foot but it was stuck firm to the solid ground.

Then the beam of light starts growing. Whether it was getting closer or growing in size, I couldn't tell, but it was growing at a great speed nonetheless. I want to move out of the way, duck underneath it so that it doesn't collide with me, but I have no knees to bend. For the time being, I’m stuck firm. All I can do is let the light hit me.

Unable to close my eyes, I brace for impact.

Nothing comes.

Instead the light engulfs me. Wrapping itself around me, making me feel warm and comfortable. The light isn’t too bright now. But now, the colour white is making up the nothingness.

I remember this experience. This was the first time I travelled through the Void. Travelling through the Void is something I cannot describe save from what I can see, and I saw absolutely nothing, apart from the lights that signified my travelling from one universe to another.

Does that mean I am in the Void? Doesn’t feel like it. Strange.

Where am I now?

I feel as I’m lying on something solid. I can’t move my head. Something’s attached to my head. Something’s inside my head.

Is this what I’ve been missing all this time?

Am I…

I have haven’t I?

How?

I have been, haven’t I?

How?

Something’s inside my head.

No. I will not allow that thing to enter my head again. I will not. I. Will. Not. Allow. That. Thing. Inside. My. Head. Again.

My eyes are still closed. I want to open them. Something’s stopping me. Is it that third thing that I haven’t figured out yet keeping my eyes closed? Possibly.

I want to go home.

I want to go home.

I want to go home.

I’ve never wanted to go home more than I have now. But I need to save Tom and Amy first. I can’t leave them. I need to rescue them.

Can I do something?

I need answers.

Help me.

Please help me.

‘Interface, help me.’ I’ve spoken for the first time in ages. How long it has been since I last spoke, I have no idea.

‘I want to go home. I want to go home. I want to go home. Interface help me. I want to go home. Please help me. Please help me, Interface. I want to go home. I want to go home. I want to go home.’

I’ve never wanted to go home more than I have now.

Something’s new.

I’m moving.

I… travelling?

I fall onto something hard. My head. Nothing’s inside it anymore.

My eyes open slowly.

TO BE CONTINUED

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)