The Watch – Part 192:

(Tom’s perspective)

‘How long have we been in here?’ I asked Amy.

‘How should I know?’ she snapped. She had fully recovered from travelling through the Void and was now standing up. We kept ourselves active by pacing about our box, but we knew that it wouldn’t make time go any faster. Come on Sebastian, where are you?

‘Alright, I was only trying to make conversation whilst being trapped in a glass box with no way out,’ I stated.

Amy sighed. She looked tired from worrying so much. I wasn’t any better. ‘Sorry,’ she said, stopping pacing and leaned against the back wall.

‘Don’t be,’ I sympathised. I didn’t feel like stopping so I continued my rhythmic pacing before my legs grew tired and I joined Amy at the back where I sat down and leaned against the wall as well.

‘What have you been thinking about?’ Amy asked in her attempt to make conversation.

‘Nothing much. You?’

‘Same.’

Silence. We sat, leaning against the wall, thinking. I lied about not thinking much. I was thinking a lot of things, and I could tell that Amy was as well, we just didn’t know whether it was right to bring them up. The last thing we want to happen is for one of us to say the wrong thing. In a situation like this, what can be the topic of conversation? In the end, I found the silence too loud and I turned towards Amy who had her eyes shut, resting.

‘Amy?’ I called.

‘Yeah,’ she said softly, turning towards me in acknowledgement.

‘What do you think he meant by when he said he heard stories about us?’ There was a long, tense silence before Amy answered.

‘I don’t know. What do you think he meant?’ I knew the question would be directed towards me, but, like Amy, I didn’t know either.

‘I don’t know,’ I said blandly.

‘You don’t think anything has happened to Sebastian, do you?’ Amy asked out of nowhere. It was my turn to answer after a long silence. ‘And be honest about it,’ Amy said just before I was about to say the same answer to all of our previous questions.

‘I believe he’s looking for us,’ I said. ‘We both know what he is capable of but Zyalor doesn’t…’

‘But he said so himself that he knows what Sebastian is capable of,’ Amy said challenging my belief, but it was an honest answer and one that kept the conversation going and hopefully speeding up time so that we can get out of here quicker.

‘But does he, though,’ I said analysing what Zyalor said before. ‘All he said was that he heard stories. For all we know, they could be nothing more that stories that have gone through numerous changes as it went from person to person.’

‘Tom,’ Amy said suddenly.

‘Yeah.’

‘If the stories are true. Are you afraid of what they might be? I don’t want this to happen over and over again.’ Tough question. ‘I don’t know if I should be. We were enjoying ourselves, having fun, and dancing at a concert, and then four meteorites appeared out of nowhere and…’ her casual, relaxed manner quickly changed into a rant, ‘then we end up here. We’re locked in here for an unknown amount of time, and if and when we get rescued, it still happened.’

‘This isn’t anyone’s fault,’ I said cutting Amy off so that she could calm down for a while. She went silent.

‘No one knew that this was going to happen, watch or not.’

‘But it is happening, and soon it will be in the past, as a story. Is this what our lives are going to consist of, always getting rescued?’

‘No,’ I said quickly. ‘I do not think that and you shouldn’t either. It’s not healthy.’

‘Oh, don’t tell me you aren’t thinking the same,’ she said. I didn’t know what to say to that. Is a small part of me was thinking that?

‘I don’t know,’ I said calmly. My uncertainty caught Amy off guard. We were bouncing strong sentences between us until now. Amy went silent once more. I did, too. We didn’t know what else to say.

Then the door slid open. For a split second, we both believed that it was Sebastian. But that short-lived second ended with disappointment when Zaylor entered the room, smiling as if he had just won something. He hasn’t. Tell me he hasn’t.

‘Oh, I’m so pleased,’ he said even more excited than before. ‘Oh, now I get to know the truths.’ Was he talking to himself or us? We found out that answer when he skipped up to the front of my side of the box and said. ‘I never believed in a million years that it would work. I mean, I really didn’t believe that it would, but a small part of me kept a tiny glimmer of hope that made everything go perfectly.’ I stood up as he slid over to where Amy was, who copied my actions. ‘Of all the people that sat in my chair before, I never thought it would be the legendary, Sebastian Spencer.’ He has.

‘You had better be careful,’ Amy said.

‘Please, tell,’ he said genuinely curious as to what Amy had to say.

‘You don’t know what he is capable of. You had better watch out before your plans backfire.’

‘A strong warning. I shall make a mental note of that and continue on with my plans. But, I don’t think I have anything to worry about as he is under very heavy sedation. I don’t think that he will be up and about any time soon.’

‘What are you doing to him?’ I asked. He slid over to me.

 ‘A scientist never reveals his secrets,’ he said.

‘You mean magicians?’ I asked.

‘What’s the difference nowadays,’ he smiled. ‘I’ve got to get back. I only came here to give you and update on what is happening and… and… oh, yes, and to give you something to eat and drink.’

He pressed a green button on one the table on the right of the room and a small patch of floor near the front opened up and a tray of food with a glass of water rose up.

‘As soon as I know of any changes, I’ll let you know,’ and he slipped out of the room once more.

What a disturbing, maniac of a man he is.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)