The Watch – Part 195:

(In Tom’s perspective)

After Zaylor’s third visit, telling us that his plan is going exactly how he wanted it to, and that we shouldn’t try and fool ourselves into thinking otherwise, Amy and I resorted to pacing about once more.

Do I believe him? No, of course I don’t. And neither does Amy. If I ask her that she would tell me straight that she doesn’t believe that Sebastian isn’t under his thumb and that he will come and get us any minute now. But even after convincing ourselves, what have we actually achieved? We’ve only succeeded in making one particular thought more dominant than all the others, and that doesn’t get rid of all the other thoughts. There is still the tinniest of possibilities that Zaylor is telling the truth. But if we convince ourselves of that, then we might as well give up and give in.

Is Amy thinking the same as me, I don’t know. She’s turned her back on me as she loses herself in her own thoughts. I want to ask what she’s thinking, but that would be the wrong move. It would be best for both of us if we think this through ourselves. Maybe after we’ve settled ourselves down, we can talk about it.

There is one thing, though. That one question that I can’t answer other than by saying that Zaylor is telling the truth: I just can’t stop thinking that if he hasn’t got Sebastian, he would have come and got us by now. He can do absolutely anything he wants, without limits; he told me that and going with that statement, there shouldn’t be any reason why he hasn’t arrived yet, so why isn’t he here yet?

I can’t answer at all except by saying that Zaylor is telling the truth, and I can’t bring myself to say that aloud. But I can’t keep it bottled up inside, otherwise that will become the dominant thought and that will lead me to giving up and giving in. I can’t let that happen. I know Sebastian, he’ll find a way out of this. He might have been an incredibly nervous person who barely left the house except when going to school or with me, and he was only ever able to leave the house if it wasn’t for one thing: Never giving up. He knew that he could be confident enough to leave the house more often, to talk to Amy without fearing that everything is going to crumble around him. He never gave up trying to be more confident, and it is that passion that is what I believe will bring him here. I can’t give up on him. So what if Zaylor has him cornered, that only means one thing: Zaylor is going to get what he deserves. He doesn’t know who he’s messing with.

‘Tom,’ Amy called.

‘Yeah,’ I said, noticing that Amy had turned to face me

‘Thank you for not giving up,’ she said.

‘And the same to you,’ I said.

‘So what do we do now?’ Amy asked honestly.

‘There’s only one thing we can do,’ I said.

‘What?’

‘Wait.’

And that’s exactly what we did. There was nothing else for us to do. We’ve worn ourselves out by pacing and we’ve exhausted all the topics of conversation we had. All that we can do is sit and wait as patiently as we can for Sebastian to come and get us. For all we know, he’s out there, searching every nook and cranny he can find any clue, no matter how small, that would hopefully lead him to us. Once I get out of here, I don’t know what I’m going to do. Well, I would celebrate, of course, but after that, what would be the best thing to do? Contact Alex and tell her everything that has happened? Or should I wait for her to contact me? What if she doesn’t contact me because she is waiting for me to contact her, and if we’re both waiting to contact each other, then I won’t be able to tell her what happened, giving her a chance to give me a chance, which may lead to something more? Or, I could contact her and let her talk about everything she has on her mind first so that I can hear what she wants to do next and if she wants to hear what happened here, then that’s OK, but if she doesn’t, then that’s OK, too. No matter what happens, I’m determined that we can get past this.

‘Can you hear something?’ Amy asked suddenly.

‘What’s that?’ I said, snapping out of my thoughts.

‘Can you hear something?’ she repeated. I listened and heard nothing but quiet.

‘I don’t hear anything,’ I said honestly.

‘Are you sure you can’t hear that faint humming sound as if something’s starting up?’ she asked. I listened again and this time, I was able to hear something. It was exactly how Amy described it. It did sound as if something was starting up. Some sort of machine. The moment that I discovered the sound, it started to grow louder and louder.

‘What’s happening?’ Amy said, but I couldn’t hear her.

‘I don’t know,’ I shouted back but Amy couldn’t hear me either. I was looking at Amy when she just disappeared into thin air. I couldn’t believe my eyes. She was gone. The backs of my eyes started to tingle as if I had pins and needles. I tried closing my eyes, but nothing helped. Then, my entire body was hit by something invisible. It was if I had just been pushed to the ground, except I was standing upright the entire time.

I opened my eyes…

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)