The Watch – Part 199:

(Amy’s perspective)

We talked until we ran out of things to talk about. We talked about anything and everything we could just to keep our minds focused on anything but the fact that we’re stuck in two glass boxes.

I hope this isn’t a too personal question. ‘Is Alex alright?’

‘She’s fine,’ Tom said. I wasn’t expecting him to answer so quickly.

‘Because she looked surprised when she found out about Sebastian how we fit into things.’

‘Well, we both were surprised when we found out about everything. You can’t say that you weren’t surprised.’

‘You know what I mean,’ I said sternly. Now that we’ve started this, I guess we’ve got to see it through. I hope this doesn’t get too uncomfortable for the both of us. ‘Is she alright with you being connected with Sebastian, or did she go away for a couple of days purely because her parents were going away?’

‘We talked,’ he began. Something’s telling me that I might have asked too many questions, but is answering them just to get to the other side instead of snapping at me. I’m sorry. ‘She said that everything just didn’t make sense. She even asked why I didn’t tell her before. I told her that I didn’t know myself until then.’

‘But she didn’t believe you.’

He sighed, ‘I don’t know. She told me that she needed time to think and that she’ll get back to me when everything’s straight, whenever that is, if not at all. Alex also told me that you should have told her as well. I really didn’t like Sebastian when my relationship was in jeopardy.

‘But you didn’t hate him. That’s why you came back.’

‘You’re right in thinking that I didn’t hate him. He’s my life-long friend, it’s impossible to hate him, but that wasn’t the reason why I came back. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I figured that if I understood more, then I would be able to relay that information to Alex with confidence. And I wanted to understand more so that Sebastian and I could amend our friendship and move on. There’s a chance that it won’t work, and I’m prepared for that.’ I sighed once more. ‘But at least it wasn’t serious.’

‘You can’t say that.’

‘That was our only time we met properly. How do you think she’s going to react when the person that she has liked for many years suddenly turned into a person completely different to what she knows me as? And that her best friend turned out to be the same person? You’ve known her longer than I have, what do you think?’

‘It’s difficult to say,’ I admitted. ‘But you’re learning more about everything is the best thing to do to help her understand more. I admire that.’ I really did. I just hope that I’m showing that.

‘What was your first reaction when you found out about the watch and that he kept the secret from you?’ he asked wanting to know if my answer would help him in anyway. I went too far. He doesn’t know what to say. But I have to be truthful.

‘Well, I wasn’t really in the best of places to have reacted properly,’ I explained, ‘what with my leg being trapped in the floor of an abandoned railway station that is about to fall down on top of you. I was waiting for the roof to land on me. When it didn’t, and I saw Sebastian holding the roof up with his hands – many times his own weight above his head – I was defiantly relieved, but at the same time I had thought I had died, you know. But, when the shock of nearly being crushed and saved by some superhuman gradually wore off, I came to the only conclusion that I could find at the time. He saved my life. It was simple as that. He gave me a second chance, and if it weren’t for him having the watch, I wouldn’t have. The least I could do was give him a second chance. I swore to him that I wouldn’t let his secret leave my lips until he was ready.’

‘Can I say something?’ he asked suddenly. Was he going to direct some personal questions towards me, to even the playing field.

‘Sure.’

‘Have you ever thought that if it wasn’t for the watch, you wouldn’t have been in there in the first place?’

I wasn’t expecting that question. I will answer it, but I hope that Sebastian never finds out. I just don’t want to know what his reaction and thoughts would be.

‘I have,’ Amy said simply. How can I defend myself? ‘But then I thought that if it wasn’t for the watch, he wouldn’t have been confident enough speak to me.’

‘Ah, but if you remember, I sort of forced that introduction because I was a little tired of Sebastian not doing anything,’ he explained.

‘True,’ I admitted again. ‘True,’ I didn’t know what else to say. From out of nowhere, tiredness started to set in. This is taking its toll. ‘And if it wasn’t for the watch, we wouldn’t be here,’ I concluded.

‘But if it wasn’t for the watch, Sebastian wouldn’t have saved all those lives on that runaway train,’ he analysed.

‘Both trains, in fact. Don’t forget the one that was hijacked.’

‘And all those people as well.’

‘And he stopped that person from blowing up the shopping centre,’ I said.

‘And that, too.’

‘Is it selfish of us complain about our problems when there are so many people out there with much worse problems than us?’ I will accept any answer.

‘No,’ he said.

‘Why’s that?’ I asked, curious as to what he has to say.

‘I don’t know,’ he sighed. Oh, he didn’t have anything planned. I don’t want to get stuck trying to figure out whether my thoughts are selfish or not. I might not like what I figure out. I might jump to the wrong conclusions. I need to move this conversation on by finishing it.

‘Are you going to tell Alex about this?’ I asked, backtracking to the beginning of the conversation.

‘I said that I would,’ he said.

‘But you don’t know whether explaining something like this would drive her away even further. That was written all over his face.

‘How would you react if someone that you liked told you that they were trapped in a parallel world for an unknown period of time with the threat that the only person to rescue you is also trapped and in the hands of some crazed man?’

‘Try answering the question yourself,’ I said politely. As much as I do know Alex, I can’t speak for her. Tom has to figure this out on his own, I’m afraid to say. But he was struggling. He couldn’t think of anything.

‘I think that she would sit down and listen to what I have to say,’ he said slowly, ‘then…’ He slumped down with disappointment that he couldn’t finish that sentence. I’m sorry for ever starting this conversation.

‘I would be happy that they opened up,’ I said honestly, going by what I believe. ‘Then I would ask them if that sort of thing is going to happen on a regular bases and depending on their answer, I would develop a suitable answer that I think would be best for both of us. I think she would react in that way.’

‘How can you be sure?’ he asked.

‘I don’t,’ I admitted, simply, ‘but I believe it is the most rational thing to do giving how complicated everything is.’

‘You think so?’

‘That’s what I believe,’ I said, sternly but honestly. I could sense that the conversation had come to a natural end. Tom could sense it as well. Whether he was relieved, I couldn’t tell, but I needed to change the subject otherwise this tension wouldn’t go away any time soon.

‘What’s the one thing you would bring with you to a desert island?’ I said the first thing that came to mind, putting a new spark on the situation. Tom was relieved that the topic had changed. He thought about his answer. I could see it all over his face that he had thought of a good answer.

‘Um… that would probably be an instruction guide on how to survive living on a desert island,’ I said thinking that was a smart answer. ‘You?’ He won’t like my answer.

‘A boat,’ I said, casually. I couldn’t help but smile at his ‘of course’ expression. I’ve been asked that question many times before and that answer never fails.

‘Ah, but hang on,’ he said trying to regain some ground, ‘how can you be sure that you will be able to make it across the ocean in a boat. What about food, water, and other stuff to keep you alive?’ I wasn’t expecting him to try and get me to elaborate. Ah… but…

‘Who says that the desert island is in the middle of the ocean?’ I’m not sure if he’ll be able to get out of the whole he’s just dug himself.

‘Whoever heard of a desert island being in the middle of a lake?’ he asked. Now we’re both in the same whole.

‘You never know,’ I said.

‘Oh sure, yeah…’

‘You don’t have anything good to say to that, do you?’ I said matter-of-factly.

‘No,’ he admitted ‘Call it a draw.’

‘OK. A draw it is.’

‘Good.’

‘Good.’

And then the door on the other side of the room opened once more and Zaylor stepped through.

‘Just to let you know that everything’s going according to plan,’ she said skipping up to front of the box. ‘And I admire your attempt at breaking out earlier,’ she said to me. ‘But as you quickly realised that this glass is very strong. Triple layered, in fact. There’s no way of getting through here, I’m afraid. And I’ve noticed that you have resorted to having a casual chat between yourselves. I’m glad that you’ve come to an agreement to how things work around here and…’

‘What makes you think we’ve agreed to anything?’ Tom said.

‘Are ready to answer any questions that I have,’ she finished, ignoring what I had just said.

‘We’re ready to do nothing,’ I said, standing up and walking towards the front.

‘Careful,’ she said, ‘you don’t want that anger of yours to force its way out again. You could do yourself a serious injury and I simply don’t have the time to have to attend to your broken bones at the moment.’

‘You’re one sick and twisted woman,’ I spat.

‘You’re point being,’ she said.

‘You’re lying about Sebastian,’ Tom said, ‘you’re just telling us lies to get us to do what you want.’

‘Am I?’ she slid over to where I was. ‘You keep telling yourself that,’ and she turned his back and left the room one more. This was starting to become a tedious cycle.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)