The Watch – Part 201:

(Tom’s perspective)

Struggling to breath. My eyesight is blurry. I can’t move. I want to move, but every muscle in my body is rigid. I’m hearing voices all around me, but my hearing is too muffled for me to make out any words. Then I feel my feet hit something solid. I collapse to the ground in a pile, every muscle in my body suddenly limp. Then nothing but darkness.

***

Struggling to breath. Am I conscious? I think I am. Can I move? I think I can. Nothing but darkness.

***

Struggling to breath. I am conscious. I can move. There’s sunlight. Muffled voices all around me. My eyesight slowly rights itself and I’m staring up at the sky, the sun’s rays being blocked by two buildings sitting opposite one another. The coldness from both building’s shadows washes over me as my feeling starts coming back. It’s as if I’m waking up from being in a deep sleep but with my eyes wide open and I’m dreaming of being in this exact position I’m in now, which I’m slowly figuring out to be an alleyway of some sort.

My head starts to spin the moment I sit up, but I quickly neutralise that by breathing in deeply to give my body all the oxygen it needs to wake up properly. After a couple of deep breaths, my head stops spinning and my eyesight is back to normal.

So I’m in an alleyway now. The last thing I remember is standing in that glass box talking to…

Amy!

I spin around a bit too fast and nearly lose my balance. Where’s Amy? Where’s Sebastian? Where am I? I can’t focus on any of those questions just yet. As much as I want to, I just can’t until I’m back to being one-hundred percent.

As I’m trying to keep my balance, I spun on the spot. That’s when I spotted the dumpster filled to the brim with rotten rubbish and foul smelling out-of-date foods, I instantly could smell it and it was horrid. That intense and thick smell actually helped kick-start my brain into action once more as I found myself about to fall into that it. I fought with myself to keep me upright. I was not going to fall into that dumpster. I swung my arms around in a wide circle to force my feet to stay on the ground. With my brain having to compute so many actions at once after being unconscious for an unknown amount of time, I was rather surprised that it righted itself quickly. I found myself standing upright with my balance back to normal. Then the smell from the dumpster made itself known once more. I grimaced and turned away.

Reaching the end of the alleyway, a busy city with roaring traffic and hundreds of people walking in several directions, either talking on their phones, listening to music, or just lost in their own thoughts greeted me. A car on the other side of the road was getting ready to pull out into the road. It drove straight in front of an advancing car, in which the driver slammed on the brakes causing the car’s front to dip down so the bumper was just missing the ground and hammered the horn as hard as they could to generate the loudest sound they could to grab the other driver’s attention. The booming sound smashed against my eardrums, causing me to wince as if I had the world’s worst hangover, except I don’t have a headache. The driver inside the car that nearly caused an accident responded by raising their hand in an apologetic manner before continuing to pull away. The people who were lost in their thoughts snapped back into reality and turned their heads to see what all the commotion was about, the people with mobile phones put a finger in the opposite ear, and the people listening to music carried on as normal. I’m back on Earth. That’s a good sign. But where are Amy and Sebastian, and where am I?

It was at that moment that my throat decided to let me know how badly it needed water. I wasn’t dehydrated, that much I could tell, but I needed to drink. But I don’t have any money. That actually doesn’t matter because it is now a legal requirement to give out tap water for free in any food outlet.

Stepping out of the alleyway, I slowly walk forward, trying to look for a café or a restaurant or any food outlet in the area. I only noticed that the sun was hidden behind a thick layer of cloud when it moved out of the way, allowing the sun to be free. My eyes went blurry as they had to adjust to the sudden brightness and I collided with someone walking in the opposite direction.

‘Whatc where you’re going, will ya,’ he said angrily.

‘Sorry,’ I said.

‘I should think so,’ he said rudely before continuing on his way. When my eyes had fully adjusted, I tried looking for the person who I had walked into, but he had already disappeared into the crowd. I swallowed and my throat stung once more, pushing my attention back to looking for some water.

Where’s a café when you need one. I can’t wonder around here for hours. Not in this state.

‘Excuse me,’ I asked a random stranger who stopped. ‘Where’s the nearest café or restaurant?’ I asked faintly.

‘Just around the corner. There’re about three cafés in a row,’ he pointed.

‘Thank you,’ I said.

‘No problem,’ and he continued on his way. Rounding the corner, the three cafés the man told me about shone with many bright colours. Rushing forward as fast as my legs would carry me, I crossed the road and bundled straight through the door of the nearest café. A couple of people watched me curiously, but all I cared about was getting some water.

‘Can I help you?’ a woman who appeared to be in her early twenties asked.

‘Water, please,’ I said before I gave off the wrong impression.

‘Sure,’ she said. I could tell that she was asking what my problem was, but she didn’t say anything as she grabbed a glass from the cupboard above and filled it up with tap water.

‘There you go,’ she said handing it to me.

‘Thanks,’ I said unintentionally snatching it from her and downing it in one. The cold water hit my throat, instantly soothing it and drowning any pain.

‘Thanks,’ I said again putting the glass on the counter. The woman was watching me, now even more curiously.

‘May I have another?’ I asked.

‘Sure,’ she said going back over to the sink.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)