The Watch – Part 210:

(Tom’s perspective)

It feels good to feel good. I’m walking through the city once more, smiling for the first time since I got here. I have no worries and no responsibilities. I can use this time that I am away to relax and be myself. Ideally, I would like Sebastian to come and get me right away, but I know that won’t happen any time soon even if – paradoxically speaking – he will be here any second from now.

The sun’s high in the sky, the city’s busy and all the people are minding their own business. Maybe I should try and find Pogo Street again.

It then only occurred to me that when the sun goes down and the daylight is replaced by night, I won’t have anywhere to go to get some sleep. I can’t go to a hotel or a travel lodge, or even a bed and breakfast. The only option I have is to spend the night on the streets. But it’s going to get cold, especially in the middle of the night. I wouldn’t mind getting some kind of roof over my head for the nights that I’m going to be here.

I shouldn’t be complaining that I don’t have anywhere to stay. I should just accept that I am in my current position and move on. But if I could find some shelter, then I wouldn’t pass up on it. I need to refocus my attention to finding a suitable place to stay for my nights. If I could find that one place where I can stay each night instead of having to move from one place to another every night, then that would be perfect.

How about I use the fact that I’m hidden to my advantage. How risky would it be if I walked into a hotel, took one of those keycards and went to that room? Very risky. Too risky. Incredibly risky. I don’t know why I even suggested it. There is absolutely no way that I would be able to get away with that in a million years. If I were invisible I would be able to get away with that, but even then, once I’m asleep, there’s no way of predicting if anybody is going to enter the room, and they won’t be able to enter the room because the keycard is missing. That really has to be one of the worst ideas I’ve thought of. What a waste of time that was thinking that. I need to do better than that.

Being hidden is the best thing to be when you’re in this predicament and so I would like to remain that way. There has to be a certain place where I can go that won’t draw any unnecessary attention towards me.

Are there any abandoned buildings anywhere? I couldn’t see any as I was going about my walking, but there may be a couple here and there. Sure, it might be a bit dusty inside, but if I give it a quick once over, I might be able to stay there. There will be no heating, though. Well, I can worry about that later. First thing’s first: Find an abandoned building. Should I ask one of these people? I shouldn’t hurt as I did ask someone where the bank was. I’ve interacted with many people and still I haven’t been found. One more person wouldn’t hurt, surely.

‘Excuse me,’ I said, picking out a random stranger from the crowd. ‘Do you know of any buildings that need refurbishment around here?’ She looked at me as if I had just asked her the oddest question of the month, but she answered it anyway.

‘The only one I know of is quite the way over in that direction,’ she said, pointing in the direction of that long street I was standing on earlier.

‘Ok, thanks,’ I said, and she walked away, but not before given me one more look. Was that question too weird? I mean, will she think that question is weird enough to be told to the people she knows and they will spread, eventually spreading to enough people so that I will be recognised as the person who asked that really weird question? That’s probably a little bit too far-fetched to worry about. I should just carry on as normal.

Where did she say one was, in this direction? I started walking back the way I had just come from in search for a place for the night.

Nothing so far. Maybe it’s further along. I reach the beginning of the long street once more, looking out at the horizon where the street disappears under. I start walking down it and it didn’t take long before I reached the point where I stopped. A bus appeared beside me and hissed loudly, making me jump. I hate it when that happens.

The strangest part about all of this is the fact that I didn’t see a single bus before now. Only when I’m on this street do I see a bus. I turn around and see that it would have been hard for me not to see that bus. Maybe I wasn’t paying attention as much as I am now. I mean, both times I’ve walked down here, I was searching for something. No, actually, the first time I saw a bus, I wasn’t searching for anything. It was only when I saw a bus that I wanted to find something, which is Pogo Street. I’m scratching my head to figure out where that bus managed to slip under my radar as it is. It literally appeared out of nowhere. Well, not literally out of nowhere… Well, I am on a different planet, in a different universe… but still, out of nowhere is still a hard thing to do… I tell me what: Once I’ve found a suitable place to go for the night, I can then start figuring out how those buses can appear as they do. Sounds like a plan.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)