Film of the Week: Geostorm

I wasn't expecting much from this film, to be honest. It was semi-predictable, it was a way to show off a heck of a lot of CGI, and I was able to conclude that it was The Day After Tomorrow but with more science than nature. However, it was entertaining. It's not film of the year material, but it was certainly something you can watch with your family. 

It's a unique aspect on a topic that has been tackled multiple times over the years, and it's apparent that there's not much more you can add without repeating what has already been done, however, instead of constantly shoving that message in our faces with each scene, it starts developing a mystery, who sabotaged the satellites and making the weather on Earth go completely haywire.

The way this film is, I was expecting them to go down route one on who would be behind the whole operation to take down the satellites, but I was happy they didn't, however one particular aspect of the mystery, who was hired to plant the virus was immediately revealed by the not-so-subtle mannerisms of a certain character - he definitely stands apart from the rest.

I wouldn't be surprised if this fell off people's radars after a while, but I doubt it would be completely forgotten. Whilst I did find it entertaining and I probably would watch it again if I wanted to watch something to wind down with after a long day and I don't have to think too much to understand what's going on - I can grab my bowl of popcorn, sit on the sofa with my blanket around me and have a good night in by myself - that's where this film peaks.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

A Big Announcement

It has taken me a while, but I have finally released my second book, The Watch - Book 1. 

When I first started writing the story, The Watch, I was a project only for myself. It was something that I would do in the background and had no intention of publishing it. However, the more I wrote and the more the story developed, I was growing more and more proud of how of it all overall. My ultimate goal is to make a living out of my writing, and so I figured it would be a wasted opportunity not to release the story. 

To keep it from overtaking my projects in the foreground, I kept the story segmented in parts, with each one containing 1,000 words or more depending on what happens during that specific part of the story, and it worked in that format, and so I wanted to keep it that way. After many days thinking, the obviousness of a blog popped into my head and soon the first part was released, starting Sebastian Spencer's story and how his character develops as a result of being in possession of The Watch, a very powerful technological device that allows him to travel in time, to another universe, increase his physical strength, and many, many, many other things.

As of now, 217 parts have been released. I have so much I want to share with you; Sebastian's story is far from over. It took a few months, but my story steadily grew in popularity. My ultimate goal was still there in front of me - to make a living off my writing, which meant I needed to make a few opportunities if none magically popped up, and one of them is releasing the parts as a book. 

Making the transition from blog to book was easier than I first imagined it to be, purely because I had already cemented how I would like to present the story. Parts 1 - 50 is one story arc, and parts 51 - 100 is another story arc, and parts 1 - 100 collectively make one book. All I had to do was put all the parts into one continuous word document, self-publish it through Amazon, and push the publish button. The link for both Kindle version and paperback version are available at the end of this post. (Note: I only released the paperback version purely so I can hold the book in my hand, as a way of completing my achievement, and putting it beside my first book. If I can make a pile of my books beside me, I would be a happy person.)

I would like to thank each and every single one of you who has either read my story or read any article on my blog. It is still blowing my mind that someone, somewhere is interested in reading what I've written - it's something I don't think I will ever get used to.

Thanks again.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Watch-Book-1-Antony-Hudson-ebook/dp/B076J7RZ5T/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1508955815&sr=8-1

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

Film of the Week: It Follows

As this is the final week of horror movie month, as last week’s film, The Death of a Ghost Hunter scared the heck out of me more than any supernatural horror movie had in a while, I wondered if it was possible to go one better than as a way of saving the best to last, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to find anything that got anywhere close to spooking me as that film did. So, I figured instead of talking about a film I haven’t seen before, I would recommend one that I have – one that is my all-time favourite horror movie film to date; It Follows.

I have talked about this film before, a while back even, and my thoughts have remained the same since the first viewing. It Follows emphasis the background more than any horror film has – so much so that you do find yourself watching behind the characters more than the actual characters themselves just to see if you can spot that figure slowly walking towards then. It can be a recognisable face or a stranger in a crowd, and it’s not knowing who it is portraying or when it will show up is the scariest part, subsequently creating a crazy amount of tension.

After a sexual encounter with her boyfriend, Jay is pursued by a supernatural entity that never runs, only walks. You can run, and you can run as far away as possible, but it will always catch up to you, and if it does catch you, it kills you. If it is successful, it then starts pursuing the person who gave you the curse – you can pass it on by the only way possible, but if that person isn’t lucky enough, it will start chasing you again.

After multiple viewings you do naturally become desensitised to the horror and it doesn’t become scary or tense anymore, admittedly, but you would expect that with all horror movies to be honest – but what makes this film stand above most horror movies is, despite you’re not scared anymore, you would still be invested and entertained by the story that happens in the foreground.

I could focus this article on analysing the symbolism that I believe is hidden within, and you may be interested in what I have to say, but this type of film is seen differently by the individual. Think of it one way, think of it another way, or think of it in one specific way; it does change drastically depending on the perspective, and so I do thoroughly recommend watching this film if you haven’t yet – and because of the many ways this can be seen as, it’s remains fresh and doesn’t get boring quickly.

After viewing this film for the first time, it was interesting imagining myself in that situation. A stranger in the crowd, or maybe a recognisable face – not knowing who or where it is coming from, that’s what spooked me the most. My own imagination after a couple of days watching this film scared me, something that only one other film has done before – the aforementioned, The Death of a Ghost Hunter.

Next week the films will resume their normal randomness; however, I am strongly considering do a Christmas month during December.

I would like to wish everyone a happy Halloween.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

The Watch – Part 219:

(Tom’s perspective)

‘So,’ Tim said once we had left the site and were walking down the street. With it being nearing the end of the morning rush hour, there isn’t as many people walking about as there were yesterday evening when they were all leaving work, but the people who are out and about still haven’t noticed us at all. Tim doesn’t appear to be bothered by that fact at all. In fact, he’s acting opposite to what I thought he would be. Before Tim could continue with what he was about to say, I interrupted him and asked why.

‘I’ve been on the streets for two years now,’ he explained, ‘and at first it was a very daunting feeling, but it’s a feeling that I knew I ’ad to get used to very quickly as I knew things wouldn’t be changing for a very long time, if not at all.’

‘So what happened?’ I asked, ‘if you don’t mind my asking,’ I added as I accidentally sounded a bit pushy.

Tim chuckled, ‘you ‘aven’t told me what ‘appened to you yet,’ he said. I can’t argue with that. All I said was that it was complicated, and his response was that everyone’s story was complicated. We’ve all had things happen to us that we weren’t able to recover from.

‘But even if I did explain it to you, you wouldn’t believe me,’ I said. My biggest fear is that I’ll get labelled the weird one. Who else can say what I’ve been through? Who would believe me? I think it’s best if I keep this to myself. However, sooner or later, I will have to say something, and that will mean I’ll have to make something up. I doubt I will be able to do that convincingly.

We turned out of Long Road. I knew exactly where we’re going, because Tim mentioned it last night. We’re going to the shop where I took those chocolate bars from. That’s a new level of complication. Of course I was planning on returning their many more times to take more stuff, so from that perspective, there’s not really that much to be afraid of, but after knowing that the cameras were faulty, I got away with it by the skin on my teeth. A new set of nerves bubbled up through my stomach the closer I became to the shop. Tim is obviously going to talk with someone, and that means making us both known, and that means there is a slight possibility that someone in that shop will recognise me from yesterday.

‘Are you alright?’ Tim asked, noticing my nervous look. ‘You’ve gone white all of a sudden. You can’t be that nervous to tell me your story, surely?’ he asked. Now what do I say. Oh, I’m starting to feel as if I shouldn’t gone with him.

‘I’m fine,’ I lied, and I’m pretty sure Tim knows that I did, too. He didn’t say anything though.

‘It ‘appened faster than I could contemplate,’ Tim started to explain from out of nowhere. ‘Usually, when you are on the road to losing everything – your job, your house – it’s a steady progress designed to give you a chance to claw at least something, no matter how miniscule, back so you can try and work your way back up again. But that didn’t ‘appen to me. I never got that chance. I was the type of person that used to sit back and let things take their natural course, without actually doing much myself. I used to set things –  projects – up, release them into the world, and then do nothing to ‘elp them grow. Once they were out, that was it, I sat back and waited. That was the type of man I was. I waited.

‘And my projects did take off. They were growing steadily, healthily, more and more people became interested and soon it was a very profitable company. I had successfully built a company by just waiting for it to become one. Who’d a thought it?’ he shrugged, ‘many people were surprised that I ‘ad made a name for myself by doing it that way, but they were the ones that criticised it from the very beginning, told me that I had to get up off my backside and do something.

‘And before I knew it, and before I could control it, things started to go downhill. And very fast as well. Because I didn’t put as much effort into my many projects as I should have done, when they started to decline in popularity, I just sat back and waited for it to grow once more, and it was at that point that they started to collapse. Because I had too many projects going at once, I didn’t know how to control them; they got too big for me, because I wasn’t there to make sure I understood their growth. And I lost everything. I couldn’t pay my bills, so they cut my electricity, water, and then they threw me out. I was making a lot of money, so why was I suddenly thrown out, you may ask. Surely, I would be able to take that money, invest it wisely, and live off of the interest? Ah, but I spent a ‘eck of a lot of money trying to stabilise my projects. I threw every penny I ‘ad at them, even though I knew that they were no chance of saving them.

‘I was on the streets. The one place I didn’t want to be. The one place that I was always afraid of. But, I guess I got what I always wanted to do, I guess,’ he sighed. ‘All that I could do was wait. What else could I do? The effects of loneliness changed me, the effects of not being noticed changed me, and above all, the effects of seeing all those people that criticised me continue to grow and flourish. You hear of so many stories of people getting the last laugh on their critics, and I thought I was going to be one of them. But, I just didn’t put the effort into making it so. So I lost it all.

‘That’s my story,’ Tim finished with, just before we turned down the road where the shop sat.

‘So you decided to build a place to live,’ I said.

‘I did what I should ‘ave done when I had it all. The streets taught me that. It wasn’t easy, but that’s exactly what those lessons were designed to be. It took me the biggest part of the two years that I ‘ave been on the streets to build myself a community of some sorts. Gather up a few contacts. I learnt more when I had nothing than I did when I ‘ad something, because I forced myself to do so.’

‘But, you know, there are some positives with all of this,’ he said.

‘Like what?’ I asked, curiously.

‘I don’t have to pay any bills. I don’t have to worry about taxes.’

‘May I ask you whether there have been any days where you thought that this was for the best, if you know what I mean?’ I hoped that I hadn’t crossed a line, but Tim didn’t look bothered. Instead he shrugged and said.

‘Not yet there haven’t. But that’s what’s keeping me going. The day that I start saying that this was all for the best, will be the day… Well, it’ll be the day that… I don’t know,’ he shrugged. ‘I just ‘aven’t felt that yet.

‘Sorry that I pushed,’ I said.

‘No, you ‘ave nothing to be sorry about. Anyway, we had better get inside and collect our breakfasts. Remember, because you are the new guy, you get to have the first pick. And also, now that I’ve told you my story, I guess it’s only right that you tell me yours.’

I knew that was coming. But it was only fair.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

Mum's Monday: Impractical Jokers – Comedy Central

Where’s Larry Tour- live Friday 13^th October 2017 at the O2 London UK

The live stage show starring The Tenderloins, in no particular order: Joe Gatto, Sal Vulcano, Brian Quinn and James Murray.

The show is well scripted and had to be because of the video clips shown as part of the show, however, the four executed a natural delivery. It worked well as a stage show, I did wander how it would cross over from the prank show pranking the unsuspecting public to a live stage show but it did and a great job they made of it.

They told the stories of their fans and how they interact with them. What fans do to them and including what Joe says to them.  

It was hilariously funny with just four friends having fun, it was a shame however that using an audience member’s phone didn’t pan out as they had hoped, but was fun to see the first person’s number they pulled up was sitting beside her.

My favourite video clip was with one of them going round and round in circles on a zebra crossing holding up all the traffic on a mobility scooter. My favourite part on stage was when they showed their tattoos and told the stories behind them and what has happened since having them done.

My worst part was the last video clip where James was disgusting I couldn’t watch all of it, it certainly turned Sal’s stomach.

I also thought that they might have searched the audience for a few, if anyone named Larry, or reference him more in the show, but he wasn’t mentioned until near the end.

All in all, it was worth seeing, and I wander if they ever will find LARRY!

Jerry's Journal: Dedication

My new book, "The Watch - Book 1" was released on Thursday, and who better to dedicate it to than Jerry.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

The Watch – Part 218:

(Tom’s perspective)

‘Hey, good morning, Tom,’ Tim said when I had climbed out of my tent the next morning.

‘Morning,’ I grunted, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. I looked around and saw only a handful of people awake. The majority of them were sitting by their tents, discussing stuff.

‘I was ‘oping you would be awake soon as I usually ask the new person if they would like to come with me to grab some breakfast. I let the new person have the privilege of picking first, you see,’ he explained.

‘Er… I grunted again as I slowly woke up some more. ‘I thought you said that it is first come first served,’ I remembered vaguely, ‘or something like that,’ I added just in case I had gotten my information wrong.

‘Yeah, sorry, I was meant to explain that,’ Tim said. ‘So, how about it, would you like to come with?’

‘Er… Sure,’ I said.

‘I’ll let you freshen up before we ‘ead off,’ Tim said, ‘the showers are over there next to the toilets. You will have to keep the same clothes that you are wearing now, but when it comes to it, I’ll explain ‘ow you can get them washed, does that sound OK,’ he explained, only now showing his leadership skills and proving that he is the one in charge. ‘The time is now eight, so if we can get going by before nine, that will be perfect.’

‘Before nine it will be then,’ I said still ever so slightly out of it. I’m hoping the shower would wake me up a bit. The showers were separated into six cubicles, all parted by a concrete wall so to allow us to have a bit of privacy. The first and second showers were already occupied, and I didn’t much fancy taking up the third. I would feel things were more private if I took the sixth shower.

I stepped into the cubicle and closed the door behind me. Inside, there was a bench to put all my clothes so they wouldn’t get wet from the shower which hung from the back wall. On the end of the bench, a folded up towel sat with a bottle of shampoo and body wash next door.

The shower itself looked inviting. The showerhead was connected to a pipe which fed itself through a hole in the wall. I didn’t want to waste too much time studying the shower, but I was only doing so because I was a bit hesitant to take all my clothes off, especially in a strange place like this. Well, the other two were doing just fine, so there shouldn’t be any problems with me. And I really need a shower.

I started with my shoes: The moment I slipped them off, my feet were able to breathe properly for the first time in days. I flexed my toes up and down, hearing and feeling them click and crack from celebrating their freedom. Then I slipped off the rest of my clothes, folded them up, and placed them on the bench. The cold morning air attacked my body, making me shiver once more. Then, standing under the showerhead, I flicked the switch to turn the shower. I heard the water rush through pipe before exploding out of the end, splashing down onto my head.

And it certainly did wake me up. I was expecting the water to be cold, but it was still a shock to the system nonetheless. The water was freezing, but I shouldn’t complain. I was getting a shower and that’s more than what I thought I would be getting whilst being trapped here. The more that I stood under the water, the more my body naturally acclimatised: I was still feeling the coldness, but not so much. If anything, the sudden splash of cold water on my back actually helped me more than what hot water would have done. This was the first time I’ve had a shower in what feels like so long. So much has happened in a short amount of time, the moment the water poured over my face, I felt fresh. I then realised that I should have brought the bottle of shampoo and body wash over here. I stepped out from the water and picked up the bottle before stepping back in once more.

Once I had cleaned my hair and my body, I felt so much better. I flicked the switch off and the water stopped. The cold air doesn’t affect me anymore, but the more I dried myself, the more the cold air was able to successfully attack me again. I wasn’t shivering, but I did rather rush putting my clothes back on. I forced my feet back into the shoes, and then I was ready to leave.

I’m surprised if anything that I’m affected by the cold air as much anymore. I reckon the more times I do this, the more I’ll slowly become immune to being cold. I folded up the towel and placed it back where I found it, and made sure the shampoo was standing beside it before stepping out of the cubicle and back into the campsite.

I looked around and found Tim talking with someone in the middle of the site. He noticed that I was ready and he nodded that he was also.

‘I see what I can do,’ Tim said to the other person, signalling the end of their conversation. The other person nodded at me in welcome before turning on the spot and heading back over to his tent where he climbed inside.

‘That was Michael,’ Tim explained, ‘’e’s the nervous type so make sure you aren’t too loud when around him.’

I nodded.

‘Anyway, are you ready,’ and he clapped his hands together.

‘I am.’

‘And with fifteen minutes to spare as well,’ he said, happily. ‘Let’s get us some breakfast.’

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

Film of the Week: The LEGO Ninjago Movie

I don’t want to give anything of the plot away, not because I don’t want to ruin the story, but because it is truly best to watch without prior knowledge, with an exemption of the trailers.

It unfortunately doesn’t quite have all the wit and intelligence as the previous two LEGO films, The LEGO Movie and The LEGO Batman Movie, but it does indeed stand aside from the rest with its own unique wit and intelligence. It also features more of the real world than The LEGO Movie, but it’s context and humour stays the same. It has the same family friendly atmosphere as the previous two. It is its own independent film, but as there are two other LEGO movies available, it is understandable if you would gravitate towards one of them more than this. I wouldn’t absolutely pass up on watching this, but if the films were in front of me and I had to choose, I wouldn’t immediately point at this first.

It does have a powerful message for the children about redemption and forgiving those who’ve wronged, and it is cleverly put across in a way kids will understand and keeping it entertaining without shoving it in their faces.

In conclusion, whilst it is coming last in a three-way race, it still has earnt its podium position. The LEGO Movie proved that, if done correctly, you can make a film that’s blatantly advertising the company, but make a fun and interesting storyline. They were as successful, if not more, with The LEGO Batman Movie, and there’s no doubt in my mind that this film will also be a success with the merchandise; there are plenty of vehicles and robots in this film that can be released as sets and make LEGO a lot of money. It’s creative and enjoyable and definitely one you should watch.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

Film of the Week: Death of a Ghost Hunter

Continuing with the horror films during October, my third film, Death of a Ghost Hunter is a low budget B-movie, independently made by Ominous Productions. It must be said before I get to the actual review that if you’re faint of heart than the intensity may be a bit strong, along with the themes depicted in this movie. If you’re used to horror movies and enjoy watching them, then you should be fine, however, if you’re looking for a horror movie to watch for something different, then you have been warned, this will send chills down your back and make the hairs on the back of your head stand on end – or at least, it did for me, anyway.

Despite its low budget, it produced the most intense scares I’ve ever had. It’s designed to be suspenseful, with particular camera angles to keep you guessing and waiting for something to happen. It doesn’t have a single deliberate jump scare in the entire film – all of them were from my own creation, where a camera pans around naturally and to focus on a person in the dark – after all that suspense, it just burst out of me without warning.

The film focuses on a ghost hunter who is paid $5000 to investigate what is believed to be a highly haunted house, where a lot of paranormal activity has been documented by numerous people. Carter Simms (Patti Tindall) wants to go in alone, because that’s her preferred method of investigation, but the person who’s paying her insists she goes in with a team purely because of the highly activity, which she reluctantly agrees. The film covers three nights of investigation – the first night has a few pieces of evidence showing that there really are ghosts living in the house, but it’s the second night where everything ramps up tenfold, and the third night where things take a turn for the worst.

The film shows and explains how an investigation is carried out, giving the audience a sense of what’s going on, and what everyone’s job is within the house, and where they’ll be at all times during the three nights. It stays true to what is involved in an actual investigation, so all the evidence is captured through the cameras keeping an eye on various rooms and hallways, and the voices are captured on Carter’s recording device – in other words, it’s realistic to what would happen if anything were caught during an actual investigation. Staying true to that tone, we see a lot of scenes through the lens of a night vision camera or in a darkened room lit only by the investigator’s torches – keeping the genuine scare factor and suspense high and continuously increasing that right up to the end. It is a truly unique horror experience.

What must also be noted is the incredible use of the background music and sound effects. They’re only used when absolute necessary. The music isn’t put in there just to keep the scenes from being quiet, a lot of sound comes from the actors only with the music put in at specific moments to increase or emphasis the scare factor – and that goes for the sound effects. This is perfect for someone who likes to wear headphones, but be warned, it would only but increase the scare factor even further than it already is.

The only criticism I really have with the film is the acting. It did feel a little robotic as if they were reading directly from the script, however, during my watching, I turned that weakness into a strength. The entire film is designed to be as realistic as possible, and so with the actors being as they are, does make a small bit of sense considering they’re investigators, doing their job. However, it must be noted that there are a few scenes where the acting could have been better – but again this is an independent movie.

In conclusion, this is easily the scariest horror movie I’ve seen in a very long while, and probably will be for a good while to come. It truly spooked me. I do highly recommend this to anyone who’s looking to for a good, genuinely scary horror movie – if you’re able to get past it’s only weakness, which, of course, is a major part of the movie. However, once you’ve been sucked into the strong suspense, you’ll forget everything else and just focus on the paranormal activity.

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)

The Watch – Part 217:

(Tom’s perspective)

Have you been listening to anything that I’ve been saying to you?’ Alex asked, a little hurt.

‘Sorry,’ I said, ‘I’ve got a lot on my mind at the moment, that’s all,’ I said in an apologetic manner.

Alex sighed to say that she understood what I was going through. We were sitting on the sofa in my living room, just talking. The TV wasn’t, the radio wasn’t playing, we were just sitting on the sofa, having a casual, quite conversation. My dream had captured her image perfectly: Her red, shoulder length hair, the tattoo of the purple and pink butterfly on her shoulder, sitting next to the white tank top that complimented her designer jeans with the deliberate rips in the knees, and her vibrant smile.

I never really thought of her as the type to snuggle up to someone on the sofa, but she curled up her legs and leaned on my shoulder. ‘Yeah, I know,’ she said, sympathetically, ‘being stuck in another universe is something no one can get used to easily.’ I wrapped my arm around her so that it rested on her upper arm.

‘I do miss you, you know,’ I said.

‘You do know that I can’t speak for her, don’t you, since I am just a projection of your subconscious in your dream,’ she explained. It was my time to sigh.

‘I know,’ I said. ‘Which is only making things worse. I’ve seen so many times in films or on TV when a certain character is dreaming whilst going through a complicated situation that they always somehow get the answers they need in their dream, but I guess it doesn’t work like that in real life.’

‘You’ve been watching too many films and TV programs,’ Alex said simply.

‘I know,’ I said. ‘But it would help if you did say something, though,’ I said.

‘What do you want me to say?’ she asked.

‘I don’t know.’

‘I’m sure the real me misses you,’ Alex said comfortingly. ‘Are you going to explain what happened when you next see her?’ she asked.

‘I’ve already had this conversation with Amy,’ I said.

‘But you can’t remember what you decided, can you,’ she said sternly.

‘I think I decided to tell her, explain everything.’

‘And then what, hope that she understands?’ Alex said with that tone telling me that I should be reasonable.

‘I’m not going to keep this a secret. This is too big to keep a secret. If the one thing that film and TV has gotten right and that is accurately portraying what happens if you keep too many very big secrets from the person that you love. It will push her away. Besides, she’s seen what Sebastian can do already. I’m sure Sebastian won’t mind if she comes along for the ride next time.’

‘Are you sure that that’s a good idea. You are currently trapped in a parallel universe right now.’ She does have a point there.

‘Well, that leaves me with only two options, then,’ I said. ‘Number one: Leave Sebastian and spend time with Alex; or number 2: Leave Alex and spend time with Sebastian.’

‘You know that is a very narrow way of thinking about things, don’t you,’ Alex said, sternly.

‘Oh, and you can come up with something better can you.’

‘Don’t have a go at me,’ she said, ‘I’m just your subconscious.’

‘Then don’t tell me that I’m narrow minded,’ I argued.

‘I’m not, you are,’ she said. ‘I’m just your subconscious.’

I sighed for the third time. I can’t argue with that. ‘I know. It’s just, when I found about the watch, I never thought it would lead to something like this.’

‘Who would?’ Alex asked rhetorically.

‘Exactly,’ I answered anyway.

‘You know, I thought my subconscious was supposed to tell me all the thoughts that I don’t usually have access during the day, not just mimic the person who I love…’

‘I know what you are thinking,’ she said.

‘And do you think it’s a good idea?’

‘Only if you don’t open with that. Make sure you at least ease in gently. The last thing you want to do is startle her.

A very faint voice outside my window started to chuckle at what Alex just said.

‘Now’s not the best time,’ Alex shouted through the window and the chuckling immediately stopped.

‘I can’t help it,’ he said. ‘What you said brought me here.’

‘Yeah, well, make sure you stay out there. If you get any closer, you will contaminate my words.’

‘Sorry.’ I just sat there, letting my subconscious argue with my dirty mind. I thought that this dream would help me craft some sort of sensible answer to a few of my questions, but so far I’ve gotten nowhere useful.

‘Do you want Sebastian to still be your friend?’ Alex asked.

‘You know that answer,’ I said.

‘And do you want to stay with Alex?’

‘You know that answer as well.’

‘Do you want to keep travelling with Sebastian, bearing in mind that it could lead you back where you are now?’ she asked.

‘If I can guarantee that it won’t happen, then yes,’ I said.

‘You know that isn’t a valid answer,’ she said.

‘So I have to answer that myself?’

‘I cannot help you if you don’t,’ Alex confirmed.

‘I wish I had the watch,’ I said. ‘And I know I shouldn’t be dwelling on that as it won’t help in any way whatsoever.’

‘Then there was no point bringing it up.’

‘I think we need to get back on track here,’ I said. ‘All these thoughts at once are starting to make this not make any sense, and that’s not going to help me at all. Before I wake up, I want a definite answer.’ Alex didn’t respond. Instead, she just laid against my shoulder, with her legs curled up on the sofa. She’s probably allowing me to think.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)