The Watch – Part 229:

(Tom’s perspective)

Once I had finally wrapped up that conversation, Sebastian and Amy said that they had better get back home as they have some important business to attend to. They didn’t say what. But I was a bit surprised that they have any important business in the first place, considering they are my subconscious. I am not in control of what happens in this dream, just that I have to accept it and move on.

I watched as Sebastian and Amy walked away, hand in hand, towards the entrance of the park before turning to the left and disappearing around the corner. Even though they have gone, they will still be able to hear everything that I say and think, because they are parts of my subconscious.

‘You know,’ Alex said, ‘you could say that just because they are gone, they never really went anywhere. Sebastian and Amy will always be with you wherever you go, technically speaking of course, because they are only parts of your subconscious.

‘I think that is the cheesiest thing you’ve ever said,’ I said.

‘Hey, you said it,’ she countered, matter-of-factly.

‘But…’

‘You’ve certainly perked up a lot since you discovered the answer,’ she said.

‘I do feel a lot better, actually,’ I said, bursting into a smile. I don’t think you can burst into a smile, but it did just suddenly appear on my face.

‘So, I was thinking,’ Alex said, sliding over and resting her head on my shoulder once more. ‘Do you want to spend a little while longer here, then if we have time afterwards, we can go for a walk. Or, you know, we could go home and spend time together there.’

Someone laughed behind us. I turned around and saw myself bent double and crying with laughter. My dirty mind.

‘Where did he come from?’ I asked.

‘Don’t ask me, you were the one that brought him here. Seriously, you had to make what I said have a double meaning,’ she criticised.

‘I don’t even…’ I stumbled. ‘I didn’t.

‘The dirty mind is part of your subconscious that appears whenever it feels like it,’ Alex began to explain. ‘Whenever someone says something that can have a double meaning in some way, or you see something that that has a physical representation to something… graphic, he appears. Unfortunately, once you’ve let him loose, it’s pretty impossible to lock him away again. You can only order him to go away, but even then, sometimes, he, or should I say, ‘it’ doesn’t.’ She then shouted, making me jump.

‘Hey, can you go someplace else, we’re trying to have a casual conversation.’

‘It’s not my fault,’ my dirty mind said, ‘you brought me here.’

‘Yeah, well,’ Alex said. She didn’t know what else to say because it was right.

‘I think it would be best if you did go,’ I said.

‘Oh, alright,’ it said. ‘But if I show up here again, you only have yourselves to blame,’ and then he disappeared into thin air.

‘That was weird,’ I said.

‘Tell me about it,’ Alex said, slightly annoyed. ‘There has been so many times when I have been trying to help you out with some problem, and he sneaks his way to the forefront of your mind somehow. But...’ that didn’t sound as if she was going to say something nice, ‘shame on you for putting a spin on what I said. Really mature that, I’d say,’ she said sarcastically.

‘I can’t help it,’ I defended myself.

‘All I was saying is whether you would like to go back home so that we can spend some time together, and you had to think of something along the lines of…’

‘Alright, alright, I get the picture,’ I said. ‘Sorry about that. Now can we move on?’

Alex sighed, but she accepted my apology and settled back down on my shoulder.

‘Is there any more pieces of subconscious that I should be on the lookout for?’ I asked, after a couple of seconds of silence.

‘I don’t know,’ Alex said, ‘But I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as another part shows up,’ she said, and we slipped into silence once more.

‘Isn’t a brainwave a part of your subconscious?’ I asked.

‘That’s me,’ Alex said immediately. ‘I give you the answers to any problems that you find particularly challenging, I thought you already knew that,’ she said. ‘Well…

‘And so is the realisation part. Technically, they are the same thing.’

‘Really?’ I asked.

‘You tell me,’ she said, ‘I’m you, remember. I only know what you know, I just put the pieces together,’ she shrugged.

‘You do realise that you completely skipped over that, don’t you?’ I asked.

‘I know,’ she said. ‘And Tom,’ she said.

‘Yeah?’

‘Poor choice of words,’ she said.

I laughed, ‘I know, but you have to admit that it was a funny pun,’ I said.

‘I don’t think that classes as a pun,’ Alex said.

‘Oh, I think it does, and you can’t do a thing to change that,’ I said.

‘Well, we’ll see about that, won’t we,’ and she dropped back into being silent again.

‘Oh, you’re not,’ I said. ‘You’re not trying to figure out whether that is a pun or not and then give me the answer shortly afterwards, are you?’ I asked.

‘You’d better believe it.’

‘Well, I hope you don’t find what you’re looking for,’ I said.

‘You can only hope,’ she said, teasingly. ‘You can only hope.’ I had to accept that there wasn’t anything I can do or say to stop her from studying my knowledge and finding what she hopes to be true. That’s the thing about subconscious: You may have forgotten about it, but it’s still embedded in your brain somewhere, ready to be found once more, you just have to look for it.

‘Have I told you, you look beautiful, yet?’ I asked.

‘Me, or the person I look like?’ Alex asked in return.

‘Both,’ I said.

‘Oh,’ Alex said, having been caught slightly off guard. ‘Actually, you haven’t.’

‘Well, then, I had better change that,’ I said.

‘You do realise that, technically, you are calling yourself beautiful, don’t you?’ she pointed out.

‘I know,’ I said. The moment’s gone now. Alex smiled at the sudden change of pace.

‘Oh, and by the way,’ she said sounding disappointed, ‘it is a pun.

I knew it.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)