The Watch – Part 241:

(Tom’s perspective)

I was laying in the same room as I was before, but the bed couldn’t be more uncomfortable. It was just a slab of wood, and I was tied to it. My arms were above my head and my feet were separated at the other end, slowly losing feeling as the rope dug into my ankles. Things were attached to my head and wires were protruding from them, leading to a computer screen that was showing nothing but static. A man was standing beside it, holding a clipboard, analysing what data he has, without acknowledging that I was even there.

That intense dream left me covered in sweat, my heart beat racing and I was out of breath. I am scared. I don’t know what is going on. I thought that I wasn’t in a dream, but then I found myself in a dream, a horrible, disturbing, soul shaking dream that is still burned in my mind’s eye. All I can see in front of me is the bodies of my three best friends laying on the floor.

‘Welcome, Tom,’ Dr Amanda’s voice said, her voice sounding colder and tougher than her dream counterpart. I snapped my head to where she was standing.

‘What did you do to me?’ I demanded, my throat stinging.

‘We did what was necessary. We didn’t know who you were, so we took the necessary measures to make you give us any bits of information we wanted. Your uncomfortableness is merely a side-effect to your treatment, but we had to do what we had to do, I’m afraid to say,’ she explained, blankly.

‘Have I been in a dream all this time?’ I asked. She looked me in the eyes. I wanted to look away, but I forced to look back. Her eyes were deep, cold, dark, and told me that she would do anything to get what she wants. She didn’t answer my question. Instead, she said with her soft, cold voice that sent shivers down my spine.

‘We didn’t get all of what I want. Your body is immune to our chemicals, and the more we gave you to make them defeat your immune system, the more if fort back and it created, from what we saw on the monitor, a hellish nightmare.’

You will pay for this.

‘Yes, your friend, Sebastian,’ how does she know that name? I never mentioned that name during our interviews in the dream, ‘is coming to get you. And from what you’ve told us, we had better not stand in his way.’ You got that right. You won’t know what hit you by the time he’s finished with you. ‘Tell me,’ she continued, ‘if he is as powerful as you think he is, then why hasn’t he come and got you sooner?’

‘Don’t you dare play mind games with me, I know what you are doing.’ I tried to break free from my bonds, but they were tied so tightly, all I succeeded in doing was giving myself a very painful cramp in my arm and leg. I winched as my muscles fought to contract. When they eventually settled down, my heart beat was now so much faster. I feel so much weaker.

‘We have so many questions to ask you,’ she said, ‘we just have to find another way to make you tell us the answers.’

‘Do what you want to me, I won’t tell you anything.’

‘Yes, knowing that we are going to try will make your mental defences that much stronger, but, you know that if you don’t know that you are being affected by something, you’ll tell us anything, if you think it will help you get out of here sooner.’

And that was all that she said before she nodded to the man holding the clipboard who put it to one side and walked over to me. He untied the bonds. But he wasn’t untying my bonds. He was only releasing my hands from the board. They were still tied together via a thick piece of rope. I could still attack them. But I am too weak.

That is what they knew. That is why they are confident about releasing the bonds: I am simply too weak to do anything. I nearly fell to my knees, but I stayed firm. I was not going to show Dr Amanda that I was not going to go down easily. I looked her in the eye as I struggled to remain upright, but never falling all the way. If she was reacting in any way, she wasn’t showing it. Instead, she just looked back and watched as I was being dragged out of the room, and probably, to a cell where I would remain for an unknown amount of time before being called back and experimented on once more.

‘One more thing, Tom,’ Dr Amanda said to my back, ‘when we first injected you with the chemicals, you had a hard time breathing.’

That can only mean one thing. From the very beginning, from the moment that I woke up in the alleyway, I was dreaming, being held here, experimented on… No, that doesn’t make any sense. I know that was real. I know that was a dream. It was just too real, even for a realistic-feeling dream. But, was it the chemicals playing havoc with my body? Was talking to Alex fake. Was it all meaningless? Did all her encouragement mean nothing? It must have.

No, I refuse to let her play games with my mind. I know what was real and what wasn’t. But this feels real. I know this is real because I am feeling pain and I am weak. Was I feeling before? I was feeling many emotions, so many emotions in fact that I can’t believe that it wasn’t real. Even for a dream, that was just too real. It was real

…?

My head was dangling as I was dragged from the room to the cell, so I didn’t notice where I was being taken, but the floor did look familiar. At least I am in the same building as my dream-counterpart. I heard the sound of heavy metal being slid across, and then I was pushed forward. I lost my balance and went headfirst on to the floor. The door was shut; I was locked in.

I forced myself into a much better position, but I remained sitting on the floor, too weak to move. I was breathing heavily still.

That’s when I heard soft whimpering in the dark room. I lifted my head as far as I could. I wanted to call out, but no voice came.

‘Help,’ the voice said.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)