« I saw the girl smile and laugh in front of me and somewhat my actions reflected hers. I felt some need of laughing too even though I wasn’t very sure what I was laughing of. Either way,  the feeling was too pleasant and warming to wonder about it, so I just followed the instinct. Until my eyes met the man beside us, seating on the chair in front of the table. Had his arms crossed over his chest and seemed to be analyzing every detail of the cup in front him, which was filled with some kind of tea.

Strangely my laugh desire extinguished itself and I gulped. A dry sensation climbed on my throat and I felt strangely sick and uncomfortable. I’ve seen him before… but where?

He showed a presumptuous smile when his eyes rolled slightly to meet mine. The man from the coffee shop, the man who gave me the watch! Somehow my legs became attached to the chair and I couldn’t move anywhere, while watching him get up and walking away to the glass door.

“Lesli, help me!” I asked trying to move from my seat, but my friend wasn’t there anymore. She was no where to be seen but I just ignored that detail, I had to follow him, confront him, why would he leave me a watch?

Once I finally got strength on my own body I ran outside, seeing him walk away, slowly. He kept his hands on his pockets, like was in some kind of catwalk.

“Hey! You!” I called out running a little to catch him, but I didn’t expect him to actually turn and once he did, I stopped on my tracks, feeling uncomfortable and sick again. It’s like he had this overwhelming aura that made my insides burst into some kind of maniac outbreak. “Who are you?” I managed my guts to yell. “why did you give me that watch?” I added frustrated that my voice wasn’t coming as loud as I wanted it to be.

Again, the presumptuous smile filled his big lips, even a small chuckle came out making me clench my fists tightly. He looked at the floor for a few seconds, but then faced me, straight into my own eyes and making lose all confidence and anger. Like a small serpent I felt his venom running around inside me and destroying all emotional bit that was left. The cold feeling brought fear and anxiety, like needles travelling through my blood. I wasn’t frustrated, I was scared. Terrified.

My feet took a step back, making my back hit something hard, straight and cold behind me. The wall forced me to stop and face the innumerous people in front of me.

No, not again, please stop. My inside voice screamed hard in my mind, but every time I tried to voice it out, all air was gone. The whole crowed faced me with unapproving stares, judging me for the smallest details of my existence. They wanted me gone, they wanted me dead, and I didn’t need them to say it to be certain of it.

Please stop… My inner voice kept begging, but it was nothing to them. All they knew was that I was an outsider, I didn’t belong there, and I wasn’t welcome at all.

“You don’t belong here” Someone said.

“Leave”

“Die”

They kept saying and repeating, one time after the other, until there was no strength left on my knees and I fell to the floor.

Please help me… I begged to the man who kept his smile and his pose, amused by my situation.

“Get up” He finally spoke with a neutral voice I would never remember again. “Get up” He repeated making me finally obey. I cleared the tears from my face and looked at him, finding a serious expression. “Wake up. You slept for too long.” He stated making me confused. He chuckled again and, out of nowhere, his hand came on my chest pushing me hard and making me lose all balance. I closed my eyes waiting to feel the hard wall again, but it never came, it was completely gone. I looked up watching the distance growing and growing, I was falling off some cliff somehow and any time I would hit the ground… »

My body bumped slightly making me awake in an instant. I felt the rush and the anxiety still livid in my senses, along with the wet tears carved onto my cheeks. I cleaned my face with the back of my hand and then pulled my hair back. I faced the ceiling and waited for my emotions to settle down.

Just another nightmare…

Once I had my breath and heart controlled, I got up and stretched my back. I fell asleep on my brother’s apartment’s sofa. I rubbed my eyes once again and clicked my phone to turn the lights back on.

«I hope you had a good rest, it’s currently eight pm. Temperature outside…» the robot kept talking and updating me, until I finally turned it off and let myself fall over the couch again. I stood there for an uncertain amount of time, remembering that dream and how the man appeared this time. And what he said…

Wake up… But his voice wasn’t coming to my head, like he erased the audio and left the document there.

I shook my head and sighed. It was just dreams, after all. I left the sofa and kneeled in front of the coffee table again, turning on my computer and re-starting my research. I opened the book that bought and read it carefully again, and again, the parts I found relevant. Everything was very vague and weren’t helping on my case. Nothing really important happened on that date, so it was also like a dead end.

But one thing I was certain: That watch wasn’t an ordinary one and it was left for me for a purpose. And I knew what it was, but I was too scared to face it.

I found myself contemplating the object in my hands once again. That little silver button was begging me to try it, to be certain, to be sure it was true, that I wasn’t going crazy or paranoid.

The sound of my phone made me startle and I slightly jumped. I stretched my arm over the wood and grabbed the electronic device seeing Taka’s number on the screen. A bit confused about why would he call me at that time, but pressed the green button anyway.

“Hey” I greeted trying to sound convincingly in a good mood.

“Where are you?” He asked right away almost screaming. He was gasping and there was a lot of sound in the background of the line, he was somewhere on the street and probably running.

“In my brother’s apartment, why?” I asked, curious but not turning my eyes away from the watch in my hands. My palm was burning under the silver object, like it was begging to be used.

“Leslie told me what you found in the coffee shop. Whatever you’re thinking, please stop!” He asked, and I heard a car’s horn very loud. “” he whispered but then his gasping came back. “Alice, I might know what happened to your brother and I know what you’re feeling, but this is not a solution. Let’s talk, I’m almost there”

“You know what happened to Daniel?” I asked feeling the tears forming at the corner of my eyes again. My face was heating up and my heart was rushing again, anxious. Now it all made sense, the video, the date, the friends he contacted in Japan… He knew it from the beginning because he saw it happen before. These dates are not a coincidence and that man knows it well.

“Alice,  please don’t do this, you can’t change anything”

“What if he’s stuck there?” I asked getting up and walking around, still with my eyes on the watch in my hand. The glass was perfectly polished and clean, shining at the lamp’s light, the brown bracelets falling off were made of leather and very expensive looking. It was too tempting, all the answers to find my brother were one button away.

“We will find a solution!”

“Someone left the watch for me on purpose, probably because there’s not other way around. Surely you’re not expecting me to call the controllers” I laughed ironically. Like I would give my own brother away.

“Alice, listen to me,” He yelled again. “you’re nervous and not thinking straight, please let’s talk calmly. I’m sure there’s something” I wasn’t paying much attention to his words anymore. Somewhat I had the will to come into the office and make sure the date on the watch and the date on the bottom of the wall were the same and, once again, I was right. It all made so much sense now, that was a call for help from Daniel and I couldn’t ignore it anymore. I knew it from the beginning.

“I’m sorry…” I asked losing strength in my own voice. The decision in my head was made and my full heart was going insane. I left the phone over the desk and faced the watch again.

“No, no, no, don’t say that, listen-“ Taka kept talking until he noticed I wasn’t listening anymore. “Alice?” He called again and I rubbed my thumb over the silver, I had to do it. The boy called my name once again but I ignored, all my focus was on the possibilities of what I would find on the other end. “” I heard him curse and another car horn.

But it was too late for him, he wouldn’t be able to stop me. Not now. My thumb pressed the button and my sight instantly went dark.

Like the world had extinguished itself and I was launched into an empty never-ending hole. I felt my body go rigid, I couldn’t move. I was falling but I couldn’t even stretch a finger. Several flashes of light filled my sight aggressively, but I couldn’t close them. My body went from rigid to being pulled in every possible direction, like every particle was coming alive and leaving my existence to some other place, I was being pushed from my inside to the outside, exploding and clenching, again and again. It hurts, it hurts so bad I wanted to scream my lungs out begging for mercy but my voice never came out. My throat didn’t belong to me anymore, no part of me belong to myself. Gravity hit me hard and I was being compressed in one instant, but the next I was light and being pulled to every corner of the universe. I was heavy and then light, I was small like a cell, and then big like a planet. I was being torn a part and being glued up again, thrown from one side to the other, like walking inside and pulled back out in several different rooms, all with different weights and measures, laws and gravities. My stomach clenched and begged me to stop, I felt dizzy and sick. I couldn’t deal with it anymore, it seemed like hundreds of years had passed and I kept being pushed around like I was nothing. I wanted to scream, I wanted to scream so bad but I couldn’t, no action belonged to me and I had no right over the sensations brought to me. The patterns and lights kept flashing in front of me, showing up and disappearing in small portions of seconds. I was like a playing card in the middle of the deck being constantly opened and closed.

Was this the time line of the dimensions? Was I lost in it?

I finally stopped feeling the horrible sensations, to be replaced by something warm and hard under me. I fell onto the wooden floor, hurting my back with the impact, still with my head going around, dizzily. Some strong light came from over me and I had trouble keeping my eyes open. I put my arms over my head, protecting myself and coughed, feeling my throat really dry and sore.

A breaking sound came from somewhere in the room, making my ears tear with a buzzing sound. Finally I placed myself in some kind of room with a bed beside me. Some water was making its way towards me and I followed the path towards the broken bowl and all the ingredients scattered.

What… ?

I tried to raise my head and look at the person who left it fall, in front of me. It looked scared, almost becoming one with the wall behind him, watching every of my moves carefully. But my vision was too blurred and tired to process anything, my brain was drained out. It wouldn’t be long until the darkness pulls me again, so I tried to keep myself up and rubbed my eyes to finally distinguish the boy’s face. I could see the black and white outfit, distinguishing the colors but no details. He wasn’t helping either, keeping himself drawn into the wall like I was some predator ready to attack him.

“Please…” I tried to ask, he shouldn’t be scared of me. But I guess my pleading only made it worse.

“s-s-s-tay there” he yelled nervously, and my ears buzzed again, hurt with the sound.

But I don’t know if I obeyed him enough, as I couldn’t hold the darkness much longer, and let myself being pulled into a quiet sleep.