#45 The Timemaster (Part 1)

This week, in the first of two parts to a story, our protagonist, Benjamin, buys a new watch after some effective advertising, and in doing so, is introduced to Monica. Monica, it turns out, has known Benjamin his whole life.

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#45 The Timemaster (Part 1)

I first saw it advertised during a break of The Guillianis. It was a watch with formidable design: sleek, slender, intuitive. It had built-in hologram features for calls, facial analysis to determine stress levels, and something called sleep enhancement. Sleep enhancement? What even is that? How can it affect my sleep? In the advert, they showed a beautiful woman in a silk nightdress (and abnormally perfect hair and make-up for someone going to bed), stretching her arms and yawning, before settling her head down on a pillow, an arm tightly cuddling the duvet as her watch twinkled with an image of a moon and starry night. An endless stream of Zs floated out of her mouth and through the window, before the screen faded to black and the text Timemaster 5000 bled onto the screen, followed by the active movement of a watch strapping itself over the word master. It was followed by an instruction to search Timemaster 5000 online.

Having seen the ad, I didn’t immediately act. No, it wasn’t until the following day, when I saw another advert on a poster on a train, and it reminded me of what I’d seen, that I pulled my phone out and searched Timemaster 5000. I read the description, all the details about its various features and abilities - its four week battery life, its ability to be submerged 50 metres underwater, its unlimited music streaming capabilities, and of course, its sleep enhancement. The website described this function as being able to help regulate the body’s heartbeat, temperature, breathing and psychological responses during sleep to ensure you have as ‘rich a sleep as possible’. 

The train conductor, through his raspy speaker, announced that we were now approaching my stop. I looked down at the page and saw the letters in bold, all caps: BUY NOW! Only £199, with the original price of £399 crossed out beside it.

Without thinking, I hit the button, filled out my details (my phone automatically fills these things out for me), and before the train could even come to a halt I was reading a confirmation email: ‘Thank you for purchasing your Timemaster 5000! Your new companion is expected to be delivered to you within 3 days.’

I went to work and completed a normal day: meetings, writing papers, shaking a few hands, with not much on my mind but perhaps the occasional excitement for the arrival of my new watch. The following day I did the same, but when I got home, it was there on my doorstep. 

Looking down at this little item is where I find myself now.

It is a small box with a little plate and the watch strapped to it along with a manual. The watch doesn’t need charging as it charges itself through solar power, so I strap it to my wrist and turn it on. I provide all my details, sync it with my phone and there it is: all done.

At 10:30 that night, just as I finish the latest episode of The Giullianis, the watch buzzes and says it is bedtime. I brush my teeth, prepare for the next day and then climb into bed. I hit the sleep button on the watch and a moon and stars fill the screen, and then a big tick before the screen fades. I put my head on my pillow, clutch my duvet just like the woman in the advert, and stare at my new watch until I fall asleep.

‘Good evening, Benjamin.’ 

A silky female voice reaches out from the darkness.

‘Hello?’ I call back. ‘Who’s there?’

‘I’m Monica. I’m here to look after you.’

‘Hi, Monica.’

I look around in the darkness but can’t see anyone. When Monica speaks, there is a strange pulsing of white light in the darkness around me, but it’s so faint I can’t tell if it’s real or if I’m imagining it. 

I notice the heaviness in my legs.

‘Take a seat on that bench behind you. I know you need it.’

I turn around and where there was nothing before, a bench stands. Painted black. I take a seat and immediately, the strain on my legs is relieved.

‘Welcome to my home. Not many get to see it. I’m not a fan of inviting the outside world in.’

‘Why me then?’

‘Why you? Well, that is a good question. The only answer I can give, Benjamin, is that you are special. We have a special bond. Don’t you feel it?’

I shrug my shoulders. ‘I don’t know you.’

‘Oh, but you do. You’ve always known me. You’ve just never seen me this way.’

‘How have I always known you?’

Monica pauses. ‘Let me show you something. Put out your hand and close your eyes.’

I pause a moment too, trying to consider all the possible things that could happen next. But before I do that, my hand is out and my eyes closed.

For a few seconds, nothing happens. But then a coldness wraps around my hand, and then that coldness turns warm, like when the skin contact with another person starts cold and warms up. And then Monica grips my hand, and I think of all the years we’ve failed to connect in this way, despite the fact that, deep down, we’ve known each other forever. It’s as though my life is only starting in this second, nothing else matters. I am born again. I feel the cold run of tears down my cheeks.

‘Kiss me,’ I say. The words just fall out of my mouth without me really thinking. 

I feel the darkness creep over me as Monica closes in. I open my eyes and there’s nothing but total blackness, so suffocating that I can’t breathe. My eyes fill with terror, before the darkness totally envelopes me, pulls at my mouth and then…

Come back in two weeks to find out what happens next!