EPISODE SIX – “The Vision”
886 Words
The bridge kept them hidden until sunrise.
The air was damp and cold, and every sound — from the drip of water off the steel beams to the distant echo of traffic — felt too loud. Ethan sat with his back against a rusted pillar, the watch warm in his palm.
He hadn’t wound it since last night’s escape. His chest still ached from the freeze, and his hands wouldn’t stop trembling.
Aria crouched beside him, her eyes scanning the riverbank. “We’ll need a safe house for a few days,” she said. “Somewhere off-grid. Somewhere they can’t track us.”
“You’ve done this before,” Ethan said. It wasn’t a question.
Her gaze flicked to him, guarded. “I’ve done worse.”
By mid-morning, they’d made their way to an abandoned train depot on the edge of the city. The roof was patched with mismatched sheets of tin, and the floor smelled faintly of oil and dust. It wasn’t home, but it was shelter.
While Lily explored the far end of the depot, Aria tossed Ethan a small leather pouch.
“What’s this?” he asked.
“Training,” she said simply. “If you’re going to keep using the watch, you need control. Right now, it’s using you.”
Ethan raised an eyebrow. “Training? Like a class?”
“Like survival,” she replied, her tone flat. “You think slowing or freezing time is all it does? You’re wrong. The watch reacts to intention. But if your mind isn’t focused, it’ll drag you places you don’t want to go.”
The first exercise was simple — or so she claimed.
“Close your eyes,” Aria said. “Wind it just enough to slow time, then hold it steady. Don’t push, don’t fight. Just listen.”
Ethan obeyed. The tick of the watch grew louder, deeper, until it was all he could hear. The air thickenedw, and the world began to dim around the edges.
“Good,” she murmured. “Now… what do you see?”
At first, nothing but shadows. Then, shapes began to form. A street. Rain falling in slow arcs. The faint smell of gasoline.
And then — a scream.
Ethan’s eyes flew open. He was standing in the middle of a road at night, though he knew he was still in the depot. A figure stumbled into the light — it was Lily, her face pale with terror. Behind her, flames rose from a burning car.
He tried to move toward her, but his feet wouldn’t obey. Another figure stepped from the fire. Tall. Dark coat. The man from the collectors. In his hand — the watch.
“Your time is up, Mr. Cole,” the man’s voice echoed, distorted.
The vision snapped like glass breaking, and Ethan was back on the dusty floor of the depot, gasping for air.
Aria knelt in front of him, gripping his shoulders. “What did you see?”
He shook his head. “I… I don’t know. It felt real. Lily was there, and—” His voice cracked. “He had the watch.”
Her expression hardened. “That wasn’t a dream. That was a thread of your future. The watch can show them — possible outcomes. If you’re reckless, you’ll see the wrong ones.”
Ethan swallowed. “You’re saying… that’s what’s going to happen?”
“I’m saying it’s one of many ways this could end,” she replied. “Which means we change it.”
They trained all afternoon. Ethan learned to slow time in bursts without freezing it completely, to move faster without burning himself out. Aria pushed him hard, her voice sharp when he lost focus, softer when he started to collapse.
More than once, their hands brushed as she adjusted his grip on the watch. Every time, the air between them seemed to thicken.
By sunset, they were both sitting on the depot’s roof, watching the sky turn from gold to deep blue. Lily slept inside, wrapped in a blanket.
Ethan glanced at Aria. “You kissed me last night.”
She didn’t look away from the horizon. “I know.”
“Was it… just to keep me from dying?”
Finally, she met his eyes. “Maybe. Or maybe I wanted to make sure you had a reason to live.”
They didn’t get to dwell on it.
From somewhere in the distance came the low rumble of an engine. Aria’s body tensed immediately.
Ethan’s heart dropped. “Them?”
She stood, scanning the darkness. “Not yet. But close.”
The sound grew louder. A single motorcycle appeared on the far road, its headlight cutting through the dark. The rider wore no helmet, just a hood drawn low.
Aria’s hand went to her knife. “Stay here,” she told Ethan.
But as the motorcycle drew closer, Ethan felt the watch grow warm in his pocket. Too warm.
The rider stopped at the depot gates, killed the engine, and removed the hood.
It wasn’t a man.
It was a young woman pale, with eyes the exact color of the watch’s ticking hands. And she was smiling.
“Hello, Ethan,” she said, her voice like velvet over steel. “Your timekeeper has been looking for you.”
- Writer
