The Watchling

A bleak world of nothingness. That was how the life of a small, silver watch belonging to a young man had been ever since it was manufactured. It didn’t think, feel, or do, just about anything. Simply hanging to its owner’s wrist seemed to be its sole purpose. But it didn’t mind. Because it couldn’t. Which held true up until the day the young man slid a piece of paper into it. This piece of paper, as it was inserted into the watch’s secret compartment, brought new life to it’s dull world. Somehow, this small piece of paper that had been taken from the owner’s notebook had provided the watch with the gift of senses. No longer did it have to experience a meaningless existence, it could see, hear, think, and even feel the warmth of its owner’s wrist. The small watch was overwhelmed by all of this. Suddenly, entities of thought that entered its, what should it call it, mind? The watch wondered what these could be. Each one attached to a different experience. They seemed to be flooding its mind. She (the watch was decidedly female) was a “watch” and his owner was a “human.” Being able to consolidate his experiences into these “words” was helping her. Then she noticed that his owner was utilizing these words to somehow communicate with other humans. The word “language” suddenly appeared in the watch’s paper-mind. Soon after this discovery she realized that she would need a way to communicate with others of her kind. She developed a series of ticking noises that represented words. But it made her disappointed when she realized that he couldn’t speak the language her owner did. Luckily, she was able to understand it. From a few feet above her, the watch could hear the following: “The base panel slides out, and there is a piece of the Death Note.” After hearing this statement, the watch saw that a large blue creature was staring with curiosity at her owner. Then she decided that the Death Note was what had brought her to life, which she found highly contradictory. 1

HUGE TIMESKIP 2

Through a period of over five years, the watch had experienced many things, and had become increasingly more knowledgeable since it’s receiving of the piece of the Death Note. It even had words written on it. Her owner, which she learned was named “Light,” had used her piece of Death Note paper to write “Kyosuke Higuchi” down. This action made the watch feel extremely happy, because Light had never used her for anything except checking the time. The watch had also met lots of new people. The most notable to her, seemed to be one that Light referred to as Mikami, because they were seemed to be together frequently. Light even seemed to make physical contact with Mikami, which never seemed to happen when he was around other humans. The watch could never exactly explain this behaviour. 3

Light was currently sitting in a small room with Mikami. The watch had heard them talking for quite awhile. Then Light’s hand reached down to the watched and started to detach the watch from his hand, which was a relief for the watch, as she was always glad to stretch out after a long day. She was placed on a table beside the bed Light was sitting on. Immediately afterward, though, Mikami took off his watch and put it right on top of Light’s. And because Mikami’s watch had made contact with a sheet of the Death Note earlier, it also held within it great intelligence. He (Mikami’s watch was male) had taught himself the same ticking language that Light’s watch did. Then, both of the watches looked over as Mikami and Light slid under the covers of the bed. The watches wondered what type of behaviour this was, and out of curiosity, attempted to emulate what they were viewing. 4

THE FOLLOWING MORNING 5

The two watches woke from a long and unusually pleasurable night, watching Mikami and Light do the same. They watched their hands move around each other’s circular faces. Through the night they had learned why Light and Mikami had always made physical contact . Another experience for them, as they learned the ways of their human counterparts. But then something odd happened to Light’s watch. It’s secret compartment bulged, and suddenly it opened, revealing a miniature watch. The two older watches looked in awe at their creation., as it tottered about unsteadily, nearly falling off of the table. 6

Light and Mikami had finally gotten dressed, and had gone over to the bedside table to collect their watches. They fastened them onto their wrists, and then noticed the almost microscopic watch that had seemingly appeared overnight. Mikami picked it up and said, “Heh, it’s like a tiny watchling.”