The Woman in the Watch

The seagulls could be heard cawing in the distance, while the rolling whoosh of the much nearer waves did its best to drown them out. A mild breeze stirred the palm trees into a swaying dance that almost had its own song, and the reddish golden glaze of the horizon warmed the earth, for the moment at least, with a pleasant aura of blissful harmony.

It was amidst this picturesque scene, that Riley Waters sat. The tiki bar was happy to have him, as this was the off season for tourists, and thanks to his now retired career, his pockets were deep enough to possibly even get his genetically enhanced body drunk. Showing no signs of impairment or stupor, the young man, tending the bar happily made him cocktail after cocktail. Riley only ever stood to go use the facilities, then return to continue washing down the memories that were ever threatening to break surface. At this present moment, Riley sat, a glass of rum pretending to have fruit in it off to the side, an old pocket watch in his hands. He contemplated the carved and polished chrome steel surface. He brooded over every nic’ and scratch on the watch. But as much as he brooded over the exterior. It was the memory inside the watch that truly caused him pain. A picture he hadn’t the strength to look at, despite the fact he could break men like glass. The memory of the woman, and how they left each other. His most painful regret, of which, he bore many.

Footsteps could be heard on the hardwood paneling of the beachside tiki bars floor. A middle aged man was approaching. The strangers graying hair reminded Riley of his own silvers beginning to appear among his closely trimmed black hair. The stranger also had a distinct pair of crows feet like Riley, but their physical similarities ended their. Riley was tall, built like an assault vehicle, and covered in scars.

The stranger looked like he had led a more peaceful life, probably an office worker or business owner, he had little muscle, and paunch, and a smile unburdened by regret. Riley couldn’t help but smirk to himself as the mans smile reminded him of days were he was about to smile like that, to walk as carefree as this man approaching him. Those days were a lifetime ago.

“Howdy,” the approaching stranger said, his voice was deep but cheerful, and it had a vaguely Texan accent. Riley vaguely nodded, the bar tender asked the man what he was having, “I want whatever the house special is.”

The bar tender pursed his lips and nodded, “One improv coming up,” he said casually.

The stranger nodded back with a smile, and looked Riley’s way, he was seated three seats down. “How ya doing sir?” He asked.

“I’m alive,” Riley said, turning his face to make eye contact with the man.

“Well thank god for that, was worried I was talking to a zombie for a second,” the man said with a light hearted voice.

Riley smirked softly and shook his head, grabbing his drink and taking a heavy pull.

“So, what brings ya to paradise?” The man asked.

Riley shrugged, “I suppose the same thing that brings most people, I’m trying to escape the real world, and all the things in it... You?”

“Oh I’m just making the rounds before I die, wife passed awhile back, kids are all grown and on their own. Just wanted to live a little.” The man said, a slight bitterness entering his voice.

Riley, being the curious type, engaged his heightened senses, he took a whiff of the air as a breeze brought the mans scent to his nose. Like a trained dog, Riley could smell the cancer eating the mans liver. He nodded his head in understanding. “How long ya got?”

For a moment, it appeared Riley had taken the man aback with what seemed a presumption on Riley’s part. But then, a look of acceptance washed over his countenance. The man scoffed, “ahh who knows, doc said I’d be dead by now without treatment. But other than the pain, I’m doing fine. So, what the hell, ya know?”

“Yeah, I think I do,” Riley said nodding.

“Frank,” The man said, standing and walking over to Riley, offering his hand.

“Riley,” he replied as he shook it.

Frank nodded and took the liberty of sitting down only one stool apart from Riley, but Riley didn’t mind. It was about this time, the man’s drink arrived. He thanked the bar tender, opening a tab Riley expected might be pretty high before he left. Riley went back to contemplating his watch.

For a few minutes, the two sat in companionable silence, but Riley noticed every now and then, Frank glanced over at him, brooding over his keepsake. Eventually, Frank’s curiosity got the better of him. “Mind me askin’ what the watch is all about?”

The pool of memory that Riley had merely been contemplating in his mind, became a flood of details, Frank’s question made Riley involuntarily plunge deeper into each memory, and the torrent would have driven lesser men to tears. Even as seasoned and leathered as Riley had become, his chest still tightened when he remembered her face. That’s why he never opened the watch.

For a stiff moment, Riley debated telling Frank he did indeed mind. But he recalled a piece of advice his old friend Dr. Wombhamir had given him, ‘only way to make a scar stop hurting, is to stretch it until its flexible, especially when the scar is on your mind.’ Riley could see his old partners smug, shit-eating grin in his minds eye, he missed that little nerd of a man.

Riley refocused on Frank, “You really wanna know?”

Frank brightened up, “Well I asked, didn’t I?”

Riley scoffed with amusement and took the final pull from his cocktail, then waved over the bartender for another. “When I was a young man, I did a piss poor job of fitting into society. I barely graduated high school, and shortly after that my parents kicked me out of the house, cause I couldn’t hold a job. So there I am, twenty years old, living on the streets of Tacoma Washington, not a penny to my name, no skills, no prospects. So I did what a lot of guys in similar situations do, I picked up drugs and crime. Spent about two years gacked out of my mind. Then, one day in the middle of autumn. This big white van pulls up alongside the sidewalk, stops right in front of me. Driver gets out, walks over to me. And I’ll never forget the words he said,”

Riley took a heavy pull of his drink, this memory being one of his most contentious regrets, he realized he had not drudged it up in years. “The old man says to me he says, ‘you look like you could use some help,’ and I was at a particularly low point that day. So I just said back, ‘Yeah, I think I could.’

So I stood up and I let him guide me into the van. The seat was so comfortable compared to the pavement, and I hadn’t slept in days, I drifted off as soon as the van got rolling. When I woke up, I was strapped down on a surgical table. Stripped buck naked. I lifted my head and saw the guy had done something to me, at the time, judging by the stiches, I was sure he had taken out my liver, maybe other stuff, and just left me there to die while he went and sold my meat on the black market.”

Frank’s eyes widened, he mouthed the words ‘holy shit’ silently while Riley spoke.

“But after I screamed my lungs out in sheer abject terror for about a minute, he rushed into the room and came to the tables side. Of course I screamed all the typical questions some scared kid asks in a situation like that. ‘What did you do to me,’ ‘where am I,’ ya know, all that trite crap. So, he begins, I kid you not, he begins to monologue about how he’s a scientist, and I’m now one of his precious test subjects. And how I should be honored to be apart of this very important work,” Riley said the next part with a chuckle, “He got mad when I interrupted to ask what the hell he had done to me, but he did answer. ‘I have placed a bio-engineered, symbiotic parasite inside you. Unfortunately for you, so far, it has killed every test subject. But the data your death will provide, will be invaluable towards the perfection of my masterpiece.”

Riley sighed, and took a drink of his cocktail. Reflecting on the absurdity of the whole situation. He had actually lived through a cheesy comic book origin story. When the thought struck him, he chuckled again.

“Okay, wise-guy, I’ll play along, what happened next? How are you still alive? And where does the watch come into this tall tale?” Frank asked, clearly not believing a word of it. But Riley didn’t care. In fact, it was better this way.

With a sly grin, Riley continued, “After that, he moved me around to several different labs. Until finally the feds caught up with him. I woke up during the raid, submerged in a huge vertical tank like it was star wars or something. The feds found me, but the doc managed to escape. When they got me out of the tank they evacted me to a black-site. Ran all kinds of tests, determined I was his first success with this organism he had been working on. Turned out he was former US military. He was booted when he had a huge ethics breach, but he continued his work using homeless like me.

So, to make this bit shorter than it could be, the feds decided to force me to work for them. That’s where I met...” Riley sighed heavily, “Where I met Eliza. For a while she was just a coworker, well... more of a handler really. I didn’t even like her at first, but... Over time we formed a bond. Then, on one mission, we ended up trapped in a destroyed structure. We were trapped alone, in near total darkness for almost a week. I saved her life while we were in there. Once we got out, things were different between us. We started a secret relationship. Which, turned out to be a bad idea. The Secret, not the relationship, in retrospect. If she had just swallowed her pride and taken the loss of her position as a consequence of us being together, everything would have worked out. I don’t want to bore ya with the play by play. But her boss found out. She was put on a different assignment, and I haven’t seen her since.”

Frank nodded seriously, taking a drink of his own cocktail. “Pretty good story, to bad your pulling my leg... And you still never explained the watch.”

Riley scoffed and shook his head, turning his eyes once again to the silver circle, “She gave it to me, her idea of a farewell gift. A ‘memento of our time together’ she called it. Inside is one of the three pictures of us together that exists.”

Saying aloud what was inside made the memory crystalize fully in his mind. Her face coming into clear view, as if he had just seen her in person. Despite himself, a tear slipped from Riley’s eye. He was grateful it was on the side of his face opposite Frank. He let it slide down his cheek, leaving a bitter trail of emotion and brine. Riley took another heavy pull of his drink, and motioned for another refresh from the bartender.

Frank, the whole time contemplated Riley in a serious, and somehow eccentric fashion. Riley felt as if Frank considered him a curiosity of some sort, one that had to be puzzled out before they parted ways, lest Frank miss out on some undiscovered truth. But the truth had already been laid bare, and Frank, was too much a skeptic to believe it.

“Look, uh, Riley,” Frank began, “I can tell that there really is some serious memory tied up in that thing. So if you don’t wanna tell me the real story, its fine. Sorry I disturbed ya.” This was an unexpected turn of events as far as Riley was concerned. Even more surprising was Frank waving over the bartender, asking to pay his tab.

“Hey hey hey, don’t be running off on my account. In fact, I should really be going.” Riley said standing, reaching into his jacket pocket for his wallet.

“What? No, you were here first, I’ll get outta ya...”

“I insist.” Riley said in a firm tone, meeting Frank’s eyes. He held eye contact for a moment. In that moment, he had an impulse. A reckless one, a wise-ass one, and one he decided he was absolutely going to act on. “It was nice meeting ya,” Riley held out his hand to the stranger called Frank, “safe travels.”

Frank looked from Riley’s hand, to the bills on the counter, and with a nod and a shrug, her extended his hand. Riley grasped it, and the spines ejected from Riley’s palm. Frank yelped in pained surprise, he tried to pull his hand away, but Riley pulled him in instead.

“When you get back home, have the doc look for the cancer.” Riley said, eye contact piercing. He released Franks hand, and the older man fell back, tumbling to the ground amidst falling stools.

Riley casually turned and walked away. The bar tender could be heard jumping the bar and asking Frank if he was okay. But Riley tuned out of that nonsense, and into the rolling waves. The stunt put a smile on his face, it reminded him of his earlier years, serving in the Anomalous Intelligence Department, a sub-department of the C.I.A. that didn’t officially exist. Back before the job beat the life out of him. Back when he still thought he was one of the good guys.

Riley decided he was going to meander down the beach to swan-rock, supposedly, it was a big rock that kind of resembled a swan. Riley had not seen such a natural curiosity before, so he figured while he was on this remote island in the middle of the ocean, he might as well see the sights.

**********************************************************************

Eliza Corvis stood at the market stall, perusing a selection of woven straw hats. This was her first time in the tropics, she hadn’t one to bring with her, and her sudden forced retirement to this island in the middle of nowhere hadn’t left her time for planning. “This one please,” she said to the young boy running the market stall, he held up five fingers. Eliza handed him a ten and began walking away. When the boy tried to wave her back for her change, she simply shook her head no and blew him a kiss. He blushed as he pocketed the tip.

Hers was a large floppy straw hat, with a red ribbon tied around the base of the dome, it was a little cliché, but her life had been that way much of the past fifteen years. At this point, she figured she should just lean into it and be done with battling attrition for the sake of it. She walked down the main road, exploring the town she had only been dropped off in a few days ago. Her retirement was a peaceful, quaint life in tropical paradise, where she was as out of place as a raven among doves. Her creamy skin, raven hair, which now had white strands conquering a growing section of her forehead off to the right, like that one retro-cartoon character who couldn’t touch people, her single blue eye, and being tall for a woman, all on an island of native south pacific’ers... She couldn’t have been more noticeable had she tried. She couldn’t help but wonder if this was really the best place to retire an asset you wanted to disappear, wouldn’t have someplace a bit more... Caucasian, have made more sense?

‘Whatever’ she thought, she was done fighting the attrition, done making waves. She lost her interest in such things along with her left eye about a year ago. An eye she wouldn’t have lost if he had been there. The stray thought intruded on her, as thoughts of him often still did. She’d hardly touched a man, except to hurt him, since she’d walked through the midnight rain, and left that particular man’s life ten years ago.

Eliza came up on a small streetside food parlor, with a few tables, and a white man wearing a classic Hawaiian shirt, sitting at the bar, with bandages on his hand. His short graying hair betrayed his age, but despite that, he seemed full of life. He was currently engaged in telling a joke to the cook, grilling up his food behind the bar.

Eliza decided to have a seat, and see how the local fare measured up. She sat two seats down from the man. He instantly took notice of her, “Well how do you do ma’am,” he said in a flirtatious Texas drawl.

She turned her head, a polite smile on her face, “A little better than you I think,” Eliza nodded to the man’s bandaged hand, clutching a bottle of beer.

“Ahh this? Tis but a scratch.” The man said. Eliza giggled briefly, this made the man smile, “familiar with Monty python?” He asked.

“No, sorry, the man I love used to quote it sometimes.” Eliza said, fondly remembering the time he made her sit through that stupid British movie about the holy grail.

“Ah, well, no one’s perfect, I’ll forgive you this time.” The man said. Eliza rolled her eyes and scoffed. “Name’s Frank,” the man said, offering his hand.

“Eliza,” she responded, shaking it.

“So, where is this man of yours? I wouldn’t go leaving a pretty young thing like you all alone for very long.”

Eliza smiled at the unrepentant flirting, “I haven’t a clue. I left him many years ago, haven’t seen him since.”

“So, your available for a drink tonight?” Frank ventured hopefully.

Eliza offered a conciliatory smile, “sorry cowboy, but you’re barking up the wrong tree. He ruined other men for me, even though you do remind me of him, just a little.”

“Well dag’ nammit, skunked again it seems... Well, I’ll tell ya what, let me buy ya a beer now anyways,” Frank offered.

Eliza leaned in, “Well I’ve never been one to turn down a cold beer.” She winked.

“Well alright!” Frank said happily.

The bartender reached below the grill, and pulled out a bottle, dripping with water. Setting it before Eliza with an opener. She popped her top, Frank held his bottle aloft, and Eliza obliged him with a polite clink of the brims.

Eliza took a pull of her drink, “So, what got ya?” She asked.

Frank waved his hand dismissively, “Ahh hell if I know, this big guy, tourist like us, I went to shake his hand, and he must have had some kind of glove with spikes on it, poked my hand full of holes, then, get this, he tells me to go home and have the doc recheck my cancer. Weirdo, better not ave’ poisoned me!” Frank said then took a drink.

Eliza froze in place for a moment after hearing this, but then she tipped her drink and downed it in one long gulp. Taking the moment to regain her internal composure.

“Well damn, no one told me it was a race,” Frank said in a jovial tone.

Eliza, set the bottle down with finality. “Thanks for the drink cowboy, safe travels.” Eliza said as she stood and walked away, brushing Franks shoulder with a hand as she passed.

“Uh, yeah... Yeah sure thing.” Frank said, confused.

Eliza felt shaken, more shaken than she’d felt in a long, long time. He couldn’t be here, simply no way. Fairy tales don’t happen in real life. Which meant... It meant the other one like him was here.

She had to call this in. The emergency coms device was stowed in a hidden panel at a local tourist trap, called Swan Rock.

**********************************************************************

Riley continued his meandering along the golden sands of this island whose name was so inconsequential he’d already forgotten it. His hard fought for buzz, from the gallons of liquor he’d consumed, was already wearing off. His body, so efficient at handling poison and repairing DNA, he legitimately wondered if he would ever die. The science boys told him his aging was superficial, and it would likely stop at some point, leaving him an eternal silver fox. What a nightmare...

‘Swan rock had better be the swanyiest damn rock ever. Left the damn bar to walk down a fucking beach. Pain in the ass.’ Riley thought to himself, partly as a joke, partly because he meant it. Even in paradise, life had little meaning left. His career ended without conclusion, for all he knew, his greatest enemy still ran free. That god-damned alien... How many times had he just managed to give Riley the slip. How many lives had that red skinned bastard destroyed, treating humans like guinea pigs. Like lab rats. All those people that Riley failed to save. Fell was still out there somewhere, and the A.I.D. still kicked him out.

‘Liability my ass’ he thought to himself.

Riley came around a corner on the beach, and the wind was at his back. A few hundred meters in the distance, he could see the hunk of granite that passed as a tourist attraction in the middle of nowhere. A woman was standing in front of it, sundress and waist length black hair swaying in the wind. Even from this distance, his eyes made it clear she had the same build and hair as the woman in his watch. An involuntary reaction of hope shot through Riley. Rocks plunged into the pit of his stomach, just as his heart rate briefly picked up.

‘Stop it, you idiot, its not her. You know its not her, this isn’t some fairy tale.’

Riley continued his march towards the rock. It was a pretty tall affair, if nothing else he thought, he’d climb up and watch the sunset.

As Riley walked closer, the woman’s presence dominated more and more of his attention, pulling it totally away from the rock formation he’d come here to see. She seemed just like her, the build was like hers, the hair was like hers, even the way the woman was standing with her arms in front of her, it was all just like the woman in the watch. But Riley knew there was no way in hell she was really here. The odds on that were one in a billion. He stopped about a hundred yards away. Not wanting to intrude on her. She was here first after all.

But then the wind changed, stopping at first, then a heavy gust hit Riley head on. His eyes shot wide open, you can’t mimic a scent, when you have a nose like Riley’s, its as distinct as a finger print. He stood in shock as the wind died down again, and stayed all but still. A line of sweat formed at his brow and beaded down his face.

‘What the hell am I scared of? Just make sure already.’ Riley chastised himself internally.

“Eliza?!” Riley shouted down the length of the golden sandy beach.

For a moment, the woman stood still, and Riley was sure he’d somehow gotten wrong after all.

But then, she began to turn.