The first thing I did was scream. It echoed and the vibrations were so loud I could feel my whole body shake. I did not even pause to take a breath, just grew louder and louder and louder.

After some time my knees buckled but my scream never faltered. The noise I was creating was becoming so loud that I felt my ears beginning to throb in pain with the high-pitched nonsense. I stopped, closing my mouth slowly.

I hadn’t realized until I looked at the watch eating my wrist that a year had passed. A year in this solid blackness where there was no escape. Where time was meaningless. Where I didn’t even have to breath if I wanted to. I looked down at my hands, only to see the darkness had taken them too. I put them closer to my face, hoping to see something—anything, but only got the assurance that they existed as they touched my face.

I was alone. My worst fear had been recognized. Here I was stuck with the low glowing watch. The watch that was as big as a baseball, latched into my wrist as a reminder for my actions in life. I laughed, nervously; time seemed like such a silly phenomenon here in this place.

I glanced at it. Another four months had passed. Maybe time was going faster, or maybe I had grown so used to the darkness that time seemed irrelevant. I wondered about them. Did they grieve when I passed? Or were they just glad that I had gotten out of their lives? Of course, time had passed for them, I’m sure they’re moving on, happier than ever. But time has not passed for me, stuck here in the darkness. All I get is the simple reminder that they can move on and I can’t.

I stared at the dim glow of the watch, watching as the hands moved. I tried to deflect the glow into the darkness but nothing reflected. Even my hands wouldn’t absorb the light to allow me any sight.

It was the only thing I would get to see for many years to come.