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Back at the dorm, everything was normal. Until Alex broke down into tears in my arms and started crying. Ted came over and sat down on the couch next to us, trying to help me comfort Alex. Nothing bad had happened recently, and it seemed as if things were going pretty good. Then this happened. We'd ask him what's wrong, but he couldn't talk through his own sobbing. He just clung to me and wouldn't let go.

After a while, our friends showed up, and we were all trying to figure out what was bothering Alex, and trying to comfort him, but nothing was working. At some point, Ted decided to try pulling him away, and succeeded, but Alex freaked out even more. He started clawing at Ted, screaming, only screaming! No rhyme or reason could be deciphered from this madness, and when Ted finally let go, Alex just went running back to me, tears still streaming down his face and he was whimpering and sobbing. It really freaked us all out.

We decided to try treating it like any other time someone got sad and just let someone hold them while the others played video games. This worked for a long time, and then Alex spoke. It was weak and faint, but I helped him up and went into my room so I could hear him better. We laid down on my bed and I held him in my arms, trying to make him feel safe.

"Okay, what's wrong?"

"My... My parents..."

"What? Did something happen to them?"

"No, but... I just... I just sort of realized... they're gonna freak out when they find out I'm gay."

"Oh..."

"And... I can't handle that thought. I love you, Seth, and I... I don't know if I could really live without you, and yet... I'm supposed to hide it from my parents and I don't even care! I JUST FUCKING HATE THEM AND THEIR GOD DAMN RELIGION AND I JUST-..." He stopped as he choked up and started crying again. "I just want them to love me..."

"They do love you, though-"

"No! They don't! They only think they do... They don't know that I'm gay, or that I'm an atheist, or that... They may love the person they know, but that person isn't me."

I stayed quiet. I understood what he meant. That's how I'd felt at Christmas. And then he became my boyfriend because he proved me wrong.

"Aren't you gonna deny it?" [Alex]

"No. I'm not going to. You'd just wave it off, and I understand how you feel. We just need to wait until you get over it, or have some evidence that suggests other wise."

"What?"

"You'll get over it. You just need to feel loved by someone. And I'm here for you."

He sat up and gave me a questioning look, "Wait, how do you know how I feel?"

"Christmas?"

"Seth, I've always loved you. I..."

"Alex, it's okay. I got over it."

"But..."

"I'm saying that you'll get over it, too. That your parents do love you, and... they probably wouldn't care if you were gay."

"I doubt that."

"And I doubted I'd have friends this year. I was wrong."

"You were really wrong."

"Exactly. Feel better now?"

"Not really..."

"Well what else is wrong?"

"A few things..."

"Name one."

"Well, when I went to the bathroom at the hanger, some guy gave me this."

He pulled out a small, golden pocket watch from his pocket. It had an AUX jack, USB jack, and some three wires sticking out of a small hole. There was a dial and a button on the other side of it. He opened it up and showed me the inside. There was a digital display and an old fashioned radio dial, except it was showing radio frequencies, it was simply numbered zero to nine.

"What is that?" [Me]

"I don't know... Here, I'll push the button." When he did, the digital display flicked on, and started counting up and at a steady rate. He twisted the dial, and the speed increased as he went to higher numbers, and slowed as he went to lower numbers. He set it down to zero, and we saw it stop counting all together.

"My god, what is that?"

"I have no idea." He pushed the button again, and there was a tiny burst of light from the three little wires sticking out of it and everything went black with a strong burst of pain.

I woke up in my bed, with Ted and Daniel shaking my arm. They looked worried, but I couldn't hear anything they were saying. I tried speaking, but my mouth felt numb and limp. In fact, so did every part of me. I tried giving them a worried look, but they held me down and tried screaming into my ears. I still couldn't hear anything.

I was terrified. The last thing I remembered was the spark of light! Maybe it'd paralyzed me, or maybe I was in a seisure or god forbid dead! I started freaking out, but physically I lay limp. I see them life my head and body and try shaking it. I see Alex holding on to me, equally limp.

This is so strange! What the hell is even- My thought was cut short by a distinct ringing sound in my ear. It faded to normal noise, and the feeling returned to every part of my body, slowly spreading form my ears.

"Seth! Wake up!" [Ted]

"Wha- what's going on?" [Me]

"You... You've been asleep since last night! You missed all of our classes, and so did Alex!"

"What? How did that happen? Why didn't you guys come wake us up?"

"Because we didn't know you were still here." [Daniel]

"What happened?" [Ted]

"I... The watch."

"Watch, what?" [Daniel]

"The pocket watch, where is it?"

"It's... right here." Ted lifted up the golden chain, showing the strange device Alex had found.

"Why does it matter?" [Daniel]

"It... I don't know how, but Alex was messing around with it, and he pushed the button and it like sparked and it fucking hurt like hell."

"So if I hit this button..."

Ted pressed the button on the side as he opened it and watched the numbers rack up. He waited until he felt it was a sufficient number, pointed the three wires at the wall, and pushed the button again. There was a bright flash of white light and the sound of thunder. It shook the whole room, and woke up Alex. It took him a minute for his numbness to wear off, but when it did he looked around completely confused.

"Jesus fucking christ, Alex! Where the hell did you get this?" [Ted]

"Some guy gave it to me when we were at the hanger."

"Okay, so at the place with weird machinery that powers itself and strange science fictional themed contraptions, some guy gave you a pocket watch that shoots lightning. And you took it?!"

"He just handed it to me, saying that he got a new one, and it might help me some time."

"Okay, word for word, what did he say?" [Daniel]

"Here, have a Theorium Industries Mark Five Pocket Watch, take good care of it, and don't let anyone take it from you. I asked him what it was, and he said, it's a device that can power the world. I got the new mark six, so you can have my old one. Then he shoved it in my hand and walked off."

"When and where?" [Ted]

"On my way back from going to the bathroom. Seriously, I'm thinking of just throwing it away."

"Why? It's literally a universal charger! It has a usb and a headset jack, plug it in and it'll power anything." [Daniel]

"Okay, so how does it work?" [Me]

"Simple." Daniel took the pocket watch and flipped it open. "Inside, there's some kind of small device that can power itself and generate more energy."

"The theorium circuit." [Alex]

"Then, this determines the amplifier, and this shows the energy generated. Set the amplifier to zero, and plug it in. Then the energy will transfer to the device and power it. Simple enough."

"That's... Wait, how did you know that?" [Me]

"My grandpa worked at Theorium Industries. He has a mark one pocket watch."

"How did that one work?" [Ted]

"Same way, just, it only had the three wires, and no dial. There was also a compass and a clock in the middle. This thing's cooler."

"So, it's literally just a tool for charging things? Like mp3 players." [Alex]

"Exactly. I mean, maybe your car battery's dead. Point at the car, double tap the button on nine, and in less than a second your car battery's fine. Let's say you're getting mugged, same thing, lower amplifier. Maybe you were in a car wreck and badly need cell service, but your phone's dying. Lower ampifier, one tap. Let it raise a little, wind it down to zero, and plug it in."

"You're insane." [Ted]

"But I've got a secure job at Theorium Industries."

"Wait, what?" [Alex]

"Yeah. It's mostly a family company. My parents work there, and once I get a masters in particle physics, I can join them in their line of work. They study quantum tunneling on the actual island, so me and my grandpa have spent a lot of summers together, and that's kinda why I have to go to boarding school."

"Dude, that sucks." [Me]

"Why? My grandpa's awesome. He was one of the first five founders of the company. He fuckin' knows shit."

"Cool." [Ted]

"See, Ted? Science isn't lame!" [Alex]

"I never said it was, I just said it was for nerds."

"So I'm a nerd." [Daniel]

"But you're a cute nerd." They hugged and walked out of the room. Me and Alex got up and took seperate showers and ate DINNER. It was fucking weird as hell to wake up this late.