Open Your Eyes (5 page)

Kick
some ass...

Seth
sat on the rooftop overlooking the neon lit nightclub below. It was his first
night out, his first real watch, and although he was ready, honestly he was
hoping it would be a quiet one too.

It
was.

That
first week there was never anything on the scale of the runaway train, nor
anything nearly as horrific as that attack he did not stop. But he was still
there to help, and soon, the cries of help came.

The
economic woes had lead to people becoming desperate. People began to prey on
each other, in the shadows, in the darkness. But the tales of the hooded
stranger that appeared out of nowhere and disappeared in a flash of light soon
began to spread across the city.

The
hooded stranger that stopped a carjacking, the hooded stranger that stopped a
hold up, the hooded stranger that saved that woman, that child, that invalid,
that couple who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time...

Being
a hero. It drove Seth on, giving him a purpose in life. The more he went out,
the better he became at it. The use of his powers, the way he could manipulate
them so he could be everywhere and nowhere. It drove him on. You could say it even
became addictive.

But,
as Seth had learnt that first night, he still couldn’t help them all. He had to
learn that he couldn’t stop every mugging, or assault or rape or murder, it was
impossible to do so, even with his powers, even with everything he could do. And
while he was able to eventually track down and bring in some of those
perpetrators responsible, others are still are out there, some of them
committing even more crimes, even more terrible acts...

It
pained him, every single time he thought he failed them, failed himself. At
times he felt he couldn’t go on. But unlike that first night, Emma was now there
supporting him too, to get him through all that anguish, all that frustration,
all that anxiety. He can go on.

Ultimately,
Seth knows he won’t be able make this city safe for everyone. It was
impossible.

Still,
he was going to try his very best.

He
had seen the report on the television news the night before, kept tabs on them
via social media. Seth had recognised them, but not because of the TV or their
faces plastered all over Facebook. He had seen them in person.

He
didn’t stop them.

It
wasn’t just that one homeless man, a supposed crime of opportunity. No, now they
were preying on them, those four thugs. For fun. For sport.

Fucking
bastards.

They
cornered the homeless couple in an alley similar to the one they had assaulted
that old man weeks earlier. They had been targeted by them, for no particular
reason but for the fact that it seemed easy. There was no time to waste.

He
silently appeared behind them, drawing their attention away from their chosen
victims. “How about you leave them alone fellas.” Seth tells them, affecting
his voice with a level of command and authority, something he naturally began
to do after watching a marathon of superhero movies for research. “You
understand?”

The
quartet whisper to each other. Whispers of recognition. “Is that him? The man
they’ve been talking about?” One converses. “What, The Blink?” says another. “What
do we do?” questions a third.

The
fourth one snorts. “It’s just some guy...” he says, unconvinced. The sceptic
turns to face him. Seth waits for his response.

“Fuck
off you freak!!”

The
thug draws a knife from under his own hoodie and rushes at Seth. Without the
benefit of using his powers, Seth swiftly sidesteps him and pushes him into a
wall, hard, the impact making him drop his blade. With a swift kick, Seth trips
him; the thug’s face hitting the black asphalt below and knocking him out cold.

With
barely enough time to react, another thug lunges for him, throwing a punch that
goes astray as Seth blinks out of the way. Reappearing behind him, Seth grabs the
thug from behind, shoving him face first into the opposite wall, smacking him
into unconsciousness too. The third meanwhile decides to draw a gun and
straight up tries to shoot him.

The
bullets zip pass Seth as he dodges them with his powers, blinking left and
right and blinding the thug with light each time he does so. Moving in closer
with each step, he finally reaches him, bowling him off his feet and knocking
the firearm out of his grasp before suddenly teleporting him ten feet up in the
air and riding him all the way down on top of a dumpster.

Another
one out cold.

In
a panic the last thug decides to make a run for it. He simply gets clotheslined,
unable to outrun the man who can appear at will. Seth four, thugs zero.

The
homeless couple don’t stay around long enough to thank Seth, making their
escape in the middle of the skirmish. Still, he doesn’t care, he’s done his
work. People got saved.

Sticking
around just long enough for the police to arrive, once they do Seth again takes
to the rooftops. After watching them finally being carted away for their
crimes, he disappears, into the night, all in less than a blink of an eye...

“A
Blink of an Eye!” That’s what the title of the mock comic book cover Emma made
for him said. Cast in an attractive typeface, it hung above the image of a
shadowy, hooded guardian, perched on top of a building as he took watch over
the city.

“A
little on the nose don’t you think?” Seth asks her, seeing the fairly obvious
similarities.

“It’s
not like anyone else knows.” she tells him, a sly smile on her face. It was a
present from her, a great present, one fit for hitting the big three zero.

Seth
relented to having a quiet family dinner at the old home for his birthday. Not
many guests, just his parents and Pete. He did think about inviting Hannah too,
but eventually he thought better about it.

“She’s
probably busy anyway.” he thought to himself as he watched his mother cut up
the cake. There will be no patrol tonight either; Port City will just have to
wait. Emma insisted.

“They
say thirty is the new adulthood.” Pete says to him, striding up to Seth with a
slice of cake on a plate in one hand and a glass of wine in another. Admittedly
Seth couldn’t help but be a little jealous of the guy; he was younger than him
but infinitely more successful, zigzagging across the globe with his sports
photography and freelance work and what not.

Just
a few years ago dwelling on that would have really brought Seth down, but now
he had some talents of his own to be truly proud of himself. He didn’t need a
rival like Pete or anyone else to be that yardstick of success anymore. And
regardless of that, Pete does seem like a genuinely cool guy anyway; he made
his sister very happy, so he gets a pass.

“Yeah,
well I totally wasted my twenties so I guess that might be true.” Seth replies,
a hint of regret in his voice. Pete pats him on the shoulder. He raises his
glass.

“To
new beginnings then?”

“To
new beginnings.” Seth replies. Clink.

The
cake went down well, as did mother’s dinner and Emma’s bespoke comic art.
Seth’s dad found it a bit ridiculous but mom did find it cute.

He
does too.

Like
his crime fighting, Seth left clean up till the next day. There wasn’t actually
much left to clean up, though Emma soon found out there was a conspicuous lack
of paper towels in the house.

“I’ll
get them.” Seth volunteers, digging his car keys from out of the bowl. “You
want anything else from the supermarket?”

“No.”
Emma replies. Keys? “So you’re taking the car?”

“Yes.
Why wouldn’t I?”

“Just
wondering.” she smirks.

Basket
in hand, Seth tries to decide which brand of paper towels he really wants.
Thick and soft? Double weave? It was not as straightforward as he thought.

Glancing
down the supermarket aisle, he catches the eye of a very young woman browsing
through a selection of facial tissues, comparing a selection of attractive box
designs.

Knowing
that he’s watching, she slips a small box of tissues underneath her crimson red
hoodie. Seth stares at the shoplifter as she gives him a wink, a smile, and
disappears in a flash of light.

Blink.

Shocked,
Seth drops his basket to the floor. Standing there, he is left momentarily dumbfounded
before the sound of the security alarms at the front of the store ringing out
snap him out of his daze. Making his way out of the supermarket, he finds the
shoplifter outside, trying to make her escape.

“Hey!”
he calls out. She turns to see him. Recognising Seth, the shoplifter bolts.

Giving
chase, Seth briefly loses her when she again blinks. Tracing her to a nearby
rooftop, he blinks right after her to her great astonishment. She blinks again.

Seth
chases her across a series of buildings, his relative mastery of his powers
giving him an advantage over her. He quickly follows her to the top of a tall office
building; she’s tired, frustrated, and unsure where else to go.

“Look,
I just want to ask you some questions!” Seth pleads to the shoplifter as he
slowly approaches her, his hands held out in front of him. “You’re not going to
get into any trouble!”

The
shoplifter pulls something from out of her jacket. Seth hesitates, expecting a
weapon; it is the box of tissues she stole. She beans it at Seth. It bonks him right
on the head but doesn’t stop him coming even closer.

Cornered
at the edge of the rooftop, the shoplifter leaps. Without hesitating Seth jumps
right after her, catching her in mid-air as they fall towards the ground.

Their
bodies entwined and quickly rushing towards the hard concrete below them, Seth
blinks, taking her along with him to safety. Reappearing much closer to the
ground, they crash upon a huge pile of garbage bags that only just cushion
their fall.

With
barely enough time to get his bearings, the shoplifter immediately moves on top
of Seth, pinning him down as she straddles him.

They
stare at each other, lost in a brief moment full of mystery and unanswered
questions.

“Who
are you?” he asks her as she sits on top of him.

“Who
the fuck
are you?” she replies curtly before smacking him in the face.

Quickly
leaping off him, the shoplifter scrambles away from Seth. Brushing herself off,
she lords over him as she gives him one final message.

“Whoever
you are, stay away from me.”

And
with those words, she again vanishes in a blink of light, leaving Seth alone
and confused in that back alley.

“So
who is she?” Emma asks her brother. Seth throws the weathered, tattered bright
pink wallet onto the kitchen table. Emma reaches over and examines it.

It
belongs to the shoplifter.

“Lily
Krygynski.” he tells her. “And no, I didn’t steal her wallet; she dropped it
after we fell off the roof of the building and onto the pile of garbage.”

“Right.
That’s what they all say.”

“She
has the same powers as me.” Seth says to her. “I need to find her again.”

“And
how are you going to do that?”

Seth
pulls an ID from the shoplifter’s wallet. A home address.

“Good
old fashioned detective work.”

“That’s
not detective work. It’s written right there on the freaking card!”

“Oh
shut up.”

Seth
parks his car across the street from the apartment block. Just an ordinary, slightly
rundown residential high rise, like the many others that had sprung up all
across the city in the past decade or so. No doorman, letters stuck out from
the slot in the apartment’s letterbox in the foyer.

Someone’s
definitely living here.

The
elevator doors pull open as Seth steps out into the cold, linoleum floored hallway.
As he approaches the front door of the apartment, he can hear the sounds of
children playing and laughing inside.

“Maybe
she’s home?” he wonders as he knocks on the door. After a wait, a man opens up.
Shirt stained with food, hair as mess, he looks like he’s having a busy day.

“Hi.”
Seth greets him. “I was wondering if Lily was home?”

“No,
no one by that name lives here.” the man tells him.

“This
is the Krygynski residence, right?”

“No,
we’re the Taylors. What’s this about?”

“Oh,
I just need to ask her a few questions.”

“Well,
I’m sorry, she doesn’t live here.”

Seth
nods.

“Okay.
Sorry to bother you.”

Seth
examines the ID again as the man shuts the door. He’s got the right address, the
right apartment number but where is this family?

As
he heads back down the hallway Seth spies an elderly woman leaving her own apartment.
He quickly approaches her. Maybe she might know something?

“Yes,
they used to live there. Lily was their daughter.” the woman tells Seth. “Shame
what happened to those folks.”

“What
happened to them?” he asks her.

“I’m
not entirely sure. An accident I think. But they put their apartment up for lease,
and I never saw the daughter again.” She pauses. “To be honest, I never really
knew them, they kind of kept to themselves.”

Seth
sighs. Dejected.

“Okay,
thanks for your help.”

Seth
examines the ID again as he waits for the elevator to arrive.

“A
fat lot of good that detective work did.” he mumbles to himself.

That
night Seth returns to the rooftop where he had cornered her, where they had
fallen. Just a hunch he thought. He had something of hers, and it was something
she probably wanted back.

And
come back, she did.

“Hey
fucker! You stole my wallet!” Lily yells as she marches towards Seth. He pulls
out the bright pink wallet out of his pocket. He holds it up, showing it to
her.

“I
didn’t steal it. You dropped it.” he tells her.

“Give
it back!” she shouts as she lunges for him, swinging her right fist at his face.
Seth easily dodges the attack. She swings again; he continues to dance around
her, the agility training he had undertaken in the past few weeks was beginning
to pay off.

“Give
it fucking back!” Lily yells again as she winds up another punch. Confident,
Seth
zigs
only for her to
zig
too, landing a punch to straight his
jaw.

“Ow!”
he yelps as she gets another punch in. Another. The one to the stomach floors
Seth. She takes her wallet back.

“Asshole!”
she screams as she tries to wave off the pain in his knuckles. Leaving Seth
alone, she quickly disappears, again in a flash of light.

“Fuck.”
Seth mumbles. He slowly picks himself off the ground, groaning and aching.

Dusting
himself off, he pulls out something from his pocket: her ID card. Focusing on
it, he closes his eyes. He’s done this before. He’s just got to concentrate on
her...

He
blinks.

There
is a commotion at the far end of the alleyway. Seth watches the shoplifter quickly
pull some items from her little hiding place behind some air conditioning units,
dumping them all into a plastic bag.

Cans
of food, toilet paper, soap, tampons. Grocery items.

He
approaches the young woman, her back still to him. “Is that everything you’ve
stolen?” he asks her. She turns, not expecting to see him there.

“How
the hell did you find me?” she mumbles, dumbfounded by his presence.

Seth
hands Lily her ID. Clasped in his hand, she stares at it, transfixed by the
photo of herself that graces it, that of the young woman she used to be.

“I
went to that address. Is that where you live?” Seth asks her. She doesn’t
answer him. She snatches the ID out of his hand and stuffs it into a pocket.

“Is
it?” he repeats.

“I’m
homeless okay!” she snaps. “I used to live there, I don’t anymore.”

“Well,
where do you sleep then?”

She
hesitates for an answer. She sighs.

Lily
finishes filling her bag with all her stolen goods. She stands up, wrapping the
flimsy plastic handles around her hand. She looks to him.

“Hold
on.”

Before
Seth can react she suddenly grabs him and brings him closer.

Holding
him tight, she blinks.

In
a flash of light they rematerialise on another rooftop, finding themselves in
front of a seemingly abandoned looking penthouse on top of a luxury apartment
building somewhere above the hotel district.

“Home
sweet home.” Lily says as she lets go of Seth. Walking towards the penthouse, she
easily pulls open the unlocked glass doors and heads inside, dumping her bag of
stolen groceries onto a bench in the kitchen. Curious, he follows her in.

Bar
for the dust and complete absence of any electricity, it seems like a nice
place to live.

A
nice place to squat.

“Who
lives here?” Seth asks her.

“Just
me.” Lily replies. “This place has been empty since the financial crisis. It’s
kinda gone to the dogs now; alarms don’t work, no power, let alone any Wi-Fi.
Still, it’s a lot safer than any of the places I’ve been forced to stay before.
And nicer too.”

She
lights a match, setting it to the wick of a half-melted candle, giving the
place some much needed light. Extinguishing the match, she turns her attention
back to Seth.

“So,
you’re the guy that’s been doing all those things?”

“Doing
what?” Seth asks mockingly.

“Don’t
play dumb. Watching over the streets, protecting people like us, the homeless.
You’re the ghost, the spirit of the city. The Blink. The guy who comes out of
nowhere and vanishes into the darkness in a flash of light.”

“Yeah.
You could say that.”

She
laughs.

“Fuck
me.”

“Look,
I’m not here to hand you over to the cops. I just want to ask you some
questions.”

“Like
what?” she asks.

“Like
why you can do what I can do.”

She
pauses.

“The
storm.” she says.

“The
storm? The big electrical storm?”

“Yeah.
What happened to you?”

“I
was inside, working. I was in a men’s room, so I couldn’t even see the storm
outside. Still, something weird happened to me. I can’t really describe it; it
was just light, like really bright light. Then it was over.”

“I
was outside during that scary ass storm.” she tells him. “I was trying to find
cover in a doorway in some alleyway. There was a light too. I thought I was
struck by lightning, but I don’t think it was.”

“Jesus,
what happened to us?” Seth asks her.

“I
don’t know.”

“Do
you think there’s anyone else like us out there?”

“How
the fuck I should know?” she snorts. “Anyway, as much as I would love to chat
more with you, The Blink or whoever you are, I’m going to have to ask you to
get the fuck out of here now. I’m tired, I just wanna go to bed.”

Seth
shrugs his shoulders.

“Sure.
The name’s Seth by the way.”

“Who
cares?” Lily retorts. Waving her arms, she shows Seth the way out. He takes his
leave.

Following
him as he exits the penthouse and back out to the roof, she holds out her hand
to him as a final goodbye.

“Well,
nice to meet you Seth.” she says to him. “I hope we never cross paths again.”

“Alas,
I’m pretty sure we will.” Seth replies with a smirk as he shakes her hand.

He
steps to the edge of the rooftop, turning back to her.

“Nice
meeting you too Lily.”

Deliberately
stepping off, Seth falls off the roof and out of sight.

She
doesn’t think much of it.

“Show
off...”

A
flash of light. Seth suddenly reappears in mid-air in front of her, zooming off
up into the sky in a series of blinks.

“Whoa.”
Lily exclaims as she watches him fly off into the distance, every burst forward
marked by another pulse of light. Even though she wouldn’t admit it, whatever
he was doing, she was certainly impressed by it.

Quite
impressed indeed.