Open Your Eyes (6 page)

The
encounter with The Blink, Seth... whatever his name is still weighed heavily on
Lily.

He
turned out to be just an ordinary guy, albeit one who could do exactly what she
could do. He could have done anything with his gift, his affliction. Travel the
world, be a spy, become the world’s greatest cat burglar. But no, he chose to
become an honest to god superhero, like some nerd living a dream in real life.

He
was not like her, not like her at all.

To
be fair, she had to lead a life of survival. Stealing things like food,
toiletries, picking the occasional pocket to survive. She didn’t like doing it,
but she had to. Life was tough for her on the streets, without anyone she could
count on. Still, in the law’s eyes it made her a petty criminal, something that
brought her great unease. What happened to her?

Oh
yeah, that happened. The accident, when her parents were taken away from her.
Still, she should have had the strength to rise above it. Instead, she
literally tried to run away.

It
made her feel guilty, not taking on and rising up to the challenge. Maybe with
this thing, this power she’s been given, she can set some things straight.

Be
someone she can be proud of again.

She
went out to find him again. She watched him from a distance, from the rooftops of
Chinatown where she tracked him to that night. She hid in the shadows, not
wanting to let him know she was there. Even if he did know, he was too busy to
care.

Seth,
The Blink stopped an assault that night, saved a man that was being chased by
gangsters, or thugs, who knows? Who was he? An innocent victim? Maybe he was as
guilty as the men chasing him? Still, he put himself in harm’s way, just to
save him from further harm.

She
wondered what drove him to do this.

On
her own, Lily had time to think about things. Think about her place on this earth.
She thought about her parents again, about all the sacrifices they had made to
give her a good life, a decent future. They had come to this city, this country
with barely a cent to their name but still believed that this would be the
place that would give her a fighting chance in this increasingly cruel and
competitive world of ours.

They
worked hard to find her a comfortable home to live, to put her in a good
school. She was a good student too, a popular student, one that was college
bound. She was on the road to success. And then they were taken away from her.

If
they only hadn’t gotten behind the wheel...

Would
they, her parents, be proud of her, if they could see her now?

Probably
not, she thinks.

Probably
not.

She
had seen the girl many times before. They lived in the building across the
street from the penthouse. From her vantage point she could see inside almost every
apartment in that building, but she kept an especially close eye on hers.

Sometimes
Lily would just watch them in their apartment, getting on with their lives,
being a family. They weren’t poor; in fact they were quite well off. Dad
appeared to be a bigwig at a successful company, his wife possibly a trophy. On
the surface, they seemed to be living a good life. Through their windows after
dark though, it often told a different story.

You
don’t have to be human trash to commit domestic abuse.

This
night was worse than usual. Something must have gone wrong at work; the father
had been drinking heavily, and his behaviour only got worse once he stepped
through the front door. The mother meanwhile was trying to keep it under
control; even from this far away Lily could tell she was trying her hardest
just to keep him from exploding.

At
least their kid seems safe. She’s in the other room, headphones in her ears,
occupied by an iPad. Hopefully oblivious.

There’s
a row. Not sure what started it. The mother looks frightened, the father
furious. Lily hopes he thinks straight and calms down. Walk away.

Someone
please walk away...

The
man gestures vigorously down the hall, towards the other room. They’re talking
about her, the little girl. He’s furious about her. Why?

The
man slams his wife into a wall, slaps her, hits her. She screams. People must
be hearing this. Why isn’t anyone doing anything about this?

The
man punches his wife in the face. She crumbles to the floor. The girl remains
oblivious.

Lily
has to do something. She closes her eyes.

Blink.

She
finds the mother, still slumped over on the kitchen floor.  She checks her
pulse, just like she had been taught in school. Unconscious. Loud banging
noises.

The
man is trying to get into his daughter’s bedroom. The door must be locked. He’s
trying to smash it down.

“Where
are you, you fucking cunt! You ungrateful bitch!” he screams, he slurs. “Get
the fuck out here! We’re leaving!”

He
bangs on the door again. Thinking quickly, Lily scans the room for something,
anything. She won’t be able to take him down on her own, even with her powers.

She
grabs the lamp stand and charges down the hallway towards the commotion. She
surprises the man as she swings the stand at his head, smacking him right in
the face with it. It brings him down instantly.

Lily
slowly approaches the little girl’s door, carefully stepping over her father,
sprawled out on the tile. She leans in, and whispers.

“Hey...
sweetie, it’s okay, your dad is...”

A
hand grabs Lily by the ankle and pulls her to the ground. The man clambers on
top of Lily, his face bloodied, his mouth dripping with spit and vomit and
reeking of alcohol. He pins her down to the floor, pressing all his weight down
on top of her.

“Who
are you bitch? Who are you!?”

Twisting
her arm free, Lily grabs him by the neck.

Blink.

Lily
rides the man down as he drops out of mid-air and falls right on top of the
glass coffee table in the lounge. Crushed by his weight, it shatters spectacularly
underneath him. With him out for good, she quickly climbs off him and returns
to the child’s bedroom.

Lily
pushes the door open. The lock had been broken. He was almost inside...

The
room is dark, save for the glow of the iPad’s screen abandoned in a corner. She
turns the light on, and quickly finds the girl hiding under her bed, scared and
whimpering.

“Hey.”
she whispers to her.

“Hey...”
she replies, her voice still weak and delicate.

Lily
reaches out her hand to her. After a moment of hesitation, the girl takes it.

“Are
you an angel?” she asks her.

“No.
Not quite.” Lily replies. She smiles. She gets one out of the girl too.

Lily
waits with the girl and her mother before the police soon come to the apartment.
She disappears once they get inside the home, making sure she said goodbye to
the girl before the authorities can take care of things from there.

Lily
watches the aftermath from her penthouse, see that monster be taken away. A
feeling of pride fills her soul.

It
felt good to do something worthwhile for a change.

Emma
dumps the handful of mixed berries into the blender. She turns it on. It roars
to life.

She
strains the purple and crimson mush into a bowl. It was going to go on the
cheesecake she was preparing. Emma had seen it made on one of those competitive
cooking shows on television; she was hoping it would turn out at least as good
as it looked on TV.

It
certainly was getting there.

She
dips her finger in the bowl. It tastes sweet. She hears the sound of footsteps
behind her.

“Seth,
if you’re here for lunch just give me a few minutes and I’ll be out of your
way...”

She
turns around, coming face to face with a stranger: Lily. There’s a distinct
moment of awkwardness, of not knowing how to exactly react.

“Hi?”
Emma asks her.

“Hey.”
Lily replies.

“
Sethhhhh!
”
Emma calls out at the top of her lungs.

Through
the blinds of the kitchen window, Emma watches Seth and their uninvited guest
talk out in the backyard. Judging from his body language, he’s clearly not very
happy that she’s here.

“What
are you doing here?” Seth asks her. “How do you even know where I live?”

“You
come to my house; I should be able come to your house.” Lily replies like the
smartass she is. “Nice place by the way.”

“What
do you want?”

“I’ve
been thinking. I’ve been thinking that I want to do what you do.”

“What?”

“I
want you to help me get into this hero stuff.”

“So
you want to be my sidekick?”

She
waves her arms in protest. “No, I never said that.” she tells him. “I want to
do what you do. I want to help people.”

“Well
it seemed before like you only cared about yourself.” he retorts,

“Well,
things change. I don’t know why you do it, but now I know I want to stop some
of the awful shit that’s happening out there too. Just give me a chance.”

Seth
takes a moment. He sighs.

“I
can offer some help. Meet me at the rooftop later tonight and I’ll see what I
can do.”

“Which
rooftop?”

“
The
rooftop.”

She
nods in acknowledgment.

“Okay.”
She looks over to the house. “Is that your girlfriend?”

“Sister.”

“Oh.
Tell her I’m sorry I scared her.”

“I
will.” Seth tells her. “Though I doubt you actually did scare her.”

Relieved,
she smiles.

And
like that, she’s gone.

Lily
waits for Seth on that same rooftop they first met almost a week ago. She’s
already been up here for an hour; probably should have set a time she thinks to
herself.

A
flash of light. He’s here. Finally, and all dressed up in full uniform.

“Anyone
tell you you kinda look like a douche in those orange specs of yours?” she asks
him.

“Yeah,
a couple.” Seth replies bluntly. “You got a smartphone?”

“Of
course! Who doesn’t?”

“If
you need to call the cops use this instead.”

Seth
throws her a burner phone. Lily reaches out to catch it; it bounces off her
palms and onto the concrete.

“Great,
now it’s broken!”

“It’s
a Nokia, they never break. Got a whole drawer of them.”

Lily
picks up the phone. Presses the rubber power button at the top. It works fine.

“Jesus,
my parents must have had a phone like this fifteen years ago.”

“Yeah.
There’s no geo-locating, GPS, any of that stuff they can use to track you. I
see you have some appropriate attire, but I got you these too...”

Seth
throws her another object; Lily makes sure to catch it this time. It is a soft
bundle of cloth. She unrolls it: they’re padded gloves.

“Again,
I’ve found out they’re pretty useful. No fingerprints, they’re fighter’s gloves
in case you need to bust some heads...”

“That
happen to you often?”

“No,
street fighting isn’t really my kind of thing. Also you wouldn’t really want to
touch some of the people I’ve had to deal with your bare hands...”

Lily
slips them on. They fit snugly.

“Nice.
Is that it?”

“I’ve
only been doing this a few weeks. I’m not Batman. I’m still learning the ropes
at this as much as you are.”

“Come
on, you can at least teach me something?”

“I
know you handled that incident with the girl and her mother. You’ve got moxie,
more than I had when I started. I think you’ll do fine.”

She
pouts, a little disappointed.

“Well,
you can at least show me how to fly?”

Lily
screams as she falls out of the air. Tumbling down towards the rooftop below,
Seth blinks underneath her, just barely catching her in his arms. He collapses
under her weight.

“Fuck,
I panicked.” Lily tells him as she climbs off Seth. “To be honest I’m not the
biggest fan of heights.”

“So
why do you want to fly then?”

“It
looked cool.” She helps Seth to his feet. “So how long exactly have you been flying?”

“You
know that night when you brought me to your place? That was the second time.”

“You’re
fucking kidding me?”

“I
wanted the last word. You were fronting up to me.” he tells her.

“I
didn’t know I could trust you.”

“And
you trust me now?”

“Now
that I know you’re a decent guy, yeah.” Lily dusts herself off. “So, what now?”

Seth’s
gaze turns to one of the brightly lit skyscrapers in the distance.

“You
been up there?” he says, pointing out the building.

“No.”

Blink.

Save
for the ever present wind chilling their bare faces, it is eerily quiet up atop
the skyscraper as Seth and Lily look out across the city, above the vast array
of LED lights that silently illuminates the outline of the building that sits beneath
their feet.

“Look
at that.” Seth tells her. “It’s a nice looking sight.”

Lily
doesn’t seem to be as enamoured about the view as he is.

“Eh.
You actually like this place?” she asks him.

“I
grew up here. Its home. And I think it’s worth protecting.”

“You
sound like a superhero. You sure you’re not Batman?”

“Trust
me I’m not. I’d love the money though.”

She
laughs. He smiles too.

“So
what else do you think we can do with our powers?” Lily asks him.

“I
don’t know. Even after all this time I’m a bit afraid to find out.”

“Do
you think it’s possible to travel back in time?” she asks Seth.

Goosebumps.
Her question alarms him. “No, I don’t think it’s possible.”Seth lies, knowing
fully well that he’s done it before, albeit accidentally and with his hands down
his pants. “Even if you could, it would be dangerous. One false move and you could
change the future for the worst...”

“Or
for the better.”

“Like
kill Hitler?” he asks her.

“Or
save my dead parents.”

 “I’m
sorry.”

“It’s
okay. You didn’t really know.” A pause. “They died in a car crash. But it
wasn’t a traffic accident or something like that; something was wrong with the
car they were driving.”

She
sighs, recalling those memories again.

“It
was actually going to be a present for me you know? A high school graduation
present. They found a guy selling it online; it was just a cheap used car, lots
of miles on it. They took it out on a test drive alone and... it exploded. It
was a defect with the fuel injection or line or something.”

“That’s
horrible.”

“I
wish I could go back and warn them somehow, tell them not to drive that car,
that I didn’t even need a car in the first place. I actually found the guy who was
going to sell it to them a few months ago...”

“What
happened?”

“I
confronted him, I said he was going to pay somehow but I didn’t really know
what I would actually do... But his life had been ruined too by what had
happened anyway. He saw the car explode in front of his eyes, he tried to save
my parents from the blaze. He didn’t know anything about the defect. If he had
been driving the car earlier that day he might have been the one who died. It
was just a random occurrence. The wrong place at the wrong time.”

She
turns to him.

“Would
you, if it was possible, travel back in time to save someone you loved? Even if
it might change the future for everyone else?”

“Honestly,
I don’t know.” Seth says to her. “Put it that way, and there’s too many things
to think about.”

“I
would. But I’ve always been selfish.”

A
muffled bang, carried upon the wind interrupts the calm silence on top of the
building. A warm orange glow emanates from an apartment block in the distance.
A fire.

“Do
you see that?”

“Yeah.”

Blink.

Half
the building had collapsed already; whatever was left standing was engulfed in
flame. As Seth and Lily looked down upon the crowded streets below, it seemed
that most of the residents had already fled. Still, there must have been a few
casualties; they can’t think about them now.

Screams
from an upper floor, the roof. Others, still trapped. The stairs were either
gone or on fire. There was no clear way down.

Sirens
blast in the distance. The fire trucks were coming. Still, it was too late for
some.

“No!”
Lily shouts as she watches a desperate man leap from his balcony as flame
swallowed his apartment. He does not survive the fall.

The
fires on the floors below intensifies. There was no time to spare.

Seth
pulls the hood down over his head. He covers his mouth with the top of his
shirt. He blinks. She follows.

They
take care of the survivors on the roof first. They just grab them, taking them
from the increasingly dangerous rooftop to the safety of the streets below in
the blink of an eye. Once clear, they focus on those trapped on the balconies,
those that they could see. Now they’re safe too.

They
return to the roof. Another survivor bursts out from the stairwell door, onto
the rooftop. He’s in bad shape.

“Help
me!” he shouts in between violent coughs. “There’s still a family trapped two
floors below... the smoke’s real bad....”

Seth
brings him down, returning to the roof a split second later. Both he and Lily
stare at the door that leads down into the building, a thick cloud of acrid
smoke now billowing out of it. They will need to get inside.

“Can
we blink in there?” Lily asks him frantically.

“No.”
Seth tells her. “We need to know where we’re going. We don’t even know where
they are.”

“We
can’t leave them there to die.”

“I
know.”

Seth
rushes into the stairwell, into the smoke. Lily follows him into the darkness,
a realm of blinding haze and intense heat. They rush to the floor, keeping
their heads down. They can hear the fire coming up the structure of the
building, slowly turning it into a smelter.

“Help!
Help!” comes the shouts from down the hallway. They follow the cries as they
get louder, more desperate. They find the family, a mother and her two kids, a
boy and a girl, cowering in a small alcove. They had escaped their apartment,
but faced with the smoky hell before them, cannot leave the hallway on their
own.

The
fire had already burst through the stairwell door. It was igniting the paint on
the walls, melting the linoleum on the floor. Their only way out is gone. With
no other option, Seth and Lily hold the mother and her children tight and...

They
reappear amongst the crowd of survivors at the base of the building, still
shielding the mother and her two kids. Above them the fire has taken
everything. They were the last to leave the building.

The
mother opens her eyes, staring into the face of her saviour.

“Thank
you.” she mutters to Seth as she hugs her children tightly. “Thank you.”

“Thank
you.” repeats another survivor. “Thank you.” says another.

Thank
you, thank you murmured the crowd around them. Seth and Lily say nothing in
return. They can’t. They are overwhelmed.

“Thank
you.”

Shouts.
The cops arrive along with the emergency services. They want to talk to The
Blink, his red hooded accomplice. They push through the crowd.