Open Your Eyes (Book 2): Blink

by H. J. Rethuan

  Blink

  (Open Your Eyes) ²

  by

  H.J. Rethuan

  “Blink”

  Copyright © 2015 Herman Rethuan

  All rights are reserved to the author. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, character, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Cover design by Herman Rethuan.

  Cover image © Marza/Dreamstime.com.

  Dedication

  Again, to my folks.

  Contents

  Zero

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  About The Author

  Zero

  “Tell me about The Blink, Hannah.”

  The sour-faced, bespectacled woman with the short crimson hair stares at Hannah from across the desk. She tents her fingers, waiting for the former reporter to start.

  She takes her time to do so.

  “His name is... was Seth.” Hannah begins. “But I think you already know that.”

  “Tell me about The Blink, not Seth.”

  “There was a storm.” Hannah began. “An electrical storm. I think that’s when it started, when it gave him this, ability to just vanish...”

  “Teleport?”

  “Yes. It’s what he did. He called it ‘blinking’, that’s why everyone started calling him The Blink. I don’t know exactly what his reasons were, but he started to use it to help people...”

  She pauses.

  “He also saved my life.”

  It takes a moment for her to continue again.

  “He used his ability to fight crime, stop accidents, just help anyone in trouble around the city. Stopping a runaway train, rescuing people from fires. All on his own. It went on like that for a while; he stopped coming into work to do it.”

  “What did he work as?”

  Hannah smiles, a sad little smile.

  “Just a cleaner. He’d clean out my trash every night. Nothing special.”

  “Did you know what he was doing in his off time?” the woman asks her.

  “No, no one did. Even when my boss asked me to start covering The Blink I had no idea. But I assume his sister knew, they were very close.”

  The former report clears her throat, as if choked up on something.

  “She died during the bombings. I didn’t see him for a while after that. The Blink disappeared too...”

  She pauses again.

  “However he eventually came to me a few weeks after the funeral. He gave me a video.”

  “What was on that video?”

  Hannah looks to her sternly. “You know what’s on that video.”

  “I just want to hear it from you.”

  The former reporter pauses once more. She sighs.

  “On the video he said he was going to stop the bombings. He was going to save his sister, save everyone who died. He was going to try and go back in time.”

  The woman with the short crimson hair looked out of the window. It was not far from where one of the bombs had detonated. Despite all reconstruction and the repair work done, there were still reminders of what had happened that day. The memorial, the flowers left underneath it, the increased security presence across the CBD. The grimness she could see in the eyes of the citizens that walked past outside.

  The city was still trying to heal. It will take a long time for it to do so.

  “Well it appears that he must have failed then.” she says to Hannah.

  “I don’t know. He said he didn’t know what would happen. He said if he succeeded, all the awful stuff that happened, would be like it never did. And yet here I am, still mourning my friends.”

  She sighs.

  “Maybe he did succeed, you know? Maybe there’s some kind of alternate universe or dimension where he went back in time and stopped the bombs and killed everyone who did this. Maybe he’s living there now, with his sister, continuing to help people like he did before. Maybe. But I don’t know. I haven’t seen him since.”

  Hannah again looks to the woman. She takes a deep breath.

  “Is that all, Agent Salt?” she asks her, bluntly.

  “Yes.” she nods. “Well, for now at least...”

  The woman begins to smile. A wicked grin quickly breaks out across her face.

  “Because I don’t think this story’s over just yet.”

  One

  The men had the timing down to a science, though it didn’t need to be. On paper it was a simple task: Andy and Michael would take care of the nightwatchmen, Nik the security system, while Glenn, Nate and Marcus will take care of the goods. Easy as pie, right?

  They just didn’t expect a man who could be everywhere at once.

  Seth had been alerted to trouble at a shipping warehouse. Men with weapons, ties to organised crime probably. Came with a truck. Spotted hauling things out the back.

  A heist.

  He took out the heavies first, those with weapons. Thankfully just baseball bats. He appeared behind them, zapping them with his brand new taser, then disappearing as quickly as he came. The others next. Five down...

  The last guy ambushed him. Got hold of a crowbar. Still, he was no match for The Blink.

  All in all it took Seth less than two minutes to stop them from whatever they were doing. Curious, he took a look at the back of the truck, wanting to know what they came for.

  Game consoles. Seriously?

  Still, he had done good. These things could have been sold on the black market, the profits used to support further criminal activity, even terrorism.

  The police sirens wailed outside. The real heroes were here. It was time to go.

  Time to blink.

  It had been some time since Seth had gone on his break from crime fighting, threatened to hang up the hood for good. It was a bout of self doubt, brought upon perceived inadequacies. People had died on his watch, people he tried to save. It broke him. But deep down he knew he couldn’t help them all.

  It was just how this thing works. He had to learn to live with that.

  What ultimately brought him back was the mystery of the dead terrorists found during his brief time away. The group was discovered with plans to attack the city; bombings in crowded areas, massacres of innocents. Many people would have died. And yet, it didn’t happen.

  Someone had stopped them. It had all the hallmarks of The Blink, but Seth didn’t do it. So who did? With few answers to go on, he let it go. He hit the streets again.

  This time Seth put more effort into his role. Been training, going to the gym, even got himself a personal trainer. Didn’t tell him what he did of course, just said he wanted to get into fighting shape. Been boxing. Can even throw a real punch now. Still, that new taser often came in handy...

  He decided quit his cleaning job permanently to focus full time on being The Blink. Seth had savings; it should be enough to keep him afloat for a while. Maybe he should hire out his services, a hero for hire? Didn’t they do that in the comics?

  Nah, it’d just be weird.

  Either way
, Seth was back. The Blink was back.

  Port City had its hero back.

  Dressed in his best casual attire, Seth strode through the newsroom, towards the desk of the reporter. She was engrossed in her work, tapping away at the keyboard as he stood in front of her without being noticed. Only when she leaned back in her chair, satisfied that the sentence she wrote was good enough for publication did she smile.

  Hannah. Beautiful as always.

  “Hey.” he said to her.

  “Hey.” she replied, her smile even wider.

  Seth smiled too.

  They had decided to take things slow. The first time they went out together things were pleasant, cordial, save for that slightly scary run-in with a bunch of youths. She had actually invited Seth in, but he turned her down. Said he just wanted to be a gentlemen.

  She liked that about him.

  These lunches, bites to eats, drinks after work. Were they dates? Both seemed afraid to give their relationship a label, like there was some kind of thing stopping from Seth committing further, like something about his life he didn’t want to share with her...

  Again he accompanied her back home; again he declined to come in. For her it was getting frustrating. Alas, Seth had his reasons.

  He was on call tonight.

  Seth had invested in an emergency services scanner. It was much more useful than relying on social media to find out who needed help. He could get to them quicker, save lives, stop crooks. Ironically, to own one was illegal in this city.

  A crime fighter breaking the law to uphold it.

  The police continued to tolerate his presence. While they did not like his vigilantism, they begrudgingly appreciated his work saving lives. Hannah’s coverage had a lot to do with that.

  Still, she didn’t know who he was. Seth had considered finally telling her, to let her know what he did for the city, what he did for her.

  No, not yet. One day.

  Maybe.

  The dispatch radioed in a suspected fire at an abandoned office building near the old port. The years had taken its toll on the area; arson here was not uncommon.

  Seth circled the exterior of the building. No sign of fire or smoke. Still, he made his way inside, just to make sure.

  “Anyone here?” he called out as he searched each floor. The place seemed deserted, no sign of anyone, not even squatters. “Anyone?” he called out again.

  Then, he saw it. Smoke billowing from beneath a door. As he pulled it open, he heard it.

  A cry.

  “Someone help!” said the voice. “Help!”

  Seth rushed in there, into the haze without hesitation. It got thicker with every step. He could not blink ahead as he could not see far enough. It was becoming too dangerous. Still, he had to find them...

  The cries continued. Seth called out again only to soon find the source of the smoke.

  The man in the gas mask held the smoke grenade tightly in his hand as it continued to expel its contents into the atmosphere. Before Seth could even react the needle plunged deep into his back, pumping him with something so potent it instantly paralyses him.

  He collapses, unable to move as the bespectacled woman with the short crimson hair stands over him. Reaching into his jacket, she deprives him of his taser, his burner phone. She destroys them, smashing them under her boot.

  Leaning close, she pulls the orange tinted, identity-obscuring gaming glasses off his face. Grinning like a shark, she looks Seth right in the eye.

  “The Blink, I presume?”

  She giggles, as the sounds faded away and the darkness finally envelopes Seth.

  Two

  First came the sound, the noise, as if someone was slowly turning the volume knob in his brain up. Way up. The hum of machinery. Beeping. A hospital?

  No, it was much too cold.

  Seth opens his eyes as the drug that knocked him out started to wear off. He finds himself bound to a chair in a stark, grey room as the woman watches him from the shadows.

  “Where am?” he mumbles.

  “Somewhere. Nowhere.” mutters Agent Salt as she moves into the light, making her presence known. “You’re in the custody of The Toy Shop, Seth.”

  “The what shop?”

  “The Toy Shop. We’re a... taskforce. Kind of like SHIELD from your Marvel movies.”

  “The Toy Shop? That’s not very intimidating.”

  “Well, I assume someone in the department naming division must have thought differently.”

  “Yeah, sure. The Toy Shop...”

  Seth pulls a face. She’s not impressed.

  “You can call me Agent Salt.” She darts a look at him. “No Angelina Jolie jokes please.”

  “What Angelina Jolie jokes?” Seth enquires, only to pause at a thought. “Oh, yeah, she was in that movie called...”

  “Seth MacGuffin.” Salt interrupts. “AKA, ‘The Blink’.” She pauses. “Huh, MacGuffin. I didn’t expect you for a MacGuffin.”

  “Me neither. Dad’s adopted.”

  Seth stares right at her. Smirking, he begins to close his eyes...

  “Don’t even think about it Seth.” she interrupts him again. “If you blink, we know where you’ll be. If you blink, and try to run, we will kill you.”

  Seth suddenly becomes aware of the soreness in his neck. The injection...

  He suddenly also becomes very aware of the thing under the skin in the back of his neck.

  “What did you do to me?”

  “Nothing much. Well, I did inject a GPS tracker in you. An explosive capsule too. Remote detonator as well. It’ll stay with you everywhere you go.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “Come on, try it. Go ahead. Do that thing.”

  He doesn’t.

  “What do you want from me?” Seth asks her.

  “Don’t worry, we’re not the bad guys Seth. In fact, we’ve been very impressed by your efforts.”

  “You’ve been watching me?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So what do you want from me then? Do you want to imprison me? Do you want to cut me up, find out what makes me special?”

  “No. We just need you for a little while Seth. For some things. That’s all I can say.”

  Seth grumbles.

  “This fucking sucks.”

  “Yeah, sorry.”

  The woman smiles. She’s not sorry.

  “Get some rest Seth.” she says to him. “Don’t worry, we’ll treat you well.”

  With things seemingly done, she turns to leave. Seth calls out to her before she does.

  “Agent Salt...”

  “What is it Seth?”

  “I just want to say that I’m very very annoyed with you right now.”

  She smirks.

  “Join the club.”

  Three

  Emma hadn’t been able to reach her brother for days. Hannah had been worried too. She’d called up, asking where Seth was. Said he missed a date. They were dating now? Cool...

  Seth did have a habit of being uncontactable at times. It was his thing. But still, it was never for this long. He seemed like he had completely vanished.

  How appropriate.

  She had been investigating the origins of Seth’s powers for the past few weeks. Conducting her own investigation, based on what he had told her.

  Admittedly she’s always been a little jealous of what he could do, using his powers to be a real life superhero and all that. That’s why she helped him so much in the beginning, getting his shit together, to make him the best hero he could be. For a while she lived vicariously through his exploits, but in time though she began to realise that whatever happened to Seth would never ever happen to her, and that she would just have to accept it.

  It was all just some freak, one-off accident anyway, right? Right?

  Yeah...

  She returned to the men’s restroom at his work where he said it had started, on the night of the storm. She had always assumed he was struck by lightning, that he somehow go
t his powers from that. But here there were no windows, let alone it was too deep inside the building for even the most powerful lightning bolt to smash through.

  It just seemed impossible.

  Emma stared at the mirror that ran the full length of the restroom, deep in thought. She considered the points where an electric charge may have entered. The pipes, the hand drier. The faucet. Water?

  “I think you will find the ladies room across the hall.”

  She jumped at the sound of the middle-aged man who had suddenly appeared next to her, washing his hands in the sink. He reminded her of a fisherman, with his bucket hat pulled down on his head only just hiding his eyes from view.

  “I’m sorry.” she mumbles as she turns to leave.

  “You’re looking for something aren’t you? Answers?”

  She pauses. She pushes open the door.

  “Like what happened to your brother?” he continued.

  She turns to him.

  “What can you tell me?”

  Emma chose the sandwich shop knowingly. It was crowded. It was safe.

  And she was hungry too.

  She sat across from the man. He didn’t order anything, just an ice tea, no sugar; she a footlong meatball sub with everything plus extras.

  Yeah, she was really hungry.

  “What happened to your brother, it wasn’t an accident.” the man told her as she took a bite of her sandwich. “It wasn’t a freak event of nature, or something unexplainably crazy. It was on purpose.”

  “On purpose? For what? By who?”

  He takes a sip of his tea.

  “You like this city?” he asks her.

  “Yeah, I do.” she replies honestly. “Wouldn’t want to call anywhere else home.”

  “Port City. It’s a hub, a nexus of this region. Of this planet. I guess that’s why they chose this place.”

  “They?”

  “They. They also chose three of you, at first.”

  He takes another sip of his tea.

  “Seth, your brother was the first. Lily, a homeless girl was the second. There was a third...” he started, only to pause. “Alas he died, caught up of the chaos of that night. They were chosen. For a greater good.”