Open Your Eyes by H.J. Rethuan

her.”

Eighteen
     
    Seth
pulls up across the street from the house. It was still cordoned off even after
all these months; a flimsy chain linked fence, the remnants of police tape
keeping gawkers like him out. Still, it didn’t stop people from trespassing and
vandalising the place.
    They
had good reason.
    This
place, this ordinary, nondescript two storey townhouse in the old suburbs, was
the place where it started. The investigation had traced all of them back here.
It was the place where they built the bombs, hid their firearms, made their
final plans. 
    It
was the place where those bastards had lived.
     
    The
Blink had not been seen in months, and it did not take long before the people truly
noticed his absence. Although the streets were safe, safer than ever due to the
increased security and the haze of paranoia that appeared after the attack, his
presence as the people’s watcher of Port City was still sorely missed.
    Some
say he abandoned the city, unable or unwilling to protect it after the horror
of what had happened. Others questioned why he was not there to stop the attacks
in the first place, some even accusing him of collusion with the perpetrators. However,
most people have chosen to believe that he was probably killed that fateful day,
just another victim, another son of Port City taken away by terror...
    No.
    No.
The Blink had not been seen because Seth has been occupied.
    The
search for answers had consumed Seth. He never returned to work, instead
spending all of his time finding out all he can about the attacks, the men who
carried them out. From what has been said in the media, to his own research.
Information gained from the inside of their offices, their secure computers;
not even the thick impenetrable walls and security systems of the nation’s top
security and intelligence agencies could keep Seth out from finding all that he
needed to know.
    Seth
found out many things about these men, these men that carried out the attack.
Their names, where they had come from. What the bombs were made from, where
they had lived before that fateful day. He discovered that the fire he and Lily
had come across that night was no accident too; it was one of their bombs going
off early, a test of sorts. It disgusted him; their callousness, their lack of
humanity.
    All
in all there were eight of them. All disciples of The Scimitar. All murderers. He
paid the man for the gun, the ammunition. He’d never fired a gun in real life
before.
    He
knew in a few days that will all change anyway.
     
    The
cafe had recently reopened its doors. Close to the shopping mall, it had
suffered significant damage during the attack. Still, the patrons returned and
this morning it was moderately packed with them, as if nothing had ever
happened.
    Seth
asked Hannah to meet him here.
    She
waits at the table, feeling a little nervous and concerned about who she will
actually meet. She had not seen Seth for months; she certainly didn’t expect to
see him so gaunt, so tired, so unkempt when he finally appeared.
    “How
you holding up?” she asks him.
    “Barely.”
he tells her.
    “I’m
sorry for what happened to Emma.”
    “Thank
you. It means a lot.”
    “Is
there anything I can do?”
    “No.”
    He
pauses.
    “This
world is fucked up. It’s going to shit” he tells her bluntly.
    “Yeah,
it is.” she agrees, looking for something to say. “They just announced we’re
sending more troops to the Middle East. Not exactly calling it an invasion are
they?”
    “No.
It’s not.”
    He
sighs.
    “It
all started here, with what happened. In this city. It’s the tipping point.
It’ll just get worse from here.”
    “Why
did you ask me to come here Seth?” she asks him.
    Seth
hands Hannah a small object, a USB thumb drive.
    “There’s
something on this that I’d like you to watch. Just some things I needed to say,
about what I am going to do, about what I have done.”
    “What
have you done Seth?”
    He
doesn’t answer her