Open Your Eyes by H.J. Rethuan Page B

try and
stop what happened to our city on that awful day many months ago. I am doing
this because I have ability to stop it. This is because I am The Blink.”
    “Bullshit...”
she whispers nervously to herself, before his next sentence leaves her in complete
and utter shock.
    “Do
you remember the lights Hannah?” he asks her. “From that night, when that
maniac came after you? That was me. That was me Hannah.” He pauses. “I know
that night still haunts you. That night still haunts me too. I knew that you
were being stalked by this man, and yet I kept it to myself. I kept it to
myself and did nothing about it until it was almost too late. I saw him attack
you, I pulled him off you, and sent him away, far away. After that night I
couldn’t let something like that happen to you, or to anyone else ever again. I
went out and became a hero.”
    He
pauses again for a moment, contemplating his words to her. His fate.
    “I
don’t know what will happen to me after this. Maybe I will survive somehow,
maybe I won’t. Maybe I will be successful and save all those people, including
my sister. Maybe I will change the future and you'll forget any of this ever
happened. Maybe life will go on, but you will know what I did. I don’t know...
I really don’t know.”
    Again
he pauses, briefly. For the final time.
    “The
one thing I do know is that for all those years I’ve worked at The Universe,
the best part of my day, the only reason I keep coming to work, is seeing you
at your desk.”
    He
smiles. A sad but relieved smile.
    “You
always wanted that big story Hannah. I guess this is it then. Take care.”
    The
video ends, freezing on a still of his face.
    Hannah
wipes the tears from her eyes. She never knew. No one did. The things he did
for this city, the things he did for her.
    Although
sometimes he thought so, Seth was never a terrible person.
    Far
from it.

Twenty
     
    Seth
had told Emma to wait for him outside the corner store near the front gates of
his school. He was going to a little late that day, but still he was going to
be there so they could both walk home together. They always did.
    She
was worried though, she was a little small for her age, and often was bullied
by the older kids. He had told her she would be fine though; he wouldn’t be
long and the corner store was always safe. It would be safe enough for her.
    Alas,
he was wrong.
    He
put himself in front of the older kids. He told them to go away, to leave her
alone. They were older than him, bigger than him, so they didn’t.
    As
the blows rained down upon Seth he told Emma to run. She didn’t. She couldn’t.
They held her as she watched her brother be beaten by a gang of teenage thugs,
all because he wanted them to leave his sister alone.
    They
left him alone eventually, face battered and bruised, wrist broken. Seth spent
the next few days in hospital. Emma never left his side.
    She
knew something changed in him that day. She tried to convince him that it
wasn’t his fault, that he didn’t mean to leave her alone that day. Still, he
wouldn’t listen; he let her down. He was going to let everyone down.
    But
because of what he did, she was always going to be there for him.
     
    Emma
opened the door to her brother’s room. He was already awake, lying back on his
bed, caught up in his covers and his nose buried in his mobile phone as usual.
    Noticing
her presence, he puts it down next to him.
    “Hey.”
he says to her.
    “Hey.”
    “You’re
alive.” Seth tells her.
    “And
why wouldn’t I be?” She smirks; it quickly disappears. “I uh... I just needed
some time to think.”
    “Understood.”
    “So
how are you feeling?” she asks him.
    “Still
a little down, but otherwise I’m OK. I’m stable.” A  moment. “I’m getting
better. I always get better after a while.”
    “I’m
sorry for all the things I said.”
    “You
don’t have to be. It’s just... it’s hard you know?”
    “I
know. And I’m not jealous of you. I forget it’s