Authors: H.J. Rethuan
“What
did you say?” Hannah asks him.
“Nothing
really. I told them to leave us alone.”
“And
that worked?”
“Yeah,
surprisingly enough.”
“Drunken
idiots.” she mutters derisively, unimpressed with their behaviour.
“I’m
sorry that happened.” Seth says to her.
“Stop
apologising Seth, it wasn’t your fault. You handled it well. You did the right
thing.”
Seth
looks to Hannah.
“Thanks.”
he says.
Seth
starts the car. Puts on the radio to scare away the silence. Clicks on the
indicator.
They
drive away, away from this place.
Seth
manages to find a parking spot right in front of her building. Yet another
modern apartment block, like the others that almost overwhelm this area of the
city.
It’s
pretty nice though.
Seth
accompanies Hannah to the front entrance. Through the glass double doors, a doorman
waits for her in the lobby.
“Well,
this is my place.” she says to him.
“Yeah,
I kind of figured that out.”
“Would
you like to come upstairs Seth?”
Seth
thinks about it. He smiles, shyly.
“I
know you said stop apologising but... I’m sorry. I’m going to be a gentleman.”
“So
is that a yes or no?”
Seth
laughs, nervous. “We had a nice time tonight.” he tells Hannah. “Well, I think
we did. I just... I just don’t want to jinx it.”
“Jinx
what?” Hannah asks him playfully.
Again
Seth has no answer. Hannah kisses him on the cheek.
“You’re
a sweet guy Seth.” she tells him. “Drop by my desk any time.”
Hannah
enters her building, leaving Seth outside where he waves her goodbye. Walking
back to his car, he starts the engine and heads home.
It
has been a good night tonight.
Above
it all, Seth again looks over his city. Through his headphones he listens to
the high energy, highly motivational mix of cheesy rock songs he had put
together: Eye of The Tiger, The Touch. A Real Hero. You’re The Best. Anything
from a sports movie. Music to pump him up, to drive him on. To keep him
motivated.
He’s
been needing it more and more during these nights. Motivation. To continue, to
be The Blink. But he knows it is slipping. It is another night, after all.
Another
night. There will be heartbreak. And there will always be more heartbreak to
come.
It
now takes him multiple fingers on multiple hands to count off all the times he had
failed someone, Seth had perceived to have failed someone on the job. The
factory fire, the home invasion, the school shooting were only just the most
recent. Yes, he had saved people, but it wasn’t good enough for him. Others, he
still couldn’t help in time, they all still got hurt. They all still died...
He
wanted to save them all.
The
panic attacks, the renewed bouts of anxiety soon began to build, began to
plague him. He found himself not being able to sleep, the thoughts that he will
fail someone again keeping him up at night. Despite what good he had already accomplished
as The Blink, not being able to help absolutely everyone weighed down upon Seth
more and more as time went on.
Yes,
he had learned to expect this. Yes, he will not be always there for everyone, but
now it had become almost too much to ignore, too much to bear for him. He is a
hero, heroes help people. They help everyone!
From
the rooftop Seth sees the flashing of blue and red police lights in the
distance, the wail of ambulance sirens. He sighs. Slipping off his headphones,
he leaps off his perch and blinks.
Another
night.
Although
he still goes out every evening, still continues to try and be this hero, Seth fears
that soon, one of these days, he will break.
And
what will happen to him then?
Seth
races across the freeway. He had seen the car accident from a building afar: a
sedan had been hit by a truck that was speeding. It was a drizzly night,
visibility was low. It didn’t even see it.
The
truck slammed it against the median barrier, before the force of the impact
flipped it over and across into the other lane. There it rest. There they were
trapped.
The
bastard didn’t even stop.
Cars
still sped past, as if their drivers couldn’t give an iota of a shit about what
had happened. No one dared to stop; it was too dangerous, too risky. The car
was on fire.
Seth
was not going to let anyone die.
He
quickly reaches the wreck, finding a woman trying to pull herself out. As he
pulls at her, she pushes him away.
“Bobby!
Bobby, my son!” she pleads. “Help him! Help him first!”
Seth
nods. He dashes around the vehicle, past the burning fuel tank, to the other
side. He finds the boy, still trapped in his booster seat, still alive, barely
awake.
A
post had impaled the car through the cabin. It went right through the child,
trapping him there. Remove it, and he will die.
Not,
not this.
Seth
returns to the mother. Halfway out, with barely a scratch on her. He finally
pulls her all the way out of the wreck.
“Where’s
my son?” she asks him. “Save him! Save him!”
Hesitation.
“Go,
get to safety.” he tells her. She doesn’t.
Seth
dashes round back as the fire continues to intensify. He reaches the child
again. He mumbles something in his half-conscious state.
“Get
him out of there!” screams his mother, appearing over Seth’s shoulder.
“He’ll
die!” he shouts back. The fire spreads. Quickly.
“Just
do it! Get him out of there!”
Seth
looks to her. “Run!” he shouts as he thrusts his arm forward and grabs onto the
child. He closes his eyes. The fuel tank finally ignites.
He
reappears, this time to grab the mother, too hysterical to leave the wreck
behind. He blinks again, barely outrunning the fireball and the explosion that completely
destroys the car.
The
trio reappear on the side of the road, on the hard shoulder, the mother next to
him, her little boy in his arms.
The
injury is too severe. It goes right through him. He doesn’t even wake as his
life literally spills out of him. He dies in Seth’s arms. Inevitable.
His
mother pushes him aside, and takes her child into her own keep. She wails.
“I’m
sorry.” Seth mutters. She can’t hear him.
He
manages to stumble away, leave her be with the body of her son. He manages to
fumble his hand into his pocket, pull out the burner phone. Dials that familiar
number.
“I
need an ambulance... at, at the freeway...” Vague words as he calls for help.
Finds it hard to keep it together. They’re coming.
Seth
ends the call. He crumples to his knees.
Above
him, the clouds finally open up to release a torrent of rain, extinguishing the
fire. But it is too late. Other drivers begin to stop, slow down. It is also
too late.
Defeated,
Seth has to get out of here.
The
mountain is silent, still, when the flash of light dumps Seth upon its snowy peak.
Still on his knees, he slowly gets back up onto his feet.
“FUCK!”
he screams. “FUCK YOUUUU!!!”
He
screams out at the world, his burden, the cold, crisp air seemingly carrying it
out forever. He screams again. And again. He collapses to his knees once more,
and cries. Completely exhausted, both physically, and mentally.
It
was the last straw. No matter how hard he tries, he will never be good enough.
He
can’t save everyone. So why even try?
It
had been almost two weeks since Seth had last put on the hoodie, last gone out
and become The Blink. It lay on his bedroom floor, the last place he had dropped
it.
Forgotten
it.
He
spends most of his days in bed, trying to escape into sleep. His drugs don’t
work, nor does he want them to work anymore. He let them go. He wants to feel the
depths of his pain, his sorrow. His failure. All of it.
Despite
his efforts to hide from the world, Emma has noticed his absence. Even after
all of this, he still hadn’t called her, hadn’t contacted her, like he would
have done before. Only now has she come back, to try and help and him get through
this like she always has done before...
However,
it looks like she might not be able to this time.
“Hey.”
she says, softly knocking on his open door. “You haven’t been out for days.”
Seth
doesn’t answer. He just wants to return to sleep.
Emma
sits on the bed next to him. She places her hand gently on him, a reassuring
touch.
“Seth,
I know it hurts but you can’t do this. You have to get back out there.”
“I
can’t do this anymore.” he tells her, his voice soft, its timbre weak.
“You
have to try.”
“No.
I don’t. It’s all fucked up. I’m useless. I can’t even save a single boy...”
“But
you’re still helping people.”
“Am
I?” he asks.
“Yes.”
Seth
looks to her. “I think it’s better off if I did nothing.” he says to her. “Bad
stuff will happen anyway if I did nothing.”
“You
can’t believe that.”
“I
FUCKING CAN!” he shouts in her face. Stunned, Emma gets off the bed and makes a
stand.
“Jesus
Christ Seth, you gotta get over this. You gotta get back out there. You always
have. You. Always. Have. This is no different.”
A
moment of stillness, of buried sorrow bubbling up to the surface. Tears well in
his eyes.
“I
can’t Emma.” He hesitates. “I want to quit. I can’t do this anymore. I don’t
want to be him anymore.”
Emma
sighs. Closes her eyes. The frustration grows.
“This
is what you always say.” she tells him.
“What?”
“You
always say you want to quit. You always quit. You’re self-sabotaging yourself
again.”
“No.”
“Yes
you fucking are. This is your chance to do something great and you’re blowing
it.”
She
pauses.
“Are
you taking your medication?”
He
doesn’t answer.
“Are
you?”
“You’re
just jealous.” he says to her.
“What?
I’m not jealous. Why would I be jealous?”
“You’re
the one who loves all this superhero crap. You pushed me to do it.”
“No,
I didn’t.”
“Yes
you did. You said it was what I’m meant to do, what I
had
to do with my
life. You wanted me to do this, without thinking about how it would affect me!”
“Yeah,
because you were going to waste this gift like everything else you’ve been
given in your life. You’ve been a
fuck up
who has done nothing,
absolutely
nothing
with his life Seth. This was your one chance, to finally do
something amazing. And you fucking quit.”
“Get
out!” Seth snaps. “Get the fuck out of my house!”
“Your
house?” she snaps back. “This is not your house; this is our parents’ house.
Show some respect.”
Emma
moves to leave, but not before pausing once more at the door.
“They’ve
always supported you Seth.” she says to him. “I don’t think they would be too proud
seeing you giving up yet another thing.”
“Just
leave me the fuck alone Emma.” He pulls the covers over his head. “Just go
away.”
Emma
wipes the tears from her eyes.
“You’re
a terrible person Seth.”
Having
gotten in the last word, Emma finally leaves the room, leaving Seth alone with his
own mind and his own misery.
The
days pass slowly. Life in bed has become tiresome. Seth considers calling Emma,
to talk, to apologise, to reconcile, to do anything...
He
doesn’t.
The
things she said, what she said; it stung. It stung so much. It made him even
more depressed; the one person he thought would understand what he was going
through, she didn’t...
It
felt like a betrayal. It was a betrayal.
Seth
stares at the hoodie left dumped upon the bedroom floor. He considers picking
it up, putting it away. No, he pushes it under a pile of clothes.
He
doesn’t want to think about it at all.
Too
much time has passed. It’s time to go back to routine.
Routine.
It’s
the best thing he can do.
Seth
moves quickly through the corridors at work. Has to see the boss before he starts
working again. Feels looked down upon again. He avoids eye contact. They’re all
wondering who this guy is...
“Seth!”
calls out the voice. It’s Hannah. Fuck, not now...
He
puts on his best face. Tries to, anyway.
“Hey,
you’ve come to see me?” she says to him, her voice uncomfortably cheery to his
ears.
“No.”
he replies. “I mean, I’m coming back to work. My holiday got kind of boring.”
“Oh,
that’s a shame. Apparently The Blink’s been on vacation too, haven’t heard
anything about him in weeks...”
“Yeah, vacation...” Seth mumbles. The
image of that boy pops into his head. He turns away.
Deep
breaths. He tries to hold it together. It’s not completely successful.
“You
okay?” Hannah asks him.
“No.”
he says, softly.
The
rumble is felt throughout the building. Seth and Hannah definitely feel it.
“What
was that?” she wonders. “An earthquake?”
“I
don’t know. We should get out of here anyway.”
Joined
by others, Hannah and Seth quickly make their way to the lobby of the building.
There’s a commotion, a controlled chaos there as people stream out of the
building. Klaxon horns sound loudly. An announcement over the address system
announces a building wide evacuation. Everyone out!
Seth
follows Hannah and her co-workers to a designated mustering area in the plaza just
outside. It soon becomes clear why there was an evacuation.
This
is was no earthquake.
“Oh
my god.” Hannah whispers as they hear the sound of the second bomb going off in
the distance. It is followed by the sound of another blast elsewhere, the sound
of automatic gunfire only a few blocks away. The panicked screams of people all
around them.
As
the plaza clears of frightened evacuees, Seth stares at the plume of jet black
smoke that rises into the air only a few hundred meters down the street. He looks
around him, seeing more and more plumes of smoke rising up all around, all over
the city.
Another
blast, further away.
The
Port City is on fire.