Open Your Eyes (Book 4): Broken City

by H. J. Rethuan

  That crack was the last thing he remembered.

  With the crisis over, they returned Jean to the ward not long after the initial evacuation. However the hospital soon became its own scene of chaos as patients flooded in after the attack on the city.

  With no one able to attend to him, all of them too busy dealing with the massive influx of walking wounded coming in through the doors, Jean came to realise that he was essentially trapped here. As he lay in his cot, still physically helpless and mentally confused, he couldn’t even retreat into his own thoughts; it was too loud to think, the noise outside too distracting. He could only wallow in his own growing depression.

  He was a prisoner.

  However Jean had also learnt of an actual real life superhero, The Blink, who could apparently disappear and teleport anywhere at will. Still bound to his bed in the hospital, and with nothing left to hope for, Jean closed his eyes, and tried to will it so himself.

  Nothing.

  ***

  Despite the two siblings returning to real work, with the heroes idle the tension in the house still continued to steadily rise.

  Still jobless, Lily had become shiftless, increasingly annoyed she is unable to go out and use her powers for good. Her behaviour was annoying Emma, trying to work from home. They argued constantly. It was driving Seth nuts.

  To let off some steam he forced Lily and Emma to go on a trip, together, to a pop culture convention, their shared love for a dumb TV show the main compelling reason for them to do so. It was a good opportunity for them to bond, to patch up their differences.

  Plus, it got them out of the house.

  Seth opened the door, greeting his guest with a wide grin.

  “Hey.”

  Hannah smiles.

  “Hello.” she replies as she leans forward to meet Seth’s lips.

  “You wanna watch some Netflix?” he giggles as he leads her into the house.

  “Is that a codeword for something?”

  “I don’t know...” he replies slyly.

  Turning on the TV in the living room, Seth hands Hannah the remote.

  “So uh, pick out something and I’ll be back with some snacks.”

  “So wait, we’re really gonna watch Netflix?”

  “Yeah.”

  As Seth walks into the kitchen, Hannah begins browsing the catalogue.

  “Hey, this ghost movie looks pretty good...”

  “What’s it called?” Seth answers back.

  “The House of...”

  She felt the presence behind her, watching her. She turns.

  The apparition was dressed like The Blink, but his clothes were torn, and burnt. His face, half hidden by his tattered hood, seemed covered in a black layer of soot that made his wide, sad eyes stand out. Hannah recognised those eyes.

  They were Seth’s.

  The ghost quietly mouthed something. Louder.

  “Hannah...”

  “Seth!”

  Upon hearing her shout Seth Blinks in, coming in between Hannah and the ghostly intruder.

  “What the hell?”

  The spirit looks to him.

  “Seth...” it mutters.

  “Who are you? What are you?”

  “I just wanted to see if they are safe.” he replies.

  “Who?”

  “Hannah. Emma. Where is she? Where’s Emma?” he asks, a little anxiety in his voice.

  “She’s away. Not here.”

  “Is she safe?”

  “What?”

  “Is she safe?” he repeats.

  “She’s safe. She’s safe.”

  The ghostly doppelganger pauses. A wave of emotion seems to suddenly overwhelm him.

  “I’m sorry.” he croaks.

  “Sorry about what?”

  “For what I did.”

  “What did you do?” Seth pauses. “Are you me?”

  “You have to know. Come with me.” the spirit tells him.

  “Where?”

  “The house. The terror house...”

  Suddenly the apparition doubles over, as if a sharp pain had been inflicted on him. It seems to weaken him as the ghost starts to flicker out of existence.

  “Find me...” he whispers.

  “Wait!”

  Before Seth can get in another word, in a bright flash of light the ghost suddenly Blinks out of there, leaving the two alone once more.

  Stunned, Hannah looks to Seth. He’s equally baffled by what he has just seen.

  “He looked like me...” he tells her. “Just like me.”

  Four

  Jean remembered when he used to run. He ran all the time, it felt good to run.

  He ran to escape his problems.

  His Sudanese parents were very religious, conservative in their ways. They fled prosecution from their home to this country in order to give their children a new life, a better life. However, it was not the life he had chose that they envisioned for their oldest son.

  They had caught Jean with another boy in his bed by surprise; he thought they would not be home for hours. He had kept this secret from them so well and for so long, and yet this one moment of desperate passion had made it all come crashing down. This act of defiance disgusted them, humiliated them. They threw him out onto the street, and he has struggled ever since then.

  Jean again looked at the stumps of his legs as he lay on the bed.

  Jean used to run. He ran to escape.

  All he could think is that there is no escaping this place now.

  ***

  Seth alone greets Lily and Emma as they come home from their adventure. It’s been a few days since the thing with the apparition had happened. It was still fresh in his mind.

  “Hey, we’re back!” shouts Emma as she gives Seth a hug.

  “Hey.” he says to her as she takes a step back, sensing something amiss.

  “What’s wrong? You look relieved to see me. Like really relieved.”

  Seth pauses. He looks to her.

  “Something strange happened here.” he tells Emma. “Hannah and I...”

  “Ooh Hannah was here?” Emma teases playfully.

  “Yeah. She and I were visited by something, someone. Haunted.”

  “Haunted? Like Ghostbusters haunted?” Lily asks him.

  “Yeah, it just appeared, this spirit or ghost or something.” He pauses. “It looked just like me.”

  “Something to do with your powers?” Emma asks.

  “I don’t know. It... he asked if you were safe.”

  “What do you mean safe?”

  “He seemed worried about you. Like you were in danger...”

  “Well, we did have a few scrapes during the trip but nothing worth talking about.”

  “Scrapes? Like what?” asks Seth, concerned.

  “Well, like uh...”

  “Oh she tripped.” Lily butts in. “Stairs at the convention place. Nothing too serious. Really.”

  “You okay?” Seth asks her.

  “Yeah.” Emma replies. “I told you, nothing worth talking about.”

  Emma looks to Seth. He seems satisfied.

  “So how was the convention anyway?” he asks.

  “It was great. Panels were great. Cosplay was great. Great! Nothing crazy.”

  “Yep.” Lily reassures him.

  “Well, I’m glad you two had fun.” he tells them.

  “Yeah. It was a nice break. Remarkably we got on pretty well too.”

  Lily smirks, stifling a laugh.

  “Yeah, we did.”

  Emma yawns, being a bit theatrical as she does so.

  “Anyway it’s been a long day. I think I’m gonna take a nap. We’ll uh, talk about this ghost thing later, okay?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  Lily nods.

  “Yeah, I think I’m gonna hit the hay too.” she tells hm.

  “Sure. ‘Night ladies.” he smirks.

  As Seth leaves them to head off to their rooms, Emma whispers to Lily.

  “Hey, thanks
for covering.”

  “No problem babe.”

  The raps at the door gets Emma’s attention as Lily pops her head into Emma’s room.

  “You wanted to show me something?”

  “Yeah.”

  She steps into the bedroom as Emma moves away from her computer’s screen, letting Lily take a peek. She presses the spacebar on the keyboard, unpausing the YouTube video of the hostage situation at the pop culture convention they had just visited – starring Emma and Lily.

  “Shit, it’s online already?”

  Lily and Emma watch the two hooded figures take care of the lone hostage taker, save all those lives, get swarmed by the attendees, and finally make their escape on the back of a jet black dragon. Luckily the video didn’t get a good look at their faces.

  Still, it’s out there for the world to see.

  “You know Seth’s gonna find out about this sooner or later...” Emma tells her.

  “So what?” Lily retorts, seemingly unconcerned. “He’s not the boss of me. We did what we had to do.”

  “Well, you can deal with him personally when the time comes. At least he doesn’t have to know about the run in with the Lego Harpy, does he?”

  “Nope.” Lily grins, recalling their run in with Agent Salt.

  Emma laughs as her phone chimes. Taking a peek, her smile instantly disappears. It chimes again and again in quick succession as she receives more messages.

  “Wow, somebody’s getting a lot of attention.” Lily quips. She expects a smile in return.

  She doesn’t get one.

  Clutching her phone, Emma steps out of the room as she tries to keep herself together.

  Emma sits on the toilet, staring at her phone. The last message from Pete had been sent to her ten minutes ago. She didn’t want to reply. She didn’t want to reply to any of them.

  The knock on the door snaps her out of it.

  “Hey.” It’s Lily. “You okay?”

  “Yeah.” Emma mutters.

  “No, you’re not.”

  Taking a deep breath, Emma opens the door and steps out into the laundry room.

  “Remember Pete?”

  “Your cheating ex-boyfriend?”

  She nods.

  “Yeah.”

  She hesitates.

  “He got back in touch with me recently. He wants me back.”

  “But you dumped him right? I thought you weren’t speaking to each other.”

  “Yeah, I dumped him. The last time I spoke to him was when I dumped him. But now he’s suddenly sending me texts again. He even found me at my favourite art store. He says he made a mistake and he wants another try at it.”

  “That’s troubling.”

  She doesn’t acknowledge that comment.

  “You’re not actually thinking of getting back with him, are you?” Lily asks her.

  “No.”

  “He hasn’t threatened you or anything?”

  “He yelled at me at the store but, he’s just seems sad and desperate...”

  “Does Seth know?”

  “No.”

  “You should tell him Emma. I don’t know this guy but I know it could get worse.”

  “No, no it’s fine.” Emma tells her. “He’s just angry we broke up. He’ll get over it. Trust me.”

  “If you can’t bring yourself to do something about it, I can, I don’t know...”

  “No! It’s fine. It’s fine.” she tells Lily. “I’ll deal with it. Remember what we said on that trip? We can take care of ourselves. I can take care of myself. Excuse me.”

  Pushing past her, Emma returns to her room, leaving Lily wondering if she’s done enough.

  Lily slipped on the apron as she started her shift volunteering at the co-operative supermarket downtown. She was inspired to work here after hearing Emma talk about it during their trip together. It was good, honest work that kept her busy and out of the house.

  It also kept off her mind the fact that she couldn’t be out there helping people like she wanted to anymore. Not just the superhero stuff, but now with Emma and her Pete problem. It just wasn’t right.

  Well, it was mostly off her mind.

  Although she had only started a few days ago, Lily was quickly getting the hang of stocking shelves and helping out customers. A long time ago she used to steal from places like this.

  It was time to give back.

  As Lily continued to build up the pyramid of Granny Smith apples in front of her, Rob, the young, hipersterish manager of the co-op approaches her, a tablet in one hand and a friendly smile on his face.

  “Hey Lily, thanks for helping us out here.”

  “No problem Rob, glad I could help.”

  “Something wrong? You seem a bit distracted today.” he asks her, sensing something.

  “Oh, just some stuff with my housemates. No biggie.”

  “Okay.”

  Rob pauses, as if wanting to say something else.

  “Hey, I just want to let you know that we might have some paid job openings soon so if you’re interested feel free to fill out an application form.”

  “Oh, I don’t know if I’ll be working here that long...” Lily tells him.

  “Oh, well that’s a shame. It’s always nice seeing you around here.”

  As Rob leaves her be, a slight smile crosses her face.

  Emma grumbles as she drags in the wheelie bins all by herself, but with her working at home and Seth and Lily still at work in the city someone has to do it.

  As she parks them at the side of the house, she hears the creak of the side gate open. She turns to find Pete stumbling up to her, looking a bit dishevelled and very much smelling of alcohol.

  “Why haven’t you replied to my texts?” he asks her.

  “You’re not welcome here Pete.”

  “I sent so many, you must have read them.”

  “You’re drunk.”

  “I needed the courage. I’m not going to let you say no.”

  “Pete...”

  “You know, I’ve been a wreck ever since you left Emma, did you know that?” he slurred. “You were the one that kept me organised, it was a real bad thing to lose you...”

  “You cheated on me Pete. It was your fault.”

  “And I said I made a mistake!” he shouts. “I said that hundreds and hundreds of times!”

  “This is over Pete. This isn’t going to work out. Go home.”

  “No.”

  “Pete, get out of here.”

  “No.”

  “I don’t understand how you could be like this.”

  “Like I said, I’ve been a wreck. Only you can fix me. I’m not leaving.”

  “Hey, leave her alone.” Lily shouts as she strides in, coming in between Pete and Emma.

  “I’m just talking with my fiancée.”

  “Get out of here.”

  Fronting up to Lily, Pete grins.

  “Or what?”

  Leveraging a fraction of her powers, Lily shoves him hard in the chest, enough to make him stumble backwards and trip up on his own feet. He falls on his ass onto the ground.

  “Never come around again or I’m calling the cops.” Lily shouts as Pete picks himself up. Startled by this unexpected and surprising show of force, he runs out of the yard and down the street to his car. He takes off.

  Lily turns back to Emma. “Are you okay?” she asks her, concerned.

  “I said I was going to deal with it on my own.” she bluntly tells her.

  “Emma...”

  “I said stay out of it!” she shouts at her as Emma storms off into the house, again leaving Lily on her own and wondering if once again she’s done enough.

  Five

  Jean patiently sat on the seat as his therapist again fitted him out with the second of the prosthetic legs he had been given. They were paid for by a charity that gave the disabled homeless like him a chance for a new start.

  It was also way out of this place, Jean thought to himself.

  It was the fif
th session. Jean had gotten use to the pain and the pressure of the prosthetic limbs on his stumps, but the actual act of standing up was still too far a reach for him. But still, he tries.

  He holds onto to the bars that ran parallel to the side of the chair. He lifted himself up, using his upper body strength to stand straight up and gently place his feet onto the floor.

  Again it’s just too much.

  Jean collapses back in his seat, relieving the pressure. He’s disappointed in himself.

  “It’s okay Jean.” his therapist reassures him.

  Jean had thought about saying those three words. It’s too hard. But no, he won’t. He can’t give up. He can do it.

  His therapist’s beeper sounds off. She looks at it. It’s urgent.

  “Jean, I’ve got to attend to this, so just relax okay? I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  Jean nods. He slumps back in his seat as she leaves the room.

  Alone, he tries to will himself up again once more. No, it won’t work, his brain screams at him. It’s too much. It’s useless.

  Jean bangs the arm of the chair in frustration. Sighing, he closes his eyes.

  “It’d be so much easier to fly.” he whispered to himself as he lifted up on to his feet and hovered off the ground.

  ***

  Seth stares at his half-finished bowl of cereal as he sat across from Hannah at the kitchen table. Days on and he still can’t stop thinking about his encounter with the apparition.

  “Gee, you’re talkative this morning.” Hannah sarcastically says to him.

  “Why did that ghost look like me?” he asks her.

  “It could be anything. A doppelganger, an alternate time line, another dimension?” Hannah suggests.

  “It freaks me out.”

  He sighs. Picking up his bowl, he heads over to the sink and places it in it.

  “He said a house, a terror house? Like a haunted house?”

  “No, I don’t think so.” Hannah tells him. “But I think I have an idea. Do you remember that big terror raid, from months ago, before Jahannam’s attack?

  “Yeah, I remember.”

  “Well it wasn’t actually a raid per se, the police just found this terror cell in this house in the suburbs. Seven bodies, in a house filled with guns and explosives. They were ready to attack the city, but someone had already stopped them.”