The Eyes of Fate (Currently in Rewrite)

Debrief

Sentinel

Home?

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Sentinel was playing with his toys when the doorbell rang. He knew who it was going to be before he even got to the door, but his feet weren't listening to him. When he opened the door, Professor was standing there. His hat was down like he was trying to hide his identity, Sentinel knew who he was, though, and he sure as hell knew what was in the box the old man was holding.

"Special delivery," Professor said. A wide grin split his face, and it made Sentinel shudder to see.

"You get that thing away from me!" Sentinel shouted, stepping back and slamming the door shut. He could feel that Professor was still behind the door, but he did his best to ignore it.

He turned to go back to the kitchen, just to find that he was already sitting in a chair at the table, with the box Professor had been holding in front of him. There wasn't any tape on the top side of it, only the weight of the cardboard and Sentinel's fear keeping it closed. He wanted nothing more than to run away, but he felt frozen to his seat.

"Go on, open it," said a chorus of voices from behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw his teammates standing around him supportively. At least, it would have felt supportive if they hadn't all been missing their eyes. He could feel their empty gazes burning holes into him as they repeated the order for him to open it.

"No!" Sentinel shouted again. He wanted to push the box off the table, but instead he found himself opening it.

He didn't want to look.

He looked.

He screamed.

His brother's eyeless head sat right where he knew it would.

"Big brother, why didn't you watch me?" the head asked in its ghastly monotonous facsimile of his brother's voice. Sentinel thrashed in his chair, but it was like he was glued to the seat.

"I don't think he was really watching him." The head spoke with his grandmother's voice, repeating a snippet of a conversation he had overhead once. "There's no way a child gets snatched and you don't see a single thing. He must have left his brother out there and come home instead."

"No! I was watching you!" Sentinel's voice was hoarse now, and for just a second, he thought that he could taste blood.

"Why didn't you pull the trigger?" The head's voice stopped Sentinel's thrashing. He turned back to see that the head now matched the voice: it was Stellan, his face cut to ribbons and his eyes missing. "You could have saved me."

"I wanted to save you, Stellan! You have to believe me!" Sentinel practically screams, tasting blood and bile now as the head gaped at him.

"Sentinel," came a voice, he couldn't tell who, from behind him.

"You didn't save me, Sentinel. You could have, but you didn't." Stellan's head said. "You let me die, and it's your fault."

"Sentinel." The voice behind him spoke again, more insistent this time.

"No! No!" Sentinel did scream this time, thrashing in a chair he couldn't get out of. The chair fell over, the impact trying to drive his breath away, but he couldn't get up to run. It felt like he was being held down, but he kept struggling anyway.

Sentinel

The Diamond Residence

Laine, Oklahoma

December 6th, 2019

"SENTINEL!" Fang's roar shattered the dream, and Sentinel opened his eyes to see seven pairs of concerned eyes peering down at him from where he lay on the floor.