November 30, 2013 – 4:10 PM EST – 185 Brainard Road – Hartford, Connecticut



Everything was a blur, no matter how hard I tried to focus on the here and now I couldn’t. I had just killed my father and while there is no doubt in my mind that the end he received was entirely justified, it was still murder. I, was now a murderer. It is a distinction I will have to live with for the rest of my days.

In the meantime here I stand, face to face with a complete stranger, someone I have never seen before in my life and yet he knows my name. He knows my name and apparently he knew to find me here, now. How that can be?


SEBASTIAN DUKE: “Eric Martin, my name is Sebastian Duke. Come with me and I will get you out of here.”

ERIC NIGEL MARTIN:”What? Who are you? How do you know my name?”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: “As I said, my name is Sebastian Duke. I will gladly answer all of your questions in due time but as I would imagine at least one person heard the gun shot and have since discovered your handy work it is imperative that we get you off the street and away from here as quickly as possible.”


My head was still spinning. Sebastian Duke is his name. From the tone in his voice it sounds like that should have some meaning for me. Perhaps in short time it will. But right now it means nothing. He is right though I do need to get away from here, fast.


SEBASTIAN DUKE:“Eric we must go. The gun and the note you found in your pocket, do you remember them?”

ERIC NIGEL MARTIN:”Yes.”

SEBASTIAN DUKE:”I put them there. It was me you bumped into on the street in Brooklyn. And if you will follow me to the car I will gladly explain everything to you. I am a friend, I assure you.”


The gun…the note…how would he know about them if he wasn’t the person responsible for them ending up in my coat pocket? He knew where to find me? He knows my name? Obviously none of this is a coincidence. Either I go with him or I run the risk of being arrested for murder. This appears to be a situation where the lesser of two evils prevails.


ERIC NIGEL MARTIN:”Very well. Where is your vehicle?”

SEBASTIAN DUKE:”Right around the corner.”


Sebastian leads me down the street and around the corner. Backed into an alley way is his vehicle. We enter the vehicle at the same time and within seconds the vehicle is pulling out of the alley way and onto the street. Sebastian is going fast enough to get away from the area quickly but not so fast as to attract any sort of attention from the police that are undoubtedly on their way.


ERIC NIGEL MARTIN:”So who are you? And please don’t start by telling me your name. We’ve already established that much. And where are we going exactly?"

SEBASTIAN DUKE:”I have a compound in Old Saybrook, it’s 45 minutes from here. We should get there at sundown.”

ERIC NIGEL MARTIN:”A compound? You aren’t some religious fanatic are you?”

SEBASTIAN DUKE:”Yes, but not in the way you are thinking I assure you. I don’t have a cult of followers like you would see on some terrible Fox television show.”

ERIC NIGEL MARTIN:”Then what’s the deal? How do you know my name? How did you know I was going to be at the pizza shop and more importantly, how did you know why I was there?”

SEBASTIAN DUKE:”Matthew.”

ERIC NIGEL MARTIN:”I’m sorry?”

SEBASTIAN DUKE:”You have your friend Davis Jennings, codename Nightfall, I have Matthew. Codename, Matthew. He lives and works at the compound. He is my tech wizard. You will meet him, as well as a few others.”

ERIC NIGEL MARTIN:”Sebastian, I don’t mean to be rude so please don’t take it as such. And I appreciate that you helped to get me out of the area but I would appreciate it if you actually provided some viable information to my questions rather than dancing around them with vague generalities.”


I’ve really jammed myself up good this time. The car is currently traveling about 60 mile per hour down the highway. The driver, whom I just met 10 minutes ago outweighs me by about 80 pounds and has a few inches on me. If this were to get physic for some reason I think I might be outmatched.


SEBASTIAN DUKE:”It’s not that I don’t want to answer your questions Eric, it’s that I think it would be better to do so once we reach my compound.”

ERIC NIGEL MARTIN:”And in the mean time you are proposing what? That we sit here in silence for the next 40 minutes?”

SEBASTIAN DUKE:”No. I understand that if I were in your position I would want some answers as well, and I would not be nearly as agreeable as you have been."

"So let me start off by saying this. I know why you were at the hotel, I know you were there to kill your father. I don’t know exactly why but I surmised that it has something to do with your sister Elizabeth’s death.”

ERIC NIGEL MARTIN:”You know nothing Sebastian Duke. Do you hear me, NOTHING!”


In my head I know that in no way was Sebastian being disrespectful, perhaps a bit probing but nothing more. And yet, hearing my sister’s name flow from the lips of a complete stranger has instantaneously put me in the red and I’m not entirely sure why. Perhaps it’s because I haven’t heard my sister’s name spoken aloud in 7 years or it could be that the man speaking it knows nothing about me and my past and yet he speaks as though he does.


SEBASTIAN DUKE:”I’m sorry if I offended you, it was not my intention.”

ERIC NIGEL MARTIN:”No, it is I who owes you an apology. I understand you are just answering my questions to the best of your ability and not trying to stir the pot. Please continue.”

SEBASTIAN DUKE:”Of course. As I was saying, I knew where you were going to be, and I knew why you were going to be there."

"While your Nightfall was hacking into your father’s work network, Matthew was watching him do it. Everything Nightfall saw, Matthew saw, and in turn, everything Matthew saw, I saw."

"Now if you are asking why Matthew was watching Nightfall to begin with that answer will prove to be much more complicated and one I would rather save for when we get to Old Saybrook. "

"However, I will say this; once we get there I will outline everything for you. You will know everything I know and I promise you, it will all make sense."

"But I will need you to be open to the possibility that everything you thought you knew about your life could be wrong.”


Is this guy serious? Did he just open a book of 101 cliché’s and decide to start rattling them off 1 by 1? Just have to trust him? Everything I thought I knew about my life could be wrong?


ERIC NIGEL MARTIN:”Really? You are going to make a statement like that and not expect me to want to know more?”

SEBASTIAN DUKE:”I expect you to want to know more. I expect you to want to know it all. And I expect you to want to know it all now, because that’s what I would want."

"But please trust me."

"This will all make sense in time. There is so much to discuss and I want to share it all with you."

"Please just trust me when I say this is not the place for the discussion to take place.”

ERIC NIGEL MARTIN:”I suppose I have little choice in the matter.”

SEBASTIAN DUKE:”We always have a choice. The options may not be ideal but there is always a choice. Remember that.”


Another cliché. Three down, 98 to go.


Fade to Darkness.