Not What You Expected

Getting Out

"AmaryllisWarren, 24, was found dead outside Star Labs last night, after asmall explosion resulted in the particle accelerator experiment beingconducted that night to be shut down. Investigators say the cause ofdeath was heart failure due to extreme electric shock, no word yet onwhether Ms. Warren was a part of the Star Labs teams working tocontain the explosion, however sources report that she was foundoutside without any Star Labs identification. It is possible that shewas simply unaware of the evacuation going underway at the time ofthe explosion, which resulted in her unknowingly endangering herself.Ms. Warren will be greatly missed."

Amyfelt like she wanted to be sick. The small cutting from a newspaperheld in her hand had a picture to accompany the obituary, it lookedlike a senior photo from high school...it looked like her seniorphoto. The only real difference was the way her hair was done, it wasup in victory rolls under her white graduation cap, and although thephoto was black and white, you could see the slight dark color of herlips, and Amy could tell she was wearing a little makeup which Amyhadn't done for her own. It was totally surreal, like looking at thenewspaper from the time vault Thawne had hidden, only she wasn'tlooking at her own future or her own past, it was someone else'slife, someone else's death....someone who looked just like her. Theentire box was her life story in a way, pictures of her from what sheassumed was college, more clippings of articles for awards and schoolcommendations, little pieces of her life collected and locked awayfor safe keeping. There was one picture in particular that caughtAmy's attention, it was of her doppelganger smiling in a white labcoat with three other people beside her, two of the others she didn'trecognize, but right next to her with a smile of his own as he helpup a small trophy was Francisco; but he didn't look like the edgy,dark eyed man who sat across from her now, he looked young and happyand....he looked like herCisco.

"Shewas your....?" She didn't want to say friend, it didn't feel right,this level of mourning wasn't done for mere friends, but at the sametime she didn't want to say girlfriend because if that were true thenwhat did that make her now?

"Shewas my friend," Francisco finished for her, "a very close friend,and yes I did love her but I missed my chance to tell her," hestood then disappearing into the kitchen only to return with a bottleof whiskey in his hand, "she's the reason I was even there thatnight, or rather I'm the reason she was...." he poured the whiskeyinto his soda and nudged it towards her, swigging directly from thebottle himself.

"Whatdo you mean the reason you were there?" Amy frowned, "reason youwere where?"

"StarLabs," He said, his voice rougher from the drink, "we wanted tosee the accelerator turn on, so we made a plan to go together," heshook his head, a bitter smile on his face, "I made a goddamnpicnic basket," he took another swig and sat back down, "Ithought it would be nicer if we were away from the crowds, then Icould tell her...anyway we were around the back of the facility whenwe heard they were evacuating, so we ran for it, only I was too slowand when she stopped so I could catch up..." he wiggled his fingersand made an explosion noise before leaning back against the couch,"she died right in front of me and I couldn't do anything aboutit,"

"Ohmy god..." Amy gasped, imagining the whole scene in her head; butas she did she found her mind blurring between the worlds, she sawAmaryllis one second then herself the next, and off to the side itwas Cisco and Francisco simultaneously, the whole thing giving her aheadache. She felt incredibly bad for him, the sudden urge to get upand hug him tugging at her, but she stayed put on the floor, choosingto dig in the box some more. Near the bottom, she found a pictureframe, only inside wasn't a picture, it was a pressed flower. It wasan Amaryllis she recognized, its petals white near the center butblooming out into a bright red. Suddenly she knew where the name hadcome from, Red Star, that was the name of this strain of the flowershe was named for. Scrawled in tiny writing at the bottom right was amessage 'Happybirthday to my Red Star -Francisco'.It broke her heart just to read it.