The Girl From the Destroyed Future

Chapter four

Five faces stared at me as Nora and I entered Star Lab's cortex.

The first summer after I'd started college, I'd taken an internship at Star Labs and I'd worked with my Uncle Cisco. I'd spent so much time at Star Labs memorizing schematics and upgrading tech, that seeing it now, with the old, undeveloped technology, hurt me. I really wished that I could have upgraded everything in the building.

I wasn't sure if it was my speed, but I was feeling way more anxiety than I had ever felt before in my life. Being watched by the faces of people I knew was probably making it worse.

"Hello," Iris called, waving at me. I slowly waved back, my eyes still darting around the room.

I felt energy bubbling up inside of me, and I knew that I could escape Star Labs if I wanted to. Well, if the exits were still the same as 23 years in the future.

"I'm Cassie," I said.

"She's from the future," Nora explained. "Like I said."

"Is that true?" Caitlin asked. I glanced over at my mother, but then I quickly returned my gaze to the floor. This Caitlin looked so much like my mother that it was terrifying. But there was no way she could be the same person I'd spent my entire life with.

"Yes. I'm from the year 2042," I said, my mouth dry. "I only traveled back in time to –" my mind raced to find a lie that would suit the situation, "escape." I guess the truth would work, at least part of the truth.

"Escape what?" Barry asked skeptically.

"Well, it's kinda hard to explain," I mumbled. "Basically, though, everything started disintegrating into blue shards that floated away," I recapped. "I took off my meta-dampener and ran back in time."

"Meta-dampener?" Iris said at the same time Joe asked, "Why did you come here?" I looked back and forth, from one to another, not sure which question to answer first. I opted for Iris's, mostly because of her eggnog.

"Ya, in 2042 meta's are outlawed and my parents gave me a dampener to hide my powers," I explained.

"Huh, that's not what 2042 was like for me," Nora said.

I ignored her comment and answered Joe's question. "As for why I'm here, I just thought of a random year and ran really fast."

"What's this?" Cisco asked, holding up the watch. I gasped, quickly recognizing my father's gift to me. I must have dropped it earlier or something.

"I need that," I said quickly.

"You didn't answer the question," Barry said. I sighed, not sure how to explain without giving myself away. I decided to tell them the truth, just not the entire truth.

"My dad gave it to me before he went to find my mom," I said, "and he told me not to loose it because it would tell me how much time I had left."

"Till what?" Iris asked.

"I don't know," I answered truthfully. "Probably has something to do with everyone dissolving."

"I have a theory," Barry said. "But it's purely hypothetical because I've never seen it in action."

"Seen what in action?" I asked.

"I think your timeline was wiped from existence," he said. "When Eddie shot himself, Thawne disintegrated, and Savitar did the same when the timeline caught up to him."

Eddie shot himself . . . Eddie shot himself . . . What?

"Maybe that's why Nora doesn't know about the 2042 that Cassie is describing," Caitlin said, her face perplexed as she pulled the pieces of the puzzle together. "Could the watch have something to do with a timeline change?"

"It does have numbers on it," Cisco confirmed, staring down at the watch. Confusing shot over his face, and he looked at me. "It also has my name on it," Cisco said.

"Whatttttttttttttttttttttttttttt?" I said, raising my eyebrows. "That's craaaaaaaaaaaazy . . . "

Barry was watching me suspiciously, but Cisco looked like he'd won the lottery.

"I can't believe your watch has my name on it!" he shouted joyfully. "This is amazing. I bet that means that I'm famous in the future!"

"But that future was probably erased from existence," I said, my tone dark.

"Why is Cisco's name on your watch?" Iris asked.

"Did Cisco make it?" Joe asked. "Because that could make sense."

"Maybe Cassie's dad and Cisco are friends in the future," Nora chimed in.

"Can I just have my watch?" I said, my sounding tired. Cisco glanced at Barry, who nodded.

"Sure," Cisco said, holding out the watch towards me. I took the few steps towards him, and accepted the watch. The smooth metal felt cold against my hands, but I didn't really mind it.

"Thanks," I mumbled, slipping on the watch. I glanced down at the numbers. The watch read three-hundred-and-forty hours, two minutes, and thirty seconds. The timer ticked down as each second passed, leaving my brain to imagine what horrors lay at the ending.

"It's late," I heard Caitlin say. "We should all get some rest."

"Are you sure you want to bring her to your house?" Barry asked. "Do you trust her?"

"I understand where you are coming from with your suspicions, Barry, but I see no reason not to trust her. Cassie's barely twenty."

Their conversation stopped, and I looked up from my watch to see Caitlin coming towards me.

"It's been a long day, you can stay at my place," she offered. I smiled, relieved, and nodded.

"Thank you," I said.