Reality Check : : Barry Allen (REWRITING)

09

"So how's Central City lately? I haven't really caught up yet." I ask, still staring out the window as I try to figure out when in the show I arrived.

"Actually, some pretty weird stuff's been going on lately. It's been a bi--"

"Hey Barry. Oh, you're Carly, right? I'm Iris." Iris has the worst timing. I mean, I knew that before because of watching the show, but this is just reaffirming that knowledge.

"Actually it's Cara." I correct with a small forced smile. Iris sits in the seat I would've taken if I had use of my legs. Which I don't. Because of Robin.

I find myself glaring over at the white figure sitting on nothing a few meters away. It's just watching us, observing the conversation.

"I was just about to fill Cara in on everything she's missed in the past two and a half weeks." Barry tells his best friend and oh god the look on his face is so cute. I think Iris is the only one that has no idea about his feelings for her. Everyone else can see it as plain as day.

"Oh, you should read my new blog. Well, when I say new, I really mean it was made in the last month, probably while you were in hospital." Iris says excitedly. She pulls out her phone and taps the screen a few times, then turns it around to face me.

"The Streak Lives." I read out loud. "What's a streak?" I pretend to have no idea what she's on about, when actually I know more about this than she does. Probably actually more than Barry does too. I mean, once I figure out when in the show we are, I'll know the future.

"The streak is this person. I think he's a man... Anyway, he's this guy that can--" I zone out as Iris tells me things I already know. Nothing she says will surprise me at all.

Cara would not believe.

"So this guy, he runs really fast?" I ask, trying to look and sound sceptical.

"Pretty ridiculous, right?" Barry asks with a nervous laugh that Iris doesn't seem to notice. Maybe she's just super dense.

"More like insane. No way someone like that exists." I accidentally slip back into Elise mode for a second, then freak out internally. "Uh, I mean, I don't really believe in that sort of stuff. I just... Don't you think someone could've edited those photos?"

"Okay, okay. You don't believe me. Join the club." Iris looks irritatedly at me, then at Barry.

"Iris, you know it's crazy." Barry has this weird look on his face that I can probably imitate but definitely not explain.

"I should get back to work." Iris forces a big grin that makes her look insane, then she gets up and walks away. Barry sighs.

"I should probably get going too. We'll have to get together again sometime when Iris is calm and this whole 'Streak' thing has passed." He says. It'll never pass. Not now. Not with everything he's gonna do.

"Okay. See you." I wave slightly and he reflects the gesture before leaving. Was I meant to tell him something? I swear there was something super important he needed to know. Hm. Obviously it's not that important if I don't remember it.

I finish my coffee barely three minutes after Iris and Barry leave, and I've figured out how I'm going to tell my brother I need a pet. From what I've seen since waking up as Cara, Ben works a lot. I think he's using it as a distraction from everything that's happened. I plan to use that to get Wolfgang.

You need to know.

I pick up my phone like I've just answered a call, just in case anyone is watching and decides to question me talking to thin air.

"I need to know what?"

How it happened.

"Please stop being vague and just tell me what you're on about."

The accident that killed your parents and paralysed you. You need to know how it happened.

"I don't want to." I can feel a lump growing in my throat and my eyes start to sting with unshed tears.

You must.

"Why? I mean, surely I need a whole lot of memories other than that, so why not work in chronological order?"

Are you comfortable?

"What? What's that got to do with anything?"

You can't just know. You must hear. You must see. You must feel.

"I must touch? I must taste? Yeah, I can list the five senses too. How about you let me go home and sleep, then you can show me."

Good idea. You shall dream, and then you shall know.

"You love speaking in riddles, huh?" I ask rhetorically and sigh. "Whatever. I'm tired and I'm gonna go sleep." And with that, I leave Jitters and head home, only getting lost once on the way.