In A Flash

The Police Station

After getting up from my bed, I look at the clock. 10:00 am. I decided to visit Iris at Jitters after stopping by the police station.
It's weird, I never owned a car. So I pretty much walk everywhere. I'm sure I'm the only one in the city who doesn't drive. I really need to fix that.

As I walk down the sidewalk, I take in my surroundings. Traffic is crazy here. It might be because everyone's going to see the Particle Accelerator in action for the first time today. Various buildings are lined up near the sidewalk.

Ugh, people move so slow these days, I think to myself. If this is how it is everyday, I'm going to be late for my job at the Police Station.

I brake into a run, dodging people as I pass them. My eyes look above people's heads, and I see the police station up ahead. I don't want to make a bad first impression with my new partner, whomever it is.
I zone out as my pace slows to a jog. Then I hear someone curse behind me for someone running into them.

"Sorry, excuse me," a voice says somewhere behind me.

"Oof!" I groan after being run into and falling hard onto the sidewalk.

"Sorry!" The same voice apologized as a hand stuck out in front of me.

"It's alright," I grab the hand and I'm yanked up onto my feet. A young man maybe a couple years older than me was standing in front of me with a brief case.
He looked extremely familiar, like I've seen him before. He had green eyes and short brown hair. He looked like he was late for something. The guy looked at me up and down; seemed to think I was familiar too.

"Are you sure you're alright? I'm really sorry I should've looked who was in front of me."

"Yeah I'm fine it's alright," I stifle a laugh.

"I-I should get going," the guy says after a few seconds. He scratches his head and gives me a lingering gaze before he walked off again.

I entered the precinct a few seconds later to find it busy with people. And to be honest, I have NO CLUE on where to check in. Until I see Joe, Iris' dad.

"Hey Joe!" I walk up to him and greet him.

"Nice to see you again, Megan," he continues, "Are you ready for you're new job?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Barry, meet you're new partner, Megan Ortiz," Joe calls out as he looks past me. I turn around to see the same guy who ran into me earlier.

A wave of recognition passes over the guy-Barry's face and his eyes widen. "Did you just say 'Megan Ortiz?'"

"Did you seriously forget her Barry?"
"We-well I ran into her on the way here," Barry explains quickly, "Megan, I can't believe I didn't recognize you! You know me right?"

"Haha yeah," a shy grin spreads across my face and I scratch the back of my neck. He was Barry Allen, my elementary crush.

"Alright then. Barry, show her around. Megan, you'll be working with him to process the evidence. You'll start work tomorrow," Joe gave us orders and walked away with his partner.

"Follow me," Barry says as he walks up the stairs and I follow behind.

He leads me to a large room with windows on the far side with a desk and computer near it. There's shelves with crime evidence on both sides of the room and there's a sheet or something covering the front of a board that's across from the desk. My gaze leads to light behind the sheet. From what I could tell, it looked like there was a bunch of newspaper clippings and sticky notes.

Why would that be covered up? I think to myself.

Barry's voice interrupted my thoughts. "So this is where you'll be working with me," he sits down in the chair by his desk. "So tell me about yourself."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Like, why you were interested in this specific career? When we were kids you said you wanted to be a fashion designer. Did something change your mind?"

"Yeah." My face paled. He saw it too and stood up.

"Hey are you okay? You don't have to answer," he takes a few steps toward me as I backed up against the wall. "Megan...?" He asked with concern and ran to me when I slid down the wall and huddled into a ball.

All the memories flooded into my mind when he asked that question. He didn't know anything about what happened when I was away. The murder. My mom being tortured. A man slicing her throat. My back being deeply slashed as I ran to call for help. The intimidating man in the green suit getting me to the hospital. A few months later, my dad didn't answer no matter how many times I called. Police searching. Yet he was still nowhere to be found and I never got to say goodbye.

I violently started shaking as tears rolled down my cheeks and my breathing quickened. "Mom...d-dad.." I buried my head in my legs.

"Megan!" I barely heard Barry's voice and felt him gently shaking me. He suddenly let go and ran out of the room yelling, "Joe! Joe! Something's wrong with Megan!"
A minute or so passed before I heard footsteps coming again. My sobs turned to whimpers. I lifted my head up enough to look ahead and I stared absentmindedly at the window in a daze.

"Megan, can you hear me?" Joe knelt down in front of me and waved his hand around.
It took me a few seconds before I snapped out of my daze. I blinked slowly and looked up at Joe. Then Barry, who was standing behind him with a very, very, worried look on his face. My eyes widen, realizing I just had a panic attack in front of Barry and Joe. I never told Joe or Iris, and I didn't tell Barry because it's embarrassing to me. It just shows how mentally unstable I am.

I stood up abruptly. "I'm fine, I'm fine," I wipe my damp cheeks.

"What just happened?" Barry and Joe said at the same time.

"I-I...um..." I stammered, trying to find the right words to say. They waited patiently for an answer. "Well... I have panic attacks. Like, probably at most, 20 times a week. Because when I was eighteen my-" I immediately stop talking and cover my mouth; swallowing bile.

Joe and Iris were the only ones who knew my parents were dead. Joe understood what I was going to say, and nodded. Barry still had a confused look on his face, but he didn't ask further questions about it.

"Well seeing you know the place a little better, and what just happened, go to Jitters and catch up with Iris. You have no idea how much she missed you," Joe cleared his throat.

"She wouldn't stop talking about you!" Barry said while chuckling and then added under his breath, "She wasn't the only one excited to see you."

"What?" I said right before I walked out of the room.

"Nothing," he smiled wide like a little kid and Joe chuckled, shaking his head.

I just briefly smiled and walked out of the precinct wandering what he said.