Reality Check : : Barry Allen/The Flash

08

I wake up with a jolt when a thud resounds throughout the house.

"What the hell?" I murmur, rubbing my eyes tiredly as I sit up. I reach for my phone to check the time, then realise that this isn't my phone's usual wallpaper and that my glasses aren't where they should be on my bedside table.

Oh crap.

I sit up as I remember where I am, who I am. This isn't my room. This isn't my phone. It's all Cara's, and she doesn't wear glasses like I do.

Another thud echoes around me and I frown, wondering what it could possibly be that's causing all this noise at 3am.

Stay.

I ignore Robin and lift myself into my wheelchair, sadness hitting me momentarily as I think about not being able to walk.

Another thud.

As quietly as I can manage, I wheel myself over to my bedroom door and open it. Another thud, but this time louder since I'm obviously closer to the source.

Go back to sleep.

"No, Robin." I whisper over my shoulder, knowing that's where my annoyingly persistent companion is.

I keep moving, following the noises as they keep happening. I end up at the door of the apartment, and I look back to see if Ben has noticed the sound too. He's nowhere to be seen, which means either he's a heavy sleeper or he's chosen to ignore the sounds.

Or maybe he can't hear the noise from his room. I don't know where that is, so I can't say for certain that it's true.

Slowly, I open the door to the apartment and peer out into the hallway. On the left, there's nothing, but on the right where the noise seems to be coming from, I can see a person about three doors down, trying to get into an apartment.

Sleep.

I roll my eyes in Robin's direction, then look back at the person down the hallway. They step away from the door slightly, then ram their shoulder into it, causing a loud thud. The person groans and I realise I know exactly who this is.

"Barry?" I say without thinking. Do I live down the hall from the Flash? No. Way.

"Oh hey. It's Cara, right?" He calls. I wheel closer to him.

"What're you doing?" I ask, glancing at the door.

"Uh, nothing." He says, folding his arms and leaning casually on the wall as if his words are true.

"Right, so you're just beating up your door for no reason?" I raise an eyebrow at him.

"What? I wasn't beating up my door. No, I was just trying to--"

"It's really not a good idea to argue with someone who was woken up by all of your noise." I state, cutting him off.

"Okay, fine. My door's jammed and my key won't budge. I'm sorry I woke you up. I know how important sleep is when you're trying to adjust to ev--"

"Barry, you're rambling." I chuckle. He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. "Besides, I was kind of in a coma for two weeks so I'm all good in the sleep department." He purses his lips.

"Yeah, I know what that's like. I got struck by lightning and was in a coma for nine months. Only woke up about three weeks ago." He tells me. Three weeks. Now I have a rough idea of where I'm at in the show.

"Wow." I try to act shocked that he survived at all, and he seems to buy it.

"If you ever need to talk about it, I guess I know a bit of what you might be feeling. Although, I still have--" he cuts himself off, realising what he was about to say. He glances at his feet guiltily and I fight off the feeling that he pities me.

"Uh, here. Let me try." I reach up to his door and try to twist the key. Slowly but surely, it turns and the door swings open. Barry frowns into his dark apartment, then gives me a smile that I can see is forced.

"Thanks." He says. I smile back, keeping it small like I know Cara would. "I guess I'll see you 'round. Sorry again for waking you up."

"It's fine. Goodnight Barry." I feel weird saying his name so casually like this. He waves and closes his door between us. I wheel back to my apartment, thinking about how weird this all is.

After locking the front door, I go back to bed and stare at the ceiling, lost in thought about everything that's happened.

You should have slept.

"Why? I wasn't in danger. And if I was, you were there to ash anyone who looked threatening."

He cannot be ashed. He is needed.

"Oh so Barry's like me? Like Wolfgang? Great. I can't wait to tell him his mentor is a serial killer from the future."

He cannot know.

"What? He needs to. The sooner he knows, the sooner Wells can be taken down."

Barry Allen cannot know. It is not right. He must learn these things at the right time. He must figure it out himself.

"But if I tell him now, that saves a whole lot of issues and potential deaths. Look, every time I thought about what I'd say to Barry if I could meet him, the first thing that came to mind was telling him about Wells or Thawne or whatever his name is."

You must not. We must ensure that Barry Allen finds out himself. We will remove these thoughts. We will remove these memories.

"What're you talking about?" I ask, looking over at Robin. It's standing at the foot of my bed, staring at me without even having the eyes to do so. For the first time, I start to feel threatened by it.

SLEEP.

Damn, not again.