Burning Down The House - Snowbarry

Chapter Six

Caitlin pressed her hands into Frost's chest with all her might, her breath taught in her throat, every ounce of her being focused on her precise yet frantic movements, praying that Frost awoke. Eventually she felt a hand softly grasp her bicep, and she stilled in her movements, her eyes slowly moving to Barry's in horror. His eyes told her everything she didn't want to hear.

Frost was gone.

Caitlin jolted awake from the memory, finding herself laying in her bed sweaty and distraught. A bed she found far too large and far too empty. She tried to steady herself by taking deep breathes but it didn't help, she just continued to cry as she thought about the funeral she wasn't attending tomorrow.

She didn't want to accept it. She couldn't. Frost had so much ahead of her, and she threw it all away, because of her. Caitlin blinked, the tears that had permanently moved into the corners of her eyes released yet another trail of pain that stained her cheeks. Everything in her peripheral vision had become a mass of unintelligible darkness as the tears welled up.

She grabbed her phone and looked at the time. Five in the morning, she had slept for barely an hour, the same as the past few nights. She could feel more tears forming, and she desperately tried to keep them from spilling out as she clenched her eyes shut.

She tossed her phone on the bed and threw the blankets off of herself, moving to a sitting position on the bed. She stood up and made her way into the bathroom, deciding to take a hot shower.

She sat down beneath the shower head, and as she let the hot water run over her body, she couldnt stop thinking about Frost's final moments. It haunted her, and she tried to think of anything else, but it wasn't working, so she sat down in the shower and cried. She cried and cried for what felt like forever, but she never felt any better.

If anything, the crying only weighed her down further, and as her tears became entangled with the flowing water she took a deep breath and just sat there for a moment, taking everything in.

A sudden round of knocks broke her from her trance, and she found her mind wandering to a night like this over a month ago where everything between her and Barry had changed, though now she couldn't help but be angry at him.

How could just leave her? Amidst everything that just happened, he just left. The tears start to form once more, and another round of knocks echo throughout her apartment, prompting her to shut off the running water and exit the shower.

"Coming!" She shouted as she frantically dried off, before moving to her room to get dressed.

A part of her hoped it was Barry, come to apologize or comfort her, just talk about everything and anything. But as she moved closer to the door another part of her dreaded seeing him, afriad she'd start crying again, or that simmering anger trapped beneath the weight of grief would flair to life and she'd ruin everything between them in a moment of fury.

If it already wasn't ruined.

Caitlin opened the door, immediately letting her breath out as her shoulders dropped. "Cisco." She stated, surprised and confused. "What uh... what are you doing here?"

"Tomorrow is Frost's funeral." Cisco reminded her, his voice strained, his eyes furrowed in a mixture of disbelief and sadness. "I talked to your mother, she.... she said you aren't going?"

Caitlin dropped her gaze, swallowing the lump in her throat as she felt Cisco's gaze bore into her skull. Cisco raised his eyeline after a moment, peering past her into her strikingly cold apartment, taking note of the box on the couch, a picture of Caitlin and Frost sitting on top.

"Caitlin-"

"You're not changing my mind." Caitlin spoke sharply.

"Please-"