Timeless Wells (Flash)

Chapter 21

"Don't tell me you're already giving up."

You exhale, and the minute your eyes open, you feel weightless. It feels almost peaceful. Turning your head, you're lying in a bed.

"My apartment.."

You don't remember going to bed at all.

"About time you stopped lazing around." 

The man that walks through the door leaves you breathless.

"James.."

The brown haired male wears a bright smile. So do the other half dozen soldiers that walk in. They are all dressed pretty casually.

"Sleeping beauty woke up finally. You know you always were a princess." 

They rush at you on the bed laughing. Jumping on the bed as they tackle you. Your laughter mixes in with theirs and you fall off the bed. James is on top of you wrestling, and the rest of them watch, laughing heartily.

"All right, enough of your foolishness." 

 Another soldier yells as he throws a pillow.

Your eyes tear up. Most of these faces were ones you never thought you would see. But now here they are. The light that beams from your window gives an almost angelic glow. As you look around the room, you feel nothing but joy. The smiles on their faces. The pure unfiltered happiness is surreal.

The door opens again, but the man who walks in isn't who you expect. He's decked down in dark clothing. His eyes glow an unnatural green. That face, you know that face.

"Oliver Queen?"

"You can call me The Spectre. Follow me."

He turns, heading out the door, and you don't follow immediately. You hesitate. Looking back at your friends. Standing slowly, you head out the door. The second it closes behind you, that all disappears. The door is gone, and you're standing in what looks like a forest.

"W-What did you do to my friends!!!"

"You can go back to them if that's what you want."

"That is what I want."

"Then why did you follow me?"

You clench your jaw.

"What game are you playing?"

This is unnerving.

"I'm sure you realized by now what's going on."

"Yeah I'm dead."

"And how exactly did you die?"

"That's simple I was-" Your brows furrow. Because you don't quite remember.

"I was.." You backtrack.

"You should have never crossed me Yale."

Justin.

"I-Iris and Barry they're hurt!!"

"That is correct. But you're dead. As you've seen you can have a happy ending. What you saw back there might have felt like a dream. But it isn't. If you choose to leave, then you can be reunited with your real friends. You wouldn't have to carry around that guilt you feel everyday. The overbearing weight or surviving while they didn't."

You waver, hand shaking slightly.

"I..I could be with my friends..My family.."

"Yes. They are your family."

He's looking at you expectantly.

"If the right choice is going with them back there, then why are you here?"

'I'm just here to help you make a decision. There are no good or bad ones. I'm your moral compass in a sense."

"So what you're here to convince me that just giving up is the coward's way out."

"That's up to you."

"THOSE PEOPLE BACK THERE ARE MY FAMILY!!"

"Then what's stopping you from just going to them."

What was stopping you? As he said, you were dead. There isn't anything you can do to help Barry and Iris. Ultimately, the cops would find them. It was only a matter of time before someone realized something was amiss. They would save your friends.

Or maybe...that's what you were trying to convince yourself.

"Once you go back through that door, you'll be happy. You won't remember how you died, or even me. Right now you're standing on the line of life or death. All you have to do is choose."

Your lips quivered. 

From the moment you'd seen the impossible, you wanted nothing more than to forget. A part of you had prayed that you went down with your team. Maybe somehow that would ease the burden. You would be with the only people who ever gave a damn about your existence.

But abandoning Iris and Barry, even Harrison. You can only imagine the havoc that would arise if his secret was discovered like this. He would be painted as some kind of monster.

For the first time, you needed to be better.

You needed to face this, rather than take the easiest route and run away. From your feelings, from your fears. From your pain. Throughout your life, you'd never really faced anything. You just kept running from one challenge to the next in hopes that it would make you feel less like a waste of space. Now you are given the chance to prove that you aren't a coward. That there were bigger things in this world than dwelling on guilt and shame.

You need to fight.

You need to go back.

Oliver smiles.

"It seems like you've made up your mind. "

He takes a step closer.

"Please..take me back. I have to help them. I need to save them."

He holds out his hand.

"Then let's go back together."

You nod, lifting your hand as you grasp his.

The green orb of light that follows makes you gape.

"T-That night..it was you.."

He shakes his head.

"As it turns out, you're destined for much more Ms. Yale. Or should I say, Green Lantern."

The light spreads throughout the entire space, and you feel nothing but the warmth around your body.