neighbors | barry allen//the flash

fifteen | running

Barry flashed back into the elevator. He didn't even think about it, the movement was like a reflex. As he jammed the button to take him back down to the lobby, he was glad Clara and whoever she was with were the only ones in the hallway that could have seen him, and they were a little too busy to notice him. This moment of relief, however, didn't last long, because the reason Clara didn't see him speed was burning into his mind. 

Barry knew he had no right to be this upset. He barely knew her. He had talked to her a few times after she moved in. That guy could have easily been her boyfriend. Barry didn't even know if she had a boyfriend. He didn't really know anything about her. He knew he was being ridiculously dramatic, but he couldn't seem to calm down. 

Barry did the only thing he felt he could do right anymore. He got his suit, and he ran. He ran away from Clara kissing the stranger. He ran away from whatever shadow he had been chasing. He ran away from every crime scene that he had examined as a forensic scientist, all the crimes he didn't stop. He ran away from his failures. He ran away from all the people he let down. He ran away from himself, his mind, and all the dark, doubtful thoughts hidden inside it. 

Barry let the running consume him. He lost himself in the sensation of the air rushing over his skin. He cherished the feeling of the earth falling away beneath him as he ran farther and farther, faster and faster. He reveled in the sound of the atmosphere zooming past him. The power to do something incredible, something impossible filled his being. He should have been getting tired, he had been running for a while. Instead, the more he ran, the more energy he felt. In this moment, he was unstoppable. 

He slowed down a few dozen miles out from the city. He stood and gazed at the skyline for a few moments. With his mind cleared, he focused on the people he had helped, the people he had saved. It was so hard for him to accept he could stop every bad thing from happening, and he had to face that every day as a forensic scientist analyzing crimes that had already happened. That didn't change the fact that he still stopped some of them. The lives he didn't save didn't take away from the ones he did, and Barry focused on that thought as he ran back to his city. 

He returned to his normal speed a few miles from his apartment complex. While he was feeling better, he still wanted a little more time to clear his head. As he passed by one of the city schools, he saw a large group of kids gathered up. It looked like they were all circled around one kid, yelling and shouting things. Barry crept closer, trying to hear what was going on. 

"Thanks, dweeb!" One of the tallest kids yelled. It looked like a basketball team, most of them were wearing jerseys or sweats, so the tallest one was pretty damn tall. "You lost us the game, again." 

"Yeah, just stay on the bench next time!" Another guy yelled. Barry couldn't see the kid's face in the middle, but he knew he must have been terrified. Barry flashed up to the group.

"You guys know who I am, right?" Barry asked. The entire group turned around and gawked at him. The kid they had been picking on looked relieved. 

"Y-you're the F-Flash," the tallest kid stuttered. 

"Wow, you're pretty bright," Barry scoffed. "So you must know what I do then, right?" 

"You save people," another kid answered weakly.

"Exactly." Barry grinned. "I save people and stop the bad guys. And you know what this picture looks like to me? What you guys look like to me?" They shook their heads quickly, still stunned at his appearance. "You guys look like the bad guys here." 

"Aw, come on, we were just having a little fun," one kid whimpered. 

"Yeah, Chris here is our best friend," the tall kid spoke up, throwing his arm around the kid they had been previously bullying. Chris looked at the tall kid in horror and seemed to shrink away form his touch.