They sat like that for what seemed like hours of Barry crying hysterically into her shoulder in a comforting hug, until Barry flashed away. Leaving Anabelle sitting alone on her couch.
Barry continued to run for most of the night. He had a sea of emotion sinking his boat of sanity. He couldn't eat, sleep, talk, laugh, or even smile anymore. He just wasn't feeling like the Barry Allen everyone knows and loves, exactly like the night his mom died. He Cracked. He just broke, shattered like glass when his father went limp. His emotions were spilling out from talking about it and he just couldn't handle it, so he ran. He ran until he was to the point of almost passing out from exhaustion. So he was out cold on the couch when he got home at 4:30 am.
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Iris woke up at 6:00 this morning so she would have time to finish her article before she heads off to work. When she reached the living room she was surprised to see Barry sprawled out on the couch. She was thinking he must have gotten home a little after she went to bed and just crashed on the couch. She knew he was tired so she tried to be as quiet as possible. He looked so sad.
When she was eating breakfast she heard him mumbling something, so she walked over to see what was up. She could see he was asleep still but was thrashing back and forth in his sleep. She didn't know exactly what he was saying, she figured he must be having a nightmare. "Barry." She said, gently shaking him.
Barry jerked awake breathing heavily, attempting to get up only to be pressed down by Iris. "Hey it's alright, it's just me." He calmed down a bit and rubbed his eyes.
"Are you feeling alright? Your drenched in sweat." She asked with concern across her face and felt his forehead.
"Yeah I'm fine. I just.... Had a bad nightmare." He said quietly. Iris started playing with his sweaty hair. "Can you tell me what it was about?"
He tried to hold back the tears. "Z-zoom... I don't really want to talk about it right now." He said swallowing the lump in his throat. She nodded and went to go make coffee for the both of them, making sure to make his decaf.
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In the middle of the afternoon Caitlin heard a whoosh. She knew that whoosh all too well, it was Barry. "Barry you don't have to be here." She says giving him a sympathetic look. "It's fine, lets find that meta okay." He said not looking at her and she nodded reluctantly.
They had spent the whole day tracking five different metahumans, which were now all locked up in either the pipline or Iron Heights, depending on how dangerous they were.
"Barry how about we take a break." Cisco suggests, he doesn't like the feeling he's getting, with Barry pushing himself so hard after his father just died.
"No, I can keep going." He said his face expressionless.
"Barry, you need to get some rest. Or at least be done for the day." Caitlin says concerned.
"No I'm fine."
He started staring at nothing, his eyes glazed over.
Images started flashing though his eyes.
"Barry. Barry!" Cisco yells. He finally snaps out of it, looking at him. "What? Sorry."
"I called your name like five times, are you okay?" Barry shook his head, tears threatening to fall. "I keep thinking about it. I could've stopped him, I wasn't fast enough."
He was breaking down in from of them but he didn't care. He sniffled, shedding tears. He wiped them away. "Wasn't fast enough."
