A Dark Secret

Chapter 2

The first thing Wally thought when his alarm blared off at 7:30am on Monday morning,

It's going to be a long day...

His leg and face had stopped hurting, but it still hurt to breathe and Wally's arm screamed when moved. But he could handle it. He had too, because he was nothing. Wally understood this, and sometimes found it difficult to act so cheerful around friends or Uncle Barry, but he had too, or they would find out and he would be kicked off the team. Although what scared Wally the most, was that Rob wouldn't want to be friends with him anymore. No, no, he couldn't have that. He needed to stay silent. They couldn't find out.

Wally got up, speed brushed his teeth, re-applied the "cast", and pulled on a pair of comfy jeans, a blue shirt, and a red sweatshirt. He may not feel nice and warm, but that didn't mean he couldn't try and dress comfy and warm. Wally tied his sneakers with obvious difficulty, and then slowly cracked open the door. No sign of his father. Sighing in relief, Wally hurried down the stairs, slipped a key in his pocket, then hurried out the door.

Wally made it to the Zeta Beam in 15 minutes, walking of course. He stepped in and materialized in the cave, the familiar feminine voice ringing out, "Recognized, Kid Flash, B03." He made his way to where the team sat, waiting for training. His stomach growled, causing Wally to remember he skipped breakfast. "Hungry Kid Stomach?" Artemis teased. "No." Wally answered. It was a half truth. He was hungry, but he couldn't eat, he wasn't allowed to, not worthy enough, and his father had kicked him in the ribs enough to make sure of that. Robin grinned. "WOW! World record!" Wally forced himself to laugh with the team, even tough it hurt like hell. The team noticed something was off with their speedster friend, but they kept quiet.

Wally was practically asleep in his chair he was so tired by the time Black Canary called training. The others hurried out the door, Robin remained to get Wally. " Wally? Walls. Come on, it's time to train." Robin whispered into the speedster's ear. "Wha?" Wally asked, groggily sitting up and facing Robin with a confused look. " Come ON!" Robin begged. "We're the last ones, which is totally not astreous!" Then he froze, giving Wally a hard stare. 'Hey, you ok?" He asked, giving Wally a concerned look. "Yeah, I just, um, didn't get much sleep last night." Wally muttered. Robin raised an eyebrow. "I'm fine ok!" Wally snapped, then walked off to the training room, leaving a bewildered and slightly suspicious Robin behind.

"Superboy and Mg'ann, Artemis and Aqualad, Robin and Kid Flash. Inwardly, Wally groaned. He just HAD to be paired with the mini ninja. Robin was already getting on to him, this would just make it worse. Besides, he hated lying to his team. But there was no way to make it stop. Superboy and Mg'ann were first, ending in Superboy winning. Now he was next. Sighing, he stepped onto the training platform, and got into his fighting stance, arm and chest screaming all the way. All he had to do was make sure Robin didn't punch him in the chest or use his right arm. Easy, right?

Totally NOT.

Wally used his superspeed to dodge Robin's attacks, but within a minute Wally was finding it hard to breathe, and since he hadn't eaten anything in like, a week, his strength was hardly there. His father had gotten worse, taking to beating Wally more often and cutting him with sharp objects too. He hadn't allowed Wally to eat at home and when Wally did get a hold of some food, he puked it up again. Luckly his friends hadn't really questioned him, and it was easy to lie that he tripped on his own feet When trying to cover up visible bruisess that he couldn't cover up with concealer. It happened, even to speedsters.

Wally had zoned out for a minute, trying to catch his breath, and Robin took advantage. He used that creepy ninja thing of his to sneek up on Wally, flipping over him and then punching him in the chest, knocking him over. "Time." Black Canary called. Black spots threatened Wally's vision, and it had taken all of Wally's strength not to cry out. Normaly his body should of healed at least halfway by now, but the lack of food had stopped that. Wally took the offered hand Robin gave him. "Dude, are you really ok?" Robin asked, looking into Wally's eyes. "Yeah, fine." Wally answered.

"Go wash up. Wally, I need to talk-" Black Canary paused. The speedster was nowhere in sight."Go wash up. Wally, I need to talk-" Black Canary paused. The speedster was nowhere in sight.