Reality Check : : Barry Allen (REWRITING)

13

Cara,
     MJ called and said she won't be able to stay with you for the next few days. Something about a family emergency in Starling.
     I'll be working late today, but I've asked Levi to come by at lunchtime to check on you. Just give him a call if you need anything.
     See you for dinner.
             Ben

When Robin said MJ wouldn't be coming, I thought it was just because I don't need her anymore. Now I see that Robin has planned this from the start, and I'm honestly not surprised that another person in my life has left because of a being that only I can see.

As for Ben working late, I can't say I'm surprised about that one either. I know he's not dealing well with everything that's happened, and his work is a way for him to take his mind off everything. It probably also has something to do with the fact that it pains him to see me in a wheelchair like this. I can see it whenever he looks at me. Pity. Sadness. Pain.

Elise.

"Yeah?"

Levi is needed.

Levi? I pull out Cara's phone and open the contacts, going straight to the 'L' section. I find him straight away under the name Levi Woodland.

"Who is he?" I ask Robin. I remember Iris or Barry mentioning something about him at the hospital, and I vaguely recall something about him from reality.

He is Ben's close friend here and where you are from. He knew Cara well. He will test you. He will know you are different. If you succeed in convincing him that you are Cara, he will help you.

"How is he meant to help? Do you mean I can tell him who I am?"

He cannot know. You are Cara. He must believe that. He will help you, but we cannot say how.

Right, of course. Robin never tells me anything that isn't vague, so I should learn not to expect anything different from it.

I glance back to my room and try to think of what I can do for the day. I know Cara's mum used to play the piano when Cara and Ben were little and she started teaching them, but I have no way of knowing if she kept the piano unless I want to ask Ben about it.

Which I can't do because that's something I should know. Which would make him suspicious.

Getting upstairs would be nice, but I can't do that without someone else's help and I don't want to ask because, again, that would arouse suspicion.

I grab everything that needs washing from my room and head to the laundry, which is in the space that's meant to be used as a butler's pantry. I wheel myself in there with Wolfgang following closely, and I put my things in the washing machine, along with a couple of shirts and trousers Ben must've left down here.

I start the machine and go to leave the small room when I notice a little door in the corner of the space. It starts about an inch off the floor and ends just under my head height.

It is needed.

I glance at Robin and Wolfgang, then look back at the door with a sense of curiosity bubbling away inside of me.

I wheel myself closer and use the handle to slide the little door up. It looks like a dumbwaiter or whatever they're called. The small pile of clothes on the elevation platform says that this hasn't just been used to deliver food, but it's also a laundry shoot for whoever's upstairs.

I pull the small amount of clothes out and hold them up to inspect. There's a nice white blouse, a pair of men's trousers and an old varsity jacket.

An image flashes into my mind and I now know who these clothes belonged to; Mum and Dad. I hold the clothes close to me and shamelessly take a deep breath in hopes to capture the smell of my parents.