Desolation

[1] Flashbacks

Flashback

"Barry, slow down! Wait for me!" A little girl shouted as she ran on the side walk, her dark blonde pigtails held by bows bouncing in the wind as she chased after her fellow little friend in red. She huffed and puffed as she tried to keep up, her backpack dragging behind her and scraping along small rocks.

Just as she was turning a corner she bumped into something bigger than her, causing her to fall on her butt with an 'ooph'. She rubbed her side looking up. Putting her other hand on her forehead to block the sun, the culprit become clear. Chills ran through the little girl's body making her begin to shake.

"Hey, freak. Maybe watch where you're going next time!" The boy looked down at her, a scowl clearly etched on his chubby prepubescent face.

She began to stand up but soon failed as the bully push her back down with considerable force. He began to torment her "Dirty rats like you belong on the ground. So stay there". The little girl could feel tears welling up in her eyes, that sentence rung familiarly in her head.

A few seconds later quickly incoming footsteps started overpowering the bully and his posse's laughter. "Hey!" The previously mentioned little boy shouted, his green eyes wide with shock. "What are you doing? Leave her alone!" He shouted making his way towards the crying little girl.
Soon, though, his efforts were shot when he was roughly grabbed by one of the bully's friends. The bully then got in his face. "Hey, loser, why don't you mind your own business?"
"When you mess with my friend it IS my business, so back off" little Barry growled. Suddenly the bully punched the little boy in the face. The other kid let go of Barry letting him hit the floor.
The little girl was crying curled up in a ball. Seeing her friend get hit because of her broke her heart, he should've just left her. Why didn't he leave like they did?
Soon the bullies walked off in a fit of evil laughter. The little boy crawled his way towards the girl.
"Are you okay, Winnie?" He put his hand on her shaking shoulder.
"Winnie? Winnie! WINNIE!!-"
A punch to my shoulder brought me back to reality. I blinked a few times, my eyes adjusting to the computer and desk in front of me before looking over to where the punch came from. "Huh?" I mumbled.
"Winnie are you serious right now? I've been calling your name for like 5 minutes!" My friend Iris scolded me. Her eyes showed annoyance as the tapped her right foot.
I cleared my throat, "I'm sorry Iris, it won't happen again."
"Yeah that's what you always say, and then it happens again." She signaled me to get up, and I did. "We are going to grab brunch with Barry in like 10 minutes at Jitters so let's get a move on shall we?" She raised her eyebrow.
"Okay.." I nodded softy before grabbing my bag and phone.
I looked down at my outfit and realized I wouldn't have time to change out of my work clothes. Frowning, I turn and follow Iris out the doors of the building. I work at CCPN (Central City Picture News), my job consists of taking pictures and writing small pieces for a poetry section in the newspaper. No one obviously reads the news paper these days but I still enjoy it.
Once we stepped outside I realized it was getting cloudy out, I scolded myself for not bringing an umbrella like a smart person.
The thought occurred to me that today was the big day for the particle accelerator to be activated, Barry's long awaited day. I smiled to myself imagining his face when it gets turned on, a familiar expression like that of a kid on Christmas.
One thought did circle through my mind as Iris blabbered on about some pretty boy cop,

What if something goes wrong?