Hurricane {Barry Allen} [2]

Sedated // Hozier

Mack arrived on the familiar train platform the next morning. She had slept through most of the flight, but the train ride into downtown Central City had made her uneasy, causing her to run her hand through her hair many times.

Being in Central City again was what she imagined visiting her hometown of Perth would be like. The wave of nostalgia engulfing her toes, then ebbing away, then going up to her ankles, then ebbing away again, and then suddenly crashing over her like a wave in a hurricane: whipping her memories of an old life around her at hundreds of miles per hour. The swirl of thoughts she was trapped in sent her to another world. One she had been so removed from for six months. She had created a whole new person in Australia, a girl who lived her life removed from science and superheroes and tragic love stories. But returning to herself here felt like exactly that: returning to herself. Not the person she had created or wanted to be. As she walked through the city that had made her feel so much more at home than anywhere else, she realized that the things she had removed herself from--superhero powers, death, love and all--made her who she was, and she couldn't simply discard them.

And she absolutely hated that.

She hated the painful pull of the city, its grip that she couldn't get out from, its everlasting hold on her. She had never been this vulnerable. She had broken her one rule.

As she turned the corner along her familiar path to S.T.A.R Labs, she watched the world she once cherished change and shift before her very eyes. Not physically, but emotionally. She realized in her desperate attempt to forget the city and those inside, that she had voided herself of emotional attachment to this place, but her heart still felt constricted, a feeling she couldn't explain. As Mack walked past Jitters, she saw Iris. She stopped suddenly, staring through the window at the girl who looked as cheerful and bubbly as ever before remembering that Iris, along with half the city, thought she was dead. She quickly moved along and kept her head down. She realized it wasn't just  Jitters that was a problem, it was being in the city itself. She was a dead woman walking. She felt like she was entering a world she shouldn't have been--as if she was bursting the city's bubble of reality. It gave her a headache.

Mackenzie decided to take a roundabout way the the labs, walking in her quick, quiet, determined pace. When she finally entered the building, its usual electrical hum was dead. She crossed her arms  over her chest as she made her way down to the cortex.

She ran a hand through her hair for the millionth time.

"Nervous tick" Barry's voice echoed in her mind. She stuffed her hand quickly back into her pocket.

The chirpy "ding!" of the elevator that told her she had reached her floor seemed so out of place. The happiness seemed sucked out of the entire building. She was frowning as she stepped forward and made her way into the cortex.

"Mack" Caitlin breathed when she heard the footsteps enter the archway of the cortex behind her. Mackenzie's footsteps had always been lighter than everyone else's, part of her training in the Australian secret service was being discreet. She looked up and connected eyes with Mackenzie.

"Hey Cait" Mack said simply.

Caitlin let out a content sigh, rushing over and hugging the girl. Mack hugged her back, letting herself become enveloped in Caitlin's warmth and fresh pine smell.

"I'm so happy you're here" Caitlin sniffled.

Mack could barely stop dissociating to respond.

"Thanks Snow" She replied as Cisco stopped in his tracks at the sight of her.

"Holy shit" He mumbled. Mack straightened up and took a breath. Cisco was one of her closest friends, and he was Barry's best friend. She knew to be weary of his reaction.