ALL THE KING'S MEN | BARRY ALLEN

05. COME TOGETHER

❛ chapter five! ❜

five | come together—gary clark jr., junkie xl

       Just when I thought I had seen it all, aliens decide to show up in Central City. Not that I've never seen an alien before, one of my friends was an alien. He was pretty cool and also were his superpowers. However, judging by the quick explanation Cisco gave me through the cellphone, these are not the friendly kind. He was both slightly panic stricken and excited by the fact that aliens crash-landed into this earth. Also, he was a bit cross by the fact that I didn't answer the first seven calls, not because I didn't want to but because I'm still learning how to use this rectangular, huge and heavy—to my taste—device to make calls. We had something similar back on my earth, except they were just a rectangular, see-trough material, much thinner and lighter than this stone I carry around.

       Anyway, he said I have to get to S.T.A.R. Labs and I'm still in Caitlin's bathroom: wrapped in a towel, scissors in hand and a bunch of fresh chopped hair in the sink. I stare at my reflection and decide that if I don't put the scissors down I'll keep chopping my hair and I just needed a trim so that I don't look like a mad woman with split ends.

       When I came to this earth, I thought things would be like they've always been for me on other earths; tense, boring, awkward, where all I had to do was to focus on fulfilling the duty I'd been assigned. This time it's different, these have to be the most selfless, caring, happy and friendly people I've come across in my job. They are good people and they've shown a level of hospitality I didn't know it could exist; clothes, food, a place to stay—Caitlin offered herself for the latter and so I've been staying at her place for the last couple of days; it was her idea. Sometimes I think she needs the company after all the Killer Frost deal happened, maybe something to hold onto or someone to help her keep her ground. I'm not a very open person, it takes a while for me to let people in, somehow the two of us have gotten quite close, even though it's only been a couple of days. I think I might have a friend on this earth.

       I blow dry my hair and even put a little makeup on before dashing to get dressed, after all, I have to look decent before meeting the people that's teamed up to fight against these aliens. I give myself a final look in the mirror and speed my way out of Caitlin's apartment and head for the address Barry gave me in the back of an old and rather wrinkled grocery store recipe he pulled out of his back pocket—I see he likes potato chips and soda a lot, enough to get half a dozen from each. Following his instructions, I end up standing before an old hall hangar with the words S.T.A.R. LABS in bold letters.

       "Oh my god," I hear Caitlin's voice say from inside as she walks up to me and I do the same, "your hair looks. . ." she trails off and I feel a hint of panic growing within me.

       "Is it uneven? Because I tried to cut it as even as I could, does it look bad?" I gush, worried and she smiles whilst shaking her head, her wavy hair bouncing lightly and I find myself wondering why do I care so much how I look today.