Tricks of Fate

Chapter 18

[Iris]

My heart stopped for a split second, almost like it was taking a breath before it hammered out of my chest at an alarming speed. All those months whispering it to him, imagining what it would be like to hear him say it back. Then he did. I'll be honest, because of his amnesia I didn't go in with any hopes. I said it because I needed him to hear it. I needed to let him know that I hadn't given up on him, I hadn't given up on us. After we hung up I laid on that hotel bed, staring at the ceiling and wishing that I was in his arms. Then I thought about Nora and the moment we shared. It was the first time we'd all been kinda together since she became a West-Allen.

West-Allen, I thought. Mrs West-Allen. I let the name roll around in my brain for a while as images of a modern home flooded my mind. I pictured taking off my coat while Nora ran upstairs to get washed up. I'd get off my work heels and head for the kitchen and Nora would soon join me. While I cooked dinner she finished off her homework, asking me for help when she needed. Then just as I finished cooking Barry would walk in and light up the room with his smile. Nora would run to him and he'd pick her up and swing her around before making his way to me. Our lips would touch and Nora would make a face that we would both laugh at before peppering her face with kisses. It was something out of a Sunday family movie, I know, but with Barry, it seemed possible. I felt a tingle in my chest as I thought about the two of them. The two most important people in my life. I smiled, missing them like crazy but sure that together they were safe.
I fell asleep with an image of Barry tucking Nora into bed...

I felt him slip into bed with me as I reached for sleep, my consciousness barely there. He kissed the back of my head then wrapped his arm around me and pulled me closer. I snuggled up to him, feeling comforted and protected in his arms, then slowly drifted off to sleep.
I woke up in the middle of the night with a strange sensation. Something felt off. I got out of bed, carefully so as not to wake him, and slipped out of the room to check on Nora. When I reached her room my stomach had twisted into thousands of knots and my heart worked like a jackhammer in my chest. I opened the door slowly, afraid that I was just being silly and would wake her but when I peeked inside, my lungs contracted and my heart froze. Nora wasn't in bed.
Mentally I tried to calm myself down. She probably went to the bathroom or to the kitchen for a glass of water. After checking the bathroom and finding it disappointingly empty, I rushed down the stairs, taking them two at a time, and flung on the light switches to the kitchen. Before I could go any further I stopped dead in my tracks. The floor to ceiling windows that looked over the city from five stories above the ground had been completely shattered and the glass that littered the floor was sprayed with blood.
I felt my knees give in and I fell to the ground, all the energy seemed to leave my body as my mind tried to put together the pieces. She was gone. My baby was gone. That single thought rebooted my system, an anger built-up inside me like a wildfire and with every ounce of strength I had left I opened my mouth and screamed out for the one person who could keep me sane at that moment.
"Barry!!!"

I shot up in bed, the sheets were on the floor and sunlight crashed in through the open curtains, flooding the room with an unbearable amount of light. My pulse was racing and I couldn't seem to catch my breath. I grabbed my phone off the side table, my hands still shaking with fear, and dialled Nora Allen's number. After the third ring, she picked up, except it wasn't Nora Allen.
"Mommy!" came my Nora's enthusiastic voice from the other end, the sound washing over me and leaving me weak with relief.
"Good Morning Baby," I said, trying to keep the tears out of my voice. That dream had left me a mess and all I wanted to do was hold her close and be sure that she's ok.
"Nora baby, are you alright?" I asked and she hummed out a yes. I smiled, letting my tears fall and holding my breath so that she wouldn't hear me cry.
"That's great baby." I finally managed to get out.
"I miss you," I added.
"Miss you, mommy," she answered.
"OK baby, well mommy is gonna head off to work now OK? I'll call you later. Give daddy a kiss for me alright? I love you, baby." I told her.
"Love mommy," she said and I hung up the phone.

I let the tears stream freely down my cheeks as I tried to understand what I was feeling. I'd never felt so much fear in my life. Not even when my mother passed on. I mean I was devastated but that was nothing compared to the heartache I felt when I thought something had happened to Nora. It was the kind of fear that could drive a person mad. The kind of fear that made you feel trapped in an open space and sucked all the air out of your lungs. In a word, it was paralysing. I cried until my eyes felt like balloons and my whole body felt drained of all emotion, but for some reason, I couldn't shake the feeling that something was up. The dream seemed too vivid to simply be a trick of my mind. It felt like a sign. Like a warning. My maternal instincts were on overdrive and alarms were going off in my brain telling me that something wasn't right. Something was coming for my Nora. I could feel it.