His Hidden Past

Chapter 5: Secrets Revealed

Barry's POV:

Luckily, Thad and I were a few feet ahead of the other, so I got to say a quick 'see ya later' to him in the parking lot without the others there. 

"What the actual hell!" Iris screamed.

"Relax," I said brushing it off like it was nothing.

"What just happened back there?" Caitlin asked.

"Yeah, what did she ever do to you?" Cisco asked.

"If only you knew," I said shaking my head. 

"I don't even know who you are anymore," Iris said. I could see a few tears in her eyes. Honestly, just like high school, I didn't understand the consequences of my actions. Part of me felt really hurt that I had hurt Iris, but the other part of me that was Sebastian, didn't care. 

"Did you get whammied before you left?" Cisco asked checking my eye color.

"This wasn't Bivolo," I said sharply.

"Then what, Barry?" Iris asked. 

"Forget it," I said trying to walk away.

"No, you don't get to walk away this time!" Iris yelled. I ignored her and continued walking. This time, however, she ran after me. 

"Barry!" she yelled. 

I snapped. "My name isn't Barry!" I yelled back. 

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Cisco asked.

"This," I said motioning to the surrounding environment. "This entire place, this is a different me."

"Sebastian," Caitlin said. 

"Yeah."

"Who is Sebastian?" Iris asked.

"I believe," i said looking everyone in the eye, "you've already met him. Well, at least part of him."

"No way," Iris said shaking her head. "I don't believe you."

"Well, believe it," I said. "Iris, remember when those bullies hurt me so badly, that I was in the hospital?"

Iris nodded, but Cisco and Caitlin were shocked. "What?" Cisco said in disbelief. 

"You never mentioned that," Caitlin said. 

"That's because I don't like to talk about this. Well, after that whole situation, Joe sat me down, and I made one of the hardest decisions of my life."

"You left," she said shuddering at the pain of her past memories. 

"If I didn't, I probably would have been killed. Iris, those kids didn't care who I was, all they saw was the son of a murderer. An easy target. So, Joe and I went to my social worker and signed over his guardianship to one of my last remaining relatives."

"So this is where you were during high school?" she asked. 

I nodded. "For the most part, yeah." I didn't even dare bring up freshman year. That was just a whole other wound I didn't need to reopen.

 "You could've at least called you know."

"No," I said shaking my head. "This was an all or nothing deal. If I were to leave, there would be no contact. Not even with my dad. No one could know where I was."

"But why the name change?" Cisco asked.

"When I moved to Ohio, I took my uncles last name, Smythe. When I got here, I didn't want to be this weak, pathetic kid who got beat up all the time. He helped me pick out a new name, Sebastian."