You know, being a speedster is more difficult than you'd think. And a lot of people have the wrong idea when they think about what a day in the life must be like for us.
First, unless you're born with your powers, it's not that easy to get them. And let's just say that not many kids are born with them. I had to do an experiment and get struck by lightning for goodness sakes! It hurt, and was scarring in more ways than one. More on that later though.
A lot of people think that our lives must go by in, literally, a flash. That because of our speed, things go by quicker for us than for normal people. But none of that is true. I don't know about any of the other speedsters, but for me, whether I'm in costume or not, a second feels like a minute.
A minute feels like an hour.
An hour feels like a day.
A day feels like a week.
A week feels like a month.
A month feels like six months.
Six months feels like a year.
And so on and so forth. It's exhausting. I got my powers when I was eleven. I'm sixteen now, and it feels like at least a decade has gone by.
Another thing is what others have rightfully dubbed, "Speed-Talk". To you all out there, when Uncle Barry and I talk, it sounds like a load of gibberish because you can't tell what we're saying because it's too fast. Well, to us it makes perfect sense, and YOU are all the weird ones. When I hear you talk, it sounds like you're trying to talk when you have a bouncy-ball in your mouth. It's SLOW. Like you're trying to win a marathon when you're the only contestant running through quicksand. Two things that are difficult for me because of this:
1. Following Directions - when they give the order, it's so slow, I have to concentrate really hard in order to get and remember everything.
2. Keeping a Relationship Running - I find it hard to listen to friends sometimes because of just how slow they talk. Because of that, sometimes I forget important things to them.
Metabolism. I cannot tell you how often I have to eat. If I don't, I get tired or slow up quickly. If I don't remember to refill my emergency food stash that I take with me everywhere, I could pass out. It happened once. On a MISSION. Worst scenario EVER for running out of stock. And of course, the other thing about my metabolism is that unless someone knows me well, I get made fun of for eating so much. They just don't get it.
I hang around Gramps and Uncle Barry a lot because they're the only ones who know remotely what's going on. I mean, I could go talk to Dick (a.k.a. Robin/Nightwing) about it, but even he doesn't really get it.
Just like you don't get it. I can talk about it to you all day, but you still won't know what it's like.
And you never will.
This idea came when I was talking about it to a friend. Completely out of the blue, and I just had to write it down. I feel satisfied with it at least. And I guess that's what matters. *shrug*