Prologue/Chapter 1 Earth Prime

Astrid Sutherland sat in the comfortable lounge chair, across from her psychologist, staring to the right of her, where a large fake pot plant sat. She breathed in deep. She did not feel like speaking any further for she feared what one might think if she were to speak her mind.

"So Astrid, go on," Anne spoke in her soft non-judgemental manner of speaking. "Tell me what do you mean by, and I quote "I wish I could sleep forever."

Astrid knew that this sounded like a sign of depression. But she knew she wasn't depressed. It was just that her dreams were so amazing and so… so clear. It was like this world that she saw and the people that she met were all very very real.

The emotions, the vividness, the powers. These dreams had been going on forever and everything seemed to grow with her. Her friends in these dreams had grown older with her. Yet they did not exist in real life. Not that she knew of anyway.

She knew they were only dreams, nothing more, but the world was so exciting, that Astrid could only wish that it could really exist, and that she could be a part of it all.
Astrid took another deep breath and spoke. "I love my life, really. But these dreams, are so exciting. In them I have these powers. Where I can read minds, I am a criminal psychologist, it is just so cool!

A friend of mine gets these visions of the future and other things, another friend can create ice and snow just by raising up her hands, another has the power of speed. But there are normal people in this world too. Those that do not hold such gifts, that we protect."

Anne tapped her pen to her clipboard as she stared intently at Astrid. "You already know that you are a self-aware person, so I am just going to ask you. What do you think that this all means?"

Astrid chuckled. "I need a career change, first of all. Somehow in these dreams I am pretty good at what I do."

"You work as a nurse in reality, am I correct?"

"Yes, that is correct."

"What else do you think that this could mean?"

"Honestly? Maybe I read too many comic books." Astrid joked, but she knew that this was a lie. In fact, she couldn't remember the last time, if ever, that she had picked one up.

Anne gave a soft smile and nodded. She pushed her glasses up her nose and then tucked a loose blonde lock of hair behind her ear. This only reminded Astrid of Cisco Ramon.

He was quite literally the man of her dreams, in a soft nerdy sort of way. Dark wavy hair to his shoulders, that he would occasionally tuck behind his ear, cute brown eyes and a boy-next-door charm. In her dreams they had been friends for a very long time. Yet she had no idea who he was in real life or if he even existed.

This world was parallel to the one that Astrid lived in. Yet everything was different. Everyone. Everything. It was like she was living an entirely different life as she slept.

ln her dreams she was different, she had received a psychology degree, she grew up in Central City with her father, Robert Sutherland.

Astrid rubbed a little sleep dust from her eye and noticed that Anne was waiting for her to continue. But she did not continue. "Astrid, I need to ask. Why do you feel that you need to be here? What do you need me to tell you?"

"I really don't know." This was the truth.
"I really do not feel that you are telling me everything that is going on in your mind. But that is entirely up to you whether you do or not." Anne said this with such conviction that Astrid believed it.

So why was Astrid here? She did indeed have a question that she could only dream of asking but she knew the unfortunate answer to it.

Was it at all possible to be living a completely different life in a completely different world when she slept? She mentally answered the question to herself 'No, silly! Of course it isn't possible. Your body is laying in your bed. You are asleep!

Your mind alternates through psychological stages. Your body is just resetting its 24 hour body clock. That's it!' If only it were possible though!

Astrid bit her bottom lip for a moment. The question was worth a shot "Do you believe in alternate realities? That maybe I… well that anyone has another them living on a separate plane? In a different universe?"

Astrid studied Anne's face as she looked down at her notes. "Astrid you are not here for my personal opinions. You are here to discuss yourself."

"I know that. But a large part of me feels that this is all too crazy to even be asking this. I have been having these dreams for the past five years. Night after night after night. Like I am living a completely separate life. I know that it is not possible to do so. It's just these dreams feel so real."

"But they are not real, Astrid. You have already answered this yourself. Can you think of anything that may have happened for them to start up when they did? Maybe there were stories that you may have read? Movies or TV shows? Does anything come to mind?"

Astrid thought hard. She ran a hand through her long red-tinged brown hair, dyed of course. "No… Nothing major comes to mind."

Astrid observed Anne, who seemed quite puzzled. Astrid could only imagine what the psychologist was thinking. Astrid wasn't crazy, but she was obsessed with this other world.

"Do you find that this other world somehow interferes with your everyday life?" Anne asked her. Astrid smiled, "I suppose not. Well not really. OK maybe a little. I suppose my thoughts for this guy make it impossible to date anyone. I have such high standards for men. This guy of my dreams doesn't exist in real life so that creates unrealistic expectations, I guess."

"That sounds normal. But do you find it hard to function with your work? With your friends? With anything else?"

"No. I don't suppose I do. I guess part of me is still pretty overly curious that it could be possible that I am sleep walking, or actually functioning as someone completely different."

"Has anyone ever witnessed you sleep walking?"

"There have been a couple of times, but now I live alone, so I wouldn't actually know." Anne let out what sounded like a sigh of relief. "I can refer you on to a sleep expert if you like, they can run a few tests and observe you while you sleep. Would you like…"

Astrid didn't wait for her to finish her sentence "Yes please! As soon as possible." Anne scribbled down a name and phone number on the back of one of her business cards and handed it to Astrid, who accepted it. "That is our time for today, give this man a call, his name is Dr Fullton. I have worked with him in the past. He is highly recommended, I will forward your notes to him and we will be in contact soon."

Astrid left the office. She knew that there was no point to any of this and she knew she was just giving into her ridiculous notion, but she pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialled the number, as she made her way out into the car-park and hopped into her car. She made the appointment and hung up.

"You're insane, Astrid!" she said to herself. "There is no alternate universe, so you really need to stop obsessing over this crap!" In her mind she could see Cisco, his hacking techniques were incredible!

She could see Barry Allen, a slim guy with short dark hair who worked for the same police station as she did, but as a forensic scientist. She had brought him into their little fold, at first as a guinea pig for Caitlin. Caitlin Snow with her long dark wavy hair and the power to create ice from her bare hands.

She was also the smartest girl that Astrid had ever met. She was a doctor of so many titles that Astrid could barely remember them all.

Astrid would spend most of her time at the headquarters with her friends, working as a group of vigilantes in Central City at Sutherland Labs. In her dreams her father had founded Sutherland Labs which had made things quite remarkable as Astrid had never known her father in real life.

But he had been a major head scientist and a CEO of the corporation. Sutherland Labs was a facility dedicated to research in diseases, futuristic technology and other research. Caitlin had been one of the lead scientists. Cisco had been employed by Mr Sutherland as he had been one of Astrid's closest friends since high school.

However, Robert Sutherland had died five years ago when he left the country on business and was killed in his plane when the meteor had struck.

His only successor was his daughter, who being 25 years old at the time with no proper science skills had to take over his work. Fortunately, the team of scientists had kept the work going from under her and she only needed to deal with the oversight of the business.

It wasn't until Caitlin had begun experiencing uncontrollable side effects from the meteor and had Astrid walk in on her testing herself, that Astrid made the decision to pour their resources into researching the meteor's effects.

Some scientists left the corporation, while others were intrigued and jumped at the chance to work on these new projects. Caitlin's case was always kept secret. As was Cisco's and Barry's and even Astrid's.

They were the only four who worked at the facility who were aware of each other's abilities. Outside the Labs, however there was only one other person who was aware of their secrets. Detective Joe West, Barry's foster father. He also worked at the police station, which made necessary cover-ups with criminals, who had special abilities, much easier to manage.

Astrid could recall the news reports and articles of the meteor that had struck, 5 years prior and had wiped an entire state off the planet, leaving half the world's population infected with certain abilities, changing their very DNA.

Astrid took a deep breath in and sighed quickly, she turned the key in the ignition and drove home. At least she had tonight's dreams to look forward to. What would the group encounter this time she wondered to herself? She thought of the night before.

She had interviewed a criminal who could imagine anything he wanted and it would appear in his hands. Fortunately, he was strapped in handcuffs that were designed to stop his powers. This tech had been created by Cisco and a team of scientist who worked for Sutherland Labs.

The man had been arrested for numerous murders over Central City. Astrid shuddered remembering one of the murders and made herself push it to the back of her mind. It was too horrific to even think about.

What scared her the most was the thoughts she had seen in his head when she had read his mind. He was filled with such horror… such malice that it had brought a chill to her bones.

Astrid had to forcefully clear her mind from her dreams, for now anyway. So she drove home.