My story is quite simple. My whole life, I've been running. Just like my twin brother, Barry.
Two young children were running from six bigger kids. The bigger ones were gaining on them.
Mostly, we ran from bullies. I was always the runt: the smallest, the quietest, the sickest, the weakest. The main thing I had was my mind. Most of the time, Barry got away. More often than not, I fell behind.
The leader caught up with them, grabbing their backpacks, and pulled them down. The others began beating them up.
{Scene Switch}
The twin's mother, Nora, dapped at Barry's lip while the Cass held a paper towel with ice in it to her cheek. She had an ice pack on her knee and her wrist brace on.
"Tell me what happened," Nora requested.
"Those guys were picking on Cass again… just 'cause she's small. It wasn't right!" Barry defended his twin, taking her hand.
Nora smiled. "I know."
"I guess we weren't fast enough."
"No. You have such a good heart, Barry. It's better to have a good heart than fast legs. The same goes for you, Cassandra."
The front door opened. "Hello? I'm home!" their dad, Henry, called.
"Barry and Cass got into a fight with some big kids."
"Oh, yeah?" Henry asked.
"And they won,"
"Ah, way to go, Slugger, Ace."
Nora turned around and gave him the Skink-Eye.
"Uh, but no more fighting," Henry amended himself.
Cass chuckled. Their parents kissed and Cass pulled a face.
{Scene Switch}
Cass woke up to clattering. She got up from her bed and walked downstairs. She put on her glasses and looked at her glass of water. The liquid was floating. She gasped.
But after that night, I was running from something much scarier.
Cass walked downstairs, Barry shortly behind her.
Something impossible. Something I could never explain.
They came to stop in front of their mother. There was a red streak and a yellow streak going around her. She was yelling for their father. "Henry!"
"Mom!" the twins yelled in unison.
"Barry, don't! Cass, stay back!" Nora yelled.
"Mom!" they called.
"Get back!" Nora ordered. She had her hand out.
"MOM!" Cass shrieked.
Nora screamed.
Henry came up behind them and pushed them behind him. "Nora!" he yelled.
"Stay back!" Nora yelled.
Henry grabbed the twins' shoulder. "Run, kids. Run!" he demanded.
Suddenly they were outside, well away from the house. "Mom?" they yelled in unison. "Dad?" They spared each other a glance before running to the house. This was the one and only time Cass was faster than Barry. And she was faster by a lot.
Cassie was sitting in a cabbie in London, England. She walked up to the apartment building.
Maddie made a face at her. "Good. It's about time you got here."
Cassie sniffed the air. "Nice to see you as always, Maddie." She followed the officer to the front of the building.
The main forensic scientist walked out. He didn't like her very much.
"Ah, Evanston," she stated. She had acquired an English accent
"This is a crime scene. I don't want it contaminated. Are we clear?" he asked.
"Crystal. And is your wife away for long?" she asked.
"Oh, don't pretend you worked that out. Somebody told you that."
"Your deodorant told me that."
"My deodorant?"
"It's for men," she stated in a mocking tone.
"Of course it's for men. I'm wearing it."
"So's Detective Gilbert."
Evanston turned to face a shocked Maddie. "And I do believe it just vaporized. May I go in?"
"Now, see here. Whatever you're implying-"
"I never imply." The Consulting Detective stepped around him. "I'm sure Maddie came 'round for a nice little chat, and just happened to stay over. And I'm sure she simply scrubbed your floors judging the state of her knees." Cassie smirked before walking in.
The Captain was dressing in a sterile gown. He handed her a pair of latex gloves, knowing she never put on the gown.
"Where are we?"
"Upstairs," Captain Walls replied. He had long since grown used to the way she worked. She required certain leniency but was worth it. "I can give you 2 minutes." He began listing the information they knew.
They entered the room and Cassie looked the vic. over, stepping closer. Her mind began listing what she saw.
Vic info:
- Age – late 30s
- Indention on middle finger – writer; left handed; conditioned; passionate
- Pink clothing – reporter; experienced
- Old wedding ring – 10 years, at least; never polished – unhappily
She removed the ring and looked on the inside. It looked more polished. Pulling out a notebook, she wrote what her mind saw.
- Adulterer
She put the ring back on. Running her hand along back of the pink trench coat. It was wet. Finding an umbrella, she found it dry. Checking under the collar, she saw it was also wet.
- Wet jacket; dry umbrella – travelling; never reached hotel
- Polished jewelry – cares, but unhappy marriage
Pulling out her phone, she began researching.
- Wet jacket – Came from Cardiff
- Backlash from suitcase – staying only 1 night
- Missing suitcase – Killer has
- No phone – killer has phone; track phone to killer
She ripped the paper from the notepad and handed it to the Captain, leaving the abandoned apartment building. It was remarkable they had caught who they had before she showed up.
Cassie sat in the cabbie she'd told to wait and looked out the window. Her phone buzzed. She glanced down.
'Hey, it's Joe. Just checking in.'
Joe West. The one person in the entire world whom she hated. She didn't hate anyone, she prided herself with. But, when she thought of Joe West, her blood boiled. He believed 100% that her father killed her mother. She had no idea who did, but she knows what she saw. And when she insisted it even months after, he sent her away, calling her a troubled child. He sent her to an English Boarding School.
She had the choice to go home over the holidays: Christmas and Easter, but she didn't. She stayed at the school every time. Ad over the summer, she stayed with her best friend – her only friend. When her schooling ended, she kind of just stayed in England. She got a job as a waitress and got a small flat. Someone in a ski mask shot up the diner she worked at and the police used her deductions in the investigation. When the detectives were stumped, they had rung her up and had her check it out, using her deductions again. After that, they sort of just came to her when they needed her – which was often – and she ended up as a PI that often helped the police. She opened a bookstore and lived above it, and was happy with her life.
She made it home to watch the unveiling of the Atom Accelerator. She sat on her couch and turned on the TV.
Harrison walked on stage and the clapping began. "Thank you," he said when it quieted down. "My name is Harrison Wells. Tonight, the future begins. The work my team and I will do here... will change the understanding of physics, will bring about advancements in power, advancements in medicine. And trust me, that future will be here faster than you think." Cassie smiled and kept listening, but got up to make something to eat. A commercial came on and she sighed, muting the TV. Her phone buzzed again. Cassie sighed and looked at her hands. She wasn't touching it at that moment. She swallowed what was in her mouth and said, "Eye of the storm!"
"Voice password detected," the female automated voice of her phone said. "Voice command activated."
"Read unread message," Cassie ordered.
"Reading unread message. From: Dickface-" Cassie snorted "-Hey, it's Joe again. I don't understand why you're still mad. I get that I sent you to England, but, at least, let us know you're okay. Walls tells us that you're alive and you're you, but I get the feeling he doesn't know the real you. Let us know that you're alive, please. It's the least you can do for Barry and Iris. And- I did look out for you. I deserve to know you're okay too. End of message."
Cassie huffed and got up. She walked over to the kitchen, put the plate down, and washed her hands. Drying them, she picked up her phone and texted Iris and Barry, 'I'm not okay. Ask Joe what I'm talking about.' She sat on her couch again and turned off her phone. She had lost her appetite. She turned back to the TV.
"I'm Linda Park, and we're live outside S.T.A.R. Labs despite the weather which will only get worse. The torrential downpour has in no way affected the particle accelerator which is up and running smoothly according to S.T.A.R. Lab CEO Harrison Wells. The weather has also-" The TV suddenly turned off and all the lights in her house went out. Cassie sighed. She got up and went to put on some shoes and go outside to turn on the backup generator. She went into her bedroom, grabbed her shoes, sat on the bed, and put them on. When she stood, a bolt of lightning broke threw her window and struck her in the chest. The force knocked her back at such a speed, it opened a breech, knocking her through, to another universe.