Barry PoV
The humming of cars zooming past the cab was making me feel slightly drowsy, but the bright headlights were keeping me awake. I'd been on the road for nearly two hours straight. I was moving to Starling City- it really wasn't my choice. Joe and Iris insisted that I left Central City after the biggest fallout at my previous high school, Central City High. I was quite the popular kid, well… not in a good way. I was picked on, beaten, mocked… you name it, it probably happened. I would always come home with bruises, scrapes, cuts, and sometimes even a broken bone or two. It barely happened much last year, but that was because Eddie and Iris were still Seniors that year and they were very popular and made sure nobody picked on me. However, now that they were gone, I got all two years worth of missed beatings and insults flown in from every direction, oh and not to mention all the money we forked over for hospital bills.
Joe and Iris were always worried about me, but I kept telling them I was fine, I just had one more year to suffer through until I was done with it. They never saw eye-to-eye with me on that, and the last straw was what had happened last week. I didn't get beaten or mocked- no. This is what made Joe and Iris forcefully make me move to a completely different city on my own. I still have nightmares about what happened, hell, the CCPD didn't even arrest the assholes that did it. I was raped in the bathroom of that shithole of a school, no, not just by one guy either. I had excused myself from class, as one of my contacts fell out, once I put it back in I turned around only to be confronted by four of the biggest assholes in the school. Fear instantly took over as they creeped towards me. The next thing I knew they'd pinned me down and gagged me. After that day, I came home in tears, went straight up to my room and locked the door. I had been so depressed over the past few months because of the bullying and the hate, and this made me want to end it all. I lost my virginity in the worst way possible, and I would have to live with that. For the rest of my life, unless I did something about it, that is.
I did what most overly depressed teenagers would do in my shoes. I attempted suicide, I had a bunch of pills. Overdosing would definitely be the most painless way for me to go, and I didn't want to feel anymore pain. I suffered months and months of pain, I couldn't take anymore. I took the entire bottle and laid down in bed, letting the darkness consume me. I thought I had done it, I thought I got out of the worst life possible. Having your father framed for your mother's murder, being forced to hide your sexuality but failing horribly, being beaten and mocked everyday of your pathetic life, and then getting raped.
It was only temporary, unfortunately for me. I woke up in a hospital room, with Joe, Iris, and Eddie standing at my bedside. I flitted my eyes open and groaned, Iris and Joe quickly were at my side and Joe spoke to me. "Barry?! What the hell were you doing? You nearly overdosed on pills and you had us worried!" I just looked down sadness enveloping my pale face. Iris gently sat her hand on my shoulder and softly spoke, "Barry… Whatever is happening, you need to tell us." I started to sob at that and I crashed my head into Iris' shoulder muttering inaudibly to her about what happened. "Barry, Barry, Barry, calm down, we can't hear you when you're crying like this." she put her hand on the back of my head and just embraced me until my sobbing began to quiet down. "Now… can you tell us what's wrong…?" I nodded and sniffled, God this was already so hard. "Y-You know h-how I've been… been getting beat up…?" they all nod. "W-Well… today…" I began to feel tears threaten to fall like a waterfall again. Iris spoke again with her soft, loving voice, "Barry, shh… It's okay, just tell us what it is." I snapped "No! It's not okay! They raped me!" I saw shock on all their faces and I began to sob uncontrollably. I was pathetic. Just something anybody could use a their free will. I was a toy, not a person.
That's what led me to where I am now. All my belongings packed up and in the back of a cab, headed towards my new home. Joe called the CCPD and tried to press charges on the guys who had raped me. However, the fucking dickheads just said "We need evidence before we can do that." Joe had retired from the force about a year ago, and he hates the way the place changed so suddenly. Instead of jumping to a person's aid, they just merely shrug it off and do it when they feel like they need to do it. Essentially, Central City was failing in general. This made Joe snap and he started yelling at the man on the phone. I walked up to Joe and just told him to stop, I'd go back to the shithole of a school with those assholes if I had to. That was when Iris and Eddie suggested Joe move me to Starling City. It would be a fresh start for me, and Eddie's parents had a nice little house up there that I could live in. Joe was hesitant, but he eventually decided to send me off, he'd rather have me live the life I deserved than be pushed to my extreme thoughts of suicide again, or even worse actually successfully killing myself.
I left nearly a week after the incident. Iris, Eddie, and Joe helped me pack up and they all said their farewells. Joe said he didn't have many bills to pay, and Iris and Eddie had actually moved in with Joe, so they said they would help me pay for any expenses. Iris said she got me a job at a coffee shop in Starling City as a barista and I could use the money I earned from that job to buy my groceries. I cried as I hugged them and said my goodbyes, not in sadness, but in appreciation. I was so grateful to have these three amazing, caring people in my life. I waved at them as I hopped in the cab and left Central City behind in my past. Now, I was heading towards my future in Starling City