In this story, Kairos is the son of Chronos, Titan of Time, but unlike his father, he can travel through time rather than control it. He's the sworn nemesis of the god Hermes, and he's Eobard Thawne.
Okay, to be honest - this story is easier to explain than it is to understand.
There are times when he can't even wrap his head around the surreal reality of it - but there he was, fighting an army of dracaenai, Caitlin with her caduceus and Cisco with... with a screwdriver?! - both of them at his sides as they hacked through dragon heads, ignored the spray of green blood spotting their skin and clothing. They were mere children, but they were struggling to charge their way through the small, powerful infantry of hissing lizard-women, before a pit scorpion - small and black, with beady eyes - landed at the first boy's feet and shot its stinger right through his shoe and into the bridge of his foot, the poison burning intensely as it spread into his bones of his tarsals.
He cried out loud as the imbalance forced him to stumble and fall at the feet of a reptilian woman, who grinned and raised her spear high above him before chucking it back down. Cisco saw him and tensed, instinctively lurching forward to pull him out of the way just in time, the blade missing the other boy's face by millimeters.
And if that didn't serve to prove to him that him new life was real, then he didn't know what would.
You see, this boy is Barry Allen.
And as much as he would like to tell you that he's just another average 12 year old, he can't.
Because, in reality, he's not even human.
He's a demigod.
The end of my life began when I got out from school.
It was Friday, March 19th, in the year 2000, and I was in the fifth grade.
Fridays in fifth grade meant my best friend Iris and I would hang out at my place until her dad, Detective Joe West, could come and pick her up.
Of course, she's always the more adventurous one of us two as opposed to me being timid and reserved so, naturally, as we rode our bikes home, she was coursing hers right down the middle of the road, while I was urging her to get back onto the sidewalk.
"Iris!" I called, frantically wheeling after her, "Iris, please! A car could come and hit you!"
"Barry, stop being so scared!" She chastised, before she giggled, outspeeding me as always, "It's more fun riding on the road anyway! It's so open and free!"
"Iris-"
"There's no cars, Bar," she remarked nonchalantly, her curly hair flying behind her as she pedaled faster, "What are you afraid of? The mailboxes? It's not like they'll pop out and eat you."
"Your dad is a police officer!" I urged, huffing for breath, "I'm more than certain this against the law-"
"Come on, Barry!"
My tires shrieked against the concrete sidewalk as I forced myself to stop. We still had three blocks to go before we'd arrive at my home.
And - and there were no moving cars, never on this street anyway.
I challenged my solid, logical intuition for a hot second, before I gave in and crossed my bike over the grass separating the sidewalk from the leveled road, determined to catch up to Iris.
She laughed as I pedaled behind her, and I grinned and stuck my tongue out at her when I finally passed her.
Granted, the two of us weren't that stupid, so we were biking near the edge of the sidewalk, surging past houses in seconds in order to avoid any cars that came out onto or down the road.
Then the mailboxes popped out and tried to eat us.
It - it happened too suddenly for me to process it.
The thick wooden post of the mailbox in front of the house I was approaching ripped in half near its base - forming 2 awkward wooden legs, and kicked one half-formed wooden leg out right in front of my bike, sending me and my backpack hurtling through the air in a perfect arc, brutally crashing into the hard road, a pulsating sting forming in my head.
I lay there, on the ground dazed. Colorful spots dotted my vision and hot blood poured down my head, before Iris's screams jarred me back to reality. I snapped back up, woozy with dizziness, and saw that the rest of the mailboxes had also grown - formed? - legs, and split other parts of their posts into strange, disjointed arms, and groaned like metallic zombies as they closed in on us. There were 7 or 8 of them, and Iris let out a fearful screech as she threw her pink backpack at one of them. Her backpack uselessly fell off of it, hardly affecting it at all, and she whimpered as she approached me.
A familiar silver sedan zoomed into the scene out of nowhere, knocking a good number of them over.
"Barry!" I heard my dad exclaim, before Iris hurried into the car, and I guess Dad had gotten out of the car to pick me up off of the street and dropped me into the car too, because I didn't remember how I ended up lying across the back seat.
Iris trembled as she held my bloodied head in her lap, and I didn't see what my dad was doing, before he got back in the car and slammed his foot on the accelerator.
###
"Barry?" Iris murmured softly.
"Barry, are you feeling better?" My mother consoled, her kind touch against my aching forehead.
I forced myself to open my eyes and saw my mother and Iris, both looking down at me with looks of worry.
We were at home.
"The - the mailboxes-" I stuttered, struggling to get up, "They tried to attack us."
"Careful, Barry. You hit your head when you crashed off of your bike," Mama cajoled with a warm smile, stroking my cheek, "You're lucky your father found you in time."
"The mailboxes-"
"Barry, there weren't any mailboxes," Iris added, "It was a group of boys. Tony Woodward. His friends. They ganged up on us."
"What?" I gasped, furrowing my eyebrows, "No, Iris, the mailboxes did it. Don't you remember? They grew legs..."
My voice weakened in my throat, as Mama and Iris both put on pitiful faces I had gotten used to seeing.
Mailboxes that grew legs.
Men in trench coats, a single large eye underneath their wide-brimmed fedoras.
Jay Garrick - the man who could run faster than the speed of light.
Women with skin that actually looked like leather, and slitted irises, like those of lizards.
Big, red snakes slithering about in the branches of the backyard oak tree.
Aliens.
Mermaids with scaly skin, glowing green eyes and mouths full of fangs at the beach.
Barry Allen was infamous for believing in things that didn't exist, for cooking up conspiracies, for trying to prove the existence of peculiarities - for advocating in the impossible.
And it humored my parents.
Dad would chuckle at the dinner table when I'd bring him an article about something or other that I had printed to prove to them that I wasn't lying.
"Oh, Slugger," he'd laugh, shaking his head in disbelief as he looked over the contents, "People can't actually talk to fish. You know that right? This account is a hoax, meant to steam money off of its readers."
"But - but Dad," I persisted, "What if it's actually true? Wouldn't it be pretty cool?"
"It would be cool," my mother answered as she slid into the chair next to mine, "But this world is plain. We don't have any magic, or supernatural events, or people with powers. You gotta stop believing in this stuff, kiddo; it'll drive ya insane."
"Don't you guys want to believe that there's something more out there?" I retorted, pouting, "You can't just take it all for granted. There needs to be an explanation for these strange events."
"And there is," Dad comforted, wearing a lazy smile as he rose from the table with plate cleaned off, "It's called science. And that's the only explanation you need to believe. And if science doesn't have an explanation, then there isn't one."
"What about Jay Garrick, Dad?" I countered, getting up to follow after him. Dad relaxed his shoulders as he sighed, before he turned around and ran his fingers through my hair. "Bar, Jay Garrick isn't real, either. He's a fake, okay? He's probably just some fool who sets up cool lights to make it look as if he can run like lightning. The only men protecting this city are the police. Got it?"
I closed my eyes as I exhaled. "Got it," I lied.
But Jay Garrick was real. He had to be. Even if I had never seen him in person, I knew he existed. People talked about him on the news, and whispered about him on the streets. He was a mystery, racing about in a silver helmet and a bright red armored costume, and he saved lives in a flash. He was a legend, and no matter how many times my parents would roll their eyes, I always believed in him, because he was a hero.
Someone was selling posters of what he was believed to look like.
Tall, well-built and muscular, with a deep, dark scowl, and a hard, square jaw. A gold bolt of lightning across his red shirt.
Evil feared him, and he kept this city safe. He was as powerful as lightning, legend stated, and I bought that poster with my lunch money, and kept it hidden underneath my bed, looked at it each night before I went to sleep.
One day, I'd meet Jay Garrick, the protector of Central City, the Flash.
I didn't know why Mom, Dad and Iris kept trying to persuade me he didn't exist.
But I knew he did.
I knew impossible things existed, and I knew they were lying about the mailboxes.
Mom left me with Iris in my room, and left to go back downstairs to the kitchen, where Dad was talking to Joe.
Iris was ordered to make sure I didn't leave my room, and we talked for a while, and fed my goldfish together, before Iris told me she had to go to the bathroom, and made me pinky-swear I wouldn't leave the room.
"I won't," I promised innocently.
She nodded and patted my head, before she scampered off.
I left the room.
Ignoring the dizzying headache conquering my head, I furtively tip-toed out of my room over to the darkened stairs to see if I could overhead what my parents were saying to Joe.
Shivers spasmed over my spine when I realized their discourse was not meant for my ears.
"Joe, please," Dad pleaded, still in his medical coat with the blue caduceus at the pocket, "You have to promise us."
"My Lord, I don't know how to tell you," Joe responded solemnly, "Kairos-"
"Boreí na páei sta Tártara," Dad interjected worriedly.
My Lord?!
Dad and Joe were friends. They spent their weekends watching basketball games and occasionally went fishing.
I knew Dad was a pretty well-known doctor and was renowned in the community, but... since when did Joe have to call him my Lord?
And... what language was that?
"Kairos can go to Hell," Dad insisted, "I have to protect Barry, but the curse Kairos placed on me - it's getting stronger every day. You saw what happened out there today."
"He arrived there only in the nick of time, Joseph," Mama's soft voice urged, "He's not as fast as he used to be. Barry and Iris both could've been killed. And - and Barry just won't believe us anymore. He can see through the Mist. He knows what's out there, and its only a matter of time before Kairos takes his revenge."
"Joe, you have to promise us you'll take him to the camp if anything happens to us," Dad implored quietly, "Promise."
Joe faltered. "My Lord-"
"Swear you will, Joseph," Dad ordered softly, "It has been your family's duty to serve me for centuries past. It's all I can do to offer you my protection."
"Please, Joseph..." Mama pressed, her voice cracking.
"I swear-"
"On the River Styx, Joseph," Dad added.
Joe paused, a strong worry overtaking his eyes. "I - I swear on the River Styx."
"Efcharisto, Joseph," My dad replied with a solemn, almost religious nod, folding his arms over his chest.
"Barry!" Iris hissed, watching me with shock painted across her face, startling me, "What are you doing here?!"
"Iris... hey," I swallowed nervously, faking a smile, "How's... how's your day?"
She grabbed me by the arm and forced me back into my room, leaving me more confused than ever.
Iris and Joe both went home later, both wishing me good health and that I'd feel better, Joe jokingly chastising me for getting into trouble with Tony Woodward and his crew.
I nodded and promised I'd stay away from them.
Later that evening, my parents and I were eating dinner, but there was an obvious tension in the room, interlaced with how quiet we all were.
That conversation with Joe... The consistent cover-ups of unnatural events...
I was never one to talk back to or disrespect my parents, but something strange was going on...
"So," I declared, politely wiping my mouth with a tissue as I faced my father, "My Lord, could you pass the salt?"
Mom and Dad both perked up, startled.
"Barry, what on earth...?" Dad began, his eyebrows furrowed.
"Barry, sweetheart, did you... did you hit your head again?" Mom asked worriedly, setting her fork down.
"No," I replied with an easy shrug, "I'm perfectly fine. But Dad isn't."
"Excuse me?" Dad countered, slitting his eyes.
"Cairo placed a curse on you, right?" I inquired quietly, "Isn't someone coming back to take his revenge, or something?"
Dad stared at me for a second, before he blinked and burst into a chuckle, and put his hand on my shoulder. "Oh, I get it. This is another one of your supernatural mysteries," he stated with a casual smile, eyes twinkling, "Another conspiracy at the dinner table. Barry, there's no such thing as curses. I thought you were a young scientist - you ought to know better."
"Dad, what?!" I protested, "I heard what you said to Joe. You - you told him you were protecting his family, or something-"
"Visual hallucinations," Dad continued nonchalantly, "Common side effect of Grade A migraines. You'll snap back to our reality in a matter of hours. Nora, has he had any Imitrex yet?"
"Yeah, I gave him a pill earlier," Mom responded coolly, picking up her fork again as she began to resume her dinner.
"One dosage should have been enough-"
"Guys, no-" I asserted stubbornly, my voice turning whiny, "I always see things that you say aren't true-"
"And they're not," Dad added stubbornly.
"But I know they're real!" I continued, growing a little more emotional than I usually did, "I know, Dad, and I know Tony didn't beat me up. I know the mailboxes came to life, and I know Mrs. Hills was actually a lizard woman before she moved away, and I know there are vipers in the tree-"
"Okay, we had an exterminator come and collect the vipers," Dad answered calmly, a sad worry in his eyes, "And you saw for yourself that they were just a small lost family of coral snakes."
His cool persistence in the matter was only fuel for my agitation.
I loved my dad, but...
"But there are impossible things in this world," I urged, unable to repress the incoming tears, "And I know that everyone thinks I'm crazy because of them, but I'm not!"
"Barry-" Mom began, concern lighting up on her face. I hastily rubbed my sleeve across my face to wipe away the tears, and ran back upstairs, leaving my parents completely bewildered.
I shut the door behind me, switched off the lights, and balled myself underneath the covers, silently weeping.
It wasn't too long before a light knocking was heard at my bedroom door.
"Barry?" Mom intoned tenderly, before I heard her enter the room anyway. Suddenly, my covers were pulled back, and Mom was looking down at me with a pout that quickly split into her crooked grin as she attacked me with gentle tickles.
"Mom! Mom! Stop - stop!" I begged, losing control of my own voice as I burst into giggles and laughter. Of course, she didn't, until I was completely filled with chuckles and out of breath, and she smiled warmly as she stroked my hairline, sitting at the side of my bed.
"Are you still angry?" She murmured, removing her reading glasses and placing them on my nightstand.
"No, Mommy, I'm just confused..." I mumbled.
She leaned forward a little, and cupped my cheek as she weakly smiled down at me, running her thumb across my cheekbone. "You know there weren't any mailboxes, right? Barry?"
"Mom-"
"Please, Barry?" She interjected, and only then did I see she was trying her best to hide her fear.
"I... Okay. The mailboxes weren't real," I answered, reluctantly giving in, albeit totally confused again, "It was just Tony again..."
"Good," Mom replied, dropping a kiss at my forehead, "I know you know what's best for yourself-"
"And the best thing for me to believe is that science is real," I responded, rolling my eyes. Dad had drilled this into my head over and over again.
"You have such a good heart, Barry," Mom murmured, her green eyes shining lovingly despite the dark room, "And it's better to have a good heart than to chase after things that don't exist."
"Knock, knock," Dad called gently, appearing in the doorway.
"Hey, Dad," I acknowledged, guilt settling through me as Dad entered the room and walked over to my desk, where my homework was. He opened up my folder and flipped through my work. This was routine for him, just so he could check up on me and make sure I was doing well in school.
"Apologize," Mom advised, hiding her mouth behind the side of her hand.
"What?" I whispered back.
"At dinner? Your manners?" She suggested.
"Oh... right," I murmured, before I cleared my throat, "Dad?"
"Mmm?" He responded, not looking up from my workbooks.
"I'm... I'm very ashamed for acting the way I did at dinner," I stated sadly, "I didn't mean to say rude things about you, or talk back to you. I'm genuinely very sorry."
"Aww, it's perfectly alright, Slugger," he counseled, picking up my folder as he moved over to sit on the other side of my bed, "It's my fault, actually. You ask good questions, and I'm forced to keep the answers secret from you."
"Like why the Egyptians are mad at you?" I questioned.
"The... The Egyptians?" He repeated, wrinkling his eyebrows.
"Yeah," I retorted, surprised, "Didn't... Didn't you say Cairo was angry at you? And that Cairo can go to hell?"
Kairos.
"Woah, watch your wording, kiddo," Dad replied good-naturedly, tousling my hair, "Let's not start another war. I have no qualms with the city of Cairo; it's just..."
"Is there a river full of sticks in the city of Cairo?" I murmured, "You told Joe to swear on it and to make sure I'd go to a camp."
"Henry?" Mom asked, her tone direct, and a pointed look in her eyes.
Dad sighed deeply, and looked away.
"Dad, I can't speak Arabic," I mumbled, panic tripping over my words, "You - you can't just send me to some camp in Cairo like that!"
"Nobody's sending you to Egypt. We've got the Kane kids dealing over there," Dad assured, ruffling my hair.
"Kane kids?" I asked.
"Look here," Dad stated, opening up my folder full of schoolwork, "Barry - someone as smart and as gifted as you shouldn't be worrying over phony things, like monster mailboxes, or aliens, or the Loch Ness Serpent-"
"Loch Ness Monster, Dad-"
"Trust me, it's a serpent," Dad answered with a smile and a wink, before he pulled out several of my tests, "Anyway. Barry, you have six A+'s in science - you've gotten higher than hundreds on all of your class tests so far. The highest average in the school for math. You're studying quantum mechanics in your free time the way other kids watch cartoons. You've got real talent, son. Not many other children can boast about being as smart as you are, and I'm very very proud to be your father. You're special, Barry."
Mom beamed and leaned in to kiss my cheek, as Dad flipped through my papers, before he closed the folder, shaking his head in disbelief. "There's honestly no real point in me checking your homework and grades anymore. I've lost track of the number of times your teachers have emailed me asking if they can move you up a grade."
I broke into a smile, and Dad snaked one arm over me and reeled me in for a loving hug, and kissed the top of my hair. "Barry, look me in the eye, and promise me you'll stop with the fiction crap?" Dad murmured, "My boy, you have so much potential to succeed and change this world. I just need to know you won't go meddling with after lies and fantasies. You need to focus on science. Science, and nothing else, and you need to stay away from phony ideas and scary stories... These other things? They're a danger to you, Barry. They'll hurt not only your mindset, but your world. You need to stop believing in what can't be proven. It's the only way you can make sense of your life. Promise me."
Uncertainty bloomed in my chest, as I faced my father.
He was clearly worried about something, but... but he was acting as if my safety depended on me staying away from my wild theories.
Dad was hiding something again.
"I promise."
His blue eyes glinted seriously in the dim light of my nightlight, studying me, but he sighed and pressed one last kiss into my forehead. "My son. You'll always make me proud. I know it. When you are of age, I promise I will answer your questions. But you are young now. The only way I can truly protect you is by keeping you in the dark, and until then - science, got it?"
I didn't know it then, but I'd be "of age" a lot sooner than I'd expect.
"Got it," I mumbled, before I giggled as Mom and Dad both sandwiched my face between kisses on either of my cheeks.
"Get some sleep now, Barry," Mom advised, caressing my cheek.
"Good night, Mommy."
"Good night, my son."
"'Night, my Lord."
"Barry, what did I just tell you?" Dad scolded from the doorway. I chortled like a small child, and Dad smirked as he shook his head in disbelief, before he finally closed the door.
I heard Mom and Dad both sigh deeply, outside.
"You... can't keep lying to him," I heard Mom murmur.
"Nora, I'm sorry," Dad whispered, "But it has to be this way. He's not ready to know the truth."
"Will he ever be ready, then?" Mom asked, and for a second, it sounded as if she was weeping softly, "Henry - I love you, but you don't know how much it kills me to see him like that, and to tell him it's all his imagination. I can't keep doing this."
My heart skipped a beat, and worried fear weighed down on my chest.
I heart a soft sound which must have been a kiss.
"Nora, you are a queen among women for putting up with me like this," Dad promised, "It is not fair to you that you and Barry are getting entangled in Kairos's curse. Once this all ends, I swear, I will tell him everything, and I will give you the life you deserve. Come now. You need rest before you can see him again tomorrow morning."
Something else I didn't know then? I was not going to see my mother the following morning.
In fact, I wasn't going to see her for a very long time...
###
My blood froze in my veins when a terrified, feminine scream pierced the quiet darkness, waking me up in cold sweat.
"Mom..." I murmured, before I widened my eyes at the sight of my fish floating above their tank, the water defying gravity. Only then did I notice the blankets rising off of me, the books levitating from their shelves.
An odd sensation was being splurged through the air, and it was a very powerful physical one. It - it felt as if I was caught in a strange hurricane, and brightness flickered quickly amidst the shadows from under the doorway.
Mom wailed out loud again, and I tensed, immediately throwing the floating sheets aside in order to dart out of my room, still in my spaceship pajamas.
The second I opened that door by only an inch, a hot wave of energy fought over me, and I covered my eyes in the face of the blinding storm of light, battling below.
I braced myself and opened the door in its entirety, dragging my feet as the altered gravity tried pushing me back, grabbing onto the staircase railing to move down. Below, I saw an incredibly powerful tornado of electricity, circling my mother at the center of the living room, and she was trapped in its center. Even from the top of the stairs, I could tell it was more than just electricity, as the fulmination split and began stringing into two very distinct colors: a heroic gold, and a deep, vermilion red.
Lightning.
The - the restless bolts, charging through the vortex, ripped photos and paintings off of the walls, destroyed furniture, and my mother screamed louder as the circle wound tighter, closer to her at its core.
"Mama!" I shrieked, tears spotting my vision as I struggled to make my way down.
Suddenly, I saw that Dad was in the room too, a bold fear across his face as he yelled something in a strange language, at the edge of the hurricane. He short, curly blonde hair was wild as the wind blew it back, and anger sparked in his eyes as he continued to shout at, continued to order the chaos.
Only then did I notice he was holding up a strange, long gold staff, and had the staff's head pointed at the whirling flashes.
"Sto ónoma tis Zues," Dad cried frantically, his voice loud and powerful, "Sas prokeiménou na stamatísei!"
He... he was ordering the strange energy around Mama, I realized, widening my eyes in shock.
He was doing this to her.
Tears flew from my eyes as adrenaline kicked into my veins, and I forced myself to bear against the wild inertia being emitted from the chaotic electricity - and collided right into Dad, throwing him off balance so we both fell over, knocking the staff right out of his hands.
"Barry!" Dad gasped, snapping back up, holding me by the shoulders, frightened, "Barry," he stuttered, paling, "You shouldn't be here-"
"You're killing her!" I screeched, the words painful in my throat, wildly hitting my arms around in panic, "Stop it! Stop it!"
Mama continued to sob out loud as the lightning tightened around her still, hardly two feet away from her now, ripping her hair, slapping her face and body.
"Barry-"
"Stop it!" I demanded, tears streaming down my face, hitting his hands away.
"Barry, I am trying to save her!" Dad shouted, before he began pushing me away from her, away from the crazy wheel that was trying to hurt her, "Barry, you need to get out of here before he comes after you! Run, Barry!"
"Dad!-"
"Run, Barry, run!"
Before I could protest, a demonic being shot forward from the electricity, and knocked Dad over, pinning him down by his shoulders with one hand, held up the strange blue staff in the other.
I whimpered as I slowly registered its hazy yellow and black male form, its eyes evil red orbs, crackling with crimson malevolence.
"Hello, Nephew," it seethed, its voice a low, mechanical growl, its cruel lips curling into a horrible smile that would sear into my nightmares for years to come.
The color drained from Dad's face, and I mewled in fear as I tried to step away - but then I was outside.
I was outside.
In the cold. In the night.
In the dark.
Alone, in the middle of the street, in my pajamas, sweat all over my face.
How did I get here?
I didn't recognize this neighborhood, how did I get here?! I was at my home just a heartbeat ago, where heat was beating powerfully against my body, where my mother was in the center of some spinning lightning wheel, where Dad was-
Mom and Dad were in trouble.
There were monsters in our home.
Fear-filled thoughts stormed my mind and sent my heartbeat into overdrive.
"Mommy!" I shrieked, before I impulsively kicked my feet forward and ran back towards the direction I came in. I was panting and washed over in my own perspiration, and panic filled me when I realized I didn't know where to go.
I ran around frantic and scared out of my wits until I saw a small squad of police cars, sirens blasting through the silent streets, several pairs of red and blue lights flashing about the night.
Without a second thought, I ran right towards them down the middle of the road. "Hey! Hey!" I wailed, out of breath, "Can you help me?! I need help!"
The first car slowed down, and the others followed in succession. The passenger side window was rolled down, and an officer looked down at me with his eyebrows furrowed. "Kid, what are you doing here?"
"I - I don't know," I replied hastily, "But there are monsters in my house, and my mom and dad are in trouble, and I can't find my way back!"
"How did you get outside, though?" The officer behind him, at the wheel, asked, concerned.
"I..." I kept opening and closing my mouth in confusion, unable to find words to explain myself.
"Kid, what's your name?" The first officer asked, still bewildered, "Where do you live?"
"My - my name is Barry Allen, and I live at 4236 Redwood Drive," I answered, throat burning, "Can you please help my parents?"
"He's an Allen," the other officer noted to the first, a darkness falling over his face, "Redwood Drive - that's where we're headed right now."
"Barry, why don't you get in the car?" The first officer asked kindly, and I nodded before I immediately jumped inside. The officers relayed the incident of them finding me to the rest of the squadron, who had already arrived at my home, via radio. Within minutes, we had raced back to my home - only there were police everywhere.
Yes, I thought, victorious relief settling through me. The police were here. They could stop the monsters. They could save Mom and Dad.
I smiled.
All would be well.
The officers continued their discourse through the walkie-talkies, and they parked and stepped out of the car. I unhitched my seat belt, ready to follow, when they turned to me. "Barry, why don't you stay inside for a while?"
"Why?" I murmured.
They faced each other again, before one of them faced me again. "Just - just stay inside for a second, okay? We'll come get you when we know it's safe."
"Alright, then," I mumbled, before I sat back down and pulled my knees up to my chest, anxiously twiddling my thumbs.
Outside, on the lawn and on the porch, the cops continued their conversations, a few speaking into phones and walkie-talkies in serious voices. Most of them seemed worried. Were the lightning monsters still inside? Were Mom and Dad alright?
More police officers and men in coats, holding briefcases, arrived at the scene. There must have been several dozen or so men out there, thronging each visible foot of the entrance, many more inside.
Mom should have broken out of their barricade by now, alarmed and frantic, her reddish hair in a messy tumbleweed, wearing her yellow cardigan and pajamas. Aside from a few scrapes, she should have been fine, and she would have begged and pleaded every officer about my whereabouts until she'd see me in the car, and she'd run over, pull me out, and hug me tightly.
She'd be okay.
But she didn't come outside.
Dad should have pushed through as well, irate and angered, his blonde hair a mess, eyes bloodshot from worry, demanding to know what the hell was going on, and where his son was, what was happening.
But Dad didn't come outside either.
He said he was trying to save Mom, before the yellow monster hit him and I was mysteriously outside.
I paused and bit my lip, butterflies going wild in my stomach. It had to have been at least ten minutes now, of me trapped inside this car, and these policemen worriedly talking among themselves.
What was going on?
Unable to hold back my fear, I popped the door open, and wormed through the horde of grown, suited men, easily dodging and sideswiping the few who protested and tried to grab me.
"Hey! Kid! You can't go inside!"
"Someone grab him!"
But they couldn't keep this from me much longer.
I found my way back into the living room, where everything had been marked with chalk, as if taking notes. Men were in the room, talking to each other. My vision switched to the mass, lying underneath a black bag in the center of the room, where Mom had been trapped earlier.
She was scared.
She was sleeping.
She didn't know what to do with all these officers around her, so she got a bag and was lying down under it.
I mean, what else could it be, right?
Where was Dad? Did the yellow monster with the red eyes take him away somewhere?
Breath hitching, I silently stepped forward and pulled the cover of the bag back.
"Mama?" I quietly called out, eyes widening at the side of my mother's face, frozen in terror, eyes open and rolled back - the long, huge gash cutting through her chest, maroon vividly blossoming on her yellow cardigan, against the wound's edges.
"Mama..." I called out again, blood chilling in my veins.
"Hey! Get that kid out of here!"
"Barry!" A familiar voice shouted, and I hardly noticed someone pulling me back, before I was turned around and looking at Joe, his brown eyes filled with concern.
"Joe..." I mumbled.
"Barry, you can't be here right now," he stated gently, putting his hand on my shoulder. Behind us, an officer recovered Mama with the bag.
"Is she gone, Joe?" I croaked softly, eyes watering with hot tears.
Joe's expression softened, and he pulled me into an embrace as a sob caught in my throat. "Joe, what happened to my mom?" I wept, shutting my eyes as Joe easily picked me up, "Joe - Joe, where's my dad?"
"Come on, Bar, we gotta get you out of here," Joe mumbled, walking us out of the room.
###
"Hi, Barry," Iris greeted gently, sliding in next to me at the dinner table at hers' and Joe's home.
I didn't reply.
Over the course of the past few days, I had become numb... to everything.
I had a warm bowl of strawberry-almond cereal in front of me, and clean clothes on my back, and Joe had taken good care of me since that night.
But Mama was dead.
Dad had disappeared.
Authorities said he killed her before he made a run for it.
That's not true! I had yelled, sickened and enraged. That's not true! That can never be true! My dad loved her! He was trying to save her!
From what?
From - from the monsters! From the lightning!
The lightning?
Yes, there was lightning inside our house, and it was trying to close in on my mom, and my dad was trying to stop it! And there was a yellow one, who tried to kill my Dad, and-
They didn't believe me. The interrogating officers just looked at each other in defeat, before they faced me with that same look, shook their heads, handed me a pathetic lollipop, and I was taken out of the room.
Dad didn't kill her. I don't know what you believe, I insisted. I don't know what evidence you saw. But my dad did not kill my mother, and I can swear on that.
If your father isn't guilty, then why did he flee from the scene? Why were his prints found on the knife?
And - and Barry, how did you leave the house so quickly? We found you twenty blocks away...
Yeah, you said you saw your parents fighting in the living room-
- I saw them surrounded by lightning!
You said you saw your father wielding some kind of stick? A baton, or a staff?
- and you knew your mother was in trouble. Did you run away because you were scared your father would beat you? Did your father threaten to kill you too?
I told you! I don't know how I got outside! All I know is that my dad was trying to fight a monster!
Barry, that'll be enough for today, thank you. Joe, could you take him outside, please?
Joe had asked me to pack a bag of clothes and toiletries.
I didn't. I couldn't think of anything other than my mother's face, trapped under that bag, and how I had clung to the hope that she was alive. I couldn't see anything other than my dad being pinned down to the floor by that yellow monster, his claws at my father's neck. I couldn't hear anything other than my mother's screams in her final moments, the yellow demon smirking as it pinned my father down with strong claws.
"Bar? Joe called, stepping down from the staircase, a blue gym bag hanging from his hand, "You still haven't eaten anything. And you didn't pack either. I gathered some clothes for you. Eat up, son, we gotta go."
"Where are we going?" I muttered drowsily.
Joe sighed, and placed the bag down on the ground by my chair, and picked up my spoon, pointing it near my mouth. "We're going on a bit of a long drive. I have to take you somewhere."
"Egypt?" I blurted.
Joe tensed, before he frowned. "No...? The hell?"
Iris smiled shyly.
"Then where?" I asked, accepting the spoonful of cereal Joe was holding out to me.
"Bar, I made a promise to your dad I'd take you somewhere special if he couldn't protect you, if anything happened to him," Joe explained solemnly, "See, you're right about all those times the world doesn't make sense. Your father has done a good deal in trying to convince you otherwise so he could protect you, but you're a little too keen for your own good, and by Zeus, he's been breaking promises, raising you on his own and whatnot."
"Huh?" I murmured, before I scowled in disbelief, "You mean I was right about the mailboxes? And the snakes in the tree? And - and you actually believed me when I said monsters were attacking my parents?"
Joe hesitated, before he nodded sadly.
"Joe!" I cried, unable to repress tears, "Joe, why didn't you say anything when the other police officers were calling me a liar? Why didn't you stand up for me? My dad was your friend-"
"Because, Barry, the other officers? They're just mortals," Joe interjected, standing back up, "What happened to your mom - it doesn't really concern them. Now eat your breakfast. We're expected by noon."
"Who expects us? And - and what's a mortal?" I exclaimed, a mix of emotions whirling through me, "Joe, what do you mean what happened to my mom doesn't concern the police? Where are we going?"
"We're going to Camp Half-Blood, Barry," Joe finally answered, and Iris hopped out of her chair to go put her plate away, before she too returned with a pink suitcase, "You need to find out why your mother was truly taken, and the role you play in it all, and who you really are. You're going someplace where you'll find answers."
"Answers?"
Joe faltered, before he faced me and put his hand at my shoulder. "Where you'll find the truth."
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Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you thought, and if you think I should continue!