Hey guys. I just had a brainstorming (yes I use that word don't judge) session and I have soo many ideas. I'm gonna just keep pumping this chapters out. If your enjoying, so far I plan to post at least once a day. This is the second chapter I've written today and I'm really enjoying writing it. Hazel is basically me, except she's a bit less spazzo and more creative. Enough of me blabbering... y'all here for the story. Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: All characters, lines, plots and places that that have been taken from the hit TV series The Flash belong to the CW writers of 'The Flash' and Warner Brothers. All I own are my own original characters. This disclaimer applies to all chapters within this story.
Xx
Chapter 3
Last night, I promised myself today would be better.
I couldn't be more wrong.
I woke up to the sound of Oshi barking and scratching at the window, and Tilly yelling at me to shut my dog up.
Once Tilly slammed the door closed, I roll out of bed to see what Oshi is going off about. I almost scream when I see it. There is a crow outside my window. This was when my dad would tease me and say, 'Hazel, it's just a crow. It can't do anything, it's brain is the size of a peanut.' Well dad, look at this crow now and tell me that I shouldn't be afraid. It's eyes are white and rolled up into its head so far you can't even see a hint of its giant black, beady pupils. I shudder as my subconscious relates the image to the man from yesterday. The way his eyes rolled back into his head would haunt me for decades.
"Chill out hon," I mutter as I pull Oshi away from my window.
I had wanted to forget about the man with the gun yesterday, but the universe had other plans. I continued my morning routine, getting dressed in a white shirt and jeans, pulling my hair back into a quick messy bun. The incident in my store had made its way to the media. I saw it flash by on the television as I made my coffee. The media had dramatised the event drastically. Using footage from the security cameras in my store they said that he threatened us with a gun. He hadn't threatened us at all really, he just said some messed up stuff before leaving and saying-
"You aren't getting away from me. Ever."
Never mind. That counts as a threat in my book.
After I finished my coffee I pull out my mobile phone, scrolling down my contacts until I find Derek's name. I press call. It rings for a few minutes before I give up. I really just need someone to talk to, since my mum, dad and Tilly didn't want anything to do with me. I really didn't have many other friends, except for Joshua. Josh and I have a weird relationship, it's fun to joke around with one another, but I just don't feel comfortable enough to talk to him about my problems. He's a nice guy, I'm just extremely picky about who I trust.
Speaking of nice people, I promised Iris to meet her at Jitters in- I glance at the clock- half an hour.
I skip to the bathroom and glare at my reflection. My usually vibrantly blue eyes look grey and dull, my hair... I've never really understood my hair. It's mousy brown at the top, however it has some random extremely blond streaks. It fades down to dark blond at the ends. The million dollar question here is, what colour is my hair? Everyone answers differently, I just go with dark blond. It's also fluffy. I have to drown it in coconut oil just to make it look nice, because when it's dry it poofs up to the size of a lions mane. I run back out to the kitchen and stop in front of the clock. 20 minutes.
Racing back to my room, I grab my brown leather bag, which I bring with me everywhere I go. Finally making my way through the foyer of my apartment building, I follow the grey concrete path to where Ronda (the Honda) is parked on this side of the road.
Squawk!
I look up and see at least 15 crows on the power line above me. Each one glaring down at me. I strain my eyes to look more closely at them. Each of them have white eyes. Surely this is a joke. My mind is playing tricks on me, all because stupid crow man with a gun and weird eyes scared the bejesus out of me. Stepping into my car, I rev the engine before driving off.
I swear I see a flock of black feathers trailing behind me from above.
Xx
When I pull up outside of Jitters, I can see Iris sitting alone through the window.
Dang, am I late? These are the times when I wish I had a watch.
I open the door and the smell of God's greatest creation hits me like a wall. Coffee. I walk up to Iris and she doesn't notice. She has a blank expression on her face, she seems to be deep in thought. Should I tap her on the shoulder? Are we at that stage of friendship yet? I'm terrible at making friends, probably the most awkward person you will ever meet.
I dig through my thoughts as I try to remember how to greet another human being. Huh, that's right, "hi Iris!" I exclaim, slightly too loudly.
She jumps upright and her head snaps to face me.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," I quickly apologise.
"No, no, its fine. I was thinking too hard," she brushes it off.
There is a brief pause before I break the silence with my obnoxious craving for coffee.
"I need coffee," I'm about to turn away when I remember human etiquette, "can I get you anything while I'm there?"
"Nah," she gestures to the coffee on the table which I definitely noticed, "I'm alright thanks, I would have gotten you something, but I didn't know if you even liked coffee."
I laugh, "that's fine, but who doesn't like coffee?"
Iris chuckles before returning to her thoughts. The expression on her face is all too familiar. I see it when I look in the mirror every morning.
Xx
Once I return with my coffee, Iris draws out her notepad and a pen. She asks questions about side effects of the coma, how I was adjusting and what it was like to be in a coma.
"It's kinda like time travel," I tell her, "everyone and everything is familiar, but so different. For example, my best friend and I used to be really close, but now I look at her and see a stranger."
"Huh," Iris says, clearly really interested in the subject, "how so?"
"Well, she used to be a book worm, now she's a party animal. We used to talk about everything, now we never speak. She told me, and I quote this, 'the world has moved on, get with it.'"
"Geez," Iris empathised, "that's kind of mean."
"Tell me about it," I mutter.
"How did your family respond to your condition?" Iris asks.
I chuckle, "another fun story. The only family I was ever really close with were my parents. They divorced and moved states while I was asleep."
Iris almost spat out her coffee, choking slightly, "I'm so sorry, I didn't know-"
"Its fine. Actually, it's nice to have someone to talk to. My boyfriend has been really busy lately, sometimes it feels like I'm alone in the world."
Iris moves to comfort me, "if you ever need someone to talk to, talk to me."
She hands me a paper slip with a phone number, probably hers, before continuing, "you can trust me."
She turns her notepad around, and to my surprise, it's completely blank.
"I haven't written any of this down. I just want to know what to expect, what to do or not do. Also, I need someone to talk to. I have my dad and my boyfriend who are great listeners, but I have no girlfriends. You know what I mean?"
That last part made sense, but 'what to do or not to do?' Im confused. I nod my head along anyways.
"See, Barry Allen, a good friend of mine, he's practically my brother really, he was struck by lightning just like you got trapped underwater on the night the particle accelerator exploded. He's still in a coma, has been for over 8 months. That's not the point. I think that your story can give hope to other people who have family members that are still recovering, just like you gave hope to me. I won't share any of this personal stuff, because it's well, personal, but will you give me permission to write about your miraculous recovery?"
Woah, I'm speechless, "sure."
I mean, it's the least I can do. Iris seemed really passionate about this, and she is the closest thing to a friend I've got.
Xx
Iris and I cross paths most Tuesdays and Thursdays, as those are the days when I work in my store. Iris hangs around Jitters quite a lot, so I run into her almost every single time I walk about the area.
Iris and I quickly became friends. We have a lot in common. Loss from the particle accelerator being one of the topics we encounter frequently. We also talk about the man with the crow tattoo, I ask her each time I see her if her dad and the police department have caught him yet.
Thankfully, we did more than just complain about the amount of sadness and misery in our lives. We spoke about guys, shopping, hair products. Things that normal people would talk about. I had forgotten how nice it felt to be normal.
Throughout the week I'd had to do quite a few photo shoots, but not as many as I used to. Still, it was fun to get back to doing what I love. Work was also a distraction from my recent loss which was bothering me much more than I had allowed myself to believe.
I had been seeing crows everywhere. And by everywhere, I mean, absolutely everywhere. They were at my window when I woke up in the morning, when I fell asleep at night. When I drove to work, when I sat with Iris at Jitters.
On the topic of strange occurrences, I hadn't heard from a Derek in a week. Before the particle accelerator explosion, he would call me every night to tell me that he loved me. That I was the most special person in the world.
Like Tilly said, the world really had moved on, I was still trying to adjust to how much it had changed.
It's Wednesday again, a week since Iris and I first had coffee.
I'm walking up the driveway to Derek's house. It feels great to finally stretch my legs after the hour drive. I knock on the door as the doorbell is still broken.
Squawk!
I turn around and see a crow, sitting on the wooden railing. It's no surprise that it's eyes are messed up and white, just like the rest of the hallucinations I have been having. I didn't really know if they were hallucinations, maybe I should be freaking out. With all the crows I've been seeing lately, I doubt the dumb bird is even real. I should probably talk to someone about it. Iris? Nah. Maybe I should see a therapist...
I hear voices whispering, before the door opens. I spin around to face the house again.
"Hey, Hazel," Derek's familiar face beams at me.
His smile doesn't quite reach his eyes. I'm about to say something when I see movement in the living room behind him.
"Hi..." I say, even I can hear the suspicion in my tone, "is there someone else there?"
I think I hear Derek swear under his breath as he turns his back to me, but it was probably just me hearing things. God knows I've been seeing things. Cough, crows with freakish white eyes, cough.
"Francesca?" he calls out.
Who the hell is Francesca?
A beautiful blond girl with long, curly hair appears next to Derek. Her eyes are big and brown. Absolutely stunning. I'm instantly jealous, my eyes look like tiny blue raisins in comparison to hers.
"This is my, uh," he hesitates, "cousin, Francesca."
"Nice to meet you," I say as I stick out my hand in greeting.
Derek didn't have many relatives, so it was surprising that he hadn't mentioned her before. Still, I stay for a few hours, helping them cook dinner and sitting down for a meal with them both. I tried to start up a conversation about Francesca's childhood with Derek, however they both seemed to have very different opinions or memories of their time together.
It was strange, but I enjoyed myself. I had to leave at 8 because I have work tomorrow morning.
Xx
UGH. I hate Thursdays.
This morning when I woke up, I felt like burying myself in my sheets and sleeping forever. It's mornings like these make me contemplate the meaning of life.
Joshua is being strict as ever, despite the fact that I'm his boss. He continues to ring my phone until I get out of bed and pick up. Asshole.
My coffee this morning tastes dull in comparison to all the Jitters coffee I've been having lately. A crow lands on my windowsill once again, and watches as I drink my coffee. I chose to ignore it, making a mental sticky note to go online and search for a good therapist.
Work is busy. But not busy enough. I have even have enough time to paint a portrait in the breaks when Joshua can handle the customers. And yes, I'll admit it, I painted a crow. Why? I don't know... because, why not? I've got a lot of feelings about them bottled up inside that I might as well let out on a canvas.
I'm walking into Jitters after Josh finally let me close up the shop. I really need coffee. It's after work hours, and Iris is probably finished with her work at CCPN. Coffee is my priority (when is it not?), meeting Iris would just be a welcomed bonus.
Of course, Iris is there. As soon as I walk in the door, she walks straight up to me. I see her boyfriend, Eddie, sitting at the table she had just left. I had seen photos and heard a lot about him, but I was still yet to actually meet him.
"Hazel!" Iris calls to me before hugging me.
Yes, apparently, just like Tilly used to be, Iris is a fan of hugs.
"Hey Iris! Strange seeing you here," I joke.
"Hey! You can't judge me, you're here too," she laughs, "anyway, Eddie and I were talking about it, you said you have a boyfriend? Derek?"
"Yeah," I reply, stretching the word out as I wonder what she's getting at. I really have to stop being suspicious. First with Francesca, now with Iris.
"Well, we want to know if you'd like to go on a double date? Me, Eddie, you and Derek. Sounds like fun, right?"
"Sure, why not," I agree against my will, "I'll ask Derek about it next time I see him."
The truth is, I hate double dates as does Derek. I just want to prove Iris that I'm not just using her as a vent for my emotions, because she has already proven she's not using me.
"Yay! I'll go tell Eddie, you've got my number, call when you hear from Derek!" her eyes are gleaming with excitement as she bids me farewell and returns to her table with Eddie.
Well, I guess I walked into that one.
Xx
Soo... I just realised that I made a mistake, but I'm not going to fix it. Iris didn't always work for CCPN, she was working at Jitters first. But... for the sake of the story I'm just going to go with what I have here. So if you're confused, Iris works at CCPN, not Jitters. Whoops! Oh well. Also, this chapter is really just setting up for the next, that's why it's long, emotional and kind of boring. Next chapter should be interesting. Also, if you think I'm moving too fast, too many time jumps? Thank me. I tried to write more of Iris and Hazel becoming friends, but even I was bored writing it. It will slow down a bit soon, so don't worry. Thanks for reading and enjoy your day!
Much love,
Yaysies536
