"The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse." -Edmund Burke
Clenching the belt tightly in his left hand the man raised his arm to strike, whipping the bare flesh of the boy below him. The boy screamed into the gag, tears pouring down his face as he writhed in pain, desperately squirming around trying to break free of the restraints. Again the belt came down each time harder than the next until the child finally faded out consciousness, head rolling back as blood leaked out from his battered body. Standing over him the man kicked the boy with his foot watching as the bruised chest barely rose with stifled breaths.
"Fucking brat, look at the goddamn mess you made." He sneered, noting the new stains in the carpet. Pulling out a cigarette he lit it purposely dropping the hot ash on top of the passed out child as he strode past him with stumbling drunken footsteps.
"Can't believe you're my own son."
Wally woke up loudly gasping, his thumping heart felt like it was lodged in his throat, as he blindly searched for the lamp. Nearly smashing it to pieces and knocking over picture frames, he slammed the switch until light was flickering through his room dimly. Grasping at his sweat soaked blankets he quickly tore them off his legs, and huddled his shivering body into a protective embrace as he hastily wiped away loose tears trailing down his ghostly face.
Just a dream. Just a dream. Just a bad shitty dream.
Rocking himself he sniffled into his folded arms squeezing shut his eyes, his trembling arms reaching up to cover his ears; the voice still hauntingly echoing inside his mind.
"Good for nothing bastard."
"Why are you so fucking useless, huh?"
"Can't do shit, boy!"
A muffled whine escaped his lips.
With his blue eyes suddenly widening, Wally slapped his hands over his mouth forcing the sobs thundering deep inside of him to become trapped in his mouth.
No one is allowed to know he was crying. It's too embarrassing, especially since he was a hero . Heroes don't cry because of stupid nightmares, they tough it out and only let it go for the real bad things, like natural disasters or war. He couldn't get caught being upset about some memory of his fathe- that man. He was fucking Kid Flash for Christ sake! He was supposed to save people and be the happy one!
Vowing to himself to never be caught like this, his sadness turned into cold anger as he flew out of bed and came crashing down hard onto his knees, his fists balled up on his thighs as he bit his lip until it began bleeding.
'No one will ever know about tonight,' He promised, 'No one.'
Breathing heavily Wally was trapped in the memories, left forgotten in his room, as the light soon burned out letting darkness take over once again.