My name is Barry Allen and I am the fastest man alive.
Except…
I can't move.
I'm frozen in place, unable to even blink. My lungs ache without breathe. I can't even make a single sound.
"My sweet boy." Says my mother who beams the same kind smile she did when I was a kid.
Dad wraps his arms around mom, "You have made me the happiest father in the world."
I want so bad to run up and hold them.
A streak of red and blue lightning fills the room.
Reverse Flash stands behind my mother a demented smile greeting me. Zoom grips my fathers neck with both hands.
"You destroyed my life, Flash." Reverse flash says as his hands begin to vibrate. I'm unable to scream.
"You'll never be a true hero until you learn what true tragedy is." Zooms growls in his dark voice. My legs buckles, whatever force that held me is gone.
Electricity slowly pulses around my body, as I shift into the speedforce. I urge and force more speed into my body and still I'm walking through six feet of snow.
I've taken my first step. Reverse Flashes vibrating hand pierces through my mother's heart. "Barry…why?" Mom asks as if it was me who stabbed her.
I barely began my second step when Zoom begins breaking my father's neck. "You failed us." Dad says as his face is twisted away from me.
I try to scream, but it never comes out instead building inside until my head throbs.
"NO!" I holler trapped in a tangle of sheets.
"Barry…" a hand reaches for me but is shocked away by yellow lightning. A hiss of pain escapes from the lips of the woman I loved.
"Iris?" I recognize my beautiful wife. She cradles her left hand close to her chest. "Iris, I'm so sorry." I say reaching out for her. She leans closer at my touch, using her left hand to wipe the remnant tears on my cheek.
"It was only a dream Barry." Iris says.
"Its more than that, Iris." Barry says getting up from the bed. "This is…this is the night I create that terrible timeline."
"Everyone wishes they can go back in time to change the future." Iris counters.
"Difference is Iris is that I can." Barry said looking at his hands, "…that I did."
Iris is quiet unsure what she could say or do to reassure her husband that he would make the right choice.
"Do you want to go back in time?"
"So badly." I admit.
"Will you?"
I was quiet for too long, because even with the horrors Rip shared with the league, the desire to be with his parents for another second more was greater. I rub my sore eyes. "No…I won't."
A flash of purple light filled the room.
I whirl around to see Iris gone but in her place was Zoom.
'"Zoom, where is Iris!" The yellow lightning dancing across my body. No one else will be dying. My left foot arches back to ready to propel me forward.
Zoom looks left to right before staring me down. "What…Barry what are you talking about?"
"No more chances Zoom!" I cry out and run toward him.
A young woman tiptoes to the edge of the roof, holding something close to her chest. "Thy mother's delight, Bright angels beside, My darling abide" She sings to herself.
Her foot knocks a loose pebble over the edge and she watches it fall out of sight.
"Ma'am please step back." Says a deep voice from behind. The lady's left leg dangles from the edge when she turns around to see a man in a green vest and hood with a quiver on his back, and a bow in hand.
He takes a small step toward, "I can help you."
The woman shakes her head. "I…I…"
"Look at whats in your hands." The man urges taking another step toward her.
A painful gasp escapes through clenched teeth. She sticks her throat out like an offering before gasping out, "it's the devil."
"No." the man says taken another step, "You're just sleep deprived." The woman finally looks down and sees a grey skinned three horned monster screeching. The next instant it's her beautiful baby girl wrapped in a green blanket.
The man takes another step, just a few more and he could reach her, bring her and her child to safety. If she could just.
Her daughter shifts back into its demon form and lunges at the woman. She cries out in fear and tosses the devil over the edge. The man runs past the woman, nocking an arrow into his bow before leaping over the edge.
In a split second the green arrow catches the baby in his cradling arms before firing the grappling arrow into the roof of the church and swings onto a nearby building.
The baby wails into his ears terrified by the sudden fall. He examines the baby and knows its no devil.
He barely turns around to see the mother falling to her death.
"No!" he calls out.
Before Green arrow could try anything a red blur swings by crashing into the woman before both figures crash into the ground below.
Green arrow descends the building carefully before rushing over to the gathering crowd in front of the cathedral. Standing in front of the unconscious woman was his sidekick Arsenal.
"The mother?" Green Arrow asks.
"Unconscious." Reports Arsenal.
John Stewart the second green lantern of earth was flying over the skyline of Coast City.
"And why are you not in bed, Mrs Stewart?" John asks his beautiful wife, his green lantern ring communicating to his wife's cellphone.
"Well its because my workaholic husband is busy patrolling the planet." Katma's voice comes through his ear as if she was flying next to him.
"A workaholic huh, he sounds like a fool." John says making a wide left turn between two skyscrapers.
Katma's voice becomes seductive, "and to think I thought his first night back on earth, I could give him a special welcome back."
A goofy grin spreads across John's face, "I'll be there in a few minutes."
"Mmm, hurry." She whispers before disconnecting the call. John makes a dive toward the suburbs.
He barely left downtown when he noticed a peculiarity. One…two…a dozen…hundreds of people were standing on the edge of roofs, windowsills, and ledges in a strange stance; arms spread wide and heads facing toward the sky like a diver about to leap from a springboard.
"Oh no…" John gasps as they all leapt. With a shout John extends his right fist imagining, building a hundred hands to grab each leaper.
A course of flames ate up his right arm upto the core of his brain. His breaths were coming out in hisses. "Ring did we catch all the jumpers?"
"All 104 sleepers have been caught." The ring responded in its buzzy computer voice.
"Sleepers?" John asked as he urged the ring to slowly bring the people to the ground safely.
"Yes, everyone caught is in a sleeping state." The ring explained. John flies closer to one of the victims and sure enough they were in a deep sleep.
"What the fuck?"
"Barry…stop please…" gasps Zoom, "I can't breathe."
'No one else, no one else, no one else' I repeat overs in my head like a mantra. I tighten the grip.
"Barry, Iris, is everything okay." Comes Wally's voice outside their bedroom door.
"Wally, run its Zoom!" I yell a warning to Iris' nephew. Our bedroom door is swung open.
"Uncle Barry what the hell are you doing?" Wally demands. I barely have time to look up as yellow lightning fills my vision and Wally's fists knocks me off zoom. The back of my head rebounds off the wall before I fall to the floor knocking over the nightstand lamp.
My head aches and I notice a weird buzz dying out in the back of my mind. I look up to see Wally kneeling next to Zoom but the image fades away to reveal Iris West-Allen.
"What…no, Iris." My mind shatters as I try to reach her.
"Stay away from her!" yells Wally taking a defensive stance in front of her.
"No…I…" with no explanation that makes sense for my actions, I run out of there. Is this what the other Barry did. Did he hurt Iris. Did losing my parents driving me insane? There was only one group of people who could help me. Or stop me.
"Officers." Greeted Hawkman as he and Hawkgirl flown down to the police that had the house surrounded.
"Why the hell are you here?" grunts the officer in charge.
"We thought you could use some additional back up." Says Hawkgirl before Hawkman could retort negatively.
"It's a simple case, the man inside is insane and is trying to kill his wife and kids. Seen it a hundred times." The officer grunts before lighting a cigarette.
"I doubt its that cut and dry." Hawkman starts but is caught off guard when he sees the front door swings open and a portbelly man run out toward the heroes.
"I knew you would come, you have to help me."
The officer spits out his cigarette. "Stop there!" All the cops whip out their guns and aim it at the man.
"You have to help me!" yells the man continuing his run. The cops began to unload their bullets at the man. Hawkman and hawkgirl move quickly; Hawkman flipping a police car to block most of the bullets as Hawkgirl fly tackles the man back into the house.
"what do you think you're doing?" demands the officer his eyes burning red.
"Trying to keep people safe." Said Hawkman looming over the officer. "For all you know your bullets could have hurt some of the hostages inside the house."
"That's bullshit, you hippie heroes think everyone can be saved with flowery words, well the real world conflict doesn't end with everyone friends, sometimes you have to use force."
Hawkman raised his mace displaying the spikes. "I know all about using force." He recalls his time as a police officer in Star City in the 1920s and how some cops like the officer in front of him just wanted an excuse to see blood.
"You have to see they're demons, they took my family." The man continued to cry. Hawkgirl noticed the darkness that surrounded the man's eyes.
She heard muffled movement and looked to her left to see a woman and two kids tied to chairs and muzzled. She looked back at the man. "I don't see any demons."
"Check the shed, you'll see! The demons have been replacing everyone in the neighborhood." The man belabored as some cops came into the house and put him in handcuffs. "Check the shed!"
Hawkgirl accompanied by two police officers moved to the backward where a red shed sat in the corner. Her hand hesitated on the shed's lock.
"We're ready miss." Urges one of the cops. Hawkgirl nods her head and slides the door open. And she regrets every life decision that brought her to this moment.
When hawkgirl returns to the front of the house she notices the man is on the ground and Hawkman performing CPR.
"What happened?" she asks as she rushes over.
Hawkman continues to pump the man's chest as the officer who were giving them grieve earlier was talking urgently into his walkie talkie.
Hawkman finally looks back at Hawkgirl, "He just keeled over and died."
"I'm glad you called the meeting Barry, because I've had some freaky things happen last night." John Stewart said as he took his seat at the JL table.
"I attacked Iris last night." Barry said shocking everyone into silence.
"Wait what!?" Oliver queen breaks the silence.
"I…" Barry starts but crumples into his seat. He grabs his face unable to look any of his friends in their eyes. "I think I'm going insane."
"Barry take us step by step." Hawkgirl urged Barry.
Barry's fingers begin to dig into his skin. "I need to be stopped."
Hawkgirl puts a hand on Barry's shoulder. "Tell us what happened."
"one moment I'm talking to Iris the next…she's…."
"A demon?" Oliver and Kendra say at the same time.
Barry looks up confused, "No, she was Zoom."
"Why would you think it was a demon?" Barry asked.
Kendra nods for Oliver to go first. "I had a run in with a sleep deprived mother who thought her baby daughter was a demon, and after the incident she fell into a coma.
Kendra goes next, "A husband in St. Roch, thought his family and neighbors were being replaced by demons."
John leans back into his chair, "The strangest thing happened in Coast City last night, one hundred and four people sleep walking tried to take a jump out of their buildings."
Carter turns to the stunned Barry, "Have you been sleeping well these past few days."
"I don't recall." Admits Barry as he racks his brain. "I've been having some terrible nightmares for the past few days though."
"Is someone messing with people's sleeping habits." Asks Oliver in bewilderment.
"This could be a global epidemic." John says worried. "I mean it happens at the same night in four different cities in four different states three of them not even in the same timezone. Who knows how many more incidents happened without us knowing."
"Most importantly even if it is a global thing. How do we even fight it?" Hawkgirl points out.
A man sits alone in a booth in the dark corner of the booth.
"Can I get you anything dear?" asks a chubby red curly haired woman.
"Just coffee ma'am." The man answers in a raspy voice. The woman gives the man a pitying smile that tries to be warm and friendly. "Sure thing sweetheart, be back in a jiffy." She hurries off to attend other early morning patrons.
The man, sure no one is watching, pulls out a purple crystal from inside his trench coat. "That was fun, what else can you do?" he asked the crystal. It glowed faintly.
"This will be fun." He smiles with a crooked mouth.