Dark Flash

"Yo, who drank all the coffee? How does one expect to wake up in the morning, huh?" Cisco said, rubbing his eyes. It was the next day, and still, no one had seen Barry. Caitlin, Cisco, and Harry were all at Star Labs, just making sure everything in Central City was in order. 

Harry then turned around, sipping out of a coffee mug. He had a smug expression on his face.

Cisco was about to take a stab at him, but Iris came running in before he had the chance.

"Hey guys?" she asked. "Is Barry here? He didn't come home last night and I'm really worried."

"Didn't he say he was going to be out all night?" Caitlin answered. "He's probably out running or something."

*The alarm starts to go off* 

As Cisco ran over to the monitor, he sighed and said, "Ya know? It would be nice if we could have one day. Just one day of complete and utter peace."

He looked down at the monitor and froze. "Holy-" he began, but then took off running.

Now everyone wanted to know what had happened. They gathered around the monitor and couldn't believe what they saw. Laying on the floor in the speed lab, was Barry. He wasn't conscious, but he also wasn't dead.

After seeing him like this, they all followed Cisco and ran down there. 

"Barry!" Cisco screamed, running over to his body, followed by Harry, Caitlin, and Iris. Iris fell to the floor beside her husband and tried to shake him to wake up. It didn't work.

Everyone was speechless. Even though this wasn't the first time any of them found Barry, lying on the floor unconscious, this time felt different.

After a few minutes of silence, I started to regain consciousness. I moved my head a little, and my eyes flickered open. When my vision cleared, I could see Iris, standing over me smiling. As I began to sit up, she wrapped me in a hug and we just sat there for a moment like that.

"Man, we thought you were dead!" Cisco said. 

"Sorry guys, I don't know what happened." 

"Well, what do you remember?" Caitlin asked. 

"Yeah what happened Barry," Iris said agreeing with Caitlin. "I mean, you sent me this weird text and then vanished for the whole night."

"I- I don't know what happened. I can't remember." I said, trying to remember as hard as I could. Even though I still couldn't remember, something felt off. I just couldn't put the pieces back together. All though, I didn't tell anyone. I didn't want them to worry.

"Well whatever it is, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you are home and you are safe." Iris said, giving me another hug.

"Still I would like to run a few tests on you, just to make sure you're ok," Caitlin said.

"Ok sure," I said, hopping up to my feet. We went upstairs to the lab and Caitlin ran every test she could think of. 

"It says here your in perfect health," Caitlin said. 

"I told you all," I said, even though everyone had a concerned look on their face, "I'm fine. I must have just been training and forgot to eat or something."

The only problem was, I knew that wasn't true. They knew it wasn't true. I just didn't want to worry anybody. I knew something was off but I didn't know what yet. And nobody was going to know until I knew what it was. 

"Alright well I'm gonna run home and get some new clothes," I said. Without even waiting for anyone to answer, I just sped off. 

"Does anyone else think he seemed a little off?" Iris asked. "Like, he was himself, but not really?"

Everyone's hand shot up in the air and Iris sighed with relief. Relief that she wasn't the only one noticing his odd behavior. 

"He was acting a little cold," Caitlin said. "And believe me I know how to be cold." 

Normally when I run, I channel everything that makes me happy. That's why I can go so fast. This time though, I couldn't shake all the bad emotions off like I normally can. I let my rage consume me. I was so focused on it that I didn't even realize I was home. I went upstairs and pulled some clothes out of the closet and threw them on the bed. When I turned around, I found a present sitting there, tied neatly with a ribbon. 

"Hmm," I said. I began to untie the box and was confused at what I found. It was my suit. My flash suit. Except, it wasn't red anymore. It was like someone made a replica only in black. I picked it up to examine it more closely. The stitching was identical to that of my other one, and the emblem was even the same. When I held the entire suit up, a note fell to the ground.

I leaned over, tossing the suit on the bed, and picked up the note.

You'll no longer be needing your suit... 

"That was, strange," I thought. I flipped it over and read the rest.

The effects will start a few hours from when you wake up.

"What effects?" I asked myself. This can't be a coincidence. Usually, I would just ask the team for help, but something in my gut is telling me no. I put both the suit and the note back in the box and pushed it under my bed, trying to forget about what I just saw.