"Barry, honey, how many times have I asked you to lock the front door when you get home?" Nora Allen asked her thirteen-year-old son as he worked on his homework.

"I'm leaving it unlocked for when Dad gets home," Barry said.

Nora's expression softened. She pulled out the chair beside him and sat down.

"I miss him too, sweetheart."

"Dad promised he'd come home. He always comes home," Barry insisted.

Nora reached over and gently squeezed his hand.

"I know he did." Her voice grew quiet. "But you don't have to leave the door unlocked for him. He has a key, remember?"

Barry glanced toward the hallway. "What if he lost it?"

"Then he'll knock, and we'll let him in." She brushed his hair back from his forehead. "Until then, I need you to lock it so I know you're safe. Can you do that for me?"

"Fine." Barry said as he got his stuff together and went upstairs to finish his work in his room, but not before stopping to lock the door behind him.

Nora sighed as she looked over at a framed photo of her husband, Henry Allen.

"I wish you were here Henry. I could really use your help with Barry. But I know what you went out to do. And I'm so proud of you for it. And while I still hope you're out there somewhere, trying to find your way back to us, I can't deny that every year I lose a little more hope. I hate that I can't tell Barry the truth about why you vanished, but I promised you I'd keep it from him until he was ready. But I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this from him. He needs to know." Nora said.

That night, Barry was fast asleep in his room when he heard a strange crashing sound coming from downstairs.

"What was that?" Barry asked himself as he cautiously left his room to investigate.

But whatever he was expecting when he came downstairs, it wasn't this.

His mother was on her knees, terrified out of her mind, her wine glass spilled on the ground, but most importantly, she was surrounded by the strangest thing he'd ever seen.

She was surrounded by what looked like a tornado of red and yellow lightning that seemed to have come out of nowhere.

"Mom." Barry called out.

"Barry, run." Nora shouted in horror.

"Mom." Barry shouted again, only for the yellow lightning to suddenly surge towards him and the next thing he knew, he was outside, about halfway down the street with no idea how he got there. And before the yellow lightning vanished, he felt a small spark of electricity from it hit him, but he didn't take any time to think about that.

All he knew was that he wanted to see his mom, so with that thought in mind, he ran back towards his house.

But when he got there, all signs of the storm and the lightning were gone. The house was a little too quiet.

But Barry didn't care. All he knew was that he wanted to see his mom, so he burst into the house, only to stop immediately at what he saw.

His mother's body lying on the floor with a knife in her heart, blood going everywhere.

"Mom." Barry said as he rushed up to her, but it was too late. She was dead.

"No." Barry cried as he just sat over his mother's dead body as the police began to arrive, a neighbor must've called them after hearing the noise.

"Barry." he heard the familiar voice of his best friend Iris West's father, Detective Joe West, say as he entered the house.

Barry didn't say a thing as Joe simply walked up to him, placed a hand on his shoulder and then gently pulled him away as a blanket was pulled over his mother's body.

"I'm so sorry son. But they need to take her away now. You can stay with Iris and I tonight." Joe said, thinking the young boy should not be alone tonight.

Barry just nodded, not saying anything else, since he was pretty much in shock over the whole incident.