Almost there, I scream in my head as I run down a street breached with dusk. It feels like the time around me is ticking away and I am running in slow motion. Once before, only when I was hit by a bus, had I felt real and utter terror. This was worse.

As the object lying limply on the floor of the wet street grows closer, my throat gets dryer; my heart becomes heavier than steel. Pain lashes every time my feet splash in the warm puddles that paint the ground. Is it raining? I say to myself. The sky is dark and cloudless. The next step I take my head looks down towards my feet. The puddles are red.

The object in the distance starts to take form but is quickly blurred with the tears that are welling up in my eyes. I'm five steps away.

Four.
Three.
Two.
One.

A sob rips out of my mouth and I fall to the ground, my legs unable to support the weight in my chest. The red puddles, once sprawled around the ground are now covering me head to toe. The figure on the ground is looking up at me, struggling to breath. My lips can't even bare to form words. When they do, only one word is choked out.

Scratchy and short, I sob one word aloud to the figure. "B- Barry."

Barry's eyes are blossomed with panic. I sit there crying as gurgled gasps escape from his mouth.

"Dawn," Barry chokes out. I look down at his mask-covered face. Tears are billowing down my cheeks at the equivalent speed that I can run. A fire burns in my throat.

"Dawn," he repeats. A thick spoonful of blood coughs up from Barry's throat and out of his mouth.

I cry harder.

It's not fair, I think. Then I speak out loud.

"It's not fair!" My voice comes out not as a whimper like I expected, but as a scream. A hoarse, abhorrent, mutation of a scream. And the screams don't stop. Barry's blood-soaked chest rises once more then falls. It's doesn't rise again.

"NO!" I scream louder than I have ever screamed.

"Dawn!"

My eyes open and I sit up. Screams are amplifying the room; it takes a minute to realize that the screams belong to me. I stop the noise coming out of my mouth and observe my surroundings. I'm not on a blood soaked street- I'm in my bedroom. And Barry isn't lying on the ground dying- he is sitting in front of me, perfectly fine. Tears still streak my face and I quickly wipe them away.

"Dawn, it was a dream. Your safe," Barry assures me. It's almost a routine now. Every night I wake up either swimming in my own sweat or screaming until my throat is raw. And the worst part is that he still thinks the nightmares are about me.

"I'm sorry, I woke you.. Again." My sincerity is tangible. Barry acts like he doesn't care, but I can see the dark circles under his eyes every morning. I've told him that if he hears me screaming at night, he should just ignore it and go back to sleep. But I will accept his gentle, brotherly embrace. Just for today though.

"They're getting worse, Dawn. Maybe you should see someone-"

"Can we not talk about this right now?" I shudder and will myself not to cry. He's right of course, the nightmares are getting worse. Barry nods and slightly rocks me back and forth. I breath deeply, letting the air fill my lungs with oxygen then release it for someone else to eventually breath. Then I let my brain relax as much as a genius's brain can relax, and ease into a shaky sleep.

«»«»«»«»«»«»«»

STAR Labs is bright and filled with a positive vibe as it is every day. As soon as Barry and I walk into the Cortex, that happy mood changes dramatically.

"I'm just saying, Dawn, maybe talking to a psychiatrist wouldn't be the worst thing in the world," says an annoyed Barry.

"I am a psychiatrist, Barry. I refuse to talk to someone that has a brain the size of a peanut compared to mine." My voice is a little louder than it should be but I am getting really tired of everyone bickering at me.

"You wouldn't have to talk to a shrink if you would just tell me what your nightmares are about!" Now Barry is yelling and everyone in the room- which is Cisco, Harry, and Jesse- are all staring. I look around, my face blushing. I keep a straight face and use my voice matter-of-factly.

"Hey, here's and idea. Why don't you announce to the entire world that I have nightmares!" Everyone, excluding Barry, is giving me pity stares. I take a sudden interest in my shoes and look down.

"Will you stop?" Barry is giving me a bitter look.

"Stop what?"

"Doing that thing you do! You know, cower into yourself."

I explode.

I pick up the closest thing to me, a heavy book, and rage flows through my veins. Using my super speed I hurl the book at Barry. Instead of hitting him in the head like I hope, he uses his super speed to catch the billowing book. I'm about to scream in anger when I hear Cisco yell something out loud.

"Bank robbery on 3rd," he says. Barry gets his scarlet suit on in a split second and then gives me a look that says, dude lets go. I get my yellow and red suit on and before pulling my mask over my head I roll my eyes.

"There's always a bank robbery on third." With that I speed off so I don't have to say another word to Barry. My pace quickens the farther I run. I take a deep breath and let the fast wind lick my face.

A sign marks 3rd Street and I quickly spot Central City's Bank. My brain kicks in and I observe the scene with care.

Two men- both giants in comparison to me, are moving at a fast pace down the stairs of the bank. One is carrying a black duffel bag that I presume is full of cash. The other is holding a gun the size of Texas. A black car without a licence plate is sitting on the curb with the two front doors open. A few milliseconds pass and by now Barry is right behind me.

I make the quick decision to take out the guy with the money because usually Barry takes out the guy with the weapon. Not that I am not capable of it, its just that the rest of the team highly advises against me doing dangerous activity. I don't know why, maybe it was the fight Barry and I just had, but my genius brain decides not to work. This cost me dearly because I didn't see a third man with a hand gun come out of the door.

The man points his gun towards Barry's heart. A type of panic that only exists in my nightmares runs through my veins and my feet stop working. The man must see my reaction because now the gun is pointed at my head. A gun shot cracks through the air and at this moment is when everything stopped. Well almost stopped. It was like the world was moving in slow motion and instead of me moving at regular speed, I am stuck.

I see the bullet fly through the air; it is huddling towards me. And then I can't see the bullet. I can only see Barry. Barry has stepped in front of me so the bullet won't hit me!

What is he doing, I think to myself.

With his gloved hand, he goes to catch the airborne piece of metal.

But he misses.

He misses.

Instead of the bullet going into the safety of his gloved hand, it strikes through his shoulder. Barry screams in pain and lurches backwards.

At the sound of his scream my brain wakes up. Using my super speed, I swing my fist at the gunman and instantly knock him out. I probably knocked some of his teeth out as well. Then I rush over to Barry and before anyone can see what happens next, we run out of the scene.

Barry's running falters but we still make it to STAR Labs in half a minute. Once there I help Barry sit down on a med bed. Caitlin is already there with bandages and antiseptic.

"Bullet entered through the clavicle and exited the scapula. Rotator cuff may have been torn but I'm not one hundred percent sure."

Barry grunts as Caitlin starts to treat his wound. My mind flashes back to the nightmare I had earlier today and a question rouses from my cluttered brain. I decide to make my voice firm and unwavering so my point comes across clear; instead my voice is angry and screechy.

"What were you thinking! I had the situation handled! You didn't have to catch that stupid bullet!"

In retrospect the yelling was probably one of the worst ideas ever. I only wanted Barry to be not dead. Is that so much too ask? But he obviously doesn't see the situation the same way I do.

"Dawn, you froze! You shouldn't even be out there, in the field. You are too young to understand." Barry yells despite the pain in his shoulder.

"Oh this again! If I wasn't out there who would keep you from not dying! You need to be more careful."

"And you need to be less ignorant!"

"I'm not being ignorant. I'm the genius remember?"

"See these are the times when I want to send you back to foster care!"

I stop. My blood stops. Then it starts to boil. I see Caitlin's face cringe and her jaw drops. Iris, in whom I didn't know was in the room at the time, gapes at Barry. Nobody, not even me, can believe what he just said. The hole in my chest opens up and I can't breath. Usually I would scream and yell in a situation like this but I can't seem to find any words.

"Barry Allen!" Iris screams to break the silence. My mind goes blank and only one thought remains prominent.

Barry wants to send me back to foster care. Even though the only person who can do that is Joe because he is my legal guardian, my heart still weighs a ton. A feeling in which I haven't felt in a very long time smacks me in the face. The feeling that nobody wants me. I lived eight years of my life feeling that way; then suddenly I didn't.

I will my feet to move, taking slow steps towards the door, my body as stiff as a manikin.

****

A/N: thanks for reading!

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