[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/xPBnPSf.png?1[/img]

[hr]
[b]Chapter Four[/b]
[i]Monday, 21st March, 2005
12:02:59.001pm[/i][/center]

The yellow suit. Those red eyes. That backwards symbol. And that smile. That sick, twisted, evil smile. 

Thawne was back. He was back to haunt me.

Everything was still; my wife, Wally, Harkness… everything. Everything but him. Thawne. The man that killed my mother. The man that ruined my life.

He just stood there, smiling that smile of his, Iris and Wally behind him, frozen expressions of shock glued on their faces. The boomerang, the one Harkness threw, balanced on the tip of his finger, as still as everything else, mere seconds away from exploding. Something told me that that would take a while.

Anger and fear, rage and caution, all mingled in my head. This was it. The moment I’d been dreading since almost a year before. Fists clenched tight, I grated out the one question on my mind. “What do you want.”

And he laughed. The son of a bitch laughed. 

[b]“What do I want, Barry? What do I [i]want?[/i] Can’t I just check on an old friend?”[/b]

He threw the boomerang, sending it arcing towards the sky.

[b]“What do I want, Barry?”[/b] He walked past me, in Harkness’ direction. [b]“What do I want…”[/b] His hand started vibrating, a blur of yellow, red lightning curling around it.

My eyes widened as I realised what he was about to do. “Thawne, don’t-- ”

But it was too late. His hand pierced through Harkness’ chest, finding his heart in an instant. The mercenary died before he knew what hit him.

[b]“I’ll tell you what I want, Barry,”[/b] Thawne said, turning back to me. [b]“I want you to suffer.”[/b]

[center][i]12:02:59.002pm[/i][/center]

[b]“That’s why I came back,”[/b] he explained. [b]“That’s why I came back to this exact moment. You see, Barry... It’s at this point in time that the history books say you changed. Where the Flash went from hero… to villain. They say that when Captain Boomerang tried to kill your family, you snapped. They say that you murdered him in cold blood, crushing his heart with your own hand. But we know better, don’t we, Barry? We know that it wasn’t you.

“But they did get something right. You see, Flash, you did snap-- but not mentally. Oh, no-- not yet. That comes later.  No. You snapped time. Haven’t you been wondering why everything just stopped moving? Why we can have this conversation, while your beautiful wife stands frozen as a statue? You broke the time barrier, Barry. And with it, your life.

“But the books don’t stop there. No. They talk of how when you killed the captain, you withdrew from society. How you stopped caring. The Gem Cities spiralled into chaos, and you, Barry, you let it all happen. Because it was all too [i]slow. [/i]

“You let your friends die. Your family. Your nephew, your father, your wife-- you stood by as they died, second after second ticking by, a small piece of yourself dying right along with them. But in the end, you didn’t care. You just stood by as it happened… right by my side. And do you know what’s funny, Barry? It’s all going to happen again. And you’re going to let it.”[/b]

“No,” I said. I refused to believe him. “You’re lying.”

[b]“Oh, but that’s the beauty of all this,”[/b] he turned his back to me, walking away. [b]“The only one lying to you… is you.”[/b]

I didn’t know this then, but later… when everything went from bad to worse… I would find out.

He was telling the truth.

[center][i]12:02:59.003pm[/i][/center]