I hate my life...

"You always get defensive! I didn't even go through you phone. I just asked you who she was because I saw her name pop up while your phone was facing up when you were in the bathroom!" A woman said with a shaky and distressed tone… but I couldn't care less. It was none of my business. Although the walls were paper-thin, I treated them like they were made out of 5-inch thick steel.

The only thing I paid attention to was the sound of keys jingling in my hand as I opened the door to my shitty roach-infested Bronx 1-bedroom apartment. In it, nothing worked as it was supposed to. For starters, the front door itself was broken, so every time I entered, I had to be very careful gliding the door open. If I wasn't, the door would have fallen facedown on the ground due to the broken and rusted hinges that barely managed to hold.

To be fair, I was careful with every door I opened, but with this one, in particular, it was so low quality that I even had to make sure to be careful while inserting the keys inside the door for one reason.

"*Ding*"

The sound of a soft metal being broken made me click my tongue.

"Fuck." I mumbled under my breath.

The landlord had cheeped out on everything in the apartment complex. Evidently, the materials that the tenant keys were made out of as well seeing how my set just broke off so easily.

I sighed in disappointment.

"*Smack*" The sound of flesh being slapped echoed throughout the halls and through the walls. But like always, I ignored it and took a few seconds to review my day.

I had just come back from a long day of work as a trash man and I smelled the part. Mentally, I felt the part as well. My girlfriend had just broken up with me two days prior, I got beat up by a 5'3 homeless junkie who just so happened to know Muay Thai earlier on in the day because I didn't want to give him my sandwich, and above all things trivial, it was the anniversary of my mother's death. 15 years ago on the date of 4/9/2010, She had been murdered right before my very eyes.

The scene that had been burned into my fragile mind at the age of 10 still filled me with hatred and regret at the age of 24. I had recurring nightmares about the man in a hockey mask who had shot her 2 times in the liver and 1 time in the heart. I could vividly picture him escaping out our condo's balcony with the clarity of Sherlock Holmes' magnifying glass when I closed my eyes. I still remember the look he gave me as I stared at him through the doorway detectives said he kicked open.

Today, this was the reason I paused for a few seconds before walking through a doorway. I felt like something bad would happen if I entered a room too brazenly before analyzing it. It was a strange phobia, but a justified one considering my trama.

For a second, the moment I walked through the door, a strange chill… no, a strange vibration sent waves throughout my body. A gut feeling… a bad omen. I could feel it as I made my way inside.

'Hopfuly this isn't the universe telling me somebody broke in.' I thought.

My life was stressful. Paying 2,000 a month to live in a rathole, having bruised shins, a black eye, and a broken heart was just the most recent black thunder cloud that stormed over my head.

I had arrived at a point in life where I barely had anyone by my side to pick me up when I was down. I was so mentally exhausted that if I had a few more things tossed on my psyche, the chaotic storm over my head would start to create rives that flowed down my face.

'I'll worry about the door tomorrow.' I thought while gently closing it behind me.

As I did, I heard a woman sobbing… but still, I ignored it. I needed to get rid of the foul odder on my body

Earlier in the day, multiple bags of trash had burst open on my person and for the past few hours, a warm, slimy, and slippery mystery goop was bypassing my socks and boots. It had been sliding in between my toes for a good while and mixed with my sweat making it even more unbearable. The sensation along with the god-awful smell that permeated off of my jumpsuit would have made a weaker man vomit.

[And right there as you can see, Brady was grabbed by his face mask and was pulled to the ground.]

I heard someone's TV playing the game at a ridiculous volume. Probably to tune out what was going on next door. I couldn't blame them. There was just too much going on.

The streets were always loud with gunshots, screaming lost souls, and police sirens, but my neighbors were most of the time even louder. Peace was a rare commodity.

"Like I said, the next time you look through my fucking phone again, I'm slapping the dog shit out of you for the fourth time. Word to my mother." Again, I ignored their screams.

"I didn't fucking touch your phone, D!" The woman shouted.

"So you think I'm stupid?" D asked.

"If you put your hands on me again, I'm calling my brothers!"

"Then you better call the rest of the family too because if they come here, yall gone have 3 funerals coming up real soon. Word is bond."

[First down, Patriots]

My life was trash. Metaphorically speaking and in the literal sense.

If someone found my life valuable enough to take, they could have it. I didn't feel like worrying about the door. I was gonna get comfy and relax before my mind collapsed in on itself.

…

About an hour passed. After getting out of the shower, the neighbors had stopped arguing. I finally had a moment of peace. Right now, they were probably cuddled up with each other reaching the lovey-dovey part of their negative-couples ouroboros. I couldn't count how many times the police had been called on them nor did I care to. I just toned them out. I became really good at it too. In fact, I learned how to live and navigate in my own little world. It was the only way to stay sane in this city.

I put on the silk robe that I may or may not have stolen from a house party recently, along with my neon orange bunny slippers that I spent far too much money on.

The question as to why a 6'0, 300 -pound grown man would be wearing bright orange bunny slippers would often be asked by the girls I would bring to my place. And to their question, I would have retorted, 'because I'm a grown man and can buy whatever the hell I wanted,' which most of the time prompted them to laugh. In the beginning, they were for novelty, but they were really comfortable. So comfy in fact that exes tried to steal them. I would never allow my past partners to steal the sherbert twins, which is what I named them.

Making my way over to the couch, I lay back and flipped on the T.V, but the moment I did, an overwhelming irritation consumed me. A show that I used to watch based on my favorite comic book superhero was on.

[My name is Barry Allen, and I am the fastest-]

…

"*Beep. Beep. Beep*."

45 mind-numbing minutes later, I fixed a second hot pocket and finished my episode of The Flash.

"*Click*"

"I can't believe I watched this bullshit." I sat in disbelief. I had just watched The Flash, one of the most powerful superheroes ever, get his ass beat by a regular human who could duplicate himself a few times.

It was one of the episodes I hadn't watched while it was airing and now, I wish I could get the hour of life that I wasted back.

"This inconsistent, stupidass, braindead, dumb fucking show has the gall to tell me that Barry Bartholamue Allen, who has the ability to catch bullets in mid-air just got his ass beat by a couple of regualr dudes with base human level strength?" I shook my head in disapproval.

"This is just downright disappointing."

I just laid back on my couch thinking about what kind of drugs the storyboard producers must have been taking for such an atrocious scrip like this to come into existence.

'He's supposed to be an omniversal speed god but just got beat up by some mailman-level thugs.' I thought to myself. I remembered the first season and the second being pretty decent… but this… this was shit.

'The man who can move and think so fast that he out-ran time. The man that has the strength of a white dwarf star. The man who punched the reverse flash into the future!'

I shook my head and put my fingers to the bridge of my nose.

"*Sigh* *Rumble*"

"Ha." I chuckled to myself. This show was so bad, that my stomach began to hurt.

Getting up, I went to grab my hot pocket, but as I stood up, an overwhelming sense of dizziness overwhelmed me.

"Woah… what the…"

It was like my whole world had flipped upside down. The sensation was so extreme that I plopped right back down just as fast as I had got up.

'Okay…That was weird… but we're all gravy in the navy.' I thought standing up much slower this time. Grabbing my food, before I went back to my spot, but before I could sit down,

"*Ding Dong*"

'The hell? It's 12 am. Why would anyone be coming to my place at this time,' I thought.

Slowly approaching the door, I made sure to be very quiet while approaching.

I was in a terrible neighborhood, and this could be a person trying to break into my house so listened for any footsteps or whispers. Putting my ear to the door, I heard absolutely nothing… but the more I focused on that nothing, I realized, it was more abnormal than if I actually heard any commotion.

Not just outside of my unit, but even the streets and entire apartment complex were quiet. Very much uncharacteristically so. I heard not a peep from a person or squeak from a floorboard. I didn't even hear the snoring of my neighbor next door with sleep apnea. I thought to myself rather this was some type of elaborate setup for a home burglary but even if it was, the silence was far too organized for that to be the case.

"*Ding-Dong Ding-Dong Ding-Dong*"

The vibrations rang through my ears, but an ominous feeling vibrated through my body.

I checked the peephole cautiously only to realize nothing was there.

I put my ear to the door only to not hear a sound.

All of a sudden, the world fell silent.

'What the hell? Am I being ding-dong ditched?'

Before I could go back to relaxing, I was interrupted more irritatingly.

"*Ding-Dong Ding-Dong Ding-Dong Ding-Dong.*"

Staring through the peephole, I found…no one?

I opened my door to check if the doorbell itself was broken but the moment I did, the smell of bleach and other types of cleaning chemicals wafted in my house unlike the usually Bronx fragrance of radio-active rat piss, unwashed testicles, and weed. Peeking my head out the door, I started to believe that I was losing it.

'A broom closet?'

No a hallway. Not the neighbor's unit, but a janitorial closet.

I didn't believe what I was seeing and so I tried to blink as hard as I could in an attempt that my eyes would rest like a computer monitor

'1…2…3!'

But nothing changed.

'This has to be a prank or something.'

Walking a few steps in, I touched the walls to make sure they were really and not made out of cardboard… but they were very much so made out of plaster and other things that were in the foundation of a wall.

"I don't know what the hell is going on right now, but I'm taking my ass back to sleep. My day has been too goddamn stressful as is. If this is a prank or some other bullshit, I don't have the patience for it. This stuff better be gone by the time I wake up." I announced to whoever was listening. I was exhausted and had a 14-hour shift tomorrow. I was anything but in the mood. And so, I sighed, turning back around, but doing so I realized that the door had shut silently as I was ranting. Not only that but the door… It changed. Instead of my beat-up tinfoil one, it was replaced with a strong and sturdy wooden one with a gold frame and nob.

"Woah…" I jumped a little surprised.

"Funny… But I was serious. Cut it out with the David Blaine Shtick. It's not funny. You're not about to get the reaction that you want out of me." If they caught me any other day, I would probably have thrown the whole 'surprise charade' But it was midnight and I had to be at work at 5. It didn't matter how cool the trick was to me when my refrigerator was empty.

Pulling the door open, my eyes went wide with shock as motion censored lights turned on exposing the new area I was in. Like if I just had 14 shots of espresso, I was now wide awake.

This 100% wasn't my shity apartment. Not by a long shot.

The view presented before me was a storage warehouse that looked like someone attempted to convert it into a workspace. There were metal shelves with different beakers that contained strange fluids. There were a few expensive-looking wooden desks that had messy files scattered everywhere. And there were multiple workstations with stools that were set neatly and idly.

Three things caught my attention mostly.

The first was how the full moon's light beamed through the large windows rather beautifully.

The second was the fact that there seemed to be one main workstation that was the messiest of all. On the desk sat an abandoned coffee cup, different markers, pens, and highlights scattered everywhere, and a board with various different strings of yarn attached.

The thing that caught my eye the most, is that the scene before me was a very familiar one. In fact, it was so familiar to me that I had seen it earlier in the. How earlier? Precisely an hour ago. This looked to be an exact replica of the central city forensic lab… No… This was the central city forensic lab!

Was I losing it? I was just awake. My senses were clear. I could smell, see, hear, taste, and touch. I was an avid lucid dreamer. My life was miserable so whenever I had free time, I would travel to the land of milk and cookies and take not of what I experienced. In the years of jotting down in my dream journal, to tell that I was dreaming considering how hyperrealistic they were was that I would ground myself to make sure that I had all my senses. If I was dreaming, I would always be missing one or two. In rare cases where I wouldn't be missing any, I would watch out for the coherency of the dream. If random things were happing constantly, then I could guarantee that I was dreaming…

The problem was, that my entire day prior had been coherent. Then, I shut my eyes as tightly as I could as I did before.

'1… 2… 3' And nothing. The view before me stayed the same. I started to sweat profusely in panic. I was chubby. It was pretty warm. On top of all that, I was panicking.

'I'm hallucinating. This isn't real… This…' for a moment, my mind went blank. I tried to come up with a valid line of reasoning as to how I got where I was but couldn't come to a conclusion.

'No. It's a dream. It has to be. When I open my eyes, everything is going to be back to normal.' I tried to hypnotize myself into accepting reality. I tried to close the door and reopened it. I tried to punch holes in the walls to see if they were paper mache or not and only ended up with sting knuckles."What the fuck?"

But this was reality.

'I can't be here. I can't.' I thought. And so, I began to look around. As I did, I made special care not to touch anything. I walked around looking at random pieces of files that seemed to be orbiting me. And noticed that they had very specific recurring keywords that caught my eye. Those words being, Central City, Forensics, or CCPD. I also noticed that the papers were all dated 2013; to be specific, November 2013.

'No…'

For the life of me, I just couldn't believe my eyes… That was until I made my way to the board with yarn on it… no. It wasn't just any board. It was Barry Allen's Investigation board he used to organize evidence to prove his father innocent.

"Just like the show…" I whispered under my breath.

Newspaper clippings, articles, gruesome photos, and images of an innocent man. All of it was displayed infront of me.

'On T.V, these headlines were just squiggles, but now they look like valid pieces of media. Even the police report…'

[03/18/2000]

[Dr. Henry Allen murders his own wife and traumatizes his own child.]

[hippocratic Oath to Homicidal Vow.]

[Loving local father turned killer.]

[05/23/2001]

[Doctor of Death sentenced 45 to life.]

[The Marital Undertaker sent off to Iron Heights.]

[05/28/2001]

[Justicte for Barry and Norra]

'Wow… they really painted him out to be a villain.' I thought. Because I watched the show's first couple of seasons, I knew for a fact that Henry Allen was framed by the Reverse-Flash, Eobard Thawne who stabbed Norra in the heart. The reason being, he had an unhealthy obsession with Barry.

Since he was from the 22nd century, his relationship with Barry began with idolizing him with a childlike wonder. Who wouldn't? Especially in his time period where The Flash was known as the greatest hero of all time. There was merchandise of The Flash everywhere and Thawne had probably collected all of it as a kid, like most other kids. Barry was a real-life superhero and a cult following so large that people treated his museum in the future as a holy temple.

As a child, Eobard, like many others, was mesmerized by all of the accomplishments that the flash achieved. But unlike others, Thawne was a fanatic who aspired to become him. In adulthood, he proceeded along the path of biology and technology in hopes of one day recreating the Speed Force, which was not only the source of Barry's powers but a fundamentally force and concept of the universe.

Luckily for Eobard Thawne, he succeeded in making the unbelievable accomplishment of Speed Force replication. It was at that moment that in his mind, he became rivals with Barry. Once he got his powers and succession was aloof, he used his incredible powers to go back in time to meet his idol… but things didn't go as he expected.

Arriving 100 years in the past, Thawne had realized that he was destined to become nothing more than a memory. He was destined to become a one-off villain who would disappear in the history books after getting defeated by The Flash. It was at that moment his inferiority complex kicked in. The whole goal of becoming a speedster was to be remembered in history, just like Barry. Coming to the realization that Barry would eventually toss him aside as if he were trash, his previous rivalry turned into hatred. He decided he was going to learn from his future self's mistakes. Homicide became his new philosophy. His ambitions, resentment, and motivations grew. If he couldn't be like Barry, he would be the opposite, The Reverse. And so, Thawne went back and made some mathematical calibrations to the Speed Force he had created. Soon after, he created the Negative Speed Force. His naming sense was lackluster, but his genius was not to be underestimated.

With his newfound force, he then attempted to go back in time once more, but this time, with a thirst for blood. His vengeance only meant one thing, which was the death of Barry Allen. If his past self couldn't kill him while Barry was The Flash, why not kill him while he was depowered and at his weakest. So what if he killed one child. It didn't matter. If he could get rid of his enemy, he would be set free of the shackles of destiny… but once more, his plans were foiled by an experienced Barry who was far more superior to Thawne in almost every way.

In their life or death battle, Thawne knew that he couldn't win in a one-on-one, even with his new force, but he knew he had to make Berry feel pain. Pain that could never be forgotten. And so, The Reverse Flash Killed his mother by stabbing her in the chest. And because no one but Barry and his father was home at the time, all the blame would be placed on Henry while Barry was cursed with knowing the truth.

"Man with the yellow suit…" I mumbled as I took a closer look at the notes that Barry had taken down based on the case of his mother. He had been looking at virtually every single serial killer that ever operated in Central City, but he couldn't be further off the mark.

'I'm in a world of gods…' Reality set and as I took a long and exasperated breath.

Although The CW shows had terrible writing, this was real life now. There was a sociopathic man in green spandex playing a superhero. There was a psychotic immortal man from the stone age who was technically Jack The Ripper. There was a magic man who could absorb life's essence… whatever the fuck that was. And lastly, some people could shoot fire and ice out of their hands as if they were gods. But I…

'I'm chopped liver.'

Stress… anxiety… depression… all of this washed over me at one time.

'What the hell am I supposed to do! I'm just a fatass 24-year-old kid from the bronx!' I started to pace back and forth. I felt like my heart was about to explode. I was in a silk bathrobe and bunny slippers with a room temperature hot pocket in my hand. I was a god damn joke. I started to pace back and forth profusely.

"Shit-shit-shit!" I yelled while simultaneously whispering.

It was highly improbable that this was a prank. The documents that I read over and over seemed too legitimate. This was the real world… my new real world. I could feel my body temperature rise. I could feel the cold sweat on my forehead. I could feel my hands becoming numb. I could feel myself becoming lightheaded.

"Shhh… Relax…" I tried to soothe my mind and body which were in a state of chaos.

"Calm your fatass down before you have a stroke again." I then took deep breaths in an attempt to slow my heart which I could hear beating in my ears.

One minute passed. Soon five… Then, before I knew it, an hour had flown by. I had finally managed to get ahold of myself and was able to think calmly as I sat on a stool that was a little too small for me.

'Okay… I need to think about this logically for a second. Maybe, this could be my chance to start over. Everyday in my past world, I wished to not wake up after I had gone to sleep. That's just how miserable I was. I have almost no friends, and no parents.' The only person I had in my life to depend on was my grandmother who had raised me and was now at such a chronic stage with her dementia that she couldn't recognize me. This world, although it wasn't ideal, could prove to be an amazing chance for me.

'With this new life, I have new things to worry about.' First, I was a nobody who didn't exist…at least I didn't have any legal documents to say otherwise. Second, I had no shelter.

'Well, I did see a pair of keys in the closet. And there were a lot of clean and warm towels there too. If worst comes to worst, which it inevitably will…' I would most definitely have to spend multiple nights in this lab as I didn't have a place of residence.

The third thing I had to worry about was how was I going to get money. I would probably have to become a vagabond or a thief. 'But if I get caught by The Flash or The Arrow, my life could be over before it even…' As my train of thought was still in motion, I was looking aimlessly at the papers before me out of boredom, but like a lightning bolt to a kite, I was jolted to an epiphany.

'It's September. Not only that but it's 2013!' To anyone else, this date may have seemed unimportant but that was far from the case.

'This was the month before Kelly had the car accident!' Kelly was the first girlfriend I ever had. I remembered this day and a month from now in particular because she broke her leg. Other than spending our entire day in the hospital filling ourselves up on ice cream and jello, we had eagerly waited 2 weeks prior for the first appearance of Barry Allen on screen. With that being said, the crime bulletin board I had previously investigated had looked the same as it did before he began to take action as The Flash. I knew this because in my first year of high school, for an art class, I had to replicate a tv or movie scene as best as I could with limited materials. I memorized almost every scene and every line within the first two seasons.

'This… This means Barry hasn't been struck by lighting yet.'

The corners of my mouth curled up as if I was about to steal Christmas. No… I was about to steal a whole lot more than Christmas. What I was about to steal were the powers of a god.

"Ha. Looks like I'm not shit out of luck." I couldn't contain my excitement. I festered in my greed thinking about all the possibilities that could be. Unlike Barry who was barely able to utilize his powers, I had gained otherworldly knowledge based on the DC universe. Because I had watched two seasons of The Flash, I could vaguely predict the future as well, but still, I needed to know exactly where I was at in the timeline, even though I had a broad idea.

Walking up to the T.V that Barry had by his desk, I sat down I flipped through channels until I found the news which only took ten clicks of a button.

CCN: Channel 30 Is what I landed on. The date was 11/11/2013. The time was 8:00 pm.

For a while, I just laid back and watched mindlessly.

'Looks like no matter what universe I'm in, the new is always boring.' I thought.

After about 23 minutes later, some important news that mattered to me came on.

[That's Right. Star Labs is finally going to demonstrate that amazing scientific advancement that they have been working endlessly on, The particle accelerator. The scheduled date of presentation will be December 11th of this year. That is exactly a month from now. Tour tickets will be going on sale tomorrow at 6:00 am EST.

The device that will revolutionize how we use energy today. Instead of the dangerous and harmful fossil fuels that we as a society have been using for far too long, which have also created an almost irreversible hole in our ozone layer, the intellectual minds at S.T.A.R Labs have created an ingenious source of energy that will have the capabilities of creating pure and clean energy throughout the entirety of Central City. Earlier today, Co-Founder of S.T.A.R Labs and lead researcher in the particle accelerator project, Harrison Wells stated that his hope is high in fixing climate change and making the world a better place.]

I had received my final bit of confirmation.

"Ha… Hehehe."

I smiled eagerly. Real power was in my grasp. I knew for a fact that the particle accelerator was nothing more than a scheme for Barry to get his powers earlier than he was meant to. I knew for a fact that Harrison Wells had been dead for the past 13 years and the one that was walking around today was an inadequate speedster who couldn't run fast enough to break the time barrier. And I knew for a fact that I was going to fuck up all of his plans.

'Now it's time for the waiting game.'

I had the opportunity of my dreams right infront of me. I was in the location that I needed to be. It was the right year as well. Now, I just needed to not get caught. That, and also find a refrigerator so that I could eat while I waited. I already had a plan to wait on the roof during workdays. I would also sleep in the closet when everyone left. Luckily for me, there were no cameras inside the building so I was scout free to roam for excess pieces of information such as work schedules posted on a wall or any janitorial/ security that I had to look out for.