Vera Pyra (The Flash) (Book One)

Chapter 1__Pilot

To understand what I'm about to tell you, you need to do something first. You need to believe in the impossible. Can you do that? Good.

My name is Vera Mitchell. Otherwise known as Pyra.

But to understand where I am now in my life, you have to understand where it all started.

My story started with fire. I was always drawn to fire. Fireworks, firecrackers, candlelight, matches, staying warm by the fireplace, flames...

And even when it had been a house fire that had taken my entire family from me... My mom, Isabella, my dad, Lucas, my sister Kaylee, my brother, Joshua... and nearly me on that night 14 years ago... even when I had been miraculously saved... When I had seen a strange yellow light surrounding the flames that engulfed my family, and no one believed me when I told them the truth, told me that it had just been tricks playing on the mind of a 10 year old to help her deal with the trauma of what she had seen, of what had nearly happened to her... I was still devoted and dedicated as ever to finding out who or what killed my family that night.

No one could explain the fire. No one could explain how I got out.

And of course, they had sent me into years of foster care. Each and every time, I would run away. And each and every time, I would be found and dragged to a new foster care home.

Now, I helped run the fire department, helped where I could, and trying to find out everything that I could to find out what had started the fire in the first place. I was the brains, managing what I could, finding out what started the fire. I wasn't one of the firemen. Ever since that night, even with all the running away, all the hate, all the anger, I still did my best to make myself the best at what I did, and that meant I knew a lot about a lot of things. I also did not have any contact with any of my old foster families, and I had little to no friends. Translation: I didn't get out much, and I didn't have much of a life outside of work and my lifelong mystery.

STAR Labs, short for Scientific Technological Advanced Research Laboratories, was creating a science device called a particle accelerator.

While many people were at STAR Labs watching the release in person, I was at home in my loft, practicing on my guitar, watching TV while doing so, watching it on the large TV next to the wall of windows that allowed me to see the night sky outside.

Harrison Wells stood at the podium on the TV. "Thank you. My name is Harrison Wells. Tonight, the future begins. The work my team and I will do here will change our understanding of physics will bring about advancements in power, advancements in medicine. And trust me. That future will be here faster than you think."

I ignored much else, focusing on playing on the guitar, starting to sing slowly and melancholy. "Here we are / And I can't think from all the pills / Hey / Start the car and take me home / Here we are / And you're too drunk to hear a word I say / Start the car and take me home / Just tonight I will stay / And we'll throw it all away / When the light hits your eyes / It's telling me I'm right / And If I / I am through / Then it's all because of you / Just tonight."

~

I fixed the settings on the amp my guitar was hooked up to, strumming a new set of chords, singing the same song as before, different verse. "Do you understand who I am? / Do you wanna know? / Can you really see through me now? / I'm about to go / But just tonight I won't leave / And I'll lie, and you'll believe / Just tonight, I will see / It's all because of me."

Alarms blaring from the TV made me look up again.

A female news reporter was on the screen. "Wait. We are now being told to evacuate the facility. The storm may of caused a malfunction to the primary cooling system. Officials are now trying to shut down the particle accelerator, but so far have been unable to regain control of the--"