Sometime in the 20 minutes that Barry was actually in the bar, it had begun to rain. Like really rain. Pouring rain.

'Wonderful.'

If this was Central City, Barry would have flashed straight into his hotel room and have a warm shower. Instead, he had run out of the bar, pulled up his jacket's hoodie, and began to run; blind, into the rain. Luckily, from the other times that Barry had come to Star City, he had at one point memorized the locations of the bus stops. 'I'm so lucky that Star has 24 hour busses. It's like the city that never sleeps.' Barry was also lucky that the nearest bus stop was in the opposite direction that he had arrived in. So, if the others did assume to chase him, they would by going entirely the wrong way.

Barry continued to run on the sidewalk covering his face. His main goal was get away from the others: not just Cisco, but everyone. He saw the desperate way Caitlin was holding Cisco back. And with that crowd around them, it was only a matter of time the other three would find out. But that was Barry's plan. He wasn't going to be there when they found out.

Barry stopped running when he got to the bus stop on the corner of the street. It had a single long bench, a trashcan, a sigh showing the bus routes and times, and it was all covered with an overhead roof. As he took in the stop, he realized that he wasn't alone. A man in an old, looking used, suit sat slumped on the bench. He had an equally battered losing briefcase in his lap. The man had his arms thrown across his eyes, blocking his face from Barry's view.

Barry carefully took a few steps close to the man. The man suddenly shifted and sat up.

With him quickly exposed to Barry, he took in the features of the stranger's face. He had light brown- almost looking dirty blonde- hair. The guy wore a pair of thick black rimmed glasses. Barry also thought the man had hazel eyes. Unfortunately, he thought, because they were a dull pink, as if the man had been crying.

For a moment he stared at Barry as if he wasn't able to comprehend that Barry was really there. However after a few seconds of awkward blinking, and Barry giving a nervous smile, the man splutters and blushed. "Sorry, sorry! You're here for the bus- I mean obviously! Why else are you standing there in the rain. In the rain? Oh- the rain! Here. Here, sit!" The guy quickly scooted over, gripping his briefcase in his lap.

"Thank you." Barry gratefully sat down, and the man nodded in reply.

It wasn't until another minute went by that Barry realized, 'I don't even know when the bus is coming.' Barry was about to get up to check the sign, but the stranger must have noticed what Barry had been staring at.

"Your wondering when the next bus comes, right?"

"Yeah, actually."Well, the soonest bus that takes me to the...Grand Amaryllis Hotel."

The man took off his glasses and quickly blew air onto them, wiping them down on the corner of his suit jacket. "Well for that stop, it's going to be the next bus. But, the next bus doesn't come around for another 15 minutes." The man looked at him apologetically, but Barry waved him down.

"No worries."

Barry wanted to sit quietly, but if he did, he would be reminded of the bar. 'Small talk can't be that bad.' Barry looked at the man. "So, where are you going? Home, I'm assuming. A long day at work?"

The man gave a miserable smile. "Last day at work actually."

'Oh, I'm sorry to hear."

"Yeah."

With that - cheerful - note, they lasted into silence again. That is until that man asked him, "What about you?" Barry looked at him confused.

"Me?" Barry questioned. The stranger slumped back against the bench, like he had previously.

"Yeah, you. I can tell just by looking at you. There's something bothering you too. But ahhh, sorry. Sorry, if that was to straightforward. I mean you don't even know my name. My name is Ethan Welch."

Barry gave a small smile at the man's word fumble. "No, no. It's fine. My name is Barry Allen. And yeah, there's something bothering me." Barry hadn't planned on elaborating, but Ethan stared at him in a sort of go-on face. Barry sighed. "I made a mistake, and it cost the life of my best friend's brother. It's been a few months, but he still hasn't forgiven me. And another friend of mine has this sort of health issue, and it's sorta my fault. I feel like a plague - poisoning everyone around me."

Ethan whispered, "Plague." For a moment, his eyes were dazed, but he quickly snapped back to reality. Ethan stuffed his left hand into his suit jacket pocket suddenly. His hand fumbled with something inside, before he stopped, giving a reassuring smile to himself. Ethan looked back at Barry, with a strong smile. "I'm sure they will forgive you in time though. You can't blame yourself for death or sickness. It's just how the world works."

Barry felt a tingle go up his spine at the sort of sudden happy mood Ethan had taken upon, but that disappeared with Ethan's thoughtful words. "Thanks Ethan."

"No problem. I mean it- Oh! Here comes the bus!"

Barry looked at street, and even through the thick rain, Barry was able to see the headlights of the bus quickly approaching the stop. "You're right." Barry stood up.

"Wait." Ethan quickly climbed to his feet as well. In his desperate movement, his briefcase fell of his lap onto the ground, but he took no notice of it.

"Here." Ethan still had his left hand in his pocket, so it was weird seeing him frantically use his right hand to pull out a card from his back pocket. He offered it, and Barry took it, looking down on the card. "It has my number for- you know. If you ever want to talk." Barry smiled at the gesture.

Both of them jumped however when the sound of a honk disturbed the rain. The bus was pulled dup next to them, with the doors open. The driver stared at them in a bored and annoyed way.

Barry looked back at Ethan. "I have to go, so bye."

"Yeah bye." Ethan finally pulled his left hand out of his pocket, and offered it to Barry. Not wanting to anger the bus driver anymore, Barry quickly shook Ethan's hand. A sharp poke hit Barry's hand. He flinched at pulled his hand back. Ethan must have noticed his reaction. Ethan ran his right hand through his hair. "Sorry, it was probably my ring." Barry looked, and sure enough - a small wedding ring was on the man's hand. "Huh." 'I swear he wasn't wearing a ring earlier.'

Barry jumped again when the bus driver honked the horn. Barry gave one last look at Ethan, who was already sitting back down on the bench, grabbing his briefcase off the ground.

Barry shook off the feeling and quickly clambered onto the bus.

The bus was empty, save for two others sitting separately in the back. Barry sat down two seats behind, on the left. The driver grumbled about something, and pulled the lever, closing the bus door. Just as the bus pulled away from the stop, Barry peered out the window at Ethan. Ethan, eyes meeting, with a wide smile waved Barry off. Barry continued to stare at Ethan, as the bus moved. Unfortunately, as Ethan disappeared from view, and Barry settled back into the seat looking directly in front of him; he could still feel Ethan's stare burning into him.

And that wasn't the only thing burning.

Barry found himself rubbing his left hand. 'Why do I still fell a prick in my hand?'

But that wasn't the only thing bothering him.

Barry had tried to enjoy the bus ride, but he felt an odd presence from somewhere around him. The bus ride was only 20 minutes. Yet, through five minute intervals, Barry peered outside of the windows somewhat frantically, and inside the bus itself as well, for the odd presence. Halfway through the ride, the other riders had gotten off. Barry found himself pushing against the window, flinching as they walked by. 'What am I doing?! They aren't doing anything!' Barry took deep breaths, forcing his panic down his throat.

'Oh my gosh. The hotel!' Barry had never felt such confused relief in his life, until he had seen the hotel. Barry didn't wait for the driver to stop the bus. He was already up and grabbing onto a pole, as it stopped. Barry practically flew out of the bus, and into the hotel. There were other people, much fancier looking them him considering it was a five star place, but Barry took no notice of them. He shoved himself into an empty elevator, and smashed the room floor button repeatedly.

Getting to his room was his only goal.

Barry fell to the floor of the elevator. 'What's going on?' The ride took only seconds, but it was enough to send Barry into a mild hysteria. Barry braced himself when the elevator soared opened, but nothing was there but the normal hallway. He stood up on shaky legs, and trudged out of the elevator. He leaned against the hallway wall, his eyes closed and his breathing erratic. After a few minutes, Barry felt his heart rate go down, and he opened his eyes again.

There was nothing there. At least, nothing that would have triggered his reaction.

He rubbed a hand through his hair. 'What was that? Everything that happened tonight probably just caught up with me. Yeah. I panicked when I found myself alone. I was somewhere I had never been. It made sense to be careful. I should sleep it off.'

With his seemingly logical reasoning, Barry walked the halls to his room. When Barry approached his door, he thought, 'Are the others back yet? Were they looking for me anyways?' Barry shook his head, and he pulled the key card from his pocket.

After that, Barry could only remember taking everything out of his jacket pockets and setting them down on the coffee table. He didn't bother to wash the sweat off his face, or change into something more suitable. He fell onto the bed, and almost immediately went to sleep.

*****************************************************************

Thanks for the support from everyone!

I've had a few of you guys do my poll, and it was great help. For those of you now, the poll is to help me decide what sort of 'darker themes' you'd like me to go into. I don't want to do anything that you've seen too much of in other stories, so I've found some other ideas that could potentially fit well with the story. So, I would be really grateful, if you guys could go check it out. (It is on Fanfiction.net under my username: OnlyEscape).

Beside that, all I have to say is: Have An Amazing Day!

-NightFlyStars