You know what's something about the way Garcia Flynn lost his family that really gets to me?
That he was only half-awake at the time.
You know when you have one of those unsettling dreams that leave you rattled all day? You're already awake, you can logically analise it and poke holes in the dream's logic (or lack thereof), you can reassure yourself with proof, tangible things and you're still jittery. Even if you're not thinking about it, because your subconscious mind is still unsettled, it doesn't matter that your conscious mind already put it to rest, the unease is still lurking.
Garcia Flynn was deeply asleep, even with his military and professional background, he was feeling secure in bed with his wife, deep enough asleep he didn't register the cough / sound that led Lorena into their daughter's room. He was likely sinking back into sleep after Lorena's words when he's suddenly jolted by the sound of his wife and daughter's murders.
And then there he is. Wearing only his pajamas and his wedding ring, probably barefoot, maybe a gun in hand, fighting the intruders enough to barely make it out alive. Panic, grief, adrenaline, helplesness, instinct... the things fueling him against the remnants of sleep in his fight for survival despite the futility in terms of getting to his family.
Even having managed to fight his way out he still wouldn't have been able to go and stay with his wife and child for a while, whether they had already passed or not. He didn't get to cradle their bodies one last time, to hold their hands... He didn't get to tell Iris that despite the fact that he wasn't able to protect her as he had promised her, he was there and she didn't need to be afraid because everything would be over soon and he'd be there with her through it. That he was sorry and that he loved them.
He had to flee because they wanted him dead too and he had to have been injured fighting off the team sent by Rittenhouse. A team that would have been well awake and wearing protective gear. All of this when a few minutes before he was in bed blissfully asleep.
Their loss has to be that much harder to shake, because that's the state of consciousness he was in when he lost them, when he last heard of them. No wonder he sees them when he closes is eyes.
