Jesse is giving Dawn a tour of STAR Labs, Caitlin is working on her miracle medicine, Cisco is scanning the internet and police reports for anything related to that weird creature that disappeared the other day, and I am looking into Dawn's foster records. I continue to look over my shoulder because she told me not to look into them but I couldn't help it.  I speed read through all of her documents until I come across something strange. It was the notes taken from her psychiatrist. 

 Dawn Richards: Low Latent inhibition/PTSD/Anxiety

2/5/07

Patient Dawn Richards has been through a traumatic event at a young age, leaving her in the foster care system. Five days ago her family was killed right in front of her, but she survived the attack with only a few injuries. I have diagnosed Dawn with Low Latent Inhibilitation and a severely high IQ. This causes her to remember everything she sees, hears, or reads. As I have talked to her these past few days she has been reciting what she remembers. I am afraid to say that she does indeed remember everything in great detail and she will for the rest of her life. 

2/28/07

Ms. Richards has been in foster care for twenty-four days now. She said at her last meeting with me that her new home is very dirty and she has to sleep on the floor in the basement. She has become shy and her sentences have come down to three word phrases. I am almost completely certain that there is no hope in her mental recovery, at least not in the conditions she is living in. 

3/17/07

Large bruises have formed on Ms. Richard's arms and legs. When I confront her about it she says that she is not allowed to talk about it. This type of abuse happens to many patients that are in the foster care system, but in her fragile state of mind I worry she will not survive long enough to defend herself. 

My breath catches in my throat. I had no idea what she has been through, living through her parents murder every day. The next few years of entries are all the same; stating that she still remembers everything and that she will never get better blah blah blah. I continue to read but Cisco yells from the Cortex, "Bank robbery on 32nd and 10th!" I jump up and get my suit, leaving a trail of lightning in my wake. 

>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<

After taking the bank robbers to the police station I go back to the labs. "Hey good job man!" Cisco high fives me as I enter the room. "Wanna grab a pizza or something?" Usually I would jump at the offer but I really wanted to finish reading about Dawn. "No not today, sorry, I have a lot of work to get done." Then I walk out of the room as quickly as possible. 

I sit in my rolling chair and read the computerized notes. 

11/8/13

Ms. Richards has become defiant and refuses to tell me what goes on at her foster homes. In the past six years she has been in thirty seven different homes, none of which were good ones. Today is her last session, for I have given up on ways to help her. She has little self worth and believes that nobody will ever want her. She is incapable of making emotional connections causing her life to be one catastrophe after another. Her last words to me before she left my office were, "Thank you for trying to be my friend but I wasn't worth your time."

How can someone go through so much and come out feeling like they are worth nothing? 

"I told you not to read it," Dawn says from behind me. 

I don't have any words so I just sit there holding my head with my hands. And then to my surprise, my head is being lifted from my hands and into a minty blue shirt attached to Dawn's shoulder. Her small hands cradle my head as my eyes start to get watery. "I'm sorry," I choke, blinking away any tears that threaten to fall. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Who killed your parents?"

Her face turns and worry lingers in her eyes. Then she shakes her head. "You won't believe me."

"What if I tell you a story first?" She nods. 

"When I was eleven my mom was murdered. Everyone thought my dad had done it, but I saw it happen. It was another speedster. No one believed me until last year when he confessed. I promise that I will believe you."

She does that thing she does when she is nervous and cowers into herself. Then she slowly inhales and speaks. "It was a man or something. I don't know. It was wearing all black and it had this lightning, like yours but blue."

She looks up at me. "Do you believe me?"

My face is full of shock. The man from the other day. 

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Sorry this is such a short chapter. And that this chapter is super cheesy but I needed to fill the story with something so I can make better chapters. Thank you for reading!