"Hello, is anyone in here?" Aspen called out into the dark room. Her hand fumbled around the wall for a light switch.

When she couldn't find one, Aspen took a few more steps into the room, figuring the switch would either be farther into the room or on another wall. She let go of the door, her foot being the only thing keeping it open.

'Where is that light switch?' She continued to feel around the wall, and her hand ran over a small divot.

Like muscle memory, an odd feeling came over her and she immediately knew that she needed to go over to the other wall. The only problem with that was that she needed to take her foot out of the door to do so.

'What's the worst that could happen? I'm in the dark for 2-3 seconds?'

Aspen weighed the two options in her mind and ultimately decided to take the risk. She still had no idea how, but she knew that the light switch would be there.

She pulled her foot out of the door and took a few more steps she needed to find the switch. The door slammed shut just as she found it. Warm light filled the room after she flipped the switch.

The room itself was small, holding the same familiarity as the rest of the house, and yet again, Aspen had no idea where she knew if from.

A small bed with light pink sheets was pushed up against the far corner of the wall, a dark oak nightstand right next to it. Toys were littered across the floor; not enough to warrant the word 'pigsty', but enough to cause Aspen to watch her step. Across from the nightstand on the other wall stood the matching dresser, and next to that, a small mirror. There was another door on the same wall as the light switch, which led into a closet. The closet was filled with extra blankets, pillows, clothes, and toys.

One of the toys caught Aspen's attention. She knelt down and picked up the small doll, examining it. It was a stuffed animal in the shape of a hedgehog, with purple and blue fur, like something you would win from a carnival.

'I used to have one of these,' Aspen smiled, remembering one of the few good parts of her childhood. 'Wait.'

She suddenly dropped the toy and backed away from the closet. Aspen turned around and looked at the room again.

"No. It can't be," she said aloud.  But it made sense.

J'onn said that this was where her repressed memories were stored. What better place than where she wasn't allowed to be herself. Where she had to hide her powers and her existence unless her parents or some other person in a white coat ran extensive tests on her; taking blood samples and testing how her body would react to different stimuli.
She heard a loud knocking coming from the bedroom door, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Aspen?" said a voice that made Aspen shiver. Her biological father: Dr. Derik LaFont. "It's time to come downstairs now. Dr. Celio is here."

"But I don't like the needles!" Aspen turned back to the bed and saw a ghostly figure of her younger self sitting there, playing with the doll that Aspen had found in the closet.

Her younger self shared Aspen's skin tone, but the similarities ended there. Light brown hair loosely held back in two pigtails spilled over her shoulders. Compared to the jeans and sweaters that Aspen usually sported, her younger self had a pastel yellow dress that cut off mid-calf.

"It's not for a check-up, honey," her father reasoned. "He brought a friend who wants to meet you. He's very interested in your abilities and our research."

The ghostly figure turned toward the door for a brief second, as if considering going down and meeting the new man, but the girl turned her head back to her dolls just as quickly. "No."

"Aspen, you better listen to me," her father's stern voice rang through the house, followed by heavy footsteps up the stairs. "Come out here, now."

The young girl jumped at the sudden aggression in the last part of her fathers' sentence, and quickly went over and locked the door, pigtails bouncing as she moved. Sounds of someone trying to turn the doorknob soon followed.

"Aspen Marie, you open this door right now!" The young girl winced again at the use of her middle name but definitely stayed still. Her father began pounding on the door in addition to trying to turn the knob.

"Is something the matter, Dr. LaFont?" a new voice asked.

"O-of course not, sir! Aspen is just being stubborn."

"The willingness of our subject is a key part of this project. However, the need to produce results on time trumps that." The intensity in his voice caused both versions of Aspen to shiver.

"Y-yes, sir. I know we have a key around here somewhere. Please, allow me to-"
"There will be no need for a key, Dr. LaFont," the man said plainly.

A metallic clink filled the air. The doorknob completed a full turn, and the door slowly creaked open, revealing the two tall men.

Aspen.

"Aspen," her father started, cooly. "Please come downstairs."

Wake up.

Aspen jolted up, sweat dripping down from her forehead onto her pants. Shaking, she looked around and regained her bearings.

"Aspen!" Dinah exclaimed, reaching out to hold Aspen steady. "Are you okay?"

She didn't answer and instead stared at a spot on the wall, trying not to pass out.

'Why didn't I immediately recognize that house?' she berated herself. The fact that she didn't recognize it made sense as well: she pushed back any memory she could of that place and tried not to dwell on the memories it held, but when she first started living with Oliver she couldn't look at a similarly modeled house without being bombarded with memories.

"J'onn, what happened?" Oliver asked, Aspen only now noticing that he was in the room as well.

"It was a set-up," J'onn said suddenly from beside Aspen. She looked over and saw that his face was paler than usual.

"What do you mean, a set-up?" Dinah asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Someone set a mental trap, knowing that you would enlist the help of a telepath," he explained. "We were separated and stranded in different parts of Aspen's repressed memories." J'onn paused and looked to Aspen, giving her a look of sympathy. "I apologize for putting you through something like that, Aspen. It was not my intention to."

Not wanting her voice to betray her, Aspen only nodded in response.

"Aspen's memories have not only been erased, but we can assume that her mind has also been tampered with," J'onn said.

"What does that mean, J'onn?" Oliver asked, concern lacing his voice. "You can't find her memories?" J'onn shook his head.

"I will be able to recover Aspen's lost memories, but the evident tampering and possibility of fake memories could prolong the process."

Fake memories? So that 'memory' she experienced about Raene and the Shadow's could have been implanted, and it wasn't her. But why would someone put something like that in her mind?

Aspen noticed that J'onn had started walking towards the door while in her and called to him.

"J'onn! Wait!" The Martian stopped walking and turned back around to face Aspen. Dinah and Oliver also looked to Aspen after her sudden outburst. "How can you tell if a memory is fake or tampered with?"

* * * * * *

Y'all probably hate me for not updating. I'm mad at myself for not updating.

So there was a reason I wanted to update last weekend, because last week was Asexual Awareness Week! And I also realized that I never told you guys what the black ring means.

Those two things and this book all tie together because two characters in this book are fellow Asexuals! One of them is Aspen, who is AroAce, which means she doesn't feel sexual or romantic attraction to others.

I won't name the other character right now but I don't think there's many to choose from 😂😂😂

Next! I want to severely apologize for not updating since the beginning of September! School has just been crazy, and I have a job, and I have drama, and then I have homework(and this dummy decided to take an AP class), so I apologize for the crazy upload schedule.

I really really want to get back into a regular schedule, even if it's more spaced out than I want to. Realistically I don't think I can update every week, so I think I'm gonna push it back to every other weekend. I'll try it with that timeframe and see how that goes.

Enigma is pretty much my top priority book, but I also want to continue Something About a Sociopath and Phantom.

Also, I'm sorry about last chapter, that one was horrible but I really wanted to get a chapter up at that point. Hopefully this chapter was better!

This rant was really long and I applaud and appreciate you if you actually took the time to read all of this!!

So on to actual stuff that pertains to the chapter!😂

What did you guys think about this chapter?

Who do you think the mysterious man from Aspen's memory was?

Was the flashback from a couple chapters ago real or a fake?

How do you think Dinah and Oliver will react to Aspen's big reveal?

Also, I have some questions regarding the next chapter!

If you were a reporter in Star City, what kind of questions would you ask Aspen when she suddenly appears after being missing for four years? (if you didn't guess, next chapter is the press conference, hence my need for questions😂😂)

Comment what you guys think and don't forget to vote!!

Thank you for reading and I sincerely hope you enjoyed this chapter!!