I leap up, staring her in the eye, feeling my blood boil. One thing I can't stand is being called a liar and a cheat. "I did nothing!"  I scream at her. My knuckles are white and bloodless from gripping the desk. She holds up a silver metal piece and points it at my head, moving closer, slowly but surely.

"Miss Nara, I have a loaded gun pointed to your head. Should you choose to move, I will push this trigger and it will put a bullet in your skull, killing you. Would you care to talk?"

I drop fast to the ground, lashing out under the desk with my legs. I feel them connect, hard, with her ankles. She gasps and falls. There's a bang, and I curl up, guessing the gun was shot. She won't stop screaming. After a moment, I cautiously sit up. My hand slips in a red puddle.

She screams and screams, hands pressed to her gut. The blood is gushing, fast, from the wound. I choke back vomit, trying not to look at her. She's writhing. Her screams come less consistently now. In between, her mouth is moving.

I lean closer.

"Shoot me."

I almost retch in horror. "You're dying" is all I manage to get out.

She controls another scream. "A gut wound... takes a long time... to kill..." In the pooling blood, she pushes the gun towards me. "Shoot."

I pick it up. Why, I have no idea. It's slick with blood. She motions to her head. I move it until it is pointing there and slide my finger onto the trigger. She nods one last time. 

I pull it. 

The recoil knocks my shoulder, but I don't turn away. She's shouting something. "Fre-" Then the bullet makes contact and her head is cracked askew. This time I do vomit. 

I'm still vomiting as the door opens and I'm dragged off. I'm still vomiting as I'm thrown into a metal chamber. I sit up, crying and trying to get rid of the vomit taste. 

A rusty voice churns to life.  A ragged scream bursts out of my burning throat. 

"You're new here." My arms and legs scrabble backwards. From the  murky darkness, a raggedy figure appears. My fingers search blindly for the door. It's sealed, of course. 

Trying to control my terror, I babble earnestly. "Who are you? I'm Nara 4819, from the rain branch. Where are you from? Why are you here? I shot someone, that's why I'm here. This whole thing was a fluke. I'm not really sure what happened or why I'm here. Why are you here? I don't-"

The responding chuckle makes me relax a little. "Hold up, honey. You've gotta calm down. Let me see your pretty face."

It's obviously a guy, although the dark is too overwhelming for either of us to see anything. I tell him that angrily. 

"I don't need to see you." Is the reply. "I need to touch you." 

Hot acid bubbles up in my chest. "Don't you dare. I hate it when someone says that."

There's a scuffling and I kick out blindly with my foot, connecting with hard bone. He inhales sharply, then thrashes out. I kick and punch, hitting myself as much as I'm hitting him in the dark. He yell and scream, our voices piercing the blindness.

Suddenly lights flare on. Both of us freeze. An intercom buzzes. "Stop! Now!" He pulls away, and I sent one last kick into a soft spot for good measure. Over his groans I can barely hear the intercom. It crackles and fizzles, then stops completely.

I survey my handiwork. A young man, about in his twenties, lies on the floor, clutching his gut area. He has rich brown hair that has grown long and a strong jawline. He can't have been in here long, because his stubble is not quite enough to make a beard.

A metallic clink in the door behind me prompts me to spin around, before I'm smashed in the face by the door slamming open. With the blood pouring down my face, I stare at the two people in front of me.

"Sorry about that." One mutters, then they both grab me.

I kick and struggle, shouting at them. "Let me go! I didn't do anything!"

One spat. Their faces were shadowed and I couldn't see them. "Didn't do anything, my ass. I wouldn't call shooting Chief Ash nothing. Same goes for cheating on your test."

My legs come nowhere near making contact, but I continue to thrash. "I didn't cheat! I didn't cheat! Why does everyone say that?"

But even as I speak, it seems hard to remember just what had happened in the Mending.

P.S. I'm really sorry for taking so long with publishing this part. Next time it won't be as long. Thank you to anyone who even reads this!