I stand there wide-eyed, along with another thousand slaves below. Master Shollio drops his gun. Anntonette looks at me in terror. My body begins shaking from raging anger. "Mel..." Anne begins. I slowly begin walking up to Master Shollio, and look at him straight in the eyes. "No..." I say as a tear drops from my eye. "Mel, don't-" Anne goes on. "No! No! Why? Why the Hell did you kill him, you... you sick devil!" I begin screaming and I violently shove Master Shollio around and throw a few punches before finally pushing him up the the cracked stone wall behind us. I slap him across the face.
Everyone has begun to panic. I can't handle this. Anne tries calming me down, but there's no use. I've had it. Finally, a group of Masters run in and capture me. Master Shollio looks at me, then stares down below at Darrel. He stops for a second. "Forgive me." slips out of his mouth.
He then jumps of the edge, falling to his death.
I break out in tears. What have I done? I've messed up everything! "No! Please!" I plead. And then I fall speechless. Everything is a blur. I can't think straight. The Masters hold me tight as they pull me down the steps. I try looking around for Anne, but I can only get a brief glimpse of her horrified face. "Anne..." I fail to call out. She looks down at me in disbelief and slowly shakes her head.
-.*.-
My eyes flutter open. The first thing that comes to my mind is the disturbing flashback of Darrel getting shot, and my heart drops. I let out a long, hard sigh. Again, the same question comes to mind: What have I done?
I manage to get up from the hard table and look around. How did I wind up in here? I look around. My eyes peek out a small window at the back of the room and stare out into complete darkness. How long have I been asleep? I need to get out of this storage room.
I quietly tiptoe out the door that leads to a dark hallway. Many doors lead out to other rooms from the hallway, but one seems to be giving off light from the bottom. Slowly, I make my way to the door and put my ear up to it and listen for any voices.
"Well, we can't just kill her." a woman says. "Why not?" a man asks. A long pause in the conversation occurs. "Its not always that easy..." the woman begins. "Well 'cause dat just gives da girl what she wants. Tuh be honest, I don't think she wanna be alive anymore, judgin' by her attitude." another woman says.
I recognize that voice. It's Mother Maria's. I sigh. They're probably talking about me. Who else could they be talking about, because who else would they want dead at this point? But Mother Maria's got something right. At this point, I don't wanna live anymore. Or as long I'm in Zarta.
"So what do you wanna do?" the man asks. Another person sighs. I can hear another man ask "Well whats gonna be her worst nightmare?"
I take the opportunity to knock on the door during the long pause. "I'll get it." a man says.
Master Tevov opens the door and looks down at me. "Well, you finally woke up." he says. The young man steps back. "Come on in."
My eyes are burned from the bright light bulb hanging from the ceiling in the conference room. I was correct. There sits Mother Maria, along with Mother Wanel, Master Jinez and other Master I don't know. "Have a seat." Master Tevov says.
I sit down on an empty chair at the table. All five adults stare at me, none with the slightest bit of a smile. "What exactly just happened?" I ask.
Mother Wanel puts down her pen. "Well..." she begins. "After you practically clawed Master Shollio's face off, -Who by the way was confirmed dead along with your cousin a few hours ago-" I sigh and rub my eyes. "You passed out in Master Tevov's hands. Him and Master Jinez dragged you in here and you've been out since six." she says. "What time is it now?" I ask. Master Jinez checks his watch. His scruffy mustache wiggles above his rotted teeth as he speaks. "Just past midnight." he responds.
