106 Punishmen

I didn't hear anything for quite a long time.

"What is your name?" I asked her again, after a long time. Maybe now, she could have the courage to tell me. But I was wrong. She didn't reply to that question either.

I sighed.

"What do you think will happen once the sun rises tomorrow?" I asked. She was still keeping silent. Even though I couldn't say that I knew her that well, this was weird.

"Are you still there?"

I wasn't sure anymore. Still in disbelief, I held and turned the doorknob. Contrary to my expectations, the door actually opened. There was no one on the other side. The hallway was empty. That girl... She was gone. Perhaps a long time ago.

I did not exactly know how to deal with her, but I had to find her. I ran to the building's enterance. She wasn't nearby.

"Where are you?" I loudly asked as I kept walking and looking around the school. "Where did you go?" At that moment, I heard something tumbling upstairs. I immediately got to the upper floors.

"Don't run from me!" my breathing was getting faster. I had not seen her, but I had a gut feeling that was telling me she was somewhere nearby.

"Stay away from me!" This was her. I ran towards the general direction of the voice. I looked around, but I still couldn't see her.

"I thought we agreed on something." I said. After a few seconds, she got out of one of the classrooms ahead and starting running away from me, towards the stairs at the other end of the hallway. I began chasing her, but I stopped when I heard something behind the door which she had emerged from.

After a short, yet tense moment of indecisiveness, I decided to check the door. I had lost her track for now already.

I approached the door and pushed it open. Inside the classroom, the desks were arranged in a square, and there was a single chair in the middle of the class. On that chair, there was a second-year male student, sitting motionless. He was sweating, and looking at me with tears in his eyes. He was tied to the chair, and his mouth was taped.

I knew this boy very well. His name was Berkant. He was... practically a 'bully', a very troublesome student. I wasn't his teacher, but I would often have to warn him about something whenever I encountered him around the school. However, his chemistry teacher Yasin did not agree that simple warnings were good enough to deal with him. In my opinion, the hostility he saw from Yasin was just making it worse.

I couldn't look into his eyes for much longer; it was making me uncomfortable. I quickly opened his mouth, untied his hands and feet. Judging by his behaviour, he was traumatised.

"Are you okay?" I asked. His eyes turned towards me, but he didn't say anything.

"What happened to you?" I tried talking to him, but he probably required some time. I gave up trying to talk for now, and just sat on a chair nearby. He took his time looking at the floor, the ceiling, the walls; crying and breathing heavily.

"Teacher..." he began talking quietly. I got closer to hear him clearly. "She... she trapped me. She tied me up and hit me. I- I- I think she was going to kill me!"

"Do you know who she is?" I asked him.

"Yes! Well, no, but..." He was really anxious. "I happened to see her a few times at the school during breaks. I think she is a first-year."

"Do you know her name?" I asked.

"No." he replied.

"Did you ever talk?"

"No... I think." he answered. His voice was a little... suspicious.

"You think?" I asked.

"..."

"Come on."

"Well..." He was getting more nervous every second. "We might have argued a little..."

"A little?"

"..."

"Tell me what happened." I said.

"One time, we argued over who would use the gym. Their class were preparing for the tournaments, but we had everything planned and all-"

"And that's why she did this to you?" I asked.

"..."

"You are not being honest."

He went completely red. He looked down ot the floor again, and began talking again after a while.

"I might have behaved badly to her." he said.

"Now, that's better." I said. "You don't have to hide anything from me."

"..."

"Please continue. It's just the two of us." I tried to encourage him.

"One day, I took her food at the cafeteria and she got real mad." he said.

"Why did you do that?" I asked.

"For... fun. I had lost some sort of a bet with my friends." he said.

"Is that all?" I asked.

"No. A few similar things happened during the year. But then, another day, she barged into our classroom to confront me."

"...then?"

"The entire class was watching us. Everything escalated quickly. There was a heated argument."

"So?"

"I ended up hitting her." he said. Hearing this, I barely held myself back and hid my anger. If the situation was different, I would have punished him badly for his behaviour. But for now, I just needed him to talk to me and tell everything he knew about that girl.

"What did she do?" This story was getting more interesting.

"That's where everything began going downhill." he said. "I think... She tried to avoid seeing me but it didn't work very well. Whenever we came close, my friends would start making fun of her as well."

I slowly shook my head to indicate I was still listening to him with interest. He continued.

"So, anyway, one day, I was passing by the restrooms..." he stopped there. It looked like he was trying to remember something.

"Well?"

"I heard... I heard something..."

"From the restroom?" I asked. Suddenly, the door of the classroom opened with a very loud sound. That girl... She was there. She was still holding that shiny knife in her hand. I stood up. In fear, Berkant jumped from his chair and came closer to me.

"Stay right there." I told her.

"Go away!" she replied.

"You won't touch him!" I said.

"He will receive the punishment he deserves." she said.

"What exactly are you talking about? If you simply tell me what the-"

"Get out of my way."