"Do you dare write?"

After everyone left, Amyra sat with MenMen. The two women, one young and one older, were looking at each other with the open window drawing a halo in the background and the tiny birds with loud voices singing while perched on the window sill making for a moving background music. Amyra had words to say as MenMen's mother.

"I've always wanted a daughter. But Nero was a difficult birth, and I could have no more children. Truth be told, I was a little disappointed. Daughters are so much prettier than sons. But Nero turned out to be a good boy. Anyway, I now have you. Finally, a daughter. And since you are my daughter, listen to me carefully. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you until now. From now on though, know that you have me. When you return to school, remember that the first thing you must do is bully those four that bullied you. I'm not going to tell you how. You figure it out. I know you're smart. I will be watching, so feel no fear. Just know that you must bully each appropriately, so they'll never think about you without shaking in fear. Revenge isn't good. But you must get all the negativity you feel out of your system. And for that, they must pay. You must watch them in pain, laugh at their suffering. It's healing. You'll understand when you experience it. There's only one thing true, you don't bully anyone, you don't throw your weight around arrogantly, but if someone does so to you, you use all of your might and crush them. Only then will you have true peace. Sleep now, sweet girl. Good night."

Amyra left after giving a kiss. But her words stayed long in MenMen's head, until they transformed into her one thing true.

Nearing the academic building, the sounds of the worrying students filled the air. MenMen smiled. There were four. Nana was done with. That left the three others. Wondering who would be next, she walked in. There were twenty minutes to the start of the exam. Everyone was rushing through their notes for a final revision. No one saw MenMen immediately, but as soon as the first one did, he fell quiet and the air around him changed. Feeling the change, the girl next to him looked up, and was similarly affected. Slowly, more and more looked up, saw MenMen and felt an inexplicable chill fall over them. It wasn't their first time seeing MenMen, but it certainly felt like it. Wasn't she an ordinary girl who didn't belong in here? No one could understand how she got in. But now, she looked cold and majestic. Her aura was fierce. They met her gaze, but they felt like they were looking up and she was looking down at them, and the distance between them was great. It was the same suffocating feeling they had when looking at their grandparents and parents who were so much stronger than them. Why was MenMen like that? Was this the real her? Or did something happen and she changed? One thing was certain, no one felt emboldened to challenge her. These were the wise majority. But wisdom wasn't a merit just everyone possessed. There were fools. Four of them. And one of them was Shiv.

The four boys were laughing away their nervousness with stupid unfunny jokes while walking up and down the long hallways. Shiv wasn't as smart as Tuck and Maue, so during exams he kept away from them. The evening of the last exam, the three would gather and celebrate, with Shiv unashamedly facing Tuck and Maue's taunts. But that didn't change anything.

Shiv and his three friends noticed the strange silence from the other end of the hallway. It was like the wind flowing toward them. On the other end of the wind was a girl. She was in the academy's uniform, but she didn't seem familiar. Someone so remarkable should be popular, enough to be recognised with a glance. Their curiosity ignited, the four boys started toward the new girl. They hadn't walked ten steps when they stopped. They immediately recognised her. Two of them fell into the silence. Shiv and another were grinning.

"Yo," Shiv called out loudly. "Look who's back, all healthy and made up. You almost look like one of us. Look at that confidence. Ooh, I'm trembling."

He had more to say, but he never got the opportunity. Neither the two boys, nor MenMen had stopped. When they were directly in front of each other, MenMen reached out and grabbed Shiv's jaw. He was silenced. Before the shock could register, he lost control.

"There are many ways to silence a talker," Adi told her. "If you also intend to shock, the most effective is dislocating the jaw. He would become extremely compliant almost immediately."

MenMen threw Shiv's head into the wall. There was a loud crack as his head was rattled and he was blanked for a few seconds. At the moment of impact, she pulled the jaw in the opposite direction with enough strength to dislocate the jaw with a loud snap. She let go, and Shiv crumpled to the ground. The boy who was with Shiv lost his courage immediately, and fell back. His expression was of someone staring into the face of a demon from up close. He felt like he would have his soul sucked out if he remained so near any longer. MenMen smiled beautifully, but it couldn't appear more terrifying to the frightened boys and girls. She looked around wearing the smile, appraising the silence, before kneeling by Shiv's side.

"Talk," she said softly.

But Shiv didn't make a sound. He could have been turned into stone.

"No?" She continued, in the same sweet voice. "How sad. Don't you love speaking. You always have so many words to say. Don't stop now. Or would you like to turn silent? Hmm. Okay then. Let's have you silenced for a little longer."

She pulled out the needle and stabbed into his neck. When she pulled the needle out, a drop of blood spurted. It looked breathtakingly beautiful and chillingly scary at the same time. MenMen cleaned the needle on his sleeves, smiled sweetly at him, before walking away.

The silence remained a long time after she left. Everyone felt the world change around them at an unmissable speed.

While the rest of the world was frozen, MenMen went up to the classroom she was assigned to. For exams, classes would be mixed up and students would be randomly allotted classrooms where they would be sitting to take the exam. The purpose was to prevent cheating, at least as far as possible. There was an equal separation of students who cheated and who couldn't be bothered. MenMen was among the latter.

The silence preceded her. And from the looks on the faces, so had her actions against Shiv. She walked into the classroom and to her seat, which she recognised from her roll number written on the desk. She wasn't alone inside, but she very well might have been. She sat at her desk, back straight, eyes closed, relaxed. Not at all like she was here for an exam. As strange as all of her was, she was also a calming influence on her nervous fellow exam takers. As the bell rung, signalling the five minute period for everyone to settle, the invigilator walked in, followed by the rush of students. The sound of chairs scraping on the ground and pens falling on the desks was like a wave that surged and then receded. As silence returned, and the invigilator began announcing the usual guidelines, MenMen opened her eyes. And the first thing she saw was Maue sitting directly across from her. She grinned, licking her lips. Pushed the chair back, the scraping silenced the invigilator and turned all heads toward her. Got to her feet and headed over toward Maue.

"Hello," she greeted sweetly.

Maue was expressionless. But those near the two felt nails scraping against their spines. As Maure opened his mouth, MenMen continued.

"Do you want to see if you can take the exam?"

She walked over to the invigilator, took an answer booklet, and returned. She set the booklet in front of Maue, smiled wider, and pointed at the desk.

'It's yours. Go ahead. Try writing."

Maue didn't respond for a while. Sighing expressionlessly, he grabbed his pen. As the nib touched paper, MenMen pointed her pencil and pressed the button on the back. A jet of bright blue flames leapt at the booklet. Maue pushed away from the flames on his desk. He was frozen and still expressionless, but his eyes betrayed him. There was more fear in those pair of eyes than any other in the classroom.

"Do you dare write?" MenMen asked, smiling even more beautifully. She only looked like a demon to Maue.

Seeing him unmoving, she returned to her seat, sat down like before, waiting for the start of the exam. There was nothing said after. The answer booklets were passed to everyone, except for Maue. The question papers were handed out. And the exam began as another bell rung. Everyone got busy, the scratching of nibs on paper the only sounds in the room. All but Maue, who was a statue. MenMen was done long before anyone else, but she remained seated, staring at Maue with that unchanging smile on her face.