As I walked up the corridor back to the dormitory I couldn't help but think about what Eric had said. Why was he asking me all these questions? Was that what he did with all initiates, or was it just me? I knew I shouldn't think I'm special to him or anything, but this is twice now that he's asked me things that he hasn't asked anyone else and it was making my mind wander to places it shouldn't.
As I got to the door of the dormitory I remembered how I had left things earlier in the Pit. I took a deep breath and swung the door open, only to find that the dormitory was empty. I figured that they must be out drinking again, and God only knows where Lee, Toby, Jason and Layla were, they were probably out drinking too.
I got my ring out from under my mattress and sat there, twirling it around my finger. I hadn't had any time to think about home for a while, so it was nice to be sat here with only my thoughts to keep me company. I quickly put my ring away before I could get too upset and grabbed a towel and my pyjamas before going into the bathroom to have a shower. I closed the shower door shut behind me after getting undressed and let the water run over me, thoughts whirling through my head.
After having stood in the shower for far too long, I decided it was time to dry off and get into bed. I wrapped the towel around me and stepped out of the stall, putting on my underwear and my oversized t-shirt. I hung my towel up on a rail when I suddenly heard footsteps coming up behind me. I whirled around, ready to defend myself when I saw it was only Lee who had come into the room. I rolled my eyes and walked over to my bed and got in, getting underneath the covers. I felt the weight pushing down on my bed before I saw him sitting down on it.
"Lee, what are you doing?" I asked harshly, not particularly wanting to be around him.
"Don't worry Iris, I'm here to apologise," he said, stroking my cheek. I backed away from him, and internally sighed as I smelt the alcohol on his breath.
"Please just go, I'm not in the mood for this," I sighed, trying not to say anything that would cause any anger.
"But I'm truly sorry, I never meant to upset you. Truth be told I'm just weirdly attracted to you," he admitted as he grabbed my hand. I snatched it away as I jumped out of bed.
"Um okay, maybe you need to go to sleep?" I suggested, backing away from him slightly.
In the blink of an eye, I was pushed up against the wall, Lee's arm shoved against my throat.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" He spat at me. He obviously didn't take rejection too well.
"Lee, you're drunk. Let go of me and none of us get hurt," I bargained, although I was desperate to kick him where it would hurt.
"You don't mean that," he snarled as he leaned in to kiss me.
"Woah, okay, back off," I said, pushing him away.
"I know you don't mean that," he growled, kissing me again, his hands trying to pull my shirt off.
"Lee, get off me!" I shouted at him, kneeing him in the crotch. I ran away from him, intending to go to the Pit, but my legs were pulled out from underneath me. I fell right on my front, hitting my chin in the process, and scrambled to get up but I was too slow and Lee had got me pinned down. He shoved his hands under my top, groping any bit of skin he could. I started screaming, hoping someone would be walking past the initiates room, although I knew how unlikely that would be considering there weren't many places around us.
I felt his hand smack me right on the mouth as he obviously tried to silence me. "It would be a whole lot easier if you didn't fucking scream."
I bit his hand and started screaming again, thrashing around, but was silenced by the hard punch to my gut. I tried to punch his jaw, but he grabbed both my hands and held them down so instead I spat in his face. This obviously riled him up even more, but it went according to plan as he let go of one of my hands to punch me, so I managed to get a punch right on his nose.
"Bitch!" He yelled as he felt his broken nose. I took the opportunity to kick him in the crotch again, but he grabbed my arms and twisted them around, slamming me against the railing of my bed. I screamed as I heard my back click when it hit the rail. I tried kicking him anywhere on his body which caused him to loosen his grip, but he quickly tightened it again before I had the opportunity to go anywhere. He shoved me up against a wall again, trying to lift my shirt off or at least rip it. I winced as I felt blood trickling down my the back of my head. He managed to rip the top of my shirt, so I screamed again, as loud as I could. I felt his hands all over my body and under my bra; all I could do was continue screaming.
Suddenly Lee was lifted off of me just as his hand had been creeping downwards and I sank down to the floor, trying to catch my breath.
"What happened?" I heard a familiar voice ask. I looked up to see that it was Eric standing over me. He stuck out his hand, pulling me up from the floor and sitting me down on my bed.
I looked around to see where Lee was, but he was gone.
"Ricky and I were walking past on our way to a meeting when we both heard screaming. We followed the sound and came in here just as he ripped your top. Ricky's sorting him out," he informed me, obviously knowing what I was going to ask.
"What's going to happen to him?"
Eric sighed, sitting down next to me. "I'm not sure yet. Ricky will take him to Max and he'll receive a punishment. We need to know what happened before we decide what to do. If it's what it looked like, I can assure you he won't get let off lightly."
"What do you mean?" I asked, curious as to what he meant.
"I know that Dauntless encourage fighting, but the one thing we do not tolerate is any form of sexual assault. No one should have to experience that and if that's what was happening here, Max will not be pleased."
I stayed quiet for a minute, not wanting to admit that was what happened. To me, that was a sign of weakness.
"That's what was happening, wasn't it?" Eric asked, although it wasn't a question. I just slowly nodded, not wanting to see his reaction.
"Okay, I'm going to have to take you to see Max. I would let you wait until the morning, but it will be easier for this all to be done now."
"Okay," I said, swallowing. I slowly got up and put on some ripped jeans, a jacket and some boots, trying my best to look as Dauntless as possible so Max wouldn't see me as weak.
Eric was stood waiting by the door, and had his back politely turned so I wouldn't feel uncomfortable getting changed. I cleared my throat so he knew I was done, and walked towards him.
As we started walking he filled me in on what would probably happen.
"He'll ask you your story from start to finish and he'll want to know every little detail. He's going to ask about your history with Lee, so the fact that you beat him up in training when you weren't supposed to be doing that may go against you, but if you were provoked then it might not as much. You need Max on your side. He doesn't like people who play the victim, but he doesn't like people who act like it's nothing either as he knows it's an act and doesn't appreciate dishonesty."
I nodded slowly, trying to take this all in. Eric looked at me and saw my nerves. "You'll be fine, just be honest with him."
We walked in silence for a bit more until we came to a dead end with a door, obviously leading to Max's office. Eric knocked on it and we waited a moment until it was opened. We walked in and Max closed it behind us and went to sit behind his desk. He gestured for us both to sit down and threaded his fingers together.
"So," he started, "go from the beginning."
I took a deep breath and recited what had happened, trying not to miss out anything.
Max nodded and looked at me. "What was he apologising for?"
"Um, just something he said at training the other day," I said, swallowing.
"Ah, is this also the same day he ended up in the infirmary?"
I nodded slowly, looking at Eric quickly to see his reaction. His face wasn't giving anything away, but his tight grip on the arm of his chair had given him away.
"And it was you that attacked him, was it not?" Max asked, although we both knew it wasn't a question.
"Yes, it was."
He continued to stare at me, obviously analysing my face for any signs of anything.
"There's something you're not telling me," he said.
I took a breath, knowing this would come up. "I was provoked."
"I see. What was said that day?"
"He was continually insulting me, but I only attacked him after he insulted my mother," I informed him, aware that this would be frowned upon due to faction coming before blood.
"But you've transferred to Dauntless now, why would this affect you?"
I swallowed and took a deep breath before saying, "my mother was murdered in front of me."
**
We walked out of Max's office in silence before Eric spoke.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"I guess I just didn't think you would want to know," I said, not truly sure why I didn't.
He nodded and we continued to walk in silence until we got to the dormitory. I looked at it for a few seconds before walking towards the door.
"Iris."
"Yeah?" I answered, turning around.
"You know, I do have a spare sofa if you want to stay at mine tonight. You know, as they'll all come back drunk and Lee might come in later," He said, almost coming off as slightly nervous.
"Um, yeah. Yeah, that'd be nice, thank you," I replied, sounding equally as nervous.
We continued to walk in a comfortable silence all the way to his apartment. He opened the door and let me into his apartment for the second time that day.
"Have a seat," he said as he went over to the kitchen to grab a drink. I planted myself on the sofa, curling up in the corner. He came over with two steaming mugs in his hands.
"I was going to make coffee, but I figured that wasn't a good idea as you'll be struggling to sleep as it is, so I went with chamomile tea instead," he informed me, putting the mugs down on the table.
"Thank you," I said, giving him a small smile as I picked my mug up and sat with it on my lap.
We both sat in silence sipping our tea for a minute before I broke it.
"What's going to happen to Lee?"
Eric sighed, putting down his mug. "I'm not sure to be honest. The fact that you attacked him first might go against you slightly, even after you explained everything about your mother. But then again, that will go in your favour due to the emotional damage that seeing your mother die must have caused, and the fact that everyone in Candor knew about it. In all honesty, we've never had a case like this."
I nodded, not knowing what to say and continued sipping my tea.
"What do you want to happen to him?" Eric asked me.
"What?" I replied, slightly startled at his question.
"What do you want Lee's punishment to be?"
I sat for a minute, thinking. In all honesty I hadn't spent much time thinking about Lee's punishment, all I wanted was for him to get what he deserved.
"I guess I just want justice," I shrugged, not too sure about what to say.
"I can assure you he'll get that," He said, taking my mug from me and putting it down, "now get into bed and sleep. You look like you need it."
"Thanks," I replied, smirking, "but I'm not taking your bed."
"You're taking my bed and that's an order."
"But-" I started, but was cut off by Eric.
"Are you really going to argue with a leader?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
I rolled my eyes and gave him a small smile, "Fine."
"Good. Do you need a top or anything?"
"No, it's alright thanks." I said, looking down at my ripped top.
"You sure? I don't mind."
I shook my head, "Honestly, it's fine. Don't worry."
I stood up and walked over to the door to the bedroom, leaving the door open, and got into Eric's bed, curling up under the duvet.
I looked out of the door towards the kitchen and watched him silently washing up our mugs before deciding to speak.
"Eric?" I spoke quietly.
"Yes?" He replied, slightly startled.
"Thank you."
"For what?" He asked, clearly confused.
"For letting me stay here and for helping me earlier."
"It's not a problem, I want to make sure you're safe. Now go to bed Iris, you need as much sleep as you can get," He said with a slight smile on his face.
"Goodnight Eric," I mumbled, snuggling into the duvet.
"Goodnight Iris."
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A/N
It's been a while! I've been settling into university, so haven't had a lot of time on my hands to do an update, but here it is! Enjoy!