My breathing was hard and so was the pain in my chest where the woman had struck me. I fell back against the wall, and felt like conceding. Even though I could analyze all her movements and knew exactly at what angle and place she would strike me, I couldn’t defend myself. I’m useless, hopeless. How could she expect me to fight? I’ve never fought in my life and I doubt I could start now. 001 was this woman’s name, what kind of name is that? She was fierce, heartless in her determination to teach me to fight. Her eyes were as empty as her name; as she looked at me with an intense stare as she braced her fists, ready to carry on with her lesson, ready to carry on to beat the absolute crap out of me. She’s like a monster, I could imagine my life ending her in her overenthusiastic punches, I could imagine myself crumpled on the floor, covered in bruises as dark as the one bordering Mr Herald’s eye. He was just sitting there alone on the chair, watching our fight and eating some disgusting looking beans that 001 provided him with. My pity for him vanished however as 001 screamed at me, rage burning in her eyes, her only emotion.

“Just fucking fight me!” she roared as I saw her left arm swing at me in what seemed like slow motion, I saw exactly where she would hit me, right on my cheek and I could tell it’s gonna hurt. I flew back against the wall again, my mind spinning as my eyes tried to coordinate themselves again. I didn’t expect it to hurt so much, why was she doing this to me? I slid down the wall, and sat passively in protest. I didn’t leave home to be treated like some kind of punch bag. I give up, I have had enough. I don’t really have the will to go on, she looked fed up too. She cursed and tensed her fists again in anger. She turned away from me, as if she too was now deserting me. I don’t want her to go, even through this torture, she is my only past. She knows it all. I glanced at my tattoo ‘005’. It occurred to me then.

“You need a name.” I stated to 001 simply. She looked at me as if I’m stupid, and asked why she needed a name. It was a strange question, since everyone needs a name. She looked like she didn’t give a damn, even though she did agree whilst grabbing a banana from the table.

“Call me Bananas.” she replied. For the first time I insulted her.

“That’s pathetic.” I retorted. 001 then carried on throwing different names of fruits at me when Mr Herald interjected.

“How about Miss- I-have-nothing-in- the-fridge-worth- eating?” Verbal abuse carried on between them. Though I had to interrupt since I adored beans.

Then he recommended the name Scarlett. It was a very nice name I thought, but then an absolutely massive argument rose, since it appeared 001 didn’t appreciate the name. Mr Herald got up and inched closer to 001 who seemed to mimic the movement as they got closer to each other, as the obscene language between them grew progressively worst. Then it felt like a light bulb clicked inside my mind.

“How about Asha?” I blurted out. “It’s really pretty.” I followed, for a stupid excuse to back up my choice. However the idea seemed to agree with both of them. 001 accepted, and Mr Herald started irritating Asha by calling her Ash, which was a boy’s name. Their childish quarrels were starting to get to me, and my head was beginning to hurt with the noise. I couldn’t take it.

“Will you two give it a rest PLEASE?” I shouted out. Silence. Mr Herald muttered an apology, and Asha just stormed out of the room, banging the door with frustration. Then Mr Herald comforted me saying that she’ll be fine, before he burst into laughter.

I told Mr Herald that it wasn’t wise for him to wind up Asha so much. She is our only source of information, and so had to be cautious about our behaviour around her. Mr Herald told me he thought that Asha liked me and so I should be the one to try and find out information from her. I looked at him. I had motives to do this, I needed to find our about my origins, but how would Mr Herald benefit from this? I then asked him to satisfy my curiosity. He told me his past and his need to find himself too. We just looked at each other, both yearning the exact same thing. We both had this connection because of our needs.

Then Asha came back into the room, and the atmosphere we had developed vanished.

I don’t know why I did it, but I ran up to her and hugged her tightly, glad that she was back. She didn’t return the hug but I didn’t expect her you to, however I’m sure she must’ve felt something since she didn’t push me away, for that, I’m grateful. In this moment of possible weakness I decided to give it a shot.

“Please.” I begged her, “Please tell me what you know, I need to find out about myself. It means everything to me.” She then moved away from me, without saying anything, and in that moment, I believed time had frozen, that I was doomed to never know. She snatched a piece of paper from nearby, and scribbled roughly down a name and number. Chase Matthews was the name.

“Just contact this guy.” she said. Asha then retired to her bedroom to rest. On the back of the paper she’d given me, I wrote on it. “Let’s go.” flashing it to Mr Herald. We then snuck quietly from the room, closing the door discreetly.