I Am Divergent - bishova

Chapter 1

The aptitude test was a simulation that would cancel out factions depending on your choices and actions though the test results are absolute, if someone wanted to choose a different faction despite their results they could.

The next day is the choosing ceremony, all of the soon to be initiates along with their parents and a handful of old members from the factions will be in attendance. Every eighteen year old will walk up and create a small cut to bleed into a bowl with their new or returning faction.

Faction before blood .

Katherine's head snapped up, hearing the words. They had been instilled into all of them at a young age but it was difficult for Katherine. Sure, her mother was not the warmest person but Katherine liked to think she had done the best she could considering the fact that she had to raise her daughter alone.

There weren't many single mothers in abnegation, and even less who ran for leadership positions. Katherine looked up to her mother in many ways but there were some days where she couldn't forget the way her mom would treat her as if it were her fault dad was dead.

The rest of the school day passed by in a blur, most days were like that for abnegation, ignored by quite literally everyone at school and even her own faction in Katherine's case.

When the dismissal bell rang, Katherine decided against riding the bus home. It was going to be an hour walk but she was feeling antsy and just couldn't find it within herself to sit on the bus with the obnoxiously loud Candors.

She sat for a while to let the school empty out a bit before she adjusted the straps on her backpack and broke into a sprint. She found it freeing, the feeling of her lungs burning when she started to get tired but pushed herself regardless.

It was April, the warmness of spring still hadn't come into full effect so the cold air left a pink tint on her cheeks and made her nose slightly runny.

Katherine arrived panting, making sure to take off her shoes and put her near empty backpack in her room. Her mother hated when there was a mess so Katherine made sure there never was one.

Her mother would be home late, it was a Tuesday and as a council leader, it was her mothers job to take part in a weekly meeting so Katherine usually made dinner. She would eat alone and leave the rest on a stove pot so her mother could also eat whenever she got home.

She let her mind wander as her hands worked cutting lettuce, shaving the carrots, and heating the bread.

Secretly, she's always admired the Dauntless. Abnegation elders always refer to them as abrasive and moronic decision makers but to Katherine, they were the epitome of freedom.

The way they skip the bus and instead run in a small pack back to their faction. Their all black clothing makes them look fierce and brave, not stiff and boring like Abnegation. No, Dauntless always made a statement. Whether it was outwardly through their bold actions or quietly by their intimidating stance.

Soon Katherine was eating absentmindedly, her body performing the actions out of habit. This was the life she would be doomed to for the rest of her life if she stayed. Sure she could find someone to live the rest of her life with, but they would never truly be hers.

Their loyalties would be to serve others and not themselves. Abnegation taught that love could make you selfish if you let it consume you so their form of dating looked different than other factions.

While other factions freely expressed their affection for one another, public displays of affection were limited in Abnegation. Most children went their whole lives without seeing their parents kiss. Holding hands was seen as scandalous if you weren't married. If someone was interested in pursuing someone they would have to ask their parents for permission to court— this looked like having dinner at each other's homes often.

The thought was suffocating.

Beginning her nightly routine, she thought of the positives of Abnegation. After all, it wasn't all bad.

Katherine sometimes loved the routine of it all. They got their fulfillment by helping others, expressing their love by giving everything they have. Katherine was known for her bleeding heart, although most times it didn't feel as easy to her to give up everything for someone else, there was hardly anything she wouldn't do to save someone else.

She saved countless stray dogs and cats who were injured, only to be chastised by her mother when Katherine insisted on keeping them— pets were considered self-indulgent after all. Still, there was a beauty to it all.

Katherine wondered if losing the only person in her family was worth it, worth the freedom. Her dream suddenly didn't seem so unattainable as long as she didn't let the guilt eat her alive. With a restless mind, she forced herself to go to bed with the reassurance that the test would tell her what was the right thing to do.