Daunting (Divergent series [Divergent])

Chapter 1

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My house is not a home. It is a crumbling building that was left for the Factionless to take over. I'd rather be bound to strict rules and regulations like the Factionless than live this way.

"So today is the day," She says

"Yep," I reply, searching for Beatrice's sweater before I leave to catch the bus.

"Are you nervous?"

I look up at her. Today is the day of the aptitude tests that is supposed to show me which of the five factions I belong to. And tomorrow, I will attend the Choosing Ceremony, where I will decide to "stay with my family" or "abandon them".

"No," I hesitate before continuing "The tests don't have to change our choices."

She smiles at me, a quick one, as if she knows that I'm not going to decide to be Abnegation. Or to stay with her and remain Factionless. "Right. Let's go eat breakfast"

"Thank you, for finding her sweater."

She kisses my forehead and walks out of my 'room'. I think my mother could be beautiful in a different world. She's thin but muscular beneath her baggy ripped clothes that the Abnegation had collected up for us Factionless. She has high cheekbones, long lashes, big lips, and when she lets her hair down at night, it hangs in waves over her shoulders. But nobody recognizes it because she is Factionless.

We walk together to the main room. It's mornings like this when my brother cooks sausages over the fire, and my father's soft hands come to fix how my sweater looks on my shoulders, and my mother hums as she assists my younger sister Libby on her way to meet with the Amity volunteer group that helps with younger kids. That is when I feel guiltiest for wanting to leave.

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The bus stinks of exhaust. Every time it hits a patch of uneven pavement, it jostles me from side to side, even though I'm gripping g the seat to keep myself still.
My twin brother, Noah, stands in the aisle next to Caleb, Beatrice's brother, they hold the railing above their heads. Noah and I look nothing like each other. His hooked nose alongside his blonde hair and black eyes, was always a strange collection of features when we were younger. But now if we weren't "Abnegation" the girls at school would stare at him.

He also inherited my father's ability to blend in with the crowd. He makes himself go invisible instantly, as if he really was Abnegation. He gave his seat to a surly Candor man on the bus without hesitation.

The Candor man wears a black suit with a white tie: Candor standard uniform. Their faction values honestly and sees the truth as black and white, so that is what they wear.

The gaps between the buildings narrow and the roads begin to get smoother as we near the heart of the city. The building that was once the Sears Tower, now referred to as the hub, becomes visible through the fog, a black piller protruding through the skyline. The bus passes under the elevated train tracks. Nobody has been on the trains in a while, although they run constantly and there are tracks everywhere. Well nobody but the Dauntless.

What I wouldn't give to be Dauntless, or to actually be part of a faction. The roads continue to get smoother unlike the edge of town.

We pass by the marble statue, signaling that we are at the school. Beatrice grabs onto Caleb's arm stumbling over the Candor man's feet, "Excuse me sir" He gives me a nod and pulls his feet out of the aisle so that I can get out. "Thank you" I give him a smile and go about my day.

Unfortunately I'm not as graceful as I thought either because I collided head first with the Marble statue in front of the school.

"Ughh" Everything around me feels fuzzy.
The most I can recall after that is being taken to the nurses office and having the bruise on my head patched up.

When I regained consciousness I found myself at a table in the lunch room, preparing to go into my aptitude test.

"Beatrice Prior, Y/N Hade, Juniper King, Kim Cook, and Brice Hall. Please follow us down the hall for your aptitude tests."

The Abnegation at my table say nothing as Beatrice and I depart. Unlike the other factions.

The Amity girls pat Junipers shoulders as she leaves

The Erudite boys give Kim a nod as he leaves.

The Dauntless all give Brice shoves out the lunch room, telling him that he doesn't need to worry, because he is the strongest out of all of them.

I am paired with a Erudite woman as my test proctor. She looks Familiar but I can't yet place her face.

"Sit down. I'm going to connect our thoughts and place them into the simulation. Keep in mind that just because I am in the simulation with you does not mean that I can help you."

She places Electrodes all around my head, and places on her own.

"huhghh" I cough and open my eyes to a empty room. Aside from a table with two plates on it.

One has a block of cheese.

The other has a knife.

"Choose."

"What?"

"Choose. You may pick up the knife or you may pick up the cheese. But you cannot have both.

I make no hesitation in my decision I chose the knife. It feels strange in my hand, heavy. It's as if simply picking it up means that I automatically must kill something.

The table disappears, leaving just myself and the knife in the room. I hear a faint growling behind me, turning and finding a dog.

A dog?

What does a dog have to do with which faction I chose?

Well if I hadn't been so distracted trying to analyze the dog I would have understood why I had the knife.

He knocked me over and in my shock, I released the knife and it shot across the floor.

"No!" The dog stands down at my shout and in his shock I took the chance to grab the knife when he tried to attack me once more. I stabbed him and he disappeared.

There was not a trace of the dog. No blood. No knife. Nothing to trace what I had done.

And just like that I was out of the simulation.

"Your test results: Dauntless.
Your actions ruled out Amity as you didn't pick the Cheese. They ruled out Erudite for obvious reasons considering that You lack the attention span needed. And Abnegation is ruled out."

I take the electrodes off and make my way down the hall, and back into the lunch room.