Divergent (A Rewrite)

Chapter Two:

I walk with my brother through the broken streets towards the school. We'll be tested and we'll learn where we are meant to go. I don't want to leave my family, I don't want to abandon my parents nor my brother, but I know I don't fit in in Abnegation. I'm not selfless. No matter how hard I try, I am not selfless and I hate it. I hate that I cannot be just what they wanted me to be.

"Beatrice, what do you think your results will be?" Caleb asks as he helps me step over a large crack in the pavement. The unofficial rule is that we do not tell anyone what our results were on the test. Some choose to break that rule.

"I don't know." I say softly as we continue on our way.

"Food!" A man grabs my arm and holds it tight as he stares into my soul. "Food, girl. I know you Stiffs carry food with you. Food!"

"You're right we have food. Release my sister please." Caleb says as he starts to pull the prepared food out of his bag.

"No, I want the food this pretty girl's got." The man grins at me his many lost teeth left holes in his smile. His vile breath stinks of rot and mold. His hold still strong enough to leave a bruise I'm sure.

"I already gave my food away." I lie trying to pull away from this man. "Please I need to go to my aptitude test." I say trying to get my arm away from him, but his nails dig into my skin.

"Girl! Do not lie to me!" The man grabs my arms higher now and shakes me. "Give me your food!" His vile saliva lands on my face as I stare at him in fear.

"I don't have any! Let me go!" I try to pull away, but he won't let go. "AH!" I scream in pain as his hands tighten even more and I feel his nails break the skin on my upper arms.

"I used to be Candor and I used to be Dauntless. You can't lie and you can't fight me. Now-"

"Let her go!" Stampeding feet echo in the streets as Dauntless soldiers run towards us their guns pulled ready to shoot the man holding me.

"She has to give me food! Thems the rules!" The man shouts as he shakes me. "Thems the rules!"

BANG BANG BANG

"AHH!" I stare in horror as the man is shot dead in front of me. His hands release me as he falls in a crumbled state to the ground.

"Beatrice!" Caleb collects me in his arms as he carefully wipes my face with his sleeve. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"I- I-.." I take a deep breath and pull away from my brother. "Yes, I mean, no. I'm not hurt."

"You're bleeding!" Caleb looks at the Dauntless men as if asking if they had first aid.

"I can get looked at by the school nurse." I turn to the Dauntless soldiers and watch as two of them grab the homeless man from the ground. "We should go. We can't be late."

Caleb and I walk faster to the school and make it just in time for them to check us in and seat us before the announcement. It's a boring talk about how the test came to be and what the test will tell us and what this means for our futures. Things we've been hearing all year through our last year of schooling.

"Beatrice Prior." I'm called and I turn to see my brother standing as well, he must have been called at the same time.

I walk to the Dauntless woman who called me. She's dressed in all black with hints of red. Her hair is long and straight and as black as night. It's absolutely beautiful on her how it flows behind her. She's covered in piercings and tattoos. It's odd and different than the plain people in Abnegation, but she's still absolutely beautiful.

"Sit." The woman says as she gestures to the chair in the room.

I walk in and sit down only to see myself staring back at me. I look around and notice that walls are all mirrors. Immediately I look down not wanting to break the rules.

"Stiffs." The woman scoffs as she works at the computer. "I'm Tori, I'll be giving you your Aptitude test. There will be a series of questions and scenarios that you'll work through. How you work through them will tell me what faction you belong in." The woman hands me a vial of a cloudy grey-ish blue-ish serum. "Drink this."

"What is it?" I ask not wanting to be poisoned after what happened.

"Curious Stiff." Tori smirks as she nudges it into my hands. "And a roughed up Stiff. You're bleeding."

I look down to my arms and notice there is blood seeping through my shirt where the man grabbed me. "A factionless man was mean."

"Mean? That's down right abusive. Let me call the school nurse and make sure you're fit to take the aptitude test today." Tori says walking to the computer.

"What if I'm not?" I ask trying not to sound as scared as I am. I don't want to end up on the streets like that man. I don't want to end up begging for food.

"You'll be held back a year in school. Which is fine. Your birthday is right on the edge of the two years, you'll be fine." Tori says as she types a few things up. "Or they may test you another day. I don't know. Let's just get the nurse to look at you."

The door opens and an Erudite nurse walks in dressed head to toe in blue. Blue glasses, blue blouse, blue pencil skirt, blue tights, blue shoes. The only thing not blue about her outfit is the bright white lab coat, but she has it decorated a little with blue embroidery.

"Beatrice, not the first time I've seen you. Was hoping that the last time I saw you would be the last time." Nurse Marie jokes as she pulls on gloves. "Take off your cardigan I need to see your arms."

I look down as I carefully pull off my cardigan and carefully start to roll up my sleeves.

"This won't do. Your long sleeves are still in the way. Are you able to take off your sweater? You'll be able to keep your smock on, but your wounds seem to be on the upper arm." Marie says as she starts to shuffle around her blue kit.

I frown as I start to carefully weasel out of my sweater but keep the short sleeved smock on. My arms prickle at the cold air of the room and my hair stands on end as both women look at me.

"Oh dear. Someone grabbed you pretty hard this morning." Marie tuts as she carefully starts to clean the wounds on my upper arms as well as my wrist. "Dear, what happened?"

"A factionless man was upset when I didn't have food for him. I had already given it away and he called me a liar. Then my brother offered his food up and the man refused it." I explain as Marie spreads salve on my arms.

"How did two stiffs get away from a factionless? 90% of them are ex-Dauntless members." Tori chimes in invested in the story but also bored out of her mind of having to deal with this.

"Dauntless soldiers came over. They told the man to release me and when he didn't, they shot him." I say looking down at my sweater which has some blood splatter on it, but not as much as my smock has. Caleb made me cover it with my cardigan.

"That explains this blood. It didn't look like it was coming from you so I wasn't going to worry too much. Plus it's dry unlike your arms." Marie explains as she starts to slowly patch up my arms. "They'll heal completely in a few days. You'll be sore and have bruises for sure, but you're all set." Marie turns and looks at Tori. "Shouldn't affect any test results. If she gets sick you may just have to pull her out and manually enter her results. I'll make a note of it so if you do it doesn't fall back on you."

"Thank you." Tori says as Marie leaves. Tori walks over and holds out a vial for me. It's a cloudy grey-ish, blue-ish color and definitely doesn't look appetizing. "Drink."

"What is it?"

"Your test."

"But what is it?"

"Curious stiff, maybe you're Erudite. Only one way to find out. Drink." Tori's tone strikes fear into me as she glares daggers into me. She motions for me to get the ball rolling on my Aptitude test, she's obviously impatient.

I take a deep breath and drink the liquid letting it sink into my body. I blink a few times but nothing gets the fuzzy world to go away. I feel a hand touch mine, but it's gone the moment I look. What is going on? I look down at my hands but they don't look like my hands. Are they my hands?

"Choose!" A booming voice calls and I look up to see I'm no longer in the mirror room.