Fire and Ice

Trust the Test

"Jadence! Your going to be late for school!!" I heard my mother yell as I finished up my make up and put my glasses on. I shook my head as I stared at myself in the mirror with my neat bun and fake glasses along with my blue pencil skirt and blue jacket over my white blouse. I crinkled my nose as I looked at how fake I felt but sighed and headed downstairs. I grabbed a piece of toast and an apple and shoved the apple in my bag as I kissed my mom and dad on the cheek and ran out the door. "Remember Jadence! Trust the test!" My parents yelled together as I nodded my head and ran onto the bus.

I dropped onto a seat next to my friend Lillian. "Jadence! You excited for today?" She giggled as I rolled my eyes "Oh yes... trust the test and all that bullshit" I muttered causing the head in front of us to turn around and I suddenly became annoyed as I notice it was Eric Coulter and as soon as he seen it was me he smirked "What's the matter LaRay?? You afraid of finding out you're more cut out as a stiff? or maybe even factionless?" He made fun of me and I came up really close to his face as I smirked back finally causing him to tense up "Any faction will be better than the one with you in it Coulter" I sneered and stared him down "Please you are just saying that because you know you want me LaRay. Statistically, teens pick on those who they like" I laughed as I cut him off getting everyone's attention "So that means you actually want me eh?? I am pretty irresistible" and his mouth dropped and he sat down facing forward as I smirked admiring myself as everyone else giggled. Don't get me wrong, Eric is good looking his dark blonde hair all buzz cut but the glasses and formal attire don't fit him. He's just a bigger guy and Erudite doesn't fit him nor me. I sighed anxious for this test to begin so I can become who I actually want to be. I want to be wild and free like the birds in the sky. I'm not meant to be a nose like my parents and older siblings, I'm meant to be more. We arrive at the school just as Dauntless arrives by train and I watch in awe as they all jump off the train with ease and I smirk as I see Eric staring too "I envy them" I say quietly and he looks at me and nods in agreement and we head inside. Our classes are cut in half today, so we will attend all of them before the aptitude tests, which take place after lunch and it couldn't come quick enough for me as I fidgeted all day long making Lilly super aggravated "Jadence!! Enough already just stay calm and trust the test" She exclaimed and smiled as I slammed my head down in boredom. "Dramatic much?" and I smirked "Fuck off Lillian I want it done and over with" and she scoffed as Eric smirked at me "Definitely not a stiff I guess" and I rolled my eyes "No shit" and the bell rang excusing us to a huge room to go wait for our test. I walk with Lillian behind Eric and Tony who Lillian had taken a liking too making me gag every time she stared at him.

I noticed the hallways are cramped, though the light coming through the windows creates the illusion of space; they are one of the only places where the factions mix, at our age. Today the crowd has a new kind of energy, a last day mania. Each faction had kids acting up in excitement and freaking out in fear of this being the last time we get to see each other. I was laughing at Lilly for tripping when an Amity girl shoulder checked me and I lost it. "Watch where the fuck you're going you moron!" and she stared at me with tears forming and I just laughed at her as I scoffed and walked off with Lilly hot on my heels "What was that for? You know Amity are scared of confrontation" I rolled my eyes "Well she should've watched where she was walking!" and I noticed Eric staring at me so I flipped him off and rolled my eyes getting a smirk from him.

After about an hour, my name was called to go in, I took in a deep breath and entered the room. An Abnegation woman was sitting there smiling motioning me to the chair in the room. I obliged and sat there as she typed information into the computer. I start to look around the room, It's completely mirrored and I can see my reflection from all these different angles- I take in my appearance, blue outfit, my dark brown hair in a perfect bun, my glasses to make me look smarter and covering up the appeal of my bright green eyes I inherited from my dad, my knuckles were turning white form griping the chair so hard. The woman starts talking "I'm here to administer your test to figure out your faction placement" she says kindly as she places electrodes on my head as I stare up at myself. She tugs wires toward her, attaching them to me, to her, to the machine behind her. Then she passes me a vial of clear liquid.

"Drink this," she says.

"What is it? What's going to happen?"

She smiles at me kindly "Can't tell you that. Just trust me."

I raise the glass to her "Salue" I say and press air from my lungs then tip the contents of the vial into my mouth. My eyes close.

+ + +

When they open, an instant has passed, but I am somewhere else. I stand in the school cafeteria again, but all the long tables are empty, and I see through the glass walls that it's snowing. On the table in front of me are two baskets. In one is a hunk of cheese, and in the other, a knife the length of my forearm.

Behind me, a woman's voice says, "Choose."

"Why?" I ask.

"Choose," she repeats.

I look over my shoulder, but no one is there. I turn back to the baskets and quickly grab the knife and prepare myself for something to jump out at me. I hear a door squeak and turn to see who it is. I see not a "who" but a "what": A dog with a pointed nose stands a few yards away from me. It crouches low and creeps toward me, its lips peeling back from its white teeth. A growl gurgles from deep in its throat and I raise the knife as I prepare for the dog to come at me. It suddenly jolts forward and I raise the knife and plunge it into the dog making it squeal then nothing more as I drop the knife realizing what I just did.

When I look up, I'm on a bus, and all the seats are taken.

I stand in the aisle and hold on to a pole. Sitting near me is a man with a newspaper. I can't see his face over the top of the paper, but I can see his hands. They are scarred, like he was burned, and they clench around the paper like he wants to crumple it.

"Do you know this guy?" he asks. He taps the picture on the front page of the newspaper. The headline reads: "Brutal Murderer Finally Apprehended!" I stare at the word "murderer." It has been a long time since I last read that word.

In the picture beneath the headline is a young man with a plain face and a beard. I feel like I do know him, though I don't remember how.

"Well?" I hear anger in his voice. "Do you?"

I clear my throat.

"Do you?" he repeats.

I shrug my shoulders.

"Well?"

"What's it to ya?" I ask him and he glares at me then stands up and gets in my face "Just who do you think you are speaking to me like that?" and spits at my feet. I feel my rage coming and I tilt my head to the right and smile at him making him more pissed and I drew my head back and head butted him making a loud crack and then knee'd him in the gut causing him to drop.

+++

I woke up in the chair feeling my adrenaline still pumping. The lady looks at me with a smile "Congratulations, you're test results show you belong in Dauntless"

I stood from my chair and thanked her as I made my way outside and got on the bus and kept to myself to try and let it all sink in.

My mom and dad were inside reading when I came in and sat down their books and smiled "Good afternoon Jadence! How was the test? You got what you wanted I suppose" My dad asks and my mother nods. I nod at them "You can say that" and I make my way upstairs.

I collapse on my bed and look at the ceiling, If i stay, I'll be expected to be someone I'm not. If I go to Dauntless, I get to be who I want to be and make something of myself, but do I really want to leave everyone.

A gasp escaped my lips as I realized what this meant

I have to leave my family to be who I want to be.