Deceptions & Secrets

Chapter 2: Wedded Bliss

Before my anxiety can swell any further, we are walking up the steps to the meeting room. I force all evidence of emotion from my face and steel myself for what will come next.

The face of Abnegation headquarters is just a cement rectangle, like all the other buildings in the Abnegation sector. But when we shove the front door open, familiar wood floors and rows of wooden benches arranged in a square greet me. In the center of the room is a skylight that lets in a square of white sunlight. It is the room's only adornment.

Marcus stands at the edge of the square of sunlight, and I see Tobias sitting on a bench behind him. His eyes are wide and his face slack. He looks as shellshocked as I feel. Maybe it is difficult to accept that the parent you lost is being replaced no matter how long it has been since they passed away.

I sit on my family's old bench. I used to sit next to my father, and Caleb, next to my mother. I will keep my name today, but my mother will not. She will take Marcus's name and become Natalie Eaton. Now I feel like the only one left. The last Prior.

When Marcus sees my mother, his whole face lights up. The deep blue of his eyes appears brighter, his skin tone looks warmer, and he smiles with his whole face-- his whole body, almost.

I make eye contact with Tobias, and we both quickly look away from one another. I focus my attention on the ceremony that is taking place. Jonah, a council member that worked with my father, comes forward from a bench in a corner and smiles sadly at Mother.

The ceremony is short. They exchange the usual vows and after they have each put a ring, just a simple silver band, on the other's fourth finger on their left hand, they hold hands as they are pronounced husband and wife. Throughout the ceremony, it's as though I could feel Marcus's excited energy from across the room, though he was facing away from me. My mother, on the other hand, is somber, and her smile does not reach her eyes. She looks at me as the ceremony concludes and I try my hardest to smile at her. Just like at the funeral, I must be strong for her.

++o++

Tobias POV

"Um..." I clear my throat and rub the back of my neck. "It's this one," I say as I turn up the short concrete walk to the front door of my house, the house I have lived in since I was born, which looks exactly like every other house on my street. Beatrice didn't say a word to me, or even look at me, the entire walk here; she just glared at the sidewalk. Even when we stopped at the supply warehouse-- where the food and other items for the factionless are sorted-- to get boxes, she did not make eye contact with me or speak a single word. I was anxious enough to be seeing her again, especially under these circumstances, but the feeling intensified each time I glanced at her face. She is beautiful, even when she's scowling.

When the wedding ceremony ended, Marcus informed us that he and I will be moving into Natalie and Beatrice's house, as it has three bedrooms and ours has only two. After instructing us to pack all his and my personal belongings tonight, so that we will be ready to move them in the morning, he quickly ushered Beatrice's mother out of the meeting room, making it clear that he expects us to give them privacy tonight. Beatrice and I are to sleep at the house Marcus and I are moving out of.

I let Beatrice step inside first, then I follow her, shutting the door behind me. She looks around the living room for a moment, her hands clenched in fists at her sides, her jaw tense. There's really nothing to see; every Abnegation home looks the same-- the same worn gray furniture, the same floorplan, the same dishes, the same table and chairs, the same bare gray walls.

Beatrice releases a heavy, exaggerated sigh. "Well, let's get this over with," she says. "You take the bedrooms. I'll pack the bathroom, kitchen and living room." She doesn't wait for me respond before she picks up a few boxes from where we dropped them near the fireplace and marches into the kitchen, her eyes cold with anger. "I can't believe I'm stuck doing this," she mutters under her breath, but I'm still close enough to hear it. I sigh and start upstairs with a small stack of boxes.