The train we take to the Choosing Ceremony is full of people in black and white clothes. When we get off, some of the other Candors dawdle around the building smoking and talking. I have to tilt my head back to see the top of the Hub, and even then, part is cut off by the clouds. It is the tallest building in the city. No matter where you are, you'll see it.
I follow my parents off the train. My older sister Meadows, has already taken this and she said it would be painless. Well, she knew what she was going to do. I get the distinct impression that my heart will burst out of my chest at any minute now. I follow my father to the stairs and all four of us go up the stairs behind a family from Abnegation dressed in all grey. I settle into their pace. The uniform stepping of feet in my ears and the surrounding of people behind me make me feel sick. We have to climb twenty flights of stairs.
An Abnegation leader holds the door for all of us while the people swarm in. I give him a warm smile while people are pushing me into the room where I'll decide my life. The room is arranged in concrete circles where on the edge is where every sixteen year olds stand. After today we'll finally be initiates then members of the faction chosen. We're arranged in alphabetical order and right next to me is an Amity girl named Danielle Pohler. To the right of her is the Abnegation girl I saw earlier. She's standing right next to an Abnegation boy which is her brother. You can tell by the way they act around each other. Rows of chairs in five sections make up the next circle. They're there for our families and each faction sits in a section. Not a lot families come, but enough, so the crowd looks huge.
The last circle holds five giant bowls. Each bowl is filled with a substance that represents that faction. Grey stones for Abnegation, water for Erudite, earth for Amity, lit coals for Dautless, and glass for Candor. When the caller calls my name, I will cut my hand and let the blood fall in the bowl of the faction that I chose. My blood on the glass. My blood on the coals.
The room slowly comes to order. A man comes up and speaks, but I lose him in the first few seconds while I observe the Dautless. I doze back in when the man says, "Therefore this day marks a happy occasion- the day on which we receive our new initiates, who will work with us toward a better society and a better world." The man starts calling out the names and one by one, each sixteen year old steps out of the line and walks to the middle of the room. The first girl chooses Amity, the same faction from which she came. Her dark red liquid spilled over the rich soil.
"James Tucker," the man calls next. James Tucker from Dautless walked toward the middle of the circle and Marcus gave him the blade. James looked from Candor to Daultless. He then cut his hand roughly, his blood pouring on the glass. He is the first to transfer factions. He is know a traitor towards his former faction. I'm Visiting Day, his family can come and visit him, but they won't. He left them.
The next name is the Abnegation girl's brother. His name is Caleb I learned. He walked toward the circle, grabbed the blade, and cut his hand over the water. He is the second to change factions. I hear the Abnegations whisper to each other and the Eurdites have smug looks on their faces.
Next they call the girl named Beatrice from Abnegation. She walks up to the bowls and takes the blade. She cuts her hand grittingly letting the blood drip on the carpet for a few minutes. Then she brings her hand up to the bowl and lets the blood drip on the coals. The crowd mummers then it gets louder. The two children from the same family have switched factions. Then, I soon realize that their father is an Abnegation leader. Both of their children left them.
The Amity girl walks up when her name was called and cuts her hand over the earth. Next my name is called. My heart is raising and my legs feel like jelly. Never less, I walk up to the middle of the circle. I look the man in the eyes as he gives me the blade. I don't know why, but he gives me the creeps. I stand in the center of the circle not sure what I should do. I turn to the glass and cut my hand, but before my blood hits the glass, I turn around and let it fall on the burning coals.
Don't look back. Don't look at them. I though as I cut my hand on the burning coals instead of the glass like the rest of my family has done. I know that they'll be disappointed in me, but I can't be the girl they want me to be. I don't want to be a leader. I want to chose my own pass. I want to be in the dauntless faction.
Even after I go to the Dautless side, I still don't look at my parents and sister. I'm too ashamed to. I hope that I made the right choice because there's no turning back now. When everyone has been called, I stand up and say goodbye to my past life.
