False Peace

Chapter 1 - The Aptitude Test

Stay calm. There's nothing to be afraid of. Everything is going to be fine. You will get an aptitude test result and you will find out where you truly belong, where you truly fit in, in our society.

"I think you would do great as a scientist, Cassidy." I look up from my plate. Across the table from me I see a pair of familiar eyes. They are curious, yet look like they already know everything. "Thank you. I may do that." I smile at her. She smiles back, pleased. "Now don't give her too much pressure, Jeanine." My father says and laughs. Jeanine looks at me with her determined eyes. "I'm sure she can handle it. She did get one of the highest scores in her science class... did you not?" I smile. "I did better in phsycology actually." My mother sighs. Jeanine doesn't move. She only continues smiling at me, although her smile feels more fake now. "I'm sure you'll do great at whatever subject," She says, as she moves her glass up for a toast. We follow her motion, take a silent sip, and continue eating.

Jeanine Matthews is the leader of Erudite. Some day she may even be the leader of the whole of Chicago. At least that's what my mother believes. My mother has known Jeanine forever. Obviously not as long as my father, though. My father and Jeanine are siblings, which makes her my aunt. Lucky me. Because of this, I am expected to accomplish great things in my life. That just makes me even more nervous for the ridiculus aptitude test, which is happening today.

We go to school as usual. After lunch it all starts... with a lot of waiting. Ten 16-year-olds take the test at the same time. I do not know how many people take the test every year, but I am pretty sure it takes hours to get through everyone. I get the advantage of going in early. It may be because my name is on top of the alphabet, or because I'm Jeanine's niece. Regardless, my name is called.

As I leave the waiting room, I try to act confident. However, my organs feel like they're twisting. Every step feels heavy. Every breath is louder than any shouts. The room I enter is plain, with one of the walls covered in mirrors. I look into the mirrors and see myself. I see my pale skin, light hair, and blue eyes that stare back at me. My mascara has smudged under my right eye. I probably did not look as confident as I thought walking in here. I lick my finger and try to rub the smudging away. "God you Erudite are all so vain..." I hear an annoyed woman's voice say. I quickly turn around to see a beautiful, dark-haired woman, wearing black. Dauntless. "Oh Sorry, I..." I see what looks like a dentist chair in the center of the room. I had heard a bit about the test from my parents. We're supposed to drink some weird liquid, sit in the chair and be sent into a simulation. In this simulation, what choices we make determine what faction we are best suited to. "Nevermind. I'm Tori, I will be administrating your aptitude test," the woman says. "You look familiar... have I seen you before?" she asks me as she indicates for me to sit down. I sigh. "Probably. Jeanine likes to show me off sometimes." At this Tori gives me a funny look. "I didn't know she had a daughter." I laugh a bit. "Niece." She smiles teasingly back. "Good luck with that, hun." Just as I'm about to reply, she hands me a glass of blue liquid. "Drink up."

I drink the liquid and the next thing I know, Tori is gone. I get off the chair and look around. The whole room is covered in mirrors now. There's still a bit left of my smudged mascara. I don't bother fixing it now, no one's here after all. All the mirrors makes me look at myself in every angle. It makes me uncomfortable to see myself like that. I feel vulnerable.
The chair is gone. Instead, there are two small tables in front of me. On one of them is a piece of cheese. On the other is a knife. "Choose!" I recognize the voice immediately. "Jeanine? Why?" I spin around, but she's nowhere to be seen. I look at the tables again. The cheese could be handy. You never know when you or someone else is in desperate need for food. The knife could also be practical. "Choose!" the voice says again, louder this time. Instinctively, I grab the cheese.

Suddenly, I hear a dog bark. I look across the room to see a massive dog growling at me. Its teeth are large and sharp. I look at the cheese in my hand and break off a piece of it. A dog like that wants to show who's in charge. I go down on my knees. Gently, I throw the piece of cheese in front of me. The dog looks calmer, yet still suspicious. It slowly makes its way to the cheese as I bow my head. After a moment the dog is breathing on the top of my head. Slowly, I raise my head up to see a panting, happy dog. I grab another piece of the cheese and let the dog eat it from my hand. "Hey there..." I pet the dog and scratch behind it's ear. Its tail flaps up and down, making a thumping noice on the floor

"Puppy!" Behind me is a girl, no older than ten. She looks joyously at the dog. As I look at the dog, it has started growling at the girl. Without hesitation I wrap my arms around the dog to steady it. However, the dog is stronger than me. It throws me off, and starts aiming for the little girl. Terrified, I squeze my hands to notice I still have a bit of the cheese left. I run after the dog. "Hey! Look here! I have some more food for you!" I yell at the dog. I throw the last piece of the cheese away from the girl. The dog continues running, as do I. I try to keep up, but my feet aren't fast enough. All I can hear is my breath. I have to get to the girl, but the dog is faster than me. I can't make it. Just as I think the dog will tear the innocent little girl apart, it runs past her. To the cheese. I slow down to a stop. Under me I hear sniffles. It's the little girl. I sit down with her and embrace her. "It's okay. You're okay. Everything is fine." I stroke her hair until her sobs go silent. However, when I look down to check if she's alright, she's nowhere to be seen. I look around to find myself in a completely different scenario.

"You're supposed to let the elders sit, child." An older man staring at me, annoyed. "Sorry..." I take a quick moment to look around me. I'm on a bus, the city bus. I stand up and let the man take my seat. He sits down, and I stand next to him. The situation feels weird. It feels fake. Everything is changing all the time, trying to make me forget something. I look up. The roof has a mild blur. In fact everything looks to have a very mild blur. Everything except for the man who took my seat. I look confused at him. He is reading a newspaper now. I can't help but stare at the front page. "Murderer on the run!" the title says. "Do you know him? Huh?" The older man must have seen me staring. "No," I immediately respond. However, I feel like I do know him. "Are you sure, child?" He's staring at me. I feel uneasy. "No, I do not know him." The older man looks intently at me, his stern eyes boring into mine. "If you know him you must let me know. It could save me," he whispers. Save him? "Why would it save you?" I ask. He just shakes his head. "Do you know this man?" I take a deep breath, smile at him and calmly say, "no."

All of the sudden everything swirls into a yellow light, and I'm back in the test room with Tori. I breathe deeply, calming myself. To my side I see Tori. She looks almost frantic. "Uhm... Is everything alright?..." I ask her. She contiues to write and fickle with some documents. I slowly get out of the chair, nervous. "Tori?" She doesn't respond. "Tori? What's wrong? What's my result?" She sighs as she continues to look through some documents. "The result was... inconclusive..." I feel my heart beat loud and fast in my chest. I feel my hands shaking and my breathing shortening. Stay calm. "Your results were Erudite." I breathe out. At least that makes it easy to choose. However, Tori doesn't seem so calm. "And abnegation." I feel my chest thightening. Two factions? Am I selfless enough to be in abnegation? "And Amity." Amity. At the sound of Amity I get a slightly warm feeling in my chest, despite my nervousness. Three different factions? The test is supposed to give us one of the five. We are only supposed to fit into one of them. Now that I think about it, some people don't. Some people fit into more than one. In our household, they are concidered dangerous. They threaten the whole system. A system we have had for a long time, to keep the peace. "I... I'm a..." I barely get any words out. Tori nods. "Divergent."