Resistant - an Allegiant Continuation (FanFiction)

Chapter Sixteen - Tobias

Tobias

It's cold and dark in my head. I'm panicking, thrashing around inside my consciousness as images of my father, Jeanine, Eric, and David rise into my head. My body tosses and turns, wherever it is, straining to escape the limitless bounds of my dream. Faces leer at me out of the darkness; Tris lies bloody on the Bureau floor as I hold a smoking gun in my hand; my father screams at me to wake up and smell the blood. My heart beats wildly in my chest, and just when I think that I can't take it anymore, I wake up.

My eyes blink open and I see a hunched figure by my bed. They are curled over, face buried in my arm, and they are snoring quietly. I move my arm inadvertently and wake them. I watch as they lift their face from the bed, rubbing their eyes before they see me properly.

She squeals, very unlike her, and wraps me in a tight embrace. I am struggling to breath, and have to worm my arm out of her grip so that I can loosen the neck of my shirt. Only it's not the neck of my shirt – it's a band of plastic encircling my neck with various wires and tubes sticking out of it. I suppose it has something to do with that fact that I tried to kill myself.

I wrap my arms around my mother and lean my face into her warm shoulder. I breathe in her warm smell of lavender and washing up liquid. I breathe out slowly, regretting trying to leave this earth. People do need me. My mother needs me.

Evelyn is crying, and her racket attracts a pair of doctors. Once they see that I am awake, they interrupt the scene and prise my mother's arms from around me. I rub my ribcage, wincing at the ache. It feels like my very lungs have been turned inside out.

The doctors, who wear name badges that label them in the smallest print possible, escort my mother over to a chair at the far side of the room. It is blue, unlike the rest of the clean white hospital. She continues to cry tears of what I assume are happy tears.

The nurses, one man and one woman, bend over me, speaking quietly amongst themselves. I cough, and they move back quickly, afraid that I am choking. I roll my eyes at them.

"I can hear, you know," I say. I am surprised by how small and raw my voice is. The female nurse elbows her teammate in the side.

"It was Gavin's fault," she says, laughing. "He said that you were socially impaired!"

Gavin's dark face somehow reddens. He grins sheepishly at me. "Sorry," he says. "I thought that maybe since you just tried to commit suicide you wouldn't want to talk."

I would smile at him if I could, but my jaw aches from several needle puncture wounds. I stead I just settle for a thumbs up. Even my thumb feels sore.

Gavin smiles at me again, more warmly this time. He adjusts my pillow and instructs me not to speak unless absolutely necessary.

"Okay," I say, which earns me a cold stare from the other nurse, Cassie. I can see in her eyes that she doesn't mean it though.

I lie still in my hospital bed until I fall asleep, dreaming of collars and paper bags and anything you can think of to do with struggling to breathe.

*Thanks so much for reading! I've noticed that I have almost 50 reads on this story, which is great, but most of them are only on the first few chapters. Is the story getting boring, or are people just reading the first chapter and realising how crappy it is? Anyway, I don't care whether you like my writing or not, I'm just glad that some people are reading it! (Obviously I prefer it when people like my stories, but that's not the point) Bye for now!*