"There comes a time when you have to choose between turning the page or closing the book."
We remained in the pit for quite a long time. Other dauntless had joined in and created much life in the pit yesterday evening. Even though I had been really tired my body had ached to go on a run. The restless nature of mine had bothered me quite a bit, making me unable to find any rest at first. Luckily, I found it because I knew we would have today off.
After breakfast I had slipped away, spending much of the day on my own as I explored the city. I didn't return to the dauntless compound before well into the afternoon. The time I had spent on my own had recharged my energy quite a bit.
When I returned to the accommodation, I found it quite empty. Only Elijah remained inside. He was seated on his bed, only leg tucked underneath him, the other bent with his foot resting against the edge. His attention was on a book in his hands, resting against the leg that was lying against the bed. My eyes widened at the sight of a book before remembering he had been erudite as well.
Elijah looked up seconds after I had entered the room. At first, he had seemed annoyed over my disturbance but when he noticed it was me, his expression softened and then hardened. "Octavia." Elijah scooted off his bed after he had closed the book. It remained on his bed when he stood up. "Where have you been, we've been looking for you." Elijah's tone was harsh, and it surprised me.
"I was out running. I told Roxy—" I trailed off when Elijah exhaled deeply. He raised his arms up to wrap them around his chest. "What's going on? Why are you angry with me?" I asked, not hiding I was annoyed at him. Elijah's eyes widened in surprise, clearly looking confused as to how I had just asked him that.
"Angry? I'm mostly disappointed—you should go find Roxy." Elijah grunted at me before he returned to his bed. My lips became a tight line at his tone. "Octavia, go find Roxy. I bet she's in the infirmary. Now that you're too busy with yourself and your boyfriend to notice what's going on around you." Elijah's words stung.
"Fuck you." I sneered, taking a step away. "I have no idea why you're like this, but if this is the tone you're going to use, then stay away from me. I don't need your friendship." I snapped at him. Elijah didn't even look up from his book, though I was certain his fingernails dug into the back of it.
I spun around, leaving the accommodation within seconds. I ran down the hallways I knew would lead me to the infirmary. When I placed a hand on the door, pushing it open, I was met with several figures inside. A few nurses were tending to Luke who was lying unconscious on the bed furthest from the door. Roxy stood near him, tears streaming down her face.
When I entered, I couldn't help but notice Gabriel sitting in one of the beds near the door. He was awake and looked much better as he also had his attention on the working nurses. I ignored the expression he sent me when I moved to Roxy. I placed my hand on her shoulder, squeezing it tightly to let her know I was there before guiding her to me when she turned around.
I pulled her into a tight embrace, one she returned with an even tighter one. New tears were streaming down her face as she just cried. I rested my chin on the top of her head as I took Luke in. He had received a beating almost like the one Gabriel had received from Eric. "What happened?" I choaked on my own words but Roxy understood.
"Isaac and Emil provoked Luke and me in the training room. We were just sparring—" Roxy dried a few tears away, but they were quickly replaced with new ones. "They were talking bad about—O, it was horrible. Emil and Isaac kept hitting him, even after he—" Roxy cried out, making me hug her even tighter.
I understood what had happened even though her explanation hadn't been complete. I had not been able to be there for my friends. I had not been able to protect them. I held Roxy as tightly as she needed me too, even when the door opened behind us. I saw Abby approach from the corner of my eyes with Valentine right behind her.
"We heard what happened." Abby said when placing a hand on my shoulder. "Sweetie, we need to ask you a few questions." Abby turned to Roxy who reluctantly released me. I helped her dry a few tears away from her cheeks. I smiled to her, then to Abby before retracting a few steps.
Valentine was standing near Luke, inspecting his wounds. It was only by accident I noticed Gabriel's smirk. "He looks worse than me." Gabriel rasped from his corner, bringing everyone's attention to him. "Are you sure you're not just a walking curse, Octavia?" Gabriel laughed but it ended out in a few coughs.
I frowned at him as Valentine told him to shut up. "Rox, I'll be back. Stay with Luke." I whispered and placed a kiss on her forehead. Her eyes widened before she grabbed my arm. "I won't do anything stupid." I quickly assured her. She didn't seem convinced at all, but she released me anyway. I would definitely go do something stupid.
"Are you going to go get your scary boyfriend?" Gabriel asked the moment I passed his bed. I stopped walking the second those words left his lips. My head snapped to him as my frown only grew deeper. The expression he sent me told he had gained what he wanted.
"Shut up, Gabriel." I snapped at him. Gabriel only laughed louder, once again it became mixed with a few coughs. "No one asked for your opinion." I continued before turning to the door. I left the infirmary as quickly as I could, not wanting to linger and hear anything else he had to say. I no longer cared what he said or if he would let on what Eric and I was doing.
Anger was boiling inside me now, clouding my sense of calm, my judgement. I only wanted to hurt something, if not someone. I wanted to hurt Isaac. Without knowing where he would be right now, I turned to the training room. Hoping, but not expecting, to find them still there. As if fate wanted me to find them, they were actually still in the training room.
When I entered, they didn't even cast a glance my way. Isaac was standing with his back towards me, a hand resting on one of the punching bags. Emil on the other side as they spoke, clearly satisfied with what they had accomplished. I took a step forward but halted. What would I do? It would be two against one. And they were much stronger than me.
When I had taken the step, my shoe had sent something flying over the floor. Its metallic hide reflected the lights above my head. A knife. A small smirk emerged on my lips. That moment anger rendered everything else in me numb and I knew exactly what to do.
My fingers curled around the metal of the knife and picked it up from the floor. It felt cold against my warm fingers. I took a deep breath, centering myself as my eyes found my target. Isaac's hand. The knife left my hand seconds after. I hauled it at him. The knife flew directly towards it's intended target still on the punching bag.
The scream that left Isaac went right through me. The knife had buried itself in the back of his hand, sinking deep enough to reach the punching bag underneath. For a moment, I regretted my action but when Emil acted and sidestepped Isaac to go for me, it vanished again.
I could now watch Isaac yank his hand away from the punching bag, sending sand flying everywhere as he held his other hand around his wrist. His roar ricocheted off the walls. This would definitely leave a mark. But I didn't get to relish in the sight because Emil had reached me, already swinging an arm at me.
I ducked and dashed forwards towards Isaac. I reached for the knife still in his hand. A horrifying side to me emerged when I grabbed onto the knife, pulling it out of his hand, inflicting him even more pain. Emil had used my momentarily fixation on Isaac to grab me by my shirt. I lost the grip on the knife and it clattered to the floor in front of Isaac.
Emil's fingers were still securely wrapped around my shirt when he pulled me away, steering me directly towards one of the metal pillars holding the roof. The air left my lungs at impact. I cried out in pain before moving around it, keeping it between Emil and me. I found his brown eyes. They were narrowed at me, hate gleaming in every move he made as he reached for me again.
I used his forward momentum to grab his arms, pulling him closer and directly into the pillar. It made a hollow metallic clang when his head hit the metal. I saw the wound that emerged on his forehead before he sunk to his knees, almost knocked out. Then a knife came flying, dangerously close to my head.
My eyes snapped to Isaac. "Missed." I spoke coldly, a small smirk emerging. It only angered Isaac even more before he reached for another knife on the table nearby. I kept my eyes on him as he threw the knife at me, missing by more than a meter. I had hit his dominant hand, and he was truly awful with his left.
I stepped around the pillar and Emil, challenging Isaac to dare throw another at me, with Emil now right behind me. Isaac took the challenge, getting a bit closer but it had rendered me oblivious to Emil behind me. Something hard hit the back of my knees, forcing them to buckle and I landed on the ground, kneeling as an arm went around my neck.
I gasped loudly and grabbed onto Emil's forearm, digging my nails into his skin when a knife were placed against my neck. Emil had used the time I was unfocused on him to grab one of the knives that had landed on the ground before he kicked at the back of my knees, sending me to the ground so he could move up behind me and capture me.
Emil pressed his body against mine as he moved a knee in between my legs, pinning me further in place. The coldness of the blade in his hand was all I could concentrate about. It was the most dangerous tool right now. Even though I felt disgusted being this close to him. Emil laughed before he rested his cheek against mine. "Got ya." He purred.
I shuddered at the feeling of his breath against my skin. Then the knife pressed further against my neck, a slight stinging pain emerged. I knew from that, he was drawing blood. "What are you going to do now? Are your scary boyfriend going to come rescue you?" Isaac sneered at me.
He had approached Emil and me, still holding a hand tightly around the wrist on his injured hand. He left a trail of blood in his wake. I watched him with narrowed eyes as he settled in a crouch in front of me, his hand glistening with red blood as it tainted the floor. "I don't need my scary boyfriend to kick your ass." I snapped at Isaac.
"Hush, or we might actually do something to you." Emil pressed the knife tighter against my skin and tightened his hold on the back of my neck as I pressed my body outward towards Isaac. It only made me want to gag but the overwhelming need to hurt Isaac still remained, and I released Emil's arm with one of my hands.
I could just barely grab Isaac's hand. The surprise made him jolt and I gained a better hold before digging my nails into the open wound. Isaac roared. The action distracted Emil and I threw my head back against his head. I was released almost simultaneously with a small crack. I then dashed forwards, tackled Isaac to the ground before I raised my hands at him. I managed to hit him once before a strong arm was wrapped around my waist, pulling me away from him.
I screamed as loudly as I could and fought against Emil. But he didn't relent and soon the knife was back at my throat. I fell completely limp against his body. My action sent us both to our knees but Emil kept a strong hold around my waist. He never relented, but to grab a handful of my hair, forcing my head backwards.
This position made me see the damage my head-bud had done to Emil. Blood was running from his nose, down over his mouth and chin before staining his shirt. A satisfied smirk emerged on my lips. I had properly broken that nose as well. Emil removed the knife from my throat and moved it to my hair instead. Before I could do anything it went through the golden strands like butter.
Loose hair fell around my face and I acted because Emil no longer had any hold on me. I placed my hands on the ground in front of me, pushing one foot back, aiming it directly for that tender spot between his legs. I knew I had managed to hit him when he exclaimed a painful yelp. Emil sunk to his knees behind me, both hands grabbing his crotch. I then swung around on my knees, a hand raised ready to hit him, but a voice boomed through the training room in the exact same second.
"Stop this foolishness right now!" The voice carried enough authority to render me silent. I stopped my intended swing midair as my head snapped in the direction of the voice. A furious Max stood in the doorway. I could almost see the steam from his ears. An unknown woman was at his side, clearly just as horrified by the sight as he was.
Then Abby and Eric stormed in and my eyes instantly locked with Eric's. He had already taken the first step towards me before he noticed Max and halted, stilling in a way that was very unlike him. Abby took over instead, running to my side. She knelt in front of me and pushed some of my hair out of my face. How I wished it was Eric instead. But I understood we were in the presence of the one person that just couldn't know.
Then Eric slowly moved towards Abby and me. His eyes on me the entire time even when he picked Emil up from the floor and pushed him away, before then turning to Isaac, where he did the same. Eric took both boys with him, one hand around each of their arms. Abby helped me up, her eyes scanning my entire body for any signs of a wound. "Are you okay?" She whispered.
I nodded, unable to find any words to reply with. "Come with me—brains will join us later." Abby whispered the last sentence. Only loud enough for my ears before she wrapped an arm around my shoulders. I leant into her tight hold, letting her guide me out of the training room, past the furious Max.
I didn't even dare look at the furious leader. His shoulder's had been heaving as he breathed heavily, anger fuming from him. When Abby had me out of reach from Max, she pulled me into a tight embrace. "Roxy asked us to go find you and make sure you didn't do anything stupid." Abby sighed once she had released me again.
Her gentle hands brushed the hair away from my face, taking me in as her eyes scanned my face. "I went to find Eric, and we came straight here but Amanda had already seen you guys and gone directly to Max." Abby sighed while her hand found one of mine. The name had to belong to the unknown dauntless at Max's side.
"Come let me fix your hair a little." Abby's eyes scanned the mess that was now my hair, half of it no longer than just past my chin, the other flowing down well past my waist. I smiled tiredly to her but accepted as she pulled me with her.
Abby guided me back to the hallway where Eric's apartment was, but she didn't turn towards his, she moved towards the one directly opposite of his. When I entered the apartment, it was nothing like Eric's. It was much larger. It had only one panel of large windows in the living room, the small tea-kitchen around the same size as Eric's. The living room was bigger, and there were two doors leading into other rooms.
Abby guided me to one of them. We entered hers and Valentine's bedroom before she guided me towards the bathroom. It was roughly the same size as Eric's but had a bathtub. She then guided me to sit down on the edge of it before she reached for a small bag underneath the sink.
When Abby pulled out a scissor, I turned my head around, giving her better view of the damage. I had understood her intentions without her needing to speak. Abby worked in silence, her gentle fingers running though my hair alongside the occasional snipping of hair. I could feel how short my hair became as she corrected it. "There, done. It's not great but it's better than what you had before." Abby smiled as she put the scissor away again.
"Thank you, Abby." I smiled at her when running a hand through my hair. It wasn't much longer than to my ears now, hugging my face tightly and the once soft curls, now bounced tighter, making it even more messy. I cast a glance in the mirror as Abby turned to the door.
"Come out when you're ready." Abby smiled. She closed the door behind her, leaving me to the silence of the bathroom. I turned completely towards the mirror, assessing the damage Emil had inflicted on me. One small crimson line ran just below my jaw on the right side of my neck. It had stopped bleeding, but I quickly used some water to clean some of the dried blood away. Then I brushed the cut strands of hair together, cleaning up the best I could.
The events of the day replayed in my mind as I freshened up, taking in everything about myself before I looked in the mirror one last time, making sure I was somewhat presentable.