Tris and I walked down the stairs, chatting about what Jeanine had said. Tris was really worried. I calmed her down. "Don't worry Tris. She doesn't know. She just thinks you're intelligent. She doesn't suspect a thing."
Tris shrugged, "If you're sure... "
I paused before speaking again, "You would do the right thing... right?"
Tris frowned, "What do you mean?"
I stopped in the hallway we were now in. It was lit by a faint blue light. "Jeanine asked you to be on her side if worse comes to worse... You would choose us over someone who betrayed the Factions... right?"
Tris was about to respond when I heard something. I held my hand up, "Did you hear-"
Just then, I saw someone come up behind Tris. I was going to shout when I felt an arm wrap around my waist. I was thrown back into a wall. My spine was in serious pain. I looked up to see three people with masks over their head dragging Tris towards the Chasm. I immediately ran at them. I punched one in the neck, and twisted the other's arm. They dropped Tris in the middle of the hall. The third came up and grabbed me by the neck. I clawed at their hands and they hissed in pain. I looked over to see the other two picking Tris back up and getting closer to the Chasm. I gathered all the strength I could muster and pulled my knees to my chest. I kicked my legs into the person's chest and they slammed into the other wall and cried out. I recognized it. Peter.
I didn't have time to think about it as I hobbled towards the other two masked figures. They were almost to the Chasm. I grabbed one by the neck and threw him behind me. I kicked the one holding Tris in the back of his knee and he fell forward, dropping Tris. I tried to go towards her, but the other two grabbed me from behind. I couldn't get away, as they had restrained my arms. They dragged me over to the Chasm. The other one grabbed Tris again, and brought her as well. They tried to push us both over. Tris had a lot more strength right now, as I had taken much more of a beating than her. I was losing energy fast and I felt one foot slip off the edge. I cried out but got my balance back again.
We struggled once again before I heard a voice call out, "Hey!"
I turned to see Four taking on the other two, one now revealed to be Al. I was distracted for the slightest moment, but Peter took advantage of it. He shoved me one last time and I slipped off the edge. I screamed and desperately tried to grab onto anything I could.
Suddenly a hand wrapped around my left wrist and my fall came to a halt with a sickening pop. I cried out in agony. I was pulled up by the same arm, which only caused more pain. Finally I was hauled to the platform and I sobbed at the pain. I could only see blurry figures through my tears, but I recognized Eric's outline and realized it was he who had caught me. I heard more fighting going on, but I was slipping in and out of consciousness. The last thing I remember was my body being lifted from the ground. After that, everything went black.
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I woke up in the infirmary. My body ached. I looked to my right and saw Eric fast asleep in the little hospital chair. I laughed, but it made me go into a wheezing fit, causing Eric to wake up. He rushed to my side and started throwing questions at me. "What hurts? Should I get a doctor? What's wrong? Do you-"
"Water." My voice came out barely above a whisper.
Eric immediately yelled for a nurse to get water and three nurses ended up coming to me, each with a glass of water. I smiled slightly. Eric still struck fear into everyone, but I got through all that. It made me happy to think about it before I realized once again how thirsty I was and dumped the thought. I drank every drop of water each nurse offered. I felt immediately better and sat up. Eric helped me but scolded me, saying I should take it slower.
I laughed, "For taking a beating and dislocating my shoulder, I feel great."
Eric sighed, "Yeah, well the doctor said you'll be in a sling for two to four weeks. You didn't exactly have a slight dislocation... it wasn't too bad, but it wasn't great. At least now we're in the mental stage and you can heal properly."
I raised an eyebrow, "So what you're saying is... You can yell at someone to get me a sling and then we can go get some food?"
He looked at me for a moment before cracking a grin. "Even in the worst moments, you only think about food?"
I groaned, "Can you just be scary Eric and get me out of here?"
He smiled and nodded. We were out after only a few minutes.
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I sat down next to Christina at our table. I looked around for Tris and saw her making her way towards us. She sat down and Chris spoke up, "Hey, you both look like shit. What happened to you guys yesterday? Tris, is that your sweater?"
Before either of us could speak, I saw Al coming up from behind us. He went to touch Tris to get her attention, but I stood up and shoved him away with my good arm. "Stay back!"
He held his hands up, "I just wanted to talk to Tris for a second."
Tris was on her feet now and I could see the tears forming in her eyes. He looked past me and tried to talk to Tris, "Listen, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me-"
I scoffed, "I've got a couple ideas."
He ignored me and tried to get closer to Tris, "Please, can you ever forgive me?"
I went to push him away again, but Tris put her hand on my shoulder and stepped towards Al. She took a deep breath and lowered her voice. "If you ever come close to me again- I will kill you."
He tried to speak again, "Tris-"
She was shouting now, "You need to stay away from me! From both of us!"
She fell back and I stepped forward. I spit at his feet, "You are a coward."
He took a few steps back, crying, before turning and running off. I sat down next to Tris who was already explaining everything that happened to everyone at the table.
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We were talking about the situation while we were on our beds, when we heard commotion outside. We walked out to the Chasm, to see that a group of people were pulling something up by a rope out of the Chasm. A corpse came up, and it turned slightly in the flimsy rope. As it turned, it revealed the person's face. It was Al. I listened to the people around me.
"He just jumped."
"No one was around until they heard him make contact at the bottom."
"I heard him screaming on the way down."
I knew at that moment how bad of a person I was. Because while Tris stood there stunned and Christina was crying, I was smirking.
The only thing I could keep thinking was, 'I wish I'd heard him hit the ground."
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Boom. Four new chapters in one day. Thank you to Lillian134 and divergent1106 for giving me inspiration for the major slump I was in!! ❤️❤️❤️