{I do not own Divergent, Insurgent, or Allegiant. I am not Veronica Roth, nor am I pretending to be Veronica Roth.}
That night I receive a letter from Myra.
It reads:
"Lily;
I miss you so much.
Being factionless is hard, but the Abnegation are helpful.
Unfortunately they won't let me visit the Dauntless compound since you guys are close with the Erudite..
I'm breaking the rules to send you this letter.
{the last part is so faded and sloppy I can barely read it}
I have to go, bye!
-Myra"
Thinking about Myra and Edward brings some of my memory back from when I blacked out during capture the flag last week.
We all sit on the train heading toward wherever we're playing capture the flag. They didn't tell us.
Eric and Tobias pick the teams. Eric picks me.
Ugh.
My face lights up when Myra is also called to be on my team.
Her, Edward and I are together.
Although, I didn't know this would be the last time.
I'm handed a paintball gun. This could be fun. We ride the train for awhile longer until they tell us to jump off. By now we're practically pros at this. We leap off and land gracefully in the grass.
The teams separate.
The game starts off simple, us looking for the flag. But then Eric comes up with some sort of strategy and assigns Edward and I as guards of the teammates who are looking for the flag. He tells Myra to just stay to the side.
I look at her sympathetically, but she doesn't look too hurt.
"Edward," I mutter, pointing to the old rickety Ferris wheel. Tris and Four are climbing up.
"I suppose we should tell Eric," he says.
I nod, and we dash over to Eric, showing him.
"Nice work, Candor," he says. I shrug.
"So, what do we do?" Edward says, seeming bored.
"Go after them. I'm counting on you two."
We nod, and begin to sprint through the shadows toward the Ferris wheel.
We run in silence, coming to a stop at the bottom of the Ferris wheel.
He begins to climb it, but I hiss for him to stop.
"Let's spook em first. Then they will be so on edge, they won't suspect us coming."
He simply nods, and I try to shake the Ferris wheel but I'm nowhere near strong enough. Put together, we can only make it creak. It's not going anywhere.
"Wait," I whisper, walking over to the old machine that operated it.
"Lily there's no way that'll make it spin."
"We don't need to make it spin. We just need it to scare them!" I hiss, sending him into a fit of giggles.
I press the button but it doesn't even go down.
"Agh!"
I get up and pull myself onto the stand and stomp on the button. It lights up green, and the wheel creaks and screeches and moves a little. I can almost hear Eric chuckle in approval.
"That'll do it."
Edward nods and begins to climb.
"You know you're doing it wrong, right?"
"I'm doing it how they're doing it."
"Well they're doing it wrong, too." I laugh, and pull myself onto the carrier rather than climbing it like a ladder. Then I pop open the window on top, pull myself out of the car, and into the next one.
"Nice," he says, following me.
We repeat this until we're as close as we can get to Tris and Four.
I crack the window open so we can hear them. They're not talking about anything important.
I whisper my quietest whisper.
"So are we the bad guys?"
I watch him stifle laughter, his face turning bright pink in the process.
I peek out of the window, lifting my gun and aiming it at Tris.
Four looks at me.
"Tris, don't move,"
"Wh-"
"Don't move.
Lily, leave now."
Edward busts the window and climbs out.
"You too, Edward," he spits.
"Make us."
"Edward, maybe we should ju-"
"No, Lily."
"Then we'll have to make you," Tris says, stomping her foot hard on the chain holding our car up.
And then I feel us falling.
"Lily, get in!" Edward yells, and I do so just as he does, and squeeze my eyes shut for the landing.
It's not as bad as I expected. It hurts my head and legs a lot, but ever since I joined the Dauntless I haven't given up anything.
And I'm not gonna start now.
So we run back to Eric and tell him everything. He just nods.
"I want you to find them."
We leave, and decide to split up. I'm bigger than Tris, so I could take her if I needed to. Edward takes Peter with him.
I spot a green light. As I near it, I realize it's the flag.
Christina and Tris are already there. I sprint and latch my hands onto it just as Tris does.
I kick her shin with all the strength my foot has, which is evidently a lot. She groans.
She has no footwork. I can do this.
I stomp on her foot and pull on the flag just as her grip loosens. Now I'm in the lead.
Just as I'm about to pull it one last time with enough strength to win it, someone grabs my hair from behind me. I feel my grip loosen as they spin me around, the flag falling to the ground. Hands wrap around my throat, causing the corners of my vision to darken.
At the time, I couldn't fully figure out whose face I saw before I blacked out, whose hands were around my throat.
But now, I see a blurry image;
Marlene with her thumbs pressing into my throat, and Uriah is running toward us.
-
I drop the note, suddenly feeling very tired, and decide to go to sleep.
-
The next morning I wake up before the others, but I see sunrise outside the window so I know it's not that early.
I get dressed quickly and step out of the dorm, making my way over to the dining hall for breakfast. I sit, and wait for the others, but one person arrives a little before them.
I was a little startled considering the dining hall was just empty a second ago, when someone grabbed my shirt and tore me off the bench. But my instincts are fast, so I whipped around and did a quick block I learned in initiation.
Between my elbows I see Marlene.
I sigh.
"Look, I don't know what I ever did to you, but you're really nice to everybody except me and I don't get it."
She kicks my thigh.
"You know what you're doing."
I decide not to fight back. For now, anyway.
"No, I don't," I mutter, stepping away from her.
I see people start to trickle in. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Four with his eyebrows furrowed.
"Coward, huh?" she smiles, punching my jaw.
"Nope, I just don't wanna cause a scene right in the middle of breakfast." I return her smile, mine sarcastic.
Just about everyone is here now.
"Well I'm not a coward like you, so," she says, finishing her sentence by elbowing me in the side.
"Listen, I'm not fighting back." I say, loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Then this should be easy," she says punching my jaw in the same spot and grabbing my hair.
"It's like you want me to beat you senseless," I mutter, pushing her away from my hair.
"I'd like to see you try," she says, smiling.
I punch her hard in the stomach, and, when she's off balance, swipe her feet from beneath her. I kick her side, and she gets up, punching my jaw again.
"Is that all you can do? 'Cause I can do that too." I say, punching her jaw twice.
"N-nope.." she forces out, elbowing my side again.
"Sorry, I forgot that one," I say, jabbing my elbow hard into her side.
She groans.
"Lily, stop it!"
I look over to the doorway, where Uriah stands.
"I didn't- I mean- she-"
"No. C'mon Marlene." he beckons for her to come, and they walk together toward the hospital.
I suppress tears as I walk back to my table. Crying, or sighing, even, would be a sign of defeat. Any Dauntless' opinion would be that I won. And I can't show my defeat in front of all these Dauntless.
Everyone just stares at me.
Lynn plops into a seat behind me.
"I didn't-"
"I know. I saw most of it."
I just nod and stare at my muffin, tears on the verge of escaping.
"It's alright, he'll come to his senses."
"I don't understand. She likes everyone except me."
"She loves Uriah, though," Lynn mutters.
"Yeah, bu-" I stop talking when I look over and Lynn has her face in her hands, leaning on the table.
"I didn't even put that together, Lynn. I'm sorry, that was really selfish of me."
She looks up, her face only slightly blotchy. I quickly hand her a glass of water so people don't see.
Once she puts the glass down she looks almost normal again.
"Hey, that's okay. At least you didn't transfer to Abnegation," she says, and we burst into laughter.
-
I sit down on the chair and it reclines quickly. I fold my hands over my chest and take a deep breath.
"So today, you'll have the same fear and one or more different ones."
I just nod, and he cleans the side of my neck.
"By the way, I saw everything that happened today, and if you need, I don't know, proof, I work in the control room."
I nod again.
"Thank you, Four."
I'm in the black bag again.
Breathing becomes harder and harder and I begin to suffocate.
I try to scream but that scream is my last breath.
I appear in the Pit again. Of course, covered in blood. The thought of it not being mine actually makes me throw up. But, I throw up blood.
This is horrible.
I pass out again, and I feel my head hit the hard ground.
Now I appear to be in a room I recognize.. My bedroom in Candor. I look to my bed just as a spider crawls out from beneath it.
Arachnophobia.
I walk up to it and stomp on it, but when I remove my foot, it's alive and bigger. Other spiders begin to come out, from in my dresser, through the window and cracks in the walls. Soon my floor is covered with spiders. I scream, and struggle with the door knob, but it doesn't budge. The spiders start to crawl on me, under my pant legs, and up to my face.
I scream as loud as I can.
Then I wake up.
Sweaty, and gasping for air.
First I assume I'm done, but no. I'm sitting on the concrete in a Candor neighborhood. I'm right in front of my house.
I get up quickly and brush myself off, slowly approaching my house. My parents sit on the porch, staring at me.
I wave a little, and begin to run toward them.
"Mom! Dad!"
My dad pulls out a gun.
"Get away from us!"
I gasp.
"I'm your d-daughter..."
My mother shakes her head.
"You betrayed us," she says, disappointment in her eyes.
"I d-didn't-"
I turn around. Many of the Dauntless stand behind me.
"Faction before blood," they chant, over and over.
"Faction before blood, faction before blood," they begin to approach me, storming over me and knocking me to the ground.
My vision goes fully black.
I wake up in the test room.
"Oh, my.."
"You're excused."
I nod and walk out.
I cross paths with Uriah. No, no, no.
I try to make a clean getaway but he balls up my shirt with his fist and spins me around in one throw.
"Why the hell would you-"
"I DIDN'T!" I scream in frustration.
He looks at me, appalled, taking a step back.
"I tried everything I could to just get away from her and not fight back, but she WOULDN'T LET ME. And if you don't believe me, that's really your problem, NOT mine."
I resist the urge to stomp on his foot before leaving and entering the dorm. It's empty.
I fall onto my bed and just begin to cry, but stop myself soon after. I wipe my eyes and just sit there.
I look at the lily on my wrist, tracing my fingers over it over and over. I must have fallen asleep, because Lynn shakes me awake telling me it's time for dinner.
I go to sit at our usual table, but Uriah and Marlene are there and I remember everything.
"You can sit with them, if you like," I say genuinely to Lynn, but she shakes her head.
We walk around, looking for a table. There's one in the corner. So, we sit alone.
"Look," Lynn groans toward Uriah and Marlene flirting.
My eyes burn with tears but I hold them back, because I have to.
Lynn pats my shoulder.
"I know I said he'd come to his senses, but if he doesn't, he's stupid."
I nod and wipe my eyes.
We finish our food in silence.
"How about cake?" Lynn asks excitedly.
I laugh and nod. We walk up to the counter where the cake is. Two slices left. I beckon for Lynn to get hers first, and reach for the last piece just as someone to my left does.
"Oh, go ahead," a familiar voice says.
"No, it's fine, sorry," I say, looking up at the person.
Uriah.
Our eyes meet for a few seconds before I scurry off to clean up my plate.
-
{I'd like to thank every one of you readers, especially since there isn't many. Votes and telling other people about this story would be great, thank you!}