{I do not own Divergent, Insurgent, or Allegiant. I am not Veronica Roth, nor am I pretending to be Veronica Roth.}
I sit in the reclined chair nervously.
"Ready?" Four says, finding the needle.
"Yep," I mutter, cracking my knuckles.
He inserts the needle into my neck.
I appear in the bag. I see glowing lights outside the bag, and faintly hear voices.
"Someone, help!" I scream, punching and scratching to get out.
"Help, I can't breathe!" I wheeze, kicking the bag. My chest gets heavy as I suck for air, my muscles becoming too weak to fight. I feel my eyes flutter shut and my head hit the bottom of the bag.
I'm not standing in the pit this time, I'm surrounded by people armed with guns.
"Don't move," one of them says. He has beady eyes, and smooth black hair.
I shiver a little. I have to get out of here.
There's a small opening in between two people to my left. I wait for a few seconds, before running through the opening.
The two people to my sides grab my arms, and I hear a gunshot before the sharp pain hits my back. They release me, and as I try to run another bullet hits my foot. I collapse to the ground.
"Okay, I surrender," I spit, clutching my foot. They back up, staring at me.
I'm dripping with blood from head to toe.
I let out one last scream before falling to the ground.
Today I'm in my old kitchen, sitting on a stool. A large, brown spider crawls out from under the refrigerator. I clamp a hand over my mouth, suppressing a scream. It quickly crawls over toward me and onto my foot.
I let out my scream, shaking my leg, and then the others come. They're huge, bigger than usual, all different kinds. They surround me, and eventually climb on me. I cover my mouth, screaming into it. Nothing happens. I need to overcome this fear- or at least try to.
I take deep, shaky breaths, feeling them crawl on me.
"They're just spiders," I force out.
I'm at Candor headquarters now. I make my way in.
I see my mother.
"Hey, mom!" I wave. She turns to me and gasps.
I look down at myself. My hair is down, and I'm dressed in Dauntless black.
"Oh, I-"
Strong hands grab me from behind.
Eric's voice whispers in my ear, sending chills down my spine.
"Faction before blood," he growls, pulling me away.
My mom is on the ground crying.
"MOM!!" I scream. Nothing.
These fears are getting worse.
I elbow Eric in the jaw, running to my mom.
"Goodbye, Mom."
Now I'm in the dark again, just like yesterday.
I pull my arms over my chest, shivering.
I think I hear a voice behind me, so I turn and kick into the empty darkness.
My watch.
I feel on both wrists. Of course it's not there.
I sigh, sitting on the bare floor. I can see nothing at all.
I curl up into the corner, hearing voices and screams so loud I cover my ears, rocking back and forth. I feel hot tears on my cheeks.
I sigh, wiping my cheeks.
I take shaky sighs until my breath evens out, and I try to relax my muscles.
Now I'm hanging over the Pit, but Christina isn't there like she was last week.
I'm alone.
My palms become sweaty with time, and water splashes my feet.
"Help," I croak.
"Someone, help!" I wheeze out. No one is here.
One of my hands falls off.
"No!" I screech as loud as I can.
I feel my grip loosen more and more. Somehow this reminds me of my childhood recurring nightmare, where I would just fall and fall, it never ended.
I suck in a breath before releasing my remaining hand. I fall and fall, but the stimulation is over before I feel the crash.
Six. Okay.
I'm in a white room, with no windows or doors, tied to a wall.
I look around, confused.
Then I hear a small, quiet but recurrent noise.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep, beep, beep, beep.
The beeping speeds up and becomes faster as I struggle with the restraints.
So loud it makes my ears sting, the beeping now doesn't stop at all. It sounds like my ears are ringing, but much louder.
What is so scary about this?
I begin to sweat, pulling on the ropes tying my hands down.
I let out a bloodcurdling scream and pull one last time.
My hands are free.
I use them to cover my ears, rocking back and forth.
I cry in frustration until my vision goes black.
Then it's over.
I wake up to a start.
"That's it? That's my fear landscape?"
"Seven fears is exceptional. However you may get some new ones tomorrow."
I nod.
"Thank you, Four."
He nods in return.
I begin out the door, halfway out what he says,
"You're the quietest Candor I've ever met."
I smile, but I'm not sure if he sees it.
-
I decide that today I don't want to sit around in the transfer dorm until dinner. So I walk out and look over the chasm, the way I did in my fear landscape.
"Hey, you!" Uriah exclaims from behind me.
"Hey," I turn, looking at him.
"It's funny because I feel like I last saw you an eternity ago because of those dumb fear landscapes."
I giggle, walking toward him. My heart leaps as he opens his arms for a hug.
I walk into his welcoming, strong arms.
"Bear hug!" he exclaims.
Lynn walks in, stifling laughter.
We laugh awkwardly, pulling out of the hug.
I mentally scold myself as Lynn bursts into conversation that sounds faint to me.
I look at Uriah out of the corner of my eye to find that he is sideways-staring at me. I feel my cheeks flush as we make eye contact, and I quickly focus back on Lynn.
"So that's why," she finishes, catching her breath, "I've decided to only forgive Marlene if she decides to be nice to you."
Uriah and I nod in agreement as if we'd been listening the whole time.
"Alright, well, I'll catch ya guys later!" Lynn yells, already running away.
"So, whaddya wanna do?" Uriah says, turning to me.
"Don't know, there's not much to do, being trapped in the compound and all."
"We could leave if we dragged Zeke along."
"True," I say
"Okay then, let's go see the lights on Erudite headquarters, then get tattoos," he says, with a gleam in his eye.
I nod, and we head toward Zeke's apartment. The door is cracked, so Uriah pushes the door open. We find Shauna and Zeke kissing on the bed.
I begin to laugh but he clamps his hand over my mouth, pulling me away from then door.
He takes my hand and runs toward the store, and once we're out of earshot lets out his laughter.
"What are you bu-"
He runs into the store, purchasing an air horn and balloons.
He steps outside, removing the packaging from the air horn and handing me the balloons.
"Go fill these with water, quick," he says, breathless.
I nod and dash to the bathroom, filling all of them, and meeting him in the hallway.
"Quiet now," he whispers as we near the apartment. We get on our hands and knees at the door and crawl to the foot of his bed.
Uriah signals to me with his fingers.
1... 2... 3!
-
We leap onto the train adjacent to the one Shauna and Zeke got on.
I catch my breath as he does, sitting on the edge of the train so my feet dangle off. He matches my position, his hip touching mine.
"I'm surprised they still agreed to go," I say, laughing a little.
"Yeah, Shauna was a total pansycake about it, screaming bloody murder," he laughs.
The compound disappears in the distance, and my vision drifts to the Hub. I admire the sunset behind it, just as he puts his arm around my shoulders. My head fills with thoughts.
Be Dauntless.
I rest my hand on his knee and head on his shoulder. I feel him smile.
"Well then," he exhales, smoothing my hair out.
"Huh?" I look up at him, tracing my hand over his snake tattoo.
"What are we?"
"I don't know, human beings or something like that."
He smiles.
"No, what are we?" He says again, gesturing between us.
"You tell me," I smile, resting my head back on his shoulder.
-
"Five minutes!" he yells after checking his watch, linking my hand with his and making a run for the dining hall.
We dash across the roof.
"Wait!" I exclaim, brushing a hair from my eye.
"Let's jump," I say, seeking adrenaline.
He nods and we run, hand in hand. With his free hand he counts to three, and we soar off the ledge, landing on the thick net.
We lay for a few moments on the net before he plants a kiss on my cheek.
"Eww, cooties!" I tease, kissing his lips and running away.
"Last one there is a... Um... Pansycake!" He runs after me, quick but not as fast as me.
I run toward the dining hall until he matches my speed, taking my hand as we go through the double doors.
We barely made it. The dining hall is almost full.
We walk together toward the counter full of food, passing a short lady sitting across from Zeke and Shauna.
"Uriah!" the lady, who I assume is his mother, calls, grabbing the back of his collar.
"Almost made it," he mutters, walking back to her and giving her a kiss on the cheek.
I smile politely.
"Aren't you gonna introduce mom to your giiiiirrrlllllfrrrriieeenndd?" Zeke sings, making Shauna roll her eyes.
Uriah sighs.
"This is Lily," he gestures to me.
"It's nice to meet you, Lily, I'm Hana." she says, holding her hand out.
I shake it.
"Nice to meet you too, Ms Pedrad," I say, smiling.
"You can call me Hana, dear," she says.
I nod an with that, we get our food, joining Lynn at our table.
"Marlene is coming," she hisses, overdramatic, "she promised to be nice if you guys aren't all lovey-dovey."
I shrug and Uriah heaves a sigh, sending me into a fit of giggles just as Marlene sits down.
"Lynn, Uriah, Lily," she says, sitting down and forcing a smile.
"Hi, Marlene," I say, smiling in return and poking a carrot with my fork.
Lynn and Marlene talk while Uriah and I eat and listen, Uriah occasionally adding something.
Uriah brushes his foot up against mine, forcing me to stifle giggles. I brush my toe around his ankle and up his calf a little, and out of the corner of my eye I see him smirking.
I freeze as Lynn looks under the table.
"You guys-" she starts, her face turning red with anger, "I can't believe you!"
She grabs Marlene's arm and storms off.
-
{sorry it's so long}