All day there were whispers about the second stage of training. No one, not even the Dauntless-born could train for this stage. So it was bound to be pretty rough.
I had to admit, I was extremely nervous. Raelynn had said hers was awful, she just wouldn't tell me what would happen. For this, the Dauntless-born were all together.
"Hey, V!" An all too familiar voice chirps from beside me.
"Don't call me that," I mumbled.
"What's wrong?" She asked, and it isn't until now that I hear the fake sympathy in her voice.
She never wanted to be friends with me, how had I never noticed.
How had I never noticed until now that she always was with Max, I'm so dumb, looking off into the distance, she never was looking off into the distance. She was looking at Max. They're table was right behind us, she was always looking in that direction. I'm so dumb, how had I not realized this?
"Via, it's your turn," Alex calls into the room, as I stand up shakily, terror probably clearly written on my face. Why? You may ask.
Because Max walked out of the looking in rough shape, he doesn't seem like the type to be afraid of things, or not as bad as he looked.
I slowly walked in, and Alex closed the door behind me, sitting down on one of those fun spinny chairs as he gestured towards a chair that looked much like the aptitude test and a dentist chair. I slowly sit down and watch him, no not creepily, normally, as he typed something into a computer.
Then he swirled back around in the spinny chair, "Okay, I'm going to transport you into a simulation-"
"Like the one from the aptitude test?"
"Kind of, only this one will be digging down into your deepest, darkest fears," he answers, and I look at him oddly.
"That didn't sound creepy at all," I murmured to myself but he chooses to ignore me.
"Most people have fifteen to twenty fears, I had seventeen," he continued, and I nod my head, "and I'm going to do this quickly because your sister mentioned-"
"Oh!" I screech as the syringe is inserted into my neck, "get that thing out of me!"
"that you were afraid of needles," he continued, before pulling it back out.
"Oh, great," I muttered before my eyes began to flutter closed.
I awake back in the gardens of Amity. Why would I be here? I look around, confusion written on my face. I begin to walk around and see a bunch of big, fat bumble bees on a set of dandelions. I slowly back off and hear Raelynn's voice in my head.
"If you don't bother them, they won't bother you," she says and I scoff.
Those things are evil, them and their big fluffyness and stingers. Ugh, they're absolutely horrifying. They glance up and raise from their positions from the flowers and begin buzzing towards me.
As I'm backing up, a group of wasps join them, their creepy legs hanging as they fly, and they turn a bright red. Yes, they are normally a more born color, but they are red as of right now, as if you've messed with their nest.
My breathing picks up and I turn around and sprint as far as I can. I try my best to not look back, but when I do a shriek escapes my mouth as I turn back around, only to be met with different types of spiders. Tarantulas, wolf spiders, widow spiders, crab spiders, everything else. It's so horrifying.
Hot tears stream down my face, "Stop! Just- Just get away,"
But something suddenly just snaps in my head, it's a simulation, it isn't real. I stop fighting it and just stand their, tears continuing to stream down your face as they sting me. It feels so real.
I let out a gasp as tears continue streaming, but I rake the back of my hands across my eyes, drying them up. I try and steady my breathing back to normal, falling back against the chair.
"How long do you," he paused, looking over at me.
"What?" I ask.
"How long do you think you were in there?" He questions, and I shudder, my arms over my chest.
"I don't... I don't know, thirty minutes? An hour?"
"You were in there for five minutes, Via," he says, and I look at him oddly.
"Are you sure? It felt like so much longer..." I pull my knees up to my chest.
"I'm sure, you were in there for five minutes," he waited a few moments, "how'd you do it?"
"What?"
"How'd you do it? How'd you get through it so quickly? You were going crazy and then just, like, stopped,"
"I realized it wasn't real," he looked at me weirdly, eyes slightly wider, "doesn't that happen to everyone?"
"Not usually..."
"Okay, well, I'm going to, uh, go," I wipe some more tears from my eyes, it wasn't real. They weren't there, I walked out and into the lobby, I look down at the floor, I now realize I was one of the last ones to go through the landscape.
I hope we don't have to do it again.
"Wait, you mean we have to do that again?" I shriek at Alex during dinner, and he nods his head, wincing as he holds his ears.
"Yeah, only it gets worse as you-"
"Don't scare her, Alex," Raelynn says to him gently, and I shudder again.
"What was so bad anyway?" Reagan questions and I shudder yet again.
"You don't want to know..."
"Oh, sure I do, I mean, you were out in like, what? Six minutes tops?" She rolls her eyes before continuing, "mine was around thirty minutes, a fear of flying, truly horrific, now, yours?"
"Fine, it was insects and spiders," I rolled my eyes before yet again shuddering, "terrifying,"
"Also, where did that bruise come from?" Reagan questions and I look down at the plate of food in front of me.
"Um..," I trail off, "It doesn't matter,"
"Where did you get that bruise, Via," she looks into my eyes, and I try my best not to look at her.
Silence is casted upon the table, everyone but Raelynn's face shows confusion, and then Zayne decides to speak up.
"Via, where did the bruise from," and he sounds serious, he hardly ever actually sounds serious.
"Um, I got in a fight-"
"Olivia," Raelynn whispers from beside me, and I glance over at her, and she gives a nod.
"Wait..." Zayne mumbles, clearly having pieced everything together, "where is Naomi?"
"Didn't her, Max, and and Ronnie look all beaten up?" Reagan glances over at me before her head snaps to mine, Zayne's following.
"What happened," Zayne looks at me, and I bite the inside of my cheek.
"It doesn't matter-"
"Tell us what happened!" He shouts, and I flinch slightly.
"Oh, nothing, just the fact that I almost died tonight because they tried to throw me over the chasm and they almost succeeded if it weren't for Reagan and..." I stop myself there and look up into their eyes.
They each, and Alex have murderous looks on their faces, "I'm going to kill them," Reagan says calmly before standing up.
"Reagan no!" But it's too late, she's already kicked them all three between the legs, and harder at Max, he's probably infertile now.
"Great," I mumbled.
"Okay, well, I'm going to go," Raelynn looks over at me, and I groan.
"Me too," Alex says, "I have to look over the landscapes again,"
"Great, everyone is leaving me,"
"Oh, get over it," Reagan scoffs, and I roll my eyes as they stalk off.
I'm walking around the chasm when I see it, when I see them. I stop in my tracks, as they look over at me, shock written all over their faces.
Q:
Who so you think it is??
A:
Not answering lol