I saw this Insurgent poster at one of the movie theaters in our mall. Tbh I'm so excited.
Chapter 17: Five Days Later
I lay on the floor, my body curled on its side, just waiting for the Erudite Scientists to come and test me. I never should have walked down that path that day.
I never should have even acknowledged that the person had bumped my shoulder; it happens everyday in the bustling compound. I stare at the floor, which is so shiny that I can almost see my reflection.
It soon crosses my mind again. I did; I did acknowledge him, Daniel; I did get into a fight with him; and unfortunately, I did shoot him and kill him.
It's been a total of six, agonizing days since Daniel, the smart mouth Candor Transfer, died, all because of my foolish actions. Six days and I'm still here.
A tear springs from my eye, followed by another and another, until they are flowing freely from my eyes and rolling down my cheeks, onto the shiny floor.
I push my body upwards from the ground, reluctantly having enough strength in my arms to perform that action.
The testing from the past three days has taken all of my energy away, and it's also not helping that I barely get anything to eat here, maybe one meal each day since I arrived.
I stand up, and walk to what has become my favorite part of my holding cell: the window.
My hands shakily reach up to grab the bars as I press my body toward the window, as if it's going to help me get out. But that will only happen in my dreams. Only in my dreams.
I look out at the city as far as my eyes can visually see.
As my eyes travel towards the direction of the horizon, past the Amity farms and orchards, the marsh and the Hancock building, I see nothing but trees and tall, yellow grasses.
As my eyes travel to the right of the Amity farms, I see the crumpled buildings and train tracks that resemble my own home... The one place I wish that I was... The Dauntless Headquarters and the rest of the large underground compound.
My friends and family are there; I don't even know if they notice if I'm gone or not, they probably don't.
I turn around, and walk in the opposite direction, toward my bed. I prop my legs on the wall across from the one that I'm leaning against, and wait.
I sigh as I tap my combat boot clad feet together, looking at how worn out the soles are from my constant running. Yeah, they're so worn out because all you do is run from your problems, you fucking coward. I bite my lip when I hear the voices in my head again. They've been here ever since I found out about my Divergence, but mainly since I shot Daniel.
You're crazy if you think that anyone loves you. I bet your family hates you just as much as everyone else. You're a depressing piece of trash, Maddie. I bring my legs to my chest as I curl into a ball and lay my head on my kneecaps. I close my eyes.
It's not long after I close my eyes that I hear the sound of a door opening, and an electronic sound as a guard walks into my cell. "Come on. Time for testing." He walks over to me, and grabs my shirt.
He drags me to the small laboratory, my feet squeaking on the freshly waxed floors. The man scans his blue card, and the lab door opens. It's glass, and I see a circle of people dressed in blue standing inside.
They turn as the guard drops me onto the exam table. He nods, steps out, and shuts the door. I squint my eyes, the bright fluorescent lights of the compound are too bright, especially in this testing room. I feel extremely weak and a little light headed.
A woman with short blonde hair emerges from the circle, and steps towards me. "Madison Eaton." She shakes her head as she circles around my lab table, like sharks in the ocean. It's Jeanine Matthews.
I don't even try to move. I just lay still. My head is at the top of the table, so my hair hangs over the edge. It would be nice to go to sleep right now, maybe when I wake up I'll be back in Dauntless, in Steven's arms, safe from the Erudite and everything they've done to me since I ended up here.
I feel someone moving a small bit of hair away from my neck, and then a needle is pressed into my neck. I purse my lips and close my eyes, then bite my lip once the needle is removed.
I am connected to wires, and Jeanine stands over me, checking things on her computer. "The serum will take effect in a few seconds." She mutters, and within ten seconds, everything turns white, and then black.
>>
When I wake, I stand in Dauntless. A man walks toward me, then someone else grabs me from behind. "Help me, Maddie! Maddie, help me!" A voice screams. It's my mother. I kick the man holding me, making him lose his grip. I kick the other man, but he doesn't move.
Fuck.
We start to get into a fist fight. I duck when he tries to punch me, and then punch him in the stomach, sending many uppercuts to his jaw.
I kick him in the stomach multiple times, and then he shoves me into a wall, then pushes me near the edge of the path that we stand on.
I gasp as he chokes me, and bashes my head repeatedly against the ground. I feel myself beginning to give up, and I feel my vision fade.
I then stand up and kick the man as hard as I can, knocking him backwards. I walk over to the end of the path, where my mother is, and untie her from the ropes she was held by.
"Goodbye, Maddie." She whispers, and smiles at me. I look at her frantically. She pulls a gun out of her pocket and places it to the side of her head.
"What? Mom, No. NO!" I shout, but she pulls the trigger, and her body crumples to the ground.
You made a terrible choice, Madison. You're horrible.
A voice surrounds me, seeming to capture me. I'm hallucinating. I must be. I look down at my mother's dead body. She died smiling. I feel the tears leave my eyes, and I kiss her forehead before running down the hallway, and looking over at the chasm's edge.
I'm not in control of my actions anymore. The serum is. I know this isn't real, but it feels real. I know what Jeanine wants. She wants me to surrender. She wants me to give up. I run back to my mother and see that the blood has now soaked her hair, it's now pooled around her. I cry. I cry as hard as I can, holding my mother's head to my chest and rocking back and forth.
"Mom." I say, but she doesn't move. "Mom!" I cry, "Mom, come back." She doesn't, and I kiss her head one last time before I stand.
I look around the compound and see that it's empty, just like me. I smile, then take a step off of the Chasm edge, falling into it, my hair flying upwards and my arms and legs flailing.
Freedom. This is what I want. This is what I need.
The simulation ends just as I collide with the water, and I sit up. I gasp, grabbing at my neck since I feel an odd pressure there. Jeanine turns from the wall of computers she was facing, which has my brain on it.
My brain now has many red squares over it, and Jeanine herself is now pissed at me. I almost laugh.
"You!" She points at me, "You ruined it all!" She shouts as she paces around the blue and white lab.
I feel something inside of me begin to snap, and I cry as I look at her. I don't want to be weak, but if it's what I have to do, it's what I have to do.
"Why can't you just let me go home?!" I shout at her, "I just want to leave!" I yell. I send Jeanine a dirty look as I jump up, freeing myself of the wires, and race over to where she is. I wrap my cold fingers around her warm neck, and slam her against the computers.
She doesn't fight back, except for the occasional kick. "I know what you want, and I'm not giving it to you because you won't give me what you know that I want." I shake my head as a guard comes and picks me up. Jeanine grasps her neck, catching her breath. I lunge for her again, but the guard holds me back.
"Kill her now, now!" She shouts, and I am taken out of the room, and that's when I hear the shots.
I hear glass shattering and screams. Afterwards, I fall and then I hear silence.
a/n: ****rewritten on 7/21/16