My name is Anne. I am part of the Abnegation. I am selfless. I am kind. I do not think about myself. I think about others. I always have. I am use to the way of life that my mother and father chose. That is why it would make sense I would choose this on my choosing day.
I have thought about it a lot. I have thought about it too much. Today I am taking the test. Today I find out what I test out for.
I know what it will be.
It will be Abnegation. Because that is what I am. I am Abnegation.
I look into my reflection in the puddle as I walk down the street. We are not supposed to look at ourselves in the mirrors, to reject vanity. This makes sense to me. It is to stop what we could become if we cared about ourselves. We would become monsters.
I decided to look up into the sky instead. There was no reflection there. I glanced over at my friend, Lily. She was walking along side of me. Despite the Abnegations strict policy of no physical contact me and Lily were linked arms as we walked to the testing center. It gave both of us a sense of security. That we would be there for each other. She and I were very close. We were very much alike. We were both selfless, we were both selfless to a fault. Like we were taught.
We walked in sync together among the crowd of others that were going to choose. I saw Amity reds and yellows, blue Erudite, white and black Candor, and of course gray Abnegation. We were designed to blend in. To be unnoticed. Because we ourselves shouldn't mean anything.
Grace and I get in line outside of the building. The time isn't yet for them to open the doors. So we wait in line quietly with the rest of our faction.
She looks over at me.
"What do you think we will get?" she asked quietly so no one could hear. I glanced over at her.
"What else could we possibly get?" she shrugged her shoulders. Sometimes she was better at guessing outside the box than I was. Just like I was better at reading people.
The train came sailing down the tracks. And out of the open doors flashed black jackets of the Dauntless. They were screaming and laughing, I watched as they ran to the line and started cracking jokes in a large mass. Not a neat single file line like the Abnegation.
I glance over at Lily. She is watching the Dauntless too. I can see the curiosity in her eyes.
"Do you think that would ever get tired?" she asks. I glance over at the dauntless as two girls climb onto the shoulders of two guys and they start trying to kick each other.
It looked like they always had fun.
No. That wouldn't get boring. Not at all. It would be fun. It would be fantastic.
"Yes, it probably would." I say. He glances over at me, her eyes flickering to mine. She always knows when I lie, I don't know how.
The doors start to open and people start streaming into the testing center. The Abnegation wait until everyone else is in. Then we go and get in line.
We sit when there are chair available. And me and Lily wait.
There are two Amity girls sitting next to us talking loudly and snorting. How could they not be nervous about this?
I guess I was nervous. But I knew deep down what I was going to get. So I didn't worry about it.
"Lily Branson." Someone called from the testing center door. Lily stood, I squeezed her hand as she went past. And I watched as she disappeared behind the door. It seemed like hours before my name was called too, and I hurried into the room.
There was a chair in the middle, with a device that looked similar to the ones in the hospital next to the chair.
There was an Erudite woman who was fiddling with the computer.
"Sit down Abnegation." She said. I walked over and sat on the chair. "This is a test of what faction you should be in, you know the drill." She handed me a small cup with blue liquid in it. "Drink up." I glanced at it and then obeyed.
"What will happen?" I asked. The Erudite woman continued as if she hadn't heard me.
And then the room faded away, and I was standing in a hallway.
"Choose." The Erudite woman said. I looked around, I didn't see anything. Choose what? Finally in front of me was a chunk of cheese, and a knife. Either could come in handy. This was a test.
"Choose one." The voice said impatiently. Choose one? But it made sense to grab both. I went up to the pedestals and reached out for the knife, and at the last second grabbed the cheese with my other hand as I grabbed the knife.
"I said grab one stiff." The voice told me. But I still held both the cheese and the knife.
I heard growling, and I turned around to see a huge dog sitting looking at me. He had large teeth, and started to growl.
I could tell the dog would attack me any second. So I tossed it the cheese. It calmed down and started to eat it.
Suddenly there was a girl, standing next to me, the dog jumped up, going for the girl.
There was only one thing I could do. I grabbed the girl and thrust out the knife. And the dog whimpered and the child screamed.
Then the scene changed again. I was on a train. There was a man with a newspaper in his hands. I saw the picture on the front said something about a criminal. There was a picture below it, I seemed to recognize the photo. The man holding the paper brought it down and looked at me.
"Do you recognize this person?" he asked.
"I, I think so." I said back.
"Wait a second. This picture," he brought it up again, and it was suddenly a picture of me. "This is you!"
"No its not." I said. "It looks nothing like me." he stood up and tried to grab me. I pushed through the people and started running the length of the car. I had to get away from him. I had to beat this test.
I made it to the train door and pushed the open button. When the door opened I realized we were moving. And we were many feet off of the city floor. The man was still chasing me. I couldn't wait. I grabbed the handle next to the door and swung myself out side of the door. It slid shut and I felt the wind on my face and the cold biting at my hand. I forced myself to get a better footing and peered down. We were slopping down to the city floor, and the door slid open. The man was reaching for me, and ten feet from the ground I realized if I didn't let go then, he would grab me.
I didn't want to let go. I didn't want to let my hands relax. They were keeping me safe. As long as I held on, I could control what happened. As he reached I grabbed his arm and yanked. Making him sail out and onto the ground. Once I regained my balance I swung inside and collapsed to the floor.
The scene changed. I was sitting at a computer. There was a note on the desk. It simply said: Turn it on.
I pushed the on button and it didn't work. So I stood up, went around back and found the power cord it was plugged in. Next I checked to see if the cord was bad, but it wasn't. Finally I just pulled off the case and found that the power wire wasn't connected to the computer.
Unplugging it from the wall I reattached it and plugged it back in. then went around to the front and clicked the button on.
I snapped out of the simulation. I sat forward and grasped my head.
"What happened? What was my result?" I asked. She didn't answer so I looked up at her. She was standing, her mouth open and wide staring at me.
"What? What's wrong?"
"You, you,"
"What happened? What faction am I?"
"There is no faction for you. You, you tested into every faction."