This was hastily written just so I could get back in to writing a little bit. Hope you enjoy it.

It didn't take long for my mother to come back from work on the day I was suppose to be headed for the choosing ceremony. She sat down on a couch and stared at me as I flipped through a book I was suppose to finish for school, but that wasn't going to happen. Not today.

"What faction will you choose today Thomas?" My mother asked me this point blank because she asked me everything point blank. That was the life of a Candor.

"I don't know yet." I said evenly. It wasn't a lie perse. More like a half truth. I truly didn't know what faction I wanted to join. All I knew was I was getting the hell out of Candor.

"Why must you always lie Thomas? you know how much it pains me. You know what everyone says about you?" This is what she said to me every time I didn't give her a straight answer. I had been living in the Candor compound for sixteen years, and for sixteen years never had I felt comfortable. Sharing the kind of information the Candor do with each other is more personal than I ever wanted to be with anybody. Truthfully, I'm just too private to live here anymore.

"Of course I do mother. They tell me what they think of me." My response is flat.

"And isn't it wonderful? Never having to guess what those around you think? Always knowing where you stand. Always understanding your place in the world?" My mother is a Candor woman through and through. We've never had a good relationship but her rhetorical questions today have a pleading tone today. Maybe she does love me. "What did you get on your aptitude test dear?" She asks expectantly.

"I don't know." I respond without looking up from my book. And that's when I feel it. I quick, sharp pain on the side of my face that becomes flushed just as quickly as it subsides. My mother is standing above me now. Her six foot frame shaking in anger. Her hand drawn again in warning. Tears begin form at her eyes.

"Lier!" She screams at me as I look up from my novel in shock. "Lier!" I press a hand to my cheek and feel the blood beneath the skin. I'm in shock. My mother has never hit me before. Would never think to hit me before. I've crossed a line. Or at least she thinks I have. I've gotten through sixteen years of being in Candor by always telling half truths, or quarter truths. Never revealing my full intentions, or emotions. But today I am not lying. Not telling a half truth. Not deceiving at all. For as much as I want to leave and as much as we fight I do love my mother and now I know she loves me. I get up and pull her shaking form into my arms.

"I don't know the results mother. I left before they could tell me. I don't want five minutes to determine the rest of my life. I want to choose my own path for myself because it's what I think is best for me." She takes in this information still racked with tension. Still waiting to hear what she knows she will, but I don't want to tell her just yet. I don't want to break the bond of faction with my only family yet. I want this moment to linger on just a bit more. But I love my mother. And she is being torn apart by this moment as I am gaining peace. And ultimately I can not be that selfish. I can not watch her struggle against me any longer. "And that won't be with Candor" I whisper the words. Maybe if no one hears they won't have been said. But she does hear them. and she relaxes into my body and sobs.