Eric
We walked through Erudite compound, her hand in mine. Her crimson hair shone against her blue Erudite uniform. "Eric?" she started, "Why do you think they make us choose? Why is it so important to have to choose who you will be for the rest of your life? We're sixteen! We're going to make mistakes and it will be are bidding to abolish them. Why do we have to choose now? Why must we wait sixteen agonizing years, afraid of this choice?" I knew that she could go on forever. "Abby, this rule had been created long before even our grandparents were born. Who knows how many problems there were back then?" I have known Abby since we were kids. We've been best friends ever since we were seven. In Erudite it's difficult to find someone who doesn't try to prove your solutions wrong. "I still think that it is wrong and cruel to make us decide so quick," Abby carried on. "Well you can hold a meeting with every factions' leader and complain to them," I said sarcastically. Abby laughed. We sat down against the wall. "I know we aren't supposed to talk about it, but have you decided?" she asked me. Truthfully I had, but I wouldn't tell her that, she would worry too much. " No," I replied. "You know, Eric, the Choosing Ceremony is in two days. You don't have much time," she said. " I just don't want you to make the wrong choice," she continued. " Don't worry about me. Focus on your own decision. Your future depends on it," I told her. "Okay. I better go. I've got a big choice to dwell on tonight. See you tomorrow, Eric," she said joyfully as she quietly got up and left. I went home that night and seriously thought of my decision. Abby was right, the ceremony was creeping up on us. The thought of Abby made me wonder if she would transfer. I couldn't picture her leaving. If she were to go, she would probably go to Amity. I always thought she would do great things there. However, her father died when she was young and I don't think that she would leave her mother with her six year old twin brothers. All night I thought of how Abby's choices and mine would change things. I had almost drifted off to sleep when I heard a loud scream. " Eric!" the voice screamed again. Suddenly I realized it was Abby's voice.
I raced out of my house and followed her screams to Erudite compound. I watched in secrecy as Abby was strapped to a wired chair against her will. "Tell me if there are others here." The man's voice said. "Tell me!" he repeated. " I don't know!" Abby shouted with tears running down her face. When the man turned, I recognized him as Marcus Eaton, Abnegation's leader. I had read about him as well as the other faction leaders in school. Jeanine, Erudite's faction leader, was also in the room. "I'm going to ask you one more time where the other Divergent are within Erudite," Marcus threatened. Part of me knew this wasn't going to end well. Abby was silent. "Marcus don't waste your time on her, she knows nothing. She has an aptitude for Erudite as well as Candor. If she hasn't said anything yet, you can't expect her to say anything at all," Jeanine told him. " Fine then," Marcus said. Suddenly there was a blue light glowing from the room and a noise that sounded like what a computer must sound like when you pour water on its' live wires. I couldn't watch as the torture machine became quiet. Marcus and Jeanine left the room, leaving me unnoticed. I couldn't bear to look inside. I knew that she was dead. I walked back home with the word Divergent clouding my mind.
A year has pasted since I chose Dauntless. I hoped that their recklessness would somehow kill me and stop my grieving for Abby. I couldn't go back to Erudite, where the memory of her was everywhere I looked. I had pierced my face sixteen times for every year of her life and I had gotten tattoos for everything that reminds me of her. I will never stop loathing Marcus Eaton for killing her. Maybe Dauntless is where I truly belong. I was offered the position to be the leader of Dauntless and I took it in the hope of finding Marcus and ending him. My train of thought was broken when the door opened and Jeanine walked in. She stared at me with her mischievous eyes. " I want to offer you an opportunity," she started. I sat there in silence staring at the white tiles on the floor. "Look, I need your assistance to help me track down the Divergent." There was that word again, even though I wasn't exactly sure what it meant. "What would you give me in return if I agreed?" I asked. " Information," she said. " Information about Marcus." She knew how to get my attention. " Okay I'm interested," I said. "Good, you will work undercover here in Dauntless compound, watching the movements of transfers and Dauntless born initiates. I will be able to pick out the Divergent from the knowledge you give me," she said. "And my information," I remind her. " Fine I will give you half now and half later. That Stiff, Four, who was in your own initiation," she started. I knew whom she was speaking of right away. The Stiff was ranked first in our initiation. He was originally offered the position of Dauntless leader, but he turned it down. Now he trains transfers before they become members of Dauntless. I didn't trust him. It wasn't just the fact that he had knocked some of my teeth out when we were initiates. But he was from Abnegation and he was ranked first. I always found there to be something strange about that. "Well, his real name is Tobias Eaton. He is Marcus's son," Jeanine said as she left the room. I sat there for a few minutes taking the knowledge in before I stood up. A new class of initiates was arriving today and I would make sure to watch their every move, but most importantly I would be watching Four.
As weeks of initiation pasted by, I made note of each initiates' abilities. I couldn't tell who was Divergent and who wasn't. Jeanine held two attacks. First, she brought all Dauntless initiates under stimulation to find the Divergent. Second, she held an attack at Amity headquarters to find the Divergent who had escaped. Now, it was my turn to hold an attack. I took about fifty Dauntless traitors to Candor, where we would locate the Divergent within their faction. Candor is the biggest faction, so to make an easier approach Jeanine created a stimulation that would knock everyone unconscious except the Divergent. Dauntless traitors must have brought dozens of Divergent and lined them up by the elevators. My eyes directly went to Tris. She was a transfer to Dauntless from Abnegation and I took note that Four was particularly fond of her. I leaned in close to her to say something when she drove a knife through my chest and I fell to the ground. She was pretty intelligent for a Stiff. Suddenly, I was dragged away by Candor guards and thrown into a dark room. This room was used to hold people for trial. The door opened and as light burst into the room Jeanine walked in. She must have somehow avoided being caught by Candor guards. "You know that they are going to kill you. You're not going to get much of a trial," Jeanine started. I was silent. " I might as well give you the second half of the information I promised." "Why? Because you know I'm going to die? Because you know that I'm not brave or smart enough to get myself out?" I almost yelled. "Because you have been of great use to me and you deserve it," she said. I sighed and felt as though I might die of anger. " Four is Divergent. And now that you've helped me track down him and the others, you are free," she said. This made me want to scream. "I'm free!" I said in a harsh tone. " I'm free because I'm basically dead. You know it. And what would happen if I told all of Candor what your plan is?" I said. She got up and left. Jeanine wasn't stupid enough to think that I would actually tell a whole faction, that hates me, what her plan was. A guard came in next. " Your trial is ready," he said.
I remembered all of this as I walked down Candor's hallway with the guard by my side. When we got into the huge room I looked around at the crowd of people, who came to watch me die. The leader of Candor stood and spoke. "Now anybody who is Divergent, would you please stand," he said. Among the few of them, I only recognize three. Tris, Four, and Marcus. I figured that Marcus must have joined Jeanine for the same sort of reason I did. "Eric, you will be punished for your crimes by execution," the Candor leader said. That is when I realized what I had to do. "Wait!" I said. "I want Four to do it." Four stood up and walked towards me with a confused look on his face. "I want you to have to feel guilt for me," I said. " Do you really think that I would feel guilty killing you?" he asked. I closed my eyes and thought of Abby. I focused on her face until I heard the gunfire, when everything went black.