Slowly I grabbed the knife. The blade caught the light and for a moment I was blinded. The room was silent but the pounding in my ears drowned all my senses. My hand had a slow tremor. I raised the blade to my palm and pressed it down into my skin until I could see red. The blood was pooling on raised palm. With a ragged breath, I let my blood falls onto the bowl of black coals—what have I done?

"Dauntless" faltered the voice of our leader Marcus.

It was the day when all the 16 year-olds in the city chose their future, chose their faction and possibly changed their lives. Our population is divided into five factions: Abnegation, Dauntless, Candor, Erudite, and Amity. Each faction has its own characteristics, lifestyle and jobs. Abnegation, my original faction, prides itself on being selfless, taking care of the homeless and running the government. Most people that make up this faction are genuine; they took me in when my family died. They care so much about everyone that it aches my heart because, I had to escape it, the good did not make up for the bad. And the bad had been terrorizing me day and night for a year and a half.

By dripping my blood on the black coals, I chose to escape my nightmare by leaving my wholesome community. The Dauntless are brave, loud, and full of life. I made a choice to be someone completely different than I was raised, and it terrified me. But I was free.

I looked up at Markus one last time before I walk to join my new faction, his eyes were brimming with tears, his skin had paled, and he was utterly confused. As my gaze met with his, I was overwhelmed with hate, fear and pain. I turned my back from him and once I am sat with my new faction, the ceremony continued but Markus's eyes barely left me. I looked down at my hand but I could still feel his stare.

The ceremony concluded and I didn't look at Marcus or my home faction again. I just ran with the other Dauntless—down the stairs, through the streets until we met some raised train tracks. The others started climbing the tall iron pillars that held up the tracks. I laughed because I was already tired from running. I laughed because I had dreamt of escape but didn't image what would happen when I escaped. I laughed because I knew I could do this—I could survive.

Once at the top everyone stood in clumps, bouncing on the balls of their feet in anticipation of what might happen next. I heard the train gliding towards us and people around me started running. I was behind the rest but I following their lead. One by one they jumped up into the train's cars. Soon I was the only one who wasn't on the train. Gathering all my courage and strength I leapt up, grabbed the handle to the train's door, and swung my feet in. It wasn't graceful, but I made it.

The cart was full of initiates, Dauntless born and transfers. The Dauntless born were relaxed, chatting animatedly while the transfers kept to themselves eyeing their surroundings. The train ride was about thirty minutes and I sat next to a Candor girl, we exchanged pleasant smiles but didn't talk much due to the fact we were still catching our breath. Thirty minutes streamed by and the Dauntless born were all getting up and jumping out of the train doors… across a gap, onto a rooftop.

"Are they trying to kill us?" questioned the Candor girl.

"No," I started, "they're testing us."

We only had moments to contemplate what we were doing. I grabbed her hand and ran as fast as I could and jumped. For a few seconds I felt weightless. I was floating high above the ground with the sun warming my skin and I was flying free—for about two seconds before I hitting the rooftop, hard. I had gravel imbedded into my hands, my plain grey dress was ripped and my body ached.

"My name is Max," said a large man standing on the ledge at the far side of the building. "I am one of the five Dauntless Leaders. Welcome to your initiation. This is Eric another leader."

Max gestured to the stocky man next to him. He had short blonde hair, his arms were covered in tattoos and his face was pierced in multiple places. His steal grey eyes peered savagely at the group. Eric was truly terrifying.

"Initiates, at Dauntless we pride ourselves on being brave, pushing our limits and protecting every living being within the fence. Today is your first chance to be brave. On the other side of this ledge is a hole, the entrance to our faction, and to get there you must jump. Who will be first?" Eric challenged us.

"Is this water at the bottom?" asked a boy dressed in blue, Erudite.

"I guess you'll see," responded Eric.

There was a few seconds of silence, no one was moving. I had been last at almost everything already today; I couldn't let that keep happening. I stepped forward. My heart was racing.

"A stiff, interesting," said Eric.

His eyes clung to my body. My long brown hair had fallen out of my tight abnegation bun with the running and jumping, so it now loosely hung in a ponytail. My cheeks were flushed, my green eyes wide and gazed up at the Dauntless Leaders. My plain dress that was ripped in a few places hung on my curves that were once covered by a baggy jacket I ditched back when we were running. I looked like a deer in the headlines but it wasn't going to stop me.

I unsteadily stepped up on the ledge and looked down, I couldn't see anything in the hole. I looked back at the initiates, glanced quickly at Max and Eric, took a deep breath and jumped. It only took a few seconds to land on the net below.

An arm reached out to help me down- it was strong but gentle. Once it helped me down, I saw the owner of the arm, a young, beautiful, stern looking man. He had brown hair, deep brown eyes and a strongly defined face. My eyes must have still been wide making me look like Bambi because he said with a laugh, "Did you get pushed?"

"No," I said breathlessly, my face getting pink.

"I am Four," he said, "What's your name?"

"Anna."

"First jumper," he yelled into the darkness, "Anna!"

Cheering erupted from the darkness. My eyes started to adjust and I realized the empty hole I jumped into was actually a large room filled with people. Four directed me where to stand while the next jumper landed on the net. It was a Candor boy, he screamed the whole way down.

Once everyone was down they split us into two groups: Transfers and Dauntless born. Four took the transfers on a tour. I stuck close to the Candor girl I jumped onto the roof with.

"This is your living quarters," said Four.

Homey was not a way to describe this room. It had ten beds and ten small dressers, blank dinghy walls, poor lighting and what looked like mold growing in the corners. The room was not inviting but I smiled at it because, now, it was home.

After dinner we returned to the room where all nine of us slept. As we went to sleep, I could feel the terror pulsing through the room. After about ten minutes on male initiate started crying loudly. It was a tough night for all of us.