I awake to the sound of my parents whispering outside my door. I slowly sit up and prop myself up on my elbow and look outside my small window to see an almost endless orchard of winding apple trees full of ripened fruit. I slide to one side of my bed and walk over to my window, open it, and take a deep breath. I am greeted by the sweet smell of apple blossoms and the chirping of blue birds. Then the noise outside my door increases. "What do you mean? I love the Abnegation, don't get me wrong. It is what will come with them is what I am worried about." It's my mother's high voice. She used to tell me that her voice was so high that it once broke glass. I loved that story. It was one of my mother's many stories she tells me when I am sick or hurt, it's part of the Amity's soothing nature. I walk over to the door and open it. My parents are standing near our dining room in mid conversation. My dad is wearing his usual loose fitting red shirt and his blue denim jeans. His brown hair is slicked back and his green eyes seem to glow in the morning light. My mom stands in front of him; there are dark circles around her eyes and she is wearing her yellow dress with a bright red flower in her hair. She looks like she got no sleep. My dad turns toward me and smiles. "Good morning, sweetie. Did you sleep well?" His voice is cheerful, but I can sense there is something wrong. I nod, "Is there something going on?" I ask. My dad's smile turns upside down as I finish my sentence. He pinches the bridge of his nose; my mother puts her hand on my shoulder. She begins, "Honey, the Erudite have attacked the Abnegation by manipulating the Dauntless. They injected them with an attack serum of some sort. Many Abnegation are dead. Worst of all, many Dauntless are waking up murderers." She stops and takes a deep breath. My mother is a Dauntless transfer and I can tell, this really hits home for her. I put my arms around her and squeeze. The Amity way to handle upsetting moments is to hug it out. She continues, "Johanna has agreed to take in Abnegation, Dauntless, and loyal Erudite until they can recover. It is the least we can do. But, Jeanine might have spies attack at any moment. So, I am asking you to be home by 8:00." She puts a hand on my father to signal him to go on. "Johanna has assigned us jobs. Our job is to escort the other factions to their guest rooms and show them around the compound. I want you to report to Samantha for your first assignment." My dad's scowl returns to a smile and he claps his hands together. "Up and at em' Meg!" He claps my shoulder and nods. "You got this."
I follow the dirt path to the Amity compound. The compound is 10 stories high and is completely glass. It shines as a beacon to all factions, especially in a time like this. The automatic doors open in front of me and I see the huge oak tree in the middle of the compound. Its branches intertwine with each other and spread across the high ceiling of the first floor. Leave grow on the branches and even on the trunk. Sometimes I wonder how old the tree is. As old as the factions? I don't know. I walk to the front of the compound where there is a line out the door of Dauntless and Abnegation. Their clothes are tattered and their eyes are full of fear and sorrow. I stare at them for a while and wonder what it was like to be one of them in that position. Knowing that you may have lost someone or killed someone. Tears tickle my eyes as I think about it so I push the idea out of my mind. I walk toward the heart of the madness. I see Samantha frantically handing out fresh clothes to the people and pointing out guest rooms. I walk up to her. "Good morning Sam, do you have anything for me to do?" She stops and grins as if happy to see an Amity face. "Good morning Megan!" She pauses to look at a thick clip board. "Well Meg, I do have a job for some older people but none for someone your age. Report to me after breakfast maybe I will have something for you to do." I nod and run to the cafeteria which is already teeming with Dauntless and Abnegation. They eat toast and eggs and sip orange juice. Most of them are silent, but some make conversation. I get in line for food when my friend Jane comes running towards me. "Meg!" She calls. She pants and put her hand on my shoulder for support as she leans over, her hand clamped over her chest. Jane has always had bad lungs, and was never able to run for long periods of time. "Such a tragedy isn't it. I can't believe this happened so fast." She stops for a moment and takes a big breath. She shakes her head. "I just don't understand." We are silent for the rest of the time in line. We grab our food and sit down at a free table, which is already dirty with spilled juice and crumbs. "Dauntless." I say annoyed. I notice that I have a view of the whole cafeteria so I study my surroundings. Conversations have increased. Most of them are about last night, but some are about silly things like how gross the food is or how weird we Amity are. I am about to take a bite of my toast when I hear a commotion in the side of the room. Two Dauntless boys stand face to face, their arms poised in a battle stance, their teeth gritting. One seems more battle ready than the other, his hair is a dark brown and is strangely combed. His eyes are green like my father's. . He speaks first. "If you think you're so tough why don't fight me! Obviously you couldn't even shoot an enemy if you wanted to too!" He then pushes the other to the ground and kicks him in the side. The boy on the ground cringes, his body shaking, his arm bleeding. The attacker's arms relax and he breathes heavily. His eyes have a wild look in them, like he will snap at any time. I am bewildered by his sudden change in attitude. One second he is sitting in his chair eating, the next he is kicking the boy, who is being tended to by Amity. By the time the kicker tries to sit back down, two Amity men are striding into the room. One takes the boys feet, the other his arms, and carry him as if he was a cooked pig. His arms are stretched out as well as his feet as he shouts as the men carry him. "Get your hands OFF of me you freaks!" His voice echoes throughout the cafeteria. I find myself getting up from my seat and walking after the men. "Where are you going?" Meg calls, but I don't respond. I run down hallways, turning all which way until I reach the Control Room. The room doesn't hold many good memories for me. When I was seven my mom took me there when I got angry at her for throwing out my favorite dress. I wouldn't let up. So they injected me with the peace serum to calm me down. It overwhelmed me. I was so scared at first; I thought they were killing me, but then I it calmed me down. I hated it. Despite my fears I walk in anyway. I open the door slowly and dive behind a bookcase. It provides pretty good cover. But no one else is in the room so I come out from behind it. The boy sits in the chair, clearly under the peace serum. His head bobs up and down and his eyes are drooping, like he is extremely tired. I wave at him slowly, but he doesn't speak. He just smiles. "You got a name?" I ask him. He nods quickly. "What is it?" He doesn't answer. He just nods again. I walk closer to him and wave my hand in front of his face. His eyes fly open. His hand moves faster than I can see as he grabs my arm. I am able to let out a gasp. He looks at me, the fire in his eyes has returned. "Don't do that." He says before letting my arm go and slouching in his chair once again. "And before I go under again, my name is Jared Klee and I am Divergent." His eyes then droop once again. I sigh and rub my arm. A Divergent. He is able to manipulate serums and simulations to his advantage, even the peace serum. He giggles as if he heard me. "Oh shut up." I say annoyed. "I can leave right now." He says nothing. He just sits there, staring at the wall, like he is thinking. I've never seen a person under the serum act so thoughtful, so serious. "Come on, you brute." I say as I walk over to him. I prop him up against the chair, sling one of his arms around my shoulder, and begin to drag his weight across the room. His black shoes scrape against the tile floor and when I open the door, he starts to try to kick the floor. "Stop that!" and he does. I walk down the hallway, struggling under his weight. I feel like I am carrying a bag of bricks, even though he isn't that big. I wonder why I am doing this for him. What did he do for me? But, I carry on anyways.
I make it to my small brown house. It has two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a dining room with a small kitchen and a table. Luckily my parents aren't home so I take the front door. I trudge through the house and I take him into my room and lay him onto my bed. I go into my mother's room and grab a colorful blanket. I'm sure she won't mind. I lay it across him, he smiles and I smile back. "Why aren't you talking? Are you shy? I've never heard of a shy Dauntless." I am surprised to hear him talk back. "I haven't heard Amity ask so many questions." He smirks instead of smiling this time. "It's only been 3 hours the serum should still be in effect for about another hour." But when I look back over at Jared and he is sound asleep. He must be forcing himself not to talk. It makes sense. I look at the clock, 2:00. The serum should ware off in an hour. So I cook some potato soup and lemonade for when he wakes up. My mother should be home at 5:00. That should give us time to eat. At 2 just as I suspected, he walks into the dining room, rubbing his head. He looks tired and surprised. "What's the catch?" He asks. "Nothing, you know, just being Amity." He scoffs before sitting down at the table and takes a bite of his soup and looks up. "What was I like, you know, during the serum?" I lean back in my chair. "You didn't talk. You just smiled and occasionally laughed. I'm guessing that was the Divergent part." He nods. "Ya that was me. I was pushing my words aside. The laughing and nodding wasn't under my control." He takes another bite. I stare at his green eyes for a while. He looks older than he is, like his eyes have seen a lot, and maybe they have. I think about the attack simulation. Did it affect his mind? "Do you have a family?" I ask. He stops eating. I just hit a soft spot, I can tell. "I'm sorry, I didn't know." I take back my words. "No, it's okay." He stops and takes a deep breath, his broad chest heaving. "My father was part of the simulation. He was affected by it, but my mother and I weren't because we are Divergent. He killed two Abnegation before his friend killed him. He goes back to eating and we sit in heavy silence for a few more minutes before he speaks up. "Do you have a roof?" He asks. I nod "Why?" He smiles. "Show me."
I lead him to the roof of the compound after our meal. We walk in silence but it seems like we have been talking the whole time. He opens the metal door to reveal the roof. The blue sky glows in the afternoon light. Jared laughs and sits down on the concrete floor. I sit down next to him. He smiles at me and I smile back. "I know it's a silly subject, but do you believe in love at first sight?" He looks at me, waiting for answer. "I've been wondering the same thing." A feeling bubbles inside of me. It starts from my stomach and fills my whole body. I don't know what it is. But as soon as it hits me, I feel as brave as a Dauntless. My mother told me she felt the same feeling. I smile when I remember what it's called. Love. I love him. Before I can say anything he grabs my hand and encloses it between his. "I don't even know your name." He says. That's right. He doesn't even know my name. "Megan Leedon." I say. He smiles. "Megan. That's a nice name." That's all he says before I kiss him.