You won't have heard of me.
You won't know me.
My name is Darren Mathers. I am the Dauntless secret, the secret that will never get out.
What happened you may ask?
It started the day my blood splashed onto the fiery coals, the day I transferred from Amity to Dauntless.
The pressure of the ceremony is immense, like you're carrying the surrounding world on your shoulders. The pressure of a whole faction expecting you to remain loyal, expecting you to choose them, expecting you to showcase the honour of the Amity.
But being Divergent makes it all the more difficult.
I am too judgemental for the Amity, too inconsiderate for Abnegation, too sly for Candor but not smart enough for Erudite. Dauntless was the logical choice but Jeanine didn't think so.
The moment I finished my test, she questioned me. Asking me why I made the choices I did and why I acted the way I did. She barely gave me a second to gather my thoughts before she warned me that my life would no longer be simple. The Divergent have it tough, but I never could have foreseen the next few months.
Jeanine told me that I was Divergent but she made swear to never tell anyone else. It was a dangerous secret that I needed to keep to myself.
After pouring out my blood, I joined the other Dauntless who had transferred. Name after name was read out as people my age filtered into their new factions or remained where they were, but one boy caused more of a scene than most.
"Tobias Eaton" the name was called and a boy, slightly shorter than me with short cut brown hair, approached the cauldrons. He seemed to be trembling and his eyes seemed bloodshot, as if he's been rubbing them, perhaps from crying. He raised his hand and scars flashed across my vision along his arm, the knife came down and he hovered over Abnegation for a moment, he bore their attire and had stepped out from their area so for a moment it seemed that he would remain a member. But swiftly, he turned and released his blood over the coals, they sizzled loudly and Tobias winced as he came towards us and filtered into line next to me. A broad shouldered man glared across from the Abnegation section, for a moment it seemed like he was staring at me but then I realised it was Tobias that he was cutting the aggressive glare at.
Gradually the ceremony came to a close, we filtered out of the hall and I found myself soon leaping onto a train.
One by one, we jumped the gap onto the train as it sped by in a flash. Several miss timed and fell, screaming but their screams were quickly cut out by the noise of the train and the shouts of the Dauntless leaders. A ruthless system to say the least.
I leapt and landed, teetering on the edge as my weight began to pull me back but before I could fall, a hand shot out and pulled me in.
"I've heard it gets easier the more you do it" I rose to my feet and my eyes met my saviour. He was shorter than me, as most are, and had long greasy, dark hair. He extended his hand, "Eric", he said.
I shook his hand, "Darren" I replied.
He smiled at me, a warm smile that seemed friendly, I noticed that he had glasses tucked into his jacket chest pocket, he must have transferred from Erudite.
The carriage seemed to lurch slightly. I turned and saw two hands grasping the edge of the carriage, white knuckled and scarred. They seemed to be slipping so I shot down and grabbed one to haul them up. But the figure slipping away had immense strength, before I could even help pull him up, the boy had his knees inside the carriage. The scared arms pushed themselves up til my eyes met Tobias'.
"Thanks" He said, panting slightly. "They didn't make us exercise that much in Abnegation", he turned to Eric, extending his hand. "Tobias, and you are?"
Eric seemed to size him up, "Eric", he spoke in less of a warm voice. "and this is Darren".
"Yeah I know, he seemed pretty concerned about me in the ceremony", Tobias grinned, his apparent nerves at the ceremony seemed to have faded. I smiled back as Eric chuckled.
"Well then, it seems like we'll be seeing a lot more of each other soon".
"Yeah", I replied, "Initiation should be fun".
Had I known what would become of our friendship then I would have left the two of them be. But I needed to make as many allies as I could in Dauntless, but permanent friends are hard to come by in this day and age.