Mother smooths my already wrinkle-free dress, and smiles at me. My dress is gray and limp at my bone-like hips. This is the only time I am allowed to look in the mirror. Once a year. Before the reapings.

My mother smiles and touches my cheek, her eyes dark with lack of sleep.

I try to smile back. I'm 12, my first year in the reapings. Then Angus walks in, in a gray shirt and gray pants.

"Don't you look lovely. Mr. Taylor would have been proud of you. Angus and I exchange a glance of sadness. Mr. Taylor, our father, was attacked and killed by a factionless man last year. He was so selfless to try and help the poor man. I miss him.

"Yes, he would." Says Angus coldly. He hates adressing our father as Mr. Taylor, but we are told to in school so we do.

"Come on, breakfast is ready. Special today." I follow her and Angus into the kitchen, where two small white bowls sit on the table. The oatmeal has bananas today.

We eat slowly, not one of us speaks. The Abnegation children do not speak unless spoken to. Besides, we could be picked for the Divergent Games.

"Time to go." Says mother, clearing the table.

We leave promptly and quietly, Angus and I each afraid of our results. If we are Divergent, our names are put in the reaping balls. Two girls and two boys are chosen from each Faction. 20 Tributes. I'm afraid. If I survive, I could choose any faction to join. Automatic membership. No initiation. If I die, I am erased from the memories of my friends and family.

I shiver.

Martha and Kat are waiting at the door. We all have the same dress.

Peacekeepers tell me to hold out my hand, and I yelp with pain as they prick my finger and stamp it in a book. Angus winces when they do it to him. Angus, his friend Mark, Martha, Kat, and I all sit at the same table. This is the table we sit in at school.

They call Martha's name, as well as two other boys and another girl, and they walk in single-file to two metal doors that slide open and close behind them.

It feels like hours before Angus and I are called, with Samantha and Tommy.

Once in the room, I sit down in the big leather chair, as instructed by the peacekeeper.

"594-HW." They say as I sit down. I cringe as they plunge a needle into my neck.

The whole world spins into darkness. I come to in the chair again, and wait for a few minutes. Nobody says anything, so I excuse myself from the room and down the hall to the cafeteria. Is that it? That was easy!

The doors slide open, and the cafeteria is empty. Where is everyone?

"Angus? Kat? Martha? Mark? Hello!"I call, and there is no answer. Suddenly, on the table in front of me, I notice 2 baskets. One contains a hunk of cheese, the other a dagger the length of my forearm. I grab both.

Just then, a dog bursts from nowhere, and growls menacingly. I drop the cheese and run, surprised when the dog eats the cheese. Then it rolls over on the ground, panting like an innocent dog. I stay away from it. It could kill me.

Just then, the floor gives way, and I hear a shriek. A small girl is sliding down into a crevice that could kill her. I run to her, jumping over stones and rocks that collapse under me. I just make it to her, pick her up, and throw her to safety. She just barely lands on solid ground around the pit. I, however, scream as I fall to my death.

Everything goes black.

I come to on a bus, holding the bar above my head. A man next to me holds a newspaper that reads

BRUTAL MURDER FINALLY APPREHENDED.

I feel queasy when I recognize the man in the picture below. I don't know where I know him from, but I don't want to find out.

"Do you know him?" Asks the man holding the paper, pointing to the man in the picture. I shake my head.

"Liar!" He hisses. "Do you know him?"

I shake my head again. "You must be mistaken!"

"I am Candor! I know you're lying! It could save me!" He says, sounding cold and desperate.

"Yes! But I dont know where from!" I blurt before covering my mouth.

Oops.

Then everything fades, and I wake in the test room chair.

The peacekeeper looks up from their clipboard. A mask covers their face, so I don't know if they're a girl or boy.

"Divergent. Dauntless, you picked the knife, Amity, you dropped the cheese, Erudite, you did not touch the dog, Abnegation, you selflessly gave yourself for the girl, Candor, you told the man the truth."

I gasp. "Five!? How did I get 5?"

They do not answer, but says "Reina Taylor, dismissed."

Then I leave, head spinning. I am going to be put in the reaping ball five times. One for each faction. I am doomed.