Dark and Twisted
I always remember the day that my mother died. I will always remember it; the fear, the darkness, the pain and the lies. Everything. I will never forget the Erudite workers that did it. I will never forget the reasons why. I will always remember the way that they looked at my mother; with arrogance, power and malice. I will always remember how they mercilessly accused her with cold, stone eyes. I will always remember the helpless feeling I had, while hidden away from their slaughter. I will always remember that word that they used. Divergent.
" No. I know why you're here. I'm innocent... please..." I could hear my mothers footsteps backwards towards the window as she begged for her life. My father was out delivering food to abnegation, leaving me and my mother alone in the house. The Erudite group of people had claimed they were here because of a shortage of food. My mother thought differently - I didn't understand. Now they were here and my mother had told me to hide in the wardrobe- I still couldn't understand why. Why was she begging for her life?
" Then you know that Divergent's are a threat to the system, and must be eliminated." The man's voice that replied was ice cold and showed no hint of mercy. My imagination ran wild, thinking up dark stories that my mother use to entertain me with - I imagined him to be broad, muscled and have dark, ruthless eyes.
" I am not Divergent. I swear. My test results proved Amity... I am no threat, please!" My mother continued begging, her voice growing more and more helpless. " I have a family that need me. They are away and if they come back to see me dead..." She broke off midway.
" We have reason to believe that you are lying, Darcia Jones. Therefore we must take appropriate actions against you," It was a woman who spoke this time.
Through the gap in the wardrobe door I could see them. All three of them. They looked like a family; a mother, father and son. Nobody would think any differently. Nobody would think they were out to get my mother. My description of the man was close except that he had dark blue eyes and dark blonde hair. The woman had dark brown hair and she wore glasses - typical erudite. The boy was different. He stood up tall and had purposely widened his stance, trying to look intimidating rather than actually being intimidating like his parents. From his height, he looked around the age of 14 or 15 and he had the same hair as his father but it was floppy and messier. Since he was the furthest away, I couldn't see him as much as his parents. But from my initial judgement, I could tell he wasn't like his parents - he wasn't cold or heartless.
" You have a son. You know how endearing children are. I have a little girl, she's 10. She will be heartbroken if she gets back and finds her mother gone. Please understand, she needs me like my son needs you." These words almost made me smile. But they didn't, as I already knew that the parents weren't going to listen. What were they going to do to my mother?
" My son doesn't need us, he is strong enough on his own. He will one day turn out to be a leader. He will be powerful. He is here to see what happens to people who threaten our system," The father spoke this time.
" Father I don't want to watch her-" For the first time the boy spoke, his voice was quiet - afraid.
" Quiet boy!" The father screamed at his son, and I watched as the boy visibly flinched, edging away from his father.
" Eric, please go and search around the house to check if anyone is hiding in here. This woman is a liar and her husband and daughter may be hiding. Alert us if you find them," His mother spoke much more softly to him, but it still had a hard edge as she ordered him. I froze as the boy began to search. It was obvious he was going to look in here. Luckily, when he looked in here, his mother and father wouldn't be able to see that I was in here. But he would.
" You won't find anything. I already told you that my family is out delivering food. I have nothing to hide!" My mother continued to protest. The parents continued to watch her in a distant silence, making sure that she didn't escape.
The boy named Eric searched around the room, looking under beds and chairs and looking around the bathroom. It took him a few minutes to come to the side of the room where I was hiding and I covered my hand over my mouth to hopefully get rid of the sound of my breathing. Soon he came to the wardrobe I was in and I tried to hide myself further into the clothes, but it was no use. I held back a gasp of panic as the boy flung the doors open, only for his eyes to widen as he saw me sat cowering.
Eric looked lost for words, his eyes looking lost and unsure. We locked eyes. Tears began to run down my cheeks as he watched me, still not saying a word. A frown formed on his face as he watched me shake my head, silently begging him not to reveal that I was here. I mouthed the word ' Please'. He continued to stare at me, before pretending to search through the clothes. I watched him with a confused frown.
" Boy!" The sound of his fathers voice made me jump and Eric looked down at me with sorry eyes.
" Yes father?" The boy asked, his tone emotionless but still soft.
" Did you find anybody?" I held my breath as his father demanded to know. Eric took one final look at me, and forced a small smile to his face before quickly turning back to his father.
" No father. There is nobody else here." Eric closed the doors to the wardrobe as I mouthed a 'thank you' to him. Closing my eyes in relief, I settled my head against the back wall of the wardrobe, begging for someone to save my mother. I would be no use, they would only hurt me too. I had my eyes closed for a total of a minute, before a familiar scream interrupted my thoughts. Mother. I was tempted to run out and protect her, but I stayed frozen.
" Typical Divergent. They kill themselves to try and show that they are better than us. At least she is dead and her family will find her crumpled up underneath there window." The father explained to Eric. My mother. She killed herself... She jumped from a window. My heart raced rapidly against my chest as I held back a sob and tried to comprehend what had happened. My mother had committed suicide.
" Lets go before someone finds us." The mother suggested. With a smirk, the father patted Eric's back and Eric flinched away from his touch making me wonder why. As the family exited the room leaving me to mourn, Eric looked worriedly back at the wardrobe, before leaving without another word.
My mother was dead. I did nothing to stop it. It was my fault.
I awoke with a start. Just like I always did at least once a week. The memories of my mothers death haunted me. I remember that after that night I sat in the wardrobe until my father came home since I was too afraid to come back out. By then I was malnourished and dehydrated, smelling of sweat and salt from my endless tears. My father had been distraught and it had taken him a long time to recover from my mothers death. I hadn't yet recovered as I never would. It's your fault.
Everyday I was reminded that I did nothing to help save my mother. All I did was sit in a wardrobe and hide. I did nothing to save my mother, which is why I didn't deserve to be shown kindness by the boy who protected me. I should have died along with my mother for my cowardice. There was nothing more that I wanted than to be brave. I needed to prove to myself that if the time came again where someone I loved was in danger, that I would protect them rather than cower away. There was only one way to prove that. Dauntless.
So this is my first ever Divergent story! I've read one's before and I wanted to make mine as unique as possible, so I think this was a good way to start. Obviously this has Eric as a much younger child and his parents are both my own characters as I haven't read Veronica Roth's 'Four' series yet, and I don't actually know if it explains anything about a younger Eric or his past. Please tell me if it does!
Anyway, I hope you like this introduction to the story and the majority of my chapters will be longer than this. Thank you for reading if you have! Please review and tell me what you think!
-DareToDream