First Divergent FanFic. Hope you like it.
Amanda/Edith POV
"Edith, are you ready? It'll be happening soon." Kyle asks me from the door to our bedroom.
"My name isn't Edith, Kyle, it's Amanda. You of all people should know that." I say, staring at him coldly through my vanity mirror. I've been sitting here all day, struggling to come to terms with the future that is coming all too soon.
"It'll be your name soon enough, I'm just trying it out. You should try it too." Kyle says, moving forward leaning down, wrapping his arms around my waist and lightly place his head on my shoulder.
"You're not even going to remember any of this!" I yell in frustration.
"I know. Just try it once, for me." Kyle says, pouting. "Pretty please?"
"Fine." I give up and turn to face him, putting my arms around his neck. I take a deep breath and get it over with. "Edith and John Prior."
"Good." Kyle beams. "I can't wait, let's leave now! I heard they're already placing people in new homes."
"How are they releasing the serum?"
"I don't know. They've set up some kind of system that'll release it into the air."
"Okay. Give me a few more minutes, I just need to do one more thing." I plead. Concern crosses Kyle's face, but he nods and walks out. A soon as the door clicks shut I get out my video camera and tell it everything I know about the project. I finish up quickly and run out the door and we barely make it to the last bus. I don't even have time to take one last look at my apartment; at my old life.
We arrive at the Abnegation complexes and march straight to the headquarters. When we get there we join the long line of people waiting to receive their new homes.
"Wait here, I need to find a bathroom." I tell Kyle.
"Yeah sure, be quick though." Kyle says smiling. He so adorable, I hate lying to him, but this has to be done. I sneak away, heading in the direction of the bathrooms, but as soon as I'm out sight I run up to the offices. I sit in front of one of the desks for five minutes, trying to tape my video to the bottom of one of the drawers. Hopefully nobody will find it there for a while. I rejoin Kyle just in time; there's only one couple in front of us.
"Just in time." Kyle comments, grabbing my hand.
"Yeah, sorry… there was a bit of a line."
"It's okay sweetie." He says just as the couple in front of us turns away from the desks and exits.
"Names?" A woman around my age asks, not looking up from her computer.
"Kyle and Amanda…" I start, but she interrupts me.
"You're new names." She says with an arrogance in her voice, as if she was talking to an uneducated child.
I scoff and reluctantly tell her "Edith and John Prior."
"Very good." She say as she readjusts her obviously unneeded glasses. As she's typing away I get a chance to look at her. She's got blond hair and name tag reads 'Gwyneth Mathews'. She also dressed in head to toe blue, so she must have been placed in Erudite. After a few clips and taps of her keyboard she speaks "House 46. There are clothes in the drawers, you have to burn the ones you have on, but there'll be stations outside for that. I recommend to be in your beds, asleep when the memory serum takes effect." She looks back down to her computer and we take it as our queue to leave.
We burn our old clothes and watch for a minute as crews scramble to erase all signs of this carefully planned event. Tomorrow we will wake up to new names, new job, new everything, and we won't even know that it's anything but a normal day.
"Come one, we have to get inside, they said to get to sleep well before the serum is released at midnight and it's already 10:30" Kyle states, making me lose my train of thought.
"Yeah, the crews are finishing up and I don't want to be out here when I forget how to talk and walk." I say sarcastically.
"You'll be fine. Everyone has spent years planning this for years."
"I know, it just seems so… unnatural." I say as we walk in the door of our new home. It's simple and is undecorated; but then again, it'll never be decorated. Soon, we'll consider it too selfish. We walk in the bedroom, not bothering to turn on the lights, and collapse on to the bed.
"Good night Amanda." Kyle says.
"Good night Kyle." I reply. I roll over on to my side and close my eyes. I listen to Kyle/John as his breathing slows, and I know he's fast asleep.
Hard as I try, I can't get to sleep. I open my eyes and let them adjust. It's almost midnight, I don't know how I know but I swear I can see the serum in the air through my window. It's a transparent mist and it's moving this way quickly. I squeeze my eyes shut and desperately try to remember everything I've ever done. I try to convince myself that they can't make me forget, but I know they can. A tear slides down my cheek as I realize how badly I want this to stop, but of course it's too late. I start to feel drowsy and I whisper one last goodbye into the empty night before falling into oblivion.
"Goodbye Chicago."
