AUTHORS NOTE: Here is my new Divergent story. I hope you like it enough to review! I love feedback!
Warning: chapter contains mention of abuse.
"I would never leave you," were the last words he ever spoke to her. At the time Ana believed they were strong words. A symbol of trust and honour. A siblings love for each other, but now they don't mean a thing. Empty words and phony promises. Just another example of how one person could so easily betray another.
He left without hesitation. Or thats what her father said. Sliced his hand with ease and coolly placed it over a bowl. A bowl that was not her factions. He left without a goodbye or an 'I love you'. Ana had a feeling that if he did they would be just as useless as his promise.
Her father had said 'I love you' everyday since she could comprehend sentences, but it didn't stop him from beating her mother and brother. He was different with Ana, though.
Ana didn't get the belt, but the back of his hand. Not nearly as frequent as her brother had gotten, but enough to make her flinch at sudden movements. She feels her cheek. He'd never hit her there. Only places that are hidden, and sometimes sacred.
"You look upset about something," he spoke, keeping his eye on his food as he cut it into big chunks. "Are you alright, Ana?" She smiles, something she often has to put effort in.
"I'm fine," she replies. It would be selfish. A nasty burden to spill your problems on others.
"Good, good," he says, finishing. He pushes away from the table, dabs the corner of his lips, and rises. "Later I can cut your hair. Tomorrow I will be busy."
"I can do it, Dad." He nodded in approval.
The second day of every third month. The day her faction allows her to be vain. It is the day she can look at her growing reflection and smile at it. Ana can put her hair down and cut. Sometimes she'd sneak an extra second or two. But not on any other day than the second. It would be selfish.
Ana is quick to clear the table, wash dishes, and clean counters.
Marcus Eaton is a busy man as of late. The tension between Erudite and Abnegation are high, and old rumors had found themselves alive.
Rumors, Ana thought, sighing. Only if they were rumors.
It has also become common for her to hear slurs. Stiffs. Mostly from Dauntless teens and Candor bigots. But it is selfish to think like that. They are people even though their mouths act as their rears.
"Don't be selfish," she says to herself, walking up the stairs. Her feet are light as feathers, cautious not to disturb others.
The first door was her brothers now left unopened probably accumulating unreal amounts of dust. It's probably the same as her brother had left it two years ago. Ana is curious, but the lock stops her from finding out.
Is his old winter coat still hanging in the closet? How about his pillow? Did it still show the compress of his head? Probably not. Marcus was angry when Tobias left. She remembers it clear as day.
Ana had stayed home. Only parents were allowed at choosing ceremonies. She spent the day praying, begging Tobias to choose Abnegation only to be left downhearted when Marcus came home alone.
He had burst through the door enraged. His foot kicking a chair causing the table to shake and dishes to rattle. Ana had been sitting at the table, lunch ready for three. Marcus glared with hatred before wiping Tobias's plate off the table. The sandwich smacked against the wall and water splashed everywhere. Ana got up and aided Marcus to sit only to be shoved against a wall. Her small feet dangled an inch off the ground. It was hard to breathe and little black specks filled her vision.
She tried to fight him, but she was only a small Abnegation girl. Marcus dropped her and dragged her by her arm up the stairs to continue the hitting and choking.
After he grew tired, Marcus threw the little belongings Tobias had and locked the door for good. The key hidden.
When small bruises started to show she wasn't allowed to go to school for a week.
"Pneumonia," he had said. "She caught pneumonia." They had believed him a selfless man.
She took her eyes away from the haunting door and continued on to her room. Tomorrow is the test. The one to prove her ultimate allegiance. But of course she had the power to choose, but that would be selfish.