Chapter two – The choosing ceremony and the jump to Dauntless
My hands won't stop shaking, I don't want to make the wrong choice today. Erudite or Dauntless? Erudite don't particularly like Abnegation, I don't think I would want to go there anyway. Besides I don't think I would be smart enough during their initiation. Dauntless are brave, fearless and completely crazy. But the question is am I brave.
I look at my family as we make our way to the hub. Beatrice is holding onto Caleb's arm for support as they walk up the front steps. Our parents are in front while I trail behind them. There is a huge crowd of people surrounding the elevator, my father offers a bunch of Amity our place in line. Instead we take the stairs all the way to the twentieth floor with the rest of Abnegation. Soon enough we are engulfed in a mass of people from Abnegation. Everyone is so close to each other I get a few nudges to my shoulders while passing through. I feel suffocated with the lack of space to move. I stand on my tiptoes and find Beatrice among the crowd, and I weave in and out of people to get to her.
She is out of breath like I am, her face is a tad flushed. She hasn't noticed me, so I tap her on the shoulder. She smiles, though I can tell it is forced, and looks more like a grimace. Finally we reach the twentieth floor.
We have arrange ourselves in alphabetical order, Beatrice stands behind Caleb and in front me. I try to keep calm, and tell myself that everything will be fine. My parents come over and stand in front of Caleb, Beatrice and me. My father kisses Beatrice's head then places a hand on Caleb's shoulder. He looks over at me and smiles. Caleb is his pride. Beatrice is his joy, and I am his back up in case something bad happens to the other two.
"See you soon," he says. He looks certain that he will.
My mother smiles at me, her eyes crinkled at the corners to prove it is real. She hugs my sister for what seems like a very long time, then leaves to take her seat with my father.
The room begins to quiet down. Marcus Eaton the leader of Abnegation stand at the front and talks for what seems like forever. I zone out after the first few sentences. I get startled when everyone starts clapping their hands. He must have finished because he is now calling out names. One by one people get called up and cut their hand dripping their blood into one of the five bowls. Grey stones for Abnegation, water for Erudite, earth for Amity, lit coals for Dauntless, and glass for Candor.
Out of the three of us Caleb gets called out fist. He had chosen Erudite, I was sure that he would have chosen Abnegation. He had fooled everyone, great acting skills I must say.
"Beatrice Prior."
She turns to me, smiles then walks to the centre of the room. Her hand shakes as she takes the knife. She looks so tiny standing on the stage, her fist hovers over the grey stones, but before the blood drips her fist moves to the Dauntless coals. She glances at me as she makes her way over to Dauntless.
I'm next, but I can't find the will to move. My body is numb and my hands are shaking. I get nudged by the person behind me to move. Finally I step up and onto the stage, Marcus hands me the knife, and I take it with a wobbly hand praying that I don't drop it. I cut my palm, and the blood oozes out of the small wound. I can feel everyone's eyes staring at the back of my head. My blood hits the lit coals with a sizzle. Dauntless. I chose Dauntless.
I make my way over and stand next to Beatrice and the other Dauntless initiates. We wait until the last few people choose, and then it is time to leave. I see Beatrice looking over her shoulder, she is looking for our parents. By the guilty expression on her face I guess she found them. I try not to, but I glance over and wish that I hadn't, my father's hurt expression makes me feel sick. My mother just smiles, how can she be happy when she has just lost all three of her children?
The sea of Dauntless lead us to the stairs, and start running down them as fast as they can. I hear shouting and people laughing. They aren't taking the stairs to be selfless they are taking them for fun. I loose Beatrice in the swarm of Dauntless. I start running down the stairs at first almost falling down them, but I get the rhythm in my feet and start running faster. I see some of the Dauntless taking two and three steps at a time.
We run out of the exit, the cool air hits my face gently as I run. We sprint down the street and hear a faint sound of a horn. As it gets closer I see what it is: the train. It speeds along the track, the crowd spreads out along the train track, waiting for it to get closer. All of the doors on the train are open and the Dauntless pile in. I find Beatrice farther up on the track, she is running faster than I am. If I don't make it onto the train I will become factionless. I can feel my legs getting tired and my chest and lungs are burning from running.
Beatrice is on the train already. It's now or never. I jump and grab one of the handles, my muscles tense as I struggle to pull myself into the cart. I grin widely – like an idiot, I made it. I make my way through to the cart that my sister is on. She is sitting on the floor with a Candor girl with dark brown skin and short hair, her long legs are sprawled on the floor. She's pretty, very pretty in fact. I find myself staring at her for too long.
"Staring won't give you the power to see through my clothes," she says.
"I-I wasn't – I didn't I." I avert my eyes stepping to the side and end up knocking into a boy from Candor.
"Hey, watch it stiff!" A Candor boy mutters, pushing me back roughly.
"S-sorry," I say to the both of them.
The Candor girl laughs, "I was just messing with you. The look on your face." Beatrice joins in. I feel my cheeks heat up.
"Christina this is my brother, Andric."
Christina smiles a sincere smile, "it's nice to meet you, Andy or do you prefer Rick?"
She is staring at me now, and waiting for an answer. I clear my throat, "Andy is f-fine," I say. She nods, and then begins to talk to my sister again. I take a seat on the floor of the train leaning back, and take in the appearance of my sister: her hair is half out of her knot, it must have happened while she was running, and her cheeks are a rosy red.
About half an hour later I hear shouting, "They're jumping off!" an Erudite boy yells. I make my way over to the other side of the cart standing by the door, and see the Dauntless jumping from the train and onto the roof of a tall building. My stomach wrenches, 'I signed up for death,' I think to myself. I hear voices but they are muffled because my ears are being taken over by a buzzing sound.
I don't mind the height, or the jump it's just the thought of tumbling to my death that's the scary part. I see Beatrice and Christina take hold of each other's hands. 1…2…3 and they jump. I take a few steps back, and then take a deep breath before running and leaping off of the train. I land awkwardly, grazing my knees and the palms of my hands.
I hear laughing, I notice that I landed not far from my sister and Christina. My palms and knees sting, there is a hole in my left trouser leg and I can see blood and dirt in the wound. I note that I will have to clean it later.
Someone obviously didn't make it as there is a crowd leaning over the roof to see who it was. The thought of death makes me uneasy. Just think that if I didn't make it, that could have been me at the bottom of the building with my head caved in.
"Listen up! My name is Max! I am one of the leaders of this faction!" shouts a man, with a dark completion and grey hair at his temples. He stands at the other side of the roof. Max explains that we have to jump again to make it into the Dauntless compound and that if we don't do the jump we don't belong here.
My sister is the one bravest to go first and then Christina goes after. My steps are uneven as I make my way to the ledge and jump from it. I go down fast with my limbs flying in the air. There is a funny feeling in my tummy and then I land on a hard bouncy net. Hands grab my arms and help me off.
"Another stiff, what is going on?" Says a woman with dark hair and piercings in her eyebrow.
"What's your name?" Asks a tall man.
"And… Andy," I say finally, smiling.
"Welcome to Dauntless." I nod and make my way over to my sister.
This is my new life.
Hi, tell me what you guys think :) Hopefully, the next chapter should be up by Monday if everything goes to plan and if not Tuesday at the latest. Reviews are appreciated :) thank you