Kori: Emi! Get down from there!

Emi: From where?

Kori: The roof!

Emi: What roof?

One Choice Chapter Three

My eyes snap open. My palms are sweaty and my stomach is clenched with guilt. I turn to look at Mana, who stands behind me. She removes the electrodes from my head, lips pressed together.

I wait for her to say something, but she remains silent. The strange look on her face makes me feel as if I've done something wrong. Is that look because she doesn't want to tell me what a horrible person I am?

She finally speaks. "That...was perplexing. I'll be right back." Then she leaves.

Perplexing?

I curl into a ball and bury my face in my knees. Tears burn behind my eyes but I don't cry. How can you fail a test you aren't allowed to prepare for?

With each passing moment I grow more and more nervous. Sweat collects on my palms and I wipe them on my pants. What if I'm not cut out for any faction? Will I have to live with the factionless? I can't do that! To live with the factionless is not just to live in poverty and discomfort; it is a life divorced from society.

My mother has said that we can't survive alone, but even if we could...we wouldn't want to. Without a faction, we have no reason to live.

I shake my head violently. I cannot think like this. I take a deep breath to stop my shaking hands.

The door opens and Mana returns. She turns a chair around and straddles it. "Sorry about that, Ryou." She sighs and scratches the back of her neck. "Your tests were inconclusive. Usually, during each stage of the simulation one or more factions are ruled out, but in your case ony two factions were eliminated."

My mouth drops open. "Two?" I hear myself ask chokingly.

"If you had shown an automatic distaste for the knife and picked the cheese, you would have been taken to another stage to confirm your aptitude for Amity. That didn't happen, so Amity is out." Mana's fingers tap on the back of her metal chair. "Normally, the simulation would have proceeded in a linear fashion, but your choices didn't allow for even Candor to be ruled out. Because of that I altered the simulation to put you on the bus. And there your insistence on dishonesty ruled out Candor." She reaches over and puts a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry. Only Candor tell the truth on that one."

My chest loosens a bit. Maybe I'm not awful.

She taps a black painted nail against her chin. "Though I suppose that's not entirely true. The ones who tell the truth are Candor...and Abnegation."

My eyes widen.

Mana cups her chin with one hand. "On one hand, you threw yourself at the dog to protect the girl which is an Abnegation oriented response...but on the other, when the man on the bus said telling the truth would save him, you still wouldn't tell. Not an Abnegation oriented response. Of course, not running from the dog suggests Dauntless,but so does choosing the knife, which you didn't do. Your intelligent response to the dog indicates Erudite. I don't know what to make of your indecision in stage one-"

"Wait!" I hold up a hand. "You mean you have no clue what my aptitude is?"

"Well...yes and no. My conclusion is that you display equal aptitude for Abnegation, Dauntless, and Erudite. The people who receive this result are..." She bites her lip. "Divergent..." She says the last word so quietly I almost don't hear it. She leans closer to me.

"Ryou, under no circumstances should you share this with anyone. It's very important."

"We aren't supposed to share our results," I say quietly. "I know that."

"No." Mana leans even closer. "This is different. You can never ever share this, no matter what. Divergence is extremely dangerous. Understand?"

I nod. But I don't understand. How can inconclusive test results be dangerous?

"Okay." I stand, which makes my head spin but I somehow remain on my feet.

"I think you should go home,"Mana suggests. "You have a lot of thinking to do and waiting with the others might be good for you."

I stare at the floor as I leave, unable to look her in the eye. I don't want to think about this or about the Choosing Ceremony tomorrow.

It's my choice regardless of the test results.

Abnegation. Dauntless. Erudite.

Divergent.

I decide not to take the bus. If I get home early, my father will notice on the home log and I will have to explain. So I walk.

I walk in the middle of the road, because the buses tend to hug the curb so it is safer here. I see places where yellow lines used to be. We don't need them now, what with so few cars.

When I look at the Abnegation lifestyle from the outside, it is beautiful. My family moving in harmony; going to dinner parties where everyone cleans up without being asked; watching Ayame help strangers. I fall in love with this life all over again. But when I live within myself I have trouble. It never feels real.

But, of course, leaving this faction means forsaking my family.

Just past the Abnegation section of the city is a stretch of building skeletons and broken roads that reveal old subways and sewer systems.

This is where the factionless live. Because they failed initiation into their chosen faction, now they must live in poverty, doing the jobs no one else wants to. In return for the work they get food and clothing, but not enough of either.

A factionless man stands in the corner in front of me, wearig clothes that are little more than rags.

He stares at me as I approach. "Excuse me," he rasps. "Do you have anything I can eat?"

I want to ignore him. I want to duck my head and walk away.

'No,' I tell myself. I should not be afraid of this man. He needs help and I'm supposed to help him.

"Y-yes," I say, reaching into my bag for the food that I am told to keep there for this exact reason. I offer the man a bag of dried apples.

His hand darts out and grabs my wrist. He smiles crookedly and I notice a gap between his teeth.

"My, don't you have a pretty face," he sneers. "For a boy."

My heart pounds. I try to pull away but his grip tightens.

"Aren't you a little young to be walking around by yourself?"

"I'm older than I look," My eyes narrow. "I'm sixteen."

His horrible grin widens, revealing a large cavity. "Then isn't today special? The day before you choose."

"Let go of me," I say. My voice is not mine. I do not sound confident.

I am ready. I see myself hitting the man. I see the apples falling. I hear my footsteps as I run.

But he takes the apples and lets go of my wrist. "Choose wisely, little boy."

Emi: *crying* You're mean!

Kori: How so?

Rasa: You threw a bowling ball at her!

Kori: And?