A/N: SORRY GUYS, I POSTED THE WRONG DOCUMENT. Here's the correct one. Hey guys! I know, I know. We took a while to update. But here it is! We hope you guys love it and please review when you're done! See you at the bottom.
"Don't talk, Tris, you got hurt pretty bad." Uriah says. "Eric jumped you when you were out by yourself. You've got a shattered elbow, bruised neck and vocal cords, bruised shoulders, and broken wrists. He also, uh, molested you. And knocked you out with chloroform. That's when I got there. I punched him, a lot, and called the cops. An ambulance brought you here a couple hours ago. Our friends should be here any minute.
As if on cue, my hospital room bursts open.
Tris POV:
"Oh my god! Tris!" Christina screeches, being the first of my friends to sprint in. Marlene, Shauna, and Zeke burst in right afterwards.
"We heard what happened," Marlene whispers, rushing to sit by the side of my bed.
"I'm so sorry," Shauna tells me, pity in her eyes as she kneels down next to Marlene. God, I hate pity.
Zeke leans against the doorway and looks at me skeptically. I'm glad he isn't looking at me like I've just come to a near death experience like everyone else is. I mean, yeah, I did just get hurt pretty bad, but the looks they're giving me are driving me insane.
"Tris, you can't just go walking outside alone like that! Both times you've done this have resulted in you getting-" Zeke starts, but Shauna shoots him a glare that cuts him off.
"Are you okay, Tris?" Christina asks quietly after a moment.
'Do I look okay to you?' I want to ask, but my damaged vocal chords prevent that from happening.
"Oh, here," Uriah says. "I got you this so you could write down what you wanted to say." He hands me a dry erase board and I look at him thankfully. The moment the cap is off the marker, I am bombarded with questions. Zeke, thankfully, calms everybody down.
"Guys, Tris is experiencing enough right now without being interrogated. At least ask one at a time." he says, chuckling a little.
I give Zeke a small smile and look to Christina to ask the first question. She looks like she's about to cry; I mentally groan at how over dramatic she's being at this whole thing. "Uriah told us about what happened and I'm so sorry. Eric is... I can't even describe my hatred for him. So, I guess, what I'm wondering is are you okay... emotionally... after that?"
I am slightly taken aback by her question. When I thought about the damage I received from Eric's attack, emotional stability didn't even occur to me. Why should it? If I just don't let anything get to me then I'll stay safe. Right? Besides, I wasn't even awake while most of it happened.
"I guess I'm okay, just a little shocked," I write on the whiteboard.
Christina purses her lips, the sadness still showing in her eyes. I don't think she believes me. She shrinks back a little and looks at Marlene.
"What hurts the most?" Marlene asks.
I write down, "Throat." My vocal chords feel like they're on fire. I look over to Shauna.
"Oh, uh, what happened? With you and Four I mean." she asks.
I close my eyes; tears threaten to spill down my face. I take in a shallow breath and open my eyes.
I begin to write. "I caught him making out with some skank. Lauren I think. He said that she threatened him with a knife. She looked heartbroken. I left and went for a walk to clear my mind. You know the rest."
Zeke looks furious. Christina looks down and rubs her temples and Uriah's jaw drops. Marlene is the first to speak. "I just can't believe he would do something like that."
"I know Four. He would never cheat, especially not on you," Zeke says. Christina glares at him.
"Are you saying that you don't believe her?" Christina snaps.
"No, no that's not what I'm saying. I'm just...shocked," Zeke says. "Four and I have been best friends since we were little and he was always a sort of a player, but I never thought he would cheat. He just wouldn't, okay?"
I sigh and look down at my board, wanting to say something but not really knowing what to say. Just as Shauna opens her mouth to speak, Noah bursts through the doorway. "I'm so sorry it took me so long to get here, Tris, I couldn't get off work early. Are you okay?"
I start to take the cap off my dry-erase marker to write down what happened but Christina speaks up for me. She tells Noah of the injuries I've acquired and a brief explanation of what happened. Noah gapes and I purse my lips, not really sure what to say-er-write. "I'm so sorry, Tris, is there anything I can do to help?" he asks, concern in his eyes.
I shake my head no and he tilts his head slightly to the side, worry coating his features. I shift a little in my bed and six sets of hands reach out at me. "Don't move!" everybody yells.
I glare at them all. I should be able to at least move if I want to.
"Don't you look at us like that, we have your best interests in mind," Christina says firmly.
I roll my eyes and shift a little anyways, earning a look that is somewhere between worried and frustrated from everybody in the room. My eyes meet Noah's and I don't look away. His eyes furrow and he asks, "What's wrong Tris?"
I quickly write down, "I have to pee so bad, you have no idea."
Noah retrieves the whiteboard from me and reads it out loud, "I have to pee so bad, you have no idea." The entire group starts laughing. Noah hands me back the dry-erase board.
"We better call in a nurse," Marlene laughs.
"Wait!" I scribble down.
"Yeah?" Zeke asks.
"Christina – when is Will coming back?"I write. Christina smiles widely.
"Tomorrow," she grins. "Now let's call that nurse."
After a tedious half an hour of careful shuffling to the restroom in the room with a nurse named Cindy, I'm back to sitting in my bed watching the clock. The seconds seem to tick by slower and slower as I stare. I suddenly remember that I have my phone and headphones with me and buzz a nurse. Cindy shows up minutes later.
"What do you need, sweetie?" she asks.
I grab my whiteboard and write down that my phone and headphones should be in my jean pocket and if she could get them for me. Cindy nods and rushes over to my pile of normal clothes. After locating my jeans and fishing through the pockets, she finds my phone. Cindy makes her way over to me and untangles my headphones for me. I realize that I can't put in the headphones myself. Cindy seems to read my mind and slips the buds into my ears. I give her a thankful look and she nods her head. She slides my phone into my head and just as she's about to leave, she stops and faces me.
"Trust the boy, hun. Oh, and that Uriah kid is cute," she says and then slips out of my room. I roll my eyes and smile a little, ignoring the comment about Tobias, and carefully turn on some music.
Tobias POV:
I walk out of the gym and start to drive home from the gym after being kicked out. Too much blood on the punching bag, I guess. I tune the radio to a random station and Guns 'n' Roses blasts through my old car radio. Despite my bloody knuckles, I begin to drum the beat on the steering wheel as I drive.
She's got a smile that it seems to me
Reminds me of childhood memories
Where everything
Was as fresh as the bright blue sky
Now and then when I see her face
She takes me away to that
special place
And if I stared too long
I'd probably break down and cry
Sweet child o' mine
Sweet love of mine
I have to get Tris to believe me. I don't know how, but I have to. I just…I think I love her. I can't lose her.
She's got eyes of the bluest skies
As if they thought of rain
I hate to look into those eyes
And see an ounce of pain
Her hair reminds me
of a warm safe place
Where as a child I'd hide
And pray for the thunder
And the rain
To quietly pass me by
Sweet child o' mine
Sweet love of mine
I remember just a few days ago when I showed Tris my hiding spot on the cliff. The sunset was nothing compared to her. Her eyes were so stern, so insistent. Beautiful.
Where do we go
Where do we go now
Where do we go
Sweet child o' mine
Where do we go now? I don't know. I drive around the corner and see my house. On fire. Black smoke pours out of my house and I pull in across the street and dial 9-1-1.
"9-1-1, what's your emergency?" the operator says.
"My house is on fire," I say in a panicked voice. "It's 106 Shelter Cove Drive."
"Sir, we're sending help right now. Is there anyone inside?" the operator asks.
"Oh shit, yes. My father. Oh god, he's probably surrounded by alcohol," I say into the phone as I watch the flames grow higher. I begin to rub my temples with my free hand. I can't go in there. I can't save him. Good. A few neighbors come out of their houses and stand shocked on their porches.
"We're sending help right away, sir. We'll get him out. Stay on the phone with me until they arrive, okay? My name is Katherine." Katherine says. The flames are bright orange and black smoke pours heavily out of the windows. I pull my shirt over my mouth and nose to filter out some of the smoke. The roof is starting to cave in.
"I'm uh, Four." I say, still panicked. I am, after all, watching my house burn down.
"Four? Like the number?" Katherine asks.
"Yes like the number. I had glasses growing up." I answer.
"Oh," she says. I hear the sirens in the distance.
"They're almost here." I say. The first fire truck rounds the edge of the block.
"All right, sir. Good luck." Katherine says. I hang up the phone and watch helplessly as three more fire trucks arrive and start to hook up the hoses. I fireman approaches me.
"Sir, it isn't safe. I'm going to have to ask you to leave." he says authoritatively.
"I live there! My dad's in there!" I start to yell at the fireman.
"We'll get him out if we can. You need to calm down, sir." he says. I become frustrated and push my way past the fireman. I run around to the back of my house. The flames aren't nearly as bad in my room. I run up the porch and force my way in through the doors. I quickly scan my room and grab it from under my bed. My blue glass sculpture that my mother gave me before she died. She warned me to never let my father see it because he would break it or throw it out.
The smoke is starting to make my vision blurry and I feel light headed. I press on further into my house. My eyes begin to water and I start choking on the air. I scan the burning kitchen. Not there. I race through the living room. Still no. There's only one other place he can be. The ceiling over the kitchen collapses. I can't see more than three feet in front of me. I am so dizzy that I can barely walk. The flames around me continue to grow. I stumble through the living room. I hear loud crack and a piece of the ceiling falls and hits my arm. I yell out in pain and quickly pull of my shirt to smother my burning arm. The living room will collapse any second. I don't have time to waste. I approach the door to my father's room and force open the door. I see him in the corner, unconscious, near a window. The rest of the room is surrounded in flames. I run over to my horrible excuse of a father and throw his limb body over my shoulders. I grab the lamp off of the nightstand and throw it at the window. A sudden flow of air rushes into the room. I jump out of the window before the house explodes.
Tris POV:
I barely hear Bruno Mars' voice and turn up the volume, drowning out the world.
Easy come, easy go
That's just how you live, oh
Take, take, take it all
But you never give
Should've known you was trouble
From the first kiss
Had your eyes wide open
Why were they open?
Cindy told me to trust him. My friends told me to trust him. I don't know. I don't know.
Gave you all I had
And you tossed it in the trash
You tossed it in the trash, you did
To give me all your love is all I ever asked
'Cause what you don't understand is...
I should've known better than to think a guy like him was into someone like me. He's way out of my league. I just don't know. I change the song.
Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa.
Oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa, oh, oh, whoa.
B-B-B-Be careful making wishes in the dark, dark
Can't be sure when they've hit their mark
And besides in the mean, mean time
I'm just dreaming of tearing you apart
I'm in the de-details with the devil
So now the world can never get me on my level
I just gotta get you off the cage
I'm a young lover's rage
Gonna need a spark to ignite
I can't tell what I want more: to never have walked in to Tobias's house or to have never walked out. Should I trust him? I don't know. I need to talk to him.
All the writers keep writing what they write
Somewhere another pretty vein just dies
I've got the scars from tomorrow and I wish you could see
That you're the antidote to everything except for me, me
A constellation of tears on your lashes
Burn everything you love, then burn the ashes
In the end everything collides
My childhood spat back out the monster that you see
My songs know what you did in the dark
So light 'em up, up, up
Light 'em up, up, up
Light 'em up, up, up
I'm on fire
I have to talk to him. Soon. I just need to find out where he is… I pause the song and decide to text Tobias. It's a risk but I need to talk to him.
Tris: Hey it's me where are you?
As soon as I hit send, I see Uriah walk into my room. Following him is Marlene, Shauna, Christina, Zeke, and Noah.
"We thought we'd keep you company," Christina says. She sits down on my bed and lays down next to me. The look on everyone's face is priceless.
"Christina, you really shouldn't lay other people's hospital beds," Someone, a young man about our age, says while leaning against my door frame.
"Will!" Christina shrieks.
Tobias POV:
I wake up in a bright white hallway. I'm moving. I look around me and see about people dressed in scrubs pushing the stretcher I'm on through a hospital. My vision is so blurry that the mass of people surrounding me all blend in together.
"Heart rate is 130/100 and rising, doctor," the nurse in blue scrubs says quickly.
"He's waking up," another says. My vision begins to go dark around the edges and I slip back into unconsciousness.
Lauren POV:
I stare at myself in the mirror, frantically running my hands through my frazzled hair repeatedly. For the first time, I feel guilty for something I've done. Knots are forming in my stomach and I wrap my arms around myself to try to stop this foreign feeling. Usually, I do whatever I want to whoever I want whenever I feel like it, but something about this is different. The look in his eyes and the look in her eyes... it wasn't at all what I expected. And it makes me feel... bad. I cringe a little at the thought, but the guilty feeling soon consumes me again.
I stop running my hands through my hair for a moment to really look at myself. Is this really who I want to become? A bitch who ruins relationships for no reason? It's not like me ruining Four's relationship with Tris is going to make me any closer to him; if anything, it'll get me farther away from him. Why should I destroy something he's clearly happy with?
I gulp and shake my head, slowly at first, then faster and faster until I'm sure I'll give myself whiplash if I continue. I feel like a psychopath. I think I am. What kind of normal person would go around doing the things I do? I'm a psychopath. I know I am.
I can't be.
I have to fix this. Even if it's just to prove my own self wrong, this needs to be fixed. Without really thinking, I run our of my house to my car, starting the engine. Tris should be somewhere nearby; I think I saw her walking after I left Four's house. I'll just drive around until I see her.
After driving up and down the nearby streets for a little while, I see an ambulance go by and immediately get a bad feeling in my stomach. Something tells me that this has something to do with me... Oh my god. If that was Tris and she got hurt because she went out alone, I don't think I could ever forgive myself. I need to find her. My next stop is the hospital.
When I get to the hospital, I go to the front desk. "Tris, uh," I start, realizing that I don't know her last name. The only way I know her first name is because I heard Four say it. It kind of sounds like a nickname and with no last name I have no chance of getting to her. The receptionist gives me a look. What could Tris be short for? "Beatrice!" I say finally.
"Prior? Beatrice Prior?" the receptionist behind the desk asks.
"Uh, yeah," I tell her, not really sure if that's it or not. Oh well, if it isn't her then I'll know she's safe at least.
The lady gives me the room number and I remember to thank her just before I rush off to find Tris. I don't even bother knocking, I just open the door and rush in. Tris looks shocked and so does everybody else she's with. Shit, it was her. A fresh wave of guilt passes through me.
Tris writes something on her board and holds it up. It says, "Lauren?"
Tris POV:
The second I hold up the board with Lauren's name on it, everyone in the room blows up. My friends surround her, screaming and Lauren just shrinks back. After a moment, the yelling ceases. My friends look at Lauren, obviously surprised by what they see. She's not fighting back, which surprises me as well. After a moment, she speaks. "Can I talk to you alone, Tris?"
I'm about to answer when Uriah does it for me. "Don't even think about it. You are never going near her."
I glare at Uriah and write down a yes on my board to show it to Lauren. My friends look at me like I've lost my mind but leave after a moment, causing me and Lauren to be alone in the hospital room. Just like she wanted. Just like I agreed to.
She opens her mouth to speak and I prepare myself for the worst. "I wanted to come here to apologize," she starts. What? "What I did was wrong. Very wrong. Four and I aren't actually in a relationship; he was telling the truth. I had a knife. I threatened him. I was jealous. I was wrong. I'm sorry." Lauren speaks in short sentences, as if she's still figuring things out for herself. I'm speechless, not that I could talk even if I did have something to say.
I take out the white board and ask why she did it.
"I was jealous. And when I get jealous, I get... horrible. That's the best way to describe it."
I just can't believe this. It means that Tobias wasn't lying! I need to fix things with him now; I feel horrible for not believing him in the first place. I write on the board, "I accept your apology. I'm pissed, but I accept your apology."
Lauren looks relieved. An awkward silence passes before she finally speaks again. "I'm just gonna, uh, go now. Get well soon."
The moment Lauren leaves, everybody else files back in. Can't I just get some time alone? Apparently not because I'm asked more questions than the first time.
"What did she want?" Christina yells.
"Did she threaten you?" Zeke asks, frantically.
"What did you say?" Noah asks, slightly more calm then everyone else.
This time, it's Will who calms everybody down. "Guys, chill out. Tris, Christina told me basically every detail of your life in the hallway. So, first of all, nice to meet you. Second of all, what did that whore want?"
I write down what happened on the whiteboard and everybody is shocked. When everyone's done reading, I erase the board and write, "So where's Four?"
As if on cue, a stretcher wheels by and I can just make out the figure on top of it.
Tobias.
A/N: Don't you just hate cliffhangers? Please review guys! It means so much. And if you're fanfiction surfing, you can check out our accounts iDivergence and DauntlessFlames46 for two AMAZING fanfics! LOVE YOU GUYS.
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