Emergent: Chapter 7

I let the information sink in, the new feeling settled onto my skin and I could feel the absence of a family member being filled.

"So I have an aunt? Is she my mom's sister or my dad's? What does she look like? When can I meet her?" The questions flew out of my mouth so quickly that I didn't see the expression on Asher's face.

"She was your dad's sister. Both my parents passed away when I was very young."

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. I didn't know them at all. It's kind of hard to miss someone when you can't remember them."

I wanted to say something to Asher. I wanted to wipe the sadness away from his eyes. But I had no idea how to form the right words.

"How many of you are there?" I asked, trying to break the silence.

He replied with, "In the village? Maybe two or three hundred."

"So you've all just been sitting around and watching us to see what we'd do, like some little science experiment?" I started to get angry. This type of "Quest for knowledge" thing is exactly what had gotten us all into the war. I thought of Erudite. This was their type of thinking. Not mine. "Do you have any idea what this has done to me? I've watched families be torn apart because of this! And you people sit idly by for years watching it happen and do nothing!" I sunk down on my knees and sobbed. For the first time through the whole ordeal, I was crying. A new word entered into my mind. Orphan.

Orphan meant not only to be without parents, but to be alone; utterly and completely lost with no one around. Abandonment. Shame. Guilt. These terms floated around my head and repeated themselves over and over again.

"Beatrice, you're not just some experiment. We did what we thought was best for humanity. We did what we could to start over."

"I just thought there might've been a better way." I stood up and wiped the tears off my face with the back of my hand. Crying made me feel better. It let all the emotion I had been holding in vanish.

Asher and I both turned our eyes to the floor. "So, what else do you know about me?" I asked, finally.

"Well, when you and Toby got together, he wouldn't shut up about you-"

"Wait, hold up. Did you just say Toby? As in Tobias?"

"Um, yeah. Sorry. I forgot you didn't know that part."

Through clenched teeth I growled, "Know what part?"

"When Marcus left us to take a government position and join the Abnegation, we took it as an opportunity to keep in contact with the people in the society and find out what was going on. Toby was sort of like a spy, I guess. But in a good way. He kept us up to date on what was going on in the society, and from what he told us, things are going pretty well. The only reason we didn't get in on the fun was because Marcus made a law that we couldn't fraternize with society members."

"Why are you doing what Marcus tells you to do?"

"He's our leader. Shouldn't we do what he says?"

Marcus. The power hungry government leader. Marcus. I should have seen it before. Marcus. It was all clear to me now.

"No you shouldn't! Marcus is nothing but a lying, power-hungry dictator! He abused Tobias as a child to get him to not tell you what was really going on in the society. He whipped Tobias every day to keep the truth from you. There is a war happening this very instant! Erudite tried to take over all the factions and rule us all! Your entire village was blinded because Tobias couldn't tell you anything from fear of being beaten!" I screamed.

Asher pondered this for a few minutes. "You might be right, Beatrice. But I need more proof. Let's just sleep on this tonight okay? Plus I think it's time you met your family."