{SPOILER ALERT} I'm back! I hope you like this chapter. What did you guys think of Tris dying in Allegiant?! I was so upset! I was also so sad about Uriah dying! I felt so sorry for Tobias and Zeke. Anyway, I hope you like it. Reviews are always appreciated x
They surround us, but surprisingly, they don't bother to handcuff us. They lead us cautiously towards the elevator bank. "Why exactly are you arresting us?" Tris asks. They don't so much as glance in her direction, let alone reply. She asks again, irritation evident in her tone. Once again, they don't reply. She doesn't bother to ask again, she simply shoots them all a venomous glare and clenches her jaw in frustration.
They take us to the third floor before leading us to a small room with shiny, marble flooring. The room is mostly empty aside from a bench set against the back wall. The sound of the door clicking shut startles me slightly.
I go to the bench and take a seat. As usual when I'm deep in thought, I begin to gnaw at my thumbnail, wondering what comes next after this. Tris, who seems to find comfort in motion, paces backwards and forwards in front of me. I'm feeling irritable and her constant movements make me anxious. "Can you please calm down?" I say. "You're making me nervous.
"This is me calming down."
I lean forward and rest both elbows on my knees. "The wound in your lip begs to differ."
She sighs and comes to join me on the bench. She lifts her knees to her chest and rests her feet on the bench. She looks so small when she does that, smaller than usual. The strong, persevering girl I know looks so weak and feeble. Some people might prefer to have girlfriends like that. I think they find a certain type of beauty in vulnerability. In most girls it may be attractive, but with Tris, it's a little frightening. Why has she been so worried recently? Why is she so nervous? There's definitely something else on her mind.
"Sometimes," I say eventually. "I worry that you don't trust me".
"I trust you," she says, though not defensively. "Of course I trust you, why would I think otherwise?"
"Just seems like there's something you're not telling me. I told you things..." I feel my stomach twist uncomfortably. "I would never have told anyone else. Something has been going on with you though. And you haven't told me yet."
"There's a lot been going on," she says quickly. "You know that. And anyway, what about you? I could say the same thing to you."
I don't know exactly what to say, so I decide to say nothing at all. I bring my hand slowly to her cheek, smoothing my thumb gently over her skin. I lift my eyes to meet hers, "if it's just about your parents," I say softly. "Tell me and I'll believe you."
She looks at me thoughtfully before bringing her hand to cover mine. "That's all it is." Her voice is weak when she speaks, as is her posture. It's likely that she's lying to me, but for now I have no other choice but to give her the benefit of the doubt. Besides, she looks exhausted, and the last thing she needs is to feel at all detached from me.
"Okay," I breathe and press my lips gently to hers.
The door opens, interrupting our kiss. I pull back quickly and turn to see who it is. A few people file in, mostly Candor and one Dauntless. Among them stands Jack Kang, representative of Candor. His voice is firm, yet calm when he speaks, "They told me you seemed confused about why you were arrested. That means your either falsely accused or good at pretending. The only-"
"What are we accused of?" Tris cuts in.
"He is accused of crimes against humanity," he says, nodding his head in my direction. "You are accused of being his accomplice.
Anger bubbles inside me. "Crimes against humanity? What?"
He looks at me accusingly, "we saw video footage of the attack. You were running the attack simulation."
I scowl, "how could you have seen footage? We took the data."
"You took one copy of the data. All the footage of the Dauntless compound recorded during the attack was also sent to other computers throughout the city. All we saw was you running the attack simulation and her nearly getting punched to death before she gave up. Then you stopped, had a rather abrupt lover's reconciliation and stole the hard drive together. One possible reason is because the simulation was over and you didn't want us to get our hands on it."
I almost laugh. His knowledge, and apparently other people's too, is built off of ignorance. I'm just about to say something when Tris speaks. "The simulation didn't end. We stopped it you-" I smile little, she's back. I think to myself.
Jack holds up his hands abruptly, "I'm not interested in what you have to say right now. The truth will come out when you are both interrogated under the influence of truth serum.
Truth serum. My mind races. I've heard bad things about that stuff. Under it's influence, we will have no choice but to tell the truth. No longer given the ability to choose which words pass your lips and those which don't.
"Truth serum?" she says in horror. "No. No way."
Jack raises his eyebrows suspiciously, "you have something to hide?"
She looks like she's about to say something, but then clamps her lips back together and shakes her head.
"All right then," Jack says. "It is now noon. The interrogation will be at seven. Don't bother preparing for it. You can't withhold information while under the influence of the truth serum."
And without a word of goodbye, he turns on his heel and leaves, followed by his army of Candor and the one Dauntless lady.
"What a pleasant man," I say drily.
Tris and I go our seperate ways for a little while to go to the bathroom which we use as an opportunity to clean up. Tris spends a little longer than I do and I end up sat alone for a short while. A small man, not much older than myself drops off two large sandwiches. I thank him tiredly and lift the bread to inspect the filling's. Thin slices of cheddar cheese and tomato are layered onto the sandwiches. I'm not a big fan of either cheese or tomatoes, but I'm hungry, and not in the position to turn down free food.
Tris returns not long after, leaning on the door frame. She looks slightly less tired than before, she's still very pale, but she looks more alert, more aware somehow.
"Hungry?" I ask, offering her one of the sandwiches.
She saunters over and takes the sandwich, offering me a small smile before taking a seat beside me once again. We sit mostly in silence, her head leans against my shoulder as she and I quickly make work of our sandwiches. It's only when she starts to get fidgity when I suggest we lie down.
We go and lie in the middle of the floor, shoulder to shoulder.
"What are you afraid of saying?" I say softly, staring blankly at the ceiling.
"Any of it, all of it. I don't want to relive anything."
I feel a pang of guilt. I know it was not my fault, what happened, but somehow I still feel sick to the stomach when I think about how she must of felt. How it must've been for her. How she put so much trust in me when I am not quite returning the favour.
It goes quiet then, it's not until at least ten minutes later until I realise that she's fallen asleep. I, too, close my eyes and just take a moment to thank God that she is here, safe. After all that's happened, we're lucky to still be alive. Eventually, I too, fall into a light sleep.
We are awoken when the sound of the door clicking open sounds through the room. A few Dauntless wander in, one of them I notice, is Christina, who is evidently relieved to see Tris. Tris jumps up and I too, get up and go to sit on the bench. Nothing much sparks me as interesting about their reunion until I hear mention of Will.
"Um... Will died in the attack," Christina says.
Tris doesn't respond for a few seconds, I expect out of shock, but I don't know. She doesn't look shocked. She just looks blank. "I know," she says eventually. "I saw him on the monitors when I was in the control room. I'm sorry Christina."
She's lying. She just lied. Why would she lie? I know for a fact that she didn't see Will on the monitors. Will. Why didn't she tell me he'd died. Maybe that's what she's been hiding. But why didn't she tell me? Why did she just lie?
We leave the room and file into an elevator. I can't help but watch her, trying to figure out what she's up to. I want to know why she lied. I hate that I don't trust her.
I'm too wrapped up in my thoughts to listen to what's going on around me. I can't concentrate on any one of the conversations going on around me. When the elevator arrives at our "destination" we all file out. They lead us down a long hallway and through a set of heavy double doors.
Here, the marble flooring is white, with the Candor symbol in the very centre of the room. The room has a yellowish glow and every voice echoes. This doesn't help at all with my anxiety.
Most people are already gathered, they sit on tiered benches around the large central area of the room. There are a few too many of them and those who didn't manage to get seats are stood around the Candor symbol. In the centre, are two chairs. My stomach tightens.
Without thinking, I reach out and take Tris' hand, lacing my fingers with hers. We are led to the centre. We are greeted with jeers and murmurs which I try with all my will to ignore, though it proves very difficult.
An old dark skinned man steps forward, a small black box in his hands. "My name is Niles," he says, his voice is rough yet soft. "I will be your questioner." He pauses for a moment and his eyes land on me, "you-" he says, "you will be going first, so if you will please step forward."
I squeeze Tris' hand and then apprehensively release it. He opens up the black box which, as I expected, contains two needles. The man hands me an anticeptic wipe "the injection site is in your neck."
Wordlessly, I take the wipe and wipe the right side of my neck. Only then do I notice that my hands are shaking. I clasp them in my lap and will them to stop.
Niles then steps forward and plunges the needle into my neck. I sit silently, waiting for the bluish-purple coloured liquid to make it's way around my body and rapidly drag me under with the strength of it's power.
