Chapter 9
Tris' POV
"What is this place, Four?"
"Just some place I found during my initiation. I find it easier to think down here. It's kinda like a private hideout for me since I'm the only one who knows about it. There are no cameras and the water makes it kind of hard to be heard from up there." He points up and I can see the railing looking over the rushing waters.
"It's beautiful down here." I marvel at mystic water surrounding me.
"So, Erudite?" I turn my attention to him.
"Do you know anything? I mean, I don't think those were just extra reading lights. My initial feeling is that there has to be something going on."
He walks a little closer to me and pulls me down to sit on the rock in which we were just standing on. "There are two things you should know about me Tris. One: I'm deeply suspicious of people in general. Two: I'm surprisingly good with computers."
"O...kay?" I scoot about an inch away from him hug my knees to my chest.
"I'm not entirely sure what's going on at Erudite, but I know it's something bad. They've been emailing the Dauntless leaders back and forth. They keep sending these lists of names, some are highlighted and some are crossed off," I nod along to what he's saying. "So, whatever it is, they need numbers. Good numbers."
"Wow. But that still doesn't explain why they had their lights on."
"They might have been planing, sorting, calculating, who knows." he shrugs and sighs.
"You know you can talk to me about anything, right?" he says turning to face me.
"Yeah, I guess. Why?"
"I'm just making sure." he turns back to the giant waterfall in front of us and says nothing else. It was probably the most awkward silence ever. After a awhile I just start to stare at him. He seems so... comfortable here. Alone. Well, with me, But still alone. Lost in his thoughts. Then again, he's usually alone. I've seen him around the compound with a few of his friends but he seems more at ease here.
We spend about another 5 minutes or so in silence until I sigh and get up. "I should probably head back to the dorms now." I say.
He looks at me and gives me a faint smile then stands, "I'll walk you back."
"You don't need to do that, I'm fine."
He looks deeply into my eyes and I shift from one foot to the other. It feels like he can see straight through to my soul, with all of my secrets and lies in between.
He tucks back a stray piece of hair from my ponytail and sighs... "Just... Be careful, Tris."
I nod, backing away. I walk, rather quickly, out of there and back to the dormitory. I need to go clear my head...
XxXxFour's POVxXxX
Stupid. I scared her off! At this point, I don't think I'll be with the soft Abnegation girl I've come to admire. Sure she's not pretty in a words, but she's got this... thing to her. It makes her special, she's not like the other Dauntless I've seen. She's different. And I think I just blew all chances of ever showing her how I feel. I punch the rock wall in front of me and storm out of there. I don't know where I'm going or why, I just wanna walk. So I start toward the Pit.
Almost nearing the Pit's entrance, I see Eric walking out.
He glares at me, "Four," He said coldly, nodding his head in my direction.
He keeps his eyes on me until I'm out of his peripheral vision. I don't do anything, I don't say anything, I just keep walking. I don't have anything to say to him anyway. I walk further into the pit until I hear Zeke's drunken slur call out my name. He, and a couple other men, stand around one of the many bars in the Pit, laughing and being obnoxious. "YO, FOUR!" he yells, "Come have a drink with us. In fact, ALL DRINKS ARE ON ME!" All the people near the bar whoop and holler even more. With a smirk on my face, I walk over and join them. Damn, I hope Zeke will be able to pay for all of those.
I usually don't drink much, but right now I don't see why not. I order a few beers and lose myself for the night.
XxXxTris' POVxXxX
I decided to just lie down after a while to get my mind off of Four and eventually just fall asleep, dreamless. I wake up later that night but it's still a little early so everyone is either asleep or doing something to pass the time, with the exception of a few missing. I haven't eaten anything since lunch and I'm starving. I get out of bed and don't bother with shoes, it's not that long of a walk so I should be fine.
"Hey, Tris!" Christina says enthusiastically, "You okay? You've been asleep all day."
"Yeah, we missed you at dinner. Oh my, God, Dauntless steak is amazing." Will says, emphasizing the last of his sentence. I can't help but laugh a little bit. Will's always one good for a laugh.
"You think they have any left?" I say with my stomach rumbling.
He shrugs, "Let's go find out!"
*Small time skip*
Will, Christina, and I make our way back to the dormitory after a meal of steak, potatoes, and of course, cake. It ain't a good meal without cake. Will was right, Dauntless steak is amazing! And we just walk back to dorms to find most everyone in their beds. Will and Christina make their way to their own beds, which I have noticed have gotten a lot closer, while I climb back under my covers. Although I know very well that it won't be as easy for me to fall asleep, so I just lay there staring into space. I notice that Al's slight snoring is absent tonight along with his sleeping figure, wonder where he could be?
What seems like hours have past, and I'm still staring at the ceiling. I need to get up and do something before I go mad. I walk out into the hallway down to the blue light above the water fountain. I stand there against the wall just wasting time until I feel a rough, dry hand wrap around my mouth. I don't remember ever closing my eyes but at some point, I must have. I don't get to see for very long before a new pair of hands ties a dark strip of cloth covering my eyes. I scream and thrash, but they have a good hold on my small body. I bite the hand holding my screams in and get a satisfying "Ow!" from a rough voice.
"Shut up and keep her mouth covered" a different voice says, this one sounds higher and more clear. Peter. There are at least two hands on my arms, dragging me forward and one on my back shoving me the same way. Three against one. I struggle harder as it becomes more difficult to breath, my chest hurts.
"I wonder what it's like to hear a Stiff beg?" Peter says chuckling, "Hurry up."
I try to focus on the hand that covers my mouth and attempt to find something distinct about him. His hand is soft and sweaty and smells lightly of soap and lemongrass-sage, the same scent that...Al...has. Now my chest really hurts. He was my friend! How could he betray me like this?! He had been distant lately, and he was never around anyone anymore...
The sound of crashing waves bring me out of my revery. I know where I am now.
"Lift her up, c'mon." Peter barks.
I thrash and scream, knowing that no one will hear me, but I know this, I will survive to see another day. I will.
They spin me around so that my back is, presumably, against the metal railing that overlooks the Chasm. The gentle spray of mist on the back of my neck confirms that. In an instant, my feet are off the ground and I'm on the opposite side of the railing then my attackers, which happen to be the only thing from keeping me from falling forward.
Ha hard hand gropes around my chest. "You sure you're sixteen, Stiff? You feel like you're still maybe twelve." The other boys laugh at Peter's witty insult. I can only bite my tongue as he squeezed me hard, "Oh wait, I think I found something!"
"Stop that." Al says, letting his hand slip away for a moment. I take this chance to dig my teeth into the nearest arm. I hear a scream and clench down harder tasting blood in my mouth. Something hard strikes my face I let go of the arm I'm clinged onto and thrown to the ground. I bang my elbow on stone trying to take the blindfold off, but a foot drives into my side before I could remove it. I cough and gasp for breath while clawing at the back of my head for the blindfold. Someone grabs a fistful of my hair and slams my head into something hard. I barely recognize my own screams of pain, I'm that dizzy.
I hear someone yell , followed by heavy, running footsteps. I take this chance to finally remove the blindfold and see the scene that emerges before me blurry. I see two people running away, one being Al, and the one coming towards us. Then I feel someone grip my throat roughly and hold me above the Chasm. I gasp and claw at Peter's arm before he drops me and falls to the ground, I see that the new figure had knocked him over and is now punching the shit outta him before he remembers me, the one dangling over the Chasm fighting for life. He stops assaulting Peter long enough to pull me onto solid ground. I'm met with burning grey eyes until I black out.
"Eric," I croak out.
*I'm sorry, I'm SO SORRY! I hadn't realized how long it had been since the last update. And the thing is, this chapter has been sitting in my folder since February 15 (Please don't kill me!) Again I'm sorry! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a review! (oh, and by the way, I'm sorry if there are any mistakes or spelling things or whatever, I didn't re-read this again before I published, got lazy)
