A/N next chappie! Yay! Thank you so much for the reviews, and I hope you keep on doing it, but I think you can do better than two. Please? It really makes my week when you do!
Anyway, here it is. Hope you likey!
When I wake up, I keep my eyes closed for a second. I take a deep breath and try to calm my furiously beating heart.
When I open my eyes, a familiar face is staring oddly at me, Tobias, but his eyes are back to the deep, calm blue and not the cruel, clear colour of the simulation. He is simply staring, and it unsettles me.
"What?" I ask rudely.
He pauses. "You..." he starts to say, then closes his mouth and starts again, his voice back to the commanding instructor tone. "Five fears, impressive. Predictable for some who is Divergent, but still impressive, even on that scale."
He nods, as if the compliment has been said and will no longer be mentioned.
He quickly undoes the straps binding me to the chair, his fingers fumbling in a way that is very unlike the calm and collected Tobias I know. When I am freed from the chair I stand up slowly, and head to the door. I place my hand on the knob, when the silence becomes too overwhelming. I feel like there are things that should be said, but no one is saying them.
I turn back to look at Tobias, who is preparing a syringe for the next person, his back to me. He seems to sense my eyes on him, and his shoulders tense, but he does not turn around. I sigh and turn the knob, re-entering the real world, leaving the unanswered questions in my wake.
•••
That night, I return to the balcony where Tobias and I meet each night before going out to practice combat. I wait from curfew well until dawn, tracking the moon across the sky. I listen as intently as possible, searching the streets.
Tobias does not appear.
•••
Next morning's breakfast is a quiet, tense affair, and the meal's stray from gluggy porridge does nothing to brighten the mood.
I sigh audibly as I finish the last of my buttered toast, glancing round at all the equally troubled faces. The simulation had an effect on all of us, though me least of all, strangely.
"Excuse me, everyone."
Ten faces rise to see Tobias standing at the head of the table.
"Yesterday's simulation, I know, has troubled and even frightened some of you. Please be aware that, although vivid, it was just nothing more than that."
Most of the other initiates are looking at Tobias blankly, registering his words but not feeling the emotions that should come with them. I guess some were even more effected by the simulation that I thought.
Tobias continues, "The simulation was developed to test the extremity of your selflessness, and how you will act, for others of for yourself, when threatened by your deepest fears.
"To learn your own fears can affect some people greatly, and to know how you will act when faced by them is an even more troubling realization. But it is required, as your place in our society will be determined greatly by these results.
"You will have the day to recover from the simulations, as this is the first trial of these simulations in Abnegation and we want to monitor how you cope." Tobias glances up at the clock. "You are dismissed."
We file out of the room slowly and obediently, heading back to the dormitory. Most of us are not used to having spare time, just for themselves, me along with them, and we are not quite sure how to spend it, or what we would enjoy doing.
Most of the others sit on their beds staring at their shoes as if they are trying to make them grow ten sizes, sort out their socks, or talk quietly. Susan, Paul and I wander the corridors to make use of our spare time without unwanted intrusion.
"This is strange. I've never had free time before. What are we supposed to do?" Susan says.
"Recover, I suppose. That simulation rocked me more than I would have thought. It's kind of disconcerting knowing what you would do in those situations."
Susan shudders. "Especially when some of your fears are totally irrational."
"Hmm. I guess that would apply to my fear of caterpillars then."
I barely conceal a laugh. "Caterpillars?"
"Don't laugh. It's just that they're so wriggly and furry and disgusting. And their faces- all squinty and hairy."
"Don't worry, Paul." That's Susan, always trying to comfort other people. Even if it means putting herself down. "Caterpillars pale in comparison with my fear of tennis balls."
This time Paul is the one who laughs, muffling it quickly, though. It is frowned upon to laugh at others in Abnegation.
"Why tennis balls?" he asks.
Susan looks embarrassed. "Well... When I was really little, my dad took me to the school that he works at, because he had to pick up some tests or something. He told me to wait for him outside the building and play with the sports equipment, because I was really young and got bored easily.
"So I waited outside, but eventually I wandered over to the other side of the school, and got lost. I wasn't waiting for ten minutes, but that seems like hours when you're six. So, when I saw my dad looking for me, I ran to him. Right through where a class was playing tennis.
"They bombarded me, all over my head and body, and it really hurt, and they didn't stop. I just laid on the ground and curled up in a ball screaming until my dad rescued me. But they never stopped hitting those tennis balls, and for a while I never understood why. But after a few years I realized. That class of students, they were all wearing blue. They may have only been about sixteen, but I think that, if allowed, those Erudite would have beat me for long after my dad saved me."
Paul and I are both silent now. We have stopped walking, and are staring at the floor. Until I finally gather the courage to speak.
"Those Erudite need to be stopped."
A/N and yes, Tris. They do. So, please review! I can promise some epic fourtris moments in the next chapter! Bye!