Hi again. I am very sorry that I didn't update for a few weeks. I have been having a hard time and I really needed a break. I am happy to say, though, that everything is fine now and I am back to writing again.

I think you all will like this chapter. A few new characters are added, and there is some dra-maaaaa! Probably not the drama you were hoping for, but still...

CHAPTER 26

We have been here for three weeks now. It feels like it has been decades.

I am sitting in the common room that Carmindy showed me a few days ago, curled up on one of the long brown couches that surround an enormous television mounted on the wall. Tobias lounges next to me, feet propped up on the table in front of us that three guys are currently playing a card game on. This place is pretty nice, actually. I had walked by it many times, it being just down the hall from the cafeteria, but I never bothered to go in. It's a nice place to just sit and relax. It's about the only place where you can sit in relax. About half of the patients are crowded in here, scattered around the room, talking or playing board games.

We actually have six more people that joined us since the first wave of Chicago citizens came in. I have seen them around, unfamiliar faces among the crowds of those who have already become acquainted here. I asked one girl who seemed much younger than anyone else here to sit with us, after seeing her sit in the back corner of the cafeteria and eat in solitude. She was hesitant at first, but she seemed to become a bit more comfortable sitting with us. She was so shy, always keeping her head down, her choppy blonde hair hanging like a veil over her face. She introduced herself as Kacey, and that was about all she said on her first day. I also couldn't help but notice how small she was, even smaller than me. Her scrubs hung off her like she was a clothes rack. Her bones stuck out like some grotesque kind of sculpture.

She began to shadow me, following me and Tobias everywhere. Though, she never talked to Tobias. Anytime he tried to speak to her, she would flinch and curl closer into herself. She eventually revealed that she was fourteen years old and came from Candor. Now, she is sitting in the chair next to me, watching the card game unfold with a blank glass-eyed stare.

I also found out that she loves fantasy books, after having her follow me into the library, where she disappeared almost immediately. I didn't find her for another hour, running into her pressed between stacks of books with her nose buried in the pages of a book about dragons. She checked out five books that day, and carried them around with her everywhere, never wasting a second, always seeming to be reading one of them where ever she was.

I still haven't been able to get her to talk much yet. But it has only been a few days. I am sure she will open up someday.

"You wanna play?" One of the guys in front of us asks, shuffling the deck of cards. I look to Tobias, having to poke him to get his attention and ask him the question again, to which he mumbles an unsure yes in response. The boys quickly teach us how to play, and I pick up on the rules easily, but Tobias doesn't seem to be listening. I don't miss the way his eyes look clouded over, or how he is completely out of it. But no one says anything when I take his cards because he is having a hard time holding them, or when I practically play all of his turns. They all know not to question it. I try to make Tobias talk, but he only mumbles in response, giving seemingly random answers.

"Oh, looks like I won," I announce, grinning as I gather up all the cards. The boys groan, seeing as this is the third time that I have beat them. Each time, they got angrier and challenged me again, saying that I just had beginner's luck. I sure showed them, but it's not like the game is that hard.

Kacey came and sat at the table two games ago. We offered to let her play, but she just watched intently, legs pulled up to her chest and her chin rested on her knees. Tobias's head is lying on my shoulder, given up on playing long ago. He hasn't said a word, just staring at the game with the colorless stare. He was fine a few days ago. Well, when I say fine, I mean in his normal depressive state. But today, he has been so disconnected and dazed. I has me worried that something is getting worse, or his medication is affecting him adversely. He won't even look at me in the eye. His eyes are so lifeless, drained of the midnight hue that made them his. Now they are just... blue. Not blue like the ocean or the night sky. Blank, like the walls of the hallway, like the faces of the people who walk them. Blank like they were when he was under the simulation, when he was not in his own mind. It scares me.

People start to filter out of the room, noticing the time. Lunch. I push Tobias off of me, standing up and straightening my scrubs. I thank the guys for the game, pulling on Tobias's arm to get him on his feet. Kacey follows us out and into the cafeteria. It is hectic. With all the new people mixed into the bunch, most find it hard to find a seat where they want. There aren't many tables, and the amount of empty seats are quickly running out as more and more Divergents are discovered. I grab a tray for myself before handing one to Tobias, who walked past them without a second glance. We go into the food line, Kacey getting lost in the crowd of first comers, which is the majority of the patients. I pick out my usual meal, grilled chicken with a side of it-doesn't-matter-I'm-not-going-to-eat-it-anyway. I notice that Tobias scoops a heaping spoonful of green beans onto his tray, which is when I decide to step in. He absolutely hates green beans, and I can't remember a time where he even wanted to get near them. I just throw a sandwich onto his tray and push it forward to move the line along. He stares at the tray for a moment before looking up at me and nodding slightly in thanks, his mouth open like he wants to say something. He doesn't. I sigh and scrape my hair out of my face, already getting stressed out over the fact that I practically have to babysit an eighteen-almost nineteen-year old man.

"Ooh, your crazy boyfriend having problems?"

I turn to my left, seeing a girl smirking at me. It takes me a moment to realize that she is one of the newer patients, Marina. I can't forget the way that she came up to us a few days ago in the common room, announcing her name and faction, not forgetting to inform us that she had bipolar disorder and was a force to be reckoned with. Tobias perked up a bit at that, but decided not to say anything. She forced our names and factions out of us, determined to get to know us. I have to admit, she was a bit obnoxious. She went on and on about how she can get really moody and crazy sometimes and how she even stabbed someone because she was sure that they were actually trying to kill her, but in reality it was just her disorder making her "see things". She was also convinced that she had visions of the future, and that she predicted that the whole faction war would happen. She didn't know how to shut up. Lucky for me that I was in a bad mood and had had enough of her bullshit, so I stood up and told her what I thought of her, and just left. I didn't even make sure that Tobias wasn't stuck back with her. But I didn't miss the long string of expletives following me out the door, her voice ringing in my ears. It took all I had to not turn right around and kick her ass.

"What?"

"Oh, it looks like he is having a little trouble with his food. Are the drugs they pumped into him in the suicide room finally getting to him? Or is he still trying to take the big jump?" Her swollen, pudgy face scrunches up in a snarky grin, her beady black eyes glowing with mirth.

The "suicide room" is what people around here call the place they send you when you try to commit suicide. Only a few people have been back there, but Tobias was the first one. When you go in, everyone notices that you are gone in an instant, and they immediately start gossiping. Everyone's' favorite games are "Why Did They Do It" and "How Did They Do It". It unnerved me to hear all the theories on Tobias, many saying that he did it because he lost his arm, and he was caught making his bedsheets into a noose. They are all so stupid.

But, after that, posters started popping up everywhere, listing signs of a suicidal patient and what to do if you saw someone exhibiting the signs. It all made me sick. Tobias was so embarrassed when he got back, hearing all the gossip and the teasing. He was the talk of the hospital until someone tried to slit their throat, or so I heard.

"Excuse me?" I say, raising my eyebrows in surprise. I don't know where this is coming from. She hasn't spoken to me since she got here, and Tobias hasn't given her any reason to be rude to him.

"Oh, I guess he is just retarded. Maybe the meds are just rotting his brain," she snorts, laughing in her strange, high pitched giggle. Tobias keeps his head down, eyes flicking in her direction, not reacting.

I ignore her, my fists clenching as the anger boils under my skin. I can feel my temperature rising along with my temper. This girl that barely knows us or our situation, and she feels the need to pick at us like little school kids would. Even though she is from Dauntless, that is no excuse to be so childish. I wish I could get out of here fast before anything else happens, but the line is at a standstill.

Suddenly, Marina reaches over and practically stabs Tobias in the shoulder with her finger. "Does it still hurt from where they chopped it off?"

I spin around, sending my fist flying into her gut. Screams fill my ears as my vision goes red, my hair falling into my eyes and blocking the scene before me.

"Don't you dare touch him!"

She is on the ground in front of me, the entire room reeling in silence as everyone collectively holds their breath. My heavy breathing and pounding heart ring out in my ears, hands clenched so tightly at my sides that it hurts.

There is a beat where time is frozen as our eyes meet, hers glowing as a dastardly grin grows across her cheeks.

"I can touch him all I want. I am sure that a pretty boy like him doesn't want to be skinny little bitch like you. Boy like curves, honey!" she calls out, flicking her badly dyed greasy orange hair out of her face.

That cracks something deep down inside me, making the deep seeded insecurity about my body that had been pushed down resurface again. I hadn't worried about it in months, having been more concerned with the war and all. But now all I can think about is how I am undesirable with my flat chest and non-existent hips, and how she is right.

I charge at her, diving down and driving my fist into her nose. She just laughs at my anger, laying there as I pummel her. I punch her, again and again and again, screaming and screaming and screaming. I can only see the blood, on her face, on my hands, painting the ground below us. I feel like fire, flames of rage that whip at her skin until she is raw. All I can hear is her laughter, echoing in my ears, amplified so it pounds against my ear drums.

Hand grab my shoulders, yanking me backwards away from her. They restrain me as I fight against them, punching and kicking at anything in my reach. They drag me away, screaming like a wild animal.

"You fucking bitch!" I screech as I struggle to get back to her to finish my job.

She just stays there, convulsing in a pool of her own blood. Laughing. She is laughing.

That is when I realize that she is crazy. She wanted to cause a fight with me, because she is some kind of psycho. She wanted it to be this way. She wanted me to get in trouble so I would get locked up and she would be the victim.

The only thing I can't figure out, is why.

The orderlies haul me out of the cafeteria and down the twisting hallways, their grips on my arms cutting off the circulation to my hands. My mind is swirling, trying to process everything that just happened. I am crying. I don't know why. I don't remember when the tears started. All I know is that my brain feels like screams and my body feels like it is falling apart at the seams.

I am in a chair. I don't know how I got here. My hair blocks my vision and I can barely breathe. My heartbeat hasn't slowed down, the adrenaline pumping through my veins making limbs shake. I can feel gentle fingers grasp mine, the cold press of a wet cloth against my knuckles, thumbs wiping the tears from my cheeks as I sob harder and harder.

Something warm is in my chest, taking my breath and swelling in my throat. I can feel it enter my mouth as it grows, forcing its way from my lips. It happens so fast that I can barely comprehend what is happening.

I break.

I scream. I scream at the top of my lungs and beyond. I scream into the clouds, scream at the moon and the stars above, scream at the screams in my head, telling them to stop for a moment to just let myself fall apart. I scream as I fall to the ground, crumbling into a million little pieces that are scattered too far apart to ever come back together again. I scream at the world as it goes on turning while I am frozen in time.

Everything turns to spikes of red and black, distorted images of what I can only explain as Hell itself. The floor wraps me up in its shiny white tiles. All I can taste is the chemicals of the floor polish branding my tongue. I can feel it squeezing my body, twisting me into a shape of agony and-

Something stabs me in the arm,

And everything stops.

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