(Tris)
"Come on, no way. Are you serious?" Uriah asks.
"Dead serious," I laugh. "Abnegation kids weren't allowed to talk at the table."
"Why not?"
We're walking across the expansive parking lot in front of our building, and I'm giving him a lesson on "Abnegation Etiquette."
"Because it was rude and selfish," I shrug.
"Seems more selfish that your parents kept all the attention to themselves - oh, damn it. Hold on. I forgot my wallet. I'm going to run back to the car. You wait here."
"Sure," I nod as he turns back.
"Trissy!" I hear Ethan's voice behind me. I look back and smile as he jumps into my arms.
"Hey!" I say. "Where's your mom?"
"Upstairs," he replies as I set him down. "Where's Tobias?"
"Upstairs," I wink. "Where are you-"
"Tris!"
"Ethan!"
"Tris - No!" Tobias's distant voice is fear stricken, frantic, and makes me want to take action. As I turn toward the voices, I register a few things.
The first: Uriah is running back towards us, his eyes wide. Face drained.
The second: Evelyn and Tobias are running towards us from the other direction.
The third: Marcus is right before me. His face is chafed and bloody. His eyes are manic. And he is going to kill me.
I can only push Ethan behind me.
Marcus locks his arm around my throat. My arms fly to protect my middle. He plunges a needle into my neck.
And everything about my life changes.
Forever.
...
(Tobias)
"Oh hell no," Uriah is saying. "You are staying with me. No dying today."
I barely register his voice.
I barely register Marcus seizing my little brother. I barely register Evelyn's scream. I barely register the gun in her hand, the shot, Marcus falling to the ground.
I only see her, in brilliant clarity, screaming definition, coherence, transparency.
She is the only thing that matters. Everything else fades to background.
I fall to my knees beside her. I'm yelling something. Nothing makes sense. Nothing but her.
(Tris)
In my fantasy I see a just world, where everyone lives in peace and harmony. I dream of souls that are always free, like the clouds that float.
The sound of my mother's voice, soft and gentle in the darkness, calms me. It has been a long time since she recited her favorite poetry to me.
In my fantasy I see a bright world...
I remember her voice. She protected me from everything.
Each night there is less darkness.
I dream of spirits that are always free.
Like the clouds that float.
"Tobias," I'm screaming, jolting upwards. Harsh white lights blind me for a moment, and then I see him.
"Tris," he chokes, pulling me towards him. I grip onto his arms, but then he's gone. People dresses in stark white - doctors? - surround me.
"She pulled out her IV's," one of them says.
"Get that monitor back on."
"Don't tell her anything yet. Her stress levels are already off the charts."
"She's losing fluid - come on, people, move it."
I lie perfectly still. For the first time in my life, I do everything the Erudite ask of me.
When they disperse, I remain still. My stomach is sinking. My heart is breaking. Too still.
And I know.
"Tobias," I whisper as he wraps me gently into his arms again. "What about the baby?" But I know. I already know.
He buries his face into my shoulder and shakes. I cry and pan the room to meet eyes with anyone who will tell me this isn't happening. But they all step out.
"It was death serum," Tobias tells me. "It... they..." he falls apart, and I shake my head over and over and over again. My knees come to my chest. And I scream.
...
Silence. The beeping of the machine on my right. Darkness.
And then it comes again.
I start shaking, and Tobias's arms tighten around me. Gut wrenching pain. I writhe in emotional agony and beg for morning.
I cry out that I want to die. I want to run like hell. I want to be pregnant again, I sob. I want to be pregnant so bad. I want it to be the morning of our first ultrasound, when I was happy and I was light and I wore the white ruffled skirt and the black shirt, knowing joy was to come. I want to go back. I want to go back. I want to go back.
In my fantasy exists a warm wind that blows into the city like a friend.
I dream of souls that are always free.
Like the clouds that float.