Eric Coulter: 18 years & 2 months old
Beatrice Prior: 17 years & 8 months old
-o0o-ERIC-o0o-
"Divergent!" I hear someone hiss in my ear. I twist to look around me but see no one. I'm just standing in my bedroom. No one should be here except myself and maybe William.
Andrew Prior's face appears in front of me and he hisses, "Divergence is dangerous!"
Turning around abruptly brings me face to face with my mother's celery green eyes. The eyes that once held love and mischief are now filled with fear. "You had Dauntless, Erudite and Abnegation aptitudes."
My father whispers something in my brother's ear. "Divergent!" This is getting strange. Why are they whispering when it's clear I can hear them. And how in the world do they know about my Divergence?
I blink and this time my sister appears to stare at me emotionlessly as she ties me on an exam table. Thrashing around in order to free myself, a cold voice says, "It's fascinating! Eric himself is a Divergent rebel."
My sister's face morphes into Jeanine's and a cold voice that my mind registers as the Erudite leader herself echoes, "Kill him! Kill him..." More and more voices join her mantra demanding to kill me.
I shake my head and the voices grow louder and louder making me close my eyes. And…
I wake up with a start. It was just a dream. I hadn't gotten any dreams since I was very young, six or seven I guess. But, this wasn't a dream. It was a Nightmare.
Andrew Prior's warning is ringing clearly in my mind. "Take the secret of your Divergence to your grave Eric. Trust no one ever!"
I hold my head, willing the voices to fade. I just want to forget about it. Just want to ignore the impending death threat hanging over my head. Divergence is very dangerous, as Jeanine's research has proved. They don't fit in only one faction, therefore their loyalty is hard to determine and they are uncontrollable. Jeanine wants control, so she secretly experiments on Divergents if they are ever found and most of them don't survive their harsh treatment as lab rats, in order to make serums that work on Divergents. That's why, if Jeanine discovers you are Divergent, you have a one way ticket to your death.
I get out of my bed and decide to take a shower first to calm my racing thoughts. And also because I may be expecting the shower to wash my divergence away. It's impossible. Me, a Divergent?
After a long, warm shower, I get dressed up in my training gear which I have been given for the sole purpose of my Dauntless training, as I have been feeling a lot lighter after the obvious realization.
It must have been a technical fault of the aptitude testing machine.
I make my way to Jeanine Matthew's office and knock a couple of times. "Come in!" her voice calls and I do just that.
"So, what brings my favorite dependent here may I ask?" She says it like a request but I know it's an order in disguise of politeness.
"I came to review our plans for one last time," I tell her and a hint of a smile appears on her face. Uh, why does she have to smile like that all the time. It looks kinda creepy. I only came here to look like I was not running away from her cause, because if she got suspicious about my loyalty, it can get really bad.
"Very well, Eric. Start from the beginning."
"I will be choosing Dauntless at the ceremony and will go through initiation and achieve the top rank. Due to my eligibility, Dauntless head leader, Max will be forced to offer me the position. I will start my leader-in-training program all the while convincing the leaders and other important people that Divergents are dangerous monsters who are not loyal to one faction therefore they should be eliminated. Being the lazy and reckless people they are, they will follow your plan and provide alliance. We will inject all members with control serum under the disguise of safety trackers which will ensure that they will participate in the overthrow of Abnegation as a mindless, armed army with Abnegation being none the wiser." I finish, reciting from memory of our previous meetings.
"What do we do to ensure the Dauntless leaders' full cooperation, Eric?" She asks calmly.
"A promise of power in your new and improved government is enough to sway anyone." I hope I am right in my observation, I still haven't been made aware about her complete plans.
"Will they get a powerful position then?"
"Of course not! It's just a deception." I exclaim, how stupid does she think I am. Or maybe, she wanted to see my reaction.
"Why is that, Eric?" She questions, knowing full well what my answer will be.
"Because, there is a risk that they might turn on us to seize full governmental control. They might be ignorant Ms. Matthews but they certainly are not fools." I say and her smile gets wider.
"Eric, can I ask you a personal question?" she asks sweetly.
"Of course."
"What was your aptitude test result?" she asks, genuinely interested.
"Surprisingly, It was Dauntless," I say. "I picked the knife and killed the dog and then lied to the faceless man." I shrug, feigning nonchalance. Thank you Mr Prior for inputting my result as Dauntless and also telling me how I got that result. How he managed to override the system, I will never know. But, I am eternally indebted to him for keeping such a dangerous secret for a stranger's safety.
I know Jeanine has access to all aptitude test results and she was trying to see if I would slip. Thankfully, she seems happy and calm again. Looks like I am safe.
"One last question before you take your leave Eric," she says, "Who administered your test?"
"A Stiff," I reply but her questioning glance remains on me. "What! You know it's impossible to remember a stiff. I swear they all look the same." That did it. She lets out a laugh at my response. I think I owe Mr. Prior respect for trying to help me but this seems to be the only way to protect his privacy since he is protecting my secret.
"Anything else I can help you with, Eric?"
"Can I get tattoos and piercings?" I mumble, shuffling a bit as she looks at me waiting for an explanation.
"I want to look the part in Dauntless. I will keep them hidden until after initiation. I also want to learn pain management and get used to doing day to day jobs with them."
Jeanine sighs and gives me the directions to reach my destination. I am about to leave when she says "Don't forget to train with Edward for the last time in Erudite." Edward is an Erudite who has been practicing hand-to-hand combat for ten years. It's clear what he will choose next year. I nod and run to get my tattoos and piercings.
I get my piercings done first. Why there is a tattooist and piercer in Erudite is something Jeanine didn't tell me. Maybe she had been planning this for longer than I know? I know that if I am gonna do this all for Jeanine, at least I can do some things my way. I have always been fascinated by the tattoos and piercings Dauntless had. And after I saw the leadership stripes on Max's neck, it became some weird kind of obsession.
I got two microdermals on my left eyebrow, two piercings on each ear and two upper lip piercings making a total of 8. Did I mention how much I love even numbers?
The piercings hurt like a bitch and on more than one occasion I have cursed out loud, earning glares from those who heard my colorful vocabulary, but who cares? I am done in approximately ten minutes.
Thank god, the Erudite have a healing serum. It basically heals all superficial cuts and wounds within seconds and without leaving scars or any sign of damage. After healing, the pain subsides.
The tattoos however, are a totally different story. The maze tattoos on my arms take an hour while the leadership stripes on my neck take half an hour. The tattoos hurt worse than the piercings, especially the neck ones. Afterwards, I get a second chance to thank the Erudite healing serum.
I decide to jog around the compound before meeting with Edward. That kid was damn good. When I joined Jeanine's cause two years ago and was tasked with joining Dauntless, Jeanine assigned Edward to train me secretly. That kid was always the winner since he had been practicing hand-to-hand combat for about ten years at that time.
He used to beat me to pulp so many times when I started training for Dauntless with him that I lost count. I got better and better until I started beating him senseless. I couldn't spare him in any fight because I was training to be a soldier. And soldiers follow their superior's orders. Jeanine taught us never to give up. The fights would always end with one of us as a pile of limbs or as a victor.
Today was no exception. We first trained with the bags to warm up and then we sparred for most of the day. In the end, I stood proud and tall with a few minor injuries and if I had to guess, a few bruised ribs while he was a bloody and bruised heap.
I jog back to my apartment for a final cool down and jump in the warm shower and allow my eyes to close.
I am startled awake by a loud banging on the bathroom door. I didn't realize that I had fallen asleep. The shower is still running but it is freezing now. I shudder and quickly dry myself up, dressing in a pair of warm and comfy pyjamas.
As soon as I unlocked the bathroom door just to feel someone run in to me, making me lose my balance and fall flat on my ass. I look up into the innocent green eyes of my brother. They were full of mischief.
"What the actual fuck, dumbass!" I bark out relishing in his flinch. I smirk arrogantly and he huffs. "Get off me you Dinosaur. I swear you weigh two thousand pounds!"
He smiles innocently and before I can think of an appropriate response he starts speaking "According to Bill Erickson, 'Estimates of median dinosaur mass range from 1102.31 pounds to 11023.1 pounds. Eighty percent of the biomass from the Late Jurassic Morrison formation of the western United States consisted of stegosaurus and sauropods; the latter averaged 20 tons-'"
I have to cut him off. I am not in the mood for a school lesson. "Okay! Okay! I know, I'm just as smart as you, William." I say as I ruffle his hair.
"What are you doing here?" I ask impatiently and he smirks evilly.
"Well, hello to you too big brother! I came to take a shower since you see I am sweaty and all and your bathroom shower is better than the one in the master bathroom's soo…" he drawls out and I wait for the other shoe to drop. "I can leave if you are busy." he says, looking towards my messy bed and crumpled sheets.
"I swear-" before I can continue, he runs out of my room laughing. I realize that he was implying that I might be busy with certain physical activities which is impossible.
Sex is forbidden in Erudite unless you are married to your partner. The rules are very strict for those who sleep around including one year in underground cells for each sexual escapade.
These rules were enforced by Jeanine when she came into power about twelve years ago. No one knows the real reason behind them. But, for a guy, that means watching porn with a tube of lubricant and something to clean the mess afterwards in their vicinity.
As I look down, taking in my outfit, I feel like the dumbest human ever. Of course, my brother managed to get mud on my clothes. I have no idea how he manages to fall in mud everyday and then successfully distract me long enough to transfer it on me. Another thing I don't understand is why he does this since he is 17 not 7?
I peel off my filthy attire and clean up before changing clothes again.
I hear the front door open and climb down to greet my mother. But, when I take in her expression, I automatically understand something is wrong.
Instead of greeting me and William with her usual smile, she has a murderous expression on her face. William automatically backtracks and locks his bedroom door, leaving me to hear her out. Asshole!
I approach her cautiously and take off her coat and purse, putting them on their designated places. I bring her a glass of cold water and sit behind her, rubbing her back. She begins relaxing as I work out the knots in her back, waiting for her to speak up and she doesn't disappoint.
"I always shrugged her off, never once believed what Jeanine said," she says distractedly.
"About?" I prompt her.
"The Abnegation being corrupt thieves."
"What happened mom?"
"The Abnegation volunteer in the school infirmary. Beatrice, I think was her name." she says, making my head jerk. I think she is talking about the blonde who helped me today. But the question is, what did she do?
"And?"
"I caught her red handed." she says, taking out a picture of her pocket and handing it to me. It looks like CCTV footage but I recognize the girl. It's definitely Beatrice, the feisty and kind stiff that helped me out in school.
"What did she do mom?" I ask, curiously.
"I caught her stealing medical supplies from the infirmary." she says and my mouth drops open.
Beatrice. Stealing. It sounds impossible. "What's going to happen to her now?" I ask carefully.
"She can't volunteer in the school and we will inform her parents and the Abnegation leader of her crime." Mom shrugs as if it isn't a big deal.
But, the thing is…
It is a big deal! Because, Beatrice used medical supplies to help me.
Thank you DragonMaster65 for patiently beta'ing my work.
Sorry for irregular updates and website glitches everyone.
'Til next time :)