"T, wait up," I shouted. "I can't walk that fast!"
It was the day of my brother's Choosing Ceremony, and he seemed to be almost running. I jogged to catch up with him, which was difficult given my long gray skirt and the heat. Normally, I loved running and I would sometimes sneak out at night and run around the city. However, it was an especially hot summer day, making it impossible to enjoy the running Tobias was making me do.
"I don't want to be late," he replied. "You know how much Marcus hates it."
Marcus was our father, the leader of abnegation. He did everything for his appearance, including punishing his children for the smallest imperfections. A glance at a spoon was seen as an act of vanity and the punishment would be a meterstick to our hands. Coming home even a minute later than expected would result in the belt to our backs. If dinner was not to his liking, he would starve us for the next three days. The worst punishment of all was when we were late to public events, including the Choosing Ceremony. Tardiness when Marcus would be seen in the public eye resulted in the closet for a week. We were allowed to go to school, but as soon as we got home there was yet another beating waiting for us. After the beating, we would be forced into separate closets, starved, and forced to sleep there as well. It was torture. The only sustenance we had came from the meager lunch he gave us for school, to keep up appearances.
"It won't matter if you're late," I replied with a frown. "You can leave today."
"I know. Even though I can't tell you where I'm going I promise you I'm leaving. The problem is that he will be mad enough already, and he will take it out on you. Being late will only add to that anger," he replied with a sigh. "You have no idea how much I want to take you with me. Just… just promise me that you'll leave here? Please."
"I promise," I whispered. "I don't think I could stay if I wanted to."
I had never been the perfect abnegation girl that my father wanted me to be. I was selfish, vain, and I did not act as I should have around the Factionless. Though I was born in the faction of the selfless, I had never belonged. Marcus held that against me, and made the punishments even worse if he heard any complaints from anyone else in the faction. He knew I would defect, it was clear from the beginning, but Tobias leaving would be quite the shock. My brother had always been better at being Abnegation than me, and there was no doubt that Marcus assumed that Tobias would choose the faction he was born into.
Tobias swallowed hard, as if he could only imagine the horrors that the coming year would bring. "Promise me you'll be careful."
"I always am."
He coughed and grinned at me. "Really?"
"I always try to be," I corrected with a small laugh.
As soon as we made it to the auditorium, we sat in our seats, surrounded by a sea of gray. It was Candor's year to lead the ceremony, so when our father sat next to us, we tensed. Jack Kang began to speak, and my father's self-assured smirk settled onto his face. He was so certain in Tobias. And that scared me more than anything.
The names began to be called, with almost none defecting from the original factions. It was rare to have a defect, especially when about 90% of sixteen year olds got their initial faction in their aptitude test. Tobias seemed to tense until I took his hand, reassuring him that he was making the right choice.
"Eaton, Tobias," was finally called, and he walked as calmly as he could onto the stage. I sucked in a breath as he cut his hand, his blood running down his palm and dripping onto the carpet. My father squared his shoulders and beamed with pride until Tobias put his hand over the burning coals.
"Dauntless!" was shouted and as the room exploded into cheers and applause, I felt my father grab my wrist as tight as he could.
"You will pay for this," he growled into my ear.
Tobias and I locked eyes before he left with his new faction, and through my tears I could see that he was finally happy. Finally free.
And in a year I would be too, if I survived.