Chapter 3!
Two chapters on the same night, what do you think of that! It will be getting interesting very soon...
Disclaimer: I'll own Divergent when my real brother is able to fight as well as my story-brother Amar. ... (I most definitely do not own Divergent.)
Iris
The days that followed were filled with worry, as mom and dad tried everything within their power to find Tobias, but it seemed like he was gone, even though Marcus had been found somewhere in the city centre. He had been lying on the ground, knocked out with a few bruises on the side of his head, a broken leg, bruised ribs and he couldn't remember what had happened to him. I had to try my best not to scream at him, yell how much I loathed him. I despised him with all my heart for hurting the one I loved, torturing him so much that he could hardly take it.
However, the fact that Marcus had been found and Tobias hadn't, filled my heart and mind with hope. Had he escaped his father? Even though Tobias could be alive, it was choosing day, so I'd have to pick a future with or without him. My mom twisted my hair in a bun, for the last time ever. 'I can't wait for my hair to get rid of these buns forever,' I said to her. She smiled and shook her head, her bun trying to keep her brown curls into place. 'You speak like you actually obeyed the bun-rule properly, Iris. You let down your hair every time you got, meeting up with Tobias at night,' she said with a grin.
My eyes widened, how did she... 'I know darling, did you really think that you were feeding the factionless at night? Or that you were at Jenna and Rick's? Their parents are as traditional as Abnegationers possibly can, love. They would never agree to late night visitors,' she explained. My cheeks turned bright red, 'why did you never say anything?' She smiled and opened our mirror, so I could take a look at my face. 'Because I transferred to Abnegation, I won't say anything, I'm not supposed to, darling.' I smiled, she had learned how to adjust to this faction throughout the years, which was the opposite from me, as I grew up in Abnegation and had never learned to adjust fully.
I peeked into the mirror and the first things I noticed were my eyes. My father passed his eye colour onto Amar and me and mom gave us the shape of hers, so we had a little bit of both. I saw big green eyes with little brown flecks, long black lashes and full lips. Mom smiled and stroke my cheek. 'You are gorgeous,' she said. She shouldn't be saying that, because I should not be feeling different from any other female in Abnegation, but she did, and so I did.
I didn't feel different because of my appearance, but because of my personality, and mom knew it, which was why she told me. 'You are beautiful as well, mom,' I told her, as I looked at her slender frame. She had the warmest, most loving eyes and smile I had ever seen and if I were lucky, I would turn out like her and become a kind woman. Mom smiled and her cheeks flushed slightly pink. 'Are you nervous, honey?' Spoken like a true Abnegationer, focusing the conversation on anything else than herself, so I let her. 'A bit, yeah,' I admitted. 'It'll be fine,' she said softly, and stroke my hair. She smiled at me in the mirror, and I smiled back.
I tried to imprint her face as well as I possibly could, that exact moment was precious. My mom doing my hair, talking about things like we always did... But there was one thing that kept lingering in the back of my mind. Tobias. It was his choosing day today, so he should be there. All of a sudden, I was torn in my feelings towards today. I knew that I was leaving my parents, so did they, so we were enjoying the last moments of us being together in our home. But, I was also happy to leave Abnegation. I sighed deeply, and arose from the chair. I closed the mirror and looked at my mother. 'It's time,' I said softly. She nodded, and grabbed my hand. 'I love you,' she said. I squeezed her hand softly. 'Love you too, mom.'
As my parents and I walked up to the main building of the city, the town hall, I met up with Jenna and Rick, my friends. 'We wanted to wish you luck today, Iris. Hopefully we'll see you at the other side, but... We'll find out later,' Jenna said and hugged me. Rick joined the hug, and their parents looked shocked. Mine smiled, and greeted the Tides' family. 'Hello Mr. and Mrs. Tides,' I said politely. They gave me a small nod and beckoned Rick and Jenna to follow them. The latter ones smiled and waved at us and walked away. 'I wish their parents had to choose again,' my dad muttered, followed by getting thumped by mom. I giggled and we continued our journey.
It was very crowded inside the town hall and we struggled to find a place to sit in the Abnegation section. Once we found it, the leader of Erudite, Jeanine, started talking. I'd heard that Marcus what supposed to stand there, as the leader of the city, but he was still completely out of it and hurt that Jeanine took over, apparently. I huffed a soft sigh, it was all he deserved. Maybe even less.
'Greetings to all beautiful people of our nation,' Jeanine started her speech, and I tuned out immediately. Usually I would try, as her speech wasn't at all insipid, but I didn't allow myself to focus on anything else than talking to my parents and imprinting their faces... And finally listening to hearing whether Tobias' name would be called out. Jeanine's speech didn't take long and she started with the names. 'Marissa Adler,' she called out. I turned to my parents. 'We've got some time,' I said softly, and looked at the both of them. They were smiling, both a bit sadly because they knew I would be leaving them soon.
My dad's usual happy face looked like he was struggling with all emotions, as his eyes- my eyes, were a bit watery and I knew that if I'd keep looking, my eyes would be doused any second. Mom's eyes were still dry, but her face grew paler every second. We talked a bit, until I heard a few of the words I was dreading that night. Those words being 'Jenna Tides', 'Rick Tides', 'Iris Valentine' and... the words Jeanine had pronounced just then. 'TOBIAS EATON,' she called out. My head shot up, and I looked around. Jeanine looked around as well, her blond her almost getting out of shape as she shook her head. 'No Tobias Eaton?' She called again. My heart was pounding hard against my chest. Tobias... Where are you? 'Right, no Tobias Eaton. We'll continue with the next person,' Jeanine said with a smile and called out the next name.
I felt like I couldn't move. The hope I had in my heart and mind seemed to be oozing out of me. My heart was no longer pounding hard, it even felt like it was no longer pounding at all.