I did my best to stay away from my friends in fear of telling them what happened. The next day wasn't very promising either. I was in that same room with Max again for day two of living hell. I was not ready to see Tobias die and I was afraid Max would rape me again. Max smiled at me as he injected the serum in me again.
I woke up again in my old room. This time I grabbed a pair of scissors off my desk and went down stairs to where Marcus was abusing Tobias. It took everything I could to not go protect him. Instead I held the scissors in my hand behind my back and snuck inside behind Marcus. He was yelling about something and Tobias was screaming as I jammed the tip of the scissors into my father's back to stab him. He dropped the belt and I ran to my brother but when I tried to reach him he disappeared. I was now back in the dark room with one spotlight. Again I had to fight the urge to go save my brother, I had to find out where the murder was in the room. I stayed quiet and walked around in the dark. I couldn't find the killer but as soon as I heard a shot go off I jumped in front of it, letting it hit me instead. I had to save my brother, I rather die in his place. I fell to the floor in agony. Tobias screamed and tried to get over to me in his chair but it wasn't working. I was dying.
"This isn't real Tobias, I'll be okay." I murmured.
"What the hell was that?" Max screamed as I jumped awake.
"What was what?" I asked as innocently
"You….You're divergent aren't you?" He asked me accusingly.
"No. I'm not." I look towards the door and sit up.
"Yes you are. No one can just face their fear like that unless their divergent. You're a danger to everyone. I should just kill you now." He pushes me back down.
"Please don't I'm not divergent, I promise." I gulp and watch him closely as he got on top of me.
"Shut up bitch. You're lying. You're divergent. I should kill you, but I'm not you're so…sexy." He started running a hand down my body feisty, you're such a tease. You want to stay here and keep your secret hidden? Then don't mess with me. You do what I say." He leans down and kisses my neck again and feeling me up. I tried to squirm but it didn't work, he hit me.
"What did I just say?" He started to undress himself and me. From that point on I was paralyzed with utter fear. This man is a disgrace to humanity.
He eventually let me go and I quickly left to find Tris. I knew I couldn't tell her about Max but maybe how to hide my divergence. I found the way to her apartment and knocked on the door. Tobias answered and I immediately gave him a hug.
"Well hello sweetie." He smiled a little and hugged me back. I felt safe in his like I always have.
"He knows….He knows Tobias, he figured it out." I muffled into his shirt. He led me inside the room quickly and shut the door.
"What happened Baby Girl?" He led me to the couch, Tris came out of the bedroom and sat on the couch and put her arms around me. Tobias sat on my other side.
"In my fear, my first fear is of Marcus. It's a flash back to when we were kids, the very first time he laid a hand on me. Yesterday I did the same thing I did when I was 10, I jumped in front of you. Today I managed to grab scissors from my desk and I stabbed Marcus. My next fear is you dying. Yesterday I was all too caught up in you dying, today I jumped in front of the bullet. I died instead of you which pulled me out of the test." I started crying, I feel like such a failure, I should have never come here the way I've been crying so much. Tobias just wrapped his arms around me and held me for a while.
"We'll fix it. I can go talk to him and deter him and think it's something else. It a stimulation, people all react differently. But what you can do is try to slow your heart rate down and don't go after the problem head on. Wait before you act. Make sure it's clear you're afraid." He told me.
"No, don't talk to him. Please don't I'll handle it. Would that stuff work?" I looked up at him.
"Worked for the both of us." He said.
"Tobias, why don't you go make some tea for us. Please?" Tris asked him kindly. He left without another word and Tris looked at me, and brushed some of my hair back, "You want to tell me how you got that mark on your face?" She whispered quietly to me. She sent him away so she could talk to me alone.
"I fell. I was running around to collect my thoughts after the test. It's really taking a lot out of me." I lied and hoped she bought it. She gave me a look that shows she didn't believe the first part but wasn't going to question it.
"Hey Tris?" I ask quietly
"Yeah?"
"If Tobias were to…die. Would you still want to be around me?" I ask, remembering my last fear. Jumping down that rabbit hole because everyone was gone.
"Of course. You're family Lizzie. You're like the little sister I never had." She smiled at me and rubbed my back. I gave her a hug.
"Thank you, it means a lot to me."
"No need to thank me." She smiles and let's go of me. Tobias comes back with three mugs. He handed one to us girls and took a seat next to his girlfriend. We spent the rest of the night talking, laughing, and joking around, it was good to forgot what happened, at least for a little while.
The rest of the week when just like the last two days. I did what my brother told me to do. Which seemed to please Max for the most part. The very last fear of me being trapped. To avoid my panic attack, I always ended up letting the divergent show to get me out of there. Max would then have his way with me. He never hit me again. After that I would go back to my bed and lay down. Today however was it. Today is the final test, tomorrow I will hope to become an official member of Dauntless and I can be with my brother, Olivia, Tris and hell, I'd let Connor take me on a date. I just needed to get through this. I knew Tobias and the other leaders where watching this. This will be fun.
"Good luck today Lizzie, I haven't seen you all week." Connor pulled me out of a day dream. I looked at him and smiled weakly.
"You too. Yeah, I've been getting really sick after the tests. Tomorrow we can go celebrate." I nodded and looked around us. We were the last people left. Connor opened his mouth to say something but they called him into the testing room. I waved him goodbye and waited for my turn.
A half hour must have passed when Ashley, the Dauntless instructor called my name. Thank my lucky stars it was her for once and not Max. I walked over to her and smiled.
"Ready? You'll do fine, see you on the other side." She smiled at me and injected me with the serum and led me inside this room. This time I wasn't in my old Abnegation bedroom. I was in the living room with Tobias and Marcus, still the same situation. I took a deep breath to make sure my heart was slow and went into protect my brother.
"Elizabeth get out of the way. This doesn't concern you!" Marcus hisses at me, his dark blue eyes darkening to black.
"No Dad, I can't do that. Please don't hurt him. Don't hurt us please!" I looked up at him and pleaded.
"Elizabeth, you and your brother are both out of line. You both need to be disciplined." He raised the belt up to strike me. This is it Lizzie, I took another deep breath and lunged at my father dropping the belt. We both hit the floor and the scene changed. My brother was now tied to a chair looking the same, bloodied and weak. Instead of looking for the killer I ran in the dark to my brother. I got behind the chair and whispered to him.
"Be quiet, as soon as I untie you, run." I order him
"I can't. I'm too weak Lizzie." He says from the corner of his mouth.
"Damnit Tobias just do what I say!" I hiss at him and untie him. I took another deep breath and helped him up. I grabbed his hand and helped him run away. The sound of the gun went off but thankfully the bullet missed him this time. We ran until I felt him disappear from me. I looked back and I was now on the rooftop with Connor.
"Lizzie?" Connor walked over to me and took my face in his hands. The butterflies in my stomach started to flutter. He kissed me head and let me go.
"Hmm?" I watch his pained eyes; I knew what came next.
"I'm sorry, but I can't do this anymore."
"Do what?" I look up at him. He walked over to the railing and looked out into the night sky.
"This. Us. It's time we let this go." He mumbled softly. I walked over to him and took his hand. He looked down at me and I pulled his head close and kissed him."
I love you, Connor. I'm sorry I've been stressed. Just please don't leave me." I kissed him again and he kissed me back.
"I won't Lizzie, I love you too." We shared another kiss before he disappeared into thin air.
The last stage. Oh don't screw this up Lizzie. I looked around the room and started to do what I did the first day. I banged on the walls and ran around the room. I stopped and took a deep breath feeling myself starting to get panicky.
"No one is going to save you." I heard Max's gruff voice come out from nowhere. Oh God. He's now in my fears and Tobias can see him.
"leave me alone." I say angrily as I kick the wall again hoping something would open up but nothing would cooperate with me. Max came over and pinned me to the wall. "Stop! Get away from me!" I tried to push him away but he was much too strong for me.
"You remember our deal Lizzie." He started kissing me and touching me. I was squirming and crying, trying to get away from him.
It was a matter of moments when the lights of the room came on and I was drawn back into consciousness. I dropped to my knees and cried. Tobias just saw what I tried to hide him from.
"Lizzie!" Tobias rushed into the room and picked me up, "it's okay baby. He won't hurt you anymore. I won't let him. He smoothed my hair and carried me out of the room. He walked into the room the leaders were all in and sat me in the chair.
"Why'd you stop it. I had to face my fear, you ruined my chance to get into Dauntless!" I started to yell at him, I no longer had control over my emotions.
"You're already in Lizzie you're ranking is so high sweetheart. That fear, I had to stop it, the other leaders agreed. You won't have to go through that anymore. We'll deal with him." He kneeled next to me.
"You bitch!" Max screamed and started racing towards me. Tobias lunched after him. Similar to how Marcus lunged at us.
"You won't take another step towards her. You hear me? I swear I'll take my gun to your head so fast. You're a creep! If I ever catch you anywhere near her or even looking at her, it'll be the last thing you do!" Tobias held him by Max's collarbones. Tobias had this murderous look to him, it was our father's face, I never realized how much my brother looked like Marcus. Ashley and a few other leaders grabbed onto Tobias and pulled him away. Another couple took Max away, where I don't know nor do I care.
I walked over to Tobias and made him look at me. "Hey, let's get out of here, let's go see Tris." I grab his hand and pull him away. I had stopped crying, but I just wanted to get out of here. Thankfully he complied and led me back to his apartment. Tris opened the door and looked at us both.
"What happened?" She ushered us in. Tobias started going off about Max. I just sat on the couch and curled up. I wanted today to be completely over.