Tris
A pang of pain shoots throughout my entire body as I wake abruptly. Pictures of my dead friends and parents are still hanging around from my dream, and makes me realise that the majority of their deaths were my fault. They will never have another spontaneous moment. Another happy memory. Another late night chat with a loved one. They will never laugh again. They will never cry again. They will never love again. But all quickly slips away at the sight of Christina. Although I can never see her without thinking of Will. That's when the regret starts to fill my body again and sets in the pit of my stomach. Everytime I see her, even when I think of her, that happens. Her dark skin and angled hazelnut eyes. Her tall, muscuar frame and her short brown hair. Stunning in every aspect of life and deserving of happiness.
She immediately stands from her chair and embraces me in her gentle, yet strong, arms.
"Christina! I'm so excited that you're here!" I say as she wipes the tears from her eyes.
"Tris! I though we had lost you! You have no idea how worried I was! I couldn't sleep withough waking up in tears! Let alone Four, who was either wandering around the joint without an expression on his face and no real purpose for walking, or sitting alone on his bed, not moving for hours." At first I laugh at the thought of Tobias, drifting about the building, but then I stop, remembering it was because of me. I caused him that pain. I made him miserable and unable to enjoy life for a week. This is the pain I must have given Christina, too. I shot Will. My close friend. Her boyfriend.
"Christina, I am so sorry!" I grab her hand with both of mine as she slides back into the chair and squeeze it.
"What? Tris, this wasn't your fault." She says, half confused, half concerned.
"No, for shooting Will. I can't imagine what you must've gone through and I hate the fact that I brouht that upon you." Her face goes from confussed to depressed, as a sadness spreads across Chris' face, but is quickly replaced with a look of determination.
"Tris, it wasn't youre fault. Honestly. If anyone else was in that situation the would have done the exact same thing, even me. Well, not if it was Will, but if Four was coming at me, gun aimed and ready to shoot, of course I would have. I wouldn't have felt good about it, but I would still have had to do it. What better plan is there to kill the person who's about to kill you. That's what helped me to forgive you. Deep down, I knew that it wasn't your fault, you didn't have a choice. But that wasn't how I was seeing it at the time, I thought it was all your fault, that you wanted to shoot him. When really, you had no more control over the situation than we did. Anyway, that was the only option. It's what any normal person would do. Just because youre Divergent doesn't mean you're not a human being."
"But I could've shot him in the hand, or the shoulder. Then you would've been happy!" I'm almost pleading now.
"I'm happy enough just knowing that you, my best friend, is safe and alive."
Tobias was in my room, in the chair, nearly every hour of every day for the days after my awakening. It's comforting to wake and see him as my first site every morning. I'm beginning to get used to it. Several doctors have come into my room at meal times, to take blood tests, and to see how I'm doing - although no one's been in the room longer than Tobias - except for me.
Today, according to the hospital staff, is the day I finally get to leave this confined white box, and can live else where. Where ever it is the Dauntless have been living. Even though I won't be able to stand on my own two feet for the coming month, I can be wheeled around in a wheel chair, and do gentle exercises.
After a nurse has assisted me comfortably into the wheelchair, and I'd thanked all of the staff for all their wonderful help in my best Abnegation voice, Tobias was wheeling me into the waiting room to where Christina, Zeke, Shauna, Uriah, (who woke from his coma shortly after I did!), and Caleb, are waiting for us.
Shortly before we turn the corner, Tobias stopped and leaned down to whisper into my ear. "So, is this a special enough occasion for me to call you Beatrice?"
"You know, I think this might just be the perfect time." I grin a tilt my head to the left, so our mouths are perfectly aligned, and I kiss him softly.
Public displays of affection must be pretty common everywhere except for Abnegation, because a doctor walks past a whistles at us. This interupts us, and Tobias straightens out his back and calls out, "And now introducing, Beatrice Prior!" He wheels me around the corner. I see all my friends clapping, and I'm genuinely happy to see them. Caleb is the first to come over to me, and he envelopes me into his long arms. "Beatrice! I should have been the one to take the bag. I should've. Then you wouldn't be in this situation." Caleb is clearly feeling worse about this than he should. No one died by me doing what I did.
"Caleb, if you had of gone, you would've died. I'd prefer to be unable to walk than have a dead brother." I smile warmly at him, but he just nods and returns to the group.
After I had said the traditional hellos to everyone, we go back to a room which Tobias, Zeke, Uriah, Shauna and Christina have been sharing. It has four double beds, so I'm happy to know they've at least been comfortable.
I haven't seen Uriah since before he's coma, and I'd forgotten how funny he was, how much I missed him. "Lucky you've got Four to push you around - otherwise you'd just go around in circles!" I roll my eyes and laugh. I hadn't actually thought about that. Yes, I've definitely missed how funny he was.
"Oh. My. God, Tris! Have you seen your boyfriend's abs lately? Like, sigh a gut like that why does he ever even wear a shirt?!" Christina is pretty much in awe.
"I believe it has omething to do with preventing people from staring. Example: you!" I say with a laugh.
"Well he shouldn't! I mean, I think I actually said 'wow' when I first saw! I try not to look now, I feel like I'm betraying my best friend, where as really, I'm only attracted to his stomach. That's it."
Towards the later end of the night, a man wearing suit, a bit like the Candor's, entered the room, and waited for quiet. "Now. A week has passed since the war has ended, and I'm sure that you want to be living here as much as we do." A lot of us nod our heads in agreement. We're dauntless, we don't like to be watched like puppies at a kennel. "So, we think that tomorrow, you can go back to visit Chicago, work out where you want to live, and renovations and reconstructions will start from there. Okay?" We nod in agreement, and it's quite clear that none of us want to be living here for much longer. We're dauntless, not toddlers on the run. The man leaves the room, and we speak in loud excited voices.
"Tris! We should live next door! It would be so much fun!" Is the first thing Christina says to me. I like the idea of Christina and I being neighbours. And it would probably be apartments that we live in, so I could walk like 2 feet to get to her place. I agree with her, and we talk about how amazing it would be to be neighbours.
I look to my right to see Tobias, his face blank and is clearly day dreaming in another world. When he catches my stare, he looks down, smiles, and strokes the top of my head. He gets down on one knee, and the room goes so silent you could hear a mouse's footsteps. He encloses both my hands in his, and looks directly into my eyes. "Beatrice Prior. You are the most amazing, smartest, bravest, and wonderful person I have ever met." Uriah coughs, and tries to imply that he, in fact, is the most amazing smart, brave and wonderful person ever. I throw a laugh and Christina gives him a large elbow into the ribs. But as he's speaking my heart starts to race. Am I ready for this? I'm too young. I can't marry at the age of 16. But I don't want to not marry him, I just think this is all too soon. But still, I can feel tears in my eyes, and I'm smiling so much the corners of my mouth are standing upright. "Tris, will you -"
oooh! Cliff hanger! Tell me what you think of this story so far! Thanks for reading!
DISCLAIMER: I am not The Amazing: Veronica Roth. Sadly. Therefore I do not own any of the characters, places, or story!