"Dauntless!" Marcus Eaton called out as my brother's blood sizzled on the hot coals of the Dauntless bowl.
My parents and I sat there in shock. Caleb, one of the most selfless people I know, transferred to Dauntless of all factions. He called them Hellions, he called them reckless, he called them selfish. He joined them, leaving me no choice but to stay in Abnegation.
"Beatrice Prior!" This was the third time my name was called, and I finally started walking to the five bowls. They represented the factions. Grey stones for Abnegation, my faction, the Selfless. There was a bowl of water for Erudite, the faction of knowledge, dirt for Amity, the faction of peace, and glass for Candor, the faction of honesty. Then there were hot coals for Dauntless, the Brave. The walk up seemed to last forever, my mind was racing. You have to stay. For mother and father. I told myself. They can't lose both of their children. I approached the bowls, and Marcus handed me the knife. As Abnegation was hosting the Choosing Ceremony this year, a government official was to lead the ceremony. I made a cut in my hand, just enough to make myself bleed, and held it over the stones. Wait. I thought. I'm not made to be Abnegation. I'm not selfless, I speak out of turn often. I'm not Abnegation. Just as the blood was about to drip off of my hand, I swiveled my arm over a different bowl.
"Dauntless!" I can feel my parents' disappointed gazes as I walk over to the cluster of people in black who were yelling and whooping.
"Beatrice? I didn't know you got Dauntless on your aptitude test." Caleb whispered to me.
"I could say the same to you." I looked at him, and he avoided my eyes guiltily. I sighed and faced the front as the ceremony inched by.
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As the Choosing Ceremony finally drew to a close, the Dauntless initiates stood up, yelling and running outside. Caleb and I looked at each other before running after them as fast as we can. We stop as we see them climbing up the poles to the train tracks. I hitched up my long grey robe and started climbing, falling a few times. I made it to the platform, and found Caleb already standing there smirking.
"Show off." I muttered to him, making him let out a laugh.
The shrill shrieking of the train's steam stopped him from saying whatever his reply was.
"Why isn't it slowing down?" Caleb asked worriedly as the train neared. A Dauntless-born initiate laughed.
"Why would it? Come on, stupid, we jump on." He sneered to Caleb. Caleb's eyes widened and he looked between the train and I. I nodded him encouragingly and got a running start.
Please let us be able to jump on. I thought as I ran at the train. I jumped and landed with my feet on the railing. I gripped the handle as one of my feet slipped. I was almost hanging there, but I used my weight to swing myself into the train car. I didn't get to see where Caleb had gone, and he wasn't in this car. I sat in one of the corners, near the girl Candor transfer, and hoped that he was in one of the other cars.
"You made it." The girl said. I nodded. "I'm Christina."
"Beatrice."
"What do you think will happen when we get there?" Christina whispered to me. I shrugged, wrapping my arms around my legs as I brought them to my chest. I sat there and looked around at all of the initiates. Two large boys from Candor were sitting there looking around as I was. One looked as though he was thinking of ways to beat all of the other initiates, while the other looked a little shy. There was a couple Erudite transfers, two boys. But I couldn't find Caleb anywhere.
"There's the compound!" A Dauntless-born yelled, the same that called my brother stupid. He then backed up and ran out of the train and on top of the corner of a building. Christina looked at me with wide eyes. She stood up quickly and offered me a hand to help me up, then held on.
"We can jump together." She said, smiling shakily at me. I nodded and we backed up to the very back of the car. The other initiates have already jumped. We ran as fast as we could, then jumped. We flew for a couple seconds before landing on the roof with a jolt through my ankles. A couple of initiates were gathered around the edge and were holding hands to their mouths. I looked around for Caleb but couldn't find him through the people, making me worry about what they were staring at over the edge.
"Someone fell." Christina stated. I nodded and walked over, afraid of what I'd see. i squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them to look over.
What I saw sickened me.
It wasn't Caleb, as I had feared. But it was an Amity transfer. Her skull was smashed and her blood and bits of skin were scattered on the pavement. I looked away before I vomited. I backed away from the edge, and bumped into someone. I turned around and quickly apologized, then stopped when I saw who it was.
"Caleb! I was afraid you didn't make it on the train, or-or that you didn't jump off to the roof, or something!" I exclaimed, hugging him.
"Listen up, initiates!" A voice boomed. We separated and faced the man who spoke. He was standing on the edge of the building, his head was shaved on the sides, leaving a daring hairstyle. He had many tattoos, a couple on his neck and one on his arm. He had several piercings as well, two studs on his eyebrow standing out the most.
"I'm Eric. I'm one of your leaders. If you want to enter Dauntless, this is the way in. And if you don't want to jump, then you don't belong in Dauntless." He said simply. We looked over the edge, there was a huge hole in the pavement.
"Is there water at the bottom or something?" One of the Erudite transfers asked.
"I guess you'll find out. Or not." Eric replied.
"We just jumped, they want us to jump again?" Christina whispered to me.
"Well, someone's gotta go first, who's it gonna be?" He was getting impatient. There was silence. No one wanted to go first.
"Me." I said, shocking my brother as well as Christina.
Eric's eyes darted to me and he smirked. I stepped up and looked at the hole before taking off my jacket and tossing it aside.
"Today, initiate." He said. I took a deep breath and stepped off the edge.
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Hey! This is my first Divergent fanfiction, and I plan to write regularly. I'll probably post several chapters today, and I'll be switching Point of View at least once. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please review!
Also, I couldn't remember what initiate didn't make it to the building, so I wrote her as an Amity transfer.
Xoxo,
E.R.M