"Oh, my God! Guys, she's finally moving, I think she's waking up!" Someone calls out as Tris starts to get up from her blackout.
Tris felt so tired and weak, it was disgusting to her- to be so vulnerable.
Her body was absolutely aching.
She was afraid to move her body, but she needed to, in order to figure out where she was.
Tris moves a hand to shield the front of her face and slowly forces her heavy eyelids to open.
When her vision comes into focus, she sees a crowd of people around her.
Some with hands over their mouths, some smiling, some breathing out a sigh of relief.
She closes her eyes again.
Then she opens them.
They were still there.
Too many people I don't know, too many people I-
"Tris! Are you awake? Please show you won't fall asleep again." A familiar voice pleads.
Tris tries to look over at him but can't turn her head without shifting her whole body, so she shakes her head.
"Uriah, I'm awake, I just feel like my eyelids are heavy, calm down." She croaks quietly.
There's a dip in the bed as someone suddenly comes really close to her, and a second later a cheek is laying on her own and her body is filled with a friendly warmth.
"Uriah, I'm fine, sheesh, I'm fine. You can let me go now." She whispers as he hugs her gently, trying not to hurt her.
Finally, he lets go and smiles at her, "I'm sorry, I'm just happy you're alive."
Tris sends him a quick smile, then tries to scoot up so she can lean against the headboard of the bed, but one shift and she gasps loudly in pain.
"Agh, shit, shit, shit." She winces.
Marlene moves forward to help her but Tris just shakes her head, "No, no, it's okay, whatever."
There was a lump in her throat, and Tris tries to swallow it back.
Now she was getting frustrated, she couldn't move, she couldn't speak properly because of her voice, she felt like crying but she obviously couldn't-
- All because of the games.
Come to think of it, what happened? Tris wonders.
"I'm gonna ask you guys a really important question, and you all have to answer honestly." Tris tells them, because she can't hold it in.
Everyone nods immediately. Damn, if I asked them to jump over a bridge to help me, they probably would. Tris thinks guiltily.
But then it occurs to her, they're scared for her.
"Did I press the button?" She asks quietly.
There's a moment of painful silence.
They are shocked that she would still even care about it.
A female voice pipes up, "Um. Yeah. Yeah, you pushed the button."
She has short chocolate brown hair, and everyone nods in agreement to her answer.
"But?" Tris asks, scared to know.
"What do you mean, but?"
"I know how to read faces, can you just tell me?" Tris utters throatily with a deathly narrow of her eyes.
"But... It was a tie."
It takes a few seconds for Tris to process that information.
She couldn't believe it, after all she'd done, it didn't even pay off.
But then, it's like she has a sudden flashback and she's back in the game in third person.
-Tris slumps to her knees, but she forces the last of her energy into her left arm, just to slam that button.
In the last second possible, at the same time her hand presses into the cool surface of the red beauty, there's an extra force as the button presses itself down, and makes a loud siren.
Oh my God, an extra force when I slammed the button. It wasn't just a thought, it was Peter's hand pressing the button from the top of my hand. Tris figures out in complete shock.
"But.. How did he press the button when a few seconds ago, I'd kicked his bullet wound?" She thinks aloud.
"It doesn't matter, what matters now is that you're alive, it was a tie, and that this was only the beginning." A mature female voice answers.
Who said that? Tris wonders.
She tries to study the room she's in, but only one thing sticks out to her. A lady with fairly long black hair is in the background.
"Who are you?" Tris asks tiredly while rubbing at her eyes.
"I'm Tori."
"Yeah, she's like, our provider or something. She'll patch us up, give us food, basically anything." Uriah answers.
Tris gives a quick, small smile at Uriah for explaining, then looks back at Tori who is speaking.
"I suppose in a way, I'm your 'provider'. However, I'm only in Group B. Not A." Tori explains.
Tris nods, covers her face with the back of her hand again, and closes her eyes.
"Maybe we should all-"
"No, no, stay." Tris interjects.
Zeke shakes his head. "Look, Tris, you've been through everything worse than shit, maybe you should rest a bit to heal?"
Tris sighs. "Fine, But at least before you leave, can you all introduce yourselves? I only know some of you, but I should probably know my whole team."
Yes, she was tired, and yes, she wanted everyone to leave, but she was trying to be friendly.
However, her tiredness got the best of her. By the time everyone left, she knew Uriah, Marlene, Zeke, Shauna, Lynn, Christina, Will, and Al. Except she forgot what their hobbies were or anything else.
Tris closes her eyes again and grits her teeth as she tries to again, shift her position.
Stifle your cry, hold in the pain, hold in the pain, don't you dare make a tear fall. Tris tells herself.
"You know," Tori tells her quietly from the back of the room where she's organizing something. "It's okay to be vulnerable."
Tris looks over at her. "What do you mean?"
Tori sighs and brings over some type of needle. "You're a horrible liar. I know you're in pain, so there's no reason to suppress it."
Tris rolls her eyes. "I'm not suppressing anything. Whatever. It hurts- but whatever. What are you doing?"
Tori shrugs. "I'm going to give you an amazing pain reliever, and healer. But this is only for physical pain."
"Physical pain?"
"Yes, physical. Not emotional, spiritual, environmental, mental-"
"I don't see where you're going with this." Tris interrupts.
Tori shrugs. "Well, just saying that I know you're hurt emotionally and mentally inside."
Tris tries to sit up but falls back down with a curse. She waits a second for her hip to stop throbbing, then looks back over at Tori.
"What the hell do you mean by that?" She asks coldly.
"It's not hard to figure it out. Just now, you suppressed your pain from me, even though we're alone. So if you can suppress that, you can suppress your feelings as well. Which means you are closed off and a lot of bad things have probably happened to you in your life."
Tris bites the inside of her cheek. "That doesn't mean anything."
"Yes, it does." Tori tells her while cleaning the needle. "It means you're carrying a weight on your shoulders that you shouldn't be, you don't deserve it, don't think it's ever supposed to be that way because it's not."
Tris eyes the needle that Tori brings closer to her. "Where are you gonna-"
Tris gasps as Tori injects the serum into her neck.
There's a quick pain, but then a few seconds later, Tris is relaxing as a nice coolness spreads throughout her body.
"Wouldn't it feel nice to be crying right now? Just let it all out?" Tori interrupts her calm moment.
Tris opens her eyes that were forced closed and looks up at Tori. "What?"
"So what happened? Were you abandoned, you lost someone, you don't make friends really well, you're insecure or-"
"I'm not insecure. It's... It's nothing." Tris interjects.
But now that she was hearing Tori list it all out, she realized that half of what she was saying was true.
Tori shrugs and walks to the back of the room to throw away the empty needle. "You know, when was the last time you just let it all out? When you were a little kid and you cried about how you were hurt to mom and dad or something? When did you decide to hide-"
"I find it more tough being vulnerable, than being just tough." Tris tells Tori while swallowing back the sudden lump in her throat. "And I don't have a mom. Or a dad. And I haven't seen my brother for a year or so."
Tori frowns a bit, then goes back to organizing her medical supplies. "So it's been a while since you shed tears or showed any vulnerability, why?"
Tris doesn't answer. She couldn't. It was becoming harder for her to breathe.
"Know that when you keep your feelings to yourself, it won't be long till you burst. What do you think your mother would think of you if she were to come back and find out that her own daughter couldn't even grieve? Don't you think she'd blame it all on herself because ever since she passed away, you-"
Over the span of time Tori was talking, Tris had felt her eyes become damp, her throat become incredibly thick, and the lump that she had tried so hard to swallow back would not go down.
But now, reminded of her parents death in such detail, she has one hand slapped over her mouth while the other was held out in a 'stop' gesture.
As Tris shakily breathes, and tries to calm herself, Tori walks over and places a key into her hand.
It's when Tori brings Tris in a motherly embrace and tells her that 'everything will be alright', that Tris can take it no more.
She rips away from Tori and points toward the door. "Please. Just stop, and please go."
Tori falters, but pulls away from Tris and walks out.
The moment the door closes, Tris bends over and bursts into countless sobs of grief.
She mourns about her mother and father, she mourns about Caleb not being with her, and then, she just cries about how she's a target to life, and it's like her life will always get worse no matter what she does.
However, Tori was actually right about one thing.
It was like a burden lifted from your shoulders.
Tris now felt light. She felt as light as a feather, and she realized, this is how everyone should always feel. But she was trapped in so many feelings, that she was as heavy as a cotton ball drenched in water.
And it's this thought that brings Tris to a slow whimper.
Tris wipes her eyes and looks at the key Tori gave her, connected to it is a note.
This is your room key.
And Tris, What you're doing now is not wrong, it is right.
What makes you vulnerable, makes you beautiful. Know that people always cry. And with you, it's because you've been strong for too long. Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing we, and you, will ever do.
Never be afraid to fall apart because it is an opportunity to rebuild yourself the way you wish you had been all along. So put your armor down.
-Tori
Tris slowly reads the note and takes a deep breath, then holds the key close to her heart. "Thank you." She whispers.
Tris wanders through the halls until she sees a door marked, #4 and #6.
She slowly slips the key into the doorknob and turns it until the door opens.
Yep, right one. She thinks.
As she enters the room, she locks the door again and walks over to the fridge.
As she opens it, she is surprised to see that it's filled with food and drinks.
Tris grabs a chilled water bottle and walks over to her bed.
Whatever Tori gave is making her feel so much better.
As Tris flops onto her bed, she attempts to open the water bottle but it won't budge.
She tries again. And again. Her hands are now red and stinging.
What the hell, this is so embarrassing. Tris thinks.
She studies the bottle and notices that it had been in the fridge for quite a while, so the cap froze a bit.
But she needed the water because she didn't have any in her, she was dehydrated. However, she didn't want to drink the bathroom water.
Frustrated, Tris looks around the room-
-And that's when she realizes the figure next to her.
She forgot about Four, and he was sleeping in the bed next to hers.
Tris gets up and walks to the other side of the room until she's facing him.
His hair is tousled, and he looks so tired and stressed.
Maybe that's why he wasn't with everyone else earlier?
Tris can't decide whether to wake him up and disturb him, or let herself dehydrate to the point where she'll faint.
Uh. Yeah.
"Four. Four, can you wake up?" She whispers as she shakes his shoulder.
Four stirs a bit, then goes back into his sleeping position.
"Four." She says again while shaking him a bit harder.
Again, he stirs, then evenly breathes again.
Her gaze falls to the trash can next to his bed, and in it, is an empty needle.
Did they give him a sleeping thing or what? She wonders.
Tris walks over and into the bathroom, then walks out with cold water in her cupped hands. As soon as she's in front of Four, she whispers a sorry and throws it at his face.
Four shoots out of bed with a cough. "What the fu-" He stops as he spots Tris slowly inching away from him.
When she's sure Four won't eat her head, she hands him the water bottle she tried so hard to open.
He doesn't take the bottle, he's just watching her with disbelief.
"What?"
"Y-You're walking?" He answers.
Tris sighs and shrugs. "Yeah, I'm fine. Wonderful. Honestly, couldn't be better. What's up with you, sleepyhead? I didn't see you when I woke up earlier, but everyone else was there."
Four doesn't answer.
"Why did you throw water at my face?"
Tris rolls her eyes. "Um. You wouldn't get up."
"Well, I'm up, Princess, what do you need?" He asks with a sleepy smirk.
Tris smiles, then shifts her weight from one foot to the other as she remembers the reason.
She feels herself blush and she places the back of her hands on her cheeks to make it go away. "Uhhhhh."
Four grabs the sheets. "Don't do that."
"Do what?"
"That thing you're doing. It looks too cute, you make me wanna grab you." He answers.
"And who said that's a bad thing?" Tris asks in a soft, low voice.
Four looks at her with wide eyes. "Are you serious now or-
Tris slowly sticks her tongue at him. "Haha. Got you! I'm kidding. Back to the point, here." she says while tossing the water bottle at him.
"What?"
Tris rubs the back of her neck. "Uh. This is kinda embarrassing but... I can't open it."
Four stares at her for a second, then hides his smile behind the back of his hand. "Um. What? I don't think I heard you properly."
"Shut up! You heard me loud and clear, now open it." She answers.
Four stifles his laugh and coughs to pretend he's not, then with ease, opens the bottle.
Tris quickly walks over and grabs it, then hops on his bed and drinks the bottle using two hands because her right arm is sort of weak.
The water is cool as it slips down her throat and she feels it go all the way to her belly.
When she's drank about 3/4 of the bottle, she closes it with the cap and looks over to see Four staring at her.
"What now? Don't tell me that was cute, there's nothing cute about drinking a bottle you idiot."
Four chuckles, then shakes his head. "No, not that. But now that you mentioned it-"
"What were you thinking about?" Tris asks.
"Well. You. And how I'm just grateful you're alive." He answers with a slow hum.
Tris pauses for a second, then wraps her arms around him. "I know everyone is shaken up about what happened, at the time, so was I, but know that now I'm fine and everyone else should be as well because it's not long until someone else will be picked, okay?" Tris says quietly.
Then she pulls away and hops off the bed with her bottle.
Four sits still for a few seconds, then looks over at her again. "Wow."
"Yeah," Tris answers while grabbing a change of clothes from the drawer and walking over to the bathroom, "It'll be a while before you experience that again."
Four chuckles and watches as she enters the bathroom. Seconds later, she comes running out and over to the screen.
"I forgot to check. Shit, back to reality." She whispers.
Time Until Next Mini-Game: 49:07:14
Four frowns, then reaches on the stand beside him and tosses Tris a bar of soap. "Just don't worry about it, Princess, there's a while before we need to go."
Tris looks over at him, then takes a deep breath and looks at the soap in her hands. "Yeah. Right."
Tris moves to enter the bathroom, then stops and turns around, "Oh, and Four?"
"Yep?"
She smiles and shrugs. "I mean, I think it's pretty cute that you're letting me use your soap. You know, the one that you used. On yourself. That's pretty nice."
His face is of pure self-control as he puts his head in his hands.
Ah, I'm such a tease. Tris laughs to herself as she enters the bathroom.
A/N- So there you go!
Thnx for all ur reviews! All of them are really nice and AMAZING! Like, seriously, I'm not kidding.
SO drop a review, follow, fave, anything you want!
And I'm sorry I didn't update for a bit, It took a while to get the chapter right and it was getting real busy in my house.
And if you read Mission Complicated, I'm on a slight writers block but I'll try to think of something and get the next chapter out!
Anyway, YEAH! July 4 is coming real soon! And yeah... I don't know what else to say so..
Bye!