A\N: I'm really sorry that I have not updated for a while. But finally, here is chapter 5. I warn you there is some talk about rape (it is not that much at all. Only one or two sentences). But just in case some of you don't like to read it, I advise you to skip the bit of slanted writing in the first couple of chapters (the nightmare, not the flashback). I also decided to change the POV's for a change up to give you an idea on what path this story is heading in. Enjoy!
Destiny's POV
I'm running as fast as I can while panting heavily. My eyes are darting everywhere to find a place that might be safe for me to stop and take a breath. I hear a yell from the fringe leader behind me.
"Hey! Where do you think you're going you bi*ch?" I don't stop. I just keep running.
I know what would happen if I stop. They would rape me like there would be no tomorrow like they have done countless times before. I turn around the bend and see some faces I thought I would never see again.
"Why are you running?" My mother states. I gulp and don't answer.
"Well? You know you should answer your mother back. That is not nice if you don't." My father says with a stern snap.
"B-but, your dead." I stutter. I saw both of them die right before my eyes. Both of them laugh.
"Oh, we know that!" It suddenly changes into the stern voice from before.
"That's because I'm not them." Their bodies disappear and dissolve into one. In the shape of the leaders body. I gasp and start to turn around but he grasps my left forearm and pushes me against him and starts to tear away my clothes.
"You are going to pay for everything." He is so close I can smell his fowl breath. I feel like I'm going to faint or puke. Suddenly, something pricks into my right thigh and I scream. Then his fist makes a sharp contact with my right temple and the landscape washes away.
I scream and shoot up from my bed and I feel wet tears running down my cheeks from my glassy eyes. I can just make out the figure of my friends rushing towards me with wide eyes. Mackenzie just kneels down beside my bed.
"Was it about the fringe?" She says in a concerned tone.
"And also," I take a break, "our parents." She looks up at me and gives me a small smile while she grabs my hand and squeezes it tightly.
She knows how much I hate for anyone's sympathy. I want to be treated like I'm strong. Not a weak, little, underestimated girl. William just sighs.
"Get ready. We need to get some breakfast and go to the training room. Remember?" I just nod, and then he walks away.
He isn't as close to us as I, my sister, Jamie, Pheonix, and Samantha are. It's because of something he did to me a long time ago. I have forgiven him surprisingly. But just after what he did, our friendship with I, and the group isn't going to be the same ever again. Flashback.
The palm is sweaty and soft. I clench my teeth and breathe through my nose. The soap smell is familiar. The same smell… I hear the crash of water against rocks… surrounds… "I won't hurt you. I never wanted to…" The scent once pleasant turns sour in my nose. "Lift her up, c'mon." his bunk. End of flashback.
I throw my legs onto one side of the bed, get up, and walk to the bathroom to clean myself up. I look at myself in the mirror and then the word 'selfish' echoes through my ears. I just close my eyes tightly and shake my head a bit and look at myself again.
I have tear stained cheeks and my pale blue eyes look puffy. Great. I look horrible. I just turn the cold tap on and splash my face with the cold water. When I look up again, I see that it has improved my cheeks and eyes. So, I just put on a thin layer of mascara and eye liner then walk back into the dorm.
I walk over to the clothing trunk that is set at the end of my bed and open it. Suddenly, Pheonix comes over to me.
"If you were to choose your own clothes, you would be late and look horrible." She states flatly. I snort. She sighs and stars to rummage through my trunk and then she spots something, and passes it to me.
I give her a confused look. She just pushes me to the bathroom and signals me to get changed. Wonder what this time she has told me to wear.
Page Break
I walk out of the bathroom with a black, short cut top and black short's with black combat shoes. Oh Pheonix. Have to always be perfect about style. I take my hair out of its long braid, and tie it up into a high ponytail. After that, I head towards the training room.
I am the last one to arrive into the training room and go join Jessica. I glance over at Jessica. She gives me a little smile and turns her attention over to the others. I notice that only Amar, Zeke, Four, Shauna, and Uriah are here. I mumble,
"Really into this aren't you." I hear her snort.
"I'm sorry you ass. I never knew you paid attention to me."
"Where best friends Jess. Of course I do." A sly smile grows across her face.
"I can't believe you're actually Abnegation Jess." I state truthfully.
"Sometimes I can't either." She pauses then mumbles; "ass." I nudge her and she nudges back. I smirk and turn my attention to the Chicago people. Four speaks up.
"Because supposably you are going to train us, we need to see how strong, and stealthy you are. So, we are going to prepare a hurdles round. And we will also pare up people together from your group, and ours to compete against each other." Yes. I love doing hurdles, and I'm pretty good at fighting.
This is going to be fun!
Page Break
"What you have to do is run as fast as you can while jumping over your jumps. So, line up!" Zeke states.
I start to walk forwards and I feel eyes on me. I don't like it. I don't at all.
As I look at the jumps, I see they are all made out of piles of punching bags. All of the jumps seem pretty easy. Except for the last one. The last jump goes right up to where my rib cage starts. They just had to make it half my size. Fantastic.
"Some of you will have an advantage because you're tall." Amar's eyes fall on me.
"And then again, some of you aren't the average height. So, work harder." Amar states with coldness. And also, he makes like trying harder is easy. It is anything but easy.
Jessica and Pheonix walk up to me.
"They don't know how skilled and fast you are Dest. You will be fine." Pheonix says, then continues,
"I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't come first." I smile at her.
"Thanks." They both just walk over towards the benches and sit down on them.
I notice that Four goes over and picks up a gun. I guess it is for the starting signal.
I walk up to the starting line with Mackenzie on my right side, and Samantha on my left. They just both look at me. I start to feel uncomfortable from all of the attention. Then Samantha speaks up.
"You better go easy on us. We know how fast you are." She remarks. Mackenzie just nods her head.
"Yeah sis, you're like a cheater!" I just laugh.
"Well, I will try my best. And, come on! I am not that fu*king fast!" I retort.
"Well keep believing what you want to okay? You are just denying it because you don't want any attention. But you know you are really fast. At one point, you were the slowest out of all of us." Samantha snaps.
"Bu-" I get cut off by Mackenzie.
"No but's!" I groan.
"Alright, get ready!" Four states.
Thank you Four! You practically saved my life! I start to slow my breath down.
"3…" I shake out my legs.
"2…" I position myself comfortably.
"1…" I take a deep breath. The gun goes off.
I just look straight ahead and sprint towards the first jump. I run on my toes so I get that extra burst of agility and it also saves up my energy. As I approach the first jump, I brace myself, and then I split into the air like a split leap and land soundless back onto the concrete floor and keep full sprint.
I do every single jump without breaking a sweat. They are pretty easy. As I keep continuing forward, I can hear a lot of loud breaths and the sound of rough leather hitting the cold concrete floor.
As I approach the last jump, I calculate how I'm going to get over the jump because it is just above my weighst. As I am about to slam into the punching bag, I just full on leap into the air. My legs go into a split leap but my legs go into a further split. I brace myself for the impact of the landing. My feet slam into the ground soundless still.
I sprint to the finish line with my legs burning up. I don't care. The more fire that is in my legs, the more I want to run. I cross the finishing line and slow down until I start to walk. I calmly walk over to the bench where Pheonix and Jessica are sitting. Jessica just comes towards me and gives me a high five. Pheonix just pats me on the back. I came first.
"Told you would win." Pheonix remarks.
"Yeah, Yeah." I answer back.
Eventually, I see the others cross the finishing line. They are puffing and grunting and they slowly make their way over to us. When they arrive, they just stand in front of me and look at me like I have grown two heads.
"What the fu*k is up this time?" I remark.
"How the heck do you do that Destiny?" Jamie states. I give him a confused look.
"Do what?"
"Don't play that sh*t with us Dest. You practically beat us all and even with your size! You're not even breaking a sweat! So, now how do you do that?" William states. I just glare at him.
"Well, I just love to run, and the more my legs burn, the more I want to run." I state truthfully. They all eye me.
Suddenly I hear Zeke state to Four, Uriah, Shauna, and Amar say something like,
'That is the fastest time ever recorded in Dauntless history! How does this add up? She is a newbie, and she is practically good at everything! It's like she came to our initiation!'
I feel a rush of fear travel up my spine, but then I swallow it down.
"Maybe it is because I belong here as*hole!" I snap back at him. He just gives me a glare in return. I give him a sly smile.
Jealous much?
-Tears the page- Did it again!
"Now you will be fighting each other until one of you holds you're opponent down for five seconds. Here are your partners." Uriah says. He unblocks the board and we look at our fights.
William – Jamie
Mackenzie – Samantha
Pheonix – Zeke
Destiny – Jessica
We all trade looks until I speak up.
"Wait, why are you going to fight Pheonix?" I snap. It is a big mistake to try and fight with her. She is fast and more experienced than him.
"Well, since there is not enough of you, one of us each time will be taking a place. Well, that is if we win. There will be several rounds of fights for each of the winners. Then we will see how strong you are." Shauna speaks up. We all nod.
"First up, William and Jamie!" Uriah calls out.
The fights go as one sided as they could be. William beats up Jamie by being more bulky than him. Samantha beats Mackenzie up by punching her in the jaw. And Pheonix wins by being more agile, and having more experience than Zeke. Now it is me and Jessica's turn.
"Go on you to. Get up into the ring." Amar says. Jessica walks over to me.
"Please go easy. You know I don't have that much experience compared to you." I nod my head.
"Course Jess." I enter the ring with Jessica. I raise my arms and guard my face while I clench my hands into fists. Jessica does the same. Before we start I mumble quietly so only she can hear it,
"Attack first to the throat." She just nods.
"Now go." Uriah says.
Page Break
It ended up pretty evenly. I went easy on Jess, but it was just getting to long, so I just pinned her down and helped her up. Also every single round ended and I won all of them. Everyone looks pretty beaten up.
"Well, how the hell did you do it?" Four speaks up.
"The fringe is a nasty place with nasty things and people among them. You need to learn how to protect yourself." I state truthfully. He eyes me and suddenly shivers run down my spine. Zeke then stands up.
"Follow us. We need to take you to one more place."
We all follow him and he leads us down a passage of dark hallways. Finally he, stopped in front of a door, opened it, and let us in.
There are two rows of benches along the walks and then there is a door that leads into some kind of room.
"This is an area where we would like to give you a test that is called the Aptitude Test. It is a test where it shows where you truly belong. For example, Dauntless, Abnegation, Erudite, Candor, and Amity. We give you a serum that allows you to see things that aren't even there." So, this is like the fringe testing. Great!
"So, who is first?"
30 minutes, and I'm still waiting on being tested. I'm pretty sure I know what I'm going to get. But, it may change, right?
Jessica comes out of the room and when she notices my stare she gives me a warm smile. Uriah comes out.
"Come on Destiny." He beckons me. I stand up and walk into the room. It has one chair in the middle of the room, and a table where there sits a computer with a bunch of wires in it, and a serum.
He gives me a sign to go forward and sit down. I do as what he signalled. I slouch into the chair. He prepares the serum. But then I think; 'What is this even for?' Then it hits me. A simulation.
"What's the simulation?" I ask with my voice shaking a bit. I hear him snort.
"Never thought Destiny Lee was afraid of anything!" He remarks. This annoys me.
"Well as*hole, I don't know if you know this but, everyone is afraid of something!"
"Touché." Before I can say anything else, he puts the serum in my neck. I wince a bit. He pulls it out and begins,
"There has been a slight change. Now you will only go through one landscape." I nod as my eyes flutter shut. The last thing I hear is not Uriah's voice, it is someone else's;
'Be brave.'
I'm in a room that is covered in mirrors.
"Hello?" My voice echoes throughout the room. I hear a voice. I turn around. And there standing there is… a girl…me.
"Choose." Simulation me says.
"Why? What do I have to do?" I say.
"Choose." Okay now I'm confused and annoyed.
"Why? Just tell me!" Then I hear a growl. I gasp and turn around. There, standing before me is a wolf. What the hell? It growls at me and then pounces towards me. I cross my shoulders and step aside. It growls even more. It starts to charge towards me. But then I remember. They can sense fear. And this is not real. I just close my eyes, breathe deeply and hold out my hand. Then I hear a puppy bark.
I open my eyes, and there, standing before me, is a puppy. I pat it a bit and smile.
"Puppy!" I look over at where the sound is coming from. It is an Abnegation little girl coming towards us. Then I suddenly hear growls. The girl backs up and starts to run. I look down, and see the wolf is back and it started to chase after her. I sprinted as fast as I could to the wolf. When I finally reach it, I pounce onto its back, and we both fall through the floor as the landscape washes away.
I shoot up from the chair and breathe heavily. I look towards Uriah. He is frozen looking at me like I am an alien.
"What?" I ask confused. He just grabs my arm and pulls me out of the door.
"You got Dauntless, Abnegation, and Erudite. Only one person has gotten those three. She is now dead. So I warn you, don't tell anyone. Even though we fixed the problem a few years ago, it is back. That is called Divergent." I am staring at him wide eyed.
"Good Luck Destiny." With that, he slams the door in my face.
What the hell was that? I need to tell them. They are the only ones who can be trusted.