CHAPTER THREE
TRIS POV
Once Tobias fell asleep I went up to my room. I am so happy that Tobias is here but I still feel so sad that he got hurt.
"You did the right thing Beatrice," Caleb says as he enters my room.
"But Caleb this has been happening since before his mum died. Why didn't I see it?" I ask.
"Beatrice you did what you could as soon as you found out," he says.
"But I promised him I wouldn't tell anyone," I say.
"You did the right thing. He isn't angry with you. You saved him Beatrice, it would have been selfish not to tell," Caleb tells me.
No matter what Caleb always brings up how we need to be selfless. But how is this selfless, I don't understand it. I just wanted to help my best friend.
"I just wish I could have done something sooner. You saw what Marcus did. How can he go back to his dad? How are we going to help him?" I ask.
"We want him to come and live with us," says mum as her and dad walk into my room. Caleb and I are sitting on my bed. Mum comes in and sits in between us and dad moves my chair over to the bed and sits in front us.
"We need to all be happy with this," Dad says. "We don't want Tobias to have to go back to his dad. But we need you to want this too."
"Where will he sleep?" Caleb asks.
"We are going to see about moving house tomorrow. We want you all to be able to have your own room and it will mean Tobias is further away from Marcus," Dad says.
"So what do you both think? Would you be happy with Tobias living with us?" Mum asks Caleb and me.
"Yes," I say. I can't believe this is happening. I couldn't be happier and we get a new house. This is so exciting.
"I think that is a good idea," says Caleb.
"Now there is just one more thing," Dad says. "We need to keep the reason Tobias is staying just between us."
"Why?" I ask. I don't understand why we are keeping secrets. Marcus should be punished for what he has done.
"Beatrice I know this is hard to understand but it is very important that we keep this to ourselves," Dad says.
"No dad, I don't understand. You saw what he did to Tobias. It isn't right," I say.
"Sweetie I know this is hard to understand but we need to do this for Abnegation. If people find out what Marcus has done to Tobias it could cause problems with our government. So please Beatrice please keep this quiet. It is the best way to keep Tobias safe," Mum says.
I still don't really understand why but I have already asked more questions than I am usually allowed to ask. So for now I know that I just have to be happy that Tobias is safe and he gets to live with us.
"Let's go and have some dinner," Dad says. We all get up and start making our way downstairs for dinner.
We finished dinner and I went to my room to go to sleep. I could hear my mother and father talking in their bedroom. Usually I wouldn't be able to hear them but my mum is raising her voice. I walk over to their door so I can hear better.
"Andrew, Beatrice is right. I hate having to tell her we can't say anything," Mum says.
"I know that Natalie. But what do you want me to do? I know Marcus should be punished but we can't afford this unrest for Abnegation. Jeanine will cause Abnegation so much trouble if we say something," Dad says.
I don't know who this Jeanine is. She isn't in Abnegation so I don't understand how she could be causing trouble for Abnegation. We are in charge of the government so how can she do anything?
"I just feel like we are letting all three of the children down. We want them to act certain ways but we are going against what we preach. It feels wrong," Mum says.
"Natalie I feel the same way. But I don't know what else to do. All I can think about is keeping Tobias safe. I'm afraid if we try to take Marcus on that he will do something bad to Tobias. You didn't see him Nat; I have never been so scared in all my life. I have never seen such anger. Even when I walked in he was still going to hit Tobias, it was only that I grabbed the belt and pushed him away. He didn't care that I saw, he was so focused on beating Tobias he believed that what he was doing was alright," dad says. "We are going to have to be careful around Marcus. I will go and talk to him tomorrow and tell him what will be happening. I am not looking forward to having to talk to him. I just have to hope that he has had time to calm down and that he doesn't try to fight us on this."
I decide to go downstairs to see Tobias and make sure he is okay. I'm really proud of my dad for what he did for Tobias. I still don't understand a lot that is going on but I'm glad that my friend is safe.
I sit on the floor next to the couch. I know Tobias is awake but he is pretending he is asleep. So I decide the best thing to do is to start playing with Tobias's hair. He is laying on his stomach because his back is so bad that he can't lay on it.
"What are you doing Tris?"
"Nothing," I say.
"How did you do it Tobias?"
"How did I do what?"
"How did you deal with what he was doing to you?"
"I would always try to remember that day at the meadow. The last day that mum was alive. I try to remember us running around. I always think of you laughing. I always love to hear your laugh Tris."
"I wish you didn't have to hurt Tobias," I say.
"Thank you Tris," he says. "I'm scared."
"Why? What is scaring you?"
"I'm scared that he will kill me when he sees me," Tobias says.
"No he can't. Dad won't let that happen. You don't ever have to be with him again," I say.
"But your parents are already fighting and I haven't even been here a few hours. I'm going to have to go back to him. They won't be able to stop him and I don't want your parents to fight."
"They weren't fighting about you Tobias. They want you here. We all want you here, even Caleb. So I won't let you go back to him. We will run away before I would let that happen," I say. I would live factionless before I let Tobias get hurt again.
Tobias laughs a little bit. "We can't run away Tris. We can't live factionless."
"Then you will just have to stay," I say.
"Okay Tris I will stay," he says. "Now go to sleep Tris."
I decide to stay here on the couch with Tobias. So I get up and lie down opposite Tobias but we are both sharing his pillow. I am so glad that Tobias is here and it is only a few minutes and we are both sound asleep.