Today is the day I face all my fears. I can barely handle facing them once a day, but I'll deal with it. Of course I need to do the usual, pass out food and the meetings. This time, however, my fear landscape keeps on popping up in my mind. I also wonder if I should let Tris see my fear landscape. I decide against it; I don't want her to see him hitting me.
I jump off the train and find Tris waiting for me. Unlike her usual smiles, I see a worried look. I need to face my fear. Besides the ones I faced in stage two, I already know one other fear. This time, Tris says, "Everyone knows they're in a simulation when they face their fear landscape, but you must use the skills you learned in the previous stages to break out of each fear." Tris can't know about Marcus beating me, so I ask her, "Can this one be private, too?"
Tris quickly agrees. She must know the feeling then. Before I close my eyes, I hear Tris saying, "Be brave, Tobias."
I wake up on top of the building. I've faced this fear before, so I know I just have to jump off. I take in a deep breath, then run towards the end of the roof and jump off. I shut my eyes while falling, so I can't see anything. But I can feel the falling sensation, with my yell bubbling up in the bottom of my stomach.
I'm on the floor. I look around and try to calm myself down. Then, something slams into my back. A wall slams in front of me. The ceiling pounds in on top of the box. I open my eyes and find myself confined in the small box. Memories of Marcus shoving me into the small closet flashes in front of my eyes. I reassure myself that it's not real, and I suck in a deep breathe through my nose and begin making myself smaller. The box gets smaller, and I stop for a moment and breathe. I begin to think of happier times to slow down my heart, but Marcus continues clouding into my mind. There aren't any good memories in Abnegation. Then, I start thinking of my times in Dauntless, of Tris. Tris holding my hand, us climbing the Ferris Wheel, and the feeling I get whenever she's with me. Eventually I'm able to calm down, and the box breaks apart.
I walk out, knowing what my next fear is. A gun is pointed on my head. A woman I don't know is holding it. There's a gun for me on a table next to me. "This is a simulation, this is a simulation," I tell myself. I gulp and pick up the gun. This. Woman. Is. Not. Real. I aim and pull the trigger. The woman falls with blood falling out of her wound. I drop on my knees and try to contain my tears. I'm sorry. This is not real, remember that. After a while, I wipe my eyes and walk away.
I walk towards my house. It's time. Marcus walks out into the light with a belt in his hand, as if this is all real. Marcus looks at me and starts running, with that belt. I crouch down by instinct and feel the stinging feeling on my wrist. It burns. Memories of my mom crying from the belt comes up. Then me. Marcus hurt my mother so much, she faked her death and left. My dad hits me, and my mom left me with the monster. He continues hitting me, telling me, "You did it wrong!" No more.
I pick myself up and tell him, "No more." I see I surprised him, but he became angry again. As the belt goes against my arm, I hold on to it and take it out. He falls. I then hit him with his own weapon.
I wake up with sweat on my face and tears in my eyes. I immediately look at my wrist shaking, even without the stinging feeling anymore. That was too real. Then I notice Tris waiting in front of me. I hug her.
Tris says, "Hey, you got through it," while hugging me back.
I ask her, "Can I come back?"
She widens her eyes and says, "You want to go back through that, again?"
"I need to practice," I tell her. She looks at me as if I'm crazy, maybe I am, but she agrees.
2 Months Later
I do the same thing over and over again in Abnegation, but I'm going to Dauntless more now. I work out in the training room every day. I notice that I actually grew muscles, but I can hide it under my baggy Abnegation clothes. I go to my fear landscape every week, trying to control my fears.
Today is the day I need to go through the computer. I check everything, dealing with Abnegation, and then research about Dauntless' technology, learning more about fear landscapes. I find more information about the machine required to use it. There, I learn I can experience my fears, along with another person. I've been finding information on how to show a lot of people my fears, but I finally learned how to share with only one other person.
I want and need to show all my fears to Tris. She may look at me differently, but I want her to actually know me.
Seriously, please review! Tell me what you think!
