This is my 4/5th main character for the story! In this chapter we will follow Anastazja, a girl who does not fit in in her faction, abnegation. So maybe yes, she is linked to Tris with her backgrounds but her character will take a different route! Please take the time to read it!
There is one mirror in my house. It is behind a sliding panel in the hallway upstairs. Our faction allows me to stand in front of it on the fifth day of every third month. I sneak a look a my reflection when my mother isn't looking - not for the sake of vanity but curiosity. I see a narrow face, wide, round eyes and a long nose. I still look like a little girl though I am sixteen.
My mother's eyes catch me in the mirror. It is too late to look away. Why doesn't she reprimand me for staring at myself? "So today is the day" she says. "Yes" I reply. "Are you nervous?" she asks. Were you? For your destiny I want to say, but I choose not to be cheeky. "No." "Well I was terrified" she smiles.
We walk together to the kitchen. My mother makes breakfast while my father reads the newspaper as his hands skims through the back of my head. I feel so guilty for wanting to leave them. The bus to the aptitude tests stinks of exhaust. Every time it hits a patch of uneven pavement, it jostles me from side to side. The gaps between the buildings begin to narrow and the roads are smoother as we enter the heart of the city. The bus passes under the elevated tracks. Only the dauntless ride on these trains. The bus stops in front of the school and I get up scooting passed an erudite man. I make my way to the cafeteria in silence.
As we pass through the front door my muscles tighten. The atmosphere feels hungry, like every sixteen year old is trying to devour every last second before their test. I sit next to my neighbour Cindra.
I recognize most of the test volunteers as they originate from my own faction. My name is called in the next group along with Cindra and we make our ways to the testing rooms. Cindra grins at me nervously and I walk into room 8, where a dauntless woman awaits me. Mirrors cover the inner walls of the room and I feel as if I'm breaking the rules staring at them. "What is it with you abnegation and mirrors" she scowls. "We reject vanity" I reply. "Yeah, sit down." She hands me a vial of clear liquid and orders me to drink up and I gulp it down quickly.
My breaths are loud but steady, I recognize the room straight away of course, the cafeteria. Behind me a woman's voice says "Choose" I look over my shoulder and see a hunk of cheese and a large knife, without thinking I grab the knife. I must protect myself. I hear a door squeak and I turn to see what is going to happen. A dog with a pointed nose and large teeth approaches me and without a seconds thought I stab it in the throat and I hear it fall.
I close my eyes and when they re-open the dog is gone. I'm sitting in my house in front of an old man with a scar running down the side of his face, he is furiously stating at a newspaper and I wonder what is going on. "Do you know who this is?" he asks coldly while pointing at a newspaper headline. I stare at the newspaper and although I feel like I do, I cannot place his face. "You can save me if you do" he says. I feel a trap and I know that if I tell him it will harm me. "No" I reply. "Tell me the truth!" he shouts. I narrow my eyes "Well, I don't."
I wake up feeling calm, I must have done terrible, I probably received abnegation though. "Well, what did you think of that?" The girl says boredly. "Give a guess of your result." "Abnegation" I reply. "Seriously? That was anything but a selfless test! It was one of the first ruled out! You got dauntless, I have more kids to test, so get out."
As I walk home I feel a large cloud over my head. I have truly disappointed my parents, what will they think of me now? Should I just switch factions to make it easier for them? Can I go back and repeat my tests? I think not. I'll probably know how to get an abnegation result. I enter my house as silent as possible and hide in my bed. Suddenly, I begin to cry. Stop it, I tell myself. Self pity is selfish. Shut up! I reply to myself. You didn't even get an abnegation result on your test! After 3 hours of silent sobbing, I leave the house and re enter but when closing the door I make it obvious I'm home.
"How did the tests go?" My father asks. "Fine" I lie. I couldn't be candor. I don't feel the need to tell the truth. As we eat dinner, my father begins to talk about his day at work, that our faction is still being discredited by erudite. I am my father's daughter, and I will not join them because they would mock him more. After I wash up, I head to bed and fall asleep the moment my head hits the bed.
The bus we take to the choosing ceremony is full of people wearing grey shirts and slacks. A candor man lights a cigarette and I watch him take a puff. I will never smoke one myself because our faction doesn't allow it because it is loosely connected to vanity. The elevator to the ceremony is crowded so my father offers our spaces to a group of amity.
Soon my legs get tired, but I realize we are there when my father holds the door open for me. The room is arranged in circles. This year the erudite representative will host the ceremony. I can't remember her name. I sit in the front row among other sixteen year olds, the rows behind us are for our parents.
My mother hugs me and what little resolve I have almost breaks. "I love you. No matter what." She knows what I might do or she wouldn't have felt the need to say that. The room slowly comes to order and we all sit down. The erudite representative Jeanine Matthews steps up and begins a long speech. I tried to stop my boredom by staring at the lanterns above her head.
I think of the prime roles of each faction the abnegation provide us with the government, the erudite provide us with teachers and researchers the amity have given us counselors and doctors. the Candor has provided us with leaders of Law and the Dauntless provides us with protection within and out.
The room goes silent as each name is called. I notice the three people before me have all transferred to dauntless. Next I hear my name being called "Anastazja Glogow". I hold the knife out that I have just received and cut the side of my hand. I see my mother nod in the corner, though she doesn't know what it is she accepts my choice. I put my hand out and I hear it sizzle onto the coals. Jana Iela is the next name to be called.