TRIS
So I put my glasses, I realize that someone had chosen the place where we would be.
Jeanine is sitting in her chair, reading some papers I have no idea what they are.
She is dressed in blue again, and again wears glasses. Behind her there is a window overlooking the city. The train makes a slow curve the distance.
I've been in this place before. They aren't very pleasant memories, but are enough for me to recognize the environment.
We were in Jeanine's office.
As soon as she sees me, Jeanine leaves the papers aside and sighs.
- You know? I miss that. My office, my city, my faction.
- And you miss your girlfriend too, right?
She smiles and extends her arms, and I siege the table to sit on her lap.
Her hands around my waist is a perfect fit, and I sigh.
- Maybe. - she replies with a shrug - Just a little.
- Your sincerity fascinates me.
I kiss her a long time, biting her lower lip.
- Soon you will have it all back. Soon we be home again.
Her face becomes dark and her lips tighten in a rigid line. I know what that means: Concern.
- So it's tomorrow, right?
No need to ask her about what she's talking about.
- Yes. - I answer, tense - Tomorrow night.
The silence that follows is uncomfortable, and I touch her face, making her look in my eyes.
- I'll be ready. - she finally says.
- It will work, Jeanine. It will be all right.
- I hope so. And I want you to be careful, okay? Very careful. The last time you was captured by an enemy had a happy ending, but if it happens again, we can not say the same.
-Don't worry, David isn't my type - I joked.
For a moment she laughed, her feature laughter too short. But then her face changed before my eyes. Her eyes widened in terror.
-Jeanine, What ...?
-The feeling is mutual, Miss Prior.
I had two seconds to turn around and see David there in the simulation.
My primary reaction was to attack him, but before pulling away to Jeanine, I felt like I was swallowed by the darkness, and the last thing I saw was a swirl of blond hair. I don't know if David's or Jeanine's.
JEANINE
I watched helplessly as Tris disappeared in front of me. I tried to hold her, but to no avail. They had taken off her glasses.
And I was alone with David.
Suddenly, David smiled, and my heart stopped in my chest. That smile reminded me of my father, when he taught me how to be strong, how to not show emotions, how to handle myself. And I was filled with terror.
-You lost, little damaged.
And then he took off his glasses and left. At the moment, I was stunned by the silence.
Then I took off my glasses frantically.
I woke up in my bed, in my underwear. I put a shirt and I started running as I pulled on some pants. I almost stumbled into the corner of the hall, but at least the room Angela is not that far. I tried to open her door but it was locked. I started banging on the door.
-Angela! Come on, wake up! Open the door!
She opened me immediately. She had dark circles, but she did not look tired.
-What happened?
-They have been discovered. We have to strike now.
TRIS
My wrists start to hurt.
David is sitting in front of me, in the same chair in which I have been sitting all week. He looks at me appraisingly.
Suddenly, I have fear. I'm afraid of what he might make us all.
-My guards already must be taking your teammates. - says carefree.
For a moment, a little hope invades my mind. My companions are Dauntless. Tobias is the best fighter I've ever seen in my life. Nobody can stop him, right?
-Nobody will be hurt if they behave well. Well, maybe Cara. She looks like Jeanine, you noticed? - he sighed.
I kept a sullen silence, looking at him with all the hatred that I had accumulated for weeks.
-I suppose you wonder how I realized.
-You're a genius and all that talk. I have heard it many times.
-Your friend Will found my old projector and my films. - he stared at me. -Titanic. Hamlet. Labor Day. The Dressmaker. A Little Chaos. All films Kate Winslet. All mine.
I looked at him curiously. I'm sure David is much more than a lover of old cinema.
-I bet you surprised to see Jeanine Matthews in that movie.
-It's not Jeanine. - I answered snarling.
-"Why they would like to see a movie where someone they hate?" - He crossed his arms. -The rest was risk, and I was not wrong.
-They were your films. Did you like Jeanine? That would explain why you're here with me.
David smiled.
-You're much more Erudite than you think. And to satisfy your curiosity, I confess that I have these films because Kate Winslet is one of my ancestors. That is why Jeanine looks so like her.
I stared at him, uncomprehending.
-You do not understand, right? - David looked away at his hands. -Joshua Matthews had two childrens in Chicago. Jeanine Kate Matthews. And Jeared David Matthews.
Despite being attached to the bed in front of my greatest enemy (which can kill me at any time) I feel a strange curiosity about what he is saying. I try to connect the dots, try to find the logic behind it all, but I can't. Adrenaline makes it hard to think.
- Do you know? - He asks softly, as if talking to a friend on a tea table - I've always been an adventurous child, too restless. So I never fit in Erudite.
- Erudite?
David smiles.
- Yes - he continues. -I think I would have chosen Dauntless ... that if my father had not planned to kill me, and forced me to flee. Now I see that it was actually a gift. Unfortunately, my dear baby sister was not so lucky. She stayed behind, being tortured by our father and his sick experiments.
"Experiment", "Sister", "Tortured".
I remember the conversation in Jeanine's bed, in what seemed another life. She mentioned that she had a big brother.
"I do not even remember his face."
Understanding falls on me like a punch.
- You and Jeanine are siblings? - I ask, but it sounds more like an exclamation.
- Yes, but this is not something that I am proud. Jeanine was a psychopath since her childhood. She has nothing to do with me.
I realize how this makes sense.
I remember Angela telling me that Joshua had some failed attempts before he succeed with Jeanine. She didn't tell me anything about these other children.
And the recording that David made me listen... There was no way he could have gotten it if he was not personally connected to it. I imagine a child recorded the moment when his sister is tortured by his father, and I feel like vomiting.
- You ... You ...
I can't complete my sentence. I can't find anything bad enough to express what I feel.
- When I snuck out of the fence, I finally discovered the truth and I understood why I had been through all that. My father wanted to kill me because I was Divergent. Pure. Damaged are not able to accept their own disability, so they take revenge on us. During all these years, I kept an eye on Jeanine, and I confess that I was intrigued by the pathetic platonic love you always felt for her. And when you came here, saying quietly that she was dead, I suspected something was wrong, especially with the cameras off.
David didn't smiled this time.
-I came to watch you and your friends. You thought you would be safe with these glasses, right? But I've always been one step ahead of you, and I know what they are planning. Of course I will not allow it. The reason for all the world's woes are people like Jeanine, and I will not allow my memory to be erased in order to change my mind about this truth.
He takes a key from his pocket and raises from the chair.
- Our conversation is great, but now I have to deal with your friends. Maybe, if I'm feeling generous, I can erase your memory so you fight the right side. It is really a pity kill a 100% Pure... The first. The one. You, Beatrice.
He leaves the room, and I can hear the key turning in the door handle.
I'm alone. Alone and unable to move.