Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent
Chapter 12: Stage Two Begins
I had a hard time sleeping last night. A mix of falling and blood. It was bad. Right now, all the initiates are sitting in this dark hallway waiting for something. I don't know. I just don't want to be here. Uriah is sitting right next to me and Marlene and Lynn on the left of him. Tris is sitting in front of him. Why he is this close, I don't know. I don't mind it, but still I don't know.
"So." The blade girl named Lynn speaks up. "Which one of you ranked first, huh?" I remain silent. Edward isn't here anymore, but he ranked first. I can't bring myself into saying it.
"Her." Peter says from across the hall. I look up and he is pointing at me.
"Edward got first." I speak up quietly and look away from Peter. I feel Lynn sizing me up.
"Bet I could take you." She says as she plays with her eyebrow piercing. I don't doubt that she couldn't. "I'm second, but I bet any of us could take you, transfer." She doesn't call me a Stiff. I shrug my shoulders and Christina speaks up.
"She didn't lose a fight. She pretty much toyed with everyone she fought. Eric and Four got pissed with her for dragging it out." I glance at Christina. I don't want to fight her. "Who got first anyway?"
"Uriah." Lynn says. I glance at him and he shrugs his shoulders at me. "We spent years preparing for this. So I'm sure I can take her." I hold my hands in the air.
"I will not contradict you, Lynn." I tell her with a weak smile. "I have never seen you guys fight, so I will have to trust your judgment." She smirks. I'm not intimated. I just could care less. The door opens and Four is holding it open.
"Lynn." He calls out. She walks over there and the door shuts.
"So you're first." Will says to Uriah.
"Yeah, and?" He feels the same way I feel, or better. I think Peter wants to kill me.
"And you don't think it's a little unfair that you've spent your entire life getting ready for this, and we're expected to learn it all in a few weeks?" Will seems a little upset. But what is he saying? I spent my whole life training for this, well not exactly, but that's why I'm doing so well.
"Not really. Stage one was about skill, sure, but no one can prepare for stage two." Uriah tells him. "At least, so I'm told." No one can prepare. My body tense and I feel Uriah snakes his arms around my stomach again and pulls me over to him. I get strange looks from Al, Christina and Will. Tris is used to this, even more than I am. I move my hands and garb his hands and move them from around my stomach and back to his side, but I don't move.
"Anyone guess what it's like?" I ask as if that didn't happen. "Only one person at a time it seems like."
"Something we can't prepare for." Al says, trying to get people off what just happened. Some time pass and I resort to laying my head on the wall letting myself drift off next to Uriah.
000
"Andy." I hear someone whisper and then shake my shoulder. "Andy, I got to get up." I open my eyes and sit up.
"Uriah?" I ask as I look around. He is next to me and I guess I was sleeping on his shoulder. "What?" I ask him as he stands up.
"Four." He points to the door at my strong, emotionless brother. Something tells me he isn't sure what to think about me sleeping on his shoulder. It didn't start off that way. Uriah walks to through the door and it shuts.
"What's going on between you and him?" I turn and look at her and yawn.
"What?" I ask her.
"You and Uriah." I look around the room and it's only Marlene and I left.
"When did Tris and everyone else go in?" I ask as I look around.
"Don't change the subject." Marlene snaps. "Tell me." She seems excited.
"I'm really not sure what you're talking about." I tell her. "Please explain. Being from Abnegation, I was grown up without understanding girl stuff like this."
"You and Uriah. Are you two dating or something?" Marlene asks a little impatiently. I shake my head slowly. The second time someone said that.
"No. He's my friend."I tell her slowly and a little confused. "Isn't that how you're supposed to act with a good friend?"
"I have been friends with him for years now and we joke around like that. But you have done something to him since the capture the flag night. He's different. But not in a bad way." Marlene explains to me.
"All I did was snap at a group of dauntless people and then burst a paint ball in his face." I tell her, wait… he wrote his name in paint on me. "Which reminds me, I need to get him back for writing his name on my face." I groan and shake my head. "My brother had to point it out to me after getting freaked out."
"You have a brother here?" Marlene is shocked.
"Yes. But that doesn't matter." I tell her. "I need to figure out a way to get Uriah back for that."
"What's your brother's name?" Marlene says as the door opens.
"It doesn't matter. He has been here for years and doesn't even want me around him." I fake roll my eyes and Four is staring at me. "Talking about Uriah writing his name on my face and my brother came up, even though I'm trying to get her help on revenge." I look at Marlene. "She is no help." Four just shakes his head.
"Come on Andy." He mumbles. See, he hates me. I hold in a smirk as I stand up with another yawn and follow him into the dark room. Oh, wait. This is stage two. The door shuts and I see light from the computer screen in the corner of the room and the little monitor that is next to a chair like the test. I don't move from my spot and Four grabs my shoulders and pushes me to the chair. "Knock it off. You will be fine." There is an edge in his voice.
"I was just joking, Bass. I know you don't hate me." I stutter as he leaves me right in front of the chair thingy.
"Just sit." He says. I move to the table and stop. "Sit, Ann." Again, it seems on edge. I turn and sit on the on the side of the chair and leave my feet on the ground, the table isn't too far off the ground.
"Are you okay? You seem a little tense." I ask him in a low voice. Focusing on him helps me forget what is about to happen.
"I'm fine. Just sit correctly on the chair." He sighs out and pulls a needle off of the monitor. I need to pay attention better. I turn in the chair and watch him. "You're going to face your fears here. Because you are who you are, just remember to breathe and calm yourself." I nod.
"I think I'm getting better at that. Yesterday, when I was at the Hancock building. I was able to calm myself enough to be able to look around me while going down the line." I tell him in a hopeful voice.
"I couldn't do that." He says as he flicks the tub with the liquid.
"They did say that you thought it was boring. It was, for me once I calmed myself down." I shake my head. "Not at all of what I expected. I thought it would hurt falling. But this didn't hurt."
"See, Ann. You aren't afraid of as many things as you think you are." I nod. "This serum stimulates the amygdale, which is the part of the brain involved in processing negative emotions-like-fear-and then induces a hallucination…" He goes to explain. I hold my hand in the air and sigh.
"Bass, I can't take all this smart talk. Just tell me what I have to do and so I can get this over with." I tell him in a quiet voice.
"Tilt you neck to the side." He says after a second. I do as he says and I feel the sharp needle enter my neck and I bite my lip. Bass pushes the serum into my body and pulls it out. "You have sixty seconds. You can think in this. So remember to breath. That is the only way out."
"Why are you so tense, Bass? There is no need for it. You're saying its fine." He shakes his head.
"The first time is hard to control." He says in low voice and I swallow hard. My hand reaches the waist band of my pants and I pull it out.
"Here. You don't want me having this just in case I wake up in my other mood." Bass seems to smile a little bit as he takes the knife. "I better get that back. I swear…" My head feels a rush and I have to lay my back down again. "I will go after you for it."
"If you can handle me." My eyes flutter shut and everything is silent.
000
Everything is still dark. What the hell is going on? Is it not working? If it's not working, when will Bass notice it? Will I be stuck in the dark for hours? I can't do that again. Not now. I stand up and walk forward and I run into a wall. Great. I place my hand on the wall and I walk along it. I hit a corner and I follow it around. Four small walls. Great, I sink to the ground with my back against it and I hug my knees. My father used to throw me into the closet all the time when Bass lived with us. But after I broke the door down the one time he put me in it, he never did it again. I always hated this thing. Now I know I'm in the closet without a door. How will I get out of here? There is no door here. I can't reach anything on the wall. So I'm stuck in the room by myself. My body starts to shake.
"Where are you?" I whisper out. "Where are you, brother?" I can't stop the shaking, and then I hear a cry. I jerk my head up and try to find the sound of the cry. Again any other cry and something breaking. "What is he doing to you?" I ask myself. "Stupid box closet thingy. Stupid crap." There is another cry. I can't handle it. I lie on the ground and keep holding onto my knees. This wouldn't have happened if mom was here. She would stand up to him and then… get hurt herself. I groan. That won't be good either. I hear the sound of the belt hitting his bare back and there is a chilling scream. I hear three lashes before he stops for a moment. The crying of my older brother is right next to my ear. Meaning, the door would be right here. "Stop it." I cry quietly. My heart is pounding. I don't like hearing this. I don't understand it. This is torture. Another hit, I can feel it as if it's myself. "Stop IT!" I shout out painfully. "Please stop it now, I beg you. You need to stop." I feel tears fall down my face. Each hit, I feel the hit myself. "Stop it, please." My voice is barely audible.
"Shut up!" he yells out. "He will get much worse with each cry." I bite my lip and silently sob as more and more belt lashing hit my brother's back. Sympathy pain, I feel each hit more and more as if it's getting more real by the hit. "This is for standing up." He cuts out to him. "You learn to let her take it, and then you will be fine." Another hit and I cry out. The pain hurts too much. I know it's not real, but it still hurts. Another hit of the belt and it seems to be each second. My heart is pounding as fast as the belt hitting Bass's skin. Wait… the belt, it's my heart beat. Bass told me to breath. I try to breathe every three hit of the belt and then extend it to four and then five. Nothing.
"Stop it NOW!" I cry out in pain. "STOP IT, I can take it." I cry. Now I'm talking with Bass. "Just stop it. This is torture and I can't handle it." I sob out and the belts, my heart starts going faster again. This isn't real, but it feels like it. I try the breathing again. "God, make it stop please." I sob out. "I can't take it anymore." I cry out as I steady my breathing. "I just need it to stop God. Make it stop. He won't." I whisper as hold my arms to my face. I can't see anything at all and I hear my brother's cry. This bad, really bad. Every seven seconds I try breathing in. My head starts to get light headed but nothing happens. "God Damn it. STOP IT." I scream out as I hold my ears and scream. My body shakes violently. I tried breathing slowly and lower my heart rate and nothing. Why not? I start to pull my hair and it's up in my normal bun. I grip it and pull it down. "Damn it, Stop it now." I scream out again. "I told you to stop it!" the beating of the belt stops. And I hear nothing. I'm left in the dark again, by myself. I run my fingers through my hair as I sob. I just need to get out of here, now. This is too much. I'm going to run off to find a corner and sob. Granted all the corners here are dark corners. But they aren't like this. They are open-ish and I don't hear beating of my brother and it's not the thing I was thrown into almost every day. "I want to get out of here!" I cry out in hopes Bass understand and is able to do something. I have done what I was told to do. I put a hand over my heart and it's slower than it was. I'm calm enough to be taken out of here. Now let me out. "Let me out. Haven't I stayed long enough? Please let me out." I sob as I pull my hair. There is no hope. He would have gotten me out of here by now. I pull my hands from my hair and they shake their way back around my knees. I give up. "Let me out." I say one last time with no hope at all. I see the door in front of me open and I cover my eyes. The light is too blinding.
"Ann." I shake hard as I reach one hand out and feel my brother's shoulder right next to me.
"Are you okay?" I ask him.
"Ann, it's done." I blink my eyes and I see Bass standing right next to me. I'm out. I'm finally out. Bass looks upset.
"Bass?" I look him up and down. "You okay?" I feel tears in my eyes. I stand up and hug him. "I'm so sorry you had to see that." I sob into his shoulder. He is hard as a rock, stiff. I smell the sweat coming off of him and I shake my head and sit on the chair's side again. "I'm sorry. I don't want you seeing things that haunt me." I hang my head and tears fall down my face and on my lap.
"That's why you asked me to leave, right?" I nod slowly. "You thought I was going to die from his beatings." I can't talk, I'm too choked up. He watches me nod and remains quite. I look up and he is staring at me.
"How many times has he done it since?" I hold one finger up.
"I broke the door down after that." I shake my head and laugh. "He didn't dare put me back in there. You can only explain to someone you need a new door because your heavy ass daughter fell into it." Bass looks at me upset. "Yeah, he said that." I smirk. "But I took care of that." I watch Bass shake his head and I feel more tears fall down my face.
"And to think, you were getting back to a semi normal." He mumbles as I rub my eyes. "You can never be normal." I smile.
"I think it's funny how we can joke after almost anything." I laugh quietly.
"You said you have to joke about things." He shrugs his shoulders, then bites his lip. "Now what about you and Uriah again?" I roll my eyes.
"You too?" I shake my head and stand up and he moves out of the way. "Marlene asked me about it. We are friends." I tell him as I look him straight into the eye. "I don't understand why you people think it's something else."
"He hopes it could be." Bass tells me quickly. I raise an eyebrow.
"Three things. Why would you tell me that?" I ask him first. "What are you implying? And can someone explain things to me? He likes to touch and hold me. I don't understand that." I blurt out and Bass just looks at me.
"Because." Bass says first. "You want to date him." He says after a moment. "And he likes you too and treating you like a girlfriend." I shake my head in disgust.
"Why do people keep using that word?" I frown. "I may be dauntless, but I still have an Abnegation mind set. Why don't people understand it?"
"Because you're in dauntless now and it's not right for people to act from a different fraction." Bass deadpans. "Are you feeling better now?"
"If you're asking if I'm going to burst out in crying, then yeah. I'm fine." I tell him.
"Good. Because I'm going to have to explain why I have a wet mark on my shoulder." He jokingly snaps.
"Just tell her how bad it was for me and I woke up and cried on your shoulder. She should understand after hers." I tell him. He just looks at me. "None of them know that you're my elusive brother. Okay?"
"Whatever." He points to the door. "You want me to show you to your dorm." I nod.
"I would get lost without you." I smile as he rolls his eyes and walks me out of the room. It still bothers me that I couldn't get out, even when I calmed down. "Does the test always work?"
"Well, you weren't very calm. You calmed down but the serum didn't think it was enough." He explains. "I was wondering that as well."
"I was calm, very calm. I can still cry and be calm." I tell him as we walk. "Can't there be another reason? Because I don't think I can handle hearing your screaming and feeling the belt again." I shake my head and I hear a sigh come from Bass.
"Sorry you have to go through it." Bass's voice is a quiet as mine.
"No, no, no." I groan. "Don't go. Please stay a mix of Four and Bass, Please. You don't want to get stuck like me." I place a hand on his shoulder and plead with him. He shakes his head.
"I won't. It's your special thing." He tells me regretfully. "I'll be fine."
"Was he your first one too?" I ask him.
"Not like yours." Bass tells me as he shakes my hand off of his shoulder and we walk again. "I was the one getting hit." I shut my eyes and walk.
"Will we ever get over it?" I ask him quietly.
"I haven't. That's why I wasn't in the pit after I found you." He tells me as we turn another corner.
"Oh." That makes sense why he wanted me to talk to him and he left. "Should I have come here? I could have chosen factionless and save you this pain." Bass stops and looks at me.
"No, you being here is fine. I will not let you become factionless unless I go with you. Do you hear me?" His voice is firm like Four. Like the act he puts on. I nod slowly. I see the door to the dorm and sigh.
"Yes, I will follow your lead." I smile and hug him before he can say anything and walk into the room.
"Look, it's the other STIFF." I am greeted with Peter hissing that out. Four hasn't got a chance to leave. He right next to me. "Listen to this." I pale and look at the paper in his hand. It's a newspaper from Erudite. Crap.
"No, I'm just coming to get something and I will be gone." There are other initiates in here, Dauntless born. I walk over to my bed and open my drawer.
"You might want to hear it, Stiff." Molly says in a fake sweet voice. They don't care that Four is in the doorway 'waiting' for me. I shut the drawer and open Christina's. Wasting time. I got to find something. Look around the clothes and find eyeliner. I grab it.
"Sorry, don't have much time." I tell her as I look around the room quickly. Christina, Al, Will, and Tris aren't here. "I got to get back with Christina. She is going to kill me if I'm not there in two minutes." I lie smoothly enough that the Candors can't tell, or they are not paying attention. I shut the drawer and go to walk to the door.
"Not only were the Prior children to leave, but also the Eaton little girl, Aundrea." I pause as I stare at Four. My heart is starting to beat fast. "This isn't surprising due to her brother leaving just two years before. Isn't ironic that he transferred to Dauntless and so did his sister? We don't think so. Are the accusations of the horrible abuse at the hand of Marcus, one of the leaders of Abnegation true?" I blink twice at him and he nods. Peter is a jerk.
"Go, I'll be fine." I turn and look at Peter as Four leaves. He is smirking. "What else does it say?" I ask as if I'm curious. I walk over to the group and crouch next to a dauntless initiate.
"We cannot ignore the hood over her face as she walked into the choosing ceremony. The hard looks she gave her father and the overall body language she had during the ceremony." Peter reads. "Last time, when her older brother left. We were unsure of the stories, but this is a tell tale sign that tells us it is true. Fellow transfers, Peter and Molly, both agree with our theory about the abuse." I raise an eyebrow at him as he read. People are staring at me to get a response. "Peter says that he has seen her go to sleep and wake up suddenly and in cold sweet." Peter looks up at me as I keep a blank face. "Molly has said that she was afraid of the stage one training which involves fighting the other initiates." I roll my eyes at that. "Now what do we do about the abusive leader, Marcus Eaton?" Peter finishes and looks back at me.
"Cool story, but it's not true. Sure I have a brother, but I didn't come here because I was beaten." I scoff. "If I was beaten, why would I come to the Dauntless Faction, where they train you to fight and crap? I would have chosen either Amity or Candor. Amity so I can get away from the violents and Candor so the truth to finally come out. But Dauntless, I came here because I was bored with Abnegation life." I tell them annoyed. I glance at Molly. "You're stupid. Me afraid of fighting? And who got Second place, and thanks to Peter, First?" I stand up and walk out the door. "I don't understand people trying to make themselves look better than other people." I slam the door and walk down the hallway. I'm tired of this crap. First I have to relive a nightmare and then I have to go through it again. I shake my head and walk, this is annoying. I need to get away from the Stiff nickname. I thought I did, but guess not. With my long legs, I get to the pit faster than trying to keep up with the others. I look around once in there and I don't see them. They won't be in the Dining hall, or the clothing shop. Christina just got new clothes. I check the Chasm and I find Uriah. "Uriah?" He turns at the sound of my voice and sighs. He was watching the water.
"You're done?" He asks with a forced smile. I walk over to him and lean against the railing with him.
"Yeah, it was too dark and loud." I shake my head. "Why are you here? You lived here all your life and I would think you would have gotten bored with the chasm."
"It helps me calm down." Uriah says as he looks out over the water.
"Do you think it can help me? I just walked into hell." He laughs as I ask.
"Hell?" He is smiling a little bit.
"To a group of initiates in my dorm reading the newspaper talking about what Erudites think my life was like." I explain to him quietly. He nods.
"Ignore them. They are just bored and trying to find something to cause people to get upset." Uriah tells me and he places a hand on my shoulder and pulls me closer to him. "They tend to do that." I feel better in his grasp.
"But what if they're right…one time." I ask him "What if one of their stories happen to be right?"
"Does it matter?" he asks. "Would it change anything?" Uriah looks over at me as I stare at the rushing water.
"Yes, it will change a lot… for me." my voice is still low. It only goes to normal around my brother, when he isn't acting. "I need to find Christina." I say suddenly. I need to tell someone about my fear test thing. "I need to talk to her." I look at him. "Sorry. I just tell her everything and she is honest with me." He laughs.
"It's fine. I don't care." Uriah pats my head and I roll my eyes and pull him off of me. "I saw them go to the Tattoo shop." I nod.
"Thanks." I turn and run to the shop. The narrow path doesn't bother me anymore. I am able to run up it as if it's a sidewalk in abnegation. I get to the shop and see Christina just finished a tattoo. I sit on a chair and wait for people to notice me. Tris is getting another tattoo as well. I watch as Tori make the dauntless symbol on her.
"Do you want something?" The male tattoo artist asks me. "Andy." I look at him and shrug my shoulders.
"I came to meet up with my friends, but sure." He hands me a book and I sigh. The fear test thing is still bothering me. I hate the dark. "Do you have anything about darkness?" I ask him and I look through the book. He stops my turning and opens to a page and I look at it. My eye catches a group of words. "I want this one." It says, find the light in the dark. There's always some.
"Your test involved darkness." I nod and he takes the book. "Same with Tori's. She got an eagle." I nod and he leads me to the chair. "Where you want it?" I want it somewhere I will be able to see always. I hold up my right wrist.
"So I can see it." He nods and gets ready to start.
"Andy!" I hear Christina finally notice me. "You found us." I nod and look at her.
"Yeah, Uriah told me where you were." I tell her.
"We weren't quiet." Will speaks up and everyone laughs.
"When are we ever quiet?" Al asks as he walks over to me and the guy takes my wrist. "You're getting another one too?" He asks.
"Yep." I tell him. "You?"
"No." he says as he shakes his head. I feel the needle hit my skin and I bite my lip. Dang, it hurts on my wrist.
"Sorry. Forgot to warn you." The guy tells me. I don't think he's really sorry. It's not a dauntless thing. Oh well. The writing is fast. I'm done with Tris. I look at mine and laugh. Speer of the moment, and it doesn't look bad. I look at her shoulder in the reflection of the mirror and smile.
"Looks good, Tris." It reminds me of Bass's in the middle of his shoulder blades.
"Thanks." She says.
"We got to get something to show that baby off." Christina says as she walks into the reflection. Her hand on her other shoulder and one on mine.
"Do we have too?" Tris asks.
"Yes," she pulls us out of the shop and to the clothing store. Christina throws shirts at her and she walks into the changing room.
"I got your eyeliner." I tell her as we wait for her.
"You went into the room." she states.
"Looking for you, but its okay. I heard what the Erudites think." I tell her. She nods.
"Sorry." I hand her the eyeliner.
"I'm fine. At least I know what I'm dealing with. Now put my eyeliner on." Christina smiles and does it. Taking breaks to look at the shirts Tris has on. By the third time, Christina is happy with both my eyeliner and her shirt. It shows off her collar bone and shoulders. Perfect apparently. She then attacks her with the eyeliner.
"Striking." Christina smirks.
"Done yet?" Will asks as they walk in.
"Yep. Look at her." she moves Tris over so Will and Al can see her.
"Good." Al says with a smile. He walks over to Christina and places a hand on her shoulder. "You like to dress these two up." he laughs right before picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder.
"Al!" she cries out in laughter as he walks her out of the shop. I look at both Will and Tris and they laugh.
"Shall we follow them?"I suggest as I start following them. They follow.
"I can't believe you got another tattoo." Will tells her as we get off the narrow path.
"Why? Because I'm a stiff?" She jokes with him. I just walk in front of them paying attention to Al and Christina.
"No, because you're… sensible." He informs her. "So what was you fear today, Tris?"
"Too many crows." She tells him as Al turns and spins with Christina in his arms. Just for the hell of it. He seems okay, but I'm not sure. We all are having problems right now.
"Too much acid." He tells her. "What about you, Andy?" I turn and face them.
"What? Oh." I look between them. "Darkness and screaming. A lot of it."
"It's really fascinating how it all works." Will starts explaining. Like Bass did earlier. I would never fit in Erudite, not that I mind. So I tune him out and watch Christina and Al. Al is losing his grip. I shake my head and see something at the Chasm. Bass is over there with some people. What time is it? He must have gotten Marlene done fast, or time went by fast.
"It's interesting." Tris says. I look back at Christina and Al. Just as I thought, Al almost drops her and she grabs onto his face. They have been friends for a long time now. Al does his best to readjust as we get closer to them.
"Uh-oh." Will says. "Instructor alert." I look at him confused. Oh wait, Four is our instructor.
"At least it's not Eric." Tris says. "He'd probably make us play chicken or something."
"Sure, but Four is scary. Remember when he put the gun up to Peter's head? I think Peter wet himself." I hold in a laugh. Bass, scary? Yeah right.
"Peter deserved it." Tris says firmly.
"Yeah, he did." I mumble out.
"Tris! Ann!" I turn to face my brother as Tris and Will look at each other. Bass walks over here with a bottle in his hand and his face a little red. What's wrong with him? Al and Christina stop and stare and he walks over. "Tris, you look different." He says a little slowly. This isn't the Bass I know.
"So do you." She says. Bass looks relaxed, but I don't understand the red and the slow talking. "What are you doing?"
"Flirting with death." He says with a laugh and sets his elbow on my shoulder, the bottle is in that hand. "Drinking near the Chasm. Probably not a good idea." What? I smell something very vile come from the bottle. I sniff hard and try not to cough.
"No, it isn't." Tris tells him a little worried.
"Didn't know you had a tattoo." He says as he looks at her collar bone. Christina's plan work, but I don't think she was intending for Bass to be someone that noticed. I watch him sip the bottle. "Right. The crows." What is going on? Bass is never like this around others. And his elbow is on my shoulder. What's going on with that? "I'd ask you to hang out with us, but you're not supposed to see me this way." What is going on?
"What way?" Tris asks. "Drunk?"
"Yeah…well no." His voice slows more and gets soft. "Real, I guess."
"I'll pretend I didn't." She states a little confused.
"Nice of you." He says, then his elbow leaves me and he leans over to her and says something in her ear. He stands up after saying it and replaces his elbow on my shoulder.
"Do me a favor and stay away from the chasm, okay?" She says with a laugh.
"Of course." He winks at her. What's going on with him. He looks at me. "Come on, Ann." He says as he turns and starts to return to his friends. I can't help but reach out for the bottle and take it from him. He stops and turns around.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" I ask as I inspect the bottle. It smells bad.
"Come on." He says as he tries to take the bottle from me. I hold it out his reach and look at Will.
"What is this? Abnegation, I never experience something that does this." I tell him. He blinks at couple of times as Bass stomps on my foot and that does nothing. He isn't as strong as he normally would be.
"Alcohol. It's slowly down the brain makes the person relax, depending on how the person handles it." Bass stares at me and then a memory rushes back. One time, when my mother was alive and living with us, Father came home drunk and it was freighting. I was the one that got beaten and mom tried to step in and he knocked her out so he can beat me more. I lower the bottle and sniff it.
"Try it." Bass slurs out. I look at Will and he shakes his head no. "Its fine, Ann. It's not going to hurt. It will make you feel better." I hand him the bottle and sigh. "Make you forget." I shake my head.
"I would rather remember right now than wash myself in that stuff. Ask me later, Four. I might be more willing." I tell him as I step away from him. He is a little too close for trying to prove we aren't siblings. I think when Siblings fight or something, space is not an issue. Well according to watching Uriah and Zeke. Four takes another sip of the bottle and walks back to his friends.
"Ann?" Christina asks me. Crap, they noticed that.
"Short for Aundrea, I guess." I tell her. "He isn't himself. Who knows what's going to come out of his mouth." Suddenly, Al picks Tris up and she screams out.
"Come on, little girl." He says. "I'm taking you to dinner." Al knows how to break the tension. We just follow behind as he carries her off. "I thought I would rescue you." He says as he sets Tris on the ground after we get through the opening to the dining hall. "What was that about?"
"Yeah, I think we'd all like to know the answer to that question." Christina glancing at me, then back at Tris. "What did he say to you?"
"Nothing." That's a lie. "He was drunk. He didn't even know what he was saying." She clears her throat. "That's why I was grinning. It's … funny to see him that way."
"Right," Will looks at her with a weird look. "Couldn't possibly be because…" Tris shoves him in the ribs and I think I understand. Bass said something about how he liked her and she isn't sure how to take it.
"I get it." I sigh out.
"Get what? That Four was drunk." Will laughs.
"I'm not around that every day. Not my fault I didn't expect Four to come up to me and lean on me as he hi.. talked with Tris." I catch myself and changed it fast; hopefully no one heard my mistake. I'm going to talk with Four about this. Ann? Come on.
"Didn't you work with the Factionless?" Tris asks me. "I knew he was drunk because of being around a factionless." I shake my head.
"The only time I was around them… they were respectful and not like that." I explain. "I have only been around it once. And it wasn't pretty." I shake my head.
000
"You good for nothing." I sob in the black again. Not again. "This is what you get." I hear the lashing before it hits. Then I hear something like glass breaking. The door opens and I see my father in the door way. He is holding a bottle in his hand and he is coated in sweat. "Get out of there, brat." I scramble to stand up and I walk fast over to him, freighted. He grabs my bun and wipes me to the side and shoves the bottle in my face. "You smell this?" I smell a garbage smell come from the bottle. "Your mother thinks this is bad for me and it's against Abnegation vaules." He laughs and throws me to the ground. I feel the hit of the belt hit my back and I scream out.
Next thing I know, I hear someone else's laugh. I blink and it's Bass with the bottle and belt.
"You are a coward. You don't belong being around me and the other dauntless. You should just die." I am too stunned to even move. Bass? "You embarrass me." he hits me with the belt and we are suddenly in the middle of the pit. Dauntless all around, Laughing and cheering him on.
000
I sit up from my bed, coated in sweat. Well, Peter was a little early on when this was going to happen. I look around the room and only Christina is up and she is staring at me.
"Need to talk?" She asks in a tired, sleepy voice. I nod my head and bring my knees to my chest. "Come on, let's go for a walk." She says as she moves to the ladder. I follow her move and go down mine. I'm in short shorts and a tank top, but that's more than her. She is just wearing a long shirt. I follow her into the hallway and she walks down the way Bass showed me earlier. "What's wrong?" She asks with a yawn as we walk. There are no cameras over here. I didn't notice then earlier and Bass won't be so open to talk to me it there was.
"Nightmare about my father being drunk." I tell her as she nods her head. "I blocked it out because it was bad, but after Will explained it to me." I shake my head. "I was tempted to drink some to figure it out and after that flashed into my head, I stopped."
"You okay? Or do you need you brother?" she asks me. "I can take you to him." I shake my head. I don't know what state of mind he is in right now. And to be honest, I'm a little scared.
"No. He was drinking too. So I don't know where he is right now." I tell her.
"Really? I wasn't paying attention to anyone other Four hitting on you and Tris." I laugh.
"He wasn't hitting on me. I can tell you that." I assure her. "He doesn't like me at all."
"Looked different to me." Christina says as she stops and looks at me. "You looked like best friends in the pit earlier."
"He was Drunk and leaning on someone that was trying to figure it out." I state. "He is very loose when he's drunk, I guess." And a little absent minded. Ann?
"You can say that again."