and Abnegation has already been ruled out. I know where my interests lie, but where is my heart? And if I choose Dauntless, will I even make it through initiation?
My train of thought is interrupted, however, when I hear a knock from downstairs. I know for a fact that the Prior parents would not request to enter their own house, and as far as I have been told they don't get many visitors either. Which means the person at the door is my father. I could stay up here like a coward and hide, but something tells me my father is beside himself with anger at the moment, probably drink as well, and he just might do something stupid. This is my mess, and I can't let Caleb get hurt for it. For me. With that I rush downstairs, hastily concocting a believable excuse for why I'm here, or at least believable enough that we can make it back to the house before I really get it. By the time I reach the entryway Beatrice has opened the door for Marcus and is attempting to engage in polite conversation, though Marcus isn't exactly listening. I don't think she likes him very much, but she doesn't know. Not as much as Caleb does. I open my mouth to speak but Marcus gets there first.
"Elizabeth. Home." He pauses as if waiting for me to try and protest. When I don't he swiftly turns around, and with one look behind me I rush out as well, careful to stay at least a few feet behind him. Once we reach the house Marcus lets me enter first, most likely to have the opportunity to give me a hard shove. He glances furtively around the neighborhood before slamming the door behind him. I don't speak; he's angry enough as it is. Apparently my silence is exactly what he didn't want however, because after a moment Marcus, my own father, grabs me by the collar and shoves me up against the wall, managing to not only knock over a coat rack but also one of the last surviving photos of our family. It shatters on the ground, although of course any semblance of family life had shattered long ago, even before Mom died.
"You think you can run away from me, huh?" I swallow, conserving my breath. My collar tightens the more I try to move.
"Answer me!"
"N-no sir-," I start.
"Well if you weren't running away what were you doing then?" His tone is accusatory but also questioning, which leads me to believe he wants me to answer.
"I was just talking to Caleb-," He backhands me viciously.
"Did I tell you to speak?" Marcus always gets so contradictory when he's in these moods. "Don't think I don't know what you and that Prior boy are doing. I thought I raised you better than to be a slut!" We've never done anything more than kiss, although I don't know how he could've witnessed us doing even that. We were careful.
"I-we…we didn't do anything, I promise!"
"Fucking lies!" With that he tosses me to the ground, painfully, and begins to unbuckle his belt. Without warning he slings it at me; it lands with a sting. He repeats this several times, and I employ some of the tactics I've learned in my years living with him, such as rotating positions so no one part of my body is wailed on specifically. After a few minutes, by which time I'm sure there's no part of me that's not bruised, he pauses. For a moment I think it might be over, that maybe I got off easy, before he drags me upstairs and throws me unceremoniously into my room.
Ch 3 - Two Years Prior
"Tobias, don't!" I yell behind me as my father slowly makes his way to our bedrooms, my hair and consequently me in tow. I can't let him take this one for me. He has enough bruises as is.
It had started as normal as any night can in the Eaton household, my brother, my father and I sat around the table in tense silence, enjoying our unseasoned chicken and carrots. Notably, Dad kept glancing between Tobias and I with suspicion, but truthfully that was not too unusual. I really thought maybe I'd get away with it. I'd only skipped the second half of last class, after all. Caleb, me, and a couple sweet guys from Amity. We hung out in one of the abandoned buildings where all the factionless reside, and played that stupid game Spin the Bottle or whatever. I kissed one of the Amity guys. Just a little peck. But it felt amazing. Not the peck, not really, but the feeling of doing something forbidden. I should've known he would find out. He always finds out.
That's why when Dad slams his fist on the table out of the blue, I am startled, but not surprised. I spare a look for Tobias, whose eyes have snapped out of the glazed default into sharp focus. He's scared, but he hides it well. I am broken out of my thoughts by my father's furious words.
"Did you think you could keep it a secret?" I know that his anger is directed at me, but Tobias doesn't yet. He opens his mouth to respond, so I rush my words before he can.
"Please, Daddy I'm sorry I am, I–" Suddenly, his monstrous, calloused hands have engulfed my wrists, holding me in a vice grip that effectively cuts off all circulation to my fingers.
"You have strayed from every value of this faction. What kind of animal are you? I didn't raise you this way!"
"No, no please I didn't mean anything by it I didn't, I…" I truthfully don't know what to say, but I am not above begging, especially when his impossibly firm hold tightens. Out of the corner of my eye I see Tobias start to speak up. I turn, pleading with him not to, but he opens his mouth anyway.
"Dad, what is this?" Questioning him? It's almost like my brother is asking to be beat. Of course he is. Him instead of me, always. Not this time.
"What is this? What is this?" My father jumps at the chance to outline my failures. He yanks me from the table, holding me to his tightly wound chest, facing Tobias. "This is what happens when your sister skips school to make out with boys from another faction, like a little selfish SLUT!" I cringe at that word, and also at the look my older brother gives me. There are times when Dad blows up on us for no reason, and there are times when we (more like I) give him reason to. Why did I give him a reason to?
"We didn't make out, I swear and the day was basically over–" Words tumble out of my mouth before I can think of a smarter way out of this. Before I can continue, he flings me to the floor, and I hit the wall. Tobias launches out of his chair.
"Don't make excuses, girl. You know what happens next." My dad goes to unbuckle his belt, staring down at me with pure fury, when Tobias intervenes.
"Dad!" Our father turns around to face him, and I take the moment to sit up, my head still woozy from my collision. "Don't do this to her, please." His voice is tempered and soft. He's accepted that he deserves the punishment, accepted that he'll take it.
"No, no it was me it was me, I need to be punished it was me!" I beg again, this time not to be spared but to be hurt. Dad spins around again only for Tobias to pick up his pleas. I can see the frustration building in him, until he blurts out,
"ENOUGH!" He turns to Tobias. "Your sister dug this hole. She will never learn if you keep taking her opportunities." Returning his gaze to me, my father grabs me by the loose ponytail left over from the day and starts a trek upstairs. I scramble to get my footing under him but his pace is too fast, and I think he might actually pull all my hair out. Tobias follows behind, and I see the gears turning in his brain, how he can bring attention back to himself. He tries to shout again as we ascend the stairs.
"Tobias, don't!" I yell behind me as my father slowly makes his way to our bedrooms, my hair and consequently me in tow. Before he has a chance to make his case, I'm thrown into Dad's bedroom, the door slam shut behind us. I pray that he has the sense to stay quiet, to clean up and try to ignore the sounds from what comes next. It turns out not even I knew the horrors "what comes next" held.