The Devil Wears Yellow

31

Eden's first day in solitary was overly boring. She just sat there for hours. She had no idea what time it was. She stood up and walked over to the door. She managed to chip off a large piece of concrete from the hinges of the door. She went over to the wall and started drawing. She wasn't sure what she was drawing but it just came to her from a dream.

She seemed to be drawing out the red battlefield that they walked through. She drew the building that they took cover in over the entire wall. She wasn't sure how long she actually was drawing. Her hands were getting rough from the feeling of the concrete in her hands but she had nothing else to do. She squeezed her necklaces while drawing the different geometric shapes of the broken building and falling toxic rain.

She was determined to leave her mark on the cell. She didn't think that she deserved to be here. In her mind, everything she did was just a normal day. She had never been punished for fights or threats. The leaders of Dauntless sent countless threats a day. When she finished the wall, she stepped back. The drawing covered the whole hall and concrete dust was on the floor.

"Grub," a guard said and opened the compartment at the bottom of the door to slide the tray in. She walked over and picked up the piece of bread. She sat cross legged in the middle of the floor. The food was a piece of bread, an apple, and a bottle of water. She ate it all fairly quickly before going back to her drawings. It seemed to be the only thing keeping her sane and she'd only been in there a day.

She just kept carving pictures into the stone as the days went by. The same guard came everyday and gave her the food while saying "grub." It was the only interaction she had. Day three was when the hallucinations started. Caused by the malnutrition, dehydration, and isolation.

"Eric," Eden said while seeing his body standing in the corner of the room. She got up and stumbled over to him. When her arms went around him, the body disappeared. She stared at her hands in confusion.

"You hurt people Eden," she heard and whipped around to see Al. She ran towards him but only bumped into the wall. "You've hurt people. You've killed people," he said and she turned around to see him.

"No," she said shaking her head.

"You've killed three people. Members of factionless who were chasing you. You've hurt countless others," he said and she shook her head while gripping at her hair.

"You're not real. You're not real," she repeated to herself and it felt like the room was spinning.

"We are plenty real baby," Eric said and she looked up at him wide eyed. "You closed off. What happened to my kind softie?"

"No, no, no. No!" She said and turned around from him. She shook her head as her fingernails scratched her arms.

"Why are you so mean to everyone Eden? That's not what I want," Al said to her. She squinted her eyes shut and hugged her knees to her chest in the corner of the room.

"Get out of my head," she said while rocking back and forth. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" She yelled while grabbing at her hair. After a few minutes of silence, she looked up and didn't see anything. She grabbed her rock and kept drawing on the walls. Her eyes were wide and frantic. Her hands were shaky as they pressed the stone into the wall.

Her eyes caught sight of the sharp edge of the stone. She looked at it and ran her finger across the edge. Her vision seemed to blur and shake as she leaned against the wall for support.

"Do it," Al said to her. "Do it for the people you killed," he said and she shook her head while grabbing at her necklaces.

"Go away."