Translucent: A Divergent FanFiction (Book 1)

Chapter 5

Kara was back in the canteen but now it was empty and all the table's were pushed aside apart from one. Kara stood in front of it, and on it lay two objects: a knife and a block of cheese.

        "Pick one." Came Karens voice, but when Kara whirled around she was alone.

        "Karen?" She called out her voice echoing in the empty room. "Karen where are you?"

        "That is irrelevant." Came Karens smooth reply. "All you need to do now is pick either the cheese, or the knife." Kara contemplated the two options. Cheese, or knife?

        "No." She said after a long pause.

        Karen had obviously had a lot of people refusing to pick an object that day, for when she spoke again her voice sounded exasperated and irritated. "Kara, if you refuse to pick I will stop this simulation right now and you will be automatically factionless." In a hurry, Kara picked up the cheese.

        There was a long pause, and Kara gazed out the window at the fountain in the playground. Suddenly she becamse aware of how hungry she was, and broke off a peice of cheese to eat. She was just finishing off the block when the door behind her creaked open and there came a loud growl.

        She turned round slowly, and saw that standing in the doorway was a large, black Doberman dog. It's jaws were pulled back in a grimace, its sharp pointy teeth exposed, and it dribbled on the floor.

        Kara hated dogs. Kara had a phobia of dogs. So Kara did what her instincts told her to. Which wasn't the cleverest thing she could do. She ran.

        Sprinting out of the canteen via the fire exit, Kara could hear the dog race after her. She vaulted over the low wall and sprinted down the street, not caring where she ended up. As she rounded a corner and saw glass buildings loom up around her she realised she was in the Candor sector of the city. She saw her mum standing at the side of the street and as she sprinted past she shouted:

        "Ma! Get outta the way!"

        "Why?" Her mum replied, calmly and not moving.

        Kara stopped at the corner of the street and turned to face her mum, but didn't move back towards her. She had just remembered her mum's love for dogs. If she told her about the dangerous Doberman, she'd probably run towards it and try to hug it. "There's.....a mob coming!" She shouted back, then sprinted off as the Doberman turned onto that street, hoping her mum would follow her.

        Suddenly, she heard a scream, and turned back to her mum pinned to the floor, being attacked by the savage dog.

        "MA!" Kara shouted desperately, and looked round in a panic for someone to help. But no-one materialised. Kara was  left alone with her mothers desperate screams and a Doberman dog.

        Kara decided to save her mum and despite her phobia she ran towards the dog. But when she was about 3 metres away she pulled up short. What if she got hurt? What if she hurt her mum? What if both of them died?

        Unsure, she wavered while her mum screamed in agony. Then suddenly, there was silence.

        Kara turned around slowly, her eyes wide in shock. The dog was gone, and her mums limp body lay on the floor, blood trickling down the cobblestoned street from many different wounds. Kara broke down, sobbing. She collapsed to her knees by her mum and held her hand.

        "Ma!" She screamed, her voice haorse and croaky. "I'm so sorry!" The blood began to slide up the glass walls of the Candor buildings, and through the red tainted glass Kara could see thousands of people chanting the same worder over and over: "Mur-der-er. Mur-der-er."

        In a wild panic, Kara stood up and fled. As she ran, the buildings she ran past turned blood red and more and more chanting people appeared behind the stained glass. At the end of the street she jumped onto a bus and collapsed into a seat next to an old man reading a newspaper.

        When she finally stopped crying after about 10 minutes the man looked at her over the top of his newspaper.

        "Excuse me." He said in a clipped voice. "Do you know this person?" He pointed to a picture of a girl on the front of the newspaper. It took a moment for Kara to realise: the picture was her. Quickly, she scanned the headline. It read GIRL KILLED HER OWN MOTHER.

        "Uhhh... no." Kara stumbled, edging away from the man, who she now realised was Candor. "No. I-I dont know her." She turned away, but then the man said one word that turned her blood cold.

        "Liar." He snarled. Then suddenly he began to shout. "SHE'S HERE. THE GIRL WHO KILLED HER MOTHER IS HERE. SHE'S SITTING NEXT TO ME."

        In an instant Kara was surrounded by people. They grabbed at her and hit her and pushed her and shoved her. They shouted and screamed and accused and cursed.

        "It wasn't me!" Kara protested as she tried to escape. "It was the dog! The dog killed her!" But no-one listened, and through the seething mass of people she saw a group of Dauntless huddled togather, crying. Sully, Hartly, Pa....