Divergent: A Retelling

The Sound of Silence

I wake up with a blood curdling scream, thrashing in every direction. "Townes! Townes it's ok-" Four tries to grab me, but fear is now controlling me. I fall off the chair and collapse into the corner, curling up and screaming still, head in my hands. I lose my grip. All I can think about is being in that darkness, being hunted. "It's over!" Shouts Four, grabbing my shoulders as I scream. "No! No it's not!" I sob, shaking my head. "It's over!" He says again, not shouting but more forcefully. My screams turn into sobs, and I rest my face in my knees, shaking so hard it hurts. "Don't make me go back, don't make me go back." I sob, more to myself than Four. Four puts a hand on my shoulder. "I need you to go back to the dorm. There's still two more initiates." "They can't see me like this." I gasp, holding myself. "Go out the backdoor." He says, helping me to my feet, and I wrap my arms around myself. He walks ahead of me, and opens the door. I follow, staring at the floor. I'm still shaking, and my breath shudders. My thoughts are invasive. When I get to an empty hall, I take a moment to collect myself. I take some deep breaths and rub my eyes. When I get to the dorm, it's buzzing with chatter about the second stage. Who had what fear, how they handled it, whatever. The chatter lessens some when I enter the room. Some people stare at me, but I make a point not to look at anyone. I walk straight to my bed. I'm so invested in blocking everything out, that I don't even notice Peter at the center of a large crowd of both transfers and Dauntless-born alike, in between the rows of beds. I lay down on my bed and bring my knees up, squeezing my eyes shut. "Em?" There's a hand on my shoulder and I jump. I turn over and see Christina standing there, looking at me curiously. "You okay?" I sit up and Christina sits next to me on the edge of the bed. I nod, running a hand through my hair. "What was your fear?" I stare at the floor, biting my lip and wringing my fingers. "It was dark." I don't say anything else. It seems almost silly. Being scared of the dark on that kind of level. "There's gotta be more to it than that." She says, leaning back on her hands. She sounds almost amused. Suddenly, the crowd surrounding Peter begins laughing. "The mass exodus of the children of Abnegation leaders cannot be ignored or attributed to coincidence." He reads. Christina and I stand up and walk to the edge of the crowd. "The recent transfers of Beatrice and Caleb Prior, the children of Andrew Prior, calls into question the soundness of Abnegation's values and teachings." Now Erudite is attacking her father? Christina elbows my arm and I look at her. She's looking back over her shoulder, and I do the same. Tris is standing at the entrance of the dorm, rooted to the spot. "Why else would the children of such an important man decide that the lifestyle he has set out for them is not an admirable one?" Peter continues, "What?" Demands Tris in a scratchy voice. She clears her throat and repeats "What?" Peter stops reading and some of the crowd direct their attention to her. I blush with shame. Why didn't I stop him before she came in? "Give me that." She says, walking up to the crowd, holding out her hand and burning red with anger. "But I'm not done reading." He replies, grinning widely. He scans the paper, laughter in his voice. "However, perhaps the answer is not in a morally bereft man, but in the corrupted ideals of an entire faction. Perhaps the answer is that we have entrusted our city to a group of proselytizing tyrants who do not know how to lead us out of poverty and into prosperity." Tris storms up to Peter and tries to snatch the paper out of his hands, but he holds it high above her head. She lifts up her foot and slams her heel as hard as she can on where his foot connects to his toes. Peter grits his teeth to stifle a groan, but before she can do anything else, Will is wrapping his hands around her waist, pulling her away. "That's my father!" She screams as Will lifts her up. "My father!" She's still lashing for the paper desperately as Will takes her out of the room. Peter laughs, walking back to his bed and hiding the paper in his drawers. "Pig." Mutters Christina, and Al joins us as we walk out of the dorm to Tris and Will. "I wanna get tattooed again." Says Christina as Tris smooths her hair. She looks exasperated and Will is folding his arms, somewhat relaxed.