curiosity killed the cat

aftermath

Marcus was nowhere to be seen. Anastasia turned to look at the room, mirrors reflecting the girl sitting on the testing chair. She waited. This could not still be part of the aptitude test, could it? Reaching to her temples, she felt the wires and electrodes. This was real. But where was Marcus Eaton?

The door to the testing room opened slightly and Marcus Eaton entered, who immediately began pulling off the wires from Anastasia's forehead. Lips pursed, the man said nothing as he put away the wires and tapped on a few keys of the machine.

"Where did you go?" Anastasia asked, "I thought the proctor was to be with the tester at all times?"

Marcus nodded. "I had left just as you were finishing the final simulation - needed to input your result."

Anastasia sat forward, wiping her plans on her jeans. Was that normal? Was Marcus doing this to get back at Anastasia's mother? She decided to say none of the questions that spun in her mind and just watched as the man slowly finished shutting down the machine. Her head was still spinning with everything she had faced. The knife - what would that tell the test about her faction? The dog and girl scene. The man on the bus. The sound of Anastasia's foot tapping the marble floors echoed through the room. Marcus still had said nothing. Was she even placed in a faction? Her mother would murder her if she wasn't. There was no doubt about that. She could already imagine the headlines - Anastasia Matthews, daughter of Erudite leader Jeanine Matthews, factionless.

But was being factionless all that much worse than being placed into Erudite? The faction corrupted from within. The faction whose pursuit for knowledge has long been lost, replaced by the pursuit of power. Her mother at the face of it all. Her mother.

"My apologies to keep you waiting. I have inputted your aptitude test results as," Marcus Eaton finally spoke as a long beep came from the machine, cutting him off. Anastasia unclenched her jaw, the sounds of her foot tapping on the floors ceasing. This was it. This was her future. Anything but Erudite. Anything but Erudite. Anything but Erudite. Anything but, "Erudite."

"Erudite? That's what I got?" Of course.

"Yes, Miss Matthews." What had she expected different? "As you may know, every candidate has the ability to choose their faction at will in the choosing ceremony tomorrow. Many choose the faction they were given at the aptitude test, but a rare few do not. It is your choice."

She nodded, standing up from her chair. "Thank you, Mr. Eaton."

Anastasia watched as the door behind her shut close, leaving her in the empty hallway. All that for a result she had expected. All that for nothing. At least one person would be thrilled by her results, Anastasia noted as she walked into the cafeteria and sat back down in her old seat. Students came and went from their seats and all around her were people gushing over the simulation, but Anastasia couldn't care less about the excited chitter surrounding the Erudite table. Erudite. Erudite. Erudite. That was going to be her home for the future. For forever.

Frankly, she would have been satisfied if the faction actually cared about knowledge and intelligence. If that's all they valued. But Erudite under her mother's rule had changed, and Anastasia knew that it would just get worse. Hours spent aspiring for novelty were now tainted with ideas of overthrowing Abnegation. Rooms once built for discovery and understanding now stood as homes for conferences preaching hatred against the current faction government. Erudite was no longer a place for learning. It was no longer a place for anything other than greed.

Anastasia buried her head in her hands. With her mother ruling Erudite, there was no limit to what her mother could do. And Anastasia would be involved in every single attempt her mother did to change the current governing system, just because she was her mother's daughter.

She couldn't remain at Erudite. She couldn't afford to be reason for the chaos her mother wished for. But Anastasia was an Erudite, the test said so.

The testing ceremony closed quickly, and Anastasia let herself be surrounded by the blues of the other Erudite teens walking around her. She would have to face her mother soon. Tell her the result. That part would be easy.

Anastasia followed the other Erudite students out of the building and into the one of the many buses lining the streets. She would be home soon. And in less than 24 hours, she would have to decide. Anastasia felt her stomach churning, surging and crashing over and over and over. Like the waters of the seas in the world before the Great War. The rolling of the bus simply amplified the horrible sensation that snaked throughout her.

"Look who we have here, everyone, Anastasia Matthews!" The bus had lurched forward, sending Anastasia crashing into one of the Erudite boys. Of course, it had to have been Johnathan Wesley, the boy with the highest IQ of the class. The boy who never failed to mention Anastasia's stupidity in light of her mother's strong intellect. The boy who never failed bringing up every single manner in which Anastasia ruined the Erudite image. "What did you get - Amity? Abnegation?" The snickers and hollers of his friends surrounded Anastasia as the entire bus turned to watch the two of them.

She pursed her lips, "Haven't you learned that you aren't supposed to talk about your test results with anyone, Wesley?"

"Or what? You're going to call your mommy?" The bus exploded in laugher, and the boy continued, "Come on, we all know your mother won't do anything to protect the idiot of a child she has."

"Shut up, Wesley." Balling her fists, she restrained her urge to punch the short boy.

"Ooo guess we struck someone's nerves alright." He continued taunting her, the boys behind him adding their own remarks onto the sheer level of stupidity Anastasia had. As if they didn't have lower IQ levels than her. "How's your mommy going to cope with her daughter leaving to Abnegation and becoming a stiff? Maybe she'll kill all of the-- "

The boy's mouth was met by a fist. Her fist. A second time. A third.

"Be quiet, Wesley." She spat as the boy curled up into a ball on the floor. The bus lurched to a stop, and Anastasia left the shocked Erudite crowd and stepped into the streets.

She was not going to go to Erudite. Never. The boys could taunt her all they wished, but she would never choose to remain in a faction that constantly jabs at her. That constantly compares her to her mother. That constantly prides itself on the ruin of others. That prides itself on the illusions of its power.

She wasn't going to choose Erudite. No matter what that test said.