To Fall | Eric Coulter *DISCONTINUED*

15: Stressed Out

I woke up.

My eyes adjust to the sun's rays as I lightly prop myself up by my elbows; grunting at the unusual softness of the bed. My head greets me a great morning. I groan, feeling throbbing pain on the back of my skull. Realizing my surroundings, I freeze.

Slowly looking around and recollecting last night's events, I see the back of Eric's head sticking out by the sofa.

I immediately shoot my head to the other way with closed eyes.

But when I did finally open it, it was wider than how I would normally expect it to be; too wide.

Before he could wake, I immediately (but silently) gathered all my clothes. -putting it on hastily as I made my way out of the room, limping with a stiff neck.

There are so many questions flying through my mind that I cannot answer.

One question stood out the most. What the hell happened last night?

I snap back to reality, I realize that I've stopped walking and I found myself staring at a random wall.

I turn and quickly made my way to the dormitory. Images of last night's events flashed through my mind.

Olan.

Bathroom.

Eric.

I entered the dormitory when everyone else was in the cafeteria. I skipped breakfast, I somehow had lost my appetite for just this time. I didn't feel like eating, I didn't feel talking to Christine and Eddie. I most certainly do not feel like conversating to him.

So I stayed in the dormitory. Surprisingly, boredness didn't take advantage of me this time. It seemed like my thoughts were too busy to be even be bored at the moment.

Not more than twenty minutes, everyone started going back to the room from the pit to get ready.

I acted as if I did eat and pretended to only be arriving now too.

I tense up as people start to surround me. "Oh, Hey Mel." I hear a voice behind me. Christine. "What's up? I didn't see you earlier at the cafeteria."

When I didn't show any response, she clears her throat and continues speaking, "Well, whatever happened to you, we're getting late. Come on, let's go." She says, motioning her head towards the opposite direction.

So we walked out the room, and made our way to the training room.

Upon our arrival, we found both of our instructors standing on each ends of a chalkboard.

I stepped forward to get a closer look, trying to read the board as it read-

"Dauntless." Eric interrupts, it was kind of more of like a yell, his voice smooth and deep as usual.

I suck in the insides of my cheeks to my molars as more glimpses of last night starts to appear. Eric didn't seemed too bothered by this, it was as if nothing happened at all.

"Today, is the last day of stage one." He continued, looking over to Tobias, who was by the other end of the board. Tobias’ blue orbs scan each of us with a hard expression, his arms folded onto one another. I hear a few sighs of relief from the back as I start to focus back again to reality.

Eric glared, “Don’t be so relieved now,”

Everyone stiffened, and silence erupted the room before Eric continued speaking.

"You will have to give all you've got, since four of you will be cut for stage one, to join the factionless." Eric says coldly. How could anyone say that without any mercy at all?

It seemed like I said it out loud when Christine muttered beside me, "him, obviously."

My jaw clenched as an enormous wave of nervousness hit me. I better make it, my entire life depends on this.

"You will be fighting today in pairs." Tobias says, pointing to the board beside him. Everyone silently read the words scribbled onto the board as I realized it wasn't just words; they were names.

Names of people that would have to fight one another.

"Now, you will have to fight against each other until one of you are unconscious." Eric says smoothly, as if it wasn't a huge problem to him unlike to the rest of us.

"You're not allowed to do that."

Everyone shoots their gazes to Tobias sharply, a look of disbelief on our faces.

I look back at Eric, who seemingly had the same expression but did an outstanding job disguising it with his signature glare.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me."

It took a while to get Eric to respond, but when he did, he unexpectedly took out a knife, threateningly pointing it by Tobias' neck.

I stood there, motionless. Eric is threatening my brother.

Eric further pushes down the knife on Tobias' neck with a smirk plastered on his face. A small gasp escaped my lips, I covered my hand over it before I could make such noises.

I saw something glint in Eric's eyes for a split second as I may have thought it was some form of jealousy. It was as if he was seeking for revenge, but what do I know. I have never seen that look in his face before.

I look at the two with a confused look as I watch Tobias not moving, his face emotionless.

"Will he really end up Four's life by just a simple sentence?" Christine says.

Her voice was loud enough for everyone to hear, "He wouldn't dare." Tobias says with a smirk, Eric narrows his eyes.

"Don't even attempt on getting on my nerves again." Eric's voice sounded even more stern than usual before letting go of Tobias. I heard a few sighs of relief the back, as I stayed silent.

Tobias smirked in triumph before Eric spoke, "Just know who's became a leader here."

Tobias furrowed his brows together, but shoves it off and chuckles deeply under his breath.

"Just know who became first."

And once more, the tension in the crowd starts to thicken again. I hated this feeling.

Eric glares at Tobias in which seemed like the hundredth time. I sigh at this, how could this day be more stressful?

Today is going to be a long day.