Invergent

Chapter Four... Get it... Four?

Elise's Perspective: 

I follow the tall Abnegation woman back into a small room. Her red hair is left loose, her face is dotted with freckles, and she wears a warm smile. Her gray button up shirt drowns her; she had to roll up the sleeves three or four times just so they wouldn't go past her fingertips. 

"My name is Jenna," she says sweetly. "Please take a seat." She gestures to the dentist chair in the middle of the cramped room. Next to it is a machine that looks straight out of my nightmares. I wipe my sweaty palms on my jean shorts and take in a deep breath as I sit down. The test doesn't matter, I remind myself, and it'll be over before you know it.

"I'm just going attach this wire to your temple," she explains gently. 

"Will it hurt?" She looks at me, confused by my question. 

"The wire? No, it just-" 

"The test, I mean." She freezes. 

"I'm not allowed to discuss what happens in the test." 

"Right." I nod, focusing my eyes on the wall in front of me. She attaches the wire, and I can't help but notice how frozen her fingers feel. She then attaches an electrode to her own forehead and attaches a wire to it. She starts attaching more wires to me and to the machine and to herself. Once she's done, she reclines my chair so I'm lying flat on my back and she's standing right behind me.

"Drink this, please," she says, handing me a vile of clear liquid. I do immediately. 

I take one last deep breath before I feel my eyes involuntarily close. 

When I open my eyes again, I'm laying down on the school cafeteria floor. I slowly get up, rubbing my head. My thoughts feel foggy, almost as if I just hit my head on something hard. I groan as the light irritates my eyes. 

"What-" I stop to look around. I've never seen the cafeteria empty before. It's eerie in its own way. The quiet filling the room seems so much louder than the chit chat of my fellow classmates. I have to remind myself this isn't real, it's just a test. 

On the tables in front of me are two baskets. In one is a knife, the other a hunk of cheese. I slowly walk over to the baskets. I look between them wondering what either of them could accomplish if I chose it.

"Choose," a voice behind me says softly, and I jump back, bumping both baskets onto the floor. 

"What?" I ask. 

"Choose." The voice repeats. 

I walk around the counter, looking at the cheese and knife that both fell out of the baskets, then I get an idea. I don't want test results. They don't matter for me, so why take the test how they want me to? I don't see the point. So instead of choosing the knife or the cheese, I pick up the basket. 

The sound of the door creaks behind me and I look to see a big dog with a pointed nose coming in my direction. I instantly thank any higher power that might be listening that I chose the basket. I rip the handle off and use it like a stick, throwing it as far as I can. "Fetch!" 

The dog instantly wags its tail and runs in the opposite direction. I sigh in relief and fall to my knees. 

"Miss?" I look over and see a little girl wearing a white dress. She has blond hair, braided down her back. I smile at her, a little confused. Am I supposed to help her? Will that show if I have Abnegation qualities?

"Where's the dog?" She asks, tilting her head.

"The dog..." I repeat in a whisper. 

"WHERE IS THE DOG!?" She shouts in an unnaturally loud and high pitch voice. I flinch, closing my eyes and shielding my face. When I open my eyes, I'm on a moving bus. I get up, confused, looking around at all the people. I'm standing in the aisle, and I grab onto the pole as soon as the bus takes a turn. I'm standing in front of a man wearing a suit. He holds a newspaper over his face, then points to the photo on the front.