Closer

Chapter 25

"Alexandra," she breathed, wide-eyed. "Tobias."

She seemed almost stunned to see us. It almost made me mad. She had the fortune of knowing we were alive. She knew our hearts were still beating and that we were still breathing. I thought her heart had stopped beating years ago. In theory it probably did, you'd think a mother would have to die before she left them with a monster like Marcus Eaton.

I remembered waking up to a house full of grave-faced Abnegation and my father explaining to Tobias and I that she had died due to a complication with a pregnancy. I knew it was bullshit, but it was the only kind of closure that we had so we believed it. We were probably only nine? Ten years old?

"You're supposed to be dead," Tobias said, flatly.

"I know," she looked away from us and wiped something from her eyes. Tears? It was too dark for me to be sure. "I'm not."

"No shit," I grumbled, almost frustrated. "Were you even pregnant?"

"Pregnant? Is that what they told you, something about dying in child birth?" She shook her head. "No, I wasn't. I had been planing my exit for months, I needed to disappear. I thought he might tell you when you were old enough."

I rolled my eyes as I shook my head. I heard Tobias let out an award sort of laugh, like a bark. "You thought that Marcus Eaton would admit that his wife left him. To us?" I counter.

"You're his children," Evelyn said, frowning. "He loves you."

Then Tobias did something that took me off guard. He laughed. Like genuinely laughed. It was strange, almost sounding mechanical. To be honest, it scared me a little.

"You have a right to be angry that you were lied to," she said. "I would be angry, too. But I had to leave. I know you understand why..."

She reached out for him, but he grabbed her wrist and pushed her away. "Don't touch me." He shifted closer to me.

"All right, all right." She put her palms up and backed away. "Bu you must understand, you must."

"What I understand is that you left us alone in a house with that sadistic maniac," he barked.

Her shoulders slumped, as if she was slowly crumbling on the inside. Even her face went slack, as it dawned on her what he was saying Again, he stepped closer to me so he was right next to me. His face darkened as he crossed his arms, giving him a harder, tougher appearance.

"I-" she started.

"Stop wasting our time," I spat. "What do you want from us? It's been seven years since you died and you never tried to do this dramatic reveal before, so what's different now?"

At first she didn't answer. Then she pulled herself together, visibly, and said, "We, the factionless, like to keep an eye on things. Things like the Choosing Ceremony. This time, our eye told me that just like you, Tobias, Alexandra choose Dauntless. I've become... kind of a leader to the factionless, so I couldn't risk going myself."

"Well, well," I roll my eyes. "What important parents we have. I feel of so lucky." My voice dripping with sarcasm.

"This isn't like you. This isn't lie either of you. Are you even the least bit happy to see me?"

"Not really," I mumbled.

"Happy to see you again?" Tobias questioned. "We barely remember you, Evelyn. We've lived as long without you as we did with you."

Her face contorted. Tobias hit a nerve. Good.

"When you both chose Dauntless," she continued, "I knew it was time to reach out to you two. I've always planned to find you, after you chose and were on your own, so that I could invite you to join me."