Ordinary Acts of Bravery [A Divergent Fanfic]

Chapter 14 - A new addition

"Bravery is not the absence of fear. Bravery is feeling the fear, the doubt, the insecurity, and deciding that something else is more important."

          It didn't take long before I shifted between my fears, always facing three of them before waking up. Some of the others had been talking about how they had already faced five or six of their fears. It was never a comfortable subject, and one I always tried to avoid when it began. I knew I wasn't like the others, and had retained my ranking.

Today the fear simulator had placed me back in the damn box again, it was becoming more annoying than anything else as my hands fumbled across the floor, finding the nail I knew would be there before jamming it in between the moving walls and the floor. Even though I knew the wall would stop moving, my heart continued racing with fear that it one day wouldn't.

Closing my eyes, I rested the back of my head against the box, but it wasn't there. The sudden change in the fear landscape had thrown me directly into the next, drowning. A loud gasp left me as I tilted backwards and landed on my back, quickly feeling how my arms and legs were bound once again.

I had made progress against this particular fear. It was no longer the same outcome. It changed each time. Determined not to let the monster have enough time to throw me over today, I had begun working at the bonds the moment it shifted. It always took a while to get to me, and more than once I had managed to get one of my hands or feet free.

Working tirelessly, I managed to undo the knot, freeing both my feet for the first time just in time as the figure grabbed the fabric of my shirt, pulling me up onto my feet. "Fuck you." I sneered, charming as ever, and head butted the creature. It evaporated in a dust cloud of blackness before I sprinted through it, towards the caves ahead of me.

This was the first time I had managed to escape the creature.

With my hands still bound, I burst into the pit, or what seemed like it. I turned around once, eyes on the glass roof above me. It was the pit, or a perfect reflection of it. People were gathered in there, standing in small groups all around me. When my eyes scanned the crowd for something familiar and found it, I stepped forth only to collide with something solid.

The collision forced me to stumble backwards while exclaiming a furious growl before rubbing my sore forehead. Glass, I had collided with glass. Then I made quick work in finishing untying the knot on the robe around my hands. The robe fell to the ground and I placed my hands on the invisible barrier separating me and the ones I loved. They were all people I cared about.

Roxy was standing beside Luke, their conversation hushed and indistinguishable, while they kept eyeing me occasionally. Pure dread coursed through me, what if they didn't like me anymore. Their faces had contorted in disgust when looking my way again. With a defeated cry, I rested my forehead against the barrier. I felt guilty as if I had done something to deserve this treatment. I screamed at the glass and collapsed on the floor. I knelt in front of the glass, forehead and hands resting against the glass.