Ordinary Acts of Bravery [A Divergent Fanfic]

Chapter 28 - Protector

"I love you, means I'm not just here for the pretty parts. I'm here no matter what."

          I had not been able to find any rest in the accommodation. It had become quite noisy after more people began arriving. Everyone didn't seem as affected by the fear simulator as they had been the first few times, we had faced it. Roxy was not even in her own bed, she was in Luke's as they just spoke together. I knew I had chosen differently lately and not been around but I still felt strange around them now. As if I had been deselected.

The desire to remain in the accommodation vanished completely with that thought and I decided to leave instead. Once I had left, I unconsciously steered towards the training room. The desire to hit something had swelled in me right after Isaac entered the accommodation. Luckily it was empty when I entered. I quickly gathered some of my now short hair in the back before I turned towards one of the sandbags.

I approached the first one, only to notice the long tear on the top of it, smeared with now dry blood. I felt satisfied at the sight because this had been where Isaac had been badly hurt. He still had trouble using his hand. It wasn't hard to see. I allowed my fingers to run over the tear before I moved around it, walking to the next bag.

When I stepped around it my feet kicked something, sending it flying over the floor. I saw the metallic glint and knew it was a knife. I didn't hesitate to pick it up from the floor. Letting it spin between two fingers, I examined the knife before throwing it at the plywood target on my left.

The knife buried itself in the center of the plywood. I released a satisfied chuckle before I turned to the sandbag again. I stepped into a vide stance, raising my arms up before I began hitting the sandbag. Throwing my hands at it in frustration, getting some steam out of my system.

It wasn't long before I was heaving for air, feeling my lungs burn as much as the muscles in my arms. I'd had a bit more build up frustration in my system than I had realized at first and I kept hitting the sandbag in front of me. My knuckles were numb from the constant hitting, but it only made me hit it harder to feel something.

I was so consumed with hitting the sandbag in front of me that it rendered me oblivious to the figure slowly approaching from behind. Though he approached me slowly, I didn't see Eric, not until he was right behind me. "What did that poor sandbag ever do to you?" He asked once at my side.

I yelped in surprise, jumping at least thirty centimeters into the air before quickly moving around the sandbag, keeping it between Eric and me as a precaution. I relaxed when seeing it was just him and Eric's grin went even wider. "Why must you absolutely scare me all the time?" I groaned at him before walking back around the sandbag again.

Eric chuckled but had noticed the state of my hands when I raised them up to wrap them around my chest. Eric reached his hands out to mine, unwrapping them as he took them in. "You should have worn some gloves." Eric sighed at me when I also noticed the state of my hands. Explainable bruises had already appeared and the skin on my knuckles were fiery red, the skin torn in many places.