Recklessly (Divergent Fanfic) #Completed

Chapter 9 - Suffering

I am super thankful for how quickly I've been getting reads on this one. Still not a lot compared to some things I've read but, still means a lot. Can't wait for you guys to read more! Love you!

Corrine

I had almost forgotten where I was when I woke up. I was actually a bit frightened, shooting up in bed with wide eyes. And then I saw Eric lying next to me, and nothing seems scary anymore. I laid back down carefully, realizing the sun was just barely coming up.

I looked at him, while I had the chance. His arms were tucked underneath a pillow as he laid on his stomach. I watched the rise and fall of his back with each breath he took. I could even see the purplish color brushed across his eyelids from lack of sleep. His normally slicked back hair is a bit of a rumpled mess on his head.

I don't have much of a chance to keep admiring him because he begins to stir, he turns over on his back, rubbing at his eyes in the most adorable way.

"Hi." I say quietly.

"Hi." He coughs and clears his rough morning voice. "We should..we should go train."

"Right. Training." I push my hair away from my face.

"There's a bathroom through there, if you want to use it." He doesn't look at me, just stands up off the bed and walks to his sink, splashing water on his face.

"Thanks." I walk into the bathroom and shut the door, looking at myself in his small mirror. My lip is still a bit swollen, light bruising across my jaw. "Great." I say to myself.

I quickly wash my face and splash cold water onto my arms, trying to wake myself up. I pull my unmanageable hair back and walk back out into Eric's apartment.

"Are you ready?" He asks, pulling a white tshirt over his head. For a brief moment, I was able to see his bare torso, and the feeling that gave me wasn't something I had felt before.

"Yeah..I mean yes. I'm ready." I follow him out of his door and through the dark corridors, still keeping my back pressed against the wall as we walk down the stairs.

Everything is very quiet. No one else is awake yet. We get to the training room and Eric walks into the middle of a giant mat with a circle drawn on it.

"Hit me." He says, turning to face me, his arms spread out.

"What? No. Why would I do that?"

"Hit me, Corrine. You may have to fight your own brother when the time comes, you can't be afraid."

"I..I've never hit anyone, Eric." I say, embarrassment soaking my words.

"Now is as good of time as any to start. Now hit me." He says with authority.

I squeeze my fists at my sides and step into the circle with him. I've never been an angry person, but his insistence on hitting him is making me feel angry. I put my fists up, the way Four had taught us how to hold them, before I swing my right fist towards his jaw. And he of course ducks out of the way so quickly I didn't have time to retract, and instead almost falling to the floor.

"You have to be quick, no one is going to have mercy on you here. Again." Eric says.

This time, I try to plan my moves, trying to remember something Four had taught us with punching bags. I moved to the right, only to throw the punch with my left, but he is still too quick, and moves again.

"Come on, Corrine. You've got to put something behind it. Get angry! Or you're never going to make it. You'll be a factionless ex-stiff." He almost growls at me. I squeeze my fists until my knuckles turn white, I step forward, and on instinct, I swing my foot at his knee, catching him off guard enough to throw an off balance punch against his jaw.