DIVERGENT: Tobias (Watty Award Winner 2013)

Chapter 27

Chapter 27

The look on Tris’s face never goes away. All night, people come up to congratulate her and tell her how amazing she is. And she smiles and nods and says all the right things, but I can tell her mind is somewhere else. She must be thinking of what she’s so afraid of. In fact, I’m sure that’s what she’s thinking of. I just wish I knew what it was!

I stand behind Tris as she is bombarded with more and more people. My thoughts stay confused and I become impatient to know what’s bothering her, but we never seem to find a spare minute to talk. Instead, I do the most I can in the current situation. I hold Tris’s hand in mine and trace circles on the back of her hand, hoping to reassure her somewhat. I hope she knows she can trust me.

The hours go by and usually I would just be content to stand beside Tris, but today I find myself wishing everyone would just leave her alone so I could have her. I don’t seem to get my wish tonight. Just as the crowd starts thinning and everyone starts leaving Tris alone, the other initiates come up to her and force her to head back to the dormitory with them.

As they walk away, with Tris in tow, she glances back toward me and shoots me an apologetic look. I shrug my shoulders and give her a small smile. And then right when she’s about to walk out the doors, she mouths the word ‘Later’ and then she’s gone.

I walk back to my apartment, letting my thoughts go crazy for the time being. I think about Tris. I think about initiation. I think about Tris. I think about the war on Abnegation. I think about Tris. Tris and the fact that she’s here, in Dauntless… with me. In this moment, I’m so happy and in awe. I never believed I could be happy. I actually thought I was pretty happy before Tris came into my life and stirred it up. I thought I was genuinely content.

Boy was I wrong! Having Tris in my life is like a whole different happiness. A better one. I’m a better person… or at least I think I’m better. Now that I look back, my whole life without Tris has been empty because I have never in my life felt any emotion close to how I feel when I’m with Tris. She has become the reason I wake up in the morning. The reason for my life.

I open the door to my apartment and collapse on my bed, my face my pillow. I smile. My pillow smells like her, like Tris. I roll onto my back and kick off my shoes. I think about what was bothering Tris. And what exactly did she mean by ‘Later’? She didn’t give me a time or place, so I have to guess that she’ll come to my apartment when she can.

I walk over to the door and unlock it, just in case I fall asleep and don’t hear her knock.  I shuffle back over to my bed and realize how tired I am. My eyelids keep drooping and I can’t stop yawning. I pull off my T-shirt in one quick movement and, once again, fall into my bed. I smile again as her scent envelops me and let my eyes close and my mind drift off.

I wake up to the sound of marching outside my door. My eyes open slowly and I take a quick glance at my alarm clock. 8:16. What the hell is everyone doing at 8:16? There’s no point in trying to fall asleep again. Once I’m awake, I can’t go back to sleep. I grab a shirt and pull it over my head and then slip on a pair of sneakers. I open my door and my eyes widen at the scene before me. Hundreds of Dauntless are lined up and marching in unison.

Suddenly I understand everything. This is what Tris was going to tell me. This is what the serum was for. I am Divergent. Is that why I’m not a zombie right now? Is that why it isn’t working on me? And if that is the reason, I have to find Tris.

I follow the line of zombies and put on a blank face, imitating their movements. And then something else clicks. This is the war on Abnegation. It’s starting here. This is how they plan to use the Dauntless to fight. By forcing them.