Resurgent

Chapter 4 ❤️

I look at Jerome with my jaw hanging open.
"Tris?" I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.
"Yes, that was her name."
"Is she going to come to meet you anytime soon," I ask, extremely confused but at the same time, extremely excited.
"Yeah, around eleven? It's 10:56, so maybe she'll come her in some time."

At that moment a lady enters the cabin and says to Jerome, "Mr. Hanson, someone named Tris is here to meet you."
"What?!" I shriek ,"Tris is here?"
"Yes," the lady says.
"OH MY GOSH, HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE? TRIS!" I go running out of the cabin and to the front desk where I see a small figure with her back facing me. She has blond hair and I call out to her.
"Tris!"
She turns back, and looks at me. I expect to see an expression of love, recognition, joy and maybe even reunion, but i don't see any of them. Instead I see an expression of confusion on her face.

Her face. My Tris' face.

"Tris, you're here!" I say, breathing rapidly,"I can't believe it! How..what happened to you? I thought you had died. How did you come back? Where were you all these years?"

"Whoa. Excuse me, sir, I'm here to meet Mr.Hanson. Could you call him, please?"
"You don't recognise me, Tris?" I ask, my heart sinking. What if...she lost her memory? What if she doesn't remember me? And is this person my Tris or not? Did Beatrice Prior die? If she did, and if she is the same person as this Tris, then how did she come back from the dead? A million questions race through my mind as I try to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

"Umm.. I am Four. You know me, Tris. I am your boyfriend."
"Well, I'm just here to meet Mr.Hanson. This lady went to call him, but he didn't come.."
"Why are you so obsessed with meeting Jerome? I am here! I am Four, from Dauntless, remember?"
"I do not know you, mister."
I start doubting that this is the Tris I knew.
"What's your name?"
"Tris."
"Your full name."
"Hello? Why should I tell you? I don't even know you."
"Because I know who Tobias is. If you tell me, I can help you."
She looks hesitant, so I go again.
"What's you full name?"
"Beatrice Prior."
One word for my feeling. HOPE.
"Did you live in the Fringe?"
She looks at me suspiciously,"Yes."
"Faction?"
"Hey, there, stranger. I am not giving you all my details. You're going to ask me for my address then? So you can come kidnap me?"
"No! I think I know you, you resemble my 'dead' girlfriend. I may know something really important about you. Please tell me, I promise not to harm you."
"No. I just want to see Mr. Hanson."
"Ugh, stop being such a brat!" I feel so irritated right now. I just thought that I met Tris, and yes, I did meet her, but she doesn't recognise me? What's up?!
"And you stop being such a question-y"
"What faction did you choose?"
She looks at me with a defiant gaze.
"At least tell me your birth faction!"
She still doesn't reply. All hopes of her being my Tris get crushed away with that gaze of hers. I sigh, feeling helpless, and say,"Sorry to bother you....ma'am. I'll send for Jerome."
A flicker of doubt passes through her eyes.
Her eyes.
They are jet black.
Not blue.
Not my Tris' eyes.
She is not my Tris. I turn back, and start to go back to my cabin. Sometimes life throws a thing at you that you desperately want, and then takes it back, which makes you want it even more.
"Abnegation."
My ears perk up on hearing her voice. Abnegation.
I turn around and say,"Abnegation?!"
She nods, not showing too much of enthusiasm.
I just ask,"Hey, can I have a picture with you? Because you look like the love of my life who was....murdered. I really really miss her. I don't even have one picture with her. It's just like a keepsake and you're her look-alike. Please?"
She looks shocked, but says,"Okay."
I mutter a thanks, but she says,"I chose Dauntless."
"What?!"
"Yes. And... You can ask me whatever you like."
"No, you don't need to.."
"It's okay. I didn't want to talk you at first because.. Because something happened with me that caused me to not want to tell you or any guy, for that matter, anything about my life. But you do not seem like a guy who would..."
"Kidnap you?"
"Yes, kidnap me," she says with a laugh.
"Umm.. What was your father's name?"
Her expression drops and she says,"Andrew Prior."
"Did you know a guy called Tobias Eaton?"
"Yes. I am searching for him."
"May I ask why?"
"Because...."
I let her have her time to answer that question, every single detail of Tris' life matches her. Maybe this is my Tris. But her eyes...
"Because I love him. And he...and he disappeared one day, when we came here, and I was told that he had died. But I don't believe that. I can actually feel him, that he is alive, and he is here.. Somewhere here.."
"Come with me, please," I tell her politely. She follows me without any questions, and I take her to my cabin. I expected to see Jerome there, but he isn't anywhere in sight.
"I am Tobias, Beatrice."
Her eyes widen in shock, and then realisation, and then she looks at me.
"No," she says,"You're not Tobias. Tobias is a thin guy who.. Who...wait, how do you know my name?"
"Because I am Tobias Eaton, and my parents are," I cringe on saying that ,"Marcus Eaton and Evelyn Johnson. I was beaten up practically everyday but that father of mine. You are Beatrice Prior, Natalie and Andrew Prior's daughter. You were Abnegation-born but you chose Dauntless. You were the first jumper in your initiate class and that's when people stopped calling you stiff. I also happen to be your instructor. Al, Peter, and Drew tried to throw you into the chasm and I ended up saving you. We fell in love . You came first in your initiate class, but you are divergent. So, Jeanine and Eric tried to kill you but your mom saved you and gave her life for you. Your dad also died that day, and your brother Caleb later betrayed you. We came here and then......"
Her face is pale, and she is looking at me like I am a sorcerer. She looks blown away as if her entire life has been a lie. But perhaps even I felt like that everyday, because even my life has been a lie. I thought Tris had died, but she hasn't. She had been very much alive all the time I was grieving about her.
"But, You...you couldn't possibly T-Tobias."
"Why not? Tris, I am Tobias. Believe me, please," I try to say as calmly as I possibly could,"what should I do to prove it to you?"
She is just shaking her head, unable to believe me.
Then it strikes me.
My back.
The tattoo of all the factions.
Tris is the only person who knows about it except Tori.

"Tris," I say, "My back."
She looks at me, acting as if she doesn't know about it because , of course, she still isn't sure if I actually am Four, "What about it?"
"You know about that tattoo. Will you believe me if I show it to you?"
She nods imperceptibly.

I pull my t-shirt up so that she can see my tattoo. From the corner of my eye, I see her face go from pale to white, as if all the blood had been sucked out from her face. Beads of sweat line her forehead and she places a trembling hand on my back. A tingling sensation passes through me.
I pull my shirt back and look at her. It looks like she is going to faint any moment.
"Tris, are you okay?" I ask, holding her arm lightly.
"You are Tobias?" I can't believe she is still asking me that.
"Yes, I am."
"But...but David shot you."
"No, he shot you. And then you died."
"Then, I wouldn't be standing here, would I?"
"So....what happened that day?"
"Cara told me that David had shot you, and then you died. I have been crying all this year. Then I was going somewhere when I overheard this guy talking on the phone and he mentioned the name 'Four'. I followed him and asked him to find someone named Tobias Eaton and gave him a clue by saying that he should check on people with weird names. So he did find you. And I was right."
"Then why didn't you recognise me at first?"
"Because the Tobias I knew didn't look anything like you!"
"How is that even possible?"
"I don't know, but something is surely wrong."

Wait. Tris said that Cara told her about me being killed, and Cara told me that Tris was killed. Maybe....
"Who told you that I was dead?"
"Cara."
I bang the desk with my fist. I look at the floor, my brain whirring as everything falls into place.
"Damn. Cara's in on it. We really gotta ask her."
"Yeah but she....saw me....come in....." I hear Tris stammer. I look up and see her eyes closing. I try to prevent her falling onto the floor, and she falls unconscious in my arms.