Resurgent

Chapter 5

I touch Tris' forehead with two of my fingers. It's a little warm. Her eyes are closed and if you took one look at her, you wouldn't be able to tell if she was asleep or she had fallen conscious. I pull the blanket over her. She looks so peaceful when she sleeps - not a crease on her her forehead, no worry about the world, nothing. I can look at her face all day. I love her.

I walk out of the room and close the door after me. It's eleven in the morning. I brought Tris to my place after she fainted. Only today, I was thinking of things hadn't gone the way they did, then I could have been living with Tris. Maybe if things hadn't gone the way they did, then, on seeing her beautiful face, I wouldn't feel the pain of separation, that some for time I had to live without her. Thank God I didn't have the serum.

Cara.
The name just pops into my head.
Why would she cheat me? Why would she ever say that Tris was dead when she was not? I really feel the need to talk to her. Not right now, of course. I need to reel Zeke, Shauna and Christina about Tris.

I pick up my phone and text Christina.
4- Hey Christina! Come to my place, ASAP! I have news you'd like to hear!

She doesn't reply for nearly fifteen minutes.

Christina - Is it really urgent, 4? I'm at Will's.
4- More urgent than you could probably imagine.
Chrisitina - Fine. Be there in 5.
4- Okay.

I don't need to text Zeke and Shauna, so I go over to their house (it's across from mine). I knock on their door. It's a Saturday, so I know Shauna will be home.
Shauna opens the door.

"Hi Shauna," I say ,"Is Zeke home?"
"Yes, today he is."
"Um.. It's about Tris."
"Come in ,Four" she says ,"We were talking about you and Tris right now."
"Zeke," I say,"Shauna, I gotta tell you something-"
"Oh, man," Zeke interrupts,"Four, please don't torture yourself in Tris' memory. She ain't coming back. You need to move on. That's what Dauntless was about. You will get hurt in life, lose loved ones, but if you do, you're only getting stronger."
"Yeah, you know, not everything in life is going to be okay." Shauna says.
"I lost my brother when you lost Tris. It's hurts but..you gotta move on."
"I know that, Zeke, but I am here to tell you something else." I say.
"That you're ready to move on? You know my cousin, Betty?" Shauna asks ,"She's beautiful, intelligent and brave -like Tris. Maybe you'd like to see her?"
"Shauna, you don't need to-"
"Four, we are your best friends. Come on. You can see her. I was actually confused between Betty and Shauna first, but Betty was in Amity, so Shauna won." Zeke says.
"Hey!" Shauna says.
"I-" I try to say, but at that moment Christina comes in.
"Yes, Four, why'd you call me here?"She asks.
"Tris-"
"Four, it's okay. You need to get over it."
Why isn't anyone letting me speak?!

"OH MY GOSH GUYS CAN YOU GIVE ME A CHANCE TO SPEAK?!" I yell.
"Four," Shauna says,"Okay, say what you want to. We're all ears."
I start," Okay, this is going to sound a little weird, but you have to believe me. So shall I start?"
"Go ahead." Zeke says.
"Look, Tris isn't dead."
I look at their faces for expressions of disbelief or amusement. But the look at me with pity.
"Four, please stop it. Tris isn't coming back," Zeke says, his eyes full of sympathy.
"Tris isn't dead. She is here, at my house. You need to believe me."
Now Christina looks shocked and she says,"But she was shot. And Cara said she died.."
"Cara lied. She told Tris that I was shot by David. I don't even trust Cara anymore," they look like they've seen a ghost ,"Fine, come along with me and I'll show you."
"Stop joking around," Shauna says ,"A dead girlfriend is nothing to joke about."
I beckon them to my house.
They enter hesitantly.
I open the door to my room. There lies Tris, the blanket still pulled over her. She looks so peaceful. I really want to kiss her, it's been so long.
"See?" I say.
Their faces go white as if they just saw what they never expected to see, which they probably didn't.

"That's n-not Tris...she can't b-be.." Shauna stammered.
"Tris?" Christina whispers with disbelief ," Four, how?"
"I'll explain everything later. So now you guys believe me?"
"Yes, we always did." Zeke says, not taking his eyes off Tris. Sure thing, you don't really believe your eyes when you see a person come back from the dead.
But technically Tris didn't die.

She moves a little. Then, her eyes shoot open and she takes off her blanket. She gets up and sees Christina first.
"CHRISTINA!" She screams, scurrying out of the covers,"IT'S BEEN SO LONG! WHERE WERE YOU?"
"Tris!" Christina runs towards her with open arms ,"We all thought you were dead!"
"Oh!" Tris' voice gets muffled by The tight hug,"It's so good to be back with my friends."
She jumps out of bed, and then hugs Zeke and Shauna.
Tris remembers everyone. Everyone but me. After hugging Shauna really tightly, she comes over to me and stands in front of me with a divided look on her face. I sigh. She still doesn't believe me; I don't know what to do.
She pulls me close to her, and presses her lips against mine. Oh! The longing! I've missed her so much! She smells weirdly of lemon grass. I lift her off the ground as all our friends are staring at us.
Tris, oh Tris. How much I have missed you!

I pull back after what seems like an eternity. Her cheeks are flushed, but I don't care. I have her back. Tris is back, and now I feel complete. After I thought she had died, some part of me was always missing , but now, it's back.
"Tris," Christina chimes in,"I'm getting married."
Tris turns to Christina with a shocked look on her face,"What?!"
Christina nods, and says,"His name is Will."
"Oh."
"You aren't shocked? Will."
"No. These days people are coming back from the dead rapidly. Like T-Four."
"I was never dead. You were." I say.
"Hey, then I wouldn't be here with you guys."
"Stop it." Christina says "It's another Will. Hey, you guys haven't met him. Will you come now?"
"Yes!" We all say in unison.

Will's mansion is huge. It's white, with creepers all around it, like a necklace around a lady. The porch is decorated with flowers and plants, and there is a huge garden around the mansion. The garden, as Christina explains to us, has two parts - the orchard and the park. The park is full of beautiful flowers of all colours and there are a lot of insects. The orchard has fruit trees- apples,oranges and whatnot! It's a beautiful place.
"Will looks addicted to flowers," Tris comments.
"Oh, he is." Christina's eyes are sparkling with joy. As far as I can guess it's for two reasons - she just got her best friend back and she is taking us to meet her fiancé.
"You got a good catch," I say.
"Hey! He's not a catch," she says, all shy-like.
"Wow, I never imagined an outspoken Candor-Dauntless to be shy, even if for a moment," I say.
Everyone laughs.
She rings the bell once. We wait for nearly a minute, but no one answers the door. Christina rings the bell again, but there is no reply.
"Is he at home?"  Shauna asks.
"Of course he is," Christina says ,"I came to your place directly from here."
"Maybe he went somewhere. Try calling him." Zeke suggests.
She removes her phone from her pocket and calls Will. A worried expression appears on her face.
"It's going to voice mail," she says, panic gripping her voice.
"He must have gone somewhere," I say ,"Do you have his house keys?"
Immediately, she rummages through her purse in search of the keys.
She produces a piece of shiny, silvery Metal from her purse and inserts it into the keyhole.
The door opens. There is an eerie silence about the place. The house, though ornate and clean, looks extremely uncomfortable because it is excessively clean. It looks like a place where one would sit with all the manners they have, not like this is their home. Who knows how rich this Will is? Maybe he has inherited this property, maybe it was all earned by him. Do his parents live with him? Is he from the fringe?
"Why is it so quiet?" Zeke asks.
"I don't know. It wasn't like this when I left." Christina says.

She leads us to a room whose door is shut. The door is carved with patterns of flowers. This Will is obsessed with flowers.

Christina opens the door.
And She gasps.
What I see makes my heart skip a beat too, even though I am not that easily scared. But this? This was uncalled for.

There lies Will, in a pool of blood, a knife protruding out from his chest. His eyes are open and he's looking at the ceiling. From the looks of it, I can only make out one thing.

Will is dead. And he was murdered.