Part 2 - Aptitude test
We sit in the cafeteria waiting for our names to be called so we can take our test. I think the aptitude test is bogus. If we can choose whatever faction we want... why bother putting us through this? I don't yet another exam to tell me that I'm clearly intelligent. I've never failed a test because I know all the right answers, and if I want Dauntless I will get Dauntless. Even if the results don't matter.
My fellow faction members prattle on about what's in the newspaper, and search their books on faction history. My eyes can't help but wander around the room. I look at all of us, separated into five factions, and I can't help but think 'is this right?'
I suppose it must be though. It's pretty clear that there are some people that can only belong to one view, and others that seek more, like myself. I look at the Amity, who are playing games and singing songs. They don't look worried at all about the events that await them in the next few days. Probably because most of the Amity born children stay in Amity. Over at the Candor table they seem to be in some sort of light hearted debate between two of the boys. The girls giggle at them as they banter back and forth. The Dauntless are loud and having fun playing card games; shouting every once in a while. Vivacious is how I would describe them, and vivacious is what I want to be.
My eyes spill over to the Abnegation table, the stiffs, and that is just what they are; sitting up straight stiff as boards. They are quiet and don't talk to one another. They just stare straight on in front of them and wait. Except for one small blonde girl. She stares off in the direction of the Dauntless just as I was before. I can see the look in her eyes and I know that she longs to be vivacious as well. I will be seeing her soon enough in the Dauntless HQ, that I know for a fact.
We are called two at a time from each faction. An Abnegation woman dressed in loose fitting gray clothes, or rags rather, her black hair is pulled back in a painfully tight looking bun, and she has no life in her voice as she calls out two names from each faction, Myra's and mine among them. Also, the stiff that yearns to be Dauntless. I don't know her name, but the names that are called when she arises and "Susan Black and Beatrice Prior". Considering the look she was giving to the "Prior" boy that went in right before her, I'm going to guess she is Beatrice. That's just my Erudite instincts hard at work.
"This is it baby," Myra whines as we head toward the stiff instructor.
"Chill My- This doesn't mean anything. You know what you're going to choose... right?" I put my palms on either side of her face to hold her head steady so I can see her eyes. I read once that when people are lying you can see it in their pupils.
"Dauntless" she whispers. Her pupils don't dilate.
"Good girl," I say as I kiss the top of her head and put my arm around her as we head through the door together.
Testing is separate of course. The instructors are almost all Abnegation, aside from one Erudite and one Dauntless. But we can't be tested by a member of our own, so they only test the Abnegation kids.
I walk into the room three as Myra disappears into room two. Surrounded by mirrors, I look around at all my reflections. They look strong and ready for battle, even if they are wearing their blue Erudite shields. I take off the perscriptionless glasses and stick them in the neckline of my button down shirt.
The Abnegation man sits before me, patiently waiting for me to be ready. God forbid he tells me to hurry it along and get in the chair. That would be selfless on his part. But I do know they are on a tight schedule, so I won't test his stiffness today.
I sit on the dentist chair beside him and he asks "ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be," I reply.
"And are you comfortable?" He asks warmly. I wonder if I say no what he will do, but again, I don't want to play this game today. I want to get this over with.
"Sure am, let's do this thing" I say. He attaches some wires to me, himself, and the odd looking machine by the chair's side. He hands me a clear vial of sorts and asks me to drink. I don't hesitate. What's the point? Everyone else has been in here to do the same thing year after year and no one has died in an aptitude test. I know they are not trying to poison me... so I drink. Everything goes dark
The next thing I know I'm waking up back in the school cafeteria, but now the tables are empty. I stand alone in the room and I can see outside that it's snowing... strange. I ignore it and divert my attention towards the two baskets sitting on the table before me. One containing a block of some nasty looking cheese, and the other, a rather large knife. My hand instantly goes for the knife at the same time I hear a woman's voice utter the word "choose".
"I did..." I shout back to the hidden voice. I hear the door creak open and I wait for someone to come through, but no one does. Then I hear the clicking of a dog's paws on the linoleum floor. A large black dog walks through, and it's not very happy. It snarls and reveals its teeth to me as it prepares to charge at me. I bend my knees in an effort to get a better stance, and I grip the knife handle tight in my right hand. The dog barks loud. I know what I am supposed to do; I know what a Dauntless would do, so I stick my hand out and beckon the dog toward me whispering "C'mon Fido". He takes off and lunges toward me, snapping his jaw like a venus fly trap. I raise my left arm in defense as his pointed nose nears my face midair. It all happens so fast, and before I know it my knife meets the dog's throat and it is lying on the ground twitching as it's blood spills on the white floor.
I'm back in the testing room now, but I'm alone. Not even my reflection is here to keep me company. Not knowing what else to do, I walk out.
When I leave, I'm not in the school anymore... I'm on a bus now. There is only one other person on the bus with me, a frail old man with severely damaged hands that clutch a newspaper in front of his face.
"Do you know this guy?" he asks me, tapping the on the front page of the newspaper. I study the picture and something triggers in my mind... and then I read the headline "Brutal Murderer Finally Apprehended!" All I can do is stare and search my mind for the reason why I know this bearded man pictured on this clearly old newspaper. Murder wasn't really a thing anymore.
"Well? Do you?!" He snaps at me. I don't know if I do for certain, but I do know that this man is uncivil and I don't even want to share the time of day with him.
"No man, I don't know this guy" I rudely reply.
He gets out of his seat and reveals the rest of his face to me. It's scarred just as bad as his hands, and he wears dark sunglasses. He scowls at me and leans in close, but I back away because the scent of stale cigarettes fills my nostrils. He walks closer and shouts "You're lying!" He's too close for comfort now and still shouting at me that I am lying. He starts to say something... but I don't even let him finish before knocking him out cold of the bus floor. I just don't have the patience for that today.
"Well Edward, I hope you enjoy trains and tattoos, Dauntless it is," the stiff says to me as I wake up.
"Yeah, I know," I say back to him climbing off the chair and heading for the door. Not long now and I can leave my Erudite home, and my pretentious parents, to fulfill my Dauntless destiny.
