Initiate [ERIC/JAI]

12

The room was completely silent. Around me was nothing, except four individual lamps scattered on the floor. Individually, the lights flickered out until they left me in complete darkness. The chair I was sat in was pulled away from me, causing me to fall to the ground beneath me. I could hear a distant rumbling noise. I curled up in a ball on the cold floor, placing my head in my lap. It's not real, Cassia. Calm down. Everything seemed so real, looked so genuine. In the distance I could hear a faint giggle. I plugged my ears with my fingers, blocking out the sound. It wasn't enough. The giggling became louder and the floor started to shake beneath me. I scurried to my feet, cowering away from the sound coming towards me. Before I knew it, a bright light emitted from the palms of my hands. I didn't know what I was doing or even how I was doing it. The room lit up almost instantly, uncovering the emptiness I was surrounded in. The walls of the room were grey, only one door at the end of the room present.

I felt safe.

My eyes flickered open, I was breathless. I clutched onto the arms of the chair I was sat upon. Four sat next to me, head rested in his hands. My eyes continued to flick around the room for a few more seconds before I was brought back to reality, Four's hand touching my arm. His eyes were his biggest flaw, they gave away everything before he opened his mouth.

"How did you do that, Cassia?" He paused before saying my name. I continued to shrug my shoulders. It was the truth, I didn't know how I did it. Because you're divergent. I smile at him, catching my breath finally. "Cass, I'm only going to ask you one more time. What were your aptitude test results?" A million thoughts ran through my mind when he asked me the dreaded question. What do I say? I couldn't just let it out, I was told to trust nobody.

"It just happened, Four." I pushed myself up from the chair, steadying myself. Four sighed deeply.

"Then why did you do it? Dauntless don't light up their hands, they find a way out." His voice was stern and it frightened me. I couldn't lose him as a friend, he's one of the only ones I had. "You can talk to me, Cass. I'll always be here for you." I look down at the ground. I felt as though I could trust him, it was something about him.

"Abnegation," I paused. "Candor, Erudite and Dauntless." A tear escaped my eye, knowing I had completely given up. I was told to never let anyone find out about me, to never show my true self. I had failed. Stupid. Four stood up, walking towards me. He cupped my cheek, raising my head to look into his eyes. "I'm a monster." I whimpered, breaking down in front of him.

"Don't you dare say that. You're special, not a monster." He wiped the tears from my cheeks, pulling me into a tight embrace. "Damn though, Four factions? Never heard of that before." He chuckled, letting go of my body now. I gave him a questioning look, furrowing my eyebrows to the centre of my forehead. "I know you're confused but you can trust me Cass, your secret will never leave my lips. Besides, we've got to look out for our own kind." He chuckled once more. My lips parted, shocked at the words he spoke. "Yes, I'm divergent." He answered, before I had time to question him. He had the biggest smile on his lips. He was telling the truth, that or he was an impeccable liar. You're not alone, Cassia. "But you might want to leave the room before people start getting suspicious." His laugh was cute, it made me chuckle alongside him. I waved goodbye and left the room, everybody had their eyes on me. Not many people walked out of that room with a smile on their face.

*

"I hear they have an amazing tattoo parlour here at Dauntless, what do you say Cass? Up for getting a tat?" Apollo asked me, sat on his bed with another girl. If I remembered right, her name was Jessica. She had gorgeous ginger hair cascading down her face, making me jealous of it. I didn't need to think about it for long, I knew my answer straight away.

"Tattoos guys? Didn't think you guys were that brave- well I mean at least Eric might like it." A guy behind me spoke, I turned to face him. His name was Joseph, one of the initiates I'd never spoken to before. "He'll like at least one thing about you then." He was laughing, alongside another boy behind him. I acted fast, raising my knee to just the right height to collide with his abdomen. He doubled over in pain. "Bitch." He cursed under his breath, causing a laugh to escape my lips.

"You're just jealous that you're the only guy who doesn't have a woman to treat his needs." I whispered in his ear. "I'll be surprised if any of the brave, confident, beautiful women at Dauntless even look at you. Pathetic." I turn to Apollo and Jessica, who are both smiling back at me. "Tattoo's then yeah?" Both nodded their heads and we left the sleeping quarters. It wasn't a long walk to the tattoo parlour, only about five minutes and it went pretty quickly with Apollo and Jessica to accompany me. Walking into the parlour gave me an instant headache, it stunk of alcohol. I held the vomit back, walking over to the designs on the walls.

My eyes traced each individual design, most of them absolutely stunning. My head told me to go for something technical, beautiful but a lot of work. My heart however, had already chosen. I picked the design off the wall, taking a closer look at it. The wolf was sat howling towards the moon, it was exactly what I wanted. I walked towards one of the tattoo artists, he was a tall man with tattoos covering every part of his body you could see, except from his head. His name badge read 'Teran'. I smiled at the man, handing him the plate with my wolf etched onto it.

"Nice choice, lay in the chair and we'll get you tatted up." His voice was extremely deep, quite scary alongside his tattooed body. My legs carried me to the chair, setting myself down onto it. "Where do you want it?" I motioned towards my wrist and he nodded, pulling the right arm of the chair up higher than the left. I placed my arm onto the rest. "So why the wolf?" He asked me, as he placed the inkpad down onto my wrist.

I felt the tiny needles place the black ink onto my skin. It didn't hurt, it was more of an uncomfortable sensation.

"Wolves are marvellous creatures, or at least they were. You hear the stories are these gorgeous creatures that are so untraceable and brave. I guess it's what I want myself to be." I admit, smiling at Teran. I gain a roll of his eyes. "You can tell me it's cliché all you want, it's better than matching tattoos." I chuckle, he follows with one also.

"That's right, you're the chick Eric's seeing right?" His words made the hair on my arms stick up. My body froze in the chair. He started to peel the inkpad away from my skin.

"Don't call me that." I scoff as he removes the entire inkpad, pushing myself off the chair. My eyes scanned the room for Apollo, who seemed to be preoccupied with Jessica. Shrugging my shoulders, I left for the sleeping quarters to get some sleep. I figured out a lot about myself whilst here at Dauntless, about who I truly was. I thought I'd hidden my divergence well, but if Four knew how long would it be for others to find out.