The Soldier

Visiting Day

Vibrant colors speckled The Pit. Blue, yellow, and white fabrics mixed with the achromatic Dauntless uniforms. Voices of varying pitches echoed and bounced off the walls to reach my perch two stories above the commotion where I sat on stone that was cool to the touch. When the two colors had collided several minutes ago, a figure in white embraced Calvin and had yet to release him. His hands were loose by his sides while his mother held him and they swayed side-to-side as she cried.

"Initiate."

I looked behind my shoulder to see Eric passing by with other Dauntless members, he waved them forward. I turned back to the commotion beneath me, not entirely sure I wanted to be talking to him right now, especially since he didn't sound happy.

"Yes?"

"What are you doing? Shouldn't you be socializing?" I noticed the small purple bruises on either side of Eric's nose as he sat down next to me on the ground, his tone changing slightly now that it was just the two of us. Our legs hung off of the ledge and I swung my feet, the heels of my shoes thudding the side of the wall.

"Shouldn't you?" I asked. Earlier I had seen the other trainer, Four, speaking to Skylar's father.

He grimaced. "Parents aren't really my thing, especially the emotional ones." The sounds of Calvin's mother continued to travel up to us and I agreed with him, cringing at the second-hand embarrassment I felt for Calvin.

I was sure Calvin was mortified to have his family make a scene in front of everyone and I was glad I had politely declined his offer this morning to join them. Calvin was surprised to learn that I wasn't expecting anyone to show up, and offered to share his visitors, but I insisted that I had other things to do. I was sure the Bureau wasn't going to send someone to pretend to be my family and I decided to spare myself the embarrassment of pretending to look for people. I found myself a secluded spot away from everyone, or so I thought.

"Besides," Eric continued, "I have more important things to do. So are you avoiding your family? Or did no one show up?"

That struck a chord in me. It was hard to it admit to myself, but I was jealous that the other initiates had people today. Who did I have? Right now the only constant in my life seemed to be Eric, a Dauntless leader who was only in my life thanks to a combination of poor decisions and bad luck.

"My dad was really pissed when I transferred, so I'm not surprised that nobody came." I tried to sound nonchalant, but I could feel my head and chest beginning to ache, a physical manifestation of my emotions. I should have slept in and avoided this situation altogether.

He saw right through me. "Try not to sound so sad about it." He advised, growing stern. "You made the decision to transfer to Dauntless and they made the decision to not visit. There's nothing you can do. Move on. Dauntless is your family now."

I nodded but still enviously watched the crowd beneath us. One individual caught my eye and I followed their figure as they walked through the middle of the reunion. It was a Dauntless member judging by their clothes and tattoos. They were scanning the faces of the initiates as if they were looking for someone. That's odd. I thought the Dauntless-born initiates met family members at their homes.

I felt Eric looking at me and I pulled myself away from the stranger below, realizing that Eric was demanding a verbal answer.

"I'm not sad."

"Really?" He didn't sound convinced.

"Absolutely."

I was not in the mood for this serious Eric. Which was who he was most of the time, but the least he could do was distract me from thinking about how alone I felt. Right now the only distraction I could find was the man below who was now standing at the edge of the group and running his hands through his brown hair like he was stressed.