Bare Hands (Sequel To No Sympathy)

Truth Serum: Part 2

The wait for 7:00 is excruciatingly long. It feels like we've been waiting for days.

They come in to take us on separate bathroom breaks every half an hour or so, and they gave us food - two sandwiches.

I'm about to devour one when Tris comes back from her bathroom break.

"Hungry?" I ask her,and offer her a sandwich.

She takes it and sits next to me, eating in silence. The light bounces off of her shirt hair, making it seem much lighter than it is. It makes her look angelic almost.

But the look on her face erases all of my awe. She looks exhausted, and on top of that she's shaking as she takes small bites of her sandwich.

I have to find out what's wrong with her.

"What are you afraid of saying?" I ask her.

"Any if it. All of it. I don't want to relive it." She states.

I mentally slap myself. Of course she doesn't want to relive any of it. That requires her to remember her parent's death which I'm sure she's been trying to forget.

And I totally agree with her.

I'm not ready to relive all that I've put away for the last two years of my life.

But I'm also not the same person I was then. I'm not Tobias from Abnegation anymore. I'm not even Four from Dauntless anymore. I'm someone between the two. Not as weak Tobias but not as put together as Four.

A new person entirely.

All of a sudden, the door opens and Tris and I look up.

There are several Dauntless guards in the doorway, but there is someone else too.

Christina, the annoying Candor from when I was still an instructor.

But she looks different. Her hair is shorter, her skin more gray than brown. And when she smiles at the sight of Tris, it's not very genuine.

The second Tris sees her, she gets up, runs to her, and engulfs her in a hug. But she shudders when Christina squeezes back.

"Got shot." Tris says, pulling back from the hug. Shoulder ow."

"Oh Gosh! Sorry Tris!"

Tris nods.

As we walk into the hallway, Christina says, "You okay? I heard you were here so I asked to escort you. I know you didn't do it. You're not a traitor."

"Im fine." Tris says a little too quickly. I don't believe her but I don't say anything. "And thank you. How are you?"

"Oh I'm... " She stops, seemingly at a loss for words. Since when do you have a problem with talking? "Did anyone tell you? I mean.. Now is probably not the time but..."

"What? What is it?" Tris asks.

"Will...he died in the attack."

My soul almost instantly caves in. First her parents, now Will.. What next?!

But to my dismay, Tris's face stays the same.

"I know. I saw it in the control room. I'm sorry." My eyes widen. She's lying. But I can't come up with a reason what she would need to.

"Oh it's good you already knew. I really didn't want to break it to you in a hallway."
Christina tells her.

We continue our trek to whatever room we'll be interrogated in silence until Christina says, "Don't worry about Truth Serum. You barely can tell what's going on while you're under. It's after you come back and realize what you said that's the worst part. Hit don't fret too much. I went under as a kid. It's pretty commonplace in Candor."

Yeah, commonplace for those who don't have secrets and are obsessed with honesty.

"Is everyone else alright?" Tris asks, probably trying to change the subject on purpose. "Uriah, Lynn, Marlene?"

"They're all here." Christina tells us. "Except Uriah's brother Zeke."

No, that can't be right. Zeke?!

She must see the look on my face because she says "I know, no one saw it coming."

By now we have entered a large room with people everywhere in black and white, their eyes observing us. They are sitting around a circle in the middle where two wooden chairs sit. The ones that don't have anywhere to sit are standing around the circle.

They know why we're here.

We walk to the edge of the crowd, and stand there with Christina, seemingly waiting.

But for what, I don't know.

Eventually, a Candor man with dark brown skin comes up to us holding a black box.

"My name is Niles." He starts. "I will be your interrogator." He then points at me. "You will be going first, so if you could please step forward.."

I quickly grab Tris's hand and squeeze.

And then I walk into the circle.

+++

Ooh what happens next?! XD Hope you guys enjoyed this! I'll have another one up perhaps tomorrow but since it's going to be longer than usual, I might not.. Just alerting you! =)