A New Life

Chapter 28: Plans

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN DIVERGENT, THAT BELONGS TO THE VERY TALENTED VERONICA ROTH.

The train passes back by the compound and I jump out landing on the roof with a skid. My footing falls and my arm makes contact with the gravel, warm blood mixing with the chilled rain, deluding it and dripping down my fingers in the watery trails leaving my body. I move so I'm sat, my knees to my chest, and wrap my arms around myself. I can feel tears gliding down my face as my eyes look out at the now blurred horizon. It's strange how fast one thing can change your whole life. One choice can take you, one word can break you and one sight can tear you apart from the inside out. My one choice tonight, to get on that train, the one word was my name falling from Caleb's lips, and that on simple sight, a body lying on the ground at his brother's feet. That sight will never leave me.

I don't attempt to stop the blood, or the tears. I don't attempt to dry off or warm up. No, I simply sit and stare through the darkness and the nothingness before me. My senses no longer heightened, but dulled. The rain numbing my body. The wetness masking all other scents and tastes. The only sound, a soft ringing coming from within my own head, and nothing. Nothing but darkness. I slowly push myself up, my movements shaky. I make my way towards the door, leading into the cold rock interior of this compound I've come to love. I let my feet lead me, my mind left behind. I walk, no recognition as to where I'm headed, or where I've been. I move and move until I find myself face to face with a door. I look up and see it as Eric's apartment. I slowly raise my hand, and knock softly on the door. I wait a second and hear no movement from the other side. I back up until I hit the opposite wall and let my body sink to the ground, as I rest my face in my hands, feeling the water, thickened slightly from my own blood smeared across my skin. Seconds later the door across from me flys open and there stands Eric in only his boxers.

"Who the hell knocks on someone's door at three in the f-" He cuts himself off once he sees me sat on the ground soaked from head to toe, my wind whipped hair sticking to my tear stained face. "Tris?" He says softly crouching in front of me. "What are you doing here." He asks brushing my hair away so he can look at my downcast eyes. "Are you crying?" He asks and I look up at him.

"I-I'm so s-sorry, I just- I just didn't know wh-what to- uh- what to do." I whisper, crys breaking my voice.

"Come on, let's get you inside and dried off." He bends to place one hand behind my back, the other beneath my knees, then move, lifting me with him and carries me into his apartment, placing me on the island in his kitchen. "I'll be right back." He says and I nod in acknowledgment. He leaves the room, and I can hear him walking up the stairs. When he comes back a minute later he has a towel, a shirt and a small first aid kit in his hands. He moves behind me and slowly lifts my shirt that's heavy with moisture, and sticking to my skin. He lifts it over my head and I feel his fingers trace the ink cloaking my back, sending a shiver through my chilled body, before he drapes the towel over me, moving it gently to dry my skin. He removes the towel placing one of his shirts over my head. Moving around me, he removes my shoes. Looking into my eyes as he moves my pants down my legs, his movements are slow, letting them drop to the floor, alongside my shirt and shoes. He dries my legs as well before dropping the towel and allowing his fingers to ghost back up my legs, to rest on my hips. He keeps one hand there while the other reaches for a cloth set beside me. He bring the cloth up to my face and softly washes away the water and blood the has settled on my skin. His silvery eyes watching his movements. His hand moves from my face, down my arm, as he washes the cut going from my elbow halfway down to my wrist. He wraps a strip of gauze around it before pressing his lips to the now covered skin, then moving his eyes back to meet mine. "Are you going to tell me what happened?" He asks softly pressing his forehead to my own.

"I went to Erudite." I whisper. "Their lights were on, and they were doing some type of experiment on this man. I watched as they injected him, then I watched as- as he killed his own brother." I pause for a second and swallow the lump forming in my throat. "It looked as if he wasn't even in control, like he had no clue of his surroundings. Erudite made him into their own personal robot. They made him into a shell of himself. What kind of sick person would do that?" I say, my eyes moving to anything but his face. "What if that had been Tobias and I? Or you, what if it was you?" I whisper, my eyes finally moving to rest upon his own.