Factionless

Chapter Two: Vidya's point of view

I wondered what Joslyn was doing. "No! Stay on task!" But I got up and stood in front of my large window. I could see Dauntless right over the ridge. I sighed and turned my gaze to the Factionless. Basil was in there, somewhere.

A knock at the door jolted me out of my memories. "Yes?"

The door opened slowly. A bespectacled face looked in at me. "Vidya, you have been requested to go look at the Factionless section with some Abnegation."

"Why?"

"Is there a problem, Miss.Mallory?"

"What? Oh, no, Darian. No problem. Why do they want me? Wouldn't they rather have a more experienced person?" I asked.

Darian sighed and flipped through some papers on her chart. "Apparently the Factionless will respond better to a younger person and you are the youngest humanitarian we have." She noticed my suspicious look, "Look, Vidya, you've been in this post for three years. You're plenty qualified."

I sighed and nodded. "When do they want me down?" I started to pack a briefcase. Placing blank paper, and clipboards in. I tossed in some statistic sheets too. I might get bored so I put a book. When I turned around Darian was still standing there.

"They want you down in...now."

"Then I should go," I said. Taking my briefcase in hand and starting towards the elevator.

"Miss.Mallory?"

I turned around. "Yes, Darian?"

"Good luck. You're wearing blue?"

"Yes, Darian." I showed her my blue watch and continued downstairs.

* * *

The Factionless live in these conditions? Horrible conditions. Small houses, no shacks, are every so often, with leantos and other kinds of shelters in between. I was jotting down all kinds of notes on one of my clipboards.

"Miss.Mallory, welcome." Said one of the Abnegations. I'd never met him before. I think that all Abnegation look the same. I shook his hand.

"Glad to be here. Tell me: the Factionless live in such horrible conditions...why?" I asked, trying to look as Erudite as possible with my pencil at the ready.

"Um, they don't have the supplies and, um, things like that to function. They don't have factions, Miss.Mallory." He said.

I nodded and wrote that down. "But you're Abnegation. Don't you care?"

He looked taken aback. "Erm, yes. We do, but we haven't the funds to do it."

"You run the government," I countered. "Surely you have the funds."

"We try, Miss. Oh, here's one of our great humanitarians: Jane Swartchz." He smiled and walked off. I suddenly got the feeling that I'd been making him uncomfortable.

I smiled at Jane. "Hi."

She didn't return the smile or greeting. "Please follow me Miss.Mallory." She turned on her heel and walked off in the direction of a jeep.

I didn't really have a choice, so I followed. When we got there I noticed a black haired girl sitting in the back of the jeep. I brushed a strip of red hair out of my face. "Basil?" I asked.

The girl turned to face me. She turned into a snake and lunged at my face.

***

I screamed and woke up. It was midnight. The door swung open. "Miss.Mallory? Miss.Mallory are you okay?" It was Darian.

"Yes, yes I'm fine. Just a dream. Go back to sleep Darian," I said.

She gave me a sharp look, like she was trying to see if I was lying. I hated it when she did that. "Goodnight Miss.Mallory," She said, leaving the room.

I let out a sigh of relief after the door clicked close. I flopped back down on my pillow. The instant I did the relief I felt vanished. What could the dream possibly mean? Did it mean anything? Maybe- "No," My brain snapped. "Dreams are irrational. Dream interpreting is also irrational. Go to sleep." I decided to trust my brain; and fell asleep.