I groan and open my eyes. A woman is next to me, stroking my hair and thinking. I sit up, shocking her.
"Tobias! You're awake!"
Tris? What? She's dead. Must be a hallucination. "Who are you?"
"You- you don't remember me?"
I hesitate. "You sound like Tris Prior, but she's dead."
"Tobias, look at me."
I oblige. "Tris."
"I'm not dead."
"That's impossible. We dumped your ashes today!"
"Yeah, about that..." She scratches the back of her neck, one hand still clutching mine.
"What did you do?"
She smiles. "Still the same Tobias."
"Tris."
"Okay, okay!"
She lies down next to me as I ease myself down.
"I was dead. That is true. I saw my mother. She told me it wasn't my time to die, and essentially shoved me back to life. Before I was taken out of the 'Land of the Dead', she told me to leave a fake but believable body behind. So I did. She told me to stay away for two years. I did. I've been looking for you for six months."
I lay there, shocked.
She kisses my cheek. "Yeah. Weird, I know."
I get out of my bed. "Follow me."
She stands. "Where?"
"We have to tell the others."
"Now?"
"Yep."
I take her hand after I slip on my hoodie, and we walk out the door. A couple people notice me. "Hey, man! Whose hand are you holdin'?"
"You'll find out in a few moments."
"Uh, okay..."
Finally we get to the Center. I pull her onto the platform. "Attention!"
Everyone shuts up in 30 seconds flat. I clear my throat. "As you know, Tris Prior was considered dead. We dumped her ashes today. However, I recently found out otherwise."
Tris pulls off her hoodie hood. "Hey guys."
Christina screams with joy and races up to the platform. "Tris! Why didn't you tell me you were alive?!"
She shrugs and hugs Christina tight. "I'll share my story at dinner. Which is..." She trails off, glancing at me.
"6:00. Which is..." I glance at Christina.
"In one hour."
"Excellent. See you at dinner!" We walk off the platform and go to my house.
She sits on the couch while I pour us water.
"Why didn't you try to communicate with me, Tris?" I say.
"I couldn't. Tobias, the last words I heard my mother say before I left were 'Don't try to communicate until you find him, in at least 2 years.'. You think I'm willing to say 'Screw that, I'm going to find Tobias now!' to my mother?" She stands up, angry. Great.
"Yes!"
"It was supposed to give you time to heal."
"Well, it didn't work that well, did it Tris?" I retort as I hand her a glass of water. I sit.
She takes a drink and sits back down. "Forget it."
I sigh. "I love you Tris. Do you know how I felt when they told me 'Hey man, your girlfriend died. But don't worry, she was committing a crime when she died, so no big deal!'?"
She looks down. "No."
"Guilty. I felt that if I had just been there for you, you would've lived. Guilt and grief have nearly killed me, Tris."
"You had nothing to be guilty about!"
"You think I don't know that? I'm irrational like that, Tris!"
She shrugs. I sigh, standing up. I grab a bottle of alcohol. "Would you like a drink, Tris?"
She looks up. "Sure."
I hand her mine and take another for me.
I hold it out. "Cheers."
We clink bottles and drink.
-------------
We arrive at the dinner area. 20 dinner tables are lined up in the street. We take a spot near the front and start to eat. Tris eats slower than she usually does.
Uriah climbs the stairs to the platform and stands in front of the microphone.
"Alright!" He screams. "Whose ready to hear Tris' story?"
Everyone cheers. Tris glares at him.
"Hey, Tris, I'll go up with you if you want." I offer.
She nods. "Thanks."
I take her hand and lead her up there. Once we are there, she steps up to the microphone, and I stand right behind her.
"I guess a lot of you thought I was dead... well, that was kinda supposed to happen."
After that, she launches into her story.
After her story, it's silent. That never happens.
Then Uriah yells out, "Well alrighty then. Uh, who wants cake?"
Everyone yells in assent. He marches off to get the cake, but Christina stops him. "Let me get it. You'll eat half of it before you get here."
Uriah groans. "That was the point!"
I laugh with Tris.
------------
Later that night, I fall asleep with one arm around Tris.
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I know, awful ending. But I wanted you to see this. So here. <3
Fourtris :)
